In Defense Of Normalcy
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I am, by most accounts, a pretty boring guy. I like routine.
I go to the same place for lunch almost every single day, and order the exact same thing. I’ve eaten the same toast and peanut butter breakfast every single weekday for years. I wear the same jeans each weekend. When I go to the usual restaurant with the usual friends, they can usually predict what I’m going to order. I am pretty much the exact opposite of spontaneous.
There’s a couple reasons why I think I’m so predictable. Firstly, that’s just the kind of guy I am. I figure out what I like, and I’m generally pretty loyal to it. Why would I take a chance with something new when I know I like the status quo? Secondly, somewhat related to the first point, I like my life. I like my job, I like being able to disguise penis jokes as a financial blog, I like my friends, and so forth.
It seems like everywhere I go on the internet, people are singing the praises of the unconventional life. There are people, (I’m not going to say who, but it rhymes with Man vs. Debt) who have an entire blog dedicated to doing all sorts of wonderful things, travelling to all sorts of wonderful places and making a difference in people’s lives, gosh darn it. Their tone is often like Jim Nantz’s when announcing the Masters, like they’re constantly in awe of all the wonder around them.
I shouldn’t just pick on Baker, because there are plenty of people who are just as guilty. Have you ever gone to one of those retire early blogs? Some do a nice job of talking about the steps needed to accomplish financial independence, but they’re vastly outnumbered by those people who cannot wait to throw off the shackles of (gasp!) having a normal job. Retirement will be better than blow jobs and cheeseburgers, once they finally manage to scrape together enough capital.
It’s the same thing with those people who talk about making money online. Build niche sites, they say, and watch the passive income roll in… at a rate of tens of dollars per month. Build a blog and update it daily they say, and within a year you’ll be able to live off the gravy train of text ads and staff writers. Take it to the next level and you can start raking in serious cash. Whoops, was that Google stripping your ragerank? NOT FAIR!
The common theme among all these types of blog is simple. They’re selling a dream. The dream is of financial independence, but without the 40 years of working your ass off and sacrificing to get there. If financial independence is something worth working hard for decades to accomplish, we all know people are going to try to take shortcuts to get there in a year or two. Hell, why do you think Yakezie is so popular? Oh wait, I forgot. Selflessly helping others.
The point is, all these blogs have a common purpose. They’re selling a dream. The dream is financial independence, and the time frame is short. Everybody who isn’t satisfied with their life is drawn to the dream and the freedom the dream provides. Work online in my pajamas? Oh boy.
Here’s my message for everyone who reads this blog who has given into the temptation of the dream. Stop. Stop with the bullshit. Stop with the lies you tell yourself. Stop with the grand visions of online supremacy. Stop with the dreams of early retirement. Just stop.
Instead, embrace the normal. How about, you find a real job you actually like, and do it? Or, if you’re 100% sure of the entrepreneurial route, run a business that isn’t solely online. These people are young, well educated, and they’ve only often worked for someone else for a few short years, and yet they’re sick of it all already? Really? Real life sucks sometimes guys.
Can we, as an entire group on the internet, put a stop to this crap? I know, the economy is bad, and bosses suck, and big faceless corporations regularly drown cute puppies. There are all sorts of paths you can take that don’t involve the Fortune 500. There are thousands of different jobs you can get and there are thousands of different businesses you can run. Here’s the deal though – there’s no shortcuts along that path. There’s no quick route to riches if you do things the old fashioned way.
I hate to break it to you, but you’re probably not that good at blogging. You’re not good enough to become nearly as successful as the people pushing the dream. If you’re lucky, you’ll make a mediocre living, assuming Google doesn’t strip you of what it gave you in the first place. You’re not going to be travelling the world while making your millions telling people how they can make their millions blogging. I know the Kool-aid is delicious, but you have to stop drinking it.
Probably a full 95% of my readers are happy with their normal lives. They do normal things like go to work, play with their kids and randomly make hobos fight and post these fights on Youtube. If they’re smart, they’re saving as much of their income as possible towards that elusive goal of becoming rich. If they’re really ambitious, they’ve even got some sort of side hustle. All they need to do is repeat this for 40 odd years, and they end up with a pretty decent nest egg.
