Fi is not the end?

 I watched an Adam Ragusea video today and Adam basically explained that his financial success has brought him great mental trauma. This is an idea that does not register for me. How can you have more money and not be happier? 

In essence, without the need to struggle to stay alive, Adam had the time or ability to question the reason for his own existence. When you are working every day for money, you work towards building a better future for yourself. Things may not be fun now, but you have a promise that in the future it will be. We suffer now so that tomorrow will be better.

But what if you have enough money? What if you don't need to work anymore?

After all, isn’t that the mission of FI? To get to that point where work is optional? I am doing all this work just so at the end of that day I can have a mental health crisis? 

Is it actually me working all the time that helps me avoid other issues in my life? Is my work a coping mechanism? When I finally stop working and I am still unhappy, I won’t even have an excuse to be unhappy. Tomorrow is here and I’m still not better. So what then?

On countless occasions we are told “money doesn't buy happiness.” Celebrities say it all the time. And despite being told that, I don't believe it. I still think getting more money will make me happier. And you know, I still think I'm right.

Think of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The lowest needs I think are all solved by money: food, shelter, etc. Money can solve that. Whereas, higher functions (love, self-actualization, etc.) can’t be solved with money. That said, you need to overcome the lower tiers before you can reach the higher ones. 

Sure, the struggle we face at any level can be tough. Realizing actualization is tough, but that doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile and can’t bring us enjoyment. In fact, I think it is important for us to process as humans. Just living a subsistence lifestyle is not the end goal. You should question why you exist! You should work on improving yourself. To thrive, I think you really do need money, otherwise you will be merely surviving. 

While the challenges as we move up the pyramid of needs may get harder, that is actually a good thing. It's good to challenge yourself and improve. Don’t just cope in life. Don’t just fill your day with meaningless things to do. Do something that gives you purpose, that makes you feel like you are really fulfilling your mission in life. If you don’t have something like that, maybe it is time you find it!

Of course life shouldn’t be all purpose and mission driven. You should also do things like that you enjoy simply for the fact that you enjoy them. So this is all why I think having more money will help me, not hurt me. I can focus on my mission in life and I can spend more time doing things I enjoy. 

So going back to the title of this blogpost, FI is not the end! Not at all. Actually, FI doesn’t even mean you need to stop working. FI just means you could retire if you wanted to. But even if you do want to retire early (the RE of FIRE), you should still be developing as a person. You will still have purpose in life, you just need to find it. Everyone should have more purpose than just living.