3078: Luxury or Essential By Darrow Kirkpatrick of Can I Retire Yet on Financial Independence

Optimal Finance Daily - Financial Independence and Money Advice

Optimal Living Daily LLC

Investing, Business, Education, Self-improvement

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3078: Most of us aiming for financial independence don’t live in luxury, but what truly counts as a luxury? Darrow Kirkpatrick challenges the idea that luxuries are inherently bad, arguing instead that they should be evaluated based on their function, personal value, and overall cost. By asking whether an expense is optional, meaningful, and affordable, we can make smarter financial choices, prioritizing what genuinely enriches our lives without falling into the trap of unnecessary spending. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.caniretireyet.com/luxury-or-essential/ Quotes to ponder: "A luxury is 'something inessential, but conducive to pleasure and comfort.'" "The problem is when you develop habits to the point that expensive luxuries become necessities, or you want them in all areas of your life." "When you spend money, you choose consumption today over the lifetime of interest income you’d achieve from investing it instead." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Here's the truth about AI. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into. Service Now puts AI to work for people across your business, removing friction and frustration for your employees, supercharging productivity for your developers, providing intelligent tools for your service agents to make customers happier. All built into a single platform you can use
0:22.3	right now. That's why the world works with ServiceNow. Visit ServiceNow.com slash UK slash AI for people.
0:30.5	Hello blue skies. Hello moving onwards and upwards. Hello, taking control of your money.
0:40.1	Say hello to tax-free investing.
0:42.6	Open a stocks and shares, ICER,
0:47.2	and act by the 5th of April to get 100 to 3,000 pounds cash back.
0:49.1	Cargreaves lands down.
0:50.3	Hello Life.
0:54.0	Register and add or transfer £10,000 plus. You may get back less than you invests, and tax
0:56.0	benefits vary. For terms and conditions, see hl.co.ukuk, forth slash ISA.
1:00.9	This is optimal finance daily, luxury, or essential by Darrow Kirkpatrick of can I retire yet.com.
1:10.0	It's safe to say that most of us in line to become financially
1:13.9	independent or retire early don't lead lives of luxury. For example, I shave with bar soap,
1:21.9	buy socks at Walmart, don't pay for cable, and still don't own a smartphone. I'm just a lifelong cheap skate who's
1:30.0	been privileged to splurge in a few areas. Frugality is a necessary baseline for most who build wealth.
1:38.4	But does this mean that luxuries are bad? And what exactly is a luxury anyway? Could it be different for different people?
1:46.8	The dictionary tells us that a luxury is something inessential, but conducive to pleasure and comfort.
1:54.6	But that definition leaves quite a bit of room for interpretation. To be essential is to be
2:00.5	close to the essence of something, inherent,
2:03.6	almost a part of it. What is truly essential to human life? Water, food, clothing, shelter,
2:11.1	companionship, it's a short list. And at least in the developed world, easily or freely obtained by most of us. Does that mean that
2:20.9	everything else, from bicycles to BMWs, from ginger spice to ice cream, from watches to iPhones,
	...

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