The Power of the Cash Stack

FIRE is a long journey, it's a marathon if you will.  And it takes a long time to finally reach FIRE, and once you're there, I can only imagine the freedom and relief you get when Sunday evening rolls around.  You get ready for bed.  Then you get up Monday morning... and you continue on with your weekend.  What a great feeling?  I can't wait to get there.

But, not quite yet.  We're definitely making progress, and we're getting there rapidly.  But still have a bit to go.

I think everyone knows the power of being able to live a life of luxury. And having a fat enough stack of cash to allow you to never work again, is something that most people argue is a good thing.  But what about the path there?  Is it all just misery and cutting back the whole way?

NO!

The growing stack of cash gives you a lot of power.  Imagine the struggle between you and your boss or company.  For most folks, the power is almost entirely on the company side.  They need the company to pay their bills, to buy their next new car and pay off their mortgage.

But for the FIRE community the power scale slowly shifts to your side.  It's pretty amazing.

Coming on over to the good side!

Here are some examples of times where we have used our new found flexibility and power to our advantage.

1. Starting a company - So the Mrs was working a 9-5 for a small business.  She wasn't all that thrilled with the way it was going, and thought she could do it better.  So, she did.  But, at the beginning the business wasn't driving as much money as she used to make.  No worries, we had a safety cushion behind us.  We made our life so that we can live on less than one of our salaries.  It allowed her to take the chance and see where things went.  She's grown it into the point where she just hired on her first employee, and it's still growing strong.  But had we not had the safety net, I don't know that we would have been able to take that chance.


2. Walking out of a bad job - I had a job a little while back that seemed great when everything started.  But the wind soon shifted and I was not happy there at all.  It was stressful, the management was demeaning.  It was starting to take a toll on my personal life, it was making me a bitter person, even my marriage was starting to struggle.  I ended up fielding a call from an executive from an old company that was starting something new.  He wanted me as part of the team, but he couldn't pay me what I would make on the open market.  But after having another year of cash storage under our belt, I could take a cut, and roll the dice to see where this went.  So, I did.  It went well, I was happier and more importantly my wife was happier.  Eventually the company wasn't healthy enough to sustain itself, and we shuttered it.  But, again, the ability to walk away and take a pay cut to try something new was facilitated by having that stack of cash.


3. Negotiating a better salary - After the story in #2, I was on the market again, looking for a new job.  Well, I wasn't exactly just sitting around. I found a new employer, I liked them and they liked me.  They made an offer, but it was pretty low.  So, I told them what I wanted and they said they couldn't match it.  Now, had I needed a job, I probably would have cowered and accepted their low offer.  Instead, my response was, "Ok well that's just not going to cut it."  I got a call back from them, they moved the offer up again... and again.  I got them to the upper limit of their budget and then negotiated a raise after 90 days given mutually agreed upon terms were met.  Sort of a trial run for both of us.  So, in the end I finished with very close to the original number I was looking for, all because of the power of that lovely stack of cash.

These are just a few of the powers that having that fat stack behind you has realized for us.  When we started this journey, I knew there would be some advantages along the way, but I never realized how truly powerful it is.

It's interesting to talk to people about how they don't know what they would do if they lost their job.  How they'd not be able to pay their bills, and they'd worry about losing their house.  I just sit and snicker to myself.  I'm not sure if that makes me an asshole or not.

But I know there's a certain amount of confidence that comes along with knowing that I don't need this job.  I'll find another to help us on our way.  I'm sure there are many more ways to use this power.  Have you used your stack of cash to your advantage?