“Financial Freedom Is Only Possible With Your Soul-Sucking, High-Income Career”

Yes, it’s true. Mrs. CC and I have an established high-income career in the oil and gas industry. And yes, it’s true. Our incomes far exceed our needs. So that’s it right? There’s no more that needs to be said.

Of course we can save and invest and be financially independent when we’ve sold our soul to the devil for a fat paycheck. Everyone in the industry must be wiping their oily and gassy asses with $100 bills and planning their early retirements on the French Riviera. Au contraire dear reader, for I have a story to tell.

Money Made Is Money Spent

Here’s a fundamental truth that’s supported by data at all levels of income: Money made is money spent. When incomes rise, consumption (spending) often increases in stride. This consumption schedule is partly influenced by consumer confidence, which is to say that folks will limit their spending generally only in times of uncertain economic conditions (job insecurity, recession, etc.). Otherwise, smoke ’em if you got ’em.

Oil and gas, as with other careers with high-income potential, is no different. As I discussed in our story of our catalyst for financial independence, I saw first-hand people completely freaking out and literally kicking holes in walls during layoffs. These were folks making six-figure salaries who couldn’t face the reality of not having a steady paycheck.

The Nobility of the Modest Income

When I was in college or working previous jobs that paid virtually nothing, I took smug confidence in my frugality and minimalist existence. “I don’t need money,” I thought.

It’s easy to point the finger at high incomes when you don’t have one. But as a 2015 Nielsen study suggests, if you make more money, you’ll probably spend more money. The study claims that 25% of families making $150,000 a year or more are living paycheck to paycheck. The study also notes how Americans rank as terrible savers: 22% of Americans have no spare cash, outpacing the rate observed in the Middle East and Africa (21%), Europe (20%), and Latin America (15%).

Folks like to think that a salary of $100,000 easily promotes saving, but oh how you’d be surprised! With a bigger paycheck, now you have money for season tickets, nice restaurants, expensive travel, and new Sprinter Vans for weekend trips. It slowly adds up, and almost anyone falls victim to some degree of lifestyle inflation. We were no different.

It’s surprisingly difficult to maintain a low spending profile as income increases, especially when you see your peers and friends spending money. Many in the climbing community wax poetic about the virtues of a simple life, and I love that message at its core. But then one day some of those same people go on to better pay, and voila! Life becomes less simple. Give a grizzled and leathery Indian Creek dirtbag a check for $20,000 and I 100% guarantee he’ll have the best van in the lot next time you see him. It’s human nature.

Another issue of saving on a high salary is that your friends and family will conflate frugality with being cheap. There’s an expectation that good money should be spent, and I’ve sensed more times than not that our choices to embrace frugality are simply seen as tacky thriftiness.

Americans have a behavior problem, rooted in a comparison culture, not an income problem. The Joneses don’t just live out in the suburbs with a white picket fence.

But What About My Dirty Oil and Gas Career?

I’m like many of us: I’m not a doctor. I don’t save lives. I don’t feed starving children.

But I work in an industry that supplies a demand. Love it or leave it, we all drink the proverbial Kool-Aid and we are all (believe it or not) ardent financial supporters of the oil and gas industry through our energy consumption. The United States energy consumption is second only to China (yet our population is far lower)

None of my partners meet me at the crag on a horse-drawn carriage with hemp ropes. I haven’t seen much activity on the #mulelife thread, and grinding grains to make flour in a mortar and pestle to bake bread over fire embers gets really old.

I’m intentionally being a bit of an ass here. But that doesn’t mean I don’t deeply care about the same issues that concern folks. And I hardly describe myself as a red-blooded “supporter” of the oil and gas industry, turning a convenient blind eye to the negatives of large-scale industrial processes.

Reducing Consumption Through Intentionality

This is not at all a political website, but I’ll assure you that Mrs. CC and I support all forms of energy development and we especially support reduced consumption. In fact, I’d venture to guess that our carbon footprint is infantile compared to many who take a vocal stance against the work we do. We take action at the ballot and we certainly take action with our lifestyle choices.

I could make a rather long (and arguably pretentious) list of the ways we consume less. In fact I did, thought it was pretentious, and I deleted it. But the most important aspect to understand is that if you only buy what brings you value, you simply will consume less. And then use the shit out of what you buy. Consuming less and milking the product for all it’s worth means less energy use in product development, packaging, and less CC-provided stuff floating in the Pacific.

Some think our decisions and lifestyle choices are born out of frugality, which is partially true. But I also feel really good about using less. That’s one of the primary aspects of frugality and financial independence that I love so much: You need far less than you think to be happy.

