Happiness Is a Human Right: Simple Living, Refusing Mismatch, Buying Memories

In 30 seconds: CLEC’s core isn’t only “how to get rich” — it’s “how to live a life worth living.” James says happiness is a human right: you have the right to refuse any person, thing, or relationship that makes you unhappy. And the confidence to “refuse mismatch” usually comes from financial freedom. This page gathers CLEC’s philosophy of living: simplicity, spiritual energy, and buying memories.¹

Happiness is a human right — you may refuse mismatch

In the end we decide whether something is worth continuing by whether it makes us happy. A job that drains you long-term with no meaning is a mismatch; a relationship that depletes rather than nourishes you is a mismatch. A capitalist has the standing to refuse mismatch — not needing money, they needn’t endure any relationship for it. This “ability to refuse” is closer to the essence of freedom than any passive income.¹

Read “human right” literally. In July 2026 a member wrote in saying he was stuck in a sense of not deserving — “someone with a laborer’s fate shouldn’t cross into the capitalist class this easily.” James’s reply raised it to the level of rights: “Being rich is a birthright! Happiness is a human right!” We were born deserving to be wealthy; a lifetime of labor is a mistaken belief and a shackle handed down by society and family, and it enslaved us. “Teaching people to pursue wealth, happiness, and well-being is as it should be… this was always everyone’s basic human right.” — a right doesn’t require you to prove you’re worthy of it first. Full Q&A at 覺得自己不配富有怎麼辦.²

James says he has no worries, and the logic is simple: solve what can be solved; let go of what cannot. Worry is carrying what you shouldn’t while postponing what you should handle. Seeing through this requires enough ease — and ease usually rests on financial freedom.¹

What freedom actually is: having the decision, and not reading the price tag

In a 2025 chat room James defined freedom more sharply than usual — freedom isn’t a function of how much money you have, it’s whether you hold the decision:³

Decisions about what you do: “You do it if you want and it doesn’t matter if you don’t; you contribute if you want to, and stay home if you don’t.”
Decisions about who you see: “You associate with this person if you want to, and don’t if you don’t — don’t be emotionally blackmailed.” He gave his own father as the example: his father knew many women but married at his own father’s command — “he said he didn’t dare disobey” — that is unfreedom. Money solves what money can solve; relationships that come with life have to be handled with the power to decide.
The freedom to spend: “Rich people don’t deal with this — should I get the coupon, count the points, wait until month-end because flights are expensive… our freedom is the freedom of the decision, the freedom of not reading the price tag.”

And this doesn’t require hundreds of millions: “Someone still working with NT$2M or US$500k can be free too — if you feel like spending, you can spend; that’s freedom.” The key is being able to see your future wealth: “100× of $500k is $50M… if you can’t see that unlimited wealth you won’t be free; if you can see it, you’re free.”³

This is the other face of “refusing mismatch” on this page: the ability to refuse comes from holding the decision, and holding the decision comes from believing your wealth will grow — which is why he repeats the old CLEC line: “All the money in the world is mine; it’s just parked on Wall Street for now.”³

Simple living isn’t frugality — it’s “think before you spend”

Hearing “simple living,” people assume frugality — eat less, buy less. That’s the biggest misreading. The real definition is thinking before you spend: before buying, ask “will I still use this in six months?” Look at the “must-haves” you bought over the years — most sit in a corner. They were needs once; today they’re junk.¹

Material energy vs. spiritual energy

All material consumption eventually depreciates into junk: the coffee machine breaks, the treadmill becomes your priciest clothes rack, electronics get obsolete. Excitement has a shelf life.
Spiritual consumption almost never disappears: a good meal, a trip, time together — ten years later you still remember that night’s conversation, the light in your parents’ eyes.

So past a wealth threshold, deliberately redirect spending from material to spiritual: a family dinner, a real trip with parents and kids, time just to read and walk. Spend money on things that leave memories, not on things that become junk.¹

The logic: you need spiritual energy to hold large money energy; and money energy to raise spiritual energy. Each is the other’s precondition. This is why lottery winners often go broke — spiritual energy never caught up with sudden material energy. Where does spiritual energy come from? Reading a lot, staying calm, not being jerked around by the market.¹

Don’t squeeze every last dollar into investing (00576)

Studying investing long enough grows a side effect: you become a miser. In 00576 James spent several minutes correcting it — “many people say ‘teacher, since I started investing I won’t part with a cent; I even scrimp on food,’ because every dollar feels like it could be invested.”⁴

“We prepare for retirement, but we can’t put every resource into the future. You can’t prepare only for a future retirement while living miserably now — that’s no good either.”

