Why Financial Independence Matters (And Why The Majority Never Reach It)
July 26th, 2017 // 4:07 pm @ Scott Manning
For starters, there are only two kinds of earned financial independence (meaning that it wasn’t given to you or a magic amount of money doesn’t reappear in your mail box every month without you having something to do with it)…
First: you can stack up enough cash that you can then stop working and live off of this amount as your own bank for the rest of your years on the earth.
Second: you can obtain enough investable assets in all shapes and sizes of your chosen preferences that will then in turn create for you passive income resulting in you no longer needing to earn your own direct income to live on. This can be real estate, dividends, businesses or insert any other type of income bearing investment.
That’s it. There is no other way to be financially independent.
You have to have sustainable monthly or annual income to support your life without you having to be the one doing the work to get it and without the need any longer to pile up more money from your direct efforts.
Also, let’s be clear what financial independence is not. It is not having to liquidate all of your assets in order to retire. It is not having to suppress or lower your lifestyle in order to fit inside of your means.
Now, rest assured, I’m happy for you to keep right on working and never stop –many do. If you are doing something you love, it invigorates you and you hardly consider it work, then keep doing it as long as you are able – why not!
However, don’t mistake your continuing to earn income to pay your bills but enjoying it as financial independence. If you still need the money, it’s not by choice you are working – it is necessity.
This is the most common concept of independence thought of by business owners.
There is a case to be made for the emotional and obligatory independence being much more valuable (and they certainly lead to longevity of your career if you want that). There is autonomy of what you do, independence of time or geographic location or so many other variables that all come with the responsibility of being your own boss.
None though are as significant a sign of success as this one right here.
And I will tell you this: it’s the point of the whole entire gig – to reach a place of financial independence.
I didn’t say the point was to stop working (if you do it right, you’d enjoy working to make the money). I said the point was to stack up enough points on the scoreboard, dollars in the bank, assets invested so that you no longer are doing it because you have to but actually in fact because you want to. Or, you can stop, hang it up, switch gears, transform, change, retire, ride off into the sunset, buy an island, travel the world, whatever.
I don’t want you to wait to ‘live’; you should be doing that all along the way. Just like I don’t want you to wait to ‘save’ when it becomes easy or convenient or you happen to have enough money.
No, do it now. Everything is always now. Not later. Now.
Let me tell you about the only people who ever become truly by factual definition financially independent from their business and professions… even though they share many traits, they all absolutely have one primary thing in common…
The decision…
The goal…
The objective…
The obsession…
To achieve financial independence.
It is their secret internal scoreboard, their quiet kept to themselves form of pride. something they fight to achieve and do so ON PURPOSE.
That’s the secret.
And guess what; the only way to do it is to profit, to grow your business and be a capitalist who feeds the economy by serving people and getting paid to do. Then taking that money and putting as much of it as possible into other investments so it goes back to work for you through others and you start to compound and multiply and diversify your wealth.
Understand this: the goal is never income. Income is a means to an end, income is the ball – investing is the basket, the goal.
This mindset and philosophy is not optional if you want to achieve it.
These are the things we work on and deliberately orchestrate in my highest-level wealth group. They take it very seriously and that’s why they are winning. You can’t haphazardly or casually call yourself a business person and not accept the responsibly to be an investor who will be judged by how much and how hard your money goes to work for you and what you have to show for it.
The one with the real independence from all things is the one who needs no one else because they own the bank.
Of course, step one is making the money… and we’ll pick up there next week.
Category : Blog
