The Funny Thing About Your Financial Freedom

One of my financial planners shared a quote that has stuck with me for years. “Money doesn’t buy happiness. But neither does poverty. So we might as well be RICH!!” Money isn’t the secret to happiness BUT it is a necessary tool to helping us create the life we desire. And our ability to make it is different from our ability to manage it and make it work for us. I’m not a financial planner and I can’t give professional financial advice so always be sure to consult your financial gurus, but I can share what I’ve found to help me do a better job managing and saving my money as I’ve built my business and increased my income. For the first 10 years of my working life I was always the guy that would say, “I’ll begin saving when I make $XXX!” What’s funny is, no matter how much money I made at the end of the year, all I had to show for all my hard work was a bunch of bills to pay and a zero balance in the bank! I finally got sick of this feeling and decided to apply the the steps below as a focus around my finances and I quickly got on the track to financial success. With some focus and discipline I soon had paid off all my debt except my mortgage, saved an entire year’s worth of income and have consistently saved over six figures for almost a decade. When people ask me about this I find it’s usually because they know something about what they want, but they’re just unsure where to get started. WHAT’S FUNNY is that once we decide to get started getting on the road to financial freedom can become quite simple using the steps below.

1. Start with a vision. What do you want to accomplish financially within 1, 5 and 10 years? What are your financial values and goals? Get clear on what you want financially and write it down.
2. Track your money. We can only improve our results if we know what they are first. What’s coming in? What’s going out? Make a checklist of your expenditures. Monthly bills. Variable spending. This is an eye opening practice.
3. Make a plan. Set monthly and yearly spending and savings goals and stay within them each month. Over spend one month? Take it out of the next month. Underspend one month? Save the extra.
4. Spend less than you make. Spending 100% of what you earn means you always have zero at the end. Make saving part of the budget. I pay one bill every paycheck. My savings bill. It is always the top priority on my list. Watch your savings increase and feel your stress decrease.
5. Start NOW. Stop waiting for the so called “right time”. Every little bit counts. You’re not too old or too young. Create small habits. Save loose change into a jar. Say no to something every week and can put $20 away. Within a year you could have thousands.
6. Save to Save. Don’t Save to Spend. I often hear people say, “I have a savings account. But every year something happens and that account is back to zero.” I call that a spendings account NOT a savings account. Protect your savings by having a separate account for unexpected expenditures and put money into it.
7. Get Help! Once things are getting more comfortable get some help. Learn about managing money. Find professionals who seek to understand your goals and make it their priority to align with your values so they can help you accomplish what’s in your best interests.

Getting our financial future on the path toward growth opens up a new world of possibilities for us, and those around us. Stop living from paycheck to paycheck and start positioning yourself to create more security for your future. Position yourself to find ways to grow your riches so you can do great things in the world. What do you feel is the next step for you financially? Please leave your comments below and share this post with someone who needs it!