Why?

There was a Wall Street analyst by the name of Joe Dominguez who saved enough money to retire at 31. He spent the rest of his life enjoying himself, doing volunteer work, and writing a book called Your Money or Your Life. I’d like to quote his words below.

“We aren’t making a living, we are making a dying. Consider the average American worker. The alarm rings at 6:45 and our working man or woman is up and running. Shower. Dress in the professional uniform—suits or dresses for some, overalls for others, whites for the medical professionals, jeans and flannel shirts or construction workers. Breakfast, if there’s time. Grab commuter mug and briefcase (or lunch box) and hop in the car for the daily punishment called rush hour. On the job from nine to five. Deal with the boss. Deal with the coworker sent by the devil to rub you the wrong way. Deal with suppliers. Deal with clients/customers/patients. Act busy. Hide mistakes. Smile when handed impossible deadlines. Give a sigh of relief when the ax known as ‘restructuring’ or ‘downsizing’—or just plain getting laid off—falls on other heads. Shoulder the added workload. Watch the clock. Argue with your conscience but agree with the boss. Smile again. Five o’clock. Back in the car and onto the freeway for the evening commute. Home. Act human with mates, kids or roommates. Eat. Watch TV. Bed. Eight hours of blessed oblivion.

And they call this making a living? Think about it. How many people have you seen who are more alive at the end of the work day than they were at the beginning? . . . Aren’t we killing ourselves—our health, our relationships, our sense of joy and wonder—for our jobs? We are sacrificing our lives for money—but it’s happening so slowly that we barely notice.”

What a wonderful words for singing my heart out. Just substitute the word “American worker” with “Indonesian worker” in the first line, and you’ve got the image of my life and many others living in Jakarta. And how sick I am of this way of living. How I dream of a freedom! As I figure out, the way to financial freedom goes through investment. There’s no other way as a layman, unless you pursue some other spiritual way. We live in a world controlled by money, soe need to master the money game to get out of the the game itself. Anyway, there are bills to pay monthly. By owning assets and making them work and grow to pay our bills, we can save our life to do more human interaction.

That’s why I enter this game.

My goals can be summed, in Dominguez words:

“You have enough for your survival, enough for your comforts, and even some special luxuries, with no excess to burden you unnecessarily. Enough is a powerful and free place. A confident and flexible place.”