A life of freedom?

I suppose human beings have always been faced with a fundamental life choice: accept social rules and cultural expectations in return for certain benefits or ignore them to your own detriment.  We all must depend on others to some extent, so we cannot have freedom in an absolute sense.  Yet I've always thought of myself as someone who seeks freedom, and have only recently come to understand what freedom means to me.

Freedom is something like choosing which party you want to go to, how long you want to stay, and when you want to go home.  To seek freedom is to make sure you are never trapped by circumstance, unable to opt-out from something or make changes.  So when you take on debt, you are giving up freedom because you have no choice but to pay it back.  When you rely financially on a spouse or parent, you give up freedom because you have no choice but to remain loyal to that person.  When you live without savings in the bank, you are not free to walk away from a job that is wrong for you.  It is sad to notice how these three examples have entirely to do with money.   

Anyone serious about achieving a life of freedom needs to start by understanding his or her relationship with money.  The entire concept of money was invented to control the populace; to get us to do things we wouldn't otherwise do of our own free will.  Indeed, the more financial resources we have, the less willing we are to accept flawed circumstances and the less we are controlled by others. 

Money can either be used wisely (saved, used to generate more money, spent on education) or foolishly (spent on cars, clothing, unnecessary stuff).  To spend money foolishly or to take on unnecessary debt is to enslave yourself to the very people who you are allowing to become more free at your expense.  They have such power over you because you give it to them.  Of course we all need transportation, we all enjoy beautiful things, but isn't freedom more important than an impressive car or a designer handbag?  It is my personal policy that money can only be spent on foolish luxuries when you reach the point at which spending that money will not affect you at all...when you have already reached the level of wealth and freedom desired.

One might argue that there is also something beautiful to be found in a life with nothing to lose.  I've had friends who have lived this way and, the truth is, I envy their tendency to live entirely in the moment.  It is true that people who are financially well-off tend to isolate themselves.  But if you have little money, you also have few options.  Without financial independence, there are many, many things you simply cannot choose to do.

My intention is not to argue that my way of life is in any way superior or ought to be held up as an ideal.  There are certainly many other ways to live a rich, fulfilling, happy life.  Some people would trade freedom for the security that is to be found in dependency.  Some people care more about what they own than the experiences they have.  I respect those decisions.

What I'm suggesting is that one cannot even contemplate absconding without first getting real about money.  If you want a life of freedom, whether that ultimately includes living in a foreign country, a new city, starting a band, traveling, or even leaving a job which is inconsistent with your values, then you have no other choice than to start paying off debt, saving and / or investing.  You have to sacrifice and it may take a while.  You have to start by taking care of any financial problems you have created, and then just keep going.

When my wife and I moved from Colorado Springs to Seattle in the year 2000, we had something like $8,000 in the savings account, but credit card debt and student loan debt totaling probably $25,000.  We had two cars and were renting a comfortable apartment, but we were in debt.  For various reasons (one being the idea that one day we might move to Europe), we decided to stop spending and start saving.  First we started paying things off (the cars and the the credit card debt).  Then when that was done we started saving.  When we had enough money in the bank to live off for a year without income, we started investing.

During those 5 years, we didn't buy much (no new cars, minimal furniture, no house) despite the fact that we were both earning a good income.  Our friends and colleagues wondered what was wrong with us that we continued to drive one car that was dented and another that was 12 years old.  But freedom meant more to us and we just kept going.  By 2004, we started to imagine that it was possible to buy ourselves a bit of freedom...to put our stuff in storage and spend a year in Europe.

Yet, in my wildest dreams, I wouldn't have been able to imagine what was awaiting us.

Comments

[James Delgado]

The Abscondo Hello,
My name is James Delgado, live in Manizales-Colombia and I'm promoting music that allows only commercial uses under Creative Commons licenses. Your album MIDNIGHT SNOW is part of the album that I chose and I want to please confirm whether or not I leave this is BY.

[E.L.]

Hi,
I googled the word abscond and found your blog. For some reason I feel very odd commenting on a stranger's blog (almost as if I am invading on a unique personal space) but I wanted to let you know how useful I found your advice to "get real about money." I just graduated from college with 40K in debt. I can't handle being in the States anymore. I had planned to leave my new job and move to Panama for tropical research, but even writing out this plan makes it clear how overly quixotic it is. So thanks for your insights, which have helped to ebb my impulsivity & approach my goal of absconding in a more rational way.