Since middle school, I knew I wanted to go to business school. I had dreams of working at a Fortune 500 company and climbing the corporate ladder. I envisioned living in my dream home and driving my dream car. I worked hard through college and got that business degree and then went on and got my MBA graduate degree. I have worked in some capacity since I was 9 years old. Working for my parent’s business in the summers and then starting my own babysitting business at age 12. Once I turned 16, I got a job at the local grocery store. I worked full time while taking a full load of classes in college and bought my first house at 22. I truly loved working and the money that came with it. I worked hard and played hard. I went on one big trip every year in college that I would save up to take. I graduated with my MBA in 2008 during the mortgage crisis. I was working in banking at the time as a manager for what would be considered peanuts today, but I was grateful to still have a job as so many others did not at the time.
Once married, Mr. Bug and I were the typical Americans working our way up the corporate ladder and inflating our lifestyle along the way. We bought our dream home and got to the point where we were taking trips every month with one big lavish trip every year. Shopping sprees and fancy dinners out on the weekends were the norm. We worked hard for our money so we should spend it on all the things that make us happy right?
A few years into the corporate world, I realized that everything I had always dreamed about maybe wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Maybe it wasn’t all about the Benjamins like I thought it was. Maybe it was about something more. Maybe it’s about being happy and content in life. And maybe, we could use those Benjamins to buy our happiness.
People love to say that money can’t buy happiness but money CAN buy you freedom. This is the way we started looking at money. To buy our freedom to choose how we want to live our lives. Freedom to choose when it is time to move on to a better job that maybe doesn’t pay as much but brings us greater joy and a better work/life balance. Saving our hard-earned money rather than blowing it buys us F-You money and gives us the opportunity to take a break from work when needed. This became very important when I got laid off two months ago. I was able to take time off and not scramble to find a new job because we need to pay bills.
We realized we could use our income to invest in our future and live the life we want on our terms. We realized we didn’t need the biggest house, newest cars, and designer clothes to make us happy. We started saving over 50% of our income in order to fund our future and plan an escape from the rat race. We realized we could live off of substantially less than we initially anticipated and were able to fully fund our retirement and become debt free. When we stopped focusing on attaining the next big thing (job, car, house, etc.), we were able to realize what is truly important to us and to start focusing on those things exclusively.
We now spend much more time on our physical and mental health and we prioritize time with family, friends, and each other. We still have the travel bug and I don’t see that going away any time soon, but it is easy to budget for travel when it is a priority and household living expenses are kept low. The key is to find out what truly makes you happy in life and put your focus towards it. What truly makes you happy? Are you putting your focus and energy into making your dream life a reality?
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