Reasons To Aim For Financial Independence

You have likely heard about Financial Independence. Many of the posts on this blog are about my path towards Financial Independence (FI). But what is the motivation behind wanting to become financially independent? There are many reasons for seeking financial independence. As you’ll see retirement is not the main motive.

In this article I’ll go over the major motives people seek to become Financially Independent. Of course, the reasons may differ for everyone, and certain might appeal to you more than others. It’s okay. It is not everyone has the same motivations in trying to reach FI. Even not everyone is eager to be able to reach FI!

There are many reasons for achieving financial independence I haven’t even thought about! Please let me know via the comment section if that is the situation! I’d like to know what makes you want to be Financially Independent. Come and read our Financial Freedom Blog for more stories like this.

1. Security

When you attain financial independence, you’re secured from various circumstances that could result in the loss of a substantial amount of income.

For instance, if you get fired, if your company is bankrupt or you are unable to perform your job, you should not have issues sustaining your life. The events mentioned above aren’t a big deal for your financial situation once you have reached financial independence. These events could be an issue for you, of course. But if you’re financially independent, you are in a position to handle these challenges without a problem.

It is also a security of retirement. In the present, in Switzerland, retirement is not all that bad. But who knows what that will be in 30 years. There could be no pension or help for retirees. If you’re already financially stable, you need not worry about it!

I’m determined to be ready for these events, and I’m getting prepared now. If you are on the path to Financial Independence, these events could still affect you. But you should be able better than most. This is another great thing about FI and it will enhance your financial situation while you work towards financial independence.

Actually, people on the road to FI have more money than the typical. They can spend less and typically make more. This will assist them achieve their goals faster and will also make it easier to weather financial challenges easier.

This is for me the best reason to aim toward Financial Independence.

2. Family

Spending time with your family is important. But often, we are too busy working or at other jobs that are more important than our family and our friends.

Financial independence gives us more freedom to be present to our family and develop stronger bonds.

I would like to have more time to spend time with my kids and strengthen my relationships with my wife, kids family and friends.

Of course, I’m not putting off this! It is crucial not to make use of FI as a reason for delaying spending time with beloved ones. Being financially free can aid in being able to spend more time doing more things that matter.

3. Freedom of choice

The majority of people who wish to reach FI wish to retire early.

I am also thinking of wanting to retire early. However, the ability to retire early is more crucial than retiring itself. Having the choice to retire is vitally important.

Today, I’m happy with my job. If I were not developing software for my company I’d rather be developing software for amusement. Who knows whether this will be the case in the next 10 and 20 years? Nobody!

Your company’s culture can change a lot. Your colleagues can change. Your boss could change too. It is possible that you like your boss and colleagues. But what if they are substituted by others you do not like? Changes in your job could make huge changes in your job. After some changes you might not enjoy your job like you are now.

You, too, are able to change! People often assume that they’ll be the same in the future. However, this is not always the scenario. People change a lot.

Therefore, having the choice to retire or do some other thing is crucial for me. Once I reach FI, I could quit, or create the company, or even do something else. A lot of people reach FI but do not decide to quit their jobs. There are some who are continuing to pursue side hustles. There are also those who do volunteer work for very little income. You can still take a look at FI even though you aren’t planning to retire.

4. The time is short

The concept of time is a crucial fact. Time is very limited.

Let’s suppose you’ve got eighty years of your life in total. You do not wish to be working for the next 65 years, and you want to be unemployed for the maximum number of those years. It is possible that you will continue working to the end however you could also decide to retire or alter your lifestyle. Additionally, you can reduce your hours of work. All of this is possible when you’re financially self-sufficient.

I like my job. But there are a lot of things I enjoy in life, and I would prefer spending more time doing more than just working five days a week, until I reach the age of 65. If I were Financially Independent I’d also be thinking about part-time work as a good alternative.

5. A challenge

One thing I enjoy when I am trying to achieve Financial Independence is that reaching FI is a challenge. It isn’t obvious for most people to achieve FI before retirement.

Early retirement can be a challenge. While the principles are easy to grasp, the execution of these concepts is far from trivial. Before I learned about being financially independent, I didn’t even think it was possible to attain that level of independence.

