Act 37: Become Financially Independent

Now, I know conventional wisdom says it's not polite to talk about money.  Whether it's out of fear of being judged for not having a lot of it or not being good with it or worry about sounding like a braggart if you DO have a lot of it, most people I know don't discuss their finances.

That's a real shame, in my opinion.  Especially because in school, there is not much taught about personal finance.  And while my mom was very diligent about setting me up with a savings account as a kid, we never really talked much about budgeting, living within one's means, and saving to meet financial goals.

I grasped the concept of a monthly budget early on with my high school job, but beyond that I was lost.

My feeling was if I can afford the monthly payment, it's all good!  So, credit card bills, payment-plan purchases and other "it seemed like a good idea at the time" disasters started to pile up.  I found myself in quite a bit of debt.

After college, I learned some good habits from my then-husband - things like reducing meals out to save money, investing in retirement, and the importance of equity, but it fell to me to manage our day-to-day spending - and I was a disaster.

I'm fortunate that I have friends who were willing to discuss their financial management systems with me.  We never got into numbers - because as we said, that's rude - but I did learn some "best practices".   However, it wasn't until my friend Amber introduced me to the concept of a financial planner did things start to turn around.

My thinking was always I don't make enough money to hire a financial advisor.  Boy was I wrong about that!  When I started working with my financial advisor, Brenda Dobrick, we had a nearly $10K debt, with two kids and two incomes.  With her guidance and some careful planning, that completely turned around in a little less that two years.

After my marriage ended, I found myself as the sole provider for my family.  Going out on my own was extremely scary.   My chosen profession is not known for making a person rich, so I knew I was going to have to be very cautious about spending, saving,and planning.  I  was fortunate to find You Need a Budget - the most brilliant website that broke down the process of personal finance in very simple terms.  In fact, their entire philosophy comes down to four simple principals.  Rather than lecture on them (and believe me, I can go on and on about them) I will say that this approach changed by financial life.  Suddenly, keeping track of my money wasn't a daunting chore.  It was easy, and I began to see results quickly.

The final piece of financial independence came when I recently refinanced my home - all by myself.  I had never navigated to waters of mortgages, insurance and escrow (Oh my!) and it was daunting.  However, with the help of my friendly neighborhood credit union, it rather painlessly became a reality.

It's a scary thing to know that everything rests on me now, but at the same time, it's extremely empowering.  Also empowering is the realization that I don't have to make six figures to live a happy, secure and fulfilling life.

To me financial independence doesn't mean being able to buy anything you want whenever you feel like it.  It means being free to live your life in a meaningful way - without money being a major focus or a major obstacle. And while like most Americans, I am one major illness away from financial ruin, I feel tremendously blessed to have my needs and the needs of my children met.  That freedom gives me to opportunity to go out and live - modestly and within my means - but meaningfully and on my own terms.