Comments on: The Cost of Financial Independence

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 13:28:55 +0000

I personally believe being financially independent is important. For example, having no debt is something I wish more people would learn gives you a lot of freedom. However, as you guys have alluded to your missing out on life. Quite frankly for that I think your an idiot. There are always cheap ways to enjoy your life in the same way someone with twice the amount of money you have does you just got to find it. Who says your going to live to retirement? Who says your going to be able to do what you want then? Your health will likely be an issue at some point and some things you won’t be physically able to do. I avoid putting myself in debt if at all possible,but neither do I have a retirement account(at the moment) because my savings are used for short-term goals(3-5 years) like going to the World Cup Final in 2014(trust me not at all cheap). I hope to not have a cent in my bank account when I die, but rather a rich collection of memories of the great things I did.

By: frugalista

frugalista — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:16:56 +0000

I agree with many of the people on here. I have always been a saver and my financial future is very important. However, I have been having health problems recently and have also realized that I don’t know how long I will be around for so I need to balance life with saving for a future that may not come. My strategy is to save approximately 30 to 35% of my income and spend the rest. That is a pretty beefy savings (that does not include my company pension and SS on top of it) and yet I still can have a nice car, home and take some nice vacations. However, it is ALL about trade offs…I spend money on the above three and not on things such as alcohol, expensive hobbies or clothing and other materialistic items. The above three make me happy and so does my large savings account. Isn’t happiness what we are all shooting for anyway? Thank you David and everyone for your posts. Reading your website also makes me happy

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 04:13:17 +0000

KMull: Yes it is definitely a very fine line. Hopefully the more we read and write on personal finance, the better we will be able to balance our finances.

By: KMull

KMull — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 03:44:11 +0000

You cannot forget to live. It is a fine line sometimes. Live life… you may die tomorrow. But don’t sacrifice your future as well.

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:33:10 +0000

fubek: Don’t worry about not getting the consumer side of things. The pros of not having that “gene” definitely outweigh the cons.

I completely agree that we need to spend time with love ones. I often get so involved with the things that I do that I end up not spending enough time with my fiancee.

I should spend more time with the people I truly care about.

By: fubek

fubek — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:09:15 +0000

Well, I’m not anywhere above others, on the contrary. Sometimes it feels like I am missing the consumer gene, some kind of birth defect. I just don’t get it.

But it’s true that you have to balance your resources. For me, that is having time now for myself and for the ones I love instead of later, and to connect in a deep way. Work life gets into that way far too often and I have to remind myself to slow down.

I guess everyone needs to find out what’s truly important to him/her and just follow that need without thinking too much about the Joneses.

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 05:17:26 +0000

Engineer: I believe balance is different for everyone. It is important to find what makes you happy with the consequeneces of your actions in mind.

For me, having a financially stable future is “very” important. At this point, it is more important than many other things. This may change in the future, but I can only comment on how it is right now. I may suffer because I don’t turn on the A/C, but I believe it is the right choice because I can in the future. I believe in imporving life over time, instead of having to worry about a degrading lifestyle in the future.

By: Engineer

Engineer — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 04:45:37 +0000

Eat, drink, and be merry. For tomorrow we may die.

But what if you’re unlucky enough to live until the day after tomorrow?

As in engineering, life is about trade-offs. In the short run, we have to eat. In the long run, we’re going to be dead anyway. We need to balance between the two extremes, and there is an opportunity cost to our decisions. Time is something you don’t get back. How will the choices we make today balance out over the course of our lives.

Personally, I think the proper balance is somewhere between having four cars, and risking heat stroke by not running the air conditioner in the one car you have.

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 00:48:27 +0000

fubek: You are almost living in a level “above” us humans It’s great to hear that you will be financially independent in four years and can “choose” to work unlike us.

marylandterps: You are right in that we all need balance. It is definitely hard to do though since living good now is directly hurting the potential of living good later. Hopefully I can find a balance one of these days since I believe I’m more on the “save too much” side at this point in my life.

By: marylandterps

marylandterps — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:24:22 +0000

I am not materialistic but my girlfriend & I enjoy our current life while also saving for the future. We don’t buy a lot of junk or waste money on the newest electronic gadgets. I don’t want the clutter in our house. We do take 4 or 5 trips per year. We even save money on trips by staying at hostels & using frequent flyer miles or cheap airfare when we travel. Our cars are 4 & 5 years old but paid off. We do use a/c but keep the house between 76 – 80. So I think everyone needs a balance between the future & the present b/c who knows how long you will live.