Achieving Financial Freedom

 

Financial freedom is a word that has taken primacy in the 21st century. It is a term that describes a lifestyle that is organically planned where no one is required to work for income to cover their expenses. Financial freedom perpetuates that one can be free of the responsibilities of money as long as he has set a life-defining plan to handle his finances.

Financial freedom does not mean that one is free of debt. However, it contends that debt can be defined as an expense. While debt is a constant financial consideration, a person who has acquired financial freedom is allowed to mark the debt as a part of his expenses rather than a weight to his financial goals.

Financial freedom is a misconception of being rich. While we know that rich people have a number of million dollars in the account, their overhead long-run costs could mean that they are not as financially independent as they seem. Therefore financial freedom is a concept attuned to your lifestyle and the amount of money you have to cover it. In this perspective, financial freedom is not as hard to achieve as first imagined.

Financial Freedom is Time Freedom

For other people, financial freedom is equivalent to having an expanded leisure time. The concept of time is money comes into play. In reality, a financially independent person will see that money is time. Once you are able to develop a sense of time freedom, then that means you are in a positive direction to acquire financial freedom

Financial freedom makes one's finances less of a concern. Defined differently, financial freedom allows someone to take time on activities without trading your free time for income. Financial freedom hinges on tradable assets that compound overtime to cover for regular expenses. Thus, wealth is created which generates more time and money. It allows people to cut their working hours with no loss of income because of money-making activities.

Achieving Financial Freedom

Achieving financial freedom requires a different mindset. In our classic college education, we are taught to work for money. Therefore, we put in the time to work and then we get our wage. This is the famous time for a money swap. However, financial freedom removes the concept of time-and-money-swap and allows an individual to make money work for them.

Achieving financial freedom involves a different shift in lifestyle and overall mindset. While it is easy to think about having more time to invest and create a business, most office workers still find that whatever amount of time that they have should be placed in a routine. A critical step in achieving financial freedom is realizing that there are ways to make better use of one's time.

To achieve financial freedom, fundamental attitudes about the concept of money need to be changed. Realizing that money is only a means to achieve an end is one thing. Knowing that no one should be judged depending on the amount of money they own is. Judging financial freedom as the amount of money held defeats the purpose because, in the end, you will not have financial freedom if you are not satisfied with the money that you have. Remember that financial freedom is also a personal perception. This perception is highly related to the level of satisfaction that money brings.

On another side of the coin, we should also remove the negative perception of money. While the saying that money is the root of all evil seems relevant, thinking that this is always the case will provide a repellent view about creating wealth. Always put into the heart that financial freedom is a healthy endeavor as long as one feels it is ethically sound to make money. In the end, having the right attitude about money will go a long way in dealing with different perceptions of financial freedom. Financial freedom is ultimately a state of mind.

Seven Secrets Of Millionaires

 

Secret One: Decide you want to be prosperous and decide that you will do whatever it takes to achieve this goal. In deciding this you are deciding to take action that will change your life. Understand that prosperity does dot just mean being rich or wealthy. It encompasses all things like happiness, health, wealth, life goals, and more.

Secret Two: There is no easy way to prosperity and if you are looking for an easy way, then stop reading now because there is no easy way. A recent survey of one thousand millionaires, asking them for one secret to success; ninety-five percent said, that a key to success was to work long hours for five, ten, or more years.

Secret Three: Believe you can achieve any goal you set. Dream it, tell your wife, tell your friends, and when you go to bed at night and dream about what you will do when you become prosperous. Not a single millionaire has succeeded without dreaming of it first.

Secret Four: Plan to succeed beyond your wildest dreams and then some. If you wanted to have one million dollars plan on ten or a hundred million, because if you dream of one hundred million and only manage to make only ten percent or even one percent of your plan

Secret Five: Be unfailingly honest especially to yourself, but also be honest and fair in all your dealings with others. This does not mean you should not take advantage of situations or of other weaknesses; it means you should maintain a moral high ground and not cheat or lie your way through life. Continually take stock of yourself and you're dealing with others in business and in your personal life.

Secret Six: Understand that failure is the key to success. Prosperity is relatively rare because, most, people fear failure. We, often, do not understand that failure is common, and rarely do we succeed on the first try. If you fail, try again and again until you succeed. Do not, ever, give up.

