The Dependent Independence.

Being independent is something that I've been preaching to be since a while now. You can call it a goal, aim or whatever label suits you.??

One very big aspect of being independent for me is figuring out how to manage money - aka the finances.?

When I was a kid, I used to accompany my father to banks for various reasons which I couldn't?comprehend back then but I understand now. It was always a frustrating and tedious?process that we encountered. The long queues, passing off the task to the other person and we kept running in circles a lot.?It was tiring and exhausting. I used to curse the bank and think why couldn't it be simpler? I also used to dream that when I grow up, I'll try to make a system that doesn't inconvenience people so much. This is something I did a?lot.?

Anyway, when I was old enough to understand the concept of finances, I got to work. I went through my first source of "becoming financially independent armor" - Books. Tried to read the infamous rich dad poor dad, which I left halfway. For some reason, finance books just weren't my thing. Listening to podcasts, youtubers and redditors, I stumbled upon the concept of FIRE (Financial Independence Retirement Early). This intrigued me so I researched about it.?

I feel that I was in a sense dependent on the resources available on the web and was using those to make decisions and build my definition of financial independence. I was not filtering out the stuff that I used to learn via other mediums, through my own thought process - a feat I learnt to do much later.

Financial independence usually represents freedom. The freedom to do what you want, when you want. And sure, it is a good thing. It's the ideal freedom, that the internet age people have a chance to be. But reaching that stage is a long process. Currently, the stage where I am at, I still have a lot to do, a lot to learn and earn. I wouldn't yet call myself financially independent. That will happen when it happens. Although, I don't think making a lot of money is my goal exactly. Learning the art of how to make money from different sources is what I want. I'd like to show an analogy from a fiction book (A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Mass) that I recently re-read to make this relatable.?

A very far off analogy but well, somewhat similar and more importantly I could?relate to it. Like it is said, becoming skillful is not enough. Knowing the purpose and use of those skills is also crucial. Although, now that I think about it, in the case of finance - If I do become good at managing finances, helping others manage their finances could also be a passive source of income. So, that renders the book analogy not very useful in this context. I think I may have essentially contradicted myself. Oh well. That's it for today.

P.S.?Here's?something you may or may not like.?