Desire Defines Financial Freedom

By Ziping

Financial freedom is merely one step away from us,for its measuring standard is closely related to the times we are living in and the attitudes we have.

What is financial freedom?When we search online,the answer to this question is right there: the status of not having to work hard and make money for daily expenses.In a deeper sense,it means that the passive income generated by a person’s assets is more than or at least equal to his daily expenses.If you’re in such a status,you can consider yourself enjoying financial freedom.

Yet the measurement of the daily expenses has expanded from “million” to “billion” as time changes.

Around 2000,Feng Tang,one of the wealthiest writers according to the China Writers Rich List,mentioned in one of his articles “How Much Is Enough,”that the standard of financial freedom was “having a BMW X5,a mobile phone that can take photos,and a digital camera with 11 megapixels.” If calculated in cash,it would mean “having a property and 10 million yuan on hand,everything would be fine.” Back then,the price of an apartment in Beijing was 3,000 yuan per square meter,and 10 million yuan in cash was enough to buy a whole building.

But now,10 million yuan is not enough to buy you a decent apartment in a good location within a fine school district in Beijing.

In 2017,when the Hurun Report was launched with updated standards of financial freedom in first-tier cities such as Beijing,Shanghai,Guangzhou,and Shenzhen,the asset threshold had reached 290 million yuan.Even in second-tier cities such as Hangzhou,Nanjing,and Chengdu,one needs to have 170 million yuan to be considered to enjoy financial freedom.

Feng Tang commented that the financial freedom back then in his above-mentioned article may only be equal to the freedom to choose old clothes and simple fillings in your Jianbing (a popular Chinese pancake) in today’s Beijing.

Financial freedom is of course related to the money one makes,but it is more associated with one’s way and attitude of spending.

The yearly interest income on a bank deposit of a million yuan is more than 30,000 yuan,which is enough to cover the daily expenses in small cities and enable you to enjoy meat dishes,stewed cabbage and a carp soup for dinner.

However,for similar meat dishes,stewed cabbage and carp soup,some people might need more than 1 million yuan.During the reign of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty,the standard of financial freedom was about one thousand silver taels per year.General Nian Gengyao liked stir-fried meat so much so that he would enjoy it every day.It may sound common for the most powerful general to have a meal of stir-fried meat.However,the stir-fried meat General Nian favored was by no means common.Rumor has it that,to cook this dish,servants had to chase the pig around the yard,so that all its blood runs to the loins.Then the pig would be killed as quickly as possible.The loin part would be cut off for the general,while the rest went to the servants.The cabbage General Nian ate was nothing common,either.When he was fighting in Northwest China,he had cabbage transported to him all the way from the far south.Thousands of miles had to be covered and tens of thousands of silver taels spent on transportation,just for a meal of cabbage.

Such extravagant expenditure may be beyond the reach of today’s so-called “financially free” people,even though the latter are also fond of natural and organic foods.Take carp soup for example,Yuan Shikai1was fond of eating millet porridge and carp soup,but his millet was the finest kind produced in Shaanxi and then selected grain by grain by hand,while his carp was caught alive from the Yellow River.Behind the dishes were numerous silver taels.

These examples are not for the sake of debating or showing off,it’s just that there is no ceiling for spending.You might think 10 million yuan is sufficient for an entire life,yet some people would find it not enough to cover a single world tour; you might feel a BMW is good enough,but there are people with private planes and yachts,and now some have turned their eyes to private spaceships.

Thus,no matter how much you make,3000 or 8000 per month,300 or 500 thousand per year,you may know there might be no such thing as financial freedom.If I make 3000 yuan a month,I want a new iPhone.If I make 300,000,I want a villa.I would always be a poor man with little sense of security,let alone financial freedom.

In contrast with poverty and the anxiety of living in debt,financial freedom and the sense of security it brings are so alluring that it might appear in one’s daydreams.But it is not easy to make this dream come true.In 2010,Lei Jun2posted on Weibo that he was financially free after Kingsoft was listed,but then he founded Xiaomi Corporation and worked hard for years.Now his wealth is close to that of Li Yanhong.3But isn’t there only one Lei Jun in this world? Feng Tang was correct in the following statement: “Financial freedom in a sense is actually irrelevant to finance,it has more to do with one’s mentality and wisdom.”

Freedom originates from the balance between resources and desires.When one has no control of his desire,no money can set him free.We can learn from our parents,who have experienced the extreme shortage of materials.Huang Tingjian,4a famous poet in Song Dynasty,described a better life in his poem,“A cup of good wine can make you forget your worries,a homely woman is good enough to spend the rest of your life with,travel doesn’t require a chariot with 4 horses,and nice clothes don’t have to be made of fox fur.”