This article appears as part of Casey Weade's Weekend Reading for Retirees series. Every Friday, Casey highlights four hand-picked articles on trending retirement topics and delivers them straight to your email inbox. Get on the list here.

For previous podcast guest, Christine Benz, some of those include:

📌 Being able to put money in its place: When you have the freedom to make decisions without factoring in money, you’re financially independent.

📌 Not having a budget: Early in your accumulation phase, budgeting takes priority. However, as your income grows and you eventually step into a financially-confident retirement, you may find living with less restrictions (or releasing some of your frugality) is a major luxury.

📌 Holding cash: One of the biggest intangible benefits (or luxuries) of financial security is having cash on hand when emergencies or other unexpected, costly events arise.

📌 Keeping it simple: Diversification is important, but creating an investment strategy that is too complex may do more harm than good. Instead, streamlining your portfolio to include investment vehicles that align with your unique financial situation can help maintain simplicity and income longevity.

📌 Being able to help: One of the biggest luxuries that come with financial independence could be having the ability to financially help other people, charities or organizations you feel passionate about.

You can easily get stuck in the scarcity mindset on the way to retirement and overlook the real reason you created your wealth to begin with. Making the transition into retirement should begin with a focus on the true luxuries of financial independence (and that isn’t a fancy, new watch).