The Friday Feast ~ Forget the unimportant shit

The Friday Feast is my attempt at picking out a few things from the personal finance community that I found interesting this week. It's also a chance for me to keep you fine readers updated on where we are in the U.S.

Here's what's up in the personal finance community

I've been out of communication for the past week as I vacationed in Mexico with the family, but I'm now back at it. Mexico is a beautiful and downright dirty reminder of the realities of the world...all wrapped up into one single country. We stayed at a resort with stunning views of the ocean, a sparkling pool and all kinds of restaurants and booze - as far as the eye can see.

We also went into town (Puerto Vallarta) and got to experience some of the other sights from the area. Nice areas as well as not so nice areas. Kids on the street begging for money. Slums. Dirt poor areas of the city that quickly made you forget that you're vacationing in paradise.

Our trip reminded me once again how good we all have it in the first world. Though we might complain about this and that, we got it pretty damn good. Super good, in fact. The petty shit we complain about just pales in comparison to the reality of what's outside of our wonderful little slice of paradise. First world problems aren't really problems at all.

And to that end, I'd like to do something different for this Friday Feast. Instead of presenting to you a collection of posts I liked, I'm only giving you a single post, one that I loved so much that I had to give it the respect it deserves.

This post is from Tawcan, who has been totally killin' it lately on his blog.

FIRE. RIP.

"FIRE has been getting more and more mainstream coverage lately. Almost every other day I would come across articles on so-on retired at age 38, or someone who retired at age 27 to travel around the world, or someone who retired after saving extremely aggressively for 5 years, or someone who retired by saving up one million dollars in less 5 years, and the list goes on.

"FIRE is flawed in these articles."

Glamorizing FIRE doesn't help, and many of us in the community are doing our part to change that - but as far as the mainstream is concerned, gettin' those clicks will always be the primary motivating factor.

"Reaching financial independence and retire early does not automatically mean that you have crossed the finish line and that automatically makes you happy. If you are in a bad relationship with your partner or spouse, do you really think everything will be rosy when you have more money? Most divorces are causes by money issues!"

FIRE isn't some magic sauce that will cure all of life's ailments. Even after achieving financial independence and early retirement, you're still living your life by getting up every morning and assuming the responsibilities of YOU.

"It is human nature to compare with our peers. But don’t let comparisons create a negative affect where we become hateful or envious of someone else. Instead of comparisons, think of other people as positive motivators and inspirators and allow them to drive us and improve ourselves in every aspect of our life, every single day."

A-freaking-men. Comparing yourself to others is a one-way street to shit-ville, and it's very, very tough to escape its retched grasp.

"I have been super fortunate in life. FIRE or not FIRE, I am already successful and I have a great life."

'nuff said.