Welcome

The Bullmeister is a 52-year-old IT consultant living and working in the South East of England. I started this blog in reaction to some of the things I’ve seen in my professional and personal life. I’ve worked in many fields including digital marketing, social media, gambling and insurance. As much as I’ve enjoyed my time in IT I’ve not always liked what I’ve seen or the practices of some of the companies I’ve worked for. But I’m not yet ready to ‘bite the hand that feeds IT’. Not yet anyway – hence the anonymous nature of this blog. But I felt I had to do something to rile against the worse excesses of these industries.

It also serves as a homage to the wonderful Mr Money Mustache blog – a truly life-changing study of life, financial freedom and environmentally aware living. I know ‘life-changing’ is a much overused term but Mr Money Mustache’s blog has done more to change my outlook than anything I’ve ever read. I believe this work can offer so much to so many people and I’d urge you to start there first.

I’m not sure what I can add to Mr Money Mustache’s great canon of work but I can at least try. He is a leading advocate of a movement called FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early). A misnomer as it is not always about early retirement (although it does create the opportunity) but rather a plan to live a simpler, more considered and environmentally aware life by consuming less. By being more frugal and less materialistic and instead investing the money saved, all sorts of new opportunities become available. That is certainly what I have found.

I believe so strongly in the FIRE philosophy I wanted to write about my experiences and help spread the message. Highlighting practical steps and simple life hacks that have worked for me and which I believe can give you more control, financial security and ultimately, happiness.

Isn’t FIRE a life of self-imposed deprivation?

I certainly thought so on first reading about this movement. But gradually the ideas started making more and more sense. While I have always been very savvy with money and avoided all the common consumer traps, I thought this was just common sense. What I missed was the bigger picture and what this runaway consumer society is doing to us all. Social media and rampant marketing is gradually reducing us all to little more than units of production and consumption. Encouraging us to spend money we don’t have, to buy things we don’t need, to impress people we don’t even know, and destroying the planet in the process.

But it doesn’t have to be like this. Maybe because I avoided so many consumer traps, and have been able to earn a good income, I became rich almost by accident. Not rich in the private jet sense because that means absolutely nothing and holds no allure for me. I mean rich in the only way that it can mean anything – freedom from worry and security for my family. Not having to worry about paying for the groceries, unexpected repair bills or the mortgage. And enough spare cash to do all the things we want to do, and nothing more. That is the real value of money and something I believe nearly everyone can achieve with a few simple steps and more considered financial decisions.

Don’t worry, FIRE does not require you to live like a monk. The Bullmeister himself is not immune to a weakness for luxury. I live in a million-pound house and am a keen photographer with plentiful equipment. We have two cars and eat like kings. But there comes a point when you have to say enough. But some of us never seem to reach that point. Sometimes the world seems to have gone completely mad. The notion of frugal living as a virtue seems to have disappeared under the weight of marketing and fast fashion trends. I can’t be the only person to think this is madness?

What I have now come to understand since embarking on this FIRE journey is that a more frugal and considered life is ultimately a more meaningful and satisfying one. It is also incredibly empowering to feel free from many of the pressures of a runaway consumer society. Avoiding social media and advertising can create a zen-like calm that feels the very opposite of deprivation. Instead, it feels like a whole new world of opportunity and boundless possibilities has been opened up.

An answer to modern ills

Modernity had brought us so many benefits. Nobody (at least not very many) go hungry in the developed world. Nobody has to fear being sent off to war unless they choose to. Disease and child mortality are largely a thing of the past. Some of our biggest fears are the problems of success and longevity – obesity and Alzheimer’s. Wealth has increased so much, despite its obscene unequal distribution, 1 billion of people around the world have been lifted out of poverty during the last thirty years. Productivity increases mean things that once took weeks, if they were possible at all, can now be done in seconds. Almost without exception the number of hours paid work required to buy a particular consumer item has fallen dramatically, be that fuel, TV’s, or food. But instead of using that increased wealth and productivity to buy our financial freedom and security too much of it has been squandered on the soulless pursuit of ever-increasing amounts of consumer goods. It gets worse each passing year. Social media and Influencers are increasingly used to create wants where there are no needs. Too much never seems enough and we just keep racketing up the demands on this ever-increasing treadmill of consumption.

All the while an astonishingly large proportion of the population can’t manage a single month’s missed income. Often after having worked in well-paid jobs for years and years. Driven to spend they never accumulate the wealth that would free them from the worry and stress such a precarious existence creates. And in doing so they undermine so many of the benefits this modern world has to offer. All in the pursuit of material goods, which beyond a certain point, all the evidence suggests doesn’t add to our happiness.

And if it is not happiness and security we should be striving for then what are we here for?

Not just for the rich

One common criticism of the FIRE movement is that it is only for the already wealthy. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tips on how to save money by avoiding disposable razors might not make much material difference to a millionaire but for someone on the margins a £100 saving each year adds up to £1,500 over 10 years when compounded at 7% (this is the opportunity cost if that saving had been invested wisely). Small savings like these are proportionally more important to those at the margins. That is just one small example. There are many other bigger savings to be made. Even a millionaire can see the benefits of avoiding ridiculous Range Rover purchases and choosing instead a free electric car. The cost savings from avoiding these thoughtless purchases when compounded over time are significant even for a mere millionaire without tens of millions to call upon.

And that is before we even consider the environmental impact of these unnecessary purchases. It is very difficult to count yourself as an environmentalist whilst spending money so carelessly. And that is something we should all be aware of regardless of our wealth.

Financial problems and mental health

Personal financial problems are a major contributor to mental health problems and poor well-being.

Relative poverty can cause low self-esteem and lack of self-worth. Often exacerbated by social media and advertisements depicting life-styles out of the reach of many people. This can breed resentment and fuels crime and societal problems.

Shortages of money are often caused by individuals buying things they did not need and because they felt compelled to spend beyond what they could afford. The resultant indebtedness often leads to depression and anxiety.

But if managed correctly money can create security and a sense of well-being. By training the mind to resist the temptations and understand the way marketing and advertisers manipulate consumers individuals can feel empowered and regain a sense of control over their lives and destiny.

Many of these benefits can be achieved without requiring huge sums. Just having a months salary in a rainy day fund can create a financial buffer large enough to take the worse stresses off a hard-pressed family. The breathing space this creates can open up all sorts of new opportunities to increase your wealth because living hand-to-mouth is a very expensive way to live.

What is the solution?

Learn to understand the power of advertisers and marketers and how they drive this orgy of consumption. Know the tricks they use to create a desire and as a consequence get you to spend. Avoid it where possible and where it is not, make more considered and careful choices. And learn to detect the bullshit in much of it. I promise you will be amazed how the desire to spend disappears almost immediately.

Recognise that spreadsheets and impartial advice are your friends. Use these to make every major financial decision. Weight up the costs and benefits over the complete life of something. Wether that is a pet, a car, or a mortgage.

Get angry, get very angry. At gambling companies, hard and soft drinks companies, drug companies, banks, payday loans merchants, peddlers of fast fashion and fast food delivery. All the things that try to persuade you to part with your money. Or damage your health, because health is the ultimate wealth. Rather than waste that money and energy channel it and use it for the only thing worth buying – freedom. Freedom from worry about where the next meal is coming from, or what happens if you are made redundant, or how you are going to pay for the repair your car needs.

Our journey

So, let us go on a journey together, seeking out and destroying consumer bullshit. And have some fun along the way. Our targets will be those companies and advertisers that seek only to profit their shareholders at the expense of the poor consumer. Armed only with my trusty Bullshit-Meter™ our journey begins…

The Bullmeister