The most destructive force to financial independence is – your spouse!
Statistically, fifty percents of you will be with a different mate by the time you are in your 60’s.
Not by coincident, your wealth is reduced 50 percents in the same time frame.
On the average, the FI track will take anywhere from 10 to 40 years to cross the finish line – simply calculated with your average income, annual expenses and average return.
Just for a moment of sanity – would you commit to something that has a 50 percents of failure in 10 to 40 years time frame?
In reality, the statistic is worse for anyone who has decided to embrace the FIRE revolution. Unless you are executing the FI plan as a lone cowgirl/cowboy, the probability you and your spouse will end up in divorce is 90 percents – even after you have crossed the finish line.
The 50 percents of divorce data is tabulated from the average people who live average an average life with little foresight of their future 10 to 20 years in the future.
Once you have decide to take on the FI track, you can no longer live an average life with the average pace – this must be clearly understood by you and your spouse prior to the taking of the first step toward the FI endeavor.
Let’s step a moment away from the financial topic and use the analogy of working out with the goal of getting to your ideal weight.
The obesity rate is at an all time high here in the United States. It is a normalcy to find at least one person in any household who is overweight.
As a result, the health and fitness industry is a trillion dollar niche as of the first quarter of the 21st century.
Being in shape is no longer a fad, it is an endeavor everyone fantasizes and dreams off for years to come – very similar to financial independence, but it is much more easier to achieve.
Many of you should have many instances of experiences of trying to get into shape over the years – designed an awesome workout routine, a healthy diet and the discipline to hit the gym on schedule.
If you are single and have very few friends, the chance of success is very high in a short period of time. There were not much distractions and temptations – assuming you are self-motivated (this is actually a huge assumption).
If you have a mate at home who does not believe in the same endeavor as you, or more compassionately stated does not have the will power to execute the game plan with you – your chance of success will reduce to 10 percents.
We are biologically and psychologically impacted by our surroundings so much more than our brain is consciously perceived.
This lighted heart analogy of working out in trying to stay fit is an experience most of us must have came across few times throughout our lives.
Financial independence is not a relatable experience. It will happen just once in a life time for most of us, but the endeavor is exactly the same as health and fitness – with much more stringent in requirement in the detail of the planning and the discipline in execution.
With the health and fitness endeavor, if you and your mate are not in the same pace, the worse case fall within the 50 percents divorce rate statistic – the best case is where one of you will end up live alone in old age for a very long time because one mate will die much sooner than the other.
As for the FI endeavor, the 90 percents failure rate dictated that you and you mate have to financially be on the same page day one.
To have the same financial independence goal, the financial target must be calculated with art and science. The math of financial is fundamentally lack of emotion – it is black and white.
The art of relationship is the gray and must be accounted for when deciding on the number of years as the target for FI.
If you can lose 100 pounds in 1 year, but your spouse can do it in 5 years – what is the optimal years for both of you to lose 100 pounds?
We are all genetically wired with different level of ambition, determination and discipline – very few FIRE implementers ask this question in the planning phrase.
Because of the insurmountable hurdle of relationship, many decided to take on the FI journey as a solo.
The movie Into the Wild depicted the life of Christopher McCandless who died alone in an abandoned bus in the wild Alaska – one of his last written words were “…Happiness is only real when shared…”.
Financial Independence is and will never be the end goal of for all life ever graced the surface of this earth.
Fundamentally, it takes a tremendous amount of time to get to the finish line – why would any of you bet all of your happiness on FIRE?
There are so much aspects of life you are leaving behind because of the solo journey and your uncompromised position on the financial independence fundamentals.
I always have reservation toward talking heads who spouted FIRE revolution without having any mates and children to share their monumental achievement.
Yes, spouse and children will slow you down in the FI endeavor. But, the motivation, the inspiration and the meaning far outweighed the negativity in pace. More wisely – it is all in the journey and not the destination.
It is far better to have the FI journey partner including the risk of failure than crossing the finish line – alone.
The best metric to reduce the 90 percents failure rate in the FI partnership is time – the targeted years for achieving financial independence.
Back to the workout example, if I can lose 100 lbs in 1 years and my partner can lose 100 lb in 5 years – the optimal targeted years for both partners to lose 100 lbs is 5 years.
The same strategy can be applied to the FI partnership. Having the additional years to accommodate the differences in the partners is the ultimate solution to reducing the high failure rate.
Most of us are much more cerebral when death is around the corner. Christopher McCandless finally understood – happiness is only real when shared!
Let’s play the game of life!
