Is Financial Independence a Noble Goal?
You may have heard that money is the root of all kinds of evil. While true, it’s important to note that it isn’t money itself that’s evil, but rather how it might be obtained and used. Seeking to accumulate wealth in order to be financially independent is worthwhile and ethical, but there are other, less virtuous motives that should be avoided.
It’s early January 2023 as I’m writing this.
We’ve just scheduled our 60th post on the website and entered our 4th month since making it public.
A big focus for me over the holidays has been going back through our original material and making small edits, updating some of the formatting, and backlinking post topics that support each other.
I’ve also been focused on reviewing the overall layout of the site, trying to ensure that the progression for new visitors is logical and easy to follow.
Naturally, while doing this I reviewed our first post, “Why We Started a Finance Blog” and made some minimal changes.
This look back into the past also triggered some reflective thoughts.
For the last few days, I’ve been pondering the virtues of pursuing financial independence (hereinafter referred to as “FI”).
I know it’s not an unusual goal, but is FI a good one to have?
Are we encouraging greed by assuming FI is something worth pursuing?
Is there something else we should be writing about?
After thinking about it a bit I’ve resolved that financial independence is an honorable goal with the correct motives, but I’d like to “think out loud” a bit and voice those thoughts in the form of a post.
Defining “Financial Independence”
To begin, I wanted to take a look at what we mean by financial independence.
The meaning of “financial” seems obvious enough. It basically categorizes our discussion under the umbrella of monetary or economic concepts.
There’s no reason to spend a lot of time on this half of our definition. When we speak of “financial independence,” clearly, we mean independence as it relates to money.
But what do we mean by independence?
On the surface, this too seems easy enough. We mean freedom, right?
Yeah, but freedom from what? Certainly not freedom from money.
And just how “free” do we need to be? I don’t know about you, but I’d feel plenty independent with far fewer assets than that of many of the world’s wealthiest people. I don’t need all of it to feel free.
For my part, the independence I’m referring to is freedom from the need for money, freedom from the need for a job, freedom from debts, and, most of all, freedom from anxiety as it relates to money.
Putting all this together in a nice little package, here’s my current working definition of “financial independence”:
Financial Independence is the condition of having enough wealth and/or income to maintain one’s desired standard of living without depending on another person or source for income or monetary support.*
Seems noble enough.
However, even though this definition may be suitable as we discuss finances, I feel like we need to go deeper to explain it further for two primary reasons:
- The actual amount of wealth one needs to feel financially independent is unique to each person;
- At some point, the desire to accumulate wealth goes from being a healthy pursuit to downright greedy.
(*I warned y’all that this is a thinking-out-loud piece, so I reserve the right to change this definition at any time.)
How Much is Enough?
If you have a clean, concise, simple, and correct answer for this, the collective financial advising world would like a word.
I’m going to toss in my two cents, but first I would like to attempt to bookend this array by saying it falls somewhere between nothing and too much.
Now that I’ve greatly reduced the range of possibilities, let’s dig deeper.
Where You Are and Who You’re With
First, we need to account for the fact that geography and culture have massive influence over what many would consider an appropriate standard of living.
For example, in my home state of Alabama, a half-million-dollar house is considered a luxury in most of the state. Even in the more affluent communities, it would be a reasonably nice home.
However, $500,000 in the Bay area of California will basically buy you a cracker-jack box.
Okay, maybe that’s a bit of hyperbole, but you get the point.
During a quick break from writing, I did a Zillow search and found that there are currently 65 listings in San Francisco proper for $500,000 or less.
The largest one? 1036 square feet (which is actually way more than I expected).
The second-place finisher came in at 872 square feet and it goes down from there. In fact, if you act now, you may be able to grab a 330-square-foot space on Natoma St. for $299,000. Good luck!
For those of you searching for real estate in San Francisco, please forgive me for poking fun at your circumstances to make a point.
The truth is one dollar in one part of the world is not the same in another, and it has nothing to do with ethics, greed, frugality, or any other philosophical idea. It’s just expensive to live in some places.
On the other hand, if you moved from San Francisco, CA to my childhood home of Prattville, AL, please do not expect the locals to warm up to neighbors with flamboyant luxury cars and fancy clothing (you know, if you’re into that).
