Becoming financially free may look differently to different people. For one person, it might look like becoming debt free. For another person, it may look like being able to travel whenever they want, wherever they want. And for another, it may look like being able to tackle emergencies with ease when they arise. Though I cannot define financial freedom for you specifically, here are some of my thoughts regarding how to move forward towards your specific definition of financial freedom.
Financial freedom begins when you take personal responsibility for your actions & choices. If we continue to deny the reality of our behavior or blame external forces for our current circumstances, we will find ourselves unable to move forward. This behavior spirals us downward & causes us to become stuck.
Financial Freedom characterized
Financial freedom starts with being empowered to take care of yourself, your family, and your community through generosity & kindness. When looking at many other cultures (in comparison to American culture), many other cultures in the East operate more communally. Their quality of life seems very different compared to ours. Many people in those locations tend to live longer, more fulfilling lives. They tend to have a deeper sense of purpose. I believe it’s because they are living for more than just themselves. There is an entire ecosystem they belong to.
Maybe financial freedom looks like becoming debt-free to you. Unlocking the door to a debt-free life starts with taking responsibility. Transferal of responsibility, by way of blame or denial, creates more dysfunction. It takes great courage to take accountability for our actions & choices.
We’ve all made mistakes. It’s common to find ourselves perpetually excusing our mistakes to continue in destructive behaviors. The outcome of this can be debt. Small decisions compound over time into large realities. If you are in the beginning stages of a situation like this, you have the advantage of stopping before the momentum picks up. If you find yourself with a financial situation that feels heavy & triggers a lot of shame – it is not too late for you either.
Improved Financial Health
So many Americans find the majority of their thoughts to be circling around money. For most, their entire lives revolve around money. They wake up, go to work to pay the bills, come home, sleep, & wake up to do it all over again. What if there was more? Vibrancy for the sake of life. Can you imagine spending your days fulfilled rather than feeling in lack? What if your vibrancy came from within? What if your well being was detached from your financial status all together?
Creating a new pattern
Creating a new pattern in any sense can feel like going against the grain. It is easy to float downstream than to try to walk up it. Consider your pattern with money right now. When you receive a paycheck, what happens? When a payday is coming up are you counting down the days? Are you biting your nails looking at your account wondering how it will all fit together? If you were truly honest with yourself, do you find yourself stressed about money?
Increased Savings and Investments
Build an emergency fund.
Emergencies & unforeseen circumstances will arise. You can plan on unexpected things happening in life. It’s an incredible feeling to have the ability to take care of an emergency when one happens. Having an emergency fund can allow you more freedom when life happens. Figuring out the magic number for your emergency fund takes careful attention to the basic necessities you pay for every month: water/electricity bill, food, shelter, and transportation to get to work. Once you consider how much the basics cost you each month, decide how many months you’d like to be prepared for in the event that you loose your job or were unable to work. For us, we like having at least 6 months expenses in our emergency fund. For you, that may look like more or less months depending on what makes you most comfortable.
Importance of communal living
Having savings & an emergency fund can be very helpful. May I remind you how important it is to live alongside other people. Learning how to depend on others & allowing them to depend on you takes balance. We may come across situations in our lives where we are unable to tackle it on our own. Staying open-hearted is crucial to be humble enough to accept help when we truly need it. Taking care of one another is one of life’s greatest blessings. Many people find real fulfillment when they belong to a community that they participate in & benefit from.
Freedom to Pursue Goals
Investing in education and skill development
For some people, investing back in their education & skill development with ease requires financial freedom. Maybe your dream is to advance in your career, or maybe making a total career shift. Having the freedom to change your mind is the best feeling! Upgrading your financial status may look like learning a new skill or gaining a new certification.
Realizing long-held dreams and aspirations
An outcome of becoming financially free is being able to pursue one’s hobbies and dreams. For us, after becoming debt-free, we were able to take a week long trip to Maui! We had been wanting to go for a long time. When we paid off our debt, we were able to save up to go enjoy Hawaii. Could we have chosen to go to Maui before we were debt free? Yes, many people do. It was important to us that we saved up for this trip & were truly able to enjoy it. It was empowering to be able to pay in full for something we had been dreaming up!
Enhanced Quality of Life
Ability to make choices based on preference, not financial constraints
When stuck financially, sometimes we have to make strategic decisions to change our reality. Financial freedom greatly reduces the constraints on our lives. The very definition of freedom is “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.” Getting to make decisions based on ones’ preferences is a privilege.
Financial Freedom requires learned patience
Many credit card companies want you to believe that you can choose based on your preferences without having the money in your possession. Their entire mission is based around making you believe you can have what you want, when you want it. Working towards financial freedom is becoming clear about what it is that you want, and making choices to get you there. Think about how much more ease you would experience if you were able to fully acquire what you wanted without needing to go into debt to have it. How would you live differently if you believed that you would have what was truly yours to have? How would your life be different it you chose to wait for what you wanted rather than forcing it into your possession?
Empowerment
Building resilience against economic uncertainty
Our world is constantly changing & throwing things at us at a rapid rate. Moving towards financial freedom embodies living with groundedness – despite what circumstances may be happening around you. During the pandemic, many people were not prepared for the massive lifestyle changes they were forced into. The 2020 pandemic showed many people just how unprepared they were for a life altering reality that was beyond their control. Though we cannot always be prepared for everything life brings, becoming financially free can give us a leg up when unprecedented times come.
Though the “what” of financial freedom looks like may look different for each individual/household, we can share in similar reasons “why” we want to become financially free.
Financial Freedom may have felt so far beyond your reach. I hope you are beginning to form an idea in your mind’s eye on what financial freedom may begin to look like for you. Stay tuned as we journey together on moving towards financial freedom.
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