Employment And Financial Independence

Employment And Financial Independence

In the early years of my career it was all about finding a better job with a better pay to take care of my ever increasing expenses. I only thought of cutting non essential; expenses once in a while but then the urge to ‘fit in’ or to be seen ‘rich’ would win and I’d be back to the drawing job.

Now that I am older and wiser appearing rich doesn’t bother me. I am only concerned with the size of my bank account and no longer want to ‘fit in!’

Many, many employees choose to appear rich. This usually means buying a house you can’t really afford, cars you can’t really afford, and all sorts of electronic devices and jewelry and other items that you can’t really afford. Outwardly, you appear to have lots of money, but you’re actually sinking in a giant pile of debt, barely able to keep your head above water.

In this case, the appearance of wealth doesn’t equal financial independence. Instead, it equals a huge amount of financial dependence. Employees in such situations depend on their employer for steady employment. They depend on their continued good health. They depend on minimizing major unexpected events – a car transmission failure can be devastating.

That’s far from financial independence. But from the outside, it does look good.

They are Kenyans who have nice houses and nice cars but seem not to have high paying careers. Do they have it all? Maybe at a glance, but the stress is intense. They’re constantly walking a high wire. If someone loses a job or the car’s transmission fails or a child gets devastatingly sick, the whole thing falls apart.

And it’s scary. Most of the time, people who appear rich do all they can to pretend such things can’t possibly happen to them, but late at night, they know such things certainly can happen to them – and they worry a lot.

A big part of the focus tends to be short term happiness and impressing other people – but long term happiness and enjoying yourself takes a big back seat. Fake it until you make it? Only if you’re bringing something more to the table – and that “something more” comes through without lots of superficial elements to impress others.

Trust me, I’ve been there. It can be fun in the short term, but over the long haul, you realize how many opportunities in life you’re missing.

On the other hand, one can choose to be rich. From my perspective, being rich means being as financially independent as possible – almost no life events can impact your situation – and being surrounded by the things you care the most about.

Yes, this has one disadvantage over appearing rich: you don’t get lots of shiny things whenever you want them. But it comes with tons of additional advantages.

You’re not tied to your job for purposes of compensation or salary. If you hate your job, you can quit and find something you don’t hate even if it’s a low pay. The money isn’t the constraint here.

You’re not buried in bills and Sacco loans. You don’t have tons of different things that need constant care and maintenance. You don’t have “friends” that constantly judge you based on the stuff you have.

You don’t worry about having enough money when you retire or if the worst comes to the worst, when you’re sacked.

In the end, it comes back to one simple question: do you want to appear rich, or do you want to be rich?

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