We all know that time is money. In order to have me work for 8 hours in an office, my potential boss has to pay me a certain amount of money. For him, this money is the amount he is willing to give in order to get the job done. For me, this amount is what I am willing to accept in exchange for the excruciating sacrifice of waking up every morning and sitting on the same chair for 45 hours a week.
Because I am trying to reach financial independence, I already have some savings that are producing a passive income every month.
I do not need to go to the office every day, nor do I need to wake up every morning at the same time. For that freedom, I am paying a price. Earning less and living with less, I chose not to have certain things that others couldn’t live without. I chose my time, my life, over money and things.
This is how I want to enjoy my financial independence. You will probably have other dreams, and may have to wait longer, or less than I do to achieve them. Jacob at Early Retirement Extreme, talks about living on $7K per year. I wouldn’t be comfortable with that level of income. I travel a lot, sleep in hotels, eat in restaurants… But on the other hand I don’t have a house at the moment, so don’t pay rent or utilities. You may want the housing AND the traveling.
I will want both at some point. I can’t imagine traveling around with my kids without having a place for them to call home. I mean I may travel for a year or so with them, but eventually, I would like them to have roots somewhere.
Strangely when people see me they imagine that I spend a lot of money every month. Come on, I travel all the time, my life is like a big holiday! Wrong, I spend less than half their monthly budget. Because I chose deliberately to live without permanent housing, without a car, without a cell phone and data plan. I get wifi at cafés, sleep in dirt cheap hotels, camp in national parks, have picnics and cheap snacks instead of fancy restaurants. My freedom is costing me, but I couldn’t live life being a slave to my job anymore and I want to celebrate financial freedom.
That sounds like quite the lifestyle living without a permanent house, address, etc. I’m more grounded, but I still share your sense of trying to achieve financial freedom. I also used to read ERE, but I could not identify with the $7K per year either. That’s not what I’m in to.
Thanks for dropping by MMD! I have lived without a permanent house for the past three years, but have rented for months at a time in Morocco and Guatemala, the longest was about 5 months. It is fun and you learn how to live with less since you have to carry everything you want, but I am now looking for a small house somewhere, that I can come back to when I want to settle or am tired of traveling. I want to explore sustainable options like growing my food, using solar energy, cycling… although when your mortgage is paid and you do all that, $7K still seems pretty low!