Financial freedom. Now what?
Financial freedom. Now what?
We all seem to chase it
That sweet freedom that money promises us. Sure, there are people out here claiming that they love their job, that money isn’t essential to them and that they value other things more.
Can this love withstand the prospect of financial freedom, though? Does it have to oppose it in the first place? And is money all that bad? So many questions.
Let’s start off with the following thought experiment. (I’ve already done this with some friends, and the direction it takes is revealing and goes deeper than you might think. Highly recommend it.)
What would you do if I were to give you 50 million USD in cash right now? Assuming that paper money still holds value, and that we don’t find ourselves in an unprecedented hyperinflation *laughs nervously*.
Many of you would probably quit your job on the spot because, let’s face it, the majority of us stick around for the money. We rely on that regular paycheck flying in to cover all our fixed costs, monthly subscriptions, and little treat-yo-self adventures here and there.
If you are more mindful with your spending, you might have the luxury of a savings account. It sounds comforting and appealing at first, but then again, the vast majority of us put a big fat “DO NOT TOUCH” sticker on that pot because that money should only be spent on scenario X, Y and Z - at some point in the future. Okay.
These two groups of people are not all too different, really. It seems as if we all chase that magic plateau in our heads, telling ourselves that once we hit that number, we will have enough financial security to take that year off, go for the things we actually enjoy, spend that money on the car, or whatnot.
In short, if Scenario A - being that 50 Million in cash - becomes a reality, we finally stop living with a fear-fueled, scarcity-driven mindset.
You’re on the other side now
You’ve spent your months on that dream island, you’ve got that nice car, and you’ve bought all the things you fantasized about having after watching those TikTok videos that miraculously created these new desires for arguably unnecessary gadgets. Cool. Now what?
Having an abundance of time is no fun if you don’t know what to do with it.
I wish I’d come up with this noble conclusion all by myself, but I didn’t. I ran into a guy, who was probably in his late thirties by the time we met. He happened to be the first teenage millionaire I ever met in real life. You know, those 18-year-olds who make an insane amount of money? He was one of them. We didn’t talk numbers, but the way he shared his views on money and the way he spent his life made it clear that he had, in fact, achieved financial freedom.
It was so interesting to talk to someone who is living this dream reality of so many. I asked him all sorts of questions about his view on life and, since he seems to have cracked the code at such a young age, what he had been working towards. It was certainly revealing what he had to say, but he somewhat unwillingly also painted a daunting picture. It was clear that he didn’t have any direction in life and, quite frankly, no reason to get up in the morning. This man was desperately seeking purpose.
This conversation catapulted me back to my younger self. Granted, I didn’t have millions in my bank account, but I didn’t care. What for? I didn’t have any fixed costs, I had a roof over my head, food in my belly and my parents generously took care of everything else that fell under the category of treating young Nathalie. I could try out new things, follow my interests, meet new people and transportation was included at all times. Not only that, I also didn’t really have any obligations other than going to school. Any minor hints of stress I experienced as a result of these mini-obligations were washed away by those 14 weeks of vacation every year. In short, my parents gave me paradise.
I also vividly remember having an abundance of time. Those five-week summer vacations usually got really old by week three. I wanted to do things and even got excited to go back to school. Anything seemed more fun than having to deal with boredom.
Am I comparing the life of a 30-something millionaire to my 8-year-old self? Yes, I kinda am. Although not exactly the same situation, I did see a lot of similarities. We both didn’t lose a single thought over not having enough money, we both could afford everything we wanted (again, thanks Mom and Dad <3) and we could technically do whatever we wanted because we had time.
Financial freedom buys us time
We usually experience an abundance of time when we’re young, when we reach the last third of our life or, in case of Millionaire Guy, when we make some smart decisions in our adolescence (a rare breed).
Time becomes the real currency we chase. It frees us from any contract that exchanges money for time to afford the life we have built for ourselves. If you think about it, society made us buy into the idea that time is scarce, and if you have the luxury of spending it the way you want, you’ve “escaped the matrix”, which is so absurd.
If there’s one thing that is evenly distributed and/or experienced by every human being on this planet, then it’s the passing of time.
The real question we need to ask ourselves is how we want to spend it.
The 50 million bucks thought experiment can be revealing because it quickly raises the subsequent question of how we’re going to spend our time once our most pressing desires are fulfilled.
It makes you think, why am I not doing more of what I would do if I were already living in this abundant reality. Or to put it differently, why am I spending so much of my time doing something I purely do for the purpose of ditching it as soon as I can.
And what if this magical plateau is never reached, and you’re spending all your time currency on this thing that doesn't fulfill you?
So many of us are so busy planning our retirement on the financial end that we hardly ever think about how we’re going to spend those 20/30+ years once we get there.
Why would you want to wait? For what?
Fear is kicking in again, huh? Your mind is probably quick to come up with all sorts of reasons why you should stick to that quick-fix-lifestyle that promises you to afford the life you’re currently living. Who can blame you for it? Our minds have been conditioned that way. It’s hard to reprogram the reality we’ve been fed for so long, but we should finally start to recognize that paying for the prospect of security with your time is an incredibly expensive price to pay.
An obvious fear is that of failure. What if we fail at the thing we love. I get that. The same thoughts keep me up at night. I recently came across a quote by Les Brown, that helped me look at this from a different perspective, and has stuck with me ever since. He said:
“Most people fail in life not because they aim too high and miss, but because they aim too low and hit.”
It makes you wonder. What if, even if everything plays out the way you want it to, you still end up regretting that you didn’t go for the things you wanted?
Oh, and that’s not even the worst-case scenario. It gets better.
What if you decide to take the safe route and end up failing at what you have only done for the endless cycle of transitory financial security?
In his speech at the Maharishi University of Management in 2014, Jim Carrey famously spoke about his Dad and how he inspired him to go for the things he loved. One thing he said was:
"My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn't believe that was possible for him. So, he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a job as an accountant. When I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. (…) I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which is that you can fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love."
His words move me to this day. The entire speech is available on YouTube.
So, what do these two gentlemen teach us?
Playing it safe is the riskiest thing you can do
This blog post is a good representation of how deep the topic of financial freedom goes. Thanks to my wonderful upbringing, I unknowingly learned at a young age the importance of doing things that spark my joy, and that having time isn’t a reliable source of happiness. As we get older, we tend to forget what life is all about. I, too, am very guilty of this. We get so caught up in things that we don’t enjoy that we end up chasing the one thing that was readily available to us at the very beginning of our lives - time.
Time to do the things we enjoy. Time to learn the things we want to learn. Time to be with the people we love. It’s a currency that is meant to be spent now, not designed to be saved for later.
This raises the questions: What would I like to do if money wasn't an issue and I had time to spend? What would I spend it on, and do I already spend some of it on these things today? If not, why?
I’d argue that these questions are - at the very least - as important as the financial plan you’ve laid out for your retirement.
Oh, and one last thing: congratulations, for in that sense, you are already a millionaire. Now go spend it wisely.
