First thing(s) you'd do when you achieve financial independence?

[Will do good]

What did I do?

Stopped caring about stuff that doesn't matter, I don't stay at work late. I just try to be efficient with the 8hrs at the office and get out. I never work after hours / weekends.

Started doing things that do matter for mankind and my children's world. Stopped eating beef/pork. No car. Limited travel, trying to do more local vacations. Avoid business travel except if absolutely necessary. Basically just stuff that gives me a low carbon footprint.

[OT comment removed by admin LadyGeek]

+1, I rather pass on my money and standard for future generations.

And they will fly first class. Lol

Perhaps some might, but I hope we have taught our kids better.
Besides, why race them to waste money that took time to earned and saved? That's not the message I want to send.
YMMV

[DrGoogle2017]

What did I do?

Stopped caring about stuff that doesn't matter, I don't stay at work late. I just try to be efficient with the 8hrs at the office and get out. I never work after hours / weekends.

Started doing things that do matter for mankind and my children's world. Stopped eating beef/pork. No car. Limited travel, trying to do more local vacations. Avoid business travel except if absolutely necessary. Basically just stuff that gives me a low carbon footprint.

[OT comment removed by admin LadyGeek]

+1, I rather pass on my money and standard for future generations.

And they will fly first class. Lol

Perhaps some might, but I hope we have taught our kids better.
Besides, why race them to waste money that took time to earned and saved? That's not the message I want to send.
YMMV

Mine enjoyed flying first class from London to Paris using miles. The lounge was nice was her comment. However, when I’m dead, I’m sure I have no control over how they spend their inheritance, this is why I often joke that I’m spending my kid’s inheritance.

[H-Town]

With (1), (2), and (3), you immediately become financially un-independent, and start working on the next level of (true) financial independence.

Hence, the cushion and continuing of employment.

We plan to leave our nest-egg alone and fund our "controlled" life-style creep by yearly cash in-flows. We might not save as much but since we get to the goal line (50x of our spending needs, i.e. $2M), I thought we can use our salary for our pleasure. If we end up buying a cabin, I think we should be able to cash flow it in 2-3 years.

Does a plan that requires you to continue to work really seem like financial independence?

I like my career because it satisfies my intellectual curiosity. I don't see me walking away from it just because I'm free from money. There should be a difference between financial independence and retire early. Just because one is financial independent, it does not mean he/she has to retire early.

[H-Town]

What did I do?

Stopped caring about stuff that doesn't matter, I don't stay at work late. I just try to be efficient with the 8hrs at the office and get out. I never work after hours / weekends.

Started doing things that do matter for mankind and my children's world. Stopped eating beef/pork. No car. Limited travel, trying to do more local vacations. Avoid business travel except if absolutely necessary. Basically just stuff that gives me a low carbon footprint.

Flying business class? Flushing the world down the toilet for future generations.

You gotta explain that for me.

Also - why stopped eating beef/pork if you haven't done before you win the game? Not trying to push back. Just wanting to get some perspective.

We love road trips - so definitely not feeling bad at all about taking my car all over the country. We crossed 500k miles of road trips and counting (Yes- I keep track of those things).

[Rus In Urbe]

Delayed gratification means that you'll get that gratification some days down the road. You work hard for a purpose. Some might work harder to accelerate their savings so they can get there faster.

Seems like OP is suffering while denying him/herself, but dangling a carrot of wild splurges in the future.

It reminds me of someone on a diet who, once the magic number appears on the scales, is going to eat endless chocolate cake.

OPs list of splurges might seem attractive, but the inevitable "hedonic adaptation" kicks in with lifestyle "creep" (or "leap" as one wag wrote earlier). And then, like a drug addict, you need to spend more to get the same high. Along with saving and investing to get to FI, it might help to investigate exactly what "gratification" actually means in terms of daily life.

When we hit FI, our lifestyle was---as many other BHs have commented on this thread---not much changed. Or at least, nothing like the extravagant spending that OP is proposing!

[WhiteMaxima]

If things not broken, don't fix it. If you gain financial independence, just keep it going.

[H-Town]

Delayed gratification means that you'll get that gratification some days down the road. You work hard for a purpose. Some might work harder to accelerate their savings so they can get there faster.

