Your Path to Becoming Financially Free And Genius

So you decided to become financially free. That is a genius decision. Having to worry about money constantly is bad for your health and your wallet. Living in constant fear of creditors or collection calls is a nightmare, and one you can avoid.

But how do you start? Life is expensive, especially if you have kids or a previous debt. Sometimes it may seem impossible to get out of your current situation. However, if you live in a free (or relatively-free) country and you are willing to make some sacrifices (sorry, nothing comes for free these days) you can significantly improve your financial status in the very near future.

Step 1 - Get Out of Debt

If you are in debt (except for a mortgage which you pay on time), you should first get rid of it. Debt is like an investment going against you, which means the more time goes by, the less money you have. Being in debt is an emergency, and should be treated as such. Your time and resources should be aimed at getting out of debt - paying more than the minimum payments (which are mostly interest payments), bargaining for more money, and most importantly - not getting into more debt. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

If you need help, consider contacting debt relief specialists who will create a personalized plan that will help you leave the days of debts behind. Even without them, there are several methods to get out of debt quickly (prioritizing by interest rate or total money owed). Just pick one that works for you and stick with it. Discipline is key here. When you are debt-free, no creditor has power over you.

Step 2 - Stop Incurring More Debt

When you're debt free, stay that way! Only buy what you can afford right now. Using a credit card? Pay it off in full each month. Don't let more debt enter your life, since it only works against you. Make sure your expenses are less than your income and don't postpone any payments. Interest on them can be deadly.

More importantly, don't take loans for everyday expenses. Loans should be taken only to buy assets which will increase in value or help you generate more income (such as well-thought business loans). Personal loans can drown you in debt and you should avoid them at all cost. If you want something, save towards it. Don't borrow now and work for years to pay it off. Remember: in debt, interest works against you.

Step 3 - Create Emergency Reserves

Once you owe nothing, you can start working for yourself rather than others. Calculate how much you spend each month on average and start saving towards a sum that will last you for six months. For example, if you spend $3,000 each month, you need to save at least $18,000 in your emergency reserves. These reserves should be saved in a savings account or any investment which does not decrease in value and can be cashed in almost immediately.

Use these reserves only for emergencies - if you get fired or have a huge necessary expense which cannot be paid off your regular checking account. This money is not for travel, buying a boat, or purchasing jewelry. Its sole purpose is to save you in case of an emergency.

Cannot Save? That's Not True

If you think "there is no way I can save such sums of money", you are mistaken. Since you are debt free, you already have an income equal to or larger than your expenses. Now you can (and should) go both ways: increase your income and decrease your expenses. This way you will save money much faster.

First, see how you can get more money from your job. Ask for a raise, take a side-job if possible. Negotiate hard and you will get what you want (of course, don't burn bridges. You still need a job). If you're willing to take on some risk, start a side-business. Everyone has something to sell, and today it's easier than ever to sell online. There are also many companies that let you work from home (for example, some telemarketing jobs), so you can use that time as well. Of course, leave some time for yourself.

Secondly, every time you spend money, no matter if it's a small or large sum, write it down. At the end of each month take a look at your expense list and think which expense was unnecessary. It can be difficult to lower your standard of living, but it's always smart to live below your means. When you want more, increase your means.

Look at your home insurance and car insurance policies and see if you can save something. Perhaps you can get the same coverage for less, which can save you a fortune in the long run.

Step 4 - Get Your Credit in Order

If you were in debt, your credit score is probably very poor. This is a situation which you have to resolve, since a big part of our financial lives depends on that score. It may prevent you from renting a house or cause you to pay heavily for an emergency loan or mortgage (it is HIGHLY recommended to NEVER take an emergency loan, but when you reserves run out and you're out of options, it can be a temporary fix).

Improving your score is a hard task, but since you're out of debt, you should be able to pay off your credit cards entirely every month. You can also try some credit repair services if you think they may help you. Most of them have free consultation, so use it before you make any commitment.

Step 5 - Save and Invest

This is where freedom begins. You were in debt, which is investments working against you. Now you will finally have investments working for you. Each and every month take what you saved and put it in an investment account. Don't go crazy - invest in stocks, bonds, real estate, and other investments that you understand. After you invest, just forget it's there. It's not meant to grow ten-fold in a year. But over time, as you invest more and reap the benefits of compound interest, this sum will grow larger. The more you save each month, the faster you'll reach financial freedom.

Step 6 - Financial Freedom

This is your goal. Being financially free means, at least for us, that you don't have to go to work in order to sustain your current standard of living. In other words, your passive income (income not generated by being an employee but "passively" - dividends, rent, etc.) is larger than your expenses. This is what financial freedom is all about - choices. In this case, you don't have to work, but you can choose to work (for an even larger income). You become the owner of your own time, your greatest, irreplaceable asset. That is the true meaning of freedom.

