I recently read the book Simple Plan by Scott Smith. It was a very good read, couldn’t put it down and I finished it in a few days. But it got me thinking again about the trap of money and how greed can spiral out of control.  We all know money is a necessity, but how much is enough? It seems like we can never get there. There’s always this fantasy about having a certain amount so you no longer have to work anymore. At least, for me, that’s the value of a significant amount of money. It’s not about buying a bunch of stuff with the money. So, it’s not really about money, it’s about the freedom from meaningless, forced work to survive. I have no problem with useful work, but so much work not only doesn’t seem useful, it’s downright destructive. People want large sums of money because it seems like an escape from a shitty system.

It’s clear to me that society is set up to keep you running on a treadmill of consumerism because this is profitable for certain institutions. But even if you don’t fall for the trap of excess consuming, it still doesn’t seem like you can just buy a house or even an apartment, pay it off and that’s enough. There’s never ending expenses associated with owning a house, so much of it is just stupid IMO.  Like maintaining a lawn for example. Something, I never gave much thought to before. Talk about useless. And what a waste of time and energy. And then you have to keep the weeds under control because god forbid they spread to other people’s lawns. Then there’s taxes, insurance, HOAs and cosmetic things you really wouldn’t think about if you didn’t own a house, like painting it. And repairs / replacements for a house often run in the thousands.

But then the alternative, renting, isn’t much better. Because you’re still stuck with a significant monthly expense that will never go away. If rent was like $500/ month, then that would make sense but most of the time rent is covering all of the expenses I listed above with an added profit incentive.  Even an apartment that you own is still expensive.  I knew someone who had paid off their apartment, but they were still paying $900 a month in maintenance expenses!  This was money they had to pay every month to the building owner.  So, I’d much rather have a house. I like privacy, having a backyard, garage, not being on top of other people. It’s just so much nicer, to me anyway.

But let’s say you manage to pay off the house and the associated expenses aren’t too bad. These days healthcare is extremely expensive and now you may need a job just to afford healthcare. Or if it’s not healthcare, it may be something else. So without a very large sum on money, it may not even be possible to retire even when you’re old. I know someone who retired early and they were paying $1000/ month with a $7000 yearly deductible for health insurance! How does that even make sense?!  Unless it’s only for a few years or you have a ton of money saved up, it will slowly eat up all the money you saved to cover your retirement!

Of course a possible solution is to find meaningful work, but this is very difficult and not common from what I’ve seen. I have know a fortunate few who genuinely loved their jobs and that’s great, but I know that’s not me. Another solution could be part time work, which is what I do. This unfortunately isn’t an option for everyone or maybe even most people. I hope one day that will change. Because waiting for retirement isn’t really a great way to spend your life, if retirement is even still an option for most people.

For me the value of a large sum of money would be the freedom and time it can get you.  Time is the most valuable thing you have.