A couple of years ago Gary Ablett Jr., arguably the best Australian footballer going around, left Geelong to play for a new team, the Gold Coast Suns. He went from being one of the best paid footballers around, to the only footballer earning over a million a season. I don’t know Gary Ablett Jr., or why he left, but let’s assume it was for the money. He left a successful club where he had won two premierships to join a new franchise that was unlikely to see any success for a number of years. Indeed the next year he was the best player in the team that finished on the bottom of the ladder, while his mates at Geelong went onto win their third grand final.

I think as a society we have lost touch with the idea of enough.

So talking about money, how much is enough? Is it possible to have enough? Or is more always better.

I think it is possible to have enough money, and that amount is whatever it takes to be financially independent. Having enough investments that you can live off, such that you never have to work again if you don’t want to. And it’s possible to put a number on that (obviously it depends on how much money you want to live off, and how you invest it). When we teach Thought Leaders how to build a successful practice, the aim is to do so for ten years to become financially independent.

If Gary Ablett Jr. had worked out his financial independence number, he would have realised that he would achieve it easily at either club. And perhaps the extra money would not have been such a powerful incentive.

I think financial independence is an extremely powerful context to have when you think about your money, and your personal finance, and a great game to be playing.

Love to hear your thoughts – are you playing the game of becoming financially independent? You can leave them below.