Comments on: Financial Independence

By: Getting Unstuck « The Dangling Conversation

Getting Unstuck « The Dangling Conversation — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:08:09 +0000

[...] life, personal finances at 12:05 am by otherdeb I was answering a comment from fivecentnickel here, and it got me thinking. I noted that until I saw what needed to be done in terms of making better [...]

By: otherdeb

otherdeb — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:51:54 +0000

@ freefrombroke:

It is interesting. I was truly blown away when I saw exactly how much better off I am than others.

Thank you. That’s exactly how I see them. If I saw them as sacrifices that had to be made, I think I would have been so overwhelmed that I never would have started. It was only when I realized that I had gotten into the hole by making choices that were bad for me and that I could get out by changing the choices I made that I was able to get unstuck and start moving toward my goal.

How did you get untuck and start moving forward?

By: freefrombroke

freefrombroke — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:28:01 +0000

It’s always interesting putting finances in perspective isn’t it? Maybe compared to the local “Jonses” we may not be where we want but compared to the world at large we’re pretty fortunate.

I like how you state your financial step not as sacrifices but as stepping stones!

By: otherdeb

otherdeb — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:10:15 +0000

@ Pete: Always great to hear from you! Thanks for the link to the richness calculator. As an American, I know that I’m better off than many people, but knowing it in general and seeing exactly how much more I have is truly humbling.

And, yes, i will keep on heading toward my goals. The funny thing is that most of my life I’ve been content to go where life leads, and I thought I wanted a whole lot of different things (some of them material), but now I’m more interested in stripping away all the clutter, and hitting what is the bedrock of my life.

By: Pete

Pete — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:47:23 +0000

Thanks for linking to my article.. I really enjoyed reading your article because it talks about just how lucky we are in some respects, but at the same time, we really need to set goals, and look towards the future. Without having a positive vision of what is to come it can be hard to make any positive progress. You can get overwhelmed with the negative.

Keep on keepin on! When you reach that point of financial freedom, it is very sweet! We paid off our last car loan last year, and now the only debt we have is the house. It is very freeing!

By: otherdeb

otherdeb — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:29:50 +0000

@ Patrick: Thank you for your kind words, and for writing the post that sparked the discussions.

I think that people sometimes forget that making a goal tangible does not necessarily involve setting a number, Yes, numbers often help, especially when working with things like money and debts, but what I’m trying to do or myself is reframe the whole argument into terms of what is important, and my goals are not necessarily monetary ones, although there are some monetary goals on the way to achieving them.

It’s not a “right way/wrong way” thing either. It’s what works for each person, and while there will be overlap in that, there will also be great differences.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:56:08 +0000

I love the way you state you terms for financial independence… It’s much like my own. I don’t have a specific dollar figure in mind for my financial independence either, but more a goal of not owing anyone anything, and being able to work on my terms doing what I want to do. Creativity is something I need in my life as well, so I would love to be able to continue doing something creative. It’s a noble goal and one I continue to work toward. Good luck with your goal of financial freedom!

By: otherdeb

otherdeb — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:10:44 +0000

@ Rebecca Lafar-Smith: I don’t have one specific financial freedom figure at the moment. I would like an emergency fund of about $5,000, and it would take about $45,000 to get totally out of debt. Then I need to decide whether to rent or to buy a home. However, it’s more that I want my credit report to be clear enough that Landlords won’t reject me because of it, and that my FICO score is not so hideous that I can’t buy a house, assuming I ever want to do that.

What I can do to get there is to stop sitting on my tush, and start writing here, and to start writing articles and submitting them to magazines. Then I can snowflake the extra income to my debts.

And again, let me stress that I do not see any of the steps or choices to get to where I want to be as sacrifices. They are just decisions I get to make to get where I want to go.

By: Rebecca Laffar-Smith

Rebecca Laffar-Smith — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:29:09 +0000

You’ve got some fantastic ideals when it comes to Financial Independance. One of the things financial advisors and motivational mentors ask is, “How much is that?” When you consider Financial Freedom how much money would you need in the bank (or to earn to pay off all your debt and be comfortable)? What is that figure? Is it 100,000? 500,000? 1 million? 10 million? What is your financial freedom figure?

The next step of course is to work out what sacrifices and steps you need to make to get that much money. How much of your income should you set aside to reach it? What else can you do to earn it? etc. Visualize it and strive toward it.

I hope you find Financial Independance and Freedom soon!