We are ardent Capitalists here at Happily Disengaged. But we are also ardently aware of the problems associated with consumer culture in our society. There’s a problem with consuming items in ever-increasing quantities. Suffering inevitably results from the constant pressure we feel from advertisements and the need to show others we’ve made it.

When you make more you spend more.

The Consumer

Okay, so the quotes are just a paraphrase of a mentality that us consumers have. There’s a bunch of ways to say it. You only live once. We can afford it (the minimum payment). We aren’t taking this money to the grave with us, right? Money is made to be spent.

It’s lifestyle inflation. The slow creep of spending more than we used to just because we have a few extra dollars to spare. It doesn’t happen overnight. It starts out with a subscription. Maybe it’s for a sports package, or an Amazon Prime membership, or even a gym. Then our expenses grow…slowly.

Smile Now Cry Later You Consumer

Why not spend money on the now rather than the later? We bust our butts at work. We wake up early or stay late. Work, for most of us, is not a pleasant experience. So we justify our indulgences because of the bullshit we put up with at work.

For those of us who fall victim to this, we are on the wrong side of consumer culture. I was, and am, a recovering consumerist. I bought only the best (most expensive). After diligent research online I would spend money on a quality product at a moment’s whim. If a new book came out that looked great I would buy it and put it into my bookshelf queue. If my team made it to the playoffs I would drop thousands for great seats. We ate out nearly every day.

But we are now in recovery from all of this. We’ve found a purpose for our money and a big picture direction we want our lives to go in. Part of securing our freedom from corporate America means disengaging from consumerism and want.

The Sword of Capitalism and the Slow Death of The Consumer

Like all great things that have improved lives, Capitalism has the capacity to hurt as much as it helps. The same way a knife can be a valuable survival tool if you’re lost in the woods; the knife can also cut us if we aren’t careful. One side of the sword is progress and wealth building. The other side will humble the greedy and cause undue suffering and restlessness. Capitalism is the opposite of equality.

How we benefit from and use capitalism, makes all the difference in the world to our happiness and goals of reaching financial freedom.

Capitalism only works when people buy products in ever increasing quantities and price. So we are inundated with advertisements and commercials. Signs, tv, podcasts, social media…every part of our waking life is filled with people telling us that we need things. Even our conversations hover around what we want to buy or what we bought.

The goal of marketing is to make you feel a sense of suffering for not having or experiencing a product that you can purchase. If a company is successful in its advertising, we end up paying our hard-earned money to these same companies who caused us to feel that sensation of suffering. It’s kind of like we as a society all say: “you’re making me want and it’s hurting me. Here, take my money to make me feel better and make the pain stop“.

That kind of sounds like a screwed up relationship. The winner/bully is the one who takes the money. Not the person who receives a depreciating material object, who’s likely traded their time for money to be able to buy this object.

How Do We Use Capitalism As a Tool And Not a Poison?

There are ways we can use consumer culture to our advantage, rather than be its victim. It’s a matter of the use of our extra money. This goes back to the FIRE Triangle and putting our money to work for us. The Triangle is the key to escaping the cycle of earning and spending. It’s the key to Financial Independence and avoiding the trap of consumer culture.

• Investing in the stock market is the simplest and easiest way to swim with the current. As corporations grow from hungry consumers, so will their stock valuations and dividends. Let’s join in and fund these corporations that benefit from the consumer society we live in.
• Real Estate properties are a great way to create monthly income. The bar here is a bit higher than entry into the stock market. It takes more money to get the ball rolling and much more homework than buying a stock.
• Start a business or Side Hustle-this is the essence of capitalism. A product or service to fill a “need”.
• W-2 Job-this is obvious. It’s our day job. But to take this to the max we have to have a mercenary mindset when it comes to work. We have to build up our resumes and be ready to move on to other companies willing to pay more for our services.

Consumer Culture is Suffering Culture. And it’s disturbingly similar to an addiction. Webster defines addiction as:

: a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity having harmful physical, psychological, or social effects and typically causing well-defined symptoms (such as anxiety, irritability, tremors, or nausea) upon withdrawal or abstinence : the state of being addicted

-Merriam-Webster definition of addiction

Capitalism becomes a poison to us when we overindulge. When we think it’s okay to borrow money for luxury items because we can afford minimum payments. When we fell the need for a new phone model, or new shoes, or new car. It’s the need for more. A bigger house. A better paying job. Going to the best school. Toys. Vacations.

It’s want. And want is addictive. It makes us restless.

When We Want, We Suffer

Wanting things to be different than they are is what gives us that feeling of stress and anxiety. Want is the root of suffering. When I watch certain commercials that capture my imagination and give me this want feeling, I tell myself; “This company is doing a really good job at causing me to want this product, I’m experiencing a form of suffering right now.”

Even listening to podcasts causes me to suffer due to want. On my commute home I sometimes listen to really great real estate investing podcasts, or interview shows of people who’ve made it financially; and this starts to give me anxiety. I need to pull the trigger on real estate, I think. Maybe my index fund plan for early retirement isn’t good enough…maybe I need to buy some individual stocks-or better yet learn and do options trading. Maybe I need to start a side business.

Accepting the feeling rather than fighting it is the key. Remember, accepting want is not the same as submitting to it.

Do You Want It or Need It?

How do we fight against the natural human feeling of wanting more? This consumer/suffering culture is ingrained in us since we’ve been able to see and think. It’s embedded in our society, and not just American society, this is a human condition. It’s a survival instinct that corporations have been able to tap into. The feeling of want stems from the most basic needs to survive. Yet differentiating between need and want is extremely difficult. For me, just being mindful of the feeling of want is enough at times.

How many times have we heard the trick question:

“Do you want it or do you need it?” There is no correct answer.

Today’s needs are really just luxurious wants and have nothing to do with survival. Do we need a refrigerator or we will die? Do we need a washing machine or we will keel over and pass into the other world? Certainly not. These things make our lives easier and there’s no shame in wanting them in our lives. It’s just a matter of knowing the difference.

What does a human truly need?

• Water
• Food
• Air
• Sun
• Mate/Offspring-even this is really a want, but it’s on this list because the survival of our race depends on it.

Okay, yes this is truly animal basic. And if we only had these things our lives might be pretty miserable–or happy and fruitful depending on what we’ve experienced. Everything else is a want, and therefore a luxury and will lead to a degree of suffering.

So when we ask ourselves do we “need it or want it”; this is really the wrong question to ask ourselves.

The right question is

“Why am I not satisfied with what I have right now?”

It’s the answer to this question that will begin to unwind the knot that most of us have found ourselves tied up in.