Too often in life, we are clear about what we don’t want than what we truly want or desire. The thought of lack of money, poverty easily puts us off and we are quick to declare our dislike, than for us to affirm what we truly want in life.
We still struggle with our inability to clearly state what we truly want. Someone said to me what would you “really do” if money was not an issue?
For some people, they have never given this any thought or consider it as some project they should embark on in their journey of wealth creation or financial independence.
Everyone wants to retire early and live a wealthy life but not everyone wants to put in the work to achieve this. We tend to wish things away.
If anyone told you that achieving financial independence and/or early retirement is easy, they lied to you.
The truth is, it takes a ton of learning, financial planning, actively working toward your personal goals, discipline, and more often than not, some personal sacrifice to make it happen.
You can hope to get rich quickly, but the sad fact is most people who come into sudden wealth end up going broke because they don’t know how to properly manage it emotionally, financially, or behaviorally.
The truth is, you don’t have to be super-wealthy to live a financially independent lifestyle. Everyone’s goals are unique to themselves, and your achievement will start with your financial life plan.
Some of the ways to build wealth are to save money aggressively now, invest it and build up your financial wealth faster compared to traditional retirement savings plans that take a longer time to mature.
Many people are stuck in the now when it comes to thinking about money and investment. They constantly think about bills to pay, and life to live and this makes it difficult for them to think or plan for the future, their ideal future, and how to get there. To some others, that future does not exist, they simply live each day at a time; while some just simply go religious and say God is in control.
The first step in achieving financial independence and early retirement is getting out of that way of short-term thinking.
Inspirational speakers say to paint the picture of what you want your life to look like. Whether they are right or not; it’s still a good way to plan for the future.
Though I don’t believe in wishful thinking, you have to be emotionally connected to your goals or resistance will get in the way.
Then start breaking down your financial goals into realistic objectives. Financial independence or wealth creation will not happen overnight. It takes time, planning, a lot of discipline, and delayed gratification to get where you want to go in life.
You can break your financial goals into achievable milestones, for example, your first goal may be to pay off your debt.
Then, you can put more effort into regular savings; either weekly, monthly or quarterly and keep at it like an addict.
Then, work at creating an extra source of income such as starting a small business or investing in an existing one, where you can earn passive income
However, if you already make a lot of money, increase the amount you save regularly, invest more.
Take a step back and also look at your current spending habits and determine where you can save more money. We all waste money here and there, on unnecessary expenses and spontaneous purchases. Cut down on this. Every step you take is for you and for the future you desire.
There are areas where you can sacrifice a little now to save a lot later. Cutting back on how often you eat out or travel now can lead to big savings that allow you to live the financially independent lifestyle of your dreams in the future.
Everyone’s future is different. Your future can be 20 years from now; while someone else’s future maybe 30 or 40 or 50. So whenever you figure out when you want to reach your financial goals, you can then begin to figure out how much you might need to save each year in order to make those dreams a reality.
Eventually, you have to determine what needs to happen between now and then.
Mental changes will also need to take effect for the future you plan for. Your entire financial plan may need to be reorganized. Evaluate every aspect of your current lifestyle and see where you can make changes (physically, mentally, financially) to take you where you want to be.
So when you know where you want to go and how you can actually get there, you’ll be amazed at the progressive changes you’ll be able to make, starting from today. To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as ACT. —Anatole France.
As you consider different aspects of your life and look forward to actualizing your plans to reach your financial goals, you can start putting the pieces together into a real financial plan.
Why put off until tomorrow, what you can do today? They say procrastination is the thief of time. How many times have you had something important to do and then just postponed it and kept postponing it and ended up never doing it?
Stop wasting your time and start now.
I am happy to share with you a simple financial planning template so you can get started.
Feel free to send me an email. I wish you the best in your financial journey to wealth creation.
and then