Financial freedom is a number. But it is also more than a number.
Yes, you can calculate your magic financial freedom number. You can work out how much you need to save and invest, and you can estimate the income you’ll need in retirement. All of that matters. But I have many wealthy clients who have already surpassed their financial freedom number and still don’t feel secure. That is where things get interesting.
Because reaching your financial goals and feeling free are not always the same thing. I think most of us assume that once we hit a certain number, we will finally relax, feel safe, stop worrying, and enjoy life fully. And yet, that does not always happen.
Why not? Because money solves some problems, but it does not automatically solve the emotional need for safety and security. And, as anyone with money knows, having money can create other problems. I always found that hard to believe until one client said he casually mentioned at a family gathering that they were ready to retire early now, having hit the million-dollar mark. This created feelings of jealousy among those who hadn’t been so careful with their investments, and it led to a few asking for handouts.
Why Some People Still Don’t Feel Secure
Security and safety are very common emotional needs. I see this all the time. Some clients have plenty of assets, yet still feel anxious. Others have far less, but feel calm because they trust their plan and know how to meet their emotional needs in other ways.
That is why financial freedom is not only about the numbers. It is also about what the numbers mean to you. Do they make you feel trapped, or do they make you feel responsible? Do they make you feel free, and do they help you sleep at night?
These are not silly questions. They are the real questions.
Why Guaranteed Income Feels Easier to Spend
One thing I’ve learned about retirement is that people tend to spend guaranteed income much more freely than they spend from investments. Social Security feels spendable. A pension feels spendable. An annuity check feels spendable. But drawing from accumulated assets often feels quite different, especially if you’ve spent many years building up a pile of investments; it isn’t easy to flip the switch into spending that asset pile down.
Guaranteed income feels renewable. Savings feel finite. That is why many people hesitate to spend from a portfolio, even when the numbers say they can afford to. The money may be there, but the feeling of security may not be there. And if the feeling is not there, people hold back.
That is one reason the Social Security decision matters so much. Waiting longer may give you a bigger monthly benefit and a larger floor of guaranteed income. For some people, that extra level of retirement security can make an enormous emotional difference, not just a mathematical one.
So What Does It Really Take to Feel Free?
That depends. For some clients, the work is mostly emotional. They need to work on the feeling of safety and security. They need to understand their own wiring. And they need to stop assuming that one more dollar, one more account, or one more milestone will finally make them feel safe. Sometimes the real work is internal.
For other clients, the issue is more practical. We focus on the actual numbers. We work on increasing the savings rate, we cut unnecessary spending, we add more reserves, and we create more than one stream of income. Overall, we look at how to strengthen the plan so the person genuinely is safer.
And sometimes it helps to run a few “what if” scenarios with a free tool like Boldin’s retirement calculator (I’m not an affiliate, but I use this calculator). That can help you see how small changes in savings rate, retirement age, and spending can create much more freedom later. Usually it is some of both. That is what makes this topic so important.
Choose Coast FIRE Instead
One woman in my FIRE course realized that what she really wanted was not just a bigger pile of money someday. She wanted a better life now. At first, she was focused on racing toward full FIRE as quickly as possible. Save hard. Deprive herself now. Get to the number. Then relax.
But that approach was making her life feel narrow and joyless. I’m a big fan of enjoying all of your life, not waiting for some retirement date in the future.
So instead, she started increasing her savings rate steadily. She automated it. She used raises to save more. And she trimmed spending that didn’t matter much to her, stopped leasing a new car, and instead bought a quality used car, and kept the spending that truly added enjoyment.
Over time, she built enough invested assets that compounding could do far more of the work. That put her on the Coast FIRE path. Now she can work in a way that feels lighter and enjoy life more fully in the present, knowing that what she has already built is continuing to grow. She is no longer waiting for life to begin later.
I love that example because it captures the real point of financial freedom. The point is not only to have more money; the point is to have more freedom, more enjoyment, and more peace of mind.
There Are Many Ways to Feel Secure
Some people need a larger cash cushion than others. Some feel better with more guaranteed income, and some feel safer with multiple streams of income. And some want insurance in place so that a health crisis or emergency does not derail everything.
That is why I don’t think there is one perfect formula. There is a definite financial freedom number, yes. But there is also your personality, your age, your health, your family history, your tolerance for risk, your emotional needs, and your desire for freedom now versus security later. All of that matters.
The Better Question
So perhaps the better question is not just: “What is my financial freedom number?” Perhaps the better question is: “What would help me feel genuinely secure and genuinely free?”
For some people, the answer is delaying Social Security; for others, it is increasing the savings rate. For some, it is building a larger reserve, and for some, it is creating multiple streams of income. And for some, it is doing the emotional work around safety and trust. However, for most people, it is a combination of these.
You do not have to wait until some distant day to begin feeling freer. That, to me, is the real goal. Not just reaching the number, but feeling free.
If you want to understand your own emotional wiring around this, take the Emotional Index Quiz. Sometimes simply naming the need changes everything. And working on getting your emotional needs met is something that can usually be done in a few months, while getting to financial freedom typically takes decades. So why not start working on creating the feeling of freedom now?
And if you want practical help increasing your savings rate, building your path to financial freedom, and enjoying life along the way, have a look at my FIRE course.