That is the way you’re most likely to become wealthy. It’s boring. It’s unglamorous. It’s akin to eating the same Subway sandwich for lunch every single day. It’s a hell of a lot of work, but it represents the best chance you’ve got. Throw away all those grand dreams and embrace the normal. And while you’re at it, tell Baker he’s a douche.
Dave-Financial Conflict Coach:
April 19th, 2012 at 4:58 am
A very candid description of something I know as the “Triangle of Satisfaction” – Psychology, Process, Results. Many of the bloggers you describe use emotional appeals to attract readers/customers (Psychology). They say they can give you secrets, tips, “proven systems”, etc. to build a successful online business/earn passive income (Process). But when those procedures don’t work, their financial dreams don’t come true in a short time & the ideas lack true substance (Result)- they quickly become dissatisfied and give up.
Many couples end up arguing about money spent on these types of programs. It’s a sad cycle.
Davecollins41:
April 19th, 2012 at 5:24 am
Nelson,
I write for one of those “retire early” blogs (maybe I’m douchey????) – I think that where we differ in opinion is what we conceive as normal. Your “normal” of working 40 hours a week for 40 years (I read you got Friday afternoons off now though) is not my idea of normal.
On most accounts I think we live very similar lives. I enjoy my job, which is a normal 8-hour a day / 5 days per week gig. I’ve studied my ass off to be an accountant so I can do better at my job (or something in the same field, because I like it that much).
That being said, I would prefer not to have to work. You state that the “dream of the retire early blogs is [of]financial independence, less the 40 years of working your ass off and sacrificing to get there”. I guess my take on this statement would be – if I can have financial independence in 15 years of working my ass off and sacrificing, how is that different? In the scheme of retire early people, I probably fall into the range of the more selfish.
My wife and I would prefer to get the work part of our lives over with so we can do other things full-time rather than just a few weeks of the year. We don’t want kids, because we think there’s enough people around already and well, it just seems like a pain to be responsible for another person for a minimum of 20 years. We don’t have any grand plans of saving the world when we retire – we’d just like to do what we want to do, whether that’s reading a book a day going for a 3-hour walk or getting away from the cold Canadian winter for a couple months at a time.
I’m not really sure what I’m sacrificing right now either – I have a house, a car, I go on vacations to warm places, I am addicted to electronics so have probably too many of those, and spend money where smarter personal finance people would never think of spending it (read gambling, drinking, and golf). I visit with friends and family probably 40 out of 52 weekends of the year, or my wife would have talked me into a dog too (we didn’t want to impose a dog on these people).
I’m well aware that real life sucks. I have made it (in my own mind, and hopefully in my spouses) pretty good. I don’t buy the 40 years at your job is normal though. I get paid enough money now that I can save a large enough proportion of it to not have to work. I see the alternative of spending the money I’m making on crap that I don’t need or won’t use a waste, and would rather pay off my house in 5 years, use the cashflow I’ve freed up on that to invest and have the opportunity to leave the workforce in my mid-forties if I want to. I have no aspirations of being rich – which is all that would happen if I didn’t retire early. I’d just have a bunch of money that I would probably never spend.
Anyways, maybe this rambling response doesn’t make any sense. I just thought I’d explain the other side (hopefully) of the coin.
Mike Holman:
April 19th, 2012 at 6:45 am
I’ll agree with the main premise of your post that there are no short cuts and you have to work hard for quite a while to reach retirement.
I don’t understand however, why you feel the need to insult Adam in the last sentence of the post. Have you ever met or interacted with him in any way? I have and I can say that he is a really nice guy and in my mind, he certainly fits the ‘normalcy’ category.
Adam is just a regular guy who has a work/business model that is a bit different, but that is true of a lot of people. Not everyone works 9-5 in an office.
And I don’t recall him ever saying or writing that there are short cuts in doing what you want. Quite the opposite in fact.
My Alternate Life:
April 19th, 2012 at 7:10 am
I agree that it seems like a lot of people these days seem to think there is a way to get around working hard all of your life to get where you want to go. That said I don’t read those retire early blogs so can’t comment on those.
