This post by Mike BoS is the closest to my reasons for ER/FI

Freedom_2018 · Post by **Freedom_2018** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 9:17 pm

http://lackingambition.com/?p=756
Underneath all the calculations on SWR, accumulating "enough" savings and deciding on what stocks to buy/sell is this underlying 'truth' of my life:
"Some of us prefer to spend our time seeking truth, love, justice and beauty. – Reveling in friendship, an afternoon in the sun, and endless time to study and explore as we wish. – In an effort not to raise our paychecks, but our minds. Some of us study for our souls first, and our resumes second. There are people who don’t seek to define themselves by the title some company has bestowed upon them. There are as many ways to live as there are men."
Well said.
Now only if I can get my parents, brother and some other folks to read it

Maus · Post by **Maus** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 11:26 pm

@Freedom_2018

That @MikeBOS has definitely got the golden tongue. He's going to a make a great attorney, even if he never has a single client, simply by being an advocate for transcendental values. Thanks for sharing.

mikeBOS · Post by **mikeBOS** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 5:18 am

Oh, go on!
Thanks guys.

Matthew · Post by **Matthew** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 5:11 pm

I also think you rock!

jennypenny · Post by **jennypenny** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 4:14 pm

@MikeBOS--I finally had a chance to read through your blog this morning. It is beautifully written. I hope you continue to write regardless of the path you take after law school. You have a gift.

Dragline · Post by **Dragline** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 4:45 pm

I honestly think your generation is much less consumerist than mine (X) or my elder Boomers -- they just haven't all figured that out yet. They do need voices such as yours to channel what many are feeling.
Your generation, which also encompasses my children, has the benefit of a general desire to get along and build community, unlike the free-agent loners of mine or the separate armed camps of my elders (that were formed and sealed in concrete in the 60s and 70s).
I think older people sometimes confuse the Millennials intense preference and use of technology as "consumerist", because they are using their own frame of reference. I think it really reflects just a strong desire to be connected.

HSpencer · Post by **HSpencer** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 7:11 pm

@dragline
Not all boomers are consumerists, but a great many are. I am an elder boomer, but one raised with frugal principles. I mean a couple that still have the pair of mallard duck bathroom plaques that they got for a wedding gift in 1965 really cannot be considered consumerists can they? LOL.

True, the boomers felt secure in finances during the rush from WWII to 9/11, and a few years after. A lot of boomers I know had homes paid or nearly paid, and they went McMansion as soon as that rage came around. I remember driving around with my wife and seeing all the building, and asking each other "Who do we know who can afford such houses as these?" Answer" "Truthfully, nobody". So the young yuppies and the XBOX generation and yes, yes the boomers also went over the edge with the sail torn. It was so easy to go McMansion for so many. Now we have people 65 plus years old still working and trying to pay off an impossible mortgage or worse have lost it all to foreclosure. Not just the McMansion, but the Lexus and BMW, after all the boomer deserves it right? Well, they can think they do but it did not work out all the time financially for them. Their eyes were clouded by the greed.

Said all that to say this: Yep boomers failed in (a) following the right financial paths when they were the ones having it made. (b) Set bad examples for their kids financially. (c) Set the tone for greed in society.

My bottom line though is that not "all" of us did that.

Smiles

Dragline · Post by **Dragline** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 3:54 am

@HSpencer -- I appreciate that. Generational theory is not so much about individuals but about the majorities that exist in the particular stratus. So for most people in a given generation, its not a question of whether they fall into their generation's stereotypes, but whether they KNOW a lot of peers that "resemble that remark". And I always find that they do. This is what makes Strauss & Howe's works (Generation, 4th Turning, etc.) so prescient.
Lots of boomers are, in fact, frugal (esp. followers of YMOYL), but usually for different reasons than the younger set. See the Simple Living forum for exemplars.
I find myself being community oriented in a sea of individualist opportunists, but such is the way the die is sometimes cast. Millenials make me happy, though.

Dragline · Post by **Dragline** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 5:57 am

And this reminds me why:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vcgCG60 ... e=youtu.be