The Power of Financial Independence

One of our most favourite pages on financial independence.

Your savings, believe it or not, affect the way you stand, the way you walk, the tone of your voice. In short, your physical well-being and self-confidence.

A person without savings is always running. You must. You must take the first job offered, or nearly so. You sit nervously on life's chairs because any small emergency throws you into the hands of others.

Without savings, a person must be too grateful. Gratitude is a fine thing in its place. But a constant state of gratitude is a horrible place to live in.

A person with savings can walk tall. You may appraise opportunities in a relaxed way, have time for judicious estimates and not be rushed by economic necessity.

A person with savings can afford to resign from a job, if your principles so dictate. And for this reason you'll never need to do so. A person who can afford to quit is much more useful to the company, and therefore more promotable. You can afford to give your company the benefits of your most candid judgments.

A person always concerned about necessities, such as food and rent, can't afford to think in long-range career terms. You must dart to the most immediate opportunity for ready cash. Without savings, you will spend a lifetime of darting, dodging.

A person with savings can afford the wonderful privilege of being generous in family or neighborhood emergencies. You can take a level stare into the eyes of any one, a friend, a stranger or an enemy. It shapes your personality and character.

The ability to save has nothing to do with the size of income. Many high-income people, who spend it all, are on a treadmill, darting through life like minnows.

The dean of American bankers, J.P. Morgan, once advised a young broker, "Take waste out of your spending: you'll drive the haste out of your life.”

Will Rogers put it this way, "I’d rather have the company of a janitor, living on what he earned last year... than an actor spending what he’ll earn next year."

If you don't need money for college, a home or retirement then save for self-confidence. The state of your savings does have a lot to do with how tall you walk.

(From an advertisement in the 60s, edited to make it gender-neutral)

Happy Independence Day !!

At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, wake up to achieving financial freedom.