LAGERS BLOGGERS

Jeff Pabst, CRC

We were recently in an editorial meeting and I set out a goal for myself to write one blog per month that covers some of the more common financial principals like budgeting, saving, and working towards financial independence.

Now, a couple of months in to my mission of providing some information about how to accomplish financial independence, I am starting to think that many of us haven’t thought about what financial independence really looks like. So, I’m taking a break from the standard topics to share with you what I believe financial independence will look like for me.

1. Financial Independence can happen while I’m still working. This is something I work towards daily. I’m consistently trying to limit my expenses, minimize debt, and accumulate savings. This is a hard financial independence goal to achieve, because when you’re earning income, it’s much easier to spend the money than to save it. And when you’re in the early working years accumulating debt is easy to do with student loans, mortgages and car loans. But, to ensure you’re able to achieve financially independent, you can’t have debts you need to pay. The less debts you have to pay, the more financially independent you become.
2. Financial Independence doesn’t mean I’m wealthy. Rather, it means with my pension and savings that I have enough to live the lifestyle my wife and I want to live for the remainder of our lives. Many equate retirement as the time when we achieve financial independence; and for some that is the time when we finally reach financial independence. But, it doesn’t have to be.
3. Financial Independence means that I can leave my job with dignity and respect, and no longer have a financial need to remain with my employer. Don’t get me wrong, I love the work that I get to do (serving you, our members), but there comes a time when enough is enough, right?

LAGERS works towards providing you with a financially independent retirement. Ultimately, financial independence means having what you need to live the lifestyle you want to live at any point in life. We just happen to help you by providing secure retirement income that you can count on.