Take the Lesser Known Path
June 8, 2014
OK, so you want to be financial independent. Is taking the same path as average Joe going to get you there? Joe’s road is large and clearly marked, however it is very long and winds a great deal, conveniently taking you via all the major shopping malls. However, I’m not sure this road reaches the final destination of the promised land of the financially free.
Instead, take the lesser known trail, it’s the small one on the side that looks like a bike path, and you can see just a few people walking and biking on it. These people look pretty average, though certainly a lot less fatter through all the exercise they have been doing, and they can also be spotted to stop once in a while along the way to smell the roses. This crowd is certainly not driving the latest luxury brand 4×4 at 80mph, while wearing the snazziest suit and sipping on their third store bought latte for the morning; this is a common occurrence on average Joe’s multi-lane highway.
Riding along with Joe you’ll save an average of 5% of your income a year (hey, at least you are car pooling). However, biking along with your buddies on the lesser known path you’ll be more at 50%, saving in 1 year as much as Joe saves in 10 years!
Hanging out with the riders of the lesser known trail, you discover a secret to their success. They work hard to get rid of convenience:
They take their lunch to work in a backpack instead of buying it, saving $10 a day. They have fruits and vegetables included that they grew themselves, now having the tastiest, freshest organic food at a fraction of the cost from the supermarket.
They have ditched cable, saving about $1000 a year, and read books for free from the library instead.
They maximize their 401K contributions, saving currently $17500 a year, while returning a ~5K in taxes, which is immediately put into their Roth IRA.
They have dropped their unlimited cell phone plan at $80 a month for a smaller carrier/prepaid phone at much less than half the cost. A couple of particularly rebellious ones have ditched the phone all together!
They moved close to work, perhaps even a couple of miles away, so not spending thousands a year on gas, insurance, maintenance etc. Most have ditched their car together, in favor of a really nice mountain bike, which was probably acquired second hand from craigslist.
From all these savings in the lesser known path, their student loans have been paid off, houses bought with 20% or often much greater amounts of cash down, and at only 15 years mortgage, if a mortgage was needed at all.
However, one word of warning. Not going along with average Joe may lead to lots of name calling, shouting aimed your way in the beginning of this trail. I’m sure the average Joes will say that you are crazy to take this lesser known path. They will ask why put yourself through such hardship, when you can cruise in your V8 engine car lined with luxury leather, stopping to shop to and from along the way to work.
However, what the Joe’s don’t know is that many of the people on this lesser known path aren’t even going to work. They have already reached the land of the financially free, they just enjoy this path so much, the sunshine and the fresh air, and encouraging the early riders that haven’t made it yet to keep going, as it’s a journey truley worth taking.