Financial freedom begins before wealth when unnecessary dependence begins shrinking.

Independence starts long before any particular amount is reached. It begins wherever you stop needing something, a subscription, an income level, an approval, a habit that costs money to maintain, because every dependence removed increases the number of situations you can walk away from. That capacity is the actual freedom.

Name one thing you currently depend on that you could do without. Try living without it for a month. What you learn is usually about flexibility rather than about the thing.