I previously read and liked M. Pattabiraman’s thoughts on financial independence.
Morgan Housel writes about independence and offers a another perspective on financial independence.
5. Financial independence doesn’t mean you stop working.
This idea is related to the previous one: Financial independence is a wonderful goal. But achieving it doesn’t necessarily mean you stop working – just that you choose the work you do, when you do it, for how long, and whom you do it with.
Those who retire early tend to come from one of two camps:
They hated their work but kept doing it to make as much money as they could.
They enjoyed their work but quit when they had enough money.
To each their own, but both look like situations where money controls your decisions. The irony is that some people who think they’re financially independent are actually completely dependent on money, so much so that they spend their days doing things they’d rather not because money tells them they should. Rather than using money as a tool, the money used them.