I sometimes hear clients talk about freedom.

Most of them describe it as the ability to do what they want when they want.

And when they do, they’ll often compare themselves with someone who displays some attributes of being rich. Most often, people perceived as rich sold their business at a price perceived as sufficient to feel free.

While it’s true that money can provide what is needed to feel free, it isn’t sufficient. The money needs to be part of a plan. And when it is, it might be much less that is needed, than assumed.

In “The Psychology of Money” Morgan Housel describes someone who at 20 started to work at about the minimum wage. However, he succeeded in living with only a part of his salary and saved almost 40% of it. Having saved 12.000$ in two years, it was enough for him to quit his job and become a full-time musician. He knew how much money he needed to earn from his gigs, how many these would be, and how much time this was still allowing him to have.

In whatever ways this person continued his career to become wealthy, none of that mattered to him compared to the step he dared to take at 22. A step that provided him with the freedom he had looked for.

For him, the point was that money allowed him to gain enough independence to avoid being forced into making decisions he knew he wouldn’t want to make.