The Economics of Energy Consumption

When it comes to human behavior and choices at large, it’s ultimately economics, not ethics or morals, that wins at the end of the day. The economic case is made wonderfully in this thought-provoking piece from Forbes: So You Think We’re Reducing Fossil Fuel Use? Think Again. As the article discusses, worldwide energy demand is increasing, not decreasing. That demand is being supplied dominantly (by a large margin) with fossil fuels, simply out of the economic ease of implementation.

Even in the US, where renewables have a stronger base of support, the EIA reports that 80% of US energy consumption is still supplied with fossil fuels (although slightly declining).

Future Energy Consumption and Sources

According to the 2018 World Energy Outlook, we should expect a 20-year increase in population of 1.7 billion people! To supply the energy demands of all those babies we absolutely must diversify our energy sources, and I’m sure we will. However, we must also recognize that fossil fuels will not go the way of the dinosaurs in our lifetime, especially in developing economies of Asia and elsewhere. The best action we can therefore take, although seemingly futile, is to reduce our energy consumption.

It’s very important to understand that Americans make up 5% of the world’s population, but consume 17% of the world’s energy. That ain’t right brother!

If you think the oil and gas industry is the work of the devil, how does your consumption look? How much do you value comfort over what feels right on a bumper sticker? I don’t care if you guzzle gas in a big van or truck — go for it! I also don’t care if you like your house 80 degrees in the winter. You do what brings value to you, so long as you are mindful of where you point the finger. We should all support and strive for change, but we can’t at the same time bite the hand that feeds us.

That’s about enough on that tangent. Phew, I feel better already. Let’s continue.

But Do I love My High-Income Career?

So is my job a passion every day? Of course not! I’ve been very clear on that.

Is yours?

Studies show that most Americans aren’t satisfied with their jobs. So I’ve stayed the course in a high-income career with reasonable job satisfaction in a great city. We hope we’re making the best of it by saving and investing in our future, not continually throwing down on today’s latest shiny toy.

You Can Be Financially Independent On a Modest Income

Let’s forget for a moment about my career and the oil and gas industry. Go anywhere on this website where I’ve mentioned what I do for a career, replace it with almost any other job, and the math still works.

Let’s swing to the other side of the income spectrum, shall we? How about a starting salary of $28,000? Most would probably assume you can’t provide margin to save and invest on that sort of salary. Tell that to Andrew Hallam, who became a millionaire in his 30s following the teacher’s path. He was saving 50% of his income right off the bat!

Let Andrew serve as an example that financial independence is far from unachievable for low-income earners. In fact, he’s got an entire book on the subject:

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Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School

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I’ve also commonly linked to the story of the Millionaire Educator, who as you might have guessed, is another self-made millionaire on a teacher’s salary.

Or how about the story of Andréa Motenko? Andréa grew up under the wing of a single mother in an impoverished setting in Boston. As a child she witnessed murders, prolific drug culture, and was offered no guarantees on next month’s housing or food. But she broke free of a cycle of poverty, landing a seat at Harvard University and securing financial independence. But I’ll be damned if she didn’t hustle. Take a listen to Andréa’s story linked above consider the challenges she’s faced.

So, you can do this on a teacher’s salary. You can do this with anything in between. And most importantly, you can most likely achieve full financial freedom in your situation.

Let’s put to rest that this path of financial security is only possible if we “sell our soul” for some high-income career.

But it will be slower, so why not make more?

Yes, you can do this on a modest income. But why take aim at those with a high-income career when it’s really so easy to increase income? Ask yourself what’s wrong with making more.

All that time spent beating yourself up over Source of Misfortune A and Not My Fault B could be used to look for a better-paying job, increase marketable workplace skills, generate side streams of income, start an online business, or sell all your unnecessary junk on Ebay. Just some friendly suggestions, that’s all ;).

Plus, all that hard work will probably make you happier.

Summary

Well that was weird. If you haven’t already figured out, I was “challenged” by a reader who thought my situation was only possible with my high-income career, making particular note of my job in “dirty oil extraction.” Sorry for the rant, and I hope I’ve explained my position.

But direct comment or not, I know the issue of privilege is an often unspoken criticism of financial independence. “Sure man, I could do this too if I had your income.”

That sentiment simply couldn’t be further from the truth. People game out their finances at all income levels, and the real optimizers eventually look for ways to increase income. The path may be shorter for us with a high income, but the methods and sense of discipline to break the cycle of money-in-money-out are largely the same. If your income is not where you want, don’t let the bounds of your 9-5 define you. We’ve both worked many jobs that paid a small fraction of the salaries we make today.

But it’s true: we are 100% privileged. However, we do not take our privilege for granted. We capitalize on it, and I get up early each morning to use my unique position to help spread a message of productivity and hope. I find it far more distressing to see others with the same degree of privilege throwing it all away for immediate gratification, preferring instead to point the finger back at the messengers.

Let’s not waste our advantages, and let’s certainly not forget the grit and determination brought forth from those who are less advantaged. If you work for it, good things will come.

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