Ladies and gentleman. Boys and girls. People of all ages, shapes, and sizes. Have I got an opportunity for you!
Imagine… world travel, fine dining, never work again… all of this can be yours, and more!
The path to riches beyond your wildest imagination is all contained in my early retirement home study course, for the low low monthly price of…. $0.
Selling the Dream
Of course, I don’t actually have a home study course so the price is right.
We just returned to Taiwan from our last summer holiday in Bali, where we spent time enjoying the pools and beaches, savoring the delightful Balinese cuisine, hiking up a volcano to watch the sunrise, reading a few books, and watching random people argue on Twitter. It was great!
I really feel like we are living the dream. Our dream, anyway. Life is good.
Which is probably why, after a recent story in Business Insider* about how retiring early changed money habits, something seemed really off when I noticed a chorus of people saying things like:
“These people are just selling the dream!” – numerous random Twitter accounts
* my contribution: “we don’t really think about money anymore.”
What does it mean to sell the dream?
To me, selling the dream is something you might see with Multilevel Marketing, Ponzi schemes, and online business “courses.” It’s also popular with junk food and alcohol marketers and real estate agents. The idea is you promote something that is unattainable and then sell a solution. Most of these “solutions” are only good for the one doing the selling. Some are fuzzy ethically and others are actual fraud (e.g. Bernie Madoff.)
Some examples:
“Drink beer and smoke cigarettes and you too will be super popular and look like a professional model!”
“I turned $10 into $10 million in just 3 weeks with 1 simple trick!” – and now instead of turning $10 million into $1 billion, I’m going to spend all of my time teaching you what I did for the amazingly low price of only $99.
“You can make money selling products you know and love to your friends and family!” – because your “friends” and family love buying exciting things like vitamins and laundry detergent from the high school classmate they haven’t seen in 20 years.
“I’ll teach you how to sell my online course about how to sell online courses!” – PT Barnum loves this one
People fall for these all the time, which is why they are so common. Hopefully, the worst that happens is you are out of $99 or have a multigenerational supply of cleaning products…
… although the worst might be excessive skepticism and a dearth of hope in the general populace.
For example, these comments from an older article on Yahoo:
Selling the Retire Early, Travel the World Dream
20 years ago I was a huge skeptic. I thought passive income and retiring early were bull$shit.
17 years ago I made early retirement a goal and started looking at it with math rather than emotions.
7 years ago I quit my job with a 60-year emergency fund. At the same time, I started blogging so friends and family could follow along, both literally and figuratively.
So let’s see…
- Promoting an idea that a lot of people think is unattainable. Check.
- Encourages friends and family to do it too. Check.
- Provides a solution. Check.
What do you know, I really am selling the dream!
Except:
Everything on this site is free to read.
Implementing our tax strategies and travel hacking ideas will save you thousands of dollars. These also cost $0.
The worst that can happen is you have some free vacations and a fat bank account.
Or as another Yahoo comment put it:
BOOM! What an apt name.
Living the Dream
While doing the things I enjoy, with the people I love, without worry or concern for financial matters, I’ve also been fortunate to meet a ton of inspiring and like-minded people.
In a recent newsletter, author of Atomic Habits, James Clear, shared the following:
The most effective networking strategy I’ve found has nothing to do with conferences, cocktail hours, cold emails, or any of the common ideas you hear:
1. Do interesting things
2. Share them publicly
This is solid gold. (He also has a great hairstyle.) This is the main reason I continue blogging, although I couldn’t put it into words until I saw Mr. Clear’s insight. I dunno, our life is interesting to me.
In short, this really is living the dream. (Lots of gratitude!)
If it also happens to occasionally turn other skeptics into believers, and more importantly actors, then I’m honored to be selling the dream!
Thank you for reading, sharing, and taking action towards your own dreams!
I’m now back into Create Mode. Starting next week I’ll delve into more meaty topics. Until then: have a great week and best of luck!
To be honest, you are simply ‘sharing the dream’. Whether or not people choose to ‘buy in’ is really up to them!
I like that much better, thanks!
How Am I Pursuing the Dream? Not sure that I ever did. I came to understand early that money allows the option of living poor but poor does not provide as many options as rich. So I kept digging and piling up money and cultivating a taste for the surprises and challenges of living poorish – and for casting a quizzical eye over dream merchants.
From all you have shared over the years, it sounds like you are living the dream and then some.
Wow. Humans never cease to amaze me. The last thing I would have thought was that folks would troll you for telling folks how you’ve done it. Look I think a reset is coming and stocks will probably tank and hopefully you haven’t bet on the punch bowl just being full all the time, but if it works it works until it does not. I am not hoping you fail, clearly, just saying be careful with financial instrument based assumptions on future cash flow.
