Is it too late to start on your path to Financial Independence in your early 40s?

The truth is, I’m 41, and only a few months ago I started to think seriously about Financial Independence.

I’m lucky enough not have any debt besides my mortgage, which is fairly large as we live in London and bought our flat only 3 years ago. I didn’t have a student loan for my undergraduate degree because that’s how it is in continental Europe, and I borrowed some money from a kind aunt for my master, which I repaid in full interest-free a couple of years later. When we bought a car last year we paid for it cash (then again it is my first car ever). And my credit cards are all on direct debit, so the balance gets taken out of my account automatically. No silly temptations.

I have some savings, make regular mortgage overpayments and I regularly invest in my pension.

And yet, despite living a financially stable life, in 40 years it has never occurred to me that I could live differently and be able to stop working before the government-mandated retirement age, if I chose to do so.

Part of me thinks I left it so late because of my financial education and my money personality aka how I was educated as a woman given “I will never have provide for a family”. Maybe because I had my daughter later in life and didn’t feel the need to be home more during the day. But I get consolation from a few facts:

• • Even financially independent people like JD Roth of Get Rich Slowly and Money Boss fame started his path to FI later in life.

• • In her book Overcoming Underearning, Barbara Stanny writes about so many other people (mainly women with a similar money personality as mine) who at various stages of their lives took their financial reins in their own hands and made change happen.

• We all make mistakes, and we learn from them.

The question is, is it too late to start thinking about financial independence in your early 40s?

The examples I just gave show that it is never too late. It is annoying, but not too late.

After reading and listening to podcasts on Financial Independence for months if not years, I can sum up financial advice in 2 parts.

Financial advice – part 1

This is about the basics.:

• Spend less

• Earn more

• Invest your savings

As valid as this advice is, it is at the same time too simplistic.

Financial advice – part 2

A lot of people know they should spend less just as some people know they should eat less and get healthier. But they don’t act on their knowledge. So what is missing?

1. 1. The reality of being financially stuck in the system hasn’t hit you in the stomach yet. When it does, you will start taking your financial situation more seriously. Personally I find that the best kicker-in-the-stomach is Mr Money Moustache and his calculations.

1. 1. You haven’t started making these changes into habits. Habits allow you do to do things effortlessly, almost without thinking, as if they were second nature. You want your new, good financial attitude to become a habit.

1. You need to become part of a community. If your friends and family around you keep spending without a worry in the world, you will end up doing the same. Join a community of like-minded people – online or offline – to help stay on the path you have chosen. 

I will attempt to address all of these points in future posts.

Image courtesy of Etsy.