I first heard about ERE 4 years ago through Jacob's blog and book, and have been on and off implementing the philosophy in my own life. But now is my first time on the forum! I came here because this quote from Jacob's article "Why so few succeed" resonated with me:
I'm looking forward to joining the forums for this "support group" and to learn from you all!“Surviving” is easy; it’s the “spending less than you earn” which is hard because it makes you different. To wit, consider two families. One earns $90000 and the other earns $27000. The latter is surviving on 30% of the former just fine. No problem. However, it would take a self-discipline and an independent streak for the $90000 family to not spend in the same way as their friends and colleagues. On the other hand, if those friends and colleagues were spending less, it would be no problem at all. It’s the “not fitting in” that’s hard. This is why the ERE forums have come to serve almost as a support group for what are typically highly competent people who “should” be spending 5 times more than they do, at least according to everybody else. Many of the questions actually deal with the grief caused by other “well-meaning” people who don’t get it, not by the actual “surviving”.