Seems like OP is suffering while denying him/herself, but dangling a carrot of wild splurges in the future.

It reminds me of someone on a diet who, once the magic number appears on the scales, is going to eat endless chocolate cake.

OPs list of splurges might seem attractive, but the inevitable "hedonic adaptation" kicks in with lifestyle "creep" (or "leap" as one wag wrote earlier). And then, like a drug addict, you need to spend more to get the same high. Along with saving and investing to get to FI, it might help to investigate exactly what "gratification" actually means in terms of daily life.

When we hit FI, our lifestyle was---as many other BHs have commented on this thread---not much changed. Or at least, nothing like the extravagant spending that OP is proposing!

To me, that's not a bad thing. I have a goal in mind and I'm going after it.

On the other hand, we live below our means for all our lives. We travel a lot, but we either fly coach or take our car. We use points and stay at Holiday Inn Express or lower class hotels. We still spend 20-30k a year for traveling and never had any regrets.

Back to the original point, I don't want to end up dying with $20M, as our projection shows. When we hit 2 - 2.5M (50x of our annual spending needs), I don't want to keep the pace of saving. Rather, I want to use the new money for things that I might find enjoyment, i.e. luxury traveling, luxury house, luxury cars, hobbies, charities, etc. Hence, the question for those who crossed the finish line - why get richer if you're already free from money?

[snackdog]

It’s not like signing a spectacular contract with a pro ball team or winning Powerball. By the time most people reach it, it is a non-event. I have seen more than a few couples under 40 announce FIRE to everyone only to find themselves spiffing up their resumes a few years later when reality set in. The truly successful ones who managed to stay out of the workforce had 8 figure net worths and spent like complete misers - 15 year old smoking Volvo wagons, Formica counter tops, etc.

[EddyB]

With (1), (2), and (3), you immediately become financially un-independent, and start working on the next level of (true) financial independence.

Hence, the cushion and continuing of employment.

We plan to leave our nest-egg alone and fund our "controlled" life-style creep by yearly cash in-flows. We might not save as much but since we get to the goal line (50x of our spending needs, i.e. $2M), I thought we can use our salary for our pleasure. If we end up buying a cabin, I think we should be able to cash flow it in 2-3 years.

Does a plan that requires you to continue to work really seem like financial independence?

I like my career because it satisfies my intellectual curiosity. I don't see me walking away from it just because I'm free from money. There should be a difference between financial independence and retire early. Just because one is financial independent, it does not mean he/she has to retire early.

I guess you ignored the word "requires" in my post. Also, if your "spending needs" are $40k/year, I find it very odd that your next priorities would include premium-cabin travel and luxury hotels; obviously I can't judge it "wrong," but I think there are many things (likely beyond the $40k/year) that offer more bang for the buck than those expenses.

[Cycle]

You gotta explain that for me.

Also - why stopped eating beef/pork if you haven't done before you win the game? Not trying to push back. Just wanting to get some perspective.

We love road trips - so definitely not feeling bad at all about taking my car all over the country. We crossed 500k miles of road trips and counting (Yes- I keep track of those things).

I've just been trying to optimize my life. Most of my life, that has meant optimizing my wealth accumulation. After I passed the 4% SAWR point, I was like, "what else can I optimize". So most of these things are like being healthy, learning new things, being a good example and that means living sustainably. I translate that sustainable part to having a low carbon footprint, which is easy to calculate.

I heard this great quote from David Rubenstein on freakonomics podcast recently,

RUBENSTEIN: I would give away all the money I have today, every penny, if I could be five years younger.

DUBNER: Just five years, really? That’s quite an arbitrage.

RUBENSTEIN: Oh, I asked Bill Gates that, and I said, “Would you give away all your money if you could be five years younger?” And he said, “Well, geez, I don’t know maybe – could I do 10 years?” So he was negotiating a bit, but, you know, clearly, you know, why would anybody not give away all their money to be able to live five years longer. Life is so pleasurable, even if you’re not wealthy, you know, money doesn’t necessarily make you happy. Some of the saddest people I know are the wealthiest people I know. And some of the poorest people I know are some of the happiest people I know. You know Thomas Jefferson said, “Life is about the pursuit of happiness.” But he didn’t tell us how to actually get happiness. And it’s the most elusive thing in life, is personal happiness. Very few people achieve it. I think I’m personally happy. But you know I think I was happy before I was wealthy, so you know, I don’t know that the wealth has made me happier.

