One of the largest misconceptions I used to have and now see in so many people is just how little you need to have financial optionality.
We have had a black & white view where either you’re earning or you’re not (ie retirement) so ingrained in us it’s hard to see something else.
Even the more modern idea of financial independence doesn’t capture things correctly. FI is basically just rewrapped retirement, a new shiny word to make it sound better.
Optionality doesn’t mean that you can be done working, or earning income, but it does mean that you can drastically change what the rhythm looks like, at least for a period (years).
This is also why the liquidity penalty of retirement accounts just is not worth it IMO. All you’re doing is putting golden handcuffs on yourself.
Bitcoin accelerates this mindset even more as we can have a somewhat reasonable expectation that whatever liquid assets we have won’t be susceptible to debasement across a long enough time period. But holding it in this FO arrangement has its issues. Pure and simple hodling likely isn’t ideal.
We’re all so worried that we won’t have enough or can’t get rich as fast as we want, but what if we reframe it to, you have optionality and that optionality is true riches, not the number on the screen.