I read these posts from time to time and they almost always add value, so my take is that ‘thanks” is more in order for sharing. So thanks.
In theory it has worked even through the worst times in economic history, so we’ll be fine.
I don’t think that this blog was specifically called out for selling the unobtainable, it’s more of a general attitude that if somebody “retired” and they have a blog, then there must be some hidden motive. My unhidden motive is I like writing and it helps me think about our future while providing a great community of other people living unconventional lives. Good times.
“In theory it has worked even through the worst times in economic history”:
A bit more theoretical exposition about what works during a “Plongée Profonde” would be profoundly creative and apposite.
The Worst Retirement Ever
“The Worst Retirement Ever”:
Sir. Stoic endurance, once in a lifetime, may be a noteworthy “hair suite” virtue but to afore-sightedly fabricate wings to predictably soar over a dimly envisioned unplumbed gaping abyss would be champion of mythical proportions.
Life is an optimists game. For anybody who believes that the future will be worse than the worst we have ever seen, staying in the job market is probably the best choice.
“Life is an optimists game”:
Need not be “worse than the worst” to make soaring an enriching experience.
‘always look on the bright side of death’ – Monty Python
Champion of yore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Lauriston_Livermore
I have eliminated my housing expense by moving in and helping to care for a family member. I am increasing my passive rental income by using it to purchase index funds. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Sounds like making the best of things. I hope everyone is doing well.
What?! An advertisement for Yahoo.
Somewhere in the portfolio I own some YHOO so this is good.
Love it, Jeremy. Surround yourself (sometimes virtually) with interesting people and life will never be dull. Glad you started this little hobby project half a dozen years ago as I like to look at pretty pictures :)
I’d say reception to my blog and early retirement has been generally positive. Lots of friends and family have enjoyed the pics we put up on twitter and facebook (blog posts still in progress :) ). Living the Dream I guess except I have advertising on my site so am I guilty of Selling the Dream too? ;) I’ll leave that to the twitter-essayists to determine…
Yes, but what is your ulterior motive? What are you trying to sell, huh? Huh?!
Obviously you are terrified your investments won’t be there for the long term so you are just trying to make a quick buck off the suckers out there.
Ughh! I wish I could grab everybody’s ears and force them to listen to the message of FI. Anyway, just picked the audible version of atomic habits. Looking forward to getting into it!
It’s a great read/listen.
Money is freedom is a difficult thing to wrap your mind around. Therefore anybody who has money is selling something / trying to take advantage of you.
A lot of people are just set in their ways. They won’t even consider an alternative. You have to be optimistic to retire early. That’s alright. We need those people to drive the economy. I’m thankful for people who won’t retire.
I also like “sharing the dream.” That’s pretty good.
I suppose the alternative is we can all sell each other home study courses :)
I just don’t get the FIRE naysayers. They epitomize the Aesop fable of The Dog in the Manger. If you don’t want to do it, don’t do it. If you’re sensible, do it. Easy-peasy.
Control your money or your money will surely control you.
Well said.
People are just jealous! My husband and I are finally moving to Taipei for 7 months. Then it’s back to the US for a bit and then possibly moving to Taipei ‘most of the time.’ Hopefully you’ll have a meetup while we’re there. :)
Just wanted to ask, is it difficult to find English speaking doctors in Taipei? Is there a specific way to search for one? If you know of any 2 bedroom apartments for rent in the Sogo area or nearby or 2 studio apartments (my parents are coming with), we’d be happy to take any recs. Thanks!
I’ll host a 1:1 meetup any day you are free at 9 am at my favorite coffee shop.
Most people do speak some English, and doctors generally more than most. I don’t know how to narrow it down more than that.
That sounds great! Very excited and thanks for the info. :) My husband’s been reading forumosa like a crazy person recently trying to research things. I’ll be in touch once we’re in Taipei in November/December. We’ll be running around for awhile getting paperwork together and such but we’re looking forward to it all.
I enjoy your blog. I’m glad you’re writing it and sharing your ideas. I don’t think your lifestyle is for me, but that’s ok. I still learn from you.
I learn a lot from people that I have zero interest in copying their lifestyle too. It’s a wonderful world.
Haters be haters. I find it easier to just fly under the radar. I have come up against so many fixed mindsets, some of who I find are surprisingly resentful. I retired a year ago at 44 and moved to Vietnam with my young family. An ex colleague told I got brainwashed. Truth is, I meticulously planned my “escape” from corporate life 10 years ago. $3.5 million later, I beg to differ with my spendy ex colleague. Keep your posts coming, it keeps me inspired and reminds me that I somehow fit in.
True story: a couple years ago I had lunch with a bunch of guys I used to work with. Most of the lunch was them complaining about the same stuff they/we complained about while I was still working. At the end of the lunch, they asked, “So… you ready to come back to work?”
