To everyone who lives in the United States: Happy Fourth of July!
Today is Independence Day here in the United States. While I absolutely love history, I will let Wikipedia give you the history lesson because today I want to talk about a different sort of independence: Financial Independence.
Financial Independence to me consists of the following:
- No need to work another day in my life – If I truly reached “financial independence” it would mean I would have enough income-producing assets to live off of for the rest of my life. The income would have to be passive requiring little to no effort on my part.
- Various goals would have to be achievable without working for more income – Living off of $10,000 of passive income the rest of your life technically would fulfill my first requirement of not having to work another day in my life, but it wouldn’t be a life that I would be particularly fond of. I have goals in life, such as travelling, having a nice house for my family, and being able to have the funds to experience things in life that I want to experience.
I care more about lifestyle design than anything. If you make $80,000 a year but have to work 100 hours a week, your lifestyle isn’t as high of quality as someone who makes $80,000 working 8 hours a week.
Getting out of debt and building up your assets is great; having a lifestyle that allows you to spend your time however you please and not have to be dependent on income is even better. Knowing what your goals are in life will help dictate how you should pursue them.
Pursuing financial independence is a good start for 99.99% of people – if not 100% – in reaching your long-term goals. It’s much easier to live your dream when you have passive income each month. Passive income should be a goal of everyone who wants to live a financially independent lifestyle.
To my fellow Americans – enjoy the Fourth!
To everyone – enjoy your pursuit of financial independence, it’s definitely worth the effort!
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What is your idea of financial independence? How do you
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Photo by Derek Key
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I definitely want to reach financial independence. For me, it’s about being able to work when and if I want to. No more working crappy jobs!
SenseofCents Same here, Michelle! That’s living the dream right there.
I agree with Michelle. I would love to have enough money so that my husband and I could work on the projects that we really want to work on, as well as travel when we want to, instead of working on things that bring in enough money to cover expenses and such.
Financial Independence for me is being able to say I am fully in charge of my life and I don’t depend on anyone to hold the fort up for me in terms of lenders, banks, credit cards, lines of credit. We have enough money to take us through to the end and we can live our lives stress-free and comfortable. Essentially having choices. :)
Great post! I am working on the whole lifestyle design concept. I’m working way too many hours right now, but the end of the tunnel happens when my daughters are out of college and I can see that light. The youngest will be a freshman this year. I’m planning ahead though….I want to be ready for the day they are on their own.
Thank you for participating! Hope you had a great 4th!
RFIndependence Thanks for organizing!
I never thought too much about FI meaning not working…for some reason I just always imagined myself doing something. But I could see an awesome life like that. Hope you had a good 4th!
Beachbudget I certainly don’t plan on NOT doing anything (trust me, ask my wife, I’m always trying to do way too much every day) – but to have the option to NOT work unless it’s something I really want to do. I hope you had a great 4th as well!
Financial independence for me is all about the independence part – I want the freedom to choose. So when I decide that I am financially independent, it will be because I don’t *have* to work any more. I’ll have enough passive income to pay my bills and living expenses. Chances are, I’ll probably still work! But I’d like to transition to doing short term software development contracts of 6 months – 1 year so that I have time in between to travel and live life. :)