Not just to buy stuff

This first thing we generally think about when we imagine ourselves being "rich" is the stuff we will buy. We think of mansions and sports cars and fancy clothes. We may think of exotic vacations or showing off to our high school friends. I am totally OK with all of these luxuries, but in my world, these are the LAST things you should acquire, after you put your money to work for you. After all, the struggles we might currently face due to lack of money are not rectified by owning a mansion or a Lamborghini. 

Time freedom

The most important thing money can buy you is time. If you had the opportunity trade places with a 95 year old billionaire, would you take it? I wouldn't. I would rather have the time, thank you very much. I'll figure out the billion dollars myself. So money is not the goal, it is just a means to an end. Having money buys you time. If you have enough money, and preferably it is being generated while you sleep, you don't have to spend all day earning a living. You can if you want to, but you don't HAVE TO. You don't need to spend time dressing up and driving to the office and spending 8 hours trying to please a manager who may or may not have your best interests at heart. Add up all those hours you spend at work and it is a good chunk of your life. I would prefer to spend my time as I choose..

Choices

Money also buys you choices. You can choose what to do with your day. You can choose what you want to drive, or where you want to go for dinner or vacation. You are free to spend your time and energy to make your life better or help someone else improve their circumstances. You will have autonomy over your own life, and feel like a sovereign human being. You are accountable to who you choose to be accountable to, not who you must be. This feeling of personal freedom is unimaginable to some, and just out of reach for many. Owning a mansion but being indebted to the mortgage will not give you this feeling. 

Work at what you want

As much as being rich often conjures up images of laying on a beach somewhere sipping Pina coladas for the rest of your days, most people who become rich don't care for that as a lifestyle. Many rich people still work. They do it because we need to feel productive. We want to contribute to the betterment of the world and rich people have the option to spend thier time working on things that matter to them. They have the freedom to spend their time and energy on work that fullfills them or solves a problem that is meaningful to them. Working your tail off in a cubicle for a paycheck is not super inspiring, and I know a lot of people who work extra hard everyday just to not get fired. This is no way to live. If you are rich, you can be the boss. You call the shots and can perhaps design a company that treats its employees well and puts people before profits. It is your choice - when you are rich.

Purpose - find a purpose

When you are rich you are free to find your true purpose. We all need a purpose in life to be happy and often when people finally become financially free they forget to find a purpose and end up unhappy. An interesting fact I read about was that the suicide rate during the great depression was far lower than it is now. That seems strange when you assume money buys happiness, but the explanation was that people back then had a purpose, which was striving to survive. Because they had a constant magnetic force drawing them towards the goal of "survival", they didn't have time to have an existential crisis and wonder what it was all about. Now that times are not quite as hard, we don't nessesarily have a built-in purpose anymore. We have to actively seek it. When you are rich, you are free to seek your purpose where you please and you have the luxury of choosing a purpose that is meaningful and well-suited to your own personality and aptitudes. 

Multiple streams of income

Worrying about money is a crappy feeling. It can cause sleepless nights and constant stress. This is not good for your health (physical and mental). Having a high-paying job is great, but what happens if you lose that job? Being rich, to me, means having multiple streams of income. If you have many sources of income flowing into your bank account, you are not dramatically affected by the reduction or loss of any one source. If you have passive income from multiple sources, you are not really concerned with losing your day job, for example. You will stop trying to "Not get fired" or " fight my way to the top" through petty office politics and ass-kissing and spend your time on doing the right thing and being conscientious. You will be amazed how satisfying a regular job can be when you really don't need it. You can stand up for yourself when necessary and walk away if things become unfair or unsatisfying. Many people who quit thier job in disgust to start thier own business find themselves just as stressed as before, if not more, because now thier income is still tied to ONE job, their business. Be an entrepreneur if you want, but please put your profits to work elsewhere. 

People want to give you money

The other cool thing about having money is it becomes easy to get more. As unfair as this seems, it is a perk of wealth that you must take advantage of. Banks look at your net worth and will lend you money if they feel you can easily pay it back, which minimises their risk. You can live by the philosophy of using "other peoples money" to further your financial portfolio and the more you have, the more you can get. Start small, and watch it snowball. 