It’s great to experience some challenges in your life. It can help you learn lots. You have to learn new things like investing. I’ve read numerous books on personal finance as well as investing. I’ve learned many things in less than one year to achieve financial freedom. It’s a lot of information, but it’s invaluable!

6. An awesome journey

The road to FI hard, but it’s also fascinating.

I’d even say that it is a great trip. The road to FI is made by a lot of crunching. You must calculate your net worth. You can even determine your FI Ratio and determine how far off the road you’re currently on. For me, this is an extremely interesting and enjoyable. I like numbers a lot.

I am also happy that I managed to decrease our expenses over time! Prior to that, I was spending much more because I didn’t view expenses with the same mindset. Now that I am more aware of what I spend it’s fun trying to reduce our spending!

The investment process is fascinating. It requires lots of research to know what to invest in. It is crucial be aware of the reasons you’re making investments in all of your portfolios. It is not worth buying something that you don’t know the reasons behind it!

The journey I took to FI also made me want to begin this blog. The blog has also been an incredible experience. Even though this isn’t my first attempt at blogging, I’ve gained a lot of knowledge! And I enjoy writing on this blog very much.

7. An alternative route

Trying to be financially independent and possibly even early retirement (or at least being capable of) is a road few people take.

Personally, I think it’s good. If everybody were taking the same route, it would be less attractive. Some paths do not provide FI, and that is also good. If you’d like to be an entrepreneur and become rich, there is nothing wrong with this.

The majority of the roads I have taken have been the classical ones. I’ve been to an average school. I have gone all through to get the stage of Ph.D. In the end, I was accepted into a standard company as a software programmer. I am very happy that I can attempt a new route by striving to achieve FI. We will see how well I achieve it!

8. FI teaches good values

The path to Financial Freedom will teach you certain fundamental values and principles.

The most crucial aspect of FI is Frugality. It’s difficult to achieve FI without spending money, at least to some degree. Certain people are exceedingly extravagantly, while some people are going relatively frugal just.

Because you’ll be investing your way to FI it is likely that you will get some wisdom from it. The process of investing is one you should perform with a lot thought before making any drastic choices. Your emotions are your worst adversaries when you invest. Learn lessons from the mistakes you made. For instance I made plenty of investment mistakes when I first started. I am now wiser because I learned from these mistakes.

Another value you will probably discover is that health is vital. If you’re looking to stay healthy and live to the fullest and be healthy when you retire it is essential to take into consideration the health of your body. It is important to eat a healthy diet and do not push the body (and your mind) over their limits.

For now, we did not necessarily make any major changes however, through our vegetable garden, we are eating healthier than we were before. Also, since we cook our food at home most of the time, we have a better diet than fast-food restaurants. In 2019, we came up with a simple Health Plan to keep healthy for longer.

9. Generating wealth

If you’re following a safe withdrawal rate strategy then you’re likely to be left with more than you will need at the final. This cash could be passed onto the next generation of your family.

Many people like the idea of creating wealth for generations to come. It is not the main reason to try to reach financial independence, but it’s an excellent bonus. I’d love to pass some of my wealth to the next generation.

However, this shouldn’t be an excuse for the next generation to not to be able to earn a living and depend completely on this wealth. But this could help them finance their financial independence later on.

In the ideal scenario, you would like your children to continue passing this wealth on to the next generation, not simply spend it. So, the most important aspect of this is giving financial education to the next generation. And hopefully, they will carry on this pattern.

Conclusion

As you can observe, there are plenty of reasons to strive for financial independence.

You will have much more freedom when you’re financially secure. The way you live your life and that of the lives of your family will be much easier. Additionally, it will be a great way to learn things and can be a fascinating trip. My life has improved significantly after I began trying to reach for FI.

Maybe some of these reasons might be appealing to you. Maybe they will not. There are many different motives to strive for financial independence. And some people may prefer not to achieve FI at all. There’s no reason why everyone should embrace the FIRE concept. There are many other roads. It is up to you to select the one that will best suit your needs.

Do not make the mistake of trying to achieve FI just because other people have done it. If FIRE does not appeal to you, then try to accomplish the goals you’d like to reach, not the goals of others!