How to become Financially Free
It is possible for most people to become financially free.
You can become financially free even if you are stuck with a lot of debt at the moment, or you have a lot of financial responsibilities, or you are earning a small salary, or even all of those together.
If you want to become financially free, you need to take six steps:
- Find a reason
- Believe it is possible
- Educate yourself
- Make the decision
- Create a plan
- Persevere and follow your plan
1. Find a reason
Why are you reading this article? Do you have a good reason to become financially free?
If you don’t have a good reason, then either stop reading right now and carry on with your life as it is, or find a good reason.
Financial freedom is worthless if you’re not going to use it for something. You need to have a dream.
Your dream must be something that is worthwhile; something that will keep you motivated and focussed on your goal, when the going gets tough.
2. Believe it is possible
You’ll never be able to do something if you don’t believe it is possible. Luckily, for most people, it is possible to become financially free.
Financial freedom does not depend on your gender, race, education, job, salary, where you live, the amount of debt you have, or anything like that.
Whether you’ll become financially free, depends mostly on your spending habits and your attitude.
If you are prepared to adopt the right attitude and control the way you spend money, you can probably become financially free.
3. Educate yourself
Knowledge is your toolbox. The more you know about money, the better you’ll be able to use it. Financial freedom has everything to do with how wisely you use your money.
To increase your knowledge about money and financial freedom, you can start by reading some of the articles right here, on this website.
I recommend you read at least these ones:
- Financial Freedom Quick Tips
- What is Financial Freedom?
- The Stages of Financial Freedom
- The Secret to Financial Freedom
- Is there such a thing as Good Debt?
You can probably find everything you need to know about money and financial freedom on the Internet. However, be careful what you believe. There are many wolves in sheep’s clothing.
My advice is: Ignore anything that seems to good to be true, avoid work-from-home and network marketing schemes, online gambling and especially any offers for debt!
4. Make the decision
Now that you have some money-knowledge in your toolbox, you believe that you can become financially free and you have a dream that makes you want to become financially free, it is time to make a decision.
You can decide to carry on with your life as it is, or you can decide to pursue your dream.
By now you should know that your decision will cost you some things. You may have to sell your car and buy a cheaper one, or even manage without a car completely; you may have to move into a smaller apartment. A dream that is worthwhile usually doesn’t come cheap!
If you’re ready to make the sacrifices and changes that you’ll need in order to get out of debt and become financially free, then decide to do it now. The journey to financial freedom starts with a decision.
5. Create a plan
All things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and then there is a physical, or second creation, of all things.
Now that you know where you are heading, and you’ve made the decision to go there, you need to plan how you are going to get there. You need to create a financial plan for yourself.
Your financial plan is your road-map to financial freedom. Just like the road-map you use when you drive somewhere, your financial plan shows the different stops and stages that you’ll have to make on your journey to financial freedom.
If you have enough knowledge you can create your own financial plan.
However, it is a good idea to consult a financial advisor, to help you create your financial plan, or at least, to check if the financial plan you created can be improved to be even better.
When your financial plan is ready, the only thing that remains is to put on your sneakers and start your journey.
6. Persevere and follow your plan
At this stage you have everything you need to become financially free. You have a dream, you have the knowledge you need and you have a plan that can make your dream a reality.
The biggest thing that stands between you and your dream at this moment, is you. You need to remain disciplined, motivated and focussed on your destination.
The best advice I can give to help you stick to your financial plan is:
- Remind yourself of your dream everyday, the reason why you’re on this journey.
- Try to do the small things right, consistently.
- Have some type of budget, to help you track your income and expenses.
- Avoid debt as much as possible; learn to hate it, because it steals your freedom.
- Find a financial mentor, to keep yourself accountable to and get good advice from.
- Work hard for your goals, but always maintain a healthy balance in your life.
- Learn from the past, plan for the future, but live for every moment.
- Always try to remain humble, this will keep you happy.
If you have regular access to the Internet, you can also consider starting your own blog and taking up the Financial Freedom Challenge – a challenge where a group of bloggers support each other on their journeys out of debt and to financial freedom.
I’ve left the very best piece of advice I have for last: Draw your strength from the Lord, and place your trust in Him. With Christ all things are possible.
Good luck on your journey to becoming financially free!
August 26th, 2008 at 05:38 am
That’s a great list of steps! What I love about personal finance blogs is their way of distilling complex financial systems into easy-to-follow steps.
September 1st, 2008 at 02:36 pm
[...] – Freedom shows us how to become financially free. Nearly everyone can become financially free if you follow Francois’ six simple [...]
September 1st, 2008 at 04:53 pm
[...] How to Become Financially Free [...]
September 7th, 2008 at 02:31 pm
[...] How to become Financially Free at Liberta – Freedom. This is a well written post with a lot of tips and links on having a financial plan and sticking to it. Francois gives reinforcement to some of the tips I have been trying to say for some time: “Ignore anything that seems to good to be true, avoid work-from-home and network marketing schemes, online gambling and especially any offers for debt!” And congratulations Francois and Irene. [...]
September 16th, 2008 at 05:15 pm
This is a very nice article. Simple and well laid out.
September 21st, 2008 at 09:52 pm
[...] Liberta tells us how to become financially free [...]
September 24th, 2008 at 04:19 pm
Great post.
All the points are important but for me the crucial thing is getting educated. The more you can learn about personal finance and debt management the better.
If you don’t arm yourself with education then there is a greater chance of making mistakes. Sure we all make mistakes but some of them can be avoided if we educate ourselves first.
October 3rd, 2008 at 08:15 am
[...] or two to help us with our financial goals. in Make a Friend he writes, it is a lot easier to become financially free, if you have a friend or two with whom to share the journey and exchange encouragement, support and [...]
January 10th, 2009 at 07:24 pm
Hi Francois, it’s great. Now is the time for people to really get stuck in and reduce debt. However with the fuel price dropping and the interest rates set to decline many people will see it as a new opportunity to make some new debt.
People who had some spare cash could really pick up unbelievable bargains on the Staock Exchange. Buying Blue Chip companies at P/E rates of under 8 is priceless.
Keep up the good work.
Gerrit Viljoen