Andrew Jeffery, a real estate investor who writes a lot on X, recently asked people what they thought “FU money” would mean to them. The answers surprised him.
Is this phrase new to you? “FU money” means the amount of money that would let you quit your job, live a relaxed life, and tell the world “F-U.” (We won’t say what the “F” means, but we think you already know.)
Jeffery specifically asked, “If you had F-U money, what’s the one perk you’d give yourself every day that you would never justify without the money?”
However, if you think that people talked about fantasy-like situations where they’d have Champagne and caviar all night long, you’re wrong. Many of the more than 3,000 comments to the post talked about things that weren’t too expensive—luxuries that they might even be able to afford right now if they plan their money well.
Like having a chef come to your house and cook a meal. According to one estimate, that starts at $40 an hour, and cooks will often make enough food for a week for a fair price.
Or getting a massage every day, which was Jeffery’s choice. One source says that can be done for as little as $50 an hour.
After that there are the nice things that don’t cost much. Some people who replied to Jeffery’s post said they would love getting new socks every day. For $8.79, you can get a 10-pack, which is less than a dollar a pair.
In reaction to the post, someone said, “I find it interesting that most of the luxuries people are listing in the comments don’t cost FU money.”
None of this is a big surprise to people who study how money and happiness affect each other.
A top expert on the psychology of money, Brian Portnoy, told MarketWatch, “A lot of the things people say make them happy are pretty cheap.” “You have more chances than you might think to do those things and buy those things.”
What’s stopping us?
Ashley Feinstein Gerstley, the certified financial planner behind the Fiscal Femme, a platform for helping women’s financial well-being, says that the main problem might be that we don’t do the work. To put it another way, we don’t make budgets, which means we don’t look closely at the things we pay for but don’t really want or need.
If you get rid of some of those extras, you might have enough money to buy the things you really want.
To show this, Gerstley talks about people who buy lunch at work every day instead of bringing their own. It’s easy for that to add up to $15 a day, or $75 a week. That’s almost $4000 a year.
It was Gerstley who asked, “How many massages is that?”
Experts say that another reason we might choose cheaper items as luxuries is that we don’t want to be showy, or we just don’t want to live the high life, especially if we grew up in a poor family and now have enough money to improve our situation.
“It’s not likely that many people would change that much.” “Bigger changes, like moving or going on vacation, may happen, but many people feel most at ease in their routine,” said Rachel Goldberg, a therapist in Los Angeles.
Of course, it’s important to remember that a lot of people don’t have a lot of money, so even a massage once in a while, let alone basic needs like food and shelter, is out of their reach.
“The truth is that the federal minimum wage in the U.S. is still $7.25 an hour, and for many people, it’s no longer possible to make enough money to be financially secure and happy,” said Kathy Gilchrist, chief financial officer of Cardinal Bookkeeping & Advisory.
Jeffery told MarketWatch that he already gets a massage once a week, even though he hasn’t hit the “FU money” level of wealth yet. He’s also thought about doing it at least twice a week.
He told her, “It’s good for your body.”
