Apologies for the radio silence the last couple of weeks. Our family had a very happy, unexpected development. Our foster care license was issued earlier than anticipated, and the same day we were notified that a 10-month-old minion was joining our crew! The last two weeks have been quite the adjustment, but now we are all settling in and getting back into our regular routine after Thanksgiving.
In light of our recent addition, I wanted to share a bit about a conversation I recently had with a reporter about our journey to FI and how we anticipate maneuvering when unexpected events occur. Basically, she was curious about how pursuers of FI are preparing for the big "what ifs" of life. While we weren’t “surprised” by the call that a little one would be joining us, there are still a multitude of unknowns in our lives that might alter or adjust our plans to reach financial independence. Among these possibilities are small additions (if we are called upon to adopt one of our foster children), disability, death, loss of jobs, etc. Our plans for addressing any of these possibilities can be best summed up by lifestyle design, diversification, and preparedness.
We are in the process of designing our lives to be fulfilling, meaningful, and fun TODAY. Our goal is to be financially independent so that we can do self-funded philanthropic work. It’s a worthy goal and one that I am confident we will reach decades before our peers are able to retire. However, we are never guaranteed that we will reach the age where we can achieve that goal. It is crucial to live your best life today. To us, that means learning how to be content and present without spending gobs of money to do so. We truly believe that simplicity helps to foster contentment and gratitude. We are living well below our means and will continue to do so without feeling like we are missing out. I’m not worried about financial “bumps” like adoption, loss of a job, or short-term disability because we know how to live frugally. We may not be able to shovel money towards our goals, but we can still get by.
Designing our lives also means setting those short-term goals on the way to FI. In 5 years, we want to have over $100k in various investments and a mobile tiny home so that we can comfortably and confidently travel to all of the National Parks with our kids while Mr. Sim works as a digital nomad. You don’t have to wait until you hit your FI number to live in unusual and unique ways. If one of us is to have an untimely death, I don’t want the other, or our kids, to have regrets about not living the life that we wanted because we were too afraid of the unexpected to live. As I told the reporter, there will be financial setbacks in life whether or not we are pursuing FI. However, if we are pursuing or at FI, those setbacks will be much more manageable with the lifestyle that it takes to achieve FI.
Everyone knows to diversify your assets. So, yes, I mean that. But I also want to focus on the importance of the diversification of skills. I am a big proponent of lifetime learning. Mr. Sim and I frequently evaluate where we want to go and what we need to learn to get there. For him, the IT field is ever-changing. He makes a point to spend some of his work day reading up on new technologies, training in a new skill, or pursuing a certification. I’ve dabbled in so many areas. I’m currently reading up on real estate, digital entrepreneurship, and keep up on learning more in my degree field of Family Studies. We plant to continue learning even once we hit our FI number in case of some bizarre twist in the market, financial drain, or an itch to go back to work. Before we hit that number, diversifying our skills will be helpful in case of job loss, creating multiple streams of income, or finding an alternate type of work in case of long-term disability.
It’s extraordinarily important to be as prepared as possible for common financial drains like long-term disability, medical problems, home and auto tragedies, and death. I’m a big believer in paying for great insurance. It’s never fun to think of what might happen, but my previous job as an insurance adjuster taught me that those things happen whether you think about them or not. What matters is that you are prepared.
We do carry comprehensive vehicle insurance, replacement cost renters insurance, term life insurance policies (for both of us), great medical insurance, and disability. Once our assets are higher, we will also get an umbrella policy. As a pursuer of FI, it’s important to not only think of insurance as being a backup to help you get through difficult circumstances, but also being there to protect your assets. Once we do hit FI, we may not renew our term life policies because our kids will be older and one of us can survive just as easily on our nest egg as two of us, but we will do a cost-analysis to see if a policy would still be beneficial to hold.
Here’s what it all boils down to: FI is not the end goal. Living a life of value, purpose, and joy is the end goal. Bumps may come along that push back our FI date by a few months or even a few years. However, if we are focused on designing and living life well today, we will not truly be losing much. It’s ok to dream big and audaciously. It’s ok to have goals that no one else believes you can achieve. It’s important to design your life accordingly, diversify, and be prepared.
