What I really want in life is financial independence. I dream of simply being able to live my life as I live it now without having to worry about future income. I don’t even desire to spend much more than we spend right now – the only thing I might add is the ability to travel a bit with my family as my children get older. I’d also like to be able to devote myself more and more to volunteerism and other causes.
That, in fact, is my long term goal. I’d like to reach that point in the future, but I’m in no rush to get there (trust me, if I were in a rush to get there, The Simple Dollar would have a lot more advertisements on it).
But here’s the kicker: from the perspective of many people, financial independence is rich. For me to have what I would call full financial independence, I’d need to have a net worth above two million dollars. The average American right now will not earn that much from their employment in their lifetime. At the same time, however, for a decent slice of this decade, the average American had a negative savings rate.
On the other hand, I view being rich as a state where you have so much money that you’re either continually accumulating more money, spending it in wasteful ways, or giving it away through philanthropy, but in exchange for that you lose some of the ability to enjoy simple things in life. That’s an equation that I want no part in.
Much of this flashed through my mind before I answered the reporter quite simply: “I don’t want to be rich. I just want to be financially independent – to be able to live my life without financial worries.”
And, with the personal finance practices I’ve learned in the past few years, I’m heading down a path to do just that.