Secret Seven: When deciding what direction you wish to take, do not try to be the first or the best. While first and, or, best happens and can lead to success, the vast majority of success comes from imitating other's success. You may think it's not sensible to be the sixth pizza shop in a street but consider this. Why are there five pizza shops in this street? It is possible that this is the perfect location for a pizza shop. Can this street handle one more? Consider this; in time, given your shop matches your successful competitors, you will have a seventeen percent piece of this pie or even more, if you follow all of my secrets of millionaires.

Aligning For Wealth

Someone asked me recently if I could articulate some easy and basic “steps” that a person could do every day that would help them be in alignment with wealth, meaning be “inline” to attract wellbeing, goodness, and prosperity. So, that prosperity would flow easier in life. That where they stood emotionally was a reflection of what they wanted to create in life, versus standing in fear and scarcity.

My answer to that question was yes! Yes, you certainly create some basic “steps” to do each and every day that would align you with wealth, joy, and goodness. Now, before I go there, I want you to realize that these steps, or perhaps a better word would be “keys”, to alignment are not set in stone. But, they are indeed good building blocks for beginning the journey, your journey, that sets your “keys to alignment” apart from everyone else’s.

1. I would begin with a heaping dose of self-care. What I mean by this – choose at least 10 things to do for yourself each day that isn’t a should or a have-to. This is one of the most essential things. It builds your sense of self-worth and you will begin to love yourself in a new way, and this in turn, lines you up with love, wellbeing, and prosperity.

2. Meditate. Every day for at least 5-15 minutes, begin to intentionally quiet your mind. Increase this time as you are able. Close your eyes, breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth 3 times. Then gently focus on your heart and your connection with God. Let fleeting thoughts pass by, without resistance. Stay focused on your love for God, your appreciation, and your joy. This is a Tibetan form of meditation that I have found to be excellent.

Why is meditation important? Connection to All That Is and All That Is a far cry from scarcity isn’t it?! It is good to experience truth and love on a daily basis and move away from the many illusions of life. Meditation also quiets your mind so that you can raise your vibration to it’s the most natural and abundant state. In this state, you are a powerful attractor of wealth and wellbeing. Treat your self to this each day.

3. Be in charge of your thoughts and feelings. Choose thoughts and feelings that make you feel better, and help you to ease any resistance to wellbeing in your life. If you can jump into joy this is great! But, if joy is too big of a stretch, then take your time and ease your way there. Make the topic of “feeling good” or “feeling better” at the top of your life’s list.

Here is an example. I have this little health issue. I could, if I chose, stand here: “This health issue is the worst, I can’t handle it, I have no control over this, my doctors don’t care, feel angry ..etc etc. ”

OR, I could stand here, and ease my resistance to it: “Well, I am here. It is better than where I was last week, and I can really feel myself improving a bit. I love my new naturopath and I believe in her. I know I will heal, and I know it will be soon, I can feel it coming. I trust I will have learned something from this, and that my body will be healthier because of it in the end. This thing won’t get me. It’s MY life.”

Help yourself move UP the wellbeing scale, versus spiraling down and around, creating more of the same situation you are in. You will be amazed how your connection to wealth and wellbeing seems to just happen…as if it was there all along. Imagine that! Here it comes.

These 12 Habits Will Help You Reach Financial Freedom

Achieving financial freedom is a goal for many people. It generally means having enough savings, investments, and cash on hand to afford the lifestyle we want for ourselves and our families—and a growing nest egg that will allow us to retire or pursue the career we want without being driven by earning a certain amount each year.

Unfortunately, too many of us fail to achieve it. We are burdened with increasing debt, financial emergencies, profligate spending, and other issues that thwart us from reaching our goals. And we encounter unexpected events, such as the pandemic, that overturn our plans and reveal holes in the safety nets we tried to weave for ourselves and our families.

Trouble happens to nearly everyone, but these 12 habits can put you on the right path.


KEY TAKEAWAYS

Set life goals, both big and small, financial and lifestyle, and create a blueprint for achieving those goals.
Make a budget to cover all your financial needs and stick to it.
Pay off credit cards in full, so you carry as little debt as possible, and keep an eye on your credit.
Create automatic savings via your employer’s retirement plan and by setting up an emergency fund.
Take care of your belongings, as maintenance is cheaper than replacement, but, more important, take care of yourself and stay healthy.