He ran a member’s numbers twice on the spot: contributing 3,500 a month reaches the target in 12 years; contributing 2,500 pushes it only to about 12 years 8 months — but across those 12 years there’s an extra 1,000 every month for a good meal or taking the family somewhere.⁴

“You retire just 8 months later, and for these 12 years you have an extra 1,000 a month to spend — isn’t that better quality of life?”
More importantly, the asymmetry: “Investing an extra 1,000 a month makes no visible difference to your retirement date; whereas if the market is generous with you, you might retire early anyway — not because of that extra thousand.”

💡 Over a decade-plus horizon, the variance in market returns dwarfs the marginal amount you squeeze out each month. So trading present quality of life for that marginal contribution is usually a bad deal — this is what “happiness is a human right” looks like during the accumulation phase. Full case in 該不該賣掉自住房投入股市.

One member’s version: enjoy the use, give up the ownership

A member in the same session shared her own practice — she rents a detached house in the countryside (her landlady’s children have all moved to the city, leaving the house empty and its owner without company), at a daily cost of “about the price of one Starbucks,” in exchange for air and scenery money can’t buy in the city. Her summary:⁴

“With people and with things, we should enjoy the use and give up the ownership — only then can we have real freedom.” Plus CLEC’s evergreen line: “A house is a consumable, not an asset.”

🔗 This is the same thing as this page’s “freedom = having the decision”: ownership ties you to a location, a loan and a maintenance obligation; use preserves your optionality. The efficiency of a house as an asset is in 房地產與指數基金的退休現金流.

Money is junk; you in heaven, the debt at the bank

Money itself is junk — just numbers that, sitting in an account, don’t make you happier, healthier, or closer to family. Money only means something the moment it’s converted into something “non-money”: health, family, a good time, the power to help others. The ideal is “you in heaven, the debt at the bank” — open the “assets → spiritual energy” channel as wide as possible, rather than hoarding hundreds of millions you never truly spend.¹

⚠️ Summarized from CLEC’s teaching for education and life reflection only — not investment advice. CLEC cares about wellbeing, but we are not medical or mental-health professionals; for any health, emotional, or psychological need, consult a qualified professional. For “why invest / become a capitalist,” see 勞工還是資本家; for family and children, see children are kites.

CLEC James, The Ten-Billion-Dollar Investment Lecture, Chapter 1, May 2026. Converted source: raw/docs/教學資料/價值十億元的投資講座_無圖版_v1.pdf; video transcript raw/transcripts/講座/00694…. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
CLEC James, post 0044 “You Don’t Not Deserve Wealth — You Were Educated Into Not Daring to Be Wealthy!”, 2026-07-31, X @CLEC168 (member letter 2026-07-26 + James’s reply). Original: posts/X及YouTube的貼文/0044貼文-你不是不配富有而是被教育成不敢富有-日期2026年7月31日.md. ↩
CLEC James, chat room 0001 “Investing in VTI, VT, SPY will also make you poor…,” 2025-07-31, the definition of freedom (the decision / no emotional blackmail / his father’s arranged marriage / not reading the price tag / seeing unlimited wealth / all the money in the world is mine) @2:04:30–2:11:00. Transcript: raw/transcripts/閒聊/0001…. ↩ ↩² ↩³
CLEC James with a member, 長篇 00576 “Waiting Is Not a Strategy — Buy and Hold Long Term Is the Real Way to Invest,” 2026-08-01, “don’t squeeze everything into retirement” and the 2,500 vs 3,500 comparison @1:14:00–1:17:30; the member renting a countryside house, “enjoy the use, give up the ownership,” “a house is a consumable, not an asset” @1:08:00–1:11:00. Transcript: raw/transcripts/長篇/00576…. Member identity anonymized per EDITORIAL.md; the year counts are rough on-the-spot arithmetic from what was described. ↩ ↩² ↩³