We're All Living in One Big Rat Race

26 Comments

• Dividend Mantra says:

  January 27, 2013 at 6:17 PM

  Preach it, brother! I'm with you. I got off that wheel a few years ago. Or, at least I partially got off. I'm still working just as much as I did back then, but obviously now am doing it with a purpose and a plan. I'm not just blindly running place. The more I really entrench myself into financial independence the more I think I'm not doing enough. My original plan was to retire, or become financially independent, by 40 years old. But, that's a full 10 years from now. Yeah, 40 isn't old...I know that. But, that's 10 years of my life I'll never get back. Life is only lived once and I want to see/do/eat/smell/feel things...not spend 50+ hours per week at a job wilting away. I'm strongly considering getting to the point where once I reach 40-50% of my expenses through passive income quitting my full-time nightmare and getting a part-time job where I work less and live more. Imagine being able to "semi-retire" in your mid-30's. Best wishes!

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  • Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:

    January 28, 2013 at 8:34 AM

    DM, Great chatting with you last night. I like your thinking and agree with it. Life is meant to be lived and the fact that we can change our future by working our butts off and saving a huge chunk of what we make is exciting. Like Ross said above, we may be only afforded this loophole because of everyone elses willingness to comply with the normal way of life.

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• krantcents says:

  January 27, 2013 at 6:25 PM

  I may be selfish, but I was always more concerned about my well being vs. the economy. I have more control over myself vs. the economy.

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  • Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:

    January 28, 2013 at 8:35 AM

    Agreed. We do have control over our lives but not over the economy. It's exciting the things we can do with our lives if we REALLY put our mind to it, isn't it?

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• Ross says:

  January 27, 2013 at 6:29 PM

  Great post. I think you effectively captured my new outlook on life. I do often think about what might happen to the US Economy if there really was a mass conversion to the frugal lifestyle all at once. Entire industries would go out of business, the economy would tank, and weird shit would happen. I think we'd be able to come back from it, but it would become harder for people to work hard for 10 years and then retire (I think). It seems like we are only afforded that loop hole because everyone else wants to continually spend 96% of what they earn. Obviously, it's not going to happen, but it's interesting to think about.

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  • Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:

    January 28, 2013 at 8:40 AM

    Ross, You may be right. I suppose something like that would collapse the economy. Like you mentioned, I too believe that we would come back from it. It may very well be that we are only able to do this because of everyone else's willingness to comply with the normal way of life. If that's true, I feel slightly bad about using everyone else to make this happen in my own life. But after all, they can do it too if they put their mind to it so I shouldn't feel bad about it. I still believe however, that all of us could have happier lives with more free time and less stress if we just quit spending money on junk we didn't need. Those industries that produce wasteful and unnecessary goods and services, well we just don't need them. Instead of producing junk, I think we'd be better off not producing but just enjoying life.

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• Faye says:

  January 27, 2013 at 9:02 PM

  Kraig, Another great post. I am glad that you are drawing attention to the correlation between spending and working. More people need to understand how that dollar must be earned again. Best Regards, Faye

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  • Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:

    January 28, 2013 at 8:45 AM

    Faye, Thanks for stopping by and for liking my post on Facebook. The fact that each dollar we spend must be earned again is the single most important reason that I hate spending money. When I spend money, I feel not only that I'm giving up a part of my past time, but I also feel that I'm giving up some of my future time too because I'm going to have to go earn back that money. This will be happening for a while until I reach financial independence. If my investments have to go earn that money back instead of me with my time, that'll be just fine. I have no problem with that. My time and energy is just too darn valuable to be giving away unnecessarily.

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• John@MoneyPrinciple says:

  January 28, 2013 at 3:59 AM

  You are right but the total debt of a nation is actually what matters. So add personal debt from buying that 70" LED TV and other luxuries to the state's debt and everything becomes clear - either you buy something or the state does. One way, you become poorer and the other way the state becomes poorer. Whichever way, the nation loses. Same over on this side of the pond. Rampant consumerism is a quick fix promoted by governments driven by the electoral agenda. In the US that is every 2 years with a year's politicking before each. At least during a second term, your President can look to the longer term but there are still elections for the House and Senate Unfortunately the corollory is to have longer electoral time constant ie an elected dictatorship. Hmm. Some choice, eh? South Korea spring to mind? We need a longer term view.

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  • Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:

    January 28, 2013 at 8:59 AM

    John, Yes, we do all need a longer term view. It's too bad that consumerism is so highly promoted and it's a shame that the promotion of how it hurts our lives isn't done more. If people really understood how spending, spending, spending hurts their lives, they wouldn't do it. That's what happened to me. I started understanding it and it was all downhill from there.

