[Reflection] #35: Financial Independence & the Law of Attraction
Before leaving for Tahiti, I had lunch with two friends who are working toward financial independence (FIRE), and we talked at length about the FIRE strategies of those we know, near or far, and their own.
Real estate, the French’s favorite strategy
Most bet on real estate to generate passive income. The classic pattern: buy old apartments that need major renovations, not too far from universities, renovate them while controlling costs, then rent them out as shared accommodation to target a yield of at least 4%. Others prefer tourist areas; a not-too-expensive apartment 30 minutes from the sights, and voila, onto Airbnb. The French love of real estate comes down to two reasons: 1/ The belief that it’s a safe investment that can only appreciate (false) 2/ The advantage in France of being able to borrow at fixed rates (true).
The pitfalls many French fall into
The first pitfall is the expense that grows with the salary. One of my friends was a victim of this for a long time: despite a very good salary, at the end of the month, his account was nearly empty. Money came in, money went out, never really accumulating.
The second pitfall is the primary residence as the only asset. You tell yourself you’ll downsize when the kids leave, sell the big house for a smaller apartment, and pocket the profit. Except in practice, people don’t move. I’ve emptied my apartments twice to go around the world or move to the other side of the world, so I know how exhausting it is. So unless there’s an urgent financial need, no one sells. Result: for years, you sit on an asset that yields nothing, and you don’t even benefit from the appreciation since you never sell it. Whereas with a slightly smaller primary home and reasonable expenses, you can invest in ETFs every month. Money makes money, as explained very well in The Richest Man in Babylon, which I keep recommending..
The third pitfall is subscription creep. Netflix, Canal+, Amazon Prime… they pile up, and in the end, you’re paying to scroll mindlessly. And the biggest rip-off of the lot is car leasing . Before, when you bought something, you owned it, you could resell it on Leboncoin anytime. Today, even the video games you “buy” you don’t really own anymore.
The fourth pitfall is food delivery in big cities . What used to be a rare treat has become a reflex. One lazy evening, then two, then every weekday evening. But a delivered meal easily costs two to three times the price of the same meal cooked at home, not to mention delivery fees and tips.
Employee vs. freelancer: the equation that changes everything
One of my friends is going for lean FIRE : spend very little for several years to achieve financial independence. But his plan is shaky because of one detail: he doesn’t like his job anymore. The other friend had his wake-up call when he saw the contracts his employer signed with freelancers: they were paid four times his salary. The conclusion was obvious. Sure, becoming a freelancer means losing security, you can be let go overnight. But when you factor in taxes and risks, a freelancer pockets at least twice as much, net of tax, as an employee. And given my friends’ level of expertise, they’re in demand. They’ll reach FIRE much faster as freelancers. Both are lucky enough to have their mortgage nearly paid off, so even without income for a few months, they can dip into their savings without panicking.
That’s the real trap for employees with too many fixed expenses : they’re forced to cling to their monthly salary, and they miss out on freelance opportunities—risky, sure, but so much more lucrative. They also miss out on career change opportunities while their job is threatened by AI.
Social media
A craftsman told me he pocketed €500 in two weeks thanks to his tutorials on TikTok and Facebook, which pay for views (Facebook reels are poor quality, so Facebook pays better than TikTok). He says he doesn’t even need to show his face, he only shows his hands. And other influencers use filters to avoid showing their real faces too.
This lunch reminded me of an obvious truth we too often forget: becoming financially independent, is a matter of margin. The margin between what comes in and what goes out. And this margin can be optimized on both sides: earning more, spending less wisely, without necessarily depriving yourself. But earning more and spending less isn’t enough if that money just sits in a checking account. The real difference is what you do with what you set aside. A euro that sleeps doesn’t work.
You’re going to tell me: “that’s all well and good, but my job isn’t suited for freelancing”, or “I have five kids, I can’t live in 20m²”. The worst part about these counterarguments is that they are the very definition of what Americans call the poverty mindset. Instead of looking for solutions, the poverty mindset looks for obstacles first: it builds a list of good reasons to justify to itself why abundance can’t find it, why its future is doomed from the start, why it works for others, but not for it; even though there are 10,000 ways to get rich other than freelancing. The first thing is to get rid of this poverty mindset and tell yourself: “I don’t know exactly how I’ll get there, but abundance will find me, because I’m ready to welcome it.”
Let me tell you a personal anecdote.
Over the past few months, I’ve bought a lot of silk clothing on Vinted. And given the amounts that were piling up, I thought it would be nice if money fell from the sky to fund all that. So I called on the law of attraction. My method is simple: I raise my vibration through an artistic activity — in this case, I was working on a calligraphy project, copying out the 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching. And when I reached that state of flow, of concentration and deep well-being that comes with repetitive gestures, I made my request to my higher self, I imagined money arriving in my account and felt joy as if it had already happened.
The next day, I felt an irresistible urge to put things back up for sale on Vinted (even though I hadn’t listed anything for months). I pulled out the most expensive coat from my closet, the one I don’t wear because it’s a bit too big, and a rare book from my library that’s been out of stock for years and highly sought after. A few days later, everything was sold. The 500€ funded all my silk purchases.
But I quickly realized something: selling on Vinted is great, except it’s not really extra money; it’s money I’d already spent that I’m getting back. When there’s nothing left to sell, the source will dry up. So I reformulated my request, this time aiming for passive income. And a few days later, I was struck by an extraordinary motivation to optimize my blog and generate sales through affiliate marketing.
All that to say that there’s an extraordinary resource within each of you: the higher self, which knows exactly what’s good for you and loves you, it’s just waiting for one thing: for you to ask it. You don’t know where to start to achieve financial independence? Call it. Hello, higher self? The answer can come in the form of an action, an idea, a dream, a sudden intuition…
To learn more:
- here are the books on financial independence that I highly recommend
- the book “Investissez votre épargne” (Amazon link), which explains how to invest your savings in ETFs, life insurance, CORUM… it also shows you how to open your PEA asap. It’s super comprehensive and easy to understand. It’s truly the investment bible for the French.
