Things I Learned from Camp Mustache 2022 (Part 2)

To elaborate from the last post, Things I Learned from Camp Mustache 2022 Part 1, I actually have quite a bit to say about taking it slow. Sure, doing what we can do right now and being consistent are truly the keys particularly in the accumulation phase. But hear me out…

During one of the breakout sessions in Camp Mustache, we had a medical doctor basically sharing how people are generally behaving/feeling in each decade of our lives. Sure, as a medical doctor, she generally won’t see too many people in their 20s, but she did explain people’s well-beings in their 20s, 30s, 40s, all the way to the 100s.

According to her, people in their 40s, generally are pretty healthy, able, active,… well, if we are intentional, let’s be honest. While life is unpredictable in general, as I am turning 40 this year, I still statistically have more years ahead of me. As far as taking it slow, I’m not necessarily just thinking about me. As she went on to talk about people in their 70s and 80s, what I was thinking about the entire time, was my parents.

My father is turning 80 next year, and according to the medical doctor, he won’t be as active and will potentially see a dramatic decline in his physical ability and overall energy particularly going from age 79 to 80. My mom, on the other hand, is in her early 70s, and she was very active (she’s definitely a seasoned and experienced hiker and a swimmer); however, having had a scare from the side effects of getting her second COVID vaccine sort of reminded us that she is not young anymore either. (She’s okay now, but her respiratory system was not as it used to be, and thus needs to take it easy still.)

So even though we’re still in the accumulation phase, I would still consider spending money to go home at least once a year if possible as one of the expenses to be expected every year. I haven’t been able to go home because of the strict quarantine restriction that has been in place in Taiwan; but as we are all learning to coexist with the virus, I really am hoping that soon I will be able to have opportunities to go home once a year just to spend some time with them.

Another thing that sort of struck me when it comes to time is that the medical doctor had mentioned that we are only going to be as young as we are right now. Go on; take a second and let that sink in.

Truth is, we won’t get any younger, and we won’t be any healthier in a matter of 30 years. No matter how much we try, just from the wear and tear of our bodies, we will eventually start to feel the physical restrictions and limitations sooner or later.

I still remember, in the beginning of my FI journey, I thought “I’m going to start traveling more and enjoy life more with my net worth is X.” Now, as I’m reflecting on the session, I wonder what if we don’t have that much time? I don’t know if anyone has seen a photo like this below, but quite honestly this is the second biggest fear that I have when it comes to aging. (The first being that when I am an elderly woman, I can’t afford to retire and HAVE to work in order to have food and shelter.)

Another thing is, even though I am trying my hardest to embrace this new YOLO type of concept (while not losing sight of our FI journey), I also think that we needed to set up our wills just because of how unpredictable life can be. And someone at the camp had mentioned about this idea of donating her residence to the indigenous tribal community, which I honestly and genuinely love, too, especially since the Xennials don’t have human children together, and I think it is a wonderful idea.

Questions? Curious to know more? Ask in the comment section below. And if you’re interested, the All FIRE Connect! MeetUp group is having an event with the Camp Mustache participants this week (June 23, 5:30pm Pacific Time) if you want to hear about our experiences. 🙂