What does it take to be financially independent?

I am a financial geek!

I stay at home on Saturday nights to watch the Suze Orman show.  I watch “Til Debt to us Part”.  AND…I look forward to listening to the Dave Ramsey show every day.  After all this “geekness” there is not much I haven’t heard yet about finances and planning.  I look at this constant need to keep on top of my finances as much like an addict needing to go to regular “12 step meetings”.  It keeps me committed to my financial goals.

I will be the first to admt that I check my checking account each and  every day – just in case something pops up that shouldn’t be there. This will allow me to catch it early enough to be proactive.    I also check my credit card statements on a regular basis – again to ensure that I do not get billed for something that I didn’t order.  Trust me – it has happen.  My son Chris happen to notice an odd charge on his checking account which grew to about 20 charges of $5.95 each.  That very quickly caused him to be overdrawn.  Thank goodness for the bank reimbursed him for these charges since he was observant and went to the bank to discuss these unauthorized charges.

I am always working on increasing my emergency fund, maxxing out my 401K and of course – paying my bills on time.  No need to incur addidtion charges for late payments.   It has been said that we should always contribute the maximum amount to our 401K that our employer matches.  I am very lucky to work for a company that matches my contributions up to 8%.  It would be crazy to not accept that generous gift.  Who would not accept a monetary gift like that?

Another thing that I do – which is a personal choice on my part.  I pray about my finances every day.  I first say my thanks/gratitude for the financial blessings that I have received and then I pray for guidance and for God’s will to be done in my life for my financial independence.  Financial independence can be different things for different people – for me it means – no credit card debt, no car payments, a fully funded emergency fund and a fully funded 401K.  There are several other things too but this is just a basic outline of some of my thoughts on how best to be finacially  absorbed – uh responsible on a day to day basis.

So – what does it take to be financially independent?  I am not sure yet and I may nevre know but I am going to give it my best shot!

How do you handle your finances