financially independent ?

Thread Starter

Mathematics!

Joined Jul 21, 2008
1,036
I am wondering what the average age a person becomes financially independent now is? ( I would imagine it is alot later now )

As well as when you became financially independent ?
 

Metalmann

Joined Dec 8, 2012
703
I am wondering what the average age a person becomes financially independent now is? ( I would imagine it is alot later now )

As well as when you became financially independent ?


Is anyone ever financially independent?

The more money you have, the more responsibility it demands.
 

praondevou

Joined Jul 9, 2011
2,942
It depends on your lifestyle.

Independent from who/what? Your parents? Student loans? Mortgage?

Give some more details what you mean.
 

Thread Starter

Mathematics!

Joined Jul 21, 2008
1,036
1)
what is the defining factors why one is financially independent and anothers not ?

Is it the ability to communicate well , or confidences , or smartness ,...etc
What defining facts make it so you will always be financially independent.

2) How many people are financially independent meaning that they never ever have to depend on others for money. (Even in the faces of complete chaos ...etc)
for example just because you work a while does not imply that you can support your self for ever.... i.e medical issues , loss of family , ..etc can cause problems

Some people never do. I don't have many friends who are. Why do you ask?
Because I am wondering if there is a defining trait that one has over another to be in the job/finiacially independent bracket
Or at least what you belief is the defining factor to fall into one cateogry or another (aside from medical / health problems )
 
Last edited:

praondevou

Joined Jul 9, 2011
2,942
1) How many people are financially independent meaning that they never ever have to depend on others for money. (Even in the faces of complete chaos ...etc)
You will need to define "complete chaos". If all the "goods" or all the "money" you accumulated aren't worth anything anymore because nobody wants them you are as poor as everybody else. Maybe you should exclude complete chaos from this discussion.

Nobody is ever completely and absolutely independent from others if he has to rely on money. Only people who don't need money to survive will be independent from it.
 

Thread Starter

Mathematics!

Joined Jul 21, 2008
1,036
so then how can one not need money at all to survive
I would think this is impossible
Unless you hunt with your bare hands , never get sick / have medical issues , and can make your own shelter out of your surroundings ...

Which even if you could pull off this it would be a boring life sense you would just be doing this stuff to survive and not well .

Sense money is assumed to be the thing that you can always rely on if you have it ( a side from good people defeating the independences part of life )

so I would say what let us restrict to what characteristics you must have to beable to gain money/ alot of it fast or when ever you want?

Or lets at least say you will for the most part always beable to have enough money or the ability to make enough whenever the person wants
 

Metalmann

Joined Dec 8, 2012
703
"Unless you hunt with your bare hands , never get sick / have medical issues , and can make your own shelter out of your surroundings ..."




It wasn't that long ago, when every man had to do just that.

Either that, or sponge off others.

We didn't always have grocery stores, and Home Depot.

When I was born, most everything was hand, or tool; made.;)
Real Craftsmen back then.
 

magnet18

Joined Dec 22, 2010
1,227
2) How many people are financially independent meaning that they never ever have to depend on others for money. (Even in the faces of complete chaos ...etc)
for example just because you work a while does not imply that you can support your self for ever.... i.e medical issues , loss of family , ..etc can cause problems
I'm pretty sure that's never possible with absolute certainty. Even bill gates, former richest man in the world, they could have uncovered microsoft of fraud and had the whole company collapse.

anyone can loose everything at almost any time, it's just a matter of trying to be as financially secure as feasibly possible.
 

praondevou

Joined Jul 9, 2011
2,942
Which even if you could pull off this it would be a boring life sense you would just be doing this stuff to survive and not well .
So you are saying assembling cars or cellphones all day long or working in a mine are not boring? There are SO many boring jobs, people only do them to survive.

Sense money is assumed to be the thing that you can always rely on if you have it ( a side from good people defeating the independences part of life )
You can only rely on it as long as it is an accepted medium of exchange.

so I would say what let us restrict to what characteristics you must have to beable to gain money/ alot of it fast or when ever you want?
The first things that come to mind are all illegal or at least not welcome in some parts of the world.

One solution to not having enough money is to content oneself with less, buy less crap. The other one is to rely not on money but on people, on community.
 

Thread Starter

Mathematics!

Joined Jul 21, 2008
1,036
it's just a matter of trying to be as financially secure as feasibly possible
so I guess then I am asking what traits must you have or the characteristics of
to be the more finiancially sound person?

in your opinon or what makes somebody more successful other then good ideas and determination (plus a little luck)
 

magnet18

Joined Dec 22, 2010
1,227
in your opinion or what makes somebody more successful other then good ideas and determination (plus a little luck)
earlier i said financial security, but that was in your reply to financial independence statement, rather than success

this depends on your definition of success
if you define successful as happy, then i know many happy people that most would consider unsuccessful, and there are plenty of people out there bringing in 6 or 7 figures that wouldn't know happiness if it slapped them in the face.

it's all a matter of perspective, and not any certain traits, but various combinations of traits.

it's up to each person to determine their goals for success and happiness.
 

mcgyvr

Joined Oct 15, 2009
5,394
so I guess then I am asking what traits must you have or the characteristics of
to be the more finiancially sound person?

in your opinon or what makes somebody more successful other then good ideas and determination (plus a little luck)
There isn't one.. You are either born into it or lucky and small few work HARD to get somewhere and then luck takes them the rest of the way.
Some of the richest people are also the dumbest/most out of touch people in the world.. I can't stand watching these "undercover boss" shows with all these "rich" people that can't even do the most simple mundane tasks.

