Hey readers! I have stated in the past that one of my goals is to pursue financial independence and I even dedicated a post as to why I have decided to pursue financial independence. While I’ve talked about my “why” and why I want to be financially independence, I wanted to give you readers general reasons on why financial independence should be for all of us. Now please understand, the thought of choosing to work towards financial independence is a huge privilege that we don’t realize or understand no matter where we come from. There are so many people robbed of the opportunities of living the life they dreamt as a child or as a young adult due to circumstances out of their control. It’s important to not take the position you are in for granted and it’s important to give back what you’ve learned along the way so that may be someday you can inspire another person to work towards financial independence and live the life they always wanted to live.

If this is your first time hearing about financial independence, let me give you my description of it:
Financial independence to me is being able to live the life I want without having to worry about any financial obligations such as all my bills being paid each month, healthcare, food, etc. But how is financial independent achieved? Well, if your savings, investments and/or passive income that comes in each month exceed your monthly spending for the rest of your projected life span, then you can say you are financially independent. You aren’t dependent on working to earn money. That is what financial independence means to me. You aren’t bound to working for money. You’re letting your money work for you.

Kind of like how in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ultron believed that we are all puppets tied in strings and he had no strings on him, he is totally free and not a puppet. Now now, I know Ultron is a villain, but in comparison to financial independence, once you achieve it you are free from the strings of being a puppet in everything that affects you such as your job, your manager, your bills. You are free! No strings on me!

I mean I see the comparison…I hope you do too, cause if not then I’m just in this by myself LOL.

With that being said, if you are in a position to pursue financial independence at this time or in some point in your life, here are four reasons why you should pursue it and why it should be the goal for us all.

Freedom From “Traditional Work Setting”

9AM-5PM? Office politics? Micromanagers? People you don’t get along with? Need I say more? Micromanagers are the worst. They make you feel inadequate, less appreciate and less confident in your abilities. A lot of people have probably ran into a micromanager during their career, myself included! I felt the worse and it showed in my personal life, even though we’re often told to not take things personal. It gets personal when you attack another persons character and make them feel inadequate. I’m a victim of that. I’ve been around office politics and micromanagers and those are two of the many reasons why I believe in pursuing financial independence. Not being bound to a certain number of hours each day, having to bite your tongue when you want to speak your mind because you know you’re being treated unfairly but are insecure about losing that secure paycheck, having to do the same exact things every morning, day, week, month, year and so on and so on. Is this what life is supposed to be about? Working 40 hours a week doing the same things for 40 years then retire? I get it, “if you love your job it won’t feel like work.” Well, if you’re not financially independent you have to work to be able to do the things you love. Being financially independent means you won’t have to work that 9AM-5PM or that 7AM-7PM. I mean look you can keep working if you want to if you are financially independent, but don’t need to be there anymore. If you want to still work, you can jump from job to job without it looking bad on your resume because in reality, you’ll be okay at the end of the day because you already worked to become financially independent.

Opportunity To Pursue Interests/Dreams

We often have to make the decision to shelve our dreams because of a couple of reasons; they don’t pay the bills, they’re too hard, you don’t have enough money, etc. Now don’t get me wrong because before we can even achieve financial independence, we do have to work a regular job, save a generous amount of money and invest heavily for a certain amount of years. However, financial independence gives you the opportunity to pursue your dreams rather than just daydream. We’re told we have to work until we’re 65 years old and then retire. Why? Why do I have to work in an industry I don’t like for 40-45 years and feel unfulfilled at the end of the day? Who says we can’t leave that job at 40 or 45 years old and pursue our dreams!? Society? Forget them! You have the power to control your life by spending, saving and investing aggressively and responsibly. Again, we all aren’t born wealthy unless you are then hooray you! For the rest of us, it will take work and it will take some time. However if you reach financial independence at some point in your journey, you will have the privilege and opportunity to pursue your dreams or the life you have always wanted. You will be able to take that opportunity because you don’t have to worry about your jobs deadline next month or if you have enough in the savings to pay for the bills. Financial independence reopens doors you believed to be shut forever.

No More Worrying

In our society, we worry a lot. We worry about job security, bills, healthcare, etc. We are not an equally financially health society in my opinion. This is why the concept of financial independence should be a realistic goal for all of us, so we don’t have to constantly worry everyday. This takes a lot of discipline and determination on your part as well, you have to put in the work to achieve this goal. When you achieve financial independence, a lot of your worries will disappear. You won’t have to worry about if you’ll be fired from your job or not, if your next bill will be paid, if you’ll be racking up interest on those credit card bills. You’re almost worry free. Obviously your worries change as you become financially independent. You worry about how you will fulfill your time, how you will operate by not having the constant socializing like in an office or work setting and it is common people have an identity crisis or a loss sense of purpose. However these aren’t life or death situations. The fact you don’t have to worry about your basic needs is such a privilege. That is what financial independence can bring for all of us, no more worrying.

Time

Time has been and will always be our most valuable asset. We often take time for granted. Working long hours grinding your way to the top of the food chain. We focus too much on the goal and not the journey. We dedicate so much of our time to work that we don’t realize this is all so limited. My father always told me and still tells me today that “there is always money to be made.” But it’s funny right, we have to sacrifice some time, work, build our wealth, save money just so we can buy it all back? It might sound weird, but it’s worth it. Like I said, our time is limited. Think of the difference it will make if you worked for 20 years out of college instead of 40 years? That’s half the time! Proper spending, saving and investing is attainable if you are in a position where you are making a good enough income and living within your means. We focus so much on buying material things that we don’t see that it’s possible to buy back the most limited thing in each and every one of our lives, our time. 40 hours a week is a lot of time wasted. Tell me, are you really worth your hourly wage? Is that what you believe you are worth? I don’t want you to go out and say “forget this job I’m worth more!” What I’m trying to say is, wouldn’t it be smarter to maximize our earnings, savings and investing so we don’t have to work all these years? I just want to invoke thought into your head, but the next thing you know many years down the line, time runs out. Financial independence gives us the ultimate power to buy back our time and I believe it’s a good enough reason to pursue it.

We all have our reasons for those wanting to achieve financial independence in our lifetime. We all have different backgrounds, upbringings and journeys and that’s okay. We can all learn from each other in some shape or form. What I hope I can accomplish some day is to help inspire one person to realize the importance of financial independence and start their own journey. Until then, I hope this sparked the thought in your mind about living your best life.