The opposite of greed: financial independence

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I don’t want to preach or anything, but there is one thing that I think everyone should at least try to do, that only few people do actually do. Financial independence, or as I see it, investing 25 times your yearly expenses so that you can perpetually live off the 4% in gains you’ll make (give or take).

On the surface, this might look like greed. Voluntarily pulling yourself out of the job market can seem like you’re leaving the job up to someone else. But I see it as the complete opposite of greed.

By gaining financial independence, you give yourself the choice on whether you work or not. What this means is, you then have the freedom to do things that you otherwise wouldn’t have if you were to entirely rely on a pay check.

Things like volunteering to help people who you wouldn’t have been able to help if you were working full time. Building things that take time and money that you don’t have with work. In this light, even relying on a pay check could be seen as selfish.

In my case, I’m already planning things to do once we do reach financial independence, only we’re pretty far away from that at the moment. This blog is one of those things, and I have a few other projects in mind that I am already working on.

As I see it, when we reach financial independence, the work definitely does not stop. It might change, but it shouldn’t stop. I want to work until the day I die, just not necessarily for money.

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