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• Sophie says:

  January 28, 2013 at 7:21 PM

  Hi Kraig! I found you through Free in Ten Years. What really scares me with the situation you've described is the way so many people are desperately sick of the race and they KNOW that the work-spend-work-spend lifestyle isn't making them happy - but when anyone suggests that there's a different way to live, they reject the idea without even considering it.

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  • Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:

    January 28, 2013 at 7:39 PM

    Hi Sophie, Welcome! I'm glad to meet you. I see you have a blog too and I'll be checking it out. Regarding those who just don't consider escaping the rat race, it is really too bad. I care about people too much to want to see them running round and round in the rat race. The main reason I'm blogging is to get the message out there on how saving has improved my life and how it can help other people do the same. Being on top of your money can mean more than having money in the bank. It could be the difference between being happy and being unhappy because in one situation you're trapped, but in the other, you're free. Hope you see you around here again!

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• Budget & the Beach says:

  January 28, 2013 at 9:05 PM

  I figure there are plenty of people buying loads of crap out there that I don't need that will keep the economy running. Let them do it. I'm perfectly happy doing my own thing. :)

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  • Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:

    January 29, 2013 at 8:32 AM

    B&TB, Yes, it is good (for us savers) that 99% of people spend everything they make. It makes for a pretty easy way to save money and become financial independent early in life. I mean, it's not easy because it takes many years, but it's possible. It seems crazy that something like this is so possible because we're all raised to think that it's not. Like you, I'm happy doing my own thing too! :)

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• TeacHer says:

  February 11, 2013 at 5:48 PM

  Kraig, first let me tell you that I really admire the passion that you have for achieving financial independence and living life on your own terms. You articulate your ideas very clearly and are firm in your convictions. I just happen to totally disagree with them. Admittedly, I'm weird. I love my job. When people talk about getting depressed on Sundays because they know Monday is just around the corner…I have no idea what they're talking about. But aside from that, I don't think there's anything wrong with deriving happiness from contributing to society. Early retirement die-hards always counter this by saying: but after you retire, you can still work, just do work that you love. But…it's still work. A lot of people LIKE to work. I just think that our society has started to equate work with hatred and dread when it doesn't have to be that way. "Work that you love" can also be work that you're paid for. Anyway, I could go on and on. I just wanted to put another point of view out there.

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  • Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:

    February 11, 2013 at 9:30 PM

    TeacHer, Thanks for stopping by and for offering your thoughts. No hard feelings. I'm glad you love your job. It sounds like you're doing great things. I enjoy my job too most of the time, but feel that I want to be prepared for a time in the next 30 years when I won't enjoy my job. I also want to have the freedom to work on something else as I become passionate and excited about it. It isn't often that people are as honest in their comments as you were here. Thanks again for stopping by and for commenting.

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• Henrik says:

  May 4, 2013 at 4:25 PM

  Hi Kraig. I just found you're blog through Dividend Mantra's. I have to say that it's a very good read so far. Just as Teacher I love my job and won't leave it, but the point you're making that you might get tired is a valid one. So is an eventual downfall in the economy which can happen anytime, that is my biggest fear and the reason why I hoard money in the same fashion that you guys do, I'm way to lazy to blog about it though haha :D That being said I am against these kind of posts whenever anyone writes them. Sure everyone would do well to get out of the rat race, but to me it just feels like you guys are justifying your own way of living. There's nothing wrong with being in the rat race, the fact is that a lot of people I know wouldn't want to have their time off to spend more time with their families, grow a garden or walk more or any of those things. Instead they'd sit around and watch sports, play games or similar egoistical things depending on which generation they belong to. This is something I've noticed while reading a lot of blogs. Most guys/girls striving for FI seems to be very family oriented and that is a big reason for them to strive towards the goal. I read somewhere that guys(in particular) are derived in to two groups, the nesters and the wanderers. I dare say that most FI bloggers belong to the first group, while I personally belong to the second group. I dare say that I don't strive for financial freedom to gain more time with my family, go out walking or do any of those things. I strive for it to stay in the rat race, as you guys call it, but with the added security that if there's a bump in the road I'll survive it without any problems until I can get back on the rat race again. Most people would probably love to go traveling for a year and see the world, but after that most people would want to get right back on that wheel, I guess that's one of your points as well and as such a valid point, but it's also a point where most people empty out their savings to do so. My point is that there's a lot of people out there that have a better life from being on that wheel, and to not be able to see that, to me, is having a very limited view of people. If someone is "forced" to be productive and strive to get a salary instead of laying at home being a couch potato doing nothing with their life I think that wheel is a good thing. Granted those people won't agree with me. And obviously we have the "exceptions" like me and teacher who actually love their job, and this group of people are a lot bigger than most bloggers take in to account, in fact I'd dare say that at least 80% of the people I know would never quit their job even if they won 10 million dollars on the lottery tomorrow. Anyway! Sorry for the ranting, I'm just allergic to this view on the rat-race. I love all other posts I've read so far and keep fighting for your freedom :D cheers / Henrik

