The Story No One Wants to Hear About Financial Independence
There is no version of freedom where nothing changes.
I teach a Financial Literacy class to eighth graders, and I only introduce one formula the entire year. I call it the Financial Freedom Formula, and every year, it blows their minds:
FREEDOM = TIME × (Income – Outgo)
I only bring it up after we’ve talked about lip gloss or video games or whatever currency is running their world that week. Because until a kid understands wanting something, they can’t understand wanting freedom.
When I finally put the formula on the board, the first thing they notice is how much time they have. Their multiplier is massive. Someone in their 50s? Much less. They get that instantly.
What takes longer is the right side of the equation — the part where the world traps most adults:
Most people earn money.
Then they spend money.
Then they earn more.
Then they spend more.
And the cycle just… continues.
I ask them:
“Can you imagine a world where you had enough to buy every lip gloss you wanted? Or all the video games you’d love to play?”
Their eyes light up.
Then someone says: get a job, make money, spend it — repeat.
That’s when I tell them:
That cycle is a trap.
It feels like progress, but it secretly anchors you to whatever you earn. The only way out is to break the cycle by creating a gap — the (Income – Outgo) part. That’s the part you multiply by your time to build freedom.
And every single year, that’s the moment the class gets quiet.
Even at thirteen, they understand the truth:
If there’s no gap, there’s no freedom.
If you want freedom, you have to build the gap.
Now, about that BiggerPockets Money comment…
Recently, on my BiggerPockets Money episode, someone commented that the title was “misleading” because yes — I was a teacher — but I also had side hustles like wedding photography, or real estate.
Here’s the episode:
And here’s what I wish more people understood:
There is no version of financial independence where nothing changes.
Something has to move — your income, your expenses, or both.
People want a perfect, replicable story.
A “pure” path.
A clean template where someone succeeds without doing anything different.
But that path doesn’t exist.
What does exist is a choice between three realities:
1. Lower your expenses.
Do countercultural things like:
– biking everywhere
– credit-card point hacking
– driving a 20-year-old car
– living with roommates
– eating beans and rice
If you do this, people say:
“Well, I can’t do that. My situation won’t allow it.”
2. Increase your income.
Pick up side work or monetize your skills:
– gigs
– photography
– tutoring
– real estate
– freelance anything
If you do this, people say:
“That doesn’t count — you had extra income.”
3. Keep everything the same.
Spend every dollar you make.
Spend more when you get a raise.
Stay inside the cycle.
If you do this, people say:
“I guess this is just what life is.”
But here’s the thing no one wants to admit:
Your story has to slide somewhere.
Either your expenses go down
—or—
your income goes up.
That’s the only way the gap appears.
And if the gap doesn’t appear, financial freedom cannot appear.
Not because you’re bad with money.
Not because you’re not disciplined enough.
But because the math refuses to move.
What people really want — even if they don’t say it outright
People want someone who made $50,000,
spent every penny the entire time,
and somehow still ended up financially independent.
But that person does not exist.
You cannot:
earn $50k
spend $50k
get raises
increase spending to match
then wonder where freedom is
That’s the standard path.
It leads to the standard outcome.
The only way out — the only way anyone gets out — is by creating the gap.
Some do it through frugality.
Some through income.
Some through both.
But zero people do it through nothing.
Here’s the irony
If I had lived an ultra-frugal life and cut my expenses to the bone, people would say:
“That’s unrealistic. I can’t do that.”
If I earned more with side hustles, people say:
“That’s cheating. You didn’t do it on just a teacher salary.”
If neither option counts, what people are really saying is:
“I want financial freedom…
but I don’t want anything in my life to change.”
And that’s just not how freedom works.
The truth that matters most
You don’t need my exact path.
You don’t need wedding photography or real estate.
You don’t need to live on rice and beans.
You need the gap.
Because:
The gap creates freedom.
Freedom creates options.
Options create the life you want.
That’s it.
That’s the whole thing.
And it’s available to anyone who stops waiting for a version of freedom that requires nothing in return.