Hey, Kid. I’m looking to sell some perpetual freedom.  You interested?  

I like you. You know why?  You’re not basic.  One thing about you is, you like to visualize your path to FI differently than most.  Those satisfied with the 4% rule are basic.  You aren’t basic, Starbucks and Uggs notwithstanding, you’re an individual.  You’re the type of individual that’s interested in perpetual freedom.

It’s hard to quantify how far you’ve come and how far you have left to go using the standard 4% rule.  Your head knows how many more dollars you need to reach the mythical summit of Mount Freedom but your heart longs to know what your hard work has bought, so far.

Maybe you have $360,000 in your investment portfolio and you need a million.  You’re 36% of the way there but how can you visualize 36% freedom? 

I get it.  You get overwhelmed thinking about how many thousands and tens of thousands of dollars you need to save before you can even see a dent in your FI goals.  I felt that same way.  To help me feel grounded I’ve started to break that number down into much smaller pieces.

Hope you Mathletes stretched, it’s about to get intellectual AF

Visualization time, nerds.  Picture a pie chart with 24 equal slices of pie.  Each pie slice represents one hour of time.  Once the whole pie is complete, you’ve reached FI.  Complete the pie to reach FI.  Snort.

Yes, I hate myself just a little, but I’m not going to NOT make that rhyme.  If I was reading this article and someone was talking about pie and reaching FI and DIDN’T rhyme, I’d just assume they were an ignoramus.

What’s the point of the pie chart thing?

When I have a big project to do I like to break it down into smaller parts.  Here’s a real world example, incase you don’t believe I like to break projects down, IRL for some reason:

We have a 5-plex building we’re working on right now.  Sometimes I have to sweep it out to keep it clean for the trades.  It’s an overwhelming project.  To combat this anxiety I break the job down into many small, manageable pieces.  Instead of thinking about the whole building I focus on sweeping out one room at a time.  Then I think about one floor at a time, and finally one unit at a time.  After approximately only 27 hours of sweeping, I've swept out the entire building.

Breaking a huge project down like this helps me to visualize how far I’ve come and how much work I have left to do.  

In terms of finance I like to visualize a pie chart.  Every hour of the pie chart that gets filled in, or eaten, if you will, I think, “F**king sweet.  Another hour paid for.”  I don’t always say this exact phrase, I’m not a weirdo.  I do mentally keep track of how many slices of pie we’ve eaten though. Sometimes I say to myself, “This hour of perpetual freedom is sponsored by index funds.  Index funds, the smartest way to invest.”

Side note: Yes, I am able to keep myself easily entertained by talking to myself.  That’s mostly what I’m doing here.  When you write it down people let you talk to yourself as much as you want.  When I was a kid I used to throw a ball at the wall for hours.  Throw and catch. Throw and catch.  I’d just do that for fun.  So, talking to myself for entertainment is a real step up.

Question: I’m interested. Can you do a Pie example using simple math?

Answer: Yes

Let’s say you need $960,000 to retire using the 4% rule.  

Reader: I need a million, not $960,000

Me: Shhhh…Simple math.

Since there’s 24 hours in a day, take your $960,000 and divide by 24.  That means to pay for one hour of perpetual freedom you need to have $40,000 invested.  Got it?  Good.  Ready for a pop quiz?

If you have $200,000 in your portfolio how many hours of perpetual freedom have you paid for assuming you need $960,000 total to reach FI?

Answer: 5 hours of perpetual freedom

960,000/24= 40,000

200,000/40,000= 5

Wasn’t that fun?

The average Earth human only needs 24 hours of freedom per day. Once you’ve filled out all 24 pie slices you’re done, Holmes.  If you feel like you’ll need a cool million to reach financial independence, you need $41,667 to buy an hour of perpetual freedom.

I’ve found this to be a more manageable goal than just looking up at the million dollar mark and feeling like I’ll never get there.  Instead of thinking of it in terms of FI or not FI, think of it in terms of how many hours of FI you’ve accumulated.  

“41,667 dollars is too many dollars! Can you break it down further with your sexy math skills?” – a fan

Please, I’m married. But yes, yes I can.  Buying an entire hour of perpetual freedom can be overwhelming.  $41,667 isn’t a million but it’s not chump change, either. 

To break the number down further I divide by…wait for it…sixty.  Boom!

[Mr. Burrito Bowl turns toward the wind to heroically let his hair flutter in the breeze]

There’s sixty minutes in every hour.  If we need $41,667 per hour of freedom then we need just $694.45 for every minute.  I know you trust me on this.  I will not show you the equation.  What’s that?  You have a burning desire to see the equation?  Fine, I’ll do some math.  I can tell the people love Mr. Burrito Bowl’s firm grasp on basic division.

41,667/60= 694.45. See?

Fun Fact: For every $694.45 you put into your retirement accounts you’ve bought another minute of perpetual freedom.

Let’s Get Tangible

These numbers start to get more doable.  If I planned on buying a new car for $15,000 in cold hard cash but instead I bought a used one for $5,000, I just saved myself $10,000.  That $10,000 I still have buys me almost 15-minutes of freedom.  

Say you’re forced to buy a sweet electric guitar because of government regulations, or whatever.  You find one for $2,100 but instead buy one on Craigslist for only $700.  You can use the money you saved and buy yourself an additional two-minutes of freedom.  

“More Math! More Math!” – General Public

Ok, masses.  I’ll indulge you. You love the idea of breaking your goals down to the hour.  Still, $694.45 is a lot of money. Don’t worry, fam, I got you.

What Can You Buy For $11.57?

If you want to get crazy, which, of course you do, you can break it down to the second.  Assuming you need $1,000,000 to reach FI, you can buy one-second of perpetual freedom with every $11.57 you invest. 

OMG is that an earthquake? Nope.  Just the crowd going wild.  Wild with delight.  The exuberant uninhibited wild delight only math and perpetual freedom can provide.  Burrito Bowl Diary subscribers* only need to invest $11.57 to make a tangible difference in their FI goals.

Maybe $41,667 is too large of a chunk to do you any tangible good.  What about $11.57?  Most of us could save that much almost every day.  

It becomes easier to say no to eating out or buying a video game when you know every $11.57 you don’t spend is one more second of freedom.  If you haven’t started because the whole idea seems too daunting, why not start with buying one second of freedom?

Maybe this analogy is confusing and doesn’t help you.  There are many ways to look at FI and visualize how far along your journey you are.  This has helped me to feel like we aren’t just in this endless desert between no debt and financial independence.  

So there you have it. You can buy a little bit of perpetual freedom for the price of a burger.  Grab a beer, take a cold shower and relax.  You’ve earned it, fellow mathlete.

*This math does not apply to those who don’t subscribe to this blog and/or follow us on Twitter @MrBurritoBowl.  Sorry, non-subscribers, that’s just how math works. If you want every $11.57 you invest to buy you a second of perpetual freedom, you need to get with the Burrito Bowl Diaries program.

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