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  • SickOfCubicles says:

    June 20, 2013 at 9:34 AM

    Henrik, Is it a safe assumption that you get summers off and 1 - 2 weeks for Christmas / New Years, and another for Spring Break? Do you get a pension? MLK day off? Hell, Columbus day? Sick time on top of that? Can you punch out at 4pm or even earlier most workdays? The reason I ask is because most people don't have these luxuries, most people don't assume teachers to be in the "rat race" the same way that white or blue collar workers are (although I assume "rat race" probably has mostly a white collar corporate cubicle association). Yeah, you could argue that anyone could become a teacher and have those benefits, but I beg to differ.. The boomers are hanging onto their jobs longer than ever (locking the young out of good jobs), indulging more than ever, and I know PLENTY of 20 and 30 something teachers that are stuck working in impoverished areas with LITERAL mice and roaches running across the floors, knife wielding students and many of them don't even get the whole summer off. Just playing devils advocate here =) I also think that 80% number (who wouldn't quit their job if they won 10 million dollars) is ridiculous.. In my career field (IT), and in the words of Captain Sully, "I don't know a single professional pilot who would recommend that their children follow in their footsteps", let alone keep their job after winning 10 million dollars! I'd say that 100% would quit, myself included. If that means sitting around and playing PS3 all day, then so be it, but either way, I know it's not much more unhealthy than sitting in a cubicle all day and night under artificial light with NO WINDOWS and a boss breathing down my neck day in and day out. For me personally however, my golf game would improve dramatically, as would donations of my time to volunteer and give back, animal rescue, etc.. Either way, that time would finally be mine, not some soulless CEO's. The steak in front of the hamster wheel is a ploy. Nothing more, nothing less. That is my opinion. "That we are in the process of developing a whole series of techniques? To enable the controlling oligarchy who have always existed and presumably always will exist to get people to actually love their servitude." Aldous Huxley - The Ultimate Revolution UC Berkeley Language Center March 20 1962

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    • Henrik says:

      June 20, 2013 at 8:10 PM

      Hi SickOfCubicles. I understand that most people at a low paying job they hate would leave it given the opportunity. But when I said 80%, I said 80% of the people that I hang out with, not the entire world. Most of the people I hang out with have a higher education and are working with that profession, which is probably why they are happy at their job. I'm sure if you look at a global perspective the number is completely different. I don't work in the US but in Canada. I get the same pension that everyone else gets. I don't have a 401(RRSP) matched plan. I have 6-9 month contracts at a time and have switched jobs 6 times in the last 4 years. Most of the people I know spend 2-3 months unemployed per year, I've been lucky and I haven't so far. Partially because I'm devoted and I'm good at what I'm doing. It is these months of downtime for people that have had me looking in to financial freedom. As I want to stay in my profession and that means that I need to have enough income, preferably passive, to cover that gap should it happen to me as well. I have 10 vacation days a year and that's it. I'm paid fairly well though which of course helps. I know as well as anyone that I wouldn't be staying at my job if I was doing something I didn't like. As for working in IT I'm in a similar industry also sitting in a cubicle and I absolutely love my cubicle. I've been to other companies with more open environments and I did not like that at all. I can still easily talk to anyone if I need to so it's not like I'm cut off from the world. And I know plenty of people that are very happy in the IT sector as well, I'd be happy to point you towards them, maybe you can apply at their office instead ;P As for the 100% that would quit their job I guess we just hang around different crowds. Or it's just the social differences between our countries. I'm from a European country up north were most of us like working and find it fulfilling. I can guarantee you that the number is not 100%. The US might very well be one of the countries where most people wouldn't mind sitting in front of the PS3 all day if they had the money for it, I wouldn't know as I don't live there and I don't want to throw around any stupid notions about other countries. But speaking for my part of the world that number would not be even close to 100%. I personally find it more fulfilling to have a great day at the office than having a good round at the golf course, although I have to admit it's a close call on that one. That being said I enjoy vacation as much as any one, it's just that for me a couple of weeks a year is more than enough. I'm sure that will change as I get older and being able to take 1 month or a little bit more is a good thing to strive for when it comes to financial freedom for sure. But more than that and I would get extremely bored, I need the challenge my job provides me with on a daily basis. My steak in front of the hamster wheel is what I'm currently eating. I just hate the notion of everyone working at a normal job being stuck in a wheel. While they in fact may never have been in that wheel to start with. The only wheel in this case is the fact that you have to work for money so you'll survive should you be laid off. This is just a fact in some countries though as most socialistic countries care for their unemployed people(for now). For me, and many with me, we strive to get enough money to not have to worry about being laid off but we would gladly stay at our jobs when we reach that point. Hell if I could I'd work until I die, I might change my mind in 10-15 years but that's the way I feel right now and I'm not alone. I'm not saying that financial freedom bloggers are wrong. And I admire their dedication and skill. I enjoy reading the blogs, including this one. I find very useful information everywhere. It's just the fact that most of the frugal financial bloggers are "looking down" on people in the wheel and can't fathom how anyone can like it in there. They are probably not looking down on people, that's just how it comes across for anyone work oriented reading the posts similar to this one. There are better examples than this post, it was just by coincidence I ended up posting here so I don't want anyone to take it personally. Anyway, I hope you'll get your steak as well even though it's different from mine. And good luck with your golf game. cheers / Henrik

