"You know, if you could learn to cater to the king you wouldn't have to live on rice and beans.' To which the monk replies: 'If you could learn to live on rice and beans, you wouldn't have to cater to the king." - The Simple Path to Wealth

Woooo girl.  Rice and beans.  That little parable is straight fire, as the kids say.  Red, hot fire.  At least they used to say stuff was fire, until adults started to say it on their financial blogs.  Now kids no longer feel the need to say it.   If you’re wondering, yes, I did high-five myself when I read that story.  It’s called a clap, it’s trendy.

If you would only spend your days working your life away you wouldn’t have to live so frugally.

OR

If you would only learn to live more frugally you wouldn’t have to spend all your precious days working.

If everyone around you lived frugally and retired at 40, would you buck the trend and work until 65 in order to live more lavishly?

I’ve often heard people say that they’re working hard now so they don’t have to eat rice and beans when they’re 60. That’s not a bad strategy.  At least these people are planning for when they’re 60.  I would contend that rice and beans can be delicious, so think about that.  You can make a lot of great dishes with either rice and/or beans.  Secondly, how many extra years are you willing to trade so you can eat something other than rice and beans?

To be clear, I’m not advocating that everyone should just slum around all the live long day only making barely enough to provide their family rice and beans.  I am advocating for us to all be content eating rice and beans so that we can enjoy as much of this short life as possible.

If rice and beans is your average, anything above that is a special treat.  If steak and lobster is your average, anything below that is a bummer.

If you’re forced to eat rice and beans because you’re too broke to eat anything else that isn’t fun and it’s hard to be content.  It’s much easier, and more enjoyable, to choose to eat rice and beans even though you have the ability to eat more lavishly.

Would it be worth it to miss out on all those days hanging out with friends at the lake on a Wednesday just so you could drive around a nicer car or live in a house with 5 rooms you don’t ever enter?  What if almost everyone lived frugally and retired in their early 40s and someone came up to you and said, “Hey, how about you work until you’re in your late 60s instead?  What will you get?  Nicer dinners. Boom! What do you think? No? How about a cool watch too?”

How many of us would buck the frugality trend and opt to work another decade or two so that we can eat fancier meats and cheeses and drink water from glass bottles in our gray years?  All our friends are hanging out in the middle of the week, just gardening or whatever. Meanwhile we’re hunched over an office desk thinking to ourselves, “Suckers, I’ll be drinking that fancy water one of these days while they’re still drinking dumb tap water. My sheets will have SO many threads.”

Nobody would do that.  I mean, I’m sure somebody would do that.  But nobody who I want to hang out with would do that.  Why do we do that same thing in this form of reality where frugality isn’t the norm? The Hedonic treadmill, also called Hedonic adaptation, says that humans tend to get used to whatever level of luxury we normally have and our happiness meter evens out.

“That’s a nice straw mattress your highness; got anything in memory foam?”

Think about this:  We live better than the rich and elite of just a few centuries ago.  Despite this, many of us feel deprived and aren’t happy.  If you showed a king from ancient Babylon the running water in your faucet, the hot shower you can take whenever the mood strikes, or the ice cream from your magic freezer, he’d soil his silk garments with jealousy.

Did you know in 17th and 18th century America lobster was so common, and so cheap, that servants in Massachusetts allegedly included stipulations in their contracts saying they could not be fed lobster more than twice per week?  It wasn’t until the 1880s that lobsters shed their negative image and prices began to rise as they became the fancy pants menu item we think of them today.

“Lobster again?! That’s it I quit!”

Can you imagine complaining about eating too much lobster?  What if rice and beans became THE hot dinner item of the 2030s?  People lining up around the block for the chance to eat these delicious morsels of healthy nutrition and chic glamour.

People would work years extra just so they could pad their retirement with an endless supply of beans and rice.

“These idiots over here retiring in their 40s. I’m going to put in another decade or two so that when I’m 60 I can eat beans and rice nonstop!”

The more comfortable you can be with less, the easier it will be to sustain your lifestyle.