The reason is the standard mode of transport in Prattville, for men anyway, is the pickup truck. Yes, there are exceptions, but venture too far from the norm and you may be perceived as uppity or a snob.
I’m not tossing stones at my fellow Autaugoons (if you know, you know), but culture certainly influences how we use, or at least show, our money to others.
Right or not, we will have the tendency to tone it up or down depending on who we’re around.
In fairness to ourselves, we need to factor in these considerations as we evaluate the propriety of financial independence at various levels.
Change is Inevitable
Next, we need to give ourselves the freedom to change our minds.
I’m a pretty big Alabama fan.
That is, I’m a big fan of the University of Alabama athletics; like, all of them.
Culturally preeminent in the South is the love of college football in particular.
In fact, I’ve been to well over 100 Alabama football games over the years in at least 10 different states.
When I graduated college and picked up a wife, a mortgage, and a lot of other responsibilities, my days of buying tickets to each season’s games and traveling to them had come to an end.
But I made a deal with myself…and Lisa.
The deal was once we were completely debt-free, mortgage included, I would be free to buy season tickets to all of Alabama’s home games.
Welp. It’s 2023, Alabama has been on its most historic run of success, and I’m still not a season ticket holder and have no real ambition to be one.
The reason is my priorities and goals have changed.
It takes a full Saturday to go to Tuscaloosa for a home game. That’s a lot of time for a guy with two kids and a full-time job (and an awesome website 
).
Not only that, but tickets have gotten rather expensive! I can get every game on TV now and the drinks in my fridge are cold, not watered down, and about one-tenth of the price at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
I love you Bama, but I’ll primarily lend my support from home now. Best of luck and Roll Tide!
The point of this insight into Southern Culture is not so much to educate you about our imbalanced love of college football but to show how things can change.
Usually, when it comes to money, we have the tendency to move the goalposts as we go.
Initially, we may be satisfied with a simple roof over our heads and shoes that don’t hurt our feet. Over time, however, our tendency is to allow lifestyle creep.
Lifestyle creep is the steady shift in standards and costs of living as we become more and more affluent.
We find gradually more cash in the bank as we grow in our careers and then find uses for it that usually improve our quality of life, but also add to our expenses each month.
Maybe you have a goal of becoming a net-worth millionaire. When that happens, you decide you want two, then three, and so on.
Or maybe you want a certain type of home in a certain part of town or a certain model car in just such a color, but once you have them you look on to the next shiny thing.
Circumstances can go the other way too. Maybe something you had your sights on at one point doesn’t seem all that spectacular to you the older you get, like my season tickets.
This is okay. You’re allowed to change your mind. But, we need to account for that as we define financial independence because the plans you have today may not be your goals tomorrow.
There are two primary reasons we need to acknowledge that change is inevitable:
1. First, if our goals and expectations keep growing, we’ll find ourselves constantly disappointed each time we reach our previous milestone because we foolishly expected stuff to bring us happiness.
This hamster wheel approach to life will leave anyone highly dissatisfied and without purpose. Find more meaningful reasons to accumulate wealth like the ones we’ll discuss below.
2. The goals that motivated you years ago may lose their luster over time leaving you unmotivated to pursue more.
Again, find meaningful reasons to accumulate wealth so your enthusiasm doesn’t fizzle over time.
Speaking of Motivation
Motive is the absolute primary determining factor in the ethical value of anything we do with money.
Now that we’ve accounted for two major influences on the pursuit of financial independence, let’s talk more about how our motives are an important consideration in determining the nobility of wealth accumulation or the lack thereof.
I recall reading a rather graphic and chilling story once about a man who smashed into a little boy’s bedroom and ripped him from his mother’s arms only to take him to someone who cut and carved on the poor boy in the middle of the night even though it put the child through extensive pain and suffering.
Even retelling it is making me uncomfortable and I left out some of the gory stuff.
Anyhow, as I read on the author of this story eventually let his readers off the hook by explaining the kidnapper was actually the boy’s father and the guy doing the cutting was a surgeon performing an emergency appendectomy.
The moral of the story? Motives matter.
I’d argue that details obviously do as well, but that’s for another post.
Ironically enough, this passage was in a book written by a pastor, but I suppose it was effective because I still remember it.
When we talk about the nobility of accumulating money or any other resource we must understand the irrefutable importance of motive.
Greed
Let’s start by addressing what may seem obvious, but in actuality can be quite difficult to identify and correct because of its subjective definition.
Greed is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (such as money) than is needed.”
So, we have two key elements to deal with here.
First, selfishness. Not many people would tell you that selfishness is an honorable motivation for acquiring and accumulating any amount of wealth.
I have to say that I agree. It’s not.
However, I’d stop short of saying any selfish use of money is wrong.
After all, we need to feed, clothe, and shelter ourselves. Surely, no one would argue that doing so is morally corrupt.
I also occasionally enjoy mountain dew, a weekend at the beach, and a new pair of running shoes, but I’ve never felt guilty for buying those things (though I’ll confess, there’s way too much sugar in a mountain dew).
I guess it kind of depends.
Which leads us to the second element.
Excessive is a very subjective word.
I believe my kids accumulate an excessive amount of candy each holiday. We begin every year with a hefty balance leftover from Christmas which we have 7 weeks to deplete before Valentine’s Day.
Easter follows closely behind by anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks depending on the lunar calendar before we catch a long summer break.
Next up is Halloween. It’s stunning amount of candy people in our area distribute.
After that, it’s only 8 weeks to Christmas and the cycle begins again.
We never eat it all. And although Lisa and I have become quite adept at “disappearing” it, we have a regular excess of sugar in our house.
Money isn’t as easy to part with, however. Each dollar represents security, comfort, or a step closer to a goal that can only be reached with more money and it’s much easier to find a place to store it.
And this is where you’ve got to be an adult and make honest self-appraisals on whether or not your wealth is “excessive” or not.
As with giving, I think it’s very personal.
It’s also nearly impossible to make judgments about people’s character based on a few facts or observations about their wealth. Better to just mind your own business in my humble opinion.
But, if you fear you may be falling prey to greed, here are some questions you can ask yourself for a quick self-assessment:
- Do you find that you struggle with contentment financially?
- When you obtain something you’ve wanted, are you satisfied or do you quickly begin looking for something more?
- When presented with an opportunity to give, do you grow defensive or find yourself eager to help?
- Have you ever allowed the pursuit of money to justify behavior that you would find questionable or outright wrong if carried out by others?
- Do you tend to correlate one’s economic status with their value as a person?
- Do you tend to correlate your own self-worth to your level of economic success?
- Are you generous with your time in order to support causes that are important to you?
- Have you ever sacrificed or given up something of value in order to give?
- Do you feel like the wealth you’ve accumulated is the result of your effort or do you acknowledge the role that others have played in your successes?
Stewardship
This second concept assumes that we should manage money wisely because doing so is ethical in and of itself.
For example, when I was a kid I can vividly remember my dad sending me out into the yard when it was dark and cold outside to drag my bike back to the house where it would be safe and dry.
His goal was to teach me to be responsible for my stuff so it wouldn’t get damaged, lost, or stolen.
On more than one occasion I did leave my bike out in the rain and, though it never rusted apart completely, it certainly could have been a smoother ride had I taken better care of it.
Money, like any resource, will quickly disappear if we do not manage it responsibly.
Being responsible with money is virtuous in itself. However, stewardship goes another step and assumes we’re managing it for someone else’s sake.
This is a spiritual point of view. I realize some may not adopt it.
Personally, I view “my money” as something God has given me to manage, but it’s ultimately all his (Psalm 24:1).
With that in mind, not only is it ethical to be responsible with money, it is morally right in light of my duty to be a good steward.
Why does this matter?
Because, a natural consequence of being a good steward of money, is that you will tend to keep and accumulate more of it.
Making responsible decisions will naturally result in money saved on taxes, efficient consumption habits, reduced waste, and so on.
It should also lead you to work hard and invest wisely (Matthew 25:14-30), resulting in steadily increasing accumulation.
Therefore, the accumulation of wealth itself can be ethically noble because it’s the natural result of wise management and stewardship
I’d ask anyone who disagrees if they see higher ethical standards in being wasteful or careless.
Again, this just reaffirms our original point that motive is the preeminent determination of whether or not the pursuit of financial independence is noble.
See more of my thoughts on stewardship below.
But How Much is Enough?
So, we’ve covered how greed is bad and stewardship is good, thus establishing that the actual accumulation of wealth isn’t necessarily immoral.
But we haven’t addressed how pursuing financial independence is necessarily good.
How is the accumulation of wealth to the point of independence noble?
In our post titled “Why Social Security is a Terrible Retirement Plan”, I briefly explained my belief that love is the most superior ethic and personal freedom is not far behind.
This post has gotten long enough, but there aren’t many things I can think of that are more appalling than forcing people into subjugation and removing their right to make choices for themselves.
I do hope you agree.
History has given many terrible examples of this and, even though it’s less offensive than enslavement, I see debt as a restriction of personal freedom.
I also think employers can exert a certain level of power over their employee’s personal liberties too, though this is admittedly limited because we can legally leave a job whenever we want.
In any event, financial independence preserves freedom to the extent that it applies to financial need.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with seeking that out.
Furthermore, financial independence can protect one from becoming a financial burden to generations that follow.
We can’t all work up to our last days on the earth and I have no desire to live in my kid’s basement one day, so financial independence provides a way to avoid those risks, among others.
Yes, I think having enough to support one’s self beyond the obvious risks of termination of employment and age makes perfect, even good, sense.
But it shouldn’t be the only focus.
Giving
We covered giving in this post (which I’ve linked several times now) so I’ll be brief.
There simply isn’t a better thing to do with your money than to give it to others.
I’m 41, which may seem old to some and young to others, but I’ve at least reached an age where I realize the accumulation of more stuff isn’t as satisfying as seeing the joy in the face of others when you meet a need they weren’t sure could be met.
As you pursue financial independence, do not neglect this all-important aspect of finance.
Give as you accumulate and give all the more when you reach your goal of independence.
Imagine the suffering and anxiety you can relieve just by being generous.
What hope could you give to others who are less fortunate, but just want an avenue to achieve more?
We said earlier that stewardship is good. I think giving is even better.
Conclusion
The Bible is often misquoted as saying “money is the root of all evil”, but it actually says “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.” (1 Timothy 6:10 ESV)
The distinction may seem subtle, but it is important.
It’s not money itself that’s bad. Money is a tool, just like a hammer or a computer.
Money can be used to accomplish some really pathetic and even awful things. On the other hand, it can be used to accomplish a lot of good.
We shouldn’t feel guilty for actively trying to accumulate wealth for the sake of obtaining a reasonable standard of financial freedom and should foster a desire to give to others as we are able.
So, is financial independence a noble goal?
Only you would know why you want more. Understanding your motive is the key.
Post Script on Stewardship
A few years ago I read a book by Ron Chernow titled Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller. (Chernow is the guy who wrote the Alexander Hamilton biography that inspired the famous Broadway musical. It’s a good read too and I prefer it to the musical.)
I was surprised to learn that Rockefeller was a Baptist (as am I) and a Sunday School teacher (as am I).
As you probably know, John D. Rockefeller was also one of the richest men who ever walked the earth (as I am not).
One of the quotes from the book that stuck with me was “God gave me my money.”
This is a fundamental concept of stewardship. It assumes that God gives us the money we have.
But it is also true that God has allowed some atrocious figures in our history to control vast sums of wealth.
We must remember that the possession of wealth doesn’t necessarily mean that we have an infallible sense of how it should be used.
Hopefully, the greater level of wealth you assume, you obtain an even higher degree of humility.
One of the greatest burdens Rockefeller carried was how to use his immense wealth honorably.
Frankly, I can see how it would be quite difficult to manage. It burdens me to consider that I’m among the richest 5% of people on earth* and I’m nowhere near what Americans would consider “rich”.
Thankfully, Rockefeller also adopted a famous challenge by John Wesley that I think summarizes this post quite well.
“Having first GAINED all you can, and then SAVED all you can, then it is time to GIVE all you can.” – John Wesley
Indeed.
You cannot take it with you. It’s not meant to be.
So, pursue financial independence, but do so with the understanding that you have a responsibility to do more with it than indulge yourself.
Furthermore, if you are a Christian, I want to remind you of a verse that I find helpful when I wonder why God blessed Americans with such abundant wealth.
“You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.“– 1 Corinthians 9:11
(*You probably are too. Click the link.)