Don't know the numbers but I'd bet a vast majority of "rich" people today are born into it.
 

Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
21,159
1)
what is the defining factors why one is financially independent and anothers not ?

Is it the ability to communicate well , or confidences , or smartness ,...etc
What defining facts make it so you will always be financially independent.

2) How many people are financially independent meaning that they never ever have to depend on others for money. (Even in the faces of complete chaos ...etc)
for example just because you work a while does not imply that you can support your self for ever.... i.e medical issues , loss of family , ..etc can cause problems


Because I am wondering if there is a defining trait that one has over another to be in the job/finiacially independent bracket
Or at least what you belief is the defining factor to fall into one cateogry or another (aside from medical / health problems )
You need to read "The Millioaire Next Door", by Stanley and Danko.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Millionai...098&sr=8-1&keywords=The+millionaire+next+door
A bargain at $9.12

They have common traits
  1. They live below their means
  2. They've been married once
  3. They've bought and lived in the same house long enough to pay off the morgage
  4. They drive used cars.
  5. They buy suits off the rack
  6. They own their own business
Simple and boring, but those are the results of the sociological research they conducted. Their other message is that anybody can get rich slowly. Getting rich quick is only for the lucky few and it usually ends up ruining their lives. How many happy lottery winners do you know?
 

tracecom

Joined Apr 16, 2010
3,944
How many happy lottery winners do you know?
None.

But then, I don't know any unhappy ones either. :)

Seriously, I agree that many people who come into money suddenly don't handle it well, however, in many cases the reasons they can't handle big money are the same reasons they couldn't handle little money.
 

Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
21,159
None.

But then, I don't know any unhappy ones either. :)

Seriously, I agree that many people who come into money suddenly don't handle it well, however. in many cases the reasons they can't handle big money are the same reasons they couldn't handle little money.
I don't personally know any lottery winners of either type, but I have seen more than one documentary on ones whose lives have been ruined. Lotteries have been legal in Michigan since 1972 and in all that time I have not purchased a single ticket. It is hazardous to your wealth.
 

thatoneguy

Joined Feb 19, 2009
6,359
1 Million isn't that much.

1 Mil in a bank account, and another 1 million in liquidable assets (not paid for with a loan) creates more headaches than living "simple" and working.

Everything from relatives asking for money, to the government simply taking it, not to mention property taxes, whittles it away VERY quickly. (NOT from my personal experience, BTW, though I know a few that are in this position.)

Until you have several hundred million+ in different currencies/countries, and live off the annuities, if you are politically connected, then one is "financially independent", if you don't have the connections, it will all vanish through lawsuits and/or government taxes. Because you have money, and they don't.

Another well known data point showing that money isn't all it is cracked up to be is that 98%+ of "mega millions" Lottery winners end up filing bankruptcy within a decade of winning, ending up with less than what they had before they won.
 

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
so I guess then I am asking what traits must you have or the characteristics of
to be the more finiancially sound person?

in your opinon or what makes somebody more successful other then good ideas and determination (plus a little luck)
You need to read "The Millioaire Next Door", by Stanley and Danko.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Millionai...098&sr=8-1&keywords=The+millionaire+next+door
A bargain at $9.12

They have common traits
  1. They live below their means
  2. They've been married once
  3. They've bought and lived in the same house long enough to pay off the morgage
  4. They drive used cars.
  5. They buy suits off the rack
  6. They own their own business
That's exactly the answer I was going to give, and the book I was going to quote. I've read it, and am about to start on "The Millionaire Mind."

I believe the key is having the level of self control necessary to able to live in self-imposed scarcity. To be able to make 80K per year but only budget 40K of it, storing away and investing the rest. Also, if you're married, there's no way you're going to be a millionaire (or financially independent) unless your spouse is on the same page with you. It's hard, when your kid kid wants something that all the other kids have, and you have to tell them you don't have the money when you really do. Even harder, when your wife, who can login and see the huge balance, wants something expensive.

On another note, I believe that the only way to be totally financially independent is to be a total nomad with survival skills. If you can walk into the woods alone and emerge several years later, still healthy, you are without a doubt financially independent. They featured one of these types on "Doomsday Preppers" (Discovery channel series) recently. The show usually features nutcases storing canned goods, rain barrels, and "assault" rifles in their basements, but this time they interviewed a real survivor, an Indian named "Snake" and unfairly gave him a failing score on the basis that he didn't have a basement full of canned goods, rain barrels, and assault rifles.
 
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