This also means the sooner you can stop working for someone else.

Rice and bean dinners are just an example.  It’s probably not super healthy to ONLY eat rice and beans.  But it’s also not healthy to ONLY eat caviar.  Rice and beans is a metaphor for every purchase you can make.

If financial freedom is your goal, are you driving the rice and beans version of a car or the caviar version?  Either one is fine just as long as you can admit to yourself which car you have.  If the caviar version of a car is worth the extra hours you’ll spend hunched over a desk or shoveling metaphorical shit by all means keep driving that caviar car.

You can make a change if you find that your car, house, or grocery bill etc… are closer to the caviar versions than the rice and beans versions.  If you ignore the issue, the issue doesn’t go away.  If you’re spending money on dumb stuff that doesn’t make you happy, I hereby grant you the freedom to make a smarter choice.

Purchasing Stuff vs. Purchasing Freedom

What areas are you spending money on things that don’t bring you happiness?  If everyone at the office drove around in practical cars and bicycles, would you want to be the guy with a BMW and $4,000 rims? Is that a good price for rims? I have no idea. I’ve never actually talked with a human who bought rims.  Have you seen those rims that spin? Haha. Hahaha.

Sure you don’t NEED a Rolex.  Lots of watches tell time.  Maybe you just WANT a Rolex.  If you do want a Rolex, ask yourself why you want it.  Does it make you like yourself more or are you hoping it makes other people like you more? You’re a great person.  You don’t need a Rolex to be liked.  To be fair, maybe you’re one of the few people who actually appreciates the craftsmanship of an expensive watch.

I’m an idiot.  I have no idea if a watch is fancy or not.  For me, a fancy watch is a waste of money.  If having a fancy watch brings you joy and motivates you to continue working hard then you should own a fancy watch.

If you’re only buying the fancy watch so other people see you own a fancy watch, then I have a sad factoid for you…

Sad Factoid:  Nobody else worth liking likes you more because you have a fancy watch. People are either jealous of you or they want a slice of your money.  Jokes on them though because you spent all your money on that watch!

Again, if you want a Rolex and it brings you happiness for some reason, great!  Buy yourself one.  Shoot by yourself 10.  I don’t care.  Just think about why you’re purchasing something before you purchase it.  Also, if you purchase 10 Rolex watches, you are a dumb person.  I’m not judging you, but you are factually a dummy.

Stuff doesn’t bring happiness.  Don’t buy dumb stuff.  Eat your beans and rice and retire early so you can go travel the world and enjoy drinking tap water from the freedom of your own home on a Tuesday morning.

Or don’t.  I guess I don’t really care which option you choose.  We are choosing the rice and beans lifestyle that includes freedom rather than the steak and lobster lifestyle that includes going to a job we hate everyday until we’re 70.

Conclusion:

This post rambles quite a bit.  My main point is that the happier we are with less the easier it will be to reach financial independence.  Reaching financial independence gives us the ability to pursue what we really want out of life.  For me, that means time with family, traveling, and pursuing projects that interest me.

Keep spending willy-nilly if work brings you happiness and you enjoy the status that comes from having fancy things. I’m not trying to make you feel bad.  You do what’s right for you.

This post is mostly for the people who don’t get joy out of material things but they keep buying them because they think they are supposed to “Keep up with the Joneses.” This is for the people who buy dumb stuff because they think having cool things will make people like them more.

It’s for people who are miserable at their jobs and feel like they are wasting their lives.  For those who don’t feel like they can make a different path for themselves.

I just want people to be aware of the various choices.  If working indefinitely and buying the latest gadget is how you want to spend your life, do it.  Who am I to try to convince you otherwise?  Spend away.

If you’ve been spending all your money on autopilot, then hopefully this article will help you snap out of it.

You might also like one of these articles:

Eight Steps to Help You Reach Your Goals

How to Turn Your Weaknesses into Strengths

Be Like Mrs. Wealthy Pants, Don’t Buy a Bunch of Dumb Shit

Agree? Disagree?  Let me know in the comments. 

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