John Lennon with a Financial Independence Perspective

By Paul Mollenkopf

As members of the financial independence community, we tend to observe qualities of the movement in movies, music, and other art forms that go unnoticed by most. This happens to me frequently and the most recent occurrence was with the movie Yesterday, a 2019 film that can currently be seen on Netflix. Knowing I have an eclectic taste, I tend to shy away from recommending movies, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one and it has an 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Please proceed with reading this blog post under a spoiler warning.

The premise of the film is a global event occurs that creates an alternate reality in which the Beatles never existed. One musician on the planet, named Jack Malik, remembers their music, plays their songs as his own and becomes rich and famous. Here comes the spoiler alert: Jack visits John Lennon, who is an elderly man that lives in a humble home in the countryside, never having been a Beatle and never having been assassinated.

Their conversation unfolds like this:

Jack: “Have you had a happy life?”

John Lennon: “Very”

Jack: “But not successful.”

John Lennon: “I just said, very happy. That means successful.”

This scene got my FI wheels spinning at a rapid pace. While it seems undeniable that having a happy life should be the definition of success, we live in a world that doesn’t necessarily view it that way. In a society that undervalues contentment and fulfillment and overvalues status and material possessions, it is not only possible but likely people can be seen as unsuccessful despite their happiness. However, many in the financial independence community understand that this is a real-life, non-fictional, alternate reality.

The inverse is also true; you can be seen as extremely successful and yet, be unhappy. This subject is also touched upon in the film as Jack finds great career achievement playing these Beatle’s songs but finds misery in moving on and losing the life, love and friends he once knew along with the stress of potentially being exposed as a musical fraud.

In the film, Lennon gives his definition of success; “Did a job I enjoyed day after day. Sailed the world. Fought for things I believed in, and won, a couple of times. Found a woman I loved. Fought hard to keep her too. Lived my life with her...It all turned out, just fab.” Promotions, raises and riches are nowhere to be found in his soliloquy. The Lennon character viewed success much as the FI community does; more synonymous with happiness than material possession.

Dictionary.com defines success as:

1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; the accomplishment of one's goals.

2. the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like. Synonyms: triumph, accomplishment, achievement

Perhaps our community is wrong and the world and Dictionary.com are correct. Success and happiness are not synonymous, but that does not mean they are mutually exclusive. If this is true it means, then in order to obtain both we have to strive for both and not foolishly believe that obtaining one will organically bring about the other. Logic dictates that if success does not equal happiness, then happiness cannot equal success. Can you be successful and unhappy? Can you be happy and unsuccessful? If you strive for both you must go at it with the perspective that they are mutually exclusive and must be worked toward with separate efforts. Perhaps this is the hidden understanding of those in the FI community. Most people strive for career success under the fallacy that it will bring them happiness. We understand that one is fruitless without the other. Many strive for that temporary success with the idea that it will feed the ability to strive for happiness later in life.

Perhaps we are less enlightened than we think. We’re hearing numerous stories of people in the community who have achieved financial independence, their definition of success, but are now struggling to unclench the purse strings in pursuit of happiness. One more year syndrome.

- Paul Mollenkopf is the author of Once Upon a FI