We often hear financial independence described as financial freedom. But freedom from what? You might think that’s too obvious to bother addressing, but I think it is much more complex than it sounds.
Take the last week of my life, for instance. Last Wednesday my wife and I got up early and trailered our fishing boat to a local lake about fifty miles from our home and caught a bunch of nice big bass. My wife and I had a fun time with the fishing and enjoyed a tasty fish fry the next day. And that recreation was made possible by our financial freedom. But I think I need to explain why that is the case.
First, I have a fishing boat. In my case a bass fishing boat I bought when I retired seven years ago. It’s on the low end of those types of boats, smaller and slower than many of my friends’ rigs, but perfect for the small area lakes and rivers I love to fish. I paid right at seventeen thousand dollars for the brand new boat, motor and trailer, in cash. No payments, no worries. I could do that because that cost was a very small part of my net worth, and an expense I could write a check for any day of the week. That’s an example of financial freedom. I also had to put ten gallons of gas in the boat and another fifteen gallons in my 2011 Toyota 4Runner to tow it. OK, I admit it, my boat is worth more than my car. That’s twenty-five gallons at three dollars per gallon or seventy-five dollars worth of fuel. And that isn’t something I have to think about either, seventy-five dollars is just not a material cost in my world.
I was fishing with soft plastic lures that don’t survive very long when the fish are biting and they cost about ten dollars for a small bag. I have to have a fishing license, some rods and reels and the boat requires annual maintenance. I just replaced the propeller and that cost over three hundred dollars alone. It’s an expensive hobby any way you look at it. But I never have to consider the impact of those costs on my budget. Because after saving and investing my entire adult life my wife and I have more than enough to support our fishing hobby. In fact, I went fishing the next day too, and I’ll likely go tomorrow!
Friday and Saturday, I played tennis with my buddy, Randall. We played at 1 PM at the Country Club. I could play Friday, just like I fished Wednesday and Thursday, because I don’t have to go to work. Not having to work forty or fifty hours a week feels like financial freedom to me. And all the tennis hobby entails, the price of the tennis racquets, athletic apparel, tennis balls and Club fees do not amount to a figure that creates any friction in my life. After tennis I played pickleball with seven friends. That’s not expensive but we played when most people were trapped at work, so that’s freedom too.
Sunday, after church I drove one hundred miles to the big city and played a team tennis match. We lost, as usual, but we did win a set and nearly pulled off an upset against a much better team. We had a great time competing. My new partner is a very cool guy. I spent that night in a nice hotel and the next morning drove a similar distance further up the road to the wilderness property my wife and I purchased last year. We did that with one hundred sixty thousand dollars in cash, because we could. We are spending about that much more for the cabin that is currently under construction. No mortgage, just paying cash as usual. That trip was over four hundred miles of driving. Add in the hotel cost, meals and snacks and those two days cost me about three hundred dollars, not counting wear and tear on the vehicle. But we can do that without worry because we have enough. While three hundred dollars is not a significant expense at this stage of our lives the three hundred fifty thousand for the vacation place is quite significant. But twenty five acres of land and a two bedroom two bathroom cabin are also assets that should, at the very least, hold their value. So that’s almost an investment, as opposed to something like our boat. Being able to do something like that, building a vacation place, that’s possible only because we are financially free to do it.
Today is Tuesday and I’m typing this from home, because, I’m not working. I am playing tennis after lunch and then my wife and I are taking an elderly friend out for dinner tonight, our treat. Tomorrow, I’m taking another friend fishing. I have to admit, I’m living my dream life. In the interest of full disclosure, I left out the parts of the week that involved volunteer work because those don’t cost anything but time. But we both have a lot of that in our weeks as well. But only that which we enjoy and have selected for ourselves.
So, what is financial freedom? It’s the freedom to live the way you want to live. To work or not work, to pursue volunteerism, to play when you want to play and to catch a fish or two. Money is not going to make anyone happy, but it definitely gives already happy people the freedom to live rich lives. And that’s what financial freedom means to me.
What about you? What does the concept of financial freedom mean to you?
If you are there what do your weeks look like?
If you aren’t there but are on your way, what does that dream look like to you?
