Is financial freedom a myth or a reality?
In today’s world, the concept of financial freedom is often portrayed as the ultimate life goal. It’s the idea of having enough wealth to live comfortably without the constant stress of financial instability. But is financial freedom truly attainable, or is it just a myth perpetuated by self-help gurus and financial advisors? In this Blog, we’ll explore the realities of financial freedom, debunk common myths, and provide practical steps to help you achieve it.
The term financial freedom means different things to different people, to some it means luxury with minimal to no effort, or not having to ever work for money, meanwhile to others it Just means that, the money they earn from their day job stretches out enough for them to have a little bit of leisure time for themselves, and be debt free. It sounds unimaginable for some people, especially when they are confronted with the amount of debt that they have, and how much they have to work just to get by on a day to day basis. Which makes the term financial freedom sound like a myth, something out of the books. Which is a common term used for things people don’t understand. So let’s start by understanding what financial freedom means on a grand scale of things.
Understanding financial freedom
Financial freedom may mean several things to several people, but there are some core standards, that can be used to measure Financial freedom on a broad scale, and these involve;
Financial security:
Financial security is the ability to have enough finances to cover your basic needs and emergencies, without stress. This part of financial freedom focuses on the basic needs and emergency fund of the individual.
Debt Freedom
Debt freedom as it states is the lack of debt of any sort, including credit card debt. This also involves being able to fund your lifestyle, without the use of credit cards.
Work-Life Balance
The ability to have a comfortable social life besides your Work life, and being able to afford it.
Future security
The ability to plan for the future, and retirement without anxiety. This also involves the case of long-term emergencies like disability or illness.
With these pillars, you can asses you financial status and determine weather you are in any stages of financial freedom or not. You might be far from it, but these pillars also give you a structure to work with, in regards to your finances in order to achieve financial freedom. At least you know where you are when it comes to finances and now you can get started with fixing it.
How do I fix my financial status
Now that you know your financial status, how do we fix it. Well here are a few steps that could be helpful with regards to your finances.
Track your finances
This step is the most important step to take when it comes to your finances, it might sound so simple but most people do not even have an Idea of where their money is going. People earn so much money, but for some reason they don’t even know where the money goes but they are constantly broke. An easy way you can fix this problem is by having a financial tracker. this can be a book or an excel or google sheet which you use to track your finances. This at least gives you an overview of what you can cut back on, or what you can splurge more on, and in turn gives you more control over what happens with your money.
here are a few planners you can try.
Debt assessment
This still somehow falls under tracking your finances, but I need to reiterate on this because people always tend to neglet their debt. The financial Planners mentioned above both have the options of debt tracking, this helps you know how far you are from clearing your debt completely. From there you can start putting some money aside, monthly towards your debt, depending on the amount of Income that comes into your account.
Setting financial goals
when you know how your Money is being spent, then you can set a financial goal for yourself. In setting your financial goal, you have to strive to strike a comfortable balance between Being realistic, and being delusional. Being realistic grounds you, it reminds you of where you are now, but being delusional gives you that room to dream and dreaming is the first step of achieving. It determines how much you are going to push yourself to achieve your goals, and how far you are going to go for them.
Make a plan
With your goals in mind, you can now make a plan, on how you are going to attain your goals, no matter small or big they are.
Sources of Income
Your plan should definitely involve sources of income which will permit you to attain financial freedom. In order to be financially free, or at least comfortable, the general rule of thumb is to have multiple streams of income. Reason being, when you have multiple streams of income, you have enough financial room to have a more comfortable life, and it is much easier and faster for you to achieve your goals.
the goal is also to have a comfortable work-life balance, so it will not make sense to have 3 full-time jobs to go to in a day just because you want to be financially free, it will ware you out and can even make you sick. in my opinion, it is not worth it.
So the next question is, ‘how do you get to have multiple streams of income without wearing yourself out?’
the answer to this question is the internet. The internet has created a platora of possibilities for us to work remotely and earn remotely, with as minimal efforts as possible. There are people who work 2 hours a day on a side hustle that brings them up to $2000/month in extra revenue, and there are some who even earn more than that. Does it require some effort?, yes but not as much effort as your regular 9–5 job will require.
What side hustles are those you might be wondering, well here are some side hustles you can start with today.
This is basically a marketing scheme that has existed for a long time, but has just become more accessible to more people with the help of the internet. It is basically when You get to promote other people’s products, and they get to pay you a commission for the sale made. It is great because there is no risk involved, and the upfront cost is usually really minimal.
I have put together a guide that can get you started with affiliate marketing with as minimal upfront cost as possible. click in the link below to get started.
AI automated social media page
Gone are the days when people believed that only ifluencers could monetise their social media. This Ideology is what is keeping most people behind and keeping them from using social media to it’s full potential. Social media is a gold mine, and you can totally earn money from social media, without having to show your face or create your own content, using AI. With AI Platforms such as Invideo.AI and Autoshorts.AI you can create content for social media with just the click of a button, and monetise it.
As a bonus you can monetise the accounts buy doing affiliate marketing.
I have put together a detailed guide on how you can get started with Social media. see the link below.
The online presence
Day Trading
Day trading is another great way to make extra income online. It has been labeled risky for the longest time possible, because of how unpredictable it can get,but there are safer ways of trading, without loosing so much, and that is by using funded accounts. Companies like Accelerated group provide you with funded accounts, that enable you to trade, and earn from the profits you make from those funded accounts. This can be a great place to start and gain enough experience to invest and trade with your own money.
To get started you can sign up to accelerated group with the link below.
These are all great ways to earn some extra income on the side without having to wear yourself out, just in an attempt to attain financial freedom.
Saving and Investing
This brings us to our last step, which is saving and investing. one thing about life is that there will always be rainy days, and it is advicable to save for those rainy days. At this point you might be living from paycheck to paycheck and just cannot imagine even saving a dime for rainy days, but I promise you it is totaly possible to save for those days, especially when you understand a know where your finances are going to. You can start by cutting back on somethings and putting a small amount to your emergency funds. It is important to know that you emergency funds come before your debt. I know you are eager to be debt free, but it should not be at the expense of your emergency fund. The priority is, Your needs first, Emergency fund, then comes your debts.
Another aspect I will love for you to consider is investment. Contrary to popular beliefs, investment is not only for the rich, it is for everybody, and it is just the art of making your money work for you. You can look into investment opportunities in your country, because the usually vary from country to country.
We can conclude this post by saying that Financial freedom is not a far-fetched reality. It is possible and attainable, the only difference is how long will it take for you, and how much are you willing to sacrifice towards it. If you start putting in the work today, you can totally achieve your goal.
I hope you enjoyed this blog. Don’t forget to comment your thought, and subscribe if you like content like this.
Felle free to share it with someone you think needs to hear this. You can also interact with us on Instagram and Facebook @Financeher.official.
