How I Got the Financial Freedom I Needed to Take the Next Step
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
By Nikki Finlay
I was one of the fortunate ones. I met my husband when I was twenty and we’ve been together ever since, but while having a stable marriage is more likely to lead to financial stability, it’s not a guarantee. We also had advanced degrees that helped us weather challenging times.
But if you’re single, you can still build the kind of financial independence that leads to confidence, influence, and wealth.
And it’s never too late to start.
When my husband and I were in our 40s, we were broke. We could pay our bills, but we had an alarming amount of debt, including mortgages on two properties. What changed was getting two good jobs. I went the academic route, teaching at a medium-sized public university. My husband was a software engineer who always worked in start-ups. After four less than successful companies, he found one that was a long-term success. Even with the failures, he was able to make a steady income that kept us afloat.
He always said that his job was to keep us afloat, while I was the long-term plan to get us out of debt via a second income plus a solid retirement plan.
Two things happened as a result: The University System (of Georgia) required that I put five percent into the teacher’s retirement plan, a defined benefit plan, or into a 401(k), a defined contribution plan. I chose the 401(k). The system also matched my contributions at a high rate.
My husband’s company also created a 401(k) plan and as soon as we got out of debt and sold the second property, he started maxing out contributions. As soon as he turned 55, he maxed out his “catch-up” contributions.
We used our education to launch careers that paid well. And we also took advantage of one of the easiest money tools to use to get ourselves in good financial shape (automatic deposits into retirement accounts), so that we could have a comfortable retirement and send our sons to college without incurring debt.
With that financial freedom came the opportunity to publish my forthcoming book with a top-tier hybrid, Amplify Publishing Group. In my sixties, I didn’t want to spend years finding an agent and then getting a contract with a traditional publisher.
In today’s labor market, using your education to get an excellent job is a greater problem. And yet, there are opportunities if you’re flexible and don’t give up.
The greatest problem in today’s labor market is a skills mismatch between what employers want, and what potential employees can do. Employers want strong soft skills like communication, confidence, and emotional intelligence, but are also still interested in hard skills. Knowledge of AI tools is becoming essential.
It wasn’t any easier when we started out in the early 1980s. We survived two major inflationary periods, two major recessions and three minor ones. But the economy always rebounds after turbulent periods. Knowing that it happens and why with a simple financial plan came the confidence we needed to risk a new venture in our sixties.
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