I love your writing style and always look forward to your new posts. You are spot on with the examples of what it means to you to have financial freedom. Last Monday, I met a retired friend to see a new museum exhibit at 10:30am and grabbed coffee and leisurely discussed what we saw and learned in Spanish. Yes, Spanish because we are both taking spanish for fun. Who does this on a Monday? At 10:30am on weekdays, I head to the rec center to workout because it is not crowded and no wait times on any of the machines or resistance training stations. Sometimes, I shoot the breeze with the old retirees too. Never feel rushed to get my workout in and head out! Joy, isn’t it?
Amanda, indeed you are doing life right! It is a great feeling, kind of hard to explain.
I think you nailed it.
Financial freedom means I can move onto my next stage in life, and confidently provide for my current lifestyle until my life ends. Work is so performative, even if one enjoys it. Now I don’t have to perform for someone else (in my case a board of directors and shareholders). My stages have been: growing up; education and training; career; and now post-career freedom. My career was rewarding and I got great satisfaction knowing I was leading and making a difference. Wouldn’t change a thing. But in my new stage for the last 4 years, I enjoy not having to perform, not waking up to an alarm clock, each day doing what I want (unless my wife of 45 years has other plans!). Enjoying my grandkids, kids and friends. Having studied and embraced the Stoics, I enjoy stillness; not needing to be busy. I am very happy.
Nice, Dave. I know there are unhappy people in this world. But you sure are not one of them. It was great having a wonderful career. But like you, I like this better!
I am on my way to financial freedom. Maybe I am already there after a 25-year career. A career which was ‘grind’ at times and ‘fulfilling-fun’ at times.
But for the last couple of years, I felt a need for something more than financial freedom. As I wrote in my earlier sentence, I sometimes had ‘fulfilling fun’ at the workplace. That is what I need for the rest of my life now. But it is not easy. I am “okay+” at my job. To make it ‘fulfilling fun’ most of the time, I need to take myself to another level. I don’t know how, but that is what I wish for.
It can be confusing, but the fact that you are intentional about life tells me you are on a good path.
Financial Independence is an opportunity for a precious genetic potential to define its own progress.
Money is nothing more than the gasoline needed to power this genetic potential. The individual and the collective genetic potentials are played out best described by “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs”.
Interesting enough in my travel, I came across simple minds that PASSIONATELY pursue their simple lives each and every day without any thought about Financial Independence.
Very and very few people can achieve Financial Independence and the very few who successfully crossed over the FI mile marker found themselves at lost.
Interesting thoughts. You’ve seen more than I have I suspect.
Urk.
I’m financially free but I’m reading this post from a year 8 class writing an essay that I’ll be marking over the next few days.
I thought that earning the money for my luxurious trip to England and Ireland would be a good challenge to take.
It’s day 30/50 today.
I’d rather be doing something else today!!!
That’s a universal truth Frogdancer! No matter how together we have our lives we never escape having to do some things we would prefer not doing. But you are one of my favorite writers because you do mostly what you want! And do it well.
Well, today I was finally able to return the elderly dogs I’ve been looking after for the last 7.5 weeks… the dogs who are NOT reliably housetrained.
So yes. Today I DEFINITELY did what I wanted!
Good for you! We don’t have house pets, they are too travel Restrictive for us. But we do have grand dogs as all three of our grown kids have dogs and they usually bring them with when they visit. I don’t think people with indoor dogs understand how much they add to housekeeping chores because we have to do a lot of clean up after the kids and dogs leave. And they are well house trained, but still.
I think there are definitely levels to financial freedom for sure.
Even though I’m working and have a good net worth, I still feel pain when I spend something like $75 or even $300. I physically feel pain in my chest 🙁
I know the ultimate financial freedom is to have control over your time.
However, for once, I would like to know what it feels like to spend $100 without feeling pain 🙁
Spending is a muscle just like saving is, you’ll get better over time I bet. But look who’s talking, we ate corn dogs for lunch yesterday because the Sonic drive in had them on sale for ninety-nine cents!
Always an honor to make this list!
This post describes my future plans to a T! Fishing, exercise, living below my means, and giving back through volunteerism. Great job keeping it all in perspective, look forward to hearing more about you cabin in Arkansas. Ever come to Kentucky Lake? We got some HUGE bass down here!
Thanks Jim,I know you will enjoy retirement as much as I have. I’ve been by Kentucky lake but never had my boat in tow so I’ve never fished there. They’ve caught two 14 pound bass here locally in recent weeks but for some reason I’m not catching the six pound and larger bass so far this year. I’m getting a lot of two an three pounders and an occasional four plus pounder but still looking for that first spring lunker!