I’m all for the normal life and have no plans to retire early, I would rather enjoy my life now while I’m young than sacrifice the next 15 years to work non-stop and retire early.
Greg:
April 19th, 2012 at 8:01 am
“I don’t recall him ever saying or writing that there are short cuts in doing what you want.”
He says it, but indirectly. He’s listed his future goals on his site, and they include things like “I will donate $1 billion to charity” and “I will have a net worth of $1 million by the time I turn 30.” He’s 24 months away from 30 and is barely in the black, if at all. (I know this because he discloses his net worth, or lack thereof, on his site.)
The point is that his goals are, for him, unreachable. They’re the goals of a fanciful 6-year-old who could still theoretically reach them, not the goals of a man well into adulthood with a ridiculously short deadline and a history of not coming anywhere near achieving them. He might as well say he wants to be the first man to fly to Jupiter.
Baker sells pie in the sky, and lots of dupes have bought in. Nelson is selling reality. That doesn’t mean reality has to be miserable, but rather that it has to mean something.
Money Matters:
April 19th, 2012 at 8:53 am
To a degree I’ll agree with you that there are a lot of dreams bought and sold on the internet and in the blogosphere, and unfortunately a lot of people buy into them thinking they’ll have an easy side or full time income within a short time frame, without a ton of hard work. The truth is you can build a decent income from blogging, but it takes a whole lot more work than people let on, and for most people they just won’t have the know how or expertise needed to be more successful than most. They write about the wrong topics, they keep the focus on themselves instead of on their readers and they never get beyond their sites being a hobby – and becoming a business.
I’m all for living a normal life as well, I still have a full time job 5 days a week 8-5, and I enjoy it. I’m also a creature of habit, getting into a routine of eating the same stuff most days, having the same friends, and having the same job now for over a decade because I enjoy it. At the same time I’m all for creating side incomes that will allow me and my family to have a higher standard of living, and reach our retirement goals that much quicker – and blogging is helping me to do that.
Mike Holman:
April 19th, 2012 at 8:55 am
Greg, I don’t think your example is valid. The fact that Adam might have “shortcut to riches” types of goals for himself doesn’t mean he’s selling those short cuts to his readers, which is what Nelson stated.
Anonymous:
April 19th, 2012 at 9:01 am
Ah, the power of advertising. You’re right in that they’re selling a dream to readers–”do this, and you can quit your job AND be rich!” It’s not much different than the messages sent through other advertising mediums. Sure, you can build up a blog to become an income-producing machine, but in a lot of cases, you have to quit your full-time job to make that dream a reality.
I may be boring like you, but I enjoy my ‘normal’ life path, at least for the moment. I blog for the hell of it. If an advertiser wants to throw some cash my way, I won’t refuse it.
Miranda Marquit:
April 19th, 2012 at 10:10 am
I live a normal life, for the most part, except I sometimes spend most of the day in my pajamas. However, I work my ass off every day as a content provider. It’s been my “real job” from home for several years, and I’m the primary breadwinner. (Although that could change some now that my husband’s done with school and looking for a job. I cut back quite a bit over the last six months, and could cut back more.) I guess the real difference is that I don’t expect passive income to just roll in, and, let’s be honest, I work for others — not myself. But I like my job. I like that I can arrange my schedule the way I want. But my free time usually consists of hanging out with my husband or helping my son with his science project. I agree, though, that there are lots of stories of instant wealth on the Internet, and many of them aren’t realistic for most people. But there are also opportunities for normal people to take advantage of as well, in terms of designing a lifestyle they want.
Sunny:
April 19th, 2012 at 11:09 am
You are so funny! Penis jokes?
ahah
I am satisfy with my life, but I want more. Oh wait, that was a lie. I am not satisfy with my life, sorry. I don’t like being unemployed. I might not be good at selling the dream, but I know what I am good at, I am good at selling myself.
That one was also a penis joke.
ahaha
Jill Hardt:
April 19th, 2012 at 11:16 am
I dunno, I think it’s fine to dream big and work towards that on the condition that you’re liking that work in and of itself without requiring the payout, since it isn’t guaranteed. But yeah, if you’re gonna be disappointed when your pointless blog doesn’t make you millions, probably better to bank on a different dream.
