Financial freedom is not any new concept, but many Indians fail to understand what it is meant for, so they have no appreciation for such a thought. They think it is ok for those who are born rich but not for the common people to live like that. They believe we all need to work and accumulate as much money as possible until death or retirement age hits us. In a country where majority live in middle-class or poor societies, aspiration for wealth is not a surprise for anyone.
In the
Western countries, there are many who pursue hobbies and put life first over
accumulating wealth. Money is just a means for them and not the whole purpose
of living. Read newspapers and journals produced in America, mentions of people
retiring early are quite common. And surprisingly, there are mentions of few
who have managed to achieve financial freedom at the age of 35. Dig into the
details, you will find that they were not born rich. Those lucky people had no
windfall gains either. But they had managed to keep their expenses low and saved
enough to pay for their future expenses which were not exorbitant either. Trick
is in keeping their wealth expectations low and that ensures you don’t need to
work for lifetime. Financial freedom is the goal for them and not wealth
creation. Once they achieve it, they have all the time in the world to do what
they liked to do. Be it travel, writing, painting, or just retire to calm
places.
Pursuit of
making money by finding a paying work makes us relocate to far-off places. We loose our roots and embrace a completely different approach to life. And the
competition with fellow human beings makes our goals being revised to even higher
goals. Without noticing, we get drawn into the vicious competition of
accumulating wealth and fall prey to it. Life goes on. When someone we know retires
early, we tend to think that person has low ambitions and dismiss him as a
loser. But who are we to judge what is right for him?
Money will
solve all money problems. But beyond a point, law of diminishing marginal
utility comes into play. Should not we be questioning ourselves what we wanted
to do with the wealth we accumulate? If we wanted to pursue a hobby which makes
us happy and if it is not expensive, then why create higher wealth goals? We need a
house to live, money to educate our children and for other household expenses
including medial care. They are all our needs. Beyond them everything else is
greed. That luxury car we wanted to buy, a vast farmhouse we wanted to buid, expensive lifestyle etc. are not our needs.
They are signals we use to show society we are doing better than them. If we can draw a clear line between need and greed and be happy with meeting the needs and don't care for the pecking order of society, major battle is won. And achieving financial freedom becomes just a matter of time.
I had decided couple of years ago to get out of corporate race and had put a plan in place. That worked well and now I am on the verge of financial freedom. My challenge now is not money but convincing the near and dear one’s that this can work. Most of them don’t seem to agree with me as there are not many examples of it in our society. It is not my problem. I would rather become the first example to the people who know me. Sooner than later, I would quietly disengage from corporate race and spend that time doing what I like most. Don't tell me I did not tell you all of this. I would rather prefer to talk with you on literature, travel and my other engagements.
