Growing up, my Mom made sure to teach the lessons of delayed gratification. No dessert until you finish dinner. Who doesn’t remember hearing that growing up? Lucky for me, my dog Bochie was more than happy to act as my willing accomplice so I could get to the ice cream sooner rather than later.

As adults managing our personal finances, the lessons of delayed gratification are more important than ever. Spending money is all about choices. Many of us have a hard time resisting the instant pleasure a purchase can bring us. It’s the impulsive side of us that wants everything now. Who wants to delay consumption when you can buy it now and pay for it later?

Being in the habit of delaying gratification and making smarter long-term choices is vital if financial independence is your desire. With the effects of the Great Recession still lingering on, it’s become popular to blame financial challenges on the global economic problems of the past few years or the Government or Wall Street.

But the truth is that people who make the smart long-term financial choices to get their financial house in order and keep it that way insulate themselves from political and economic events outside of their control and achieve their goals regardless of what happens in the market, the economy or the world. There may not be a guarantee, but the odds are vastly increased.

Over the past nine months, I have developed personal financial plans for dozens of clients that have been long time followers and practitioners of the seminal book on money, Your Money or Your Life. Every one of these clients not only had the practice of delayed gratification down to an art form, but better yet, the recession barely put a dent in their dream of achieving financial independence.

These clients are my financial heroes. They have become financially intelligent as well as financially empowered. They control their financial destiny and with that internal power, they know financial independence is theirs for the asking.