Uh… no.
Start saving some money early. Make use of retirement plans. Stay out of debt. Keep it up and you can be living the dream in a reasonable period of time. We travel the world 365 days/year and never made more than a solid average income. It is more than possible.
Not always easy, but simple.
Thank goodness you shared your dream with us. I was looking through msn or yahoo news page in 2015 and ran across an article on you and Winnie. Something along the lines of “This couple retired and travels the world on $40,000 per year”. How the hell are they doing that??? This led into reading all of your blog posts and discovering financial independence. My life has changed and my future will change, all for the better. So thank you from the bottom of my heart, for sharing with us.
It is both an honor and a privilege. Thank you! I feel all happy inside after reading this.
I want to echo what Kenmed says. Agree 110%. Thank you from me as well. I love your quant posts too, like this classic: Financial Independence: How Long Will It Take?
Great stuff on many levels. Keep on keepin on!
Thank you Enrique!
It’s interesting to see all the FIRE blowback — I think it’s related to how money is such a taboo subject for many people. I’m in the career consulting space, and there’s a lot more “selling the dream” in the professional development, small business circles. I have found the FIRE community pretty devoid of the hard sell which makes it very refreshing. But there will always be people who want to find the negative. That’s another reason that FIRE is so rewarding — you can just avoid those people and do your own thing.
I definitely do not miss the hard sell.
For me the blowback isn’t too unexpected… challenging people’s core beliefs sometimes results in anger. A great example is if I accidentally tell somebody who is 65+ that I am retired.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us via your blog. I love that you dig deep into the taxes/stock basis issues and are able to discuss your approach(es) in a clear and understandable way. I also love reading and re-reading your travel hacks. I think some people don’t want to take risks and change their lifestyle to save money. Keep up the posting.
Thank you, Deb! Have you been able to get a free vacation or two?
Yes, I have gotten two almost free vacations, Jeremy – so far. And I very likely would not have signed up for credit card and earned bonuses without having read your blog! I even explained to my youngest sister (family of 5) to sign up for Venture card and how to earn the bonus and then use those points to erase part of their airline costs for travel in January 2020.
Nice! I did the same with my sister, also a family of 5… buying plane tickets for that many people is never cheap.
Glad to hear you are back in create mode. I look forward to it.
Thanks Skip. I have a long list of ideas to explore so it should be fun.
Thanks for selling the dream.
I remember initially being sucked in by your “Artisan Bread for Stingy Lazy People” and tax minimization articles. I always loved how you live life for enjoyment and you don’t worry too much about what other people think. People can be so judgmental but you’ve brought a sense of stability and choose your own adventure to the table.
I find that with anything finance related, it’s human nature to try to find one thing that is a little off and completely discount the whole thing. I think that’s what makes people write mean comments and work until they’re forced to retire at 70.
Did you make some of that bread? Tasty stuff!
I figure the purpose of life is to be happy, so far so good.
Yes I did! Mine is no where near as pretty as winnie’s but I make it pretty regularly and it’s so delicious. I even taught some friends how to make it
I like this dream you’re selling.
Is there a financing plan available? ;)
I’m looking forward to more meaty topics in the near future.
Thanks for sharing with us!
We offer the zero down/50% of after-tax income for 15 years financing plan.
I’m not buying the hype. I think the FIRE movement is a poor choice with way too many risks. I’m not a hater but I don’t think people fully think this through and play devils advocate on what’s can go wrong. Their is a great article called “The FIRE Movements is Morally Wrong” at MrWallStreet.com that can be eye opening. Good luck to the rest.
If it is morally wrong, sign me up twice
Well that is one of the dumbest articles I have ever read. Nowhere in there does it explain why FIRE is morally wrong, and its final conclusion is people should work one year beyond what they need to, to provide for their children. If I need to work to 40 to provide for myself and then work 1 more year for my kids, I’m still retiring early at age 41.
I only read it after this comment, and I have to agree. That was some terrible thinking and writing.
OK, so now I needed to read the mrwallstreet article too. Nothing new here. Another poorly written narrow minded opinion article. It was a bit difficult to decipher, as the guy is such a poor writer, but I think he was trying to say that you need to keep working to make sure there is something left for your children. Why? Because the world will become a shitty place to be in the near future. If that is your logic, then why have kids at all? If your outlook on the world is that shitty, I would argue that having kids is a pretty selfish move in your part. Too bad there were no comments. I enjoy a good comment section from time to time 😀
“The FIRE Movements is Morally Wrong”:
Remove “Morally”, replace with ‘Ethically’ according to taste (not mine), and the article has valid points.