Of course, the term "passive income" is misleading. Nothing is ever passive. All those investments must be handled carefully, which also takes time. However, it takes much less time than working for eight or nine hours a day. The rest of your time can be spent on improving your health, being with your family, or reading books. You decide. You choose.

This list is very general, but describes the general idea rather well. Achieving the final step isn't easy. It takes time and discipline to reach that point (and if you have trouble trimming your expenses, a big income). But even partial financial freedom is better than financial slavery, or debt.

To get closer to financial freedom, visit George's website: https://www.financiallygenius.com/

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/George_Botwin/1425000

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GET UP & GET IT DONE

Taking Yourself To The Next Level In Prosperity And Success

If you're in that point in your life where you just want to be better - greater money situation and enhanced abundance, then we have a bit of ground to cover.

We are not trying to push for anything unrealistic here - all we are doing is gaining traction so that we can easily reach the next level for us; whatever that may mean for your personal situation.

It's not that we can't figure out what we want or how to get there - it's that we have been thinking with limited beliefs all this time and we finally feel that we have to ascend to another level or we seriously won't be happy.

This happens to a lot of people as they ascend, and sometimes we just don't know what the next step is for us - but we can feel it and we want to get there as quickly as possible.

But that's the problem of not knowing yourself - you just don't get what you want and it's not really possible to get where you don't know where to take yourself, and that's what we're trying to resolve here.

Goals only work if you have them in mind in some way, or know roughly what you want so that you can take yourself to achieve it - they don't work by working aimlessly on some task in hopes that you reach the next level randomly.

It just doesn't work like that, we can do it much better if we know what we want - and thereby understand what the end goal is for us just by knowing who we are and what we want.

It's not a difficult process, but a lot of people make it that way, and that's why it's so confusing sometimes.

We don't have to work towards something that feels impossible, but as soon as you realize who you are and want you want out of life - all of that sort of reveals itself as you go.

This is not about trying to make yourself into somebody you aren't - these goals are perfectly suited to you so that you know exactly what to achieve at what time.

It's not confusing at all, but something perfectly matched up to who you are and what you want out of your life - and that's not a small thing to bring out of yourself; once you know yourself and understand your abilities, you can push yourself to newer limits and it won't feel that discomforting to put everything into achieving what you want.

Sometimes we find that we have goals that don't quite fit who we are - and those times tend to be about people close to us, or others who intended the best for us - but ended up accidentally trying to derail us.

That's not a good situation to find yourself in - and you have to realize that sometimes our goals come from other people and that's why we need to self reflect to really dig deep and understand if what we're pursuing is really from us or not.

Some might not think this is a big deal, but it can mean the difference between working for a goal you never wanted or working for something that truly makes you happy and gets you everything you've ever wanted.

That's not something we can ignore and that's why we need to settle this before we move forward.

What do you really want and does that really bring you the happiness you seek, and the prosperity you desire.

If it isn't, then we need to re-evaluate what we're really going after - because if you work long enough on something you don't really want - life is going to collapse inward on itself and nothing will be right, and that can't happen.

We are striving for the best of ourselves to come out and that can't happen if we are aimed at the wrong goals - it just doesn't work out in the long run.

If you feel that you working for prosperity in the wrong field, you might need to switch the direction of your sails so that your ship can be safely guided in the right direction.

It's really not that difficult to feel and be successful in the right work - as long as you have chosen correctly from the get go, nothing should be out of place and you should feel like your work is actually accomplishing something.

We also have to consider whether your definition of success really matches what you're working for.

If you have a definition that just means more money, but you don't actually want more money - something went wrong and you need to fix that.

When the cash comes you might end up unfulfilled and eventually very unhappy that your life took a turn you weren't expecting, and no one wants that.

It can be a hideous situation to go for a goal like money and end up with a bank full of cash but no real personal achievement from it.

Where does the happiness come from in situations like that - where does the prosperity or success lie in a scenario where there is no real fulfillment and the efforts were wasted on stuff that just doesn't matter.

We can't let that happen and that's why this moment of deep reflect needs to happen right now - it really can't wait.

If we're waiting for life to make sense, you will move forward not knowing who you are and what you want - and things will just feel vaguely confusing without any real meaning, and that's where things will definitely fall apart later.

Once you know what you really want and have a solid definition of success and prosperity, with your goals in mind, and a clear image of where you want to go - nothing else can really hold you back.

It's not an impossible situation to understand yourself to the point where prosperity and success mean something totally different than what a younger version of you would likely come up with.

We're going for realistic goals that make us truly happy here - and working for something that we can honestly say is what makes us happy long term, what we define as prosperity happiness and success - that is something we can be proud to achieve.

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Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Donald_B._Johnson/350788

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