I catch a lot of crap from my friends who know I’m far from struggling but appear to be cheap to them. I buy most of my t-shirts from Old Navy for $5 each. I buy Lucky Jeans at Costco for $19. I only own one pair of $50 sneakers. I don’t pay for cable. I drive a 33 year old pickup truck. Occasionally I cut my own hair (quite a bit since the whole COVID thing). Long and short, I definitely don’t act rich most days.
What they don’t see is that in the first half of 2020 I invested over $70k. In the latter half of 2020 I plan to at least equal that amount of investment. They don’t see that I’ve already set aside $30k for my final home renovation. While they’re bragging about their second $15k Disney trip of the year, I’m building wealth that will pay for yearly Disney trips in perpetuity. My kids are still too young for Disney anyway. I drive my old truck about 15 miles a week, and while it’s definitely not the safest vehicle on the road, it’s free, it’s practical, and it gets more compliments than all the expensive cars in all my friends driveway’s combined.
This is no slight to the people I know. They’re not nearly as bad as people I’ve met who really try to act rich. You know the type, they borrow against their house to buy new BMW’s, they make sure you see their Rolex, they’re up to their eyes in credit card debt. I don’t associate with those people, but I sure see a lot of them. The thing is, acting rich is fleeting without the pedigree of wealth to back it up.
Every day of my life is a struggle to not act rich. I want to compete with my friends. When they talk about money, I want to tell them that I make more than them and their wives combined. I want cool watches I can hand down to my kids someday. I want a Tesla, and a beach house, and a lake house. I want to pay for that upgrade to business class every time I get on a plane. But this isn’t the time.
While my income continues to hit all time highs and my expenses keep getting lower, I’ve chosen to build wealth. By the time my kids are old enough to truly enjoy a trip to Disney, I’ll enjoy it even more because we’ll be freed. And while we’re there, I’ll act rich and have the wealth to back it up.
Freed by 50 