Choosing race to financial independece over rat race

As human beings born in this global society all of us have two choices rat race or race to financial independence. One is a never ending circular race and other helps you find your purpose. The present educational system which is a product of industrial revolution era prepares us only for rat race.  Unfortunately Personal Finance 101 is not a course in high school and most of us are unaware of the choice we have.

Race to FI is a race once can win by lifting oneself from the blinding aspects of the day to day money matters and having a birds eye view of what money is and how you want it to be in your life. Here you race against yourself, improving yourself in each step. Bringing out better versions of yourself in all aspects.

Being FI is not only about improving your finances and money matters. Its about the holistic improvement of yourself. Its being fulfilled all the time without compulsive need for having more. Its about finding what enough for you and purposefully living in the enough zone. Its about having a choice to find your purpose in life. Authors of "Your Money or Your Life" defines money as life energy. Financial independence focuses on making the best use of you life energy so that none of it is wasted and all of it is used in ways that keeps your life filled with joy and passion.

Instead of racing against the world of rats, choose to race for your financial independence. There are a lot of reasons why financial independence is the best choice. Rat race is a never ending race where you run in circles like a donkey chasing carrot tied to his head. Irrespective of how much income you have, being in the rat race wont keep you fulfilled. The question "Why is it so hard?" always looms around rat racers.

The ultimate solution for ending the hardship is to run your race to financial independence and win. Racing is tough. It takes discipline, perseverance, knowledge, vision etc to win the race. But the simplest fact is that with a little bit of effort, anyone can win in this race. Its just a matter of perspective about how we see life and money. Either you have to be in the rat race or you have the choice to race for financial independence. Make your choice and start racing for financial independence. 

As Paulo Coelho shows us in "The Alchemist", once you make the choice to be financially independent, the whole universe conspires to bring you to it. 

Why become financially independent?

It is said that the discovery of the concept of financial independence is like a spark on dried grass. It ignites the fire and changes the whole life of the person. Evey action a person takes after that point will be based on the firing desire to become financially independent. 

But for some, the idea may seems like a totally negative one. They feel that the idea of living on an income which is not earned by oneself (passive income in this case) is totally wrong and that its an idea which is accepted only by a lazy unworthy person. The why FI is an important question which is relevant for such a person. The following is a non-comprehensive list of "why"s which may help you identify your why FI.

Escape the rat race

It's  a fact that all of us are born and brought up into the rat race. May be your parents or guardians who themselves were in the rat race thought that making us competent enough to run the rat race was the best thing to do for our "secure future". Or may be you sort of went with the flow and ended up in the rat race chamber yourself. In any case we usually realize that we are in the race only after it starts. 

Financial freedom is the way out of this rat race. All this loan to spent, earn to pay loan, worry about earning and spending more cycle goes out of the door once you are FI.

Pursue your passion without worrying about paying bills

All of us had passions and dreams before they were killed by the "realities of real world". Think back. As a child we have no limits to ambitions and passion. We wanted to be pilots, soldiers, sky divers, sailors, postman, scientist or even spiderman. Sky was the limit for imagination. But once time passes we begin to realise the limits imposed by practical life. The responsibilities that ends up on our shoulders kills our passion, our dreams and ambitions. Paying the bills becomes first priority and passion moves to horizon.

Financial independence allows us to bring life back to our passion without worrying about paying the bills. Whatever you have stopped or kept on hold because of the "life happens" reason can be taken up and pursued with more vigor.

FI doesn’t mean "end of work" or "being lazy"

Being financially independent doesn't mean you have to stop working or be lazy. Once you are FI, you are free to do any work (including continuing your current line of work). Its just that you will be working not because you have to but because you want to. The possibility of having such an option is certainly exciting because even if you absolutely love your job now, after FI, you can love it much more.

Help others more selflessly

Money is the root of all good. Having money makes you capable to doing all kinds of charitable activities. Being FI allows you to do such activites more selflessly because you wont be worried about your financial security when you give. So if you want to be more helping , best way forward is by being financially independent.