Wednesday, October 21, 2015

The Real Purpose Of Financial Freedom

Financial freedom is a word that's widely used and maybe misused. Some of us may think financial freedom is all about money. Why do we invest? Why do we want to save so much? Why do we want to keep having more money? It seems like those who pursue financial freedom is always focused on money. Isn't it bad for life? Shouldn't we just enjoy life and not think too much about money?


What is Money? Why Financial Freedom?

Before we can answer the question of the real purpose of financial freedom, we have to understand what exactly is money? Money in short is actually just a medium of exchange. We need it to buy goods and services. In layman terms, we need it to live our lives and to provide for our families.

As kids, we have lots of dreams and most of it has nothing to do about money. When a kid says he wants to be a doctor, its not about the salary he will receive. Its always about the people he can help and the lives he can save. A kid doesn't have to worry about money because money is taken care of by his parents. He can really do the things he like and pursue his dreams.

Credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/red-sun-purple-dream-2220/

When money comes into our lives, when we have the responsibility to earn it for our own survival or the responsibility to provide better lives for our families, somehow we get lost in the world and lose our dreams and passions in life. We ask ourselves what are we working for? What are we living our lives for?

We get unhappy and pursue all kinds of funny things in our life. Funny because some of us will regret later and think why did we even pursue useless stuff in our lives in the first place? There are a few motivations even to these two popular words called financial freedom. Financial freedom can also be pursued in a wrong way.

Financial Freedom To enjoy life?

One of the motivations to financial freedom i've heard is that one can enjoy life once he reach financial freedom. He can travel around the world, buy the things he likes and really live the life he desires. More often than not, financial freedom is linked to a luxurious life of property and cars. Financial freedom is often said to be the state where we don't have to work and still live the life we desire. Desire is the key word here.

Do we desire a life of luxuries? Do we desire a life where we can buy anything we want? However, the key question is so what if we have reached that stage when we can afford anything we want without working? Is that all to life?


Financial Freedom To do nothing?

The second motivation I've heard regarding financial freedom is that one can do nothing and have the freedom not to work when we reach financial freedom. If we hate working and don't like our bosses or colleagues, this seems like a good idea. However, to do nothing when we reach financial freedom is really just meaningless.

Many people hope that one day they don't have to work, don't have to wake up early or face the demands of their boss or the office politics. But, when that day finally comes when we don't have to work, it starts to feel that life is just too boring. We start to feel disconnected from the world, disconnected from people and lonely. This doesn't seem like a good financial freedom life.

Financial Freedom To spend time with our loved ones and pursue our passions

The last and most important motivation for financial freedom to me is that we can spend time with our loved ones and really pursue our passion. If we have kids, we can spend more time to nurture them to be better people. We can give more love to our family by spending time with them.

At this stage, we don't have to work for money anymore. We go to work because we really like our work and not because we have to work. When this happens, we become more motivated at work because we work for passion and not as a chore.

The most important reason for financial freedom is we can become like kids again, having dreams without worrying about the money aspect. We can fulfil our passions without having to think will this work that we do bring us enough money to provide for our family?  We can do meaningful things in our life.

If we get money out of our lives, we can do the more important things in life. That is the purpose of financial freedom. It is not for us to just enjoy life or do nothing but rather for us to lead a more meaningful life. Would you rather be a slave to money or a master of money? Slaves work for money while masters let money work for them. We can choose the path we take which leads to different destinations. altogether.

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Related Posts:
1. How Not To Be a Cheapskate In Your Journey To Financial Freedom
2. Save 75% of your income to retire in 7 years

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