Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that one has to be “rich” to attain financial freedom. There are lots of people earning millions per year who aren’t financially free, just as it’s also true that there are folks earning less than $40,000 annually who are financially free. The latter case is more common than you might think because financial freedom doesn’t depend on money so much as it relies on personal responsibility and a commitment to fiscal discipline.
The bottom line: Financial freedom comes easiest to those who understand it’s a state of mind as much as a state of being.
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I’ve even known people below the U.S. poverty line ($10,890) living a life of financial freedom. Those are my real heroes.
Isn’t that amazing? It can definitely be done. Someone wrote to me awhile back regarding my article on how $40,000 is enough money to live on, saying that they have a family with six kids (or maybe it was seven) and live happily on $25k per year. Like I said, it’s all a state of mind!
If you are in control of your finances and debt free, you can live on very little. It goes back to needs and wants. Many of my happiest moments were free!
If I can make $40k annually without working, I would be financially free. If I have to work for that 40k, I’m not. pretty simple to me.
Very interesting thoughts! And completely true–there are definitely rich people who are not financially free. And how sad! It’s easy for the rest of us to think “if I had their income I would be financially free for the rest of my life”, even without working more than one more year.
Bill McMahon (sidekick of Johnny Carson) made more than $5 million a year. He was heavily in debt. At one time, he could not even pay for mortgage.
Definitely true – as long as the $40K comfortably covers expenses, doesn’t accrue any debt, and there’s enough left over for savings, it works.
I can’t agree more! It doesn’t require that you have a lot of assets, but it DOES require that you have a very small amount of *LIABILITIES* – (or none!) … those are the little devils that bring you down…
I agreee with AniVee. Financial freedom is more a lack of debt and liabilities than a hefty income. Most Americans have created their own financial restraints by choosing the lifestyle of a consumer.
It is disappointing to think that some financial advisors out there are more concerned with increasing income for families rather than assisting them with adjusting to the amount of financial security they do have. While this could be the case for some, we need to take initiative over what we really value in our lives and weigh them heavily with the lifestyle and budget we create for ourselves in order to really have the chance to feel financially free.
HI DAD
(Im at school)
Hi, son. Hopefully you’re on lunch break and not in class. You are on lunch break, yes? Love, Dad.
Brilliant. I’m going to print thisone out!!!!!!
I come from a third world country. Many folks back there live on $2 income per day.
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