[jmk]

Not working any job that I hated just for money.

[WildBill]

Howdy

My first action was taking a hammer to the alarm clock.

I hated getting up early to go to work.

Happy snoozing

W B

[Nissanzx1]

Probably will slow down and work a little less. Take one or two more vacations per year. I have more than I need already, I can’t really see things changing too drastically.

Mentally, I think I’ll feel better...

[mlebuf]

When I first realized that I was financially indpendent, I thought to myself, "If you ever go broke you will have taken stupidity to a new level." That was 27 years ago. So far, so good. Becoming FI and maintaining FI are not the same thing. Many a millionaire has gone broke.

[AerialWombat]

Funny. I’m semi-sorta-pseudo-FI recently, and I’ve decided to cancel my AmEx Platinum and stop flying first class domestically.

When I’m solidly FI near the end of this year, I’m either moving to some dirt cheap backwater hole in Wyoming or going back overseas and living in hostels again.

[wxl31]

Double check the numbers. Still have doubts.

Wait 6 months, check the numbers again. A few lingering doubts.

Wait 6 months, check the numbers again. Feeling good about it.

Quit working. Spend freely. Market tanks. Doubts return.

[mancich]

Triple-check the numbers, and make sure there is a margin of error.
Then write my magnum opus final e-mail to all my co-workers.
Most I would miss. Some... not so much

[LiterallyIronic]

I'd double-check my numbers to make sure I didn't mess something up, and then immediately quit working and sleep in instead.

[H-Town]

You know Thomas Jefferson said, “Life is about the pursuit of happiness.” But he didn’t tell us how to actually get happiness. And it’s the most elusive thing in life, is personal happiness. Very few people achieve it. I think I’m personally happy. But you know I think I was happy before I was wealthy, so you know, I don’t know that the wealth has made me happier.

Thanks for sharing! It's a good reminder that money isn't about everything.

[H-Town]

Howdy

My first action was taking a hammer to the alarm clock.

I hated getting up early to go to work.

Happy snoozing

W B

LOL. I didn't have an alarm clock since high school. This is why I can't have a job required me to be at my desk when the clock hits 8 AM.

[H-Town]

Funny. I’m semi-sorta-pseudo-FI recently, and I’ve decided to cancel my AmEx Platinum and stop flying first class domestically.

When I’m solidly FI near the end of this year, I’m either moving to some dirt cheap backwater hole in Wyoming or going back overseas and living in hostels again.

Well - I'm sorta on the reverse course. This might put me to FI finish line sooner than I would have been if I do luxurious travel. When I get there, without touching the FI portfolio, I plan to use whatever salaries I made for luxurious traveling. We'll still have surplus saving, but not as much as we had when we was accumulating.

[seed4great]

Avoid business travel except if absolutely necessary.

Excellent point. First thing I would do: refuse to travel, when my corp want me to share a hotel room with my colleagues on a business trip!

[TheTimeLord]

Now that I have accepted and validated that I am Financially Independent a few dozen ways I have started spending a little more on things I want but might have delayed in the past or buy some things I wanted but really don't need because it was on sale. Nothing out of control, likely just a few hundred a month total when I do. Also I no longer look at menu prices, if we are going out to eat then the decision to spend is already made. It has been pleasant not delaying gratification on some of the little things I might have in the past. Still contributing a large percentage of our income monthly to our portfolio and retirement accounts.

[beyou]

Nothing much will change. While I think I have lived below my means, I had someone mow my lawn, and at times had a personal trainer to get me in good habits. To me FI means caring less about what goes on at work, including the now real prospect of layoff. I work for a firm that is relocating, choose not to relocate even if that means layoff. THAT freedom is what independence means to me. I may look for a job, but with no stress about likely ageism I will face.

I will still have the same guy mow my lawn, but with reduced income likely. That is FI to me. I didn’t want fancy things before and I don’t need them now. Would rather help my kids than get a fancy house or car.