Buy Experiences

Of course it makes sense to want to spend money on cool stuff, but science tells us that we are far better off spending our money on experiences, rather than things. Our brains get a short burst of dopamine (the feel-good drug) when we buy a new toy, but it is short-lived and our admiration of the new item will wane very quickly and continue to lessen over time. We will need to go out and buy something new constantly to maintain the "high" that new things gives us. This is unsustainable in so many ways, I need not go on. But the same science also says that our brains will take any new and unique experience and improve it over time. Our memory of it will sharpen the edges, and filter out the boring stuff. We will gradually make the memories of a new and fun experience better than the actual experience was. This is not dissimilar to an investment, as it gains value over time. This is in keeping with our investing philosophy is it not? Having money gives you the opportunity to have many new and cool experiences that will increase in value over time. 

Charity

Of course, when you have money you can choose to spread the wealth. This can be done because you have not only money to give to those who need it, but you have time. You have the time to devote to a worthwhile cause. You can donate money too, of course, but labour is the cornerstone of productivity. If you have time, and do not have to spend 12 hours a day devoted to earning a living. You can spend time volunteering at the local homeless shelter, or the food bank. You can lift others out of poverty and help give them a leg up. If you have learned to achieve wealth, you can pass it on.

Teach others

You can really make a difference by showing other people how you did it. This ability has power like no other. When you teach someone how to become rich, not only are you helping them to rise above their circumstances, you are perpetuating the movement. If you teach them well, they, in turn, will teach others and so on. The word will spread and soon we may not have to teach people to become wealthy, because they will have the choice to be wealthy or not.

"Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"

Change the world - improve the system

I think the most powerful thing about financial independence is the ability to change the system. You no longer have to fight to survive. You have won the game of money as it exists right now, and you now have the freedom, and influence to change the game. You can lobby for new laws that give everyone a fair shake at getting ahead. You can pursuade people to include personal finance education in schools. You can join worthwhile causes like Basic Income Canada that are fighting to bring about political change that will enanble everyone to be housed, clothed and fed. There are so many new ideas out there that would improve our current system that it boggles the mind. I talk about many of them and discuss how we can allow everyone to prosper as they see fit in my latest book, "We Can Save The World..but there's no money in it". 

Employ people

Of course, being wealthy gives you the opportunity to spread prosperity and productivity without having to changing the world. You can just employ people. If you made your money with a business you are already doing that. You are paying people to help you bring value to the world and your are assisting them to survive in this capitalist system we all are immersed in. By employing people, you give them a leg up and help them to feel productive and worthwhile. If you don't have a business, you can pay people to clean your house or cut your grass. There are million things that you can pay people to do for you that helps them and you. You save time and labour and these people have the opportunity to get ahead. Be generous and treat people with respect and kindness, especially if they are in your employ. You can set a new example and be a good person. 

Drive innovation - focus talent

The world is not perfect, nor is our financial system. However, it is what it is, and we can learn about it to our advantage or we can choose to be a victim of it's flaws. We are submersed in capitalism and it is encumbent upon us to make the best of it. We must choose to learn about money, investing and personal wealth building. We must give ourselves the best chance we can to be free from indentured servitude and pursue financial and personal freedom. Once we do that we now can make a difference. We can help others to prosper. We can teach them to get ahead. We can pursue worthwhile causes and use our power and influence to change the world for the better. We can actually have the time and space to take lofty ideals seriously and try to bring them back down to earth in practical ways.

The power of having money is more than mansions and cars. It is freedom from the chains of poverty and the time to become a fully realized human being with the ability to lift others out of ruination. You cannot save others until you save yourself. The great Canadian author Tom Harpur wrote about this in his amazing book, "For Christ's Sake" . He suggests that the primary message of Jesus was to love yourself, then love others. You cannot give what you don't have. The airlines say the same thing - put your own mask on before you help others. You are no help to anybody if you are unconscious. 

You are also not much help to the poor if you are poor yourself. When you are financially free you now have the enviable position to make a true difference in your own life and lives of others. Don't worry about the mansion. Be the best version of yourself and happiness will be yours. Then go buy stuff.