What Are We Optimizing For?
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Samantha Pillion just launched her new Substack with a post that immediately grabbed me:
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u201cWhat Are We Optimizing For?u201d
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This is the question.
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I come back to it constantly and I think you should too. Because if you donu2019t know what youu2019re optimizing for, you donu2019t even have a starting point.
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Samantha challenges the FI community to confront an uncomfortable truth:
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Weu2019re often more afraid of our spreadsheets than we are of wasting our lives.
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Having reached Coast FI herself, she reflects on a noticeable shift in the vibe at FI events.
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To Samantha these gatherings used to be full of people encouraging bold, life-changing decisions.
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Now?
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They increasingly feel like strongholds of u201cOne More Year Syndrome.u201d
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She illustrates this with a story about Roger, a 30-something with $400,000 invested and a 43% savings rate. By almost any reasonable standard, he has an enormous margin of safety.
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And yet, when he asked if he should take a gap year, a room full of FI enthusiasts hesitated to say yes.
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Why?
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Because many of us are optimizing for absolute certainty, something thatu2019s nearly impossible to achieve.
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And the cost of that pursuit?
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Years of your life.
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Samantha shares an even more sobering story about her friend Sean. After finally giving himself permission to retire and travel, he passed away at just 48, less than two years into his post-FI life.
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Itu2019s a brutal but important reminder:
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We spend so much energy trying not to run out of money when we should be far more concerned about running out of time.
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Samanthau2019s conclusion hits hard:
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The math of FI is the easy part.
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The real challenge is believing youu2019re allowed to use the freedom youu2019ve built.
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So maybe the question isnu2019t just u201cWhat are we optimizing for?u201d
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Itu2019s this:
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If financial independence doesnu2019t give you permission to actually live, what was it all for?
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