Dirty Secrets of Wei Foo

If I do not have something interesting to write about, I'd normally explore the content generated by others to see whether I can build on top of it. Once again, the Woke Salaryman did an excellent comic strip on FIRE and I think I can add value by doing an article on this. 

Please visit this link if you have not done so earlier because my article assumes that you have read the comic.

I've been following the response to this comic, and I must say that I'm quite disappointed. 

A common response is that we should try to become Wei Foo. 

In my opinion, that's not mature because it's hard to attain FIRE. 

A mature response is to figure out who you really are in that strip. 

My cousin, who works for an asset management firm, lost money in LUNA (like me) and admitted that she's a lot more like Curtis. As for myself, even as I FIREd almost a decade ago, I find that I have a much stronger affinity with Amelia, because my ENTJ personality makes it hard to do nothing post-FIRE. 

I also don't agree with the life philosophy of many folks who area ahead of me in the FIRE movement in spite of my deep respect for them. Do I want to aspire towards a life playing MMORPGS until I die? Or spend the rest of my life splitting hairs to get the 4th decimal place of the safe rate of withdrawal?

As I'm part of this FIRE movement, I think we're to lax with Wei Foo and I want to deconstruct Wei Foo properly and explain why he may not deserve the admiration that has been depicted in this comic series.

a) Wei Foos may be born rather than made

Wei Fee is an imaginary construct of the Woke Salaryman who did an admirable job trying to depict a person who can achieve FIRE. Kudos to them for not Mary Suing themselves into their strip. 

My first issue is that Wei Foo is likely to be born with some specific personality traits, which Woke Salaryman was unable to explore due to their medium.

Every ERM class I conducted would fall into just one or two MBTI personality trait. As it turns out INTJs dominate the FIRE discussion groups on Reddit and also my biggest paying customers, so much so that I no longer see myself as an educator of finance, but as an enabler of a specific group of people who self-select into the ranks of the Financially independent. 

I have very close INTJ pals. 

You don't really turn kids into INTJs, its largely natural occuring, so this defeats that round of folks trying to "become Wei Foo for the winz". A stereotype INTJ-Wei Foo-compliant-avatar is a software architect who listens to World Music, watches obscure anime, and reads books about the Occult. I love hanging out with them, but even I can't even get remotely close in terms of broad interests.  

If you accept my assertion that Wei Foo are probably INTJs, then all hell breaks loose.

b)  Wei Foo may be in a very elite industry that is very hard to get in.

INTJs are fundamentally not a high-earning personality ( but they are above average ). Amelia who seems more ENTJ can say that she can do sales or take on a leadership role to earn her $12k a month. If you expect an Introvert to so the same, then you will be left with just maybe software development that will respect introversion and a broad conceptual approach to work. Accountants and Engineers have an ISTJ inclination.

Modern software engineering is a very modern niche skill. 

(Otherwise the private management degree holders who have a starting play $1,200 less than dish washers today will apply en masse to become full stack engineers.)

Even if you do get into the industry, there's a big difference between the 100x developer who can architect a blockchain smart contracts platform, and a tech peon who specializes in shaping JDBC connections. Its an intuitive open mindedness that can adapt a technical solution to business needs.

Worse, the Wei Foo of the future will be conversant in Quantum Computing. I took a couple of introductory courses and it's no joke. Basically you need to manipulate linear programming matrices that contain complex numbers. Right now, you needs Physics degree with a specialization to get a foot in the door, an elite CS degree may not be enough.  

So it's not easy to qualify as a Wei Foo, you might need to be top 5% in STEM subjects.

c) Wei Foo may be emotionally stunted and will have trouble finding a mate 

The introversion that allows Wei Foo to master finance and investing and develop the "Kiam siap" to FIRE will be an impediment to developing an emotional bond with someone. There are some folks who FIRE and have a family, but there are also quite a number who FIRE and stay single. 

I'm saying this because I feel it too even when I'm not an introvert ! We ENTJs are also emotionally stunted, but we're kinda proud of it.

If you combine introversion, kiam siapness, super mild Asperger's, deep interest in hard core fields like investing and finance, it's a straight road to BBFA life. I encourage female readers to date them to really understand what I mean.

This is why I disagree that Wei Foo can even get married on shoestring budget. Most Wei Foos won't even come close. 

I think if we adopt this framework to deconstruct Wei Foo, then we will understand that sometimes, it's not the price we pay to attain FIRE, but it can be our genetic makeup, and the price to pay is understated. 

Fortunately, the world requires all sorts of folks to function, you need the Amelia and Curtis to run the economy, and if some of them never attain FIRE, it is possible fine.

The movement has evolved milder forms of FIRE like Coast or Barista for other personality types, go read up on them further to explore which idea suits you.