Would appreciate hearing the actual financial numbers of these stories to see how feasible they are for the average person/family. Also, would like to hear about the jobs people have had to achieve FI. The FI movement helps a lot of people, but it often does not openly discuss how personal privilege plays a role in the outcomes and how many of these privileges are not accessible to everyone.
Check out the EconoMe speech from Jackie Cummings Koski who provides more details on the actual numbers. FIRE is agnostic when it comes to income and profession, the only thing that matters is the gap between your income and expenses. I've seen people achieve FIRE at a variety of income levels, but of course, it's easier with a higher level of income. I don't see anyone denying the role of privilege, but it's also not helpful to claim reaching FIRE is solely due to privilege. Anyone's level of privilege is outside of their control, and a lot of what we talk about in the FIRE movement is focusing on the elements of your life where you can exercise some agency. For me personally, I think FIRE helped me see how much I was wasting my privilege. This is not a solution to systemic poverty, and there are people who are truly disadvantaged to the point that they can't reduce their expenses any further and there are really no opportunities for them to increase their income. At one point the World Bank reported that half of the world's population was living on less than $5 per day, and the idea that those people should just get smarter amount money management is ludicrous. FIRE is for people who could do better, but are choosing not to. And many of us living in a first world country with access to the internet, a grocery store, clean running water, shelter, clothing, etc... are far less disadvantaged than we realize.
Baselang. It was $99 per month at the time; I see it's now $149 per month, but that's still a great value if you'll use it. If you're anything like me, Ian, their model of unlimited lessons for a fixed monthly fee will help drive your desired behavior, namely actually booking and attending your lessons. I think if I were paying for one lesson at a time, my subconscious mind would resist the lessons slightly as each avoided lesson amounts to money saved. But as my tutoring hours went up (typically 60-90 minutes per day, 7 days per week), I started to wonder if they were losing money on me and the economics of it all. That's when I started gently inquiring about whether or not the tutors were being compensated fairly. To a person, they all told me they were grateful for the chance to work for Baselang and felt they paid above average wages for Venezuela. They were earning $6/mo (~$1 per month than many full-time workers, even while working "only" 20-30 hours per week). Many also told me they liked getting to work from home, as it felt safer than having to leave their homes.
Well spotted! I know Puerto Rico well and you're absolutely right of course. I should have clarified and said something like outside of the continental U.S. Thanks for catching that, Deborah!
I think this is one of the most honest talks on escaping the rat race I have listened to. Good job!
Cheers! I’m glad you liked it.
Would appreciate hearing the actual financial numbers of these stories to see how feasible they are for the average person/family. Also, would like to hear about the jobs people have had to achieve FI. The FI movement helps a lot of people, but it often does not openly discuss how personal privilege plays a role in the outcomes and how many of these privileges are not accessible to everyone.
Check out the EconoMe speech from Jackie Cummings Koski who provides more details on the actual numbers. FIRE is agnostic when it comes to income and profession, the only thing that matters is the gap between your income and expenses. I've seen people achieve FIRE at a variety of income levels, but of course, it's easier with a higher level of income. I don't see anyone denying the role of privilege, but it's also not helpful to claim reaching FIRE is solely due to privilege. Anyone's level of privilege is outside of their control, and a lot of what we talk about in the FIRE movement is focusing on the elements of your life where you can exercise some agency. For me personally, I think FIRE helped me see how much I was wasting my privilege. This is not a solution to systemic poverty, and there are people who are truly disadvantaged to the point that they can't reduce their expenses any further and there are really no opportunities for them to increase their income. At one point the World Bank reported that half of the world's population was living on less than $5 per day, and the idea that those people should just get smarter amount money management is ludicrous. FIRE is for people who could do better, but are choosing not to. And many of us living in a first world country with access to the internet, a grocery store, clean running water, shelter, clothing, etc... are far less disadvantaged than we realize.
what was the spanish platform you used?
Baselang. It was $99 per month at the time; I see it's now $149 per month, but that's still a great value if you'll use it. If you're anything like me, Ian, their model of unlimited lessons for a fixed monthly fee will help drive your desired behavior, namely actually booking and attending your lessons. I think if I were paying for one lesson at a time, my subconscious mind would resist the lessons slightly as each avoided lesson amounts to money saved.
But as my tutoring hours went up (typically 60-90 minutes per day, 7 days per week), I started to wonder if they were losing money on me and the economics of it all. That's when I started gently inquiring about whether or not the tutors were being compensated fairly. To a person, they all told me they were grateful for the chance to work for Baselang and felt they paid above average wages for Venezuela. They were earning $6/mo (~$1 per month than many full-time workers, even while working "only" 20-30 hours per week). Many also told me they liked getting to work from home, as it felt safer than having to leave their homes.
For those of us in the U.S., Puerto Rico isn’t international.
Well spotted! I know Puerto Rico well and you're absolutely right of course. I should have clarified and said something like outside of the continental U.S. Thanks for catching that, Deborah!
Thank you.
You're welcome, Stacy. I'm glad you got something out of that talk.
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