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• SickOfCubicles says:

  June 21, 2013 at 3:53 PM

  Hello again Henrik, Good observations.. I do see your point.. But I think the point many of these posts (and some over at MrMoneyMoustache's blog) are trying to make is that having a "work optional" life is a good place to be. They are not necessarily saying that you absolutely should quit all of your "work" as soon as you are able! If you are one of the few who enjoy their job enough to stick with it even if you get rich, then that can be your version of "early retirement"! I think retirement is more of a mental thing than a physical... I don't necessarily see them as looking down upon people on the hamster wheel, I think it's more of a "hoping" that they would stop spending so much so they can at least slow that wheel down a bit (even if it's only in their own mind, and not by working less actual hours) for mental health reasons.(They will be happier AT work even, and maybe not be so depressed about their situations, which in turn brings everyone else around them down) I know that we all need challenges to be happy in life.. I'd spend my days flying airplanes around the globe, hopefully in some kind of charitable capacity given the opportunity. The problem for me now is that it cost too much for flight training, and the starting pay is impossible to justify the amount of "investment" required. Cheers right back at ya, it's Friday at 5 here! Have a great weekend

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• jim says:

  September 26, 2013 at 6:40 PM

  I love my job too, but I must admit if I won $10 million, I'd quit in a heartbeat (altho I'd still do it - just on a volunteer basis). You guys are my children's age. Why aren't you out there negotiating for the things that would make you happy (until you reach financial independence) - like flexible hours, telecommuting? Us old guys understand and appreciate that more than you know and I'm willing to bet that most of us would accommodate your requests - just so long as you prove that we can trust you when you're "working at home". Really - life is short - go for it!

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  • Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:

    September 26, 2013 at 7:00 PM

    Jim, Thanks for the suggestion. I did propose that I work a decreased amount of hours. Like you, I see the value in forming income streams like that. My boss rejected it. That was that. You're right, life is short. That's exactly why I've decided to change the direction I'm going in. Take care,

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    • jim says:

      September 26, 2013 at 8:19 PM

      Kraig, My boss rejected it too - the first 3 times I (gently) suggested it. Then his wife got sick and then he did. After that he had a change of heart. I'm not suggesting that his having rejected my requests resulted in his family's pain. I'm just telling you what happened. Once that change of heart took place (and trust me, I busted my ass to prove that I was trust-worthy to work at home and actually produce) I am totally happy with my work environment. Hang in there - you never know what's right around the corner. Good luck!

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      • Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:

        September 26, 2013 at 8:21 PM

        Jim, Thanks so much. I really appreciate your support and encouragement. You're right, you don't ever know what's around the corner. Take care, my friend.

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• Mike says:

  April 8, 2014 at 7:28 PM

  Great, if you forget about the fact that we all need HOUSING.

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• Ana says:

  May 9, 2016 at 10:12 PM

  Sounds like a great plan. But in an economy where most of your hard earned income goes to tax it is almost impossible to save enough money to financially sustain yourself without the need to work until retirement. Especially if you earn an average or low income and living standards are expensive. The only way to escape the rat race is to escape modern and city living. Of returning to nature and living off boiled weeds and chooks. Not many are prepared to do that. The rat race is here to stay. Unless the global economy collapses or a plague destroys civilisations.

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