The Early Retirement Extreme (ERE) guy I read is a proponent of big goals. He believes that little goals don’t amount to much, and thus people, not seeing results that would be motivating, tend to abandon them.
While I believe in the value of cumulative change, I’m inclined to agree with the ERE guy. If I had set out to extinguish my educational loan with payments that were 10% over what was required, I’d be slogging through that muck for decades. The ERE guy says that, if you have to leap over a chasm to get to a place where you want to be in your life, it does you no good to jump half-way.
Best to (figuratively speaking) don a tight-fitting black catsuit and a dark ski mask, while you annihilate debt with your mad nunchuck skills. Then, after you’ve vanquished the enemy, you shift to SAVING all that kale you’ve been using to pay your debts.
It’s taken me about a year, but I believe I’m starting to see some results. The formula is pretty straightforward. If you’re able to earn money, and you spend as little of those earnings as possible, and that little you spend means that some is left over, money will accumulate.
The way is not easy or clear and there are many challenges and diversions.
Jimmy Cliff says it very well: