The Final Stage Of Financial Independence

I have made no secret of the fact that my last few weeks have not gone to plan. With my work situation pivoting drastically, and changes with The What’s Up Next Podcast, it almost seems laughable how smug I was when talking about my life post financial independence.

Don’t get me wrong. The world is not falling apart around me. Everything that matters is just fine. But it would be untruthful to say that I am happy with all these unexpected changes. And it makes me wonder how much control we actually have over what befalls us.

Maybe I have had it wrong all along. Maybe the final stage of financial independence is neither financial peace, control, nor even a suit of armor.

Maybe it is acceptance.

Vulnerability

We are vulnerable. Financially independent or not. Make no mistake, I am not talking about the good vulnerability here. We are one bad decision, one string of poor luck, or a crap diagnosis away from the abyss.

I should know this. You would think working in hospice this long would teach me something. But I have been guilty in separating what is so obvious in healthcare with what may not be with financial independence.

This diatribe is not meant to be overtly pessimistic. In fact, I feel my optimism rising. The truth, however, remains.

Suit of Armor

I believe that equating financial independence with being a suit of armor is unintentionally misleading.

No matter how hard you try, you can only protect yourself so much. You can protect your time by accruing money, but you still may fall prey to a vulnerable parent, a high needs child, or your own medical illness.

The best laid plans prove fodder to the foibles of human existence. We are but lowly leaves bobbing up and down mercilessly on a vast and ineffectual ocean.

You struggle against a current that can change drastically without warning and take you somewhere else completely.

Acceptance

Maybe we should stop working so hard to protect ourselves. Maybe our suit of armor is quite porous. No one is able to foresee the future. Why do we stress out so much about protecting ourselves from self created future demons?

Financial independence is so amazing because it allows us choices. Here and now. Whether it will continue in the future is unknowable.

The final stage of financial independence is accepting that there is no suit of armor. Financial or otherwise.

That life will throw you both the perfect strikes down the middle as well as a curve balls. Some, you will hit out of the park. Others, will bean you in the head. And yet others will fly right past as your bat slices ineffectively through the air.

You can try to protect yourself all you want, but the pitches won’t stop coming.

And for me, after all that has happened as of late, I feel quite at peace with this notion.