The Path to Financial Security: When Does One Feel Content in Their Finances?

The journey to achieving financial security is a deeply personal and subjective experience. For many, it becomes a driving force throughout their adult lives, shaping decisions from starting a career to having children.

Intentionality as Key to Success

According to experts and various studies, the age at which one feels financially secure can vary widely. In the West, an achievable milestone often comes around 17-25 years after starting a intentional plan to become financially secure. However, pure luck can also play a role, but intentionality remains crucial for sustained success.

This sentiment resonates strongly with me. Throughout my career, I have experienced financial ups and downs. I briefly achieved financial security in my mid-twenties and again in my early thirties, yet life has its twists and turns.

Career and Family Pressures

Whether or not to have children places additional pressures on individuals, particularly women, to be in the right phase of their careers by certain ages. Generally, women are expected to be ready by around 28, while men face their own set of challenges, including health and safety risks that lead to job insecurity.

Currently, I am in between job assignments, a period that can be challenging. In my thirties, I promised myself that if I had enough money by age 40, I would pursue a career in politics. Alternatively, if I was broke by 40, I would opt for a vasectomy. However, when I turned 40, I was doing reasonably well and my partner, at the time, forbade me from getting the vasectomy.

Varying Goals and Personal Standards

Most people in their forties, fifties, and sixties have specific goals they hope to achieve. These goals can include paying off student loans, mortgage, or car loans, or helping family members through college. The key is to define one's own 'made it' standard.

For me, the goal is to be genuinely out of debt before turning 50 in just over 5 years and 3 months. While financial security is important, it's also about living a life that aligns with personal values and choices. Many people continue to work and contribute, living a life that doesn't require massive savings, as long as they can sustain their chosen lifestyle.

Living Simply for Long-Term Well-being

I don't think one needs to achieve a specific level of financial security to be truly content. If a person continues to contribute to their work and can live within their means, they may not need a large savings. Consumerism and constant spending are not necessities but rather choices that many adopt out of habit or societal pressure.

At 71, I recall a time in my life when my net worth was virtually zero. After my divorce, I chose to give my ex-wife the four-bedroom home to protect my children. I then left my job and rented a place. Today, I have a seven-digit net worth but live a simple lifestyle, which means my income and worth have minimal impact on my happiness and well-being.

I’m comfortable being “broke” and confident I could continue to work indefinitely, whether at Apple or another company, if I were to be laid off. I’ve never embraced the heavy promotion of a constant, high-consumption lifestyle, which many professionals sell today.

Taking each day as it comes and keeping a simple lifestyle is key to maintaining health and happiness. I wouldn’t want to retire even if I could, as the idea of a leisurely, unproductive lifestyle is not appealing to me.