I have talked about this before here, several times probably.
4300 blogs nearly in and I can't quite remember what came before, not completely.
But I definitely remember being taught by Chris Barrow this philosophy.
Number 1 - It’s possible to try to be financially independent.
Number 2 - It's absolutely possible to be independent of finance.
Number 1, you'll never achieve.
If you could achieve financial independence, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos wouldn't be building rockets to the moon.
The reason they're doing that is because they're obsessed with FOMO.
Roman Abramovich had several super yachts. Why do you need more than one super yacht?
It's because you're never satisfied because you're not financially independent.
You need to have more, to show that you have more, you need to demonstrate your wealth.
Number 2 - independent of finance, that's where you can live on very little, because you see the happiness in what you have.
You can enjoy riding a bike, not because it's a £20,000 bike, but because you feel the wind in your face and the sun on your skin and the camaraderie of the people that you're with.
Understanding this is critical. It's an age-old lesson but again, it's something that we need to teach our children.
I've met a few people who love to make money. They just genuinely love it.
But generally, those people never spend more than they have, and they become wealthy because they build assets.
The rest of the people that buy sh*te, and it is sh*te briney objects, are the people that don't get it.
They will always be the slaves to the making of more money, trapped in the lifestyle trap.
I flip between the two, depending upon who I'm mixing with, sometimes I get drawn to the chase for financial independence.
Sometimes I think I should cash something in so that I have more money in my pocket, so I can buy stuff and then I realise that that's not what I'm for.
In a conversation with my wife recently about buying something bright, shiny, and ridiculous, she said “that's not you”
It's not generally but it's easy for all of us to be sucked into the trap.
It's why it's important to go back to the blog from yesterday.
It's more about who we surround ourselves with that frames the urges that we have to collect things.
I don't want to be in a position where I feel I have to buy things to prove myself to anyone else, and if I have to buy something or wear something for you to like me or want to be with me, I don't like you or want to be with you.
I don't deserve anything. I don't deserve things. I just want to be independent of finance so that I can do the cool stuff that I love to do, that I have created the chance to have the opportunities to do.
Probably sounds like a whole load of philosophical claptrap but it's a really important distinction.
I've never forgot it since Chris taught me it and I never stop the process of trying to move away from financial independence and more into independent finance.
“Your hands shall flow with gold, and yet over you gold shall have no dominion.”
Galadriel, the Elven Queen to Gimli the Dwarf
Lord of the Rings Book Two
Blog Post Number – 4272
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