Financial freedom is not a one-time achievement

Financial freedom is not a one-time achievement
Tangxi 99
Many people think that once a person is financially free, they are forever free. I often see online someone buying stocks/cryptos that suddenly surge, shouting "I am free now." Yes, you are free now because your desires are still small, the world is small, and your pleasures are narrow. But can this kind of freedom be maintained forever? Not necessarily.
Freedom refers to being able to freely choose within the scope of your desires, and not being forced to do things you dislike just to survive. But the key point is that desires are a variable.
Why was a few thousand yuan considered a huge sum when in school, feeling like you could spend it endlessly, but after graduation, it’s nothing? Because the stages are different, social status is different, desires are different, and expenses are different. The happiest moment is when a windfall drops from the sky; at that time, the person’s social class has not yet improved, their social circle is still poor, their clothing, food, housing, and transportation are still cheap, and they don’t have many “dreams” to realize. Suddenly, they feel free. But a person’s state can change. Interacting with the poor, with the rich, the elevation of circles, the increase in experiences—these lead to a broader horizon; with a broader horizon, desires change; with desires changing, expenses change; simple happiness no longer triggers joy, and the threshold rises.
So, is it okay to hold wealth like the rich and only socialize with the poor? No, because then the money will be taken or scammed—if not taken or scammed, then just spend it yourself? Not okay either, because that will alienate others, as they can’t keep up with you and don’t want to always feel inferior.
These are just some of the situations. In short, if you are in a place that doesn’t suit you, everyone will feel uncomfortable. But once you feel comfortable, freedom is no longer absolute.
The founder of FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) is named Sam Dogen. He was one of the earliest to propose the FAT FIRE concept, which is a wealthy form of financial independence, introduced as early as 2009. It means relying on passive income to live well in the best cities around the world, rather than frugal financial independence, which requires restraining desires to achieve financial freedom.
This guy’s background is very impressive—from a diplomat’s family, good education, experience in investment banking, and by 2012, he had saved up $3 million. Then he FIREd, using that money to buy high-rent, high-yield properties in small cities, allocate high-dividend stocks, and bonds, and then use the cash flow generated by these assets to cover all expenses in big cities.
Initially, everything was fine, but then his children were born, and then a second child. He wanted to provide an elite education environment for his kids (if you’re free so early, not working, you can’t let your own children be worse off than others, right?), so he sent them to private schools; he was optimistic about the real estate market in San Francisco, which went against his original idea. He sold those small houses with high rental yields, sold some high-dividend stocks and bonds, and bought a big house in San Francisco—was he optimistic about property appreciation here, or just wanting to indulge in a big house? People often find it hard to clarify their true purpose.
Then, he no longer FIREd because his expenses exceeded his passive income. He had to start working again, but now he’s nearly 50—it's not that he can’t start again, but he’s not the type to enjoy work. He could easily pay all his bills before, but now he has to do things he doesn’t want to—work harder to push a stalled car.
Financial freedom is a habit and a lifestyle concept. It is dynamic. Achieving it once is not difficult; the hard part is maintaining an upward trend forever, not just earning interest and spending it all because nothing is constant. When interest rates are 5%, 6%, can you imagine they might drop to 2%, 1%? Then your original financial freedom no longer holds. When you can collect 50k yuan in rent each month, can you imagine it might drop to 30k, 20k, or even less? Then your so-called freedom is disconnected. The same applies to principal—what assets are absolutely safe? And which country's currency is absolutely safe? Anything valuable today might be worthless tomorrow.
So, what is truly safe? Only good structures are safe—unless humanity is destroyed, bad things won’t happen simultaneously, or they are logically mutually exclusive—that’s what safety means. How much cash flow can your assets generate? How many different channels do they come from? What is the ratio of safe to risky assets? How is the composition of your risky assets? And are you still creating value for society? Everything forms a huge web. No individual or force can break this resilient structure— even if your country explodes or some assets go to zero, it won’t affect your freedom.
At this point, you may still be working, but you are already free; unlike some people who seem to gain freedom temporarily but become more vulnerable after leaving work—the longer the “pure freedom stage” lasts, the more fragile the structure becomes. #WCTC交易王PK