We tend to over-rely on net worth and financial numbers to define financial independence. And honestly, that makes sense. Money is concrete. It’s measurable. It feels safe. If you ask ten people what financial independence means, most will give you one of two answers.
The first is the classic FIRE definition: financial independence is when you have enough investable assets that your money can support you for the rest of your life without you having to work again. That’s your “number.” Twenty-five times your annual spending. A portfolio big enough to spin off cash forever.
The second definition is more income-based: you’re financially independent when you’ve built enough passive income or side hustles that your monthly cash flow covers your monthly needs. Rent paid. Food covered. Bills handled. Work optional.
Both of these definitions are intensely financial. Either a big net worth number or a big passive income number.
But here’s the problem.
I know plenty of people who already have enough money to never work again, and they still wake up every day and go to jobs they don’t like. I know people with more than enough passive income to cover their lives who still spend most of their time anxious, rushed, and obsessed with accumulating more.
So clearly, something’s missing.
If money alone were the answer, these people would already feel free. They don’t. Which tells me that financial independence isn’t actually defined by a number. Not really.
So what is it defined by?
I’m not sure there’s a single perfect definition, but over the years—especially through my work as a hospice physician—I’ve noticed a few consistent characteristics in people who are truly financially independent, regardless of what their net worth is.
And none of them show up on a spreadsheet.
1. They spend their time doing things they hope to do until the day they die.
The first signal of real financial independence has nothing to do with money. It has to do with how you spend your time.
Financially independent people spend their days doing things they want to do. Not things they tolerate. Not things they endure. Not things they secretly wish would end.
Things they’d happily keep doing until they can’t do them anymore.
They might make money from these things. They might not. That’s not the point. The point is that they’re excited about what they’re doing.
I have a friend who’s an obsessive podcaster. He once joked that he imagines himself dying behind the microphone in his eighties while recording a live episode. He said it half-serious, half-laughing…but I knew exactly what he meant. He can’t imagine a future where he doesn’t want to do that.
To me, that’s financial independence.
For me, that’s writing. Podcasting. Hospice work. I don’t think about “retiring” from those things. I think about doing them as long as I possibly can. Not because I have to, but because I want to.
If your days are filled with things you can’t wait to escape from, it doesn’t matter how big your portfolio is. You’re not independent. You’re just well-funded.
2. They’re not in a rush.
The second signal is subtle, but once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
Truly financially independent people are not rushing through their lives.
They’re not rushing through their mornings. They’re not counting down the minutes until Friday. They’re not living for vacations as an escape hatch from their real life.
They move slowly.
They take their time.
They wake up when they wake up. They go to bed when they’re tired. They might take two hours to do something someone else crams into one. They linger. They wander. They think.
They live like they have all the time in the world.
And in a way, they do.
When you’re financially trapped—by debt, by fear, by obligation—you feel like your life is on a conveyor belt you can’t step off. You rush because you’re always late to a life you haven’t started yet.
Financial independence is what happens when that urgency dissolves.
You stop sprinting toward weekends. You stop counting down to “someday.” You stop treating your real life like a waiting room.
3. They say no. And they cancel.
The third signal might be the most uncomfortable.
Financially independent people cancel plans. They say no. They change their minds.
They use their agency.
They don’t do things just because they said yes once. They don’t show up out of guilt. They don’t live on someone else’s clock.
They decide how they want to spend their time—and then they actually follow through on that decision.
I know a lot of people with huge net worths who still spend their days doing things they don’t want to do. Meetings they hate. Commitments they resent. Social obligations they feel trapped by.
They have the money. They don’t have the freedom.
Real financial independence is the ability to look at your life and say, “This doesn’t serve me anymore,” and walk away.
Not someday. Now.
So what does money actually do?
Here’s the caveat: you do need enough money to make this possible.
If you’re so broke that you’re working three jobs just to survive, you can’t slow down. You can’t say no. You can’t structure your days around what lights you up.
There’s a floor.
You need enough income or savings to create breathing room.
But you don’t necessarily need 25x your annual spending. You don’t need a seven-figure portfolio. You don’t need every variable optimized before you start living differently.
You just need enough to stop panicking.
Enough to choose your time.
Enough to behave like someone who’s already free.
Financial independence is behavioral, not numerical.
We’ve been taught that financial independence is something you reach.
A finish line. A number. A day on the calendar.
But in reality, it’s something you practice.
You practice it by doing work you’d still want to do if you didn’t need the money.
You practice it by slowing down your life instead of sprinting through it.
You practice it by saying no to things that drain you…even when it’s awkward.
Your net worth might enable those behaviors.
But it doesn’t create them.
That part is on you.
So before you ask, “What’s my number?” ask something better:
Does my life look like the life of someone who’s already free?
If the answer is no, your problem isn’t your spreadsheet.
It’s your behavior.
Did you catch the most recent episode of Earn & Invest?
The Purpose Code is Now Available!
Coming soon! I am happy to announce that I have a new book coming out soon about our healthcare system. Stay tuned!
There is a gender element to this version of financial independence. Many women spend their lives saddled with caretaking responsibilities, and almost no amount of money can make them feel liberated or free up their time like you describe. For better or worse, the women who embody the freedom you describe are most often single/divorced - and (usually) childless.
Thanks for writing this Jordan. My biggest concern with the fire community is that it's so focused on hitting a number in the future that you forget how much control many of us have in the here and now to build lives we don't need to escape from.
My observation would be that the most interesting people to be around are those who love what they are doing.
Great post