Episode Summary
The third pillar of financial independence: finding freedom. The reason we are spending less and growing our wealth is to get to financial freedom. While we’re both not yet ready to leave our jobs and take the plunge, we find immense happiness in knowing that we can if at any point we need to. It takes the pressure off work when you’re not dependent upon a paycheck.
Episode Notes
We talk about our priorities and the purpose behind finding financial freedom. We share what we would do with more freedom in our lives. Maggie would spend more time with her family, more time outdoors, more time giving back to her community, and traveling. Mike would spend more time on his hobbies, with his family and kids, and traveling. Ultimately, we would spend more time doing the things that bring us the most joy, and leading slower more focused and present lives.
We talk about the importance of figuring out your financial independence number. And better yet, figuring out your savings rate and annual expenses, and thinking about how many years of expenses you need to save each year. When you start to break down your savings and expenses per year this way, it can further motivate you to save more and spend less, and move you along on a journey towards financial freedom.
Other topics we cover on this episode:
- The exercise from playing with FIRE of writing down the top 10 things in life that make you happy.
- Why Maggie can’t finish a thought.
- How freedom is one of the things Maggie values most in life.
- We both look at our net worth when we are stressed out in life. It reminds us we have other choices in life.
- Confidence that when and if we need to get other jobs again we could.
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Show References
Playing with FIRE book