Recently, I have explained how to create wealth while living a secluded life in the countryside. Living with low expenditure and high assets could be a way. Today, I will talk about its lifestyle.
How to live with low expenditure and high assets
Sometimes, we want to live more peacefully in a quiet place. Many disgusting things stress us, such as negative emotions from our surroundings, exhausting daily work, noisy environments, a lack of freedom, or no hope for the future. They make us want to live a more secluded life in the countryside.
Living in the countryside quietly gives us another kind of abundance. It is a natural and honest life. We enjoy being natural rather than lying to ourselves or deceiving others. That natural life frees us from social stress.
People with both empathy and creativity might tend to feel so.
Low expenditure with high assets is one style to realize a secluded life. We prioritize it more than gaining monthly salaries. That gives us freedom without being tied to work.
However, we often don’t know exactly what that lifestyle is. For example, we might not know which to prioritize: spending less or earning more. We might be unable to imagine how to live without the salaries of our daily jobs. We might not know how to deal with our spending wants.
Today, I will talk about a way of thinking about it. This knowledge might give us an integrated way to realize our peaceful and secluded lives.
The concept of ‘how long we can live freely’
In a life with low expenditure and high assets, the prospect of “how long we can live freely” determines our abundance.
The above “freedom” includes our physical and mental health. It is a state in which we can eat, start or stop our activities, rest, exercise, or sleep comfortably at our own will. In other words, living while doing things against our will is not free.
In that lifestyle, the longer we can live freely, the richer we are. It means securing freedom for the rest of our lives is the richest thing. On the other hand, the shorter we can live freely, the poorer we are, by this definition.
In this way of life, the amount of money we have doesn’t matter for our abundance. We can be aware that money is one of the means, and freedom is the end.
That tells us that lowering spending and increasing assets are the same. Both of them extend our free time. We don’t need to force ourselves to prioritize them. We can start with the easier one now.
In other words, we don’t have to force ourselves to stick to disgusting work. We can reduce our spending by being frugal and creative. That will give us the possibility of cutting down on stressful jobs.
Three levels of our belongings
There is a difference between those who live on income and those who live on low expenditure with high assets.
To explain that, let me introduce three levels of our belongings.
- (Higher level) Luxury things: Things that are socially valuable but not relevant in natural life. For example, world travel, luxury homes, dinners in first-class restaurants, branded items, etc.
- Things that make social life easier: Not relevant in natural life but convenient in our social lives, such as cars, dishwashers, jobs, status, or fame.
- (Essential level) Essentials for life: Things are necessary for survival, such as food, water, a dwelling, minimum clothes, a bed, or a minimum amount of money.
People who live on income prioritize having a higher level. On the other hand, people who want freedom prefer securing a lower level.
This difference tells us how to treat our assets. Let me explain it below.
People based on a monthly income prioritize a higher level
People who live on a monthly income prioritize having a higher level. They believe more luxurious things give them satisfaction in life.
In other words, if they want more basic things, sacrificing more luxurious items satisfies the basics. For example, they can buy food or clothes by doing more jobs. They can obtain status or fame by sacrificing and showing off luxury items.
Perhaps this is the usual way of thinking. The more we work hard, the more we can buy food.
Prioritizing the lower level
On the other hand, those who live on low expenditure with high assets think differently. They prefer securing the lower level. That gives us the freedom to choose the upper level, such as our jobs or the degree of luxury.
Securing the lower level gives us the freedom to choose the upper level. For example, we don’t have to work hard if we have enough food or a living environment to survive freely. We might not have to own cars if we have enough time.
That allows us to choose our jobs or the degree of luxury freely. Securing the lower level gives us freedom from the restrictions of the upper levels.
In this lifestyle, convenient or luxury things don’t determine our wealth. Cars and jobs are not important to creating wealth. The fundamentals allow us to choose the job.
Buying the time of our lives
It means our assets are things to buy the time of our lives. That awareness gives us a clear decision when we are troubled about which to choose.
For example, we can buy a new car or free time in the future. A car could save a little time—1000 hours in total, about 40 days. However, if we save it and make it the living cost of the future, we can buy future freedom. That might be 400 to 800 days of our lives.
If we prioritize the fundamental side, we can think about how to live without a car. That creates our stable fundamentals and availability to choose jobs.
Frugality is the same. It is a way to get freedom.
If we like a natural life and have freedom, we don’t need so much luxury because a natural life gives us mental health. In other words, an unnatural life makes us want luxury.
Conclusion
That is the lifestyle of low expenditure with high assets.
This knowledge might give us an integrated way to realize our peaceful and secluded lives.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.
