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What is "financial freedom"? You still have to work, use state currency, pay taxes. Did you mean owning your own home is the first step towards being wealthy?

by effie 6y ago

willcipriano 6y ago
Here's what owning my home has meant for me. I live in a high COL area, when I moved out when I was 20 rent was more than half of my income. I'd get raises but my rent would continue to climb. 5 years ago I bought a house, my rent stopped climbing. Now I can't even get a apartment for 125% of my mortgage and that is without a yard, with neighbors a half inch of sheet rock away, and no equity. This means that while yes I still have to work, it isn't the end of the world that I get fired or miss a promotion. I no longer need to push hard to drive up my income like I did when I was in a apartment. So now I have more options, when a PM screws the pooch and misses a requirement I attend my daughters soccer game as planned instead of staying late. If that isn't freedom I don't know what is.
bluGill 6y ago
Enough savings that you don't worry about little things. I just had to fix a wheel bearing on my car $700 later (my mechanic replaced the brakes and a few other small things while in the area) - not a large thing, but for many people that is more than they have saved up. There are safety nets for big things - not always good ones, but they exist everywhere and so when something major goes wrong you can count on some help. However there are a lot of little things that are both far more likely to go wrong, and also things that it is harder to get help with from any sort of safety net.
sumtechguy 6y ago
I can take a stab at that. I paid off a house a few years ago. My flexibility with work and money went way up. I personally went from 10k CC debt and a house mortgage to well over a million in assets and rotating debt (for points) in a very short period of time. I did not really change my lifestyle at all. I went from planning out how to buy small items (which is normal BTW) to mostly 'do no think too much about it'. Financial freedom was once put to me by an interesting 'when you feel like it' ladder. 1 eat whatever you want 2 buy whatever cloths you like 3 buy nice electronics whenever you feel like it 4 buy a used car with cash 5 buy a nice used car with cash 6 buy a nice new car with cash 7 travel whenever you like, and stay at an OK hotel 8 travel wherever you like, and stay at a nice resort 9 ... I am somewhere between 5 and 6 now. Had a bit of a setback and slid back to 4/5 a few years ago. 5/6 is normal for my point in life I am at with my income. If I had less income that ladder is slower to go up. Also as you go up cash becomes less of 'how do I get more' and more 'how do I use this to buy me time'. My level up to 5/6 only happened because I paid off that house. My setback is because of a choice to move somewhere else. But think about it this way. Whatever your rent/mortgage is. Think of having that amount of extra cash per month. Think how quickly you could use that to level up if you kept a similar lifestyle you have now. Financial freedom is a matter of perspective on how you view material wealth. Some people never feel free because they are always looking to ladder up. Some people are fine at the low levels because they see material wealth as a burden.
Glyptodon 6y ago
I think it's usually defined as being well off enough to curse out your boss and/or quit when they make unreasonable demands without having to think twice.
- __turbobrew__ 6y ago
  Also known as “fuck you money”

What is "financial freedom"? You still have to work, use state currency, pay taxes. Did you mean owning your own home is the first step towards being wealthy?

by effie 6y ago

What is "financial freedom"? You still have to work, use state currency, pay taxes. Did you mean owning your own home is the first step towards being wealthy?

willcipriano 6y ago

Here's what owning my home has meant for me. I live in a high COL area, when I moved out when I was 20 rent was more than half of my income. I'd get raises but my rent would continue to climb. 5 years ago I bought a house, my rent stopped climbing. Now I can't even get a apartment for 125% of my mortgage and that is without a yard, with neighbors a half inch of sheet rock away, and no equity. This means that while yes I still have to work, it isn't the end of the world that I get fired or miss a promotion. I no longer need to push hard to drive up my income like I did when I was in a apartment. So now I have more options, when a PM screws the pooch and misses a requirement I attend my daughters soccer game as planned instead of staying late. If that isn't freedom I don't know what is.

bluGill 6y ago

Enough savings that you don't worry about little things. I just had to fix a wheel bearing on my car $700 later (my mechanic replaced the brakes and a few other small things while in the area) - not a large thing, but for many people that is more than they have saved up. There are safety nets for big things - not always good ones, but they exist everywhere and so when something major goes wrong you can count on some help. However there are a lot of little things that are both far more likely to go wrong, and also things that it is harder to get help with from any sort of safety net.

sumtechguy 6y ago

I can take a stab at that. I paid off a house a few years ago. My flexibility with work and money went way up. I personally went from 10k CC debt and a house mortgage to well over a million in assets and rotating debt (for points) in a very short period of time. I did not really change my lifestyle at all. I went from planning out how to buy small items (which is normal BTW) to mostly 'do no think too much about it'. Financial freedom was once put to me by an interesting 'when you feel like it' ladder. 1 eat whatever you want 2 buy whatever cloths you like 3 buy nice electronics whenever you feel like it 4 buy a used car with cash 5 buy a nice used car with cash 6 buy a nice new car with cash 7 travel whenever you like, and stay at an OK hotel 8 travel wherever you like, and stay at a nice resort 9 ... I am somewhere between 5 and 6 now. Had a bit of a setback and slid back to 4/5 a few years ago. 5/6 is normal for my point in life I am at with my income. If I had less income that ladder is slower to go up. Also as you go up cash becomes less of 'how do I get more' and more 'how do I use this to buy me time'. My level up to 5/6 only happened because I paid off that house. My setback is because of a choice to move somewhere else. But think about it this way. Whatever your rent/mortgage is. Think of having that amount of extra cash per month. Think how quickly you could use that to level up if you kept a similar lifestyle you have now. Financial freedom is a matter of perspective on how you view material wealth. Some people never feel free because they are always looking to ladder up. Some people are fine at the low levels because they see material wealth as a burden.

Glyptodon 6y ago

I think it's usually defined as being well off enough to curse out your boss and/or quit when they make unreasonable demands without having to think twice.

__turbobrew__ 6y ago
Also known as “fuck you money”