“Freedom does not come without a price. ”
Something seems to be missing. There seems to be more than enough great investment and financial planning tools out there. There seems to be more than enough “financial help” for people in all walks of life. Much consideration got me to an interesting conclusion that works for me.
Many of us seem to use generalized guidelines on work and retirement. I certainly did. I had it planned out and took for granted that I would labor until I was 60ish and then enjoy a relaxing retirement. Some countries even have mandatory retirement at specific ages. It seems that many default to the notion that everyone should, or has to work, until their 60s. In Canada there is even financial services company advertising in their name that we can be free at age 55. Perhaps they are onto the start of something.
This is only worth bringing up because of the number of sad stories that we hear about people not being able to retire at the prescribed age using conventional methods. It’s not too far fetched to see that it would be possible to retire much earlier with proper and better planning. Why 65, Why 60? Why, for that matter 55?
It would not do the process justice for me to say that all it took was challenging the commonly held belief that I should work until a particular age. But it was a great start. Wanting to work at an accelerated pace towards my definition of being financially free propelled me towards discovering what it would take. The general idea isn’t rocket science. It simply uses the same line of reasoning that gets used in conventional retirement planning.
My interpretation of the average expectation of retirement is to have a certain income so that one can do as he or she pleases. And hopefully one thrives and has a lot of fun within that income. This sound idea seems great to me. Why wait if it can be accelerated?
I can already hear the cries of “Save??? I can hardly make ends meet”. Let’s keep that discussion for a later. It’s always handy to have a room full of people who make less than you, are all happy, and doing just fine to be part of the enlightenment process. One person’s financial frustration is almost always another person’s gravy train or extra frosting on a cake, take your pick of idioms. All that is saved now can be put towards the goal of financial freedom later. The price is whatever one can manage to not spend now. The benefit is more freedom sooner.
Investigating and challenging my beliefs and behaviors that I had not considered before has been a very freeing experience. I continue to search for more in hopes that there will be additional improvements to my life.
Boost Your Bank 