The point not made clearly being under capitalised (“around $750K-$1M”) for the retirement age of 30-40.
It is risky retiring with millions at 60. Risk probably in proportion to the square (or some such power) of the number of years expected in retirement.
Early retirees with modest capital would do well to heed advice to have reliable active investments such as businesses – and thus be semi-retirees and semi-FIREes. If passive investments go up in smoke, the active investments can be fired up.
Two better titles:
Get off my lawn!
I didn’t read the syllabus.
I’m in my 40s and I wish FIRE was around when I was in my 20s. Kids these days (sheesh, do I sound old!) are so lucky, they have YouTube and blogs like this to show them the way. Wanna know something about investing? Google it! It’s everywhere.
Back in my day we didn’t have Google and YouTube to educate us. I’m so fortunate that I have a good job that pays well, so it was easy for me to catch up on my investments because I had a lot of capital to deploy. (The longest bull run in history doesn’t hurt!) I feel bad for all the people my age, though, who aren’t so fortunate.
And hey, GCC, maybe I’ll run into you in Taiwan one day. Been there twice and loved the place eveyr time!
I’m always up for a coffee!
Love This!! Pursuing my dream of travel when I am not working. Just spent 5 weeks in South America, eating food, doing the Inca Trail, having fun in the Uyuni Salt flats of Bolivia, and having cheap wine in Chile. Plus saving 50% of our take home salary here in Taiwan. Our dream of FI is not quite there yet, but we are working hard on it. Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it.
Nice quote Ferris ;)
“If you don’t stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it.”
You’re so right. I probably spend an absurd amount of time in airports waiting for planes these days (I think I average about 60 international airport layovers a year now, speaking nothing of domestic airports!), but it always reminds me when I see elderly people having such difficulty traveling to DO IT NOW WHILE YOU STILL CAN. You can always work harder and make more money, but you can’t make more time.
I think the skeptics need to get more creative with their comments, might help their cause.
From your first example:
“The cigarette does the smoking, your just the sucker” Marlboro Man
Max
I like this dream “Retire Early and Travel the World”
Travel the World and the (seventy) seven seas: https://www.google.com/search?&q=4k+travel+video+-+YouTube
‘Have 4k smart TV, internet connection and arm chair – will travel and be home for tea.’
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.” – Bilbo Baggins
“dangerous business” (‘You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to’):
From a hike on the Internet Super Highway – ‘How trees talk to each other | Suzanne Simard’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un2yBgIAxYs
I think you have a great plan … we may relocate to Ontario or BC to a small city where houses are cheap … from Asia (couple of decades) … for our daughter’s school …. for several years … while globe trotting during the summers … then back to Asia after that …….. been living the dream for quite a while now too. FI is good :) So many choices …
“read the mrwallstreet article too. Nothing new”:
Actually Mr Wall St. was being a little generous to FIRE by assuming FIREes would continue to deflate their income by withdrawing a constant $40,000 every year – rather than increasing 3% + 1% each year to allow for consumer price and living standard inflation.
With $500,000 capital, making 4% annual allowance for price and living inflation results in exhausting capital in 14.x years rather than 22.x years in Mr Wall St.’s example. To last 23.0 years, capital of $753,649.78 would be required – otherwise using Mr Wall St.’s example parameters.
My preference is to avoid exhaustion of capital and see income >= withdrawals (no net withdrawal). That requires initial capital of $2,311,111.11
No need to scorch each others turf – numbers can be helpful smoke signals.
Actually… no.
No need to discuss this further here. The analysis is poor and has been done better elsewhere with countless discussion.
Yeah… Not sure that is what he was saying at all. However, I appreciate that you can get your well thought out point across in a few short paragraphs… instead lengthy mess of an article.
I recently enjoyed a mini retirement break and found that friends just kept asking me when I am going back to work – even though I have been self-employed for 20-years! Its funny when people think there is something wrong with not working and yet being self-sufficient and not relying on any government handouts or banks.
Having been involved with internet marketing for a few years all too often seen the “selling the dream” lifestyle, its impossible to ignore thanks to Facebook. If you’re not immersed in this life its easy to see why people are either suckered into buying useful information or end up dismissing it entirely.
As for living the dream, mine has been simple… dont rely on employer or government for your income. Be self sufficient and enjoy what you do. Oh and live where you want.
Thanks for the great content, missed the 3-4 week break from writing you had last month ;)
““I turned $10 into $10 million in just 3 weeks with 1 simple trick!” – and now instead of turning $10 million into $1 billion, I’m going to spend all of my time teaching you what I did for the amazingly low price of only $99.” I loled and sent this to so many of my friends. FIRE is hard to get people to believe even when you’re not selling a thing!
FIRE is just a fancy acronym for standard 1950s household advice: save one income, spend the other