So in my posts I've definitely talked about flipping a switch or turning the page this year financially.  What that meant is I stopped worrying about the future and our savings and our finances.  I don't mean I am spending wildly but I just stopped tracking our spending and I stopped worrying about the savings rate.  I knew mentally in 2021 that we had sort of hit coast fire where we could just not save and be fine.  But mentally flipping that switch is really hard.  It still is.  Even now the idea of not saving into a 401k even though we don't need it just isn't in my DH and my DNA.  We just can't do it. To not contribute is not happening.

But the real flip of the switch?  Is realizing that I can stop pondering my spending.  It was the wealth ladder book and podcast that did it. I listened to Nick Magguli on lots of different podcasts starting with afford anything and it changed how I looked at money.  Growing up poor I am a super conservative person. I can't help it.  It's ingrained.  It's a hard habit to break.

But listening to the book I realized that I clung worrying about every penny instead of looking at the big picture.  What do I mean by that?  We were solidly in rung 4 of the wealth ladder this year and have been for awhile.  But i would have a bit of anxiety if I should shop at Safeway versus Kroger.  If I shouldn't shop around for the best price.  If I shouldn't not have a drink with dinner because that's not what you do. This was my own mental hangups.  But listening to the podcast/book I realized I didn't need to do this.  We were beyond that.  That it didn't matter these incremental spendings were within his 0.001% rule and he even categorized the rungs as rung 2 - grocery freedom, rung 3 - restaurant freedom, rung 4 - travel freedom, rung 5 - house freedom.

This caused a switch to flip and it stopped stressing me out. I stopped feeling anxious about not shopping at the absolute best deal and just went shopping. I stopped worrying about where we wanted to eat out and just ate out.  I didn't worry about getting "deals" as much or if I didn't maximize the "value".  It gave me a sense of peace I hadn't had until now.

The other part of the peace came from listening to something I knew instictively but it hadn't been said directly.  Rung 4 in the wealth ladder is $1m-$10m.  And Magguli said what got you to rung 4 won't get you to 5.  And most people never make it to rung 5 and are okay with it.  They don't see the value in striving to save and work years more to have $10m when difference between someone with say $2m and $10m isn't that much.  A nicer hotel, nicer seat on plane but you aren't flying private jets, you aren't buying any home you want.  You are incrementally have a nicer life but is the juice worth the squeeze?

I knew that mentally, and we've been working more just because of we have kids and the idea of not working and saving until they finish high school just seemed a reasonable goal.  But I realized we needed to really "enjoy" our spending now and no wait.  We might never get out of rung 4 but did it matter?  It didn't when we got there and I never expected to get to $10m, my number was always $3-5m.  But we just kept on amassing money but it gave me more anxiety.  More stress about being "prudent" and "careful" and "wise".  Doing the "right" thing.

Instead in 2025, the book, the switch, I realized we're fine.  We have enough.  We had hit our number and everything else now was gravy.  We were just flowing.  Why was I worried or everything thinking about saving?  We were truly coasting and I did not need to maximize my dollars and not only that but we could really "spend" our entire paycheck.  That we have been and were responsible all these years so we needed to relax, and know that the money coming in should also go out without fear. 

Then things changed again DH's company did well and we went above and beyond what I imagined for wealth.  Weirdly it almost seemed like I needed to flip the switch in my brain to be able to handle what was about to happen to us.  That I could handle this new norm for us.  That we had jumped brackets literally overnight.  That we were back to also making a lot of money. 

So this year has been a rollor coaster of events financially for us.  It also has been a big year for me mentally.  We are Financially independent fully.  We hit it ourselves by saving and investing.  But we also went to a new level and now I sit here considering how we can give back outside of ourselves.  I'm slowly researching ideas.  I'm also just giving more because we can.  Giving both to charity and those we know. It's a weird feeling

But 2025 was a pretty incredible year financially and emotionally. I had a bad 2024 and it wrung me dry.  2025 was supposed to be a year we regrouped and marched on.  Instead it was enlightening.