There was a famous Marshmallow study conducted in 1972 by Stanford University where a group of children were placed in a room one at a time. They were offered the opportunity to eat one marshmallow immediately, or wait 15 minutes and receive two marshmallows.
The FIRE community latch on to studies like this and preach that this is the key to achieving FIRE. Delayed gratification.
The problem with delayed gratification though, is that it only really works if you don’t badly want the thing in the first place. Otherwise you are just making yourself miserable until you change your mindset, or your life changes, where you too, don’t want that thing so badly.
FIRE can be a long journey. Far too long to delay gratification and not be happy.
What if we take it a step further where instead of 15 minutes for 2 marshmallows, you can wait 30 minutes for 3 marshmallows. Or 1 hour for 5 marshmallows. 12 hours for 60 marshmallows. 2 days for 240 marshmallows. It gets a bit ridiculous. How many marshmallows will you be happy with?
There is no point putting off living now for an abundance of marshmallows in the future. There is no guaranteed future.
I guess the point of this article is for you to try and find the financial balance. The balance where you can get the most out of today and be fully present in the present, whilst also looking after your future.
Some things that are helping me get there, and it is a moving target, are:
Leaving my full time job to give me more time for the business, family and leisure. Surely will mean we are less well off in the future, but far more wealthier now in terms of time and freedom.
Reducing expenses that have no impact on our happiness such as who our electricity and internet providers are, eating out, expensive gifts for the kids, doing our own home maintenance and repairs, etc.
Making the most of any surplus money with a suitable investment plan.
Setting savings on auto pilot. What was never there in the first place can’t make you unhappy.
Purchasing value over price. Costs less over the long term.
Knowing intimately what makes us happiest, means minimal wasted time and money on the things that don’t.
Having a financial plan so no money is wasted
Allowing ourselves some fun money, which enables us to keep our sanity and not stray.
Being grateful for the simple things like family, shelter and friendships.
I don’t want to wait for 100 marshmallows. It’s too many. Neither do I want to wait 6 more years to retire if it means staying in an unfulfilling full time job. It’s far too long to be miserable. Delayed gratification is not the answer.
I want to be happy now, for who knows how many days I have left. And with a young family, there is no more valuable time than now. Yet I still haven’t forgotten about tomorrow.
If you need help with optimising your lifestyle, then get in touch today.
The information contained on this site is the opinion of the individual author(s) based on their personal opinions, observation, research, and years of experience. The information offered by this website is general education only and is not meant to be taken as individualised financial advice, legal advice, tax advice, or any other kind of advice. You can read more of my disclaimer here