As we have come to realize a journey must be taken to achieve anything in life, including the long journey towards financial freedom. What is the freedom I am talking about or writing about to you today? Many of you must be thinking, I have plenty of freedom in my life at this moment. But in reality 70-85% of all Americans do not have the freedom to do as they please on any given day. From the time we are school aged to the time we hit retirement we are in some level of bondage. WOW did Rich Uncle EL just use the word bondage to describe how our modern society operates? Yes I did because after working in corporate America for over 10 years, I clearly have seen and read the facts facing the struggles of modern age society.
Many people can afford to take 2 or maybe a 3 week paid vacation without any worries, but once you reach the 4 or 5 week time frame, the good old cubicle job boss will start to call to wonder the whereabouts of Johnny or Nancy? Maybe your job is above average and will allow you to take a 6 week non-paid sabbatical to travel the world or possibly to refresh the mind. But with no real guarantees that the same job you left will be available when you return. After analyzing this on my 45 minute commute time every morning, I sense that real freedom is the long journey I desire. But for the average person who is indebted, saves on average 4% per year, lives paycheck to paycheck, does not live with a plan, and clearly cannot feel the bondage on their heels. How can they change for freedom?
I will do everything in my power to embrace the long journey, while living above average to hopefully shorten the path to freedom. I will pay attention to any obstacles and benefits life throws my way to acknowledge that freedom is merely 8-10 years away if done with a purposeful strategy. The Long Journey Towards Financial Freedom should be on everyone’s mind because that is the ultimate goal of life.
The first step and probably the hardest to overcome is debt freedom, without this nothing else is possible. It can take you with focus 1-5 years depending on the level of debt, but once you have no obligations you can really accelerate savings and investing.
The second step is avoiding lifestyle inflation once you pay off that debt. Many people lose focus once they have worked so hard in the first step towards the long journey, but please do not lose concentration as freedom is now easily attainable. People in this stage can easily save 30-50%+ what they make based off annual income, because they see the end game in sight.
The third step is having a plan as to what you will do when you finally get to where you want to be, and not be afraid of changes in lifestyle. In this step you will adjust and change your finances to benefit your overall situation. Maximize and optimize any financial scenario to better your position for gaining and maintaining a long standing financial freedom.
I have heard countless stories of people who are already financially independent, but they continue to work and voluntarily place themselves in cubicle bondage. Why would anyone who can cover their expenses with investments continue to work for others?
When they should be working to embrace the freedom they earned, and at the same time attempting to find the next stage of life. Maybe they are afraid of blowing the nest egg? Maybe they are scared the stock markets will plummet? Maybe they are worried that they will not have enough activities to fill the 40 hours a week of new time? These are all intelligent concerns, but always remember to never live life in fear. Take the plunge and retire, you can always go back to work if you have to. But Hopefully you wont have to go back to the modern day slavery.
I have heard countless interviews with people who retired in the last 3 years, and they all said that in retirement the time is spent doing things they love to do. People volunteer, they spend more time with family, they manage their assets, they learn new skills, they give free lessons, they are more civically involved, and they do what they want to do without fear.
Comment if you are realizing The Long Journey towards Financial Freedom?
Comment if you can visualize what you will do when you reach real Freedom?
Rich Uncle EL
Step #3 is key! People tend to forget that the journey is so much of what it's all about. I've written about revising your goals if you are close to reaching one. Otherwise, you get caught in a dead zone where you are left wondering "what next?" After working so hard to get to that point, it would be a shame feel empty because you don't know what to do next. Always striving to achieve more and always pushing goals further out will keep you interested, motivated, and busy!
-DP
My recent post The Opportunity Cost of Fantasy Football
Hey Somex thanks for stopping by and great point about people becoming stagnant. Goals were made to be achieved, and every time I check one off it feels great.
My recent post The Long Journey towards Financial Freedom
Bondage. Yep that just about sums it up. I can't wait to get to freedom and never realized that it was attainable. I like the 3 steps and actually think I am trying to do all three at once which is not easy but is what keeps me going. Cheers.
My recent post My Nose has Robbed Me Blind
Yes May I know you are so much closer than most people. I can't believe how easy it can be the earlier someone starts. Granted we all need the markets to go up and up, to give us that boost in order to reach real freedom. Thanks for the comment.
My recent post Nordstromâs Stock
For me Dividend Freedom is Geographical Freedom. Which will allow us to be able to travel the world, as this has been our dream for several years.
Thanks for sharing!
Dividend Freedom
My recent post Monthly Dividend Income Update (August – 2015)
Yes I will also travel more when I reach financial freedom. I can’t believe how cheap it is to stay for 3 months in a different place in the world like Ecuador, Thailand, and many other places with lower cost of living. This will be an option for me to help stretch those dollars. Thanks for stopping by.
My recent post Nordstromâs Stock
I see financial freedom in about 10 years, but sometimes I'm not sure. I don't have a concrete plan since 10 years is still a long ways away, but I can't imagine it hard to find something that I'd enjoy doing. Just curious…do you plan on staying in the NYC/NJ Metro area? It is one obstacle that I envision…FI would be much easier if I planned on moving to a lower cost area.
Yes the plan would be to move down south or someplace with reduced COL. It will help keep costs at bay and provide a better opportunity for the money to last.