1. Set Life Goals
What is financial freedom to you? A general desire for it is too vague a goal, so get specific. Write down how much you should have in your bank account, what the lifestyle entails, and at what age this should be achieved. The more specific your goals, the higher the likelihood of achieving them.

Next, count backward to your current age and establish financial mileposts at regular intervals. Write it all down neatly and put the goal sheet at the very beginning of your financial binder.

2. Make a Budget
Making a monthly household budget—and sticking to it—is the best way to guarantee that all bills are paid and savings are on track. It’s also a regular routine that reinforces your goals and bolsters resolve against the temptation to splurge.

3. Pay Off Credit Cards in Full
Credit cards and similar high-interest consumer loans are toxic to wealth-building. Make it a point to pay off the full balance each month. Student loans, mortgages, and similar loans typically have much lower interest rates; paying them off is not an emergency. Paying on time is and will build a good credit rating.

4. Create Automatic Savings
Pay yourself first. Enroll in your employer’s retirement plan and make full use of any matching contribution benefit. It’s also wise to have an automatic withdrawal for an emergency fund, which can be tapped for unexpected expenses, and an automatic contribution to a brokerage account or something similar.

Ideally, the money should be pulled the same day you receive your paycheck, so it never even touches your hands, avoiding temptation entirely. However, keep in mind that the recommended amount to save is highly debated. In some cases the feasibility of such a fund can be a question.

5. Start Investing Now
Bad stock markets can make people question this, but historically there has been no better way to grow your money than through investing. The magic of compound interest will help it increase exponentially over time, but you need a lot of time to achieve meaningful growth. Don’t try to be a stock picker or trick yourself into thinking you can be the next Warren Buffett. There can only be one.

Instead, open an online brokerage account that makes it easy for you to learn how to invest, create a manageable portfolio, and make weekly or monthly contributions to it automatically. 

Achieving financial freedom can be very difficult in the face of growing debt, cash emergencies, medical issues, and overspending, but it is possible with discipline and careful planning.

6. Watch Your Credit
Your credit score determines what interest rate you are offered when buying a new car or refinancing a home. It also impacts seemingly unrelated things, such as car insurance and life insurance premiums.

The reasoning is that someone with reckless financial habits is also likely to be reckless in other aspects of life, such as driving and drinking. This is why it’s important to get a credit report at regular intervals to make sure that there are no erroneous black marks ruining your good name.

7. Negotiate
Many people are hesitant to negotiate for goods and services, worrying that it makes them seem cheap. Overcome this cultural handicap and you could save thousands each year. Small businesses, in particular, tend to be open to negotiation, where buying in bulk or repeat business can open the door to good discounts.

8. Continuous Education
Review all applicable changes in the tax laws each year to ensure that all adjustments and deductions are maximized. Keep up with financial news and developments in the stock market and do not hesitate to adjust your investment portfolio accordingly. Knowledge is also the best defense against those who prey on unsophisticated investors to turn a quick buck.

9. Proper Maintenance
Taking good care of property makes everything from cars and lawnmowers to shoes and clothes last longer. As the cost of maintenance is a fraction of the cost of replacement, it’s an investment not to be missed.

Learn to know the difference between the things you want and the things you need.

10. Live Below Your Means
Mastering a frugal lifestyle by having a mindset of living life to the fullest with less is not so hard. Indeed, many wealthy individuals developed a habit of living below their means before rising to affluence.

This isn’t a challenge to adopt a minimalist lifestyle or a call to action to head to the dumpster with things you’ve hoarded over the years. Making small adjustments by distinguishing between the things you need and the things you want is a financially helpful habit to put into practice.

11. Get a Financial Advisor
Once you’ve gotten to a point where you’ve amassed a decent amount of wealth—be it liquid investments or tangible assets that aren’t as readily available to convert to cash—get a financial advisor to educate you and help make decisions.

12. Take Care of Your Health
The principle of proper maintenance also applies to the body. Invest in good health with regular visits to doctors and dentists, and follow health advice about any problems you encounter. Many problems can be helped—or even prevented—with lifestyle changes such as more exercise and a healthier diet. Some companies have limited sick days, making it a notable loss of income once those days are used up. Obesity and ailments make insurance premiums skyrocket, and poor health may force earlier retirement with lower monthly income.

The Bottom Line

These 12 steps won’t solve all of your money problems, but they will help you develop healthy habits that can get you on the path to financial freedom—whatever that means for you.

From my friend Matt Danielsson