J.D. Roth from Get Rich Slowly has written an article titled, Financial Independence: The Final Stage of Money Management.  In this article, he offers a bunch definitions for financial independence.  And, he asks his readers to tell him how they define financial independence.

Financial Independence To Me

I break financial independence into 2 phases.  Phase 1 is an intermediate phase and phase 2 is my long term strategy.

Financial Independence Phase 1

Phase 1 financial independence for me is not an end goal, but instead an intermediate goal.  I want to have enough money in savings that if I was laid off, I could comfortably live for 6 months while I a find a new job.

I think that I would feel much more secure and financially independent if I knew that I had enough in my emergency fund to get me through a financial crisis.

Financial Independence Phase 2

The second phase for me achieving financial independence is building multiple income streams separate and apart from my primary job.

These multiple income streams include,

• income from blogging
• real estate rental income
• portfolio income

So far I am building my online business income streams.  I make money through adsense ads on my various websites and through selling affiliate products.  My online business income keeps growing.  I hope that it helps me to reach my phase one financial indepence goal and then build my portfolio income.

Is financial indepence retirement?

Not for me.  I think that this is the way J.D. defines financial indepence for him.  But, it does not mean retirement for me.

I am a workoholic and realize that I will always be a workoholic.  I don’t think that I will ever stop working.  But, sure I might not always be doing what I am doing today.

Therefore, for ME, financial independence does not mean that I have enough money to stop working.  Instead, it means that if I lose one income stream, I have other streams to get me through a tough time.

What does financial independence mean to you?  What are you doing to achieve financial independence?

This blog is called Very Personal Finance for a reason.  The is no one way to manage your finances. I am not able to tell you how to invest your money to meet your goals.  Why?  Because only YOU know what you want out of life.

My life goals are not the same as your life goals.  Therefore, I cannot tell you how to achieve your goals.

However, Very Personal Finance will help you to,

• Understand your life goals; and
• Design a financial system to give you the money to achieve those goals.

Being smart with money is no one’s ultimate goal.  No, people need money to achieve their goals.

But, people too often do not think about what truly makes them happy.  If you don’t understand what makes you happy, you don’t know what to spend your money on.  This leads to wasting your money on bad purchases.

I hope that this blog allows us to explore these life goals, and, through financial education, achieve them.

By understanding your life goals, you will know what money you need to achieve them.  That is why personal finance is so personal.

My name is Fred Peters and I’m a part time Blogger that has been writing about personal finance for several years.  In addition to writing about personal finance, I am captivated with the new and ever changing medium of blogging.  In addition to Very Personal Finance I also write at MMO Explorer, Newest on the Net and Online Banks Blog.

The purpose of Very Personal Finance is to help people take control of their finances and devel0p a system that help you to meet your life’s goals.  My personal finance philosophy is based around three principles.  These three principles form the foundation of this blog.

• Personal Finance Is Personal
• Only Sweat the BIG Stuff
• Develop a Personal Finance System That Works for YOU

Personal Finance Is Personal – No two people have the same goals in life.  So, why do personal finance gurus think that we would all share the same goals about money?  You have my word here that I will never presume to know your money goals.  But, hopefully by reading this blog you will better understand YOUR goals and learn how to achieve them.

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