I apply that to my 9-5 job too though. It needs to be satisfying on a day-to-day basis rather than a means to an end.
Lattituderight:
April 21st, 2012 at 8:39 pm
One of the most inspiring posts I’ve read in a long time is Financial Samurai’s “Achieving Financial Independence One Slice At A Time Post”. If you haven’t read it, you should, b/c it is a very thorough and detailed post of how he’s managed $80,000-$100,000 in yearly passive income.
(Link removed)
Nobody wants to be normal like you Nelson. That’s just boring.
Baker:
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:00 am
Hey, there. Interesting take on my personality and advice.
Email me anytime – I’d love to chat on Skype or by phone for a few minutes. I’ll also be at the Financial Blogger’s Conference this fall (if you’d like to meet me in person).
I appreciate your perspective, but I’ve learned many people aren’t content with normalcy. I do my best to help those who want something different for their lives. Best of luck! -Baker
Baker:
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:04 am
“The point is that his goals are, for him, unreachable.”
Challenge accepted, Greg. We have different perspectives of what is possible.
I’m always willing to chat via email (if you’d entertain my inner-6-year-old). I wish you the best, even if you’re aggressively rooting against me.
-Baker
TeacHer:
April 27th, 2012 at 3:49 pm
Freud said “Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.” I find it hard to believe that all these ‘retire by 25′ bloggers will be happy with spending their lives puttering away at hobbies. The obviously work really hard right now to save and invest so much; if they didn’t like working, they wouldn’t be able to do it now. So why do they think giving up working will be so easy?
TFB:
April 28th, 2012 at 5:24 am
Man, Nelson, you are pushing this one a bit far.
Are there a lot of clowns selling dreams on the internet? yup.
Are there a lot of clowns that won’t reach it or just Bullshit you to sell their crap? yup.
Is making money online is easy? It’s not easier than starting any other type of business. If you are not an entrepreneur, you will fail with a blog but you will also fail running a store or offering a service in “the real world” too.
But why picking up on Baker? His message is to live the life that you want. So if you like your routine, fine. That’s the life you chose and you like it. You know what? that’s awesome. And if Baker’s perspective on life is to live unconventionally, it’s fine too. After all, you are not married to each other so it shouldn’t be a problem, right?
When I started blogging in 2006, people like you (tons of them) told me that once I’ll reach $200/month with my site, I would reach the maximum I could and that making money from blogging was stupid and childish.
That’s interesting I guess since I’m writing this comment from a laptop paid by blog, listening to my iPod… paid by my blog, using internet… paid by my blog and I’m doing this on my new kitchen table… paid by me blog! So is making money online is possible? yup. Is it easy? nope! is it bullshit? nope!
If you look at Baker’s products, you’ll notice that most of his products/services on his site are to help people paying off their debts and control their finance. Not about quitting their job and travelling around the world. Man… is paying off debts that bad of a dream? seriously?
I agree with a part of what you are saying but your example is just completely wrong.
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[...] his CGA certification. A week or so ago, Nelson from Financial Uproar wrote a post titled “In Defense of Normalcy“. In it, he noted that people on early retirement blogs “cannot wait to throw off the [...]
Banjo Steve:
May 1st, 2012 at 11:28 am
I was going to respond to this treatise on Normality (is Normalcy “legally” a word?), but after also reading several of your other articles, it became clear to me that you and your boxed-in life already have ALL the answers. Nothing more for me to offer/share in the light of such cynical, close-minded wisdom. Me? I enjoy at least a modicum of spontaneity and/or experimentation – which is why I gave your Blog a try. I guess new outreaches just don’t work out.
Be well and good-bye.
retiredsyd:
May 2nd, 2012 at 8:24 am
Contrary to popular opinion, you can have blow jobs and cheeseburgers in retirement.
Paul N:
May 2nd, 2012 at 10:02 am
I second that. BJ’s are good anytime…
How have i missed a great site like this until just now?
Great post. A different and valid perspective.
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