Freedom, Rights, and FI

Foreword: I’ve been biting my lips about this, then I thought… why though. This is MY blog, and MY journey and MY reflections. Would publishing this entry mean I lose the handful of people who liked my blogs? Probably. However, some things, while uncomfortable to talk about, are NECESSARY. Just like the conversation about money… it might be easier to do whatever you want as a single person (even though it can still be uncomfortable); but once you have a family, starting the conversation about money is NOT easy especially if it wasn’t something that is commonly talked about before. So here we are… Let’s do this.

– Mrs. Xennial

On this particular 4th of July, the day that we celebrated freedom and independence of the United States, it’s hard to do so knowing that half of the population (or more) got our rights taken away from us because of some cisgender, bigoted, ignorant, crazy religious white males that were seeking more control over women’s bodies and autonomy, and the rights of the people of the US as a whole. It drives me insane (and lots of humans alike) when this directly hits home with what I can do with my own body. Sure, being in a liberal state helps, and our state government is also moving forward with some things to assure our safety (and sanity) as I type away.

What does this have anything to do with FI, you may ask? The impact on rights for humans on FI journey absolutely have EVERYTHING to do with FI. Here, let me give you a few examples, starting with the location. As I mentioned previously, I am currently located in a liberal state. However, most proactive, liberal states also have higher cost of living, which makes it much harder to stay on track on your FI journey for some particular with this sh*t storm of inflation. And I truly wonder those people who have moved away during this time when remote work has become more possible for different industries, and when people start to take the cost of living into consideration, if they have regretted the decision after all.

If you are on the team of “they could just move to a liberal state” (which I doubt so, since you are less likely going to read this far into this entry), let’s talk numbers. Relocation, if not sponsored by a company, can be very costly. Let’s give you a random example on our relocation from Hawaii to Washington state. With this move, there were some steps that I took in order to work it out, and mind you, this all happened BEFORE COVID. I have applied for a credit card with 18-month, 0% interest rate intro bonus, and also applied for HELOC on our residence in Hawaii in preparation for the few months we’d have to pay rent and mortgage at the same time.

Our move was mainly packed on our own, but we also hired a moving company to move a 1-bedroom house (yes, we downsized from 3 to 1 knowingly). That was $5k alone. Shipping my car was a little less than $1k, and not to mention the tickets for our flights for the Xennial humans, K9s, and Felines, too (we moved 5 animals with us). With a slight hiccup of shipping the Xennial K-9s, we spent an extra $2k or so just to bring them to Washington. Without counting the incidentals, this is roughly $9k just for the move. It eventually took 5 months for our house to sell, and we were also lucky enough to have made a profit with the sale (and thus eliminate most debt we have had up to that point, including the expenses used on the said credit card). Not everyone can be lucky depending on where they are currently located at, and not everyone would make enough profit selling their personal residence at the moment either.

Relocation is also not easy when family are around and they are your main source of childcare (if any). With the ever increasing cost for childcare, it’s much harder to move to a place with higher cost of living for the sake of more freedom, when you don’t necessarily or automatically get a pay raise when you relocate depending on your industry and job availability. And for women that are in a relationship with no kids? What about women who are single? We have a different set of issues that were embedded for decades already before our rights to do anything to our bodies were regulated, again.

Gender pay gap is no news, unfortunately. The few ones that were getting competitive pay as peer while males are so few and far between. And this gender pay gap will continue to be a problem more than ever especially when we could potentially see reproductive health support being taken away, which not only means procedures and medications could be illegal, dangerous, and thus more expensive, but also the potentially deadly side effects of the said meds or procedure could cost us every penny we’ve ever own, or even our lives.

Are you ready for the cherry on top? The MF inflation. Nuff said, am I right? (*Mic Drop*) With the pricing of everyday items going upwards, and gas price is at its all-time high, staying put and continue to maintain the same lifestyle can be a challenge in and of itself, let alone trying to move to a more liberal state with even higher cost of living. But the bottomline really is… why do we have to move in order to have some basic human rights? I don’t know the real solution to all of that, but I know the fight continues. Fellow FIers, if you also do enjoy the independence that FI brings, support your fellow humans by ensuring our right and equality for all. Happy 4th of July, everyone.