Abundance in Constraint

The median (half have less) disposable income for UK households (2.4 people) is £29,400. After reading William MacAskill and Peter Singer who study Effective Altruism, I decided it was worth aiming to live off an income of less than £2,000 a month. Aiming for less seems very counterintuitive in a bigger-better-more world. If you believe in abundance, then it also seems unnecessary. Why self-impose constraint? I don’t believe resources are abundant, and grapple with conspicuous consumption in a world with structural apartheid. Poverty is still very real, and mostly apportioned by our compounded historic prejudices. Sustainability is also clearly a pressing issue. I am all for Maximum Sustainable Growth, but how we co-ordinate means we can’t think in isolation. 1s and 0s (digital pleasures) and walks are abundant. Big houses, cars, and plane trips clearly aren’t. I do believe in win-win growth. Someone rising up doesn’t have to be a threat, but how we count, what we count, and where/if we grow does need reflection. You can still lean into true abundance within empowering constraints.

What is Enough?

In the essay 'Famine, Affluence and Morality', Peter Singer looks at the ethics of 'How much is enough'. When we know there are people struggling, what are the ethics around our own level of consumption? What are our obligations to others? How much is doing enough? Toby Ord is part of the Effective Altruism movement which looks critically at where, how, and why we give. He is the founder of 'Giving What We Can' and has committed to capping his own 'allowance' at £18,000 and giving away the balance of what he earns. 

In discussing the project I am involved in working on to build a Community Wealth Fund that pays a Universal Basic Income to 150 people, I was pointed in the direction of leanFIRE. F-I = Financial Independence. R-E = Retire Early. If you combine the concepts of building an engine to finance your expenditure with lean living, the size of the engine required comes down. The leanFIRE group discuss a Sustainable Withdraw Rate (SWR). This is what the Engine would need to earn to pay the amount you need sustainably. 3% seems a sensible figure.

If you combined Toby Ord's approach with a SWR of 3%, you would need a £600,000 engine. To pay a Universal Basic Income roughly equal to the median income per person in the world (c. £180/month) you would need an engine of £72,000 (3% is £2,160). The median income per person in the UK is about £21,000. The UK is a rich country. Toby isn't being a martyr, but living on that amount in the UK still requires some tough decisions.

https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/