I love to liken Life to a game; one goal and a team of many players. Each of these players has assigned roles, and a job well done gets the goal achieved. This doesn’t invalidate the fact that life is different for everyone. Financial independence is not any different. In itself, financial independence is the goal, with many factors posing as players. Of course, the players rank in different levels of importance. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to life. Everyone’s journey to financial freedom has a different path, involves distinct inputs and outputs, and leads to a different vision, which is perfectly normal. As a result, the purpose of this post is to explore the one player or component that truly helps people achieve financial independence. It’s important to remember that financial independence can take ten, twenty, thirty, or even forty years to achieve.
Generally, when you ask around for the ingredients for financial independence, people tend to give varied answers. Some of these answers are discussed below.
1. Staying out of debt.
Increasing your net worth can be as simple as paying off your mortgage, eliminating credit card accounts, and repaying loans. Credit cards and other types of high-interest consumer loans are detrimental to wealth accumulation. You don’t want to be making monthly payments or paying interest on previous debts if your objective is to achieve financial independence. To stay on track, you should do everything possible to lower your debt and avoid taking on new debt.
2. Investment.
Investing has always been the best method to build your money. Compound interest will help it grow enormously over time, but it will take a long time. It’s a good thing that spending is restricted arbitrarily. It will assist you in learning to live on a smaller budget. Also, investing and buying bitcoin can make you rich, so better have one.
3. Living below your means.
It’s not difficult to live a modest lifestyle if you have the mentality of enjoying life to the fullest with less. Before becoming wealthy, many successful people developed a habit of living on a shoestring budget. Making minor changes by separating what you need from what you want is a financially beneficial habit to develop.
4. Assessing your balance sheet.
Examine your own income statements. You may already have healthy investments on which to rely in your pursuit of financial independence. This is wealth that creates capital gains, income, and dividends without requiring any effort on the part of the owner. The more of these investments you can make, the sooner you’ll be able to reach complete financial freedom.
5. Look for a partner who will be supportive.
Unless your partner is similarly driven, economical, and investment-oriented, your efforts for a better, financially independent existence will feel like slogging through quicksand, regardless of how successful you are. The psychological, economic, and social costs of marrying the wrong person will nearly always outweigh any professional or financial gains.
6. Increase your monthly income.
You can ask for a raise at work if you think you’re adding enough value. Start a side-hustle, try your hands at freelancing on Fiverr or Upwork. Everyone should have more than one income stream, but that is more important for those trying to become financially independent.
Dread, notably fear of failure, is one factor that many people seem to miss. The more you fear something horrible happening to you, the more steps you take to prevent it from happening. If we let fear control us, it may be incredibly devastating. Fear, on the other hand, can be a great incentive to make changes in your life. The trick is to take in just the correct amount of dread to start us moving instead of keeping us stuck. Allowing yourself to be paralyzed by fear is not a good thing. Rather, utilize fear as a drive to attain more accomplishment. Fear is frequently more powerful than the realities in our heads! Thus, maximize your fear in a positive way.
Finally, financial freedom means that you can do whatever you want with your life without worrying about the cost. As a result, if you want to live like the majority of people, you must be willing to do things that the majority of people cannot.
