Is it possible to be financially free?

[Mellorando]

While there is no set definition for financial independence, the term often means getting to a point where you don't have to work to pay your living expenses. Usually, financial independence is achieved by relying on savings, investments, and other forms of passive income to pay the bills. The general rule of thumb is that, to be considered independently wealthy, you need to have at least 25 times your annual expenses in savings. For instance, if your monthly expenses are about $4,000, then you'll need $48,000 per year to break even.
Financial freedom means that you get to make life decisions without being overly stressed about the financial impact because you are prepared. You control your finances instead of being controlled by them. ... And financial freedom doesn't mean that you're “free” of the responsibility of handling your money well. Unfortunately, too many people fail to achieve it. They are burdened with increasing debt, financial emergencies, profligate spending, and other issues that thwart them from reaching their goals. Then there are unexpected events, such as a hurricane or earthquake—or pandemic—that overturn plans and reveal holes in their safety nets that weren't visible before.


Trouble happens to nearly everyone, but these 12 habits can put you on the right path:

1. Set Life Goals
What is financial freedom to you? A general desire for it is too vague a goal, so get specific. Write down how much you should have in your bank account, what the lifestyle entails, and at what age this should be achieved. The more specific your goals, the higher the likelihood of achieving them.Next, count backward to your current age and establish financial mileposts at regular intervals. Write it all down neatly and put the goal sheet at the very beginning of your financial binder.

2. Make a Budget
Making a monthly household budget—and sticking to it—is the best way to guarantee that all bills are paid and savings are on track. It’s also a regular routine that reinforces your goals and bolsters resolve against the temptation to splurge.

3. Pay Off Credit Cards in Full
Credit cards and similar high-interest consumer loans are toxic to wealth-building. Make it a point to pay off the full balance each month. Student loans, mortgages, and similar loans typically have much lower interest rates; paying them off is not an emergency. Paying on time is and will build a good credit rating.

4. Create Automatic Savings
Pay yourself first. Enroll in your employer’s retirement plan and make full use of any matching contribution benefit. It’s also wise to have an automatic withdrawal for an emergency fund, which can be tapped for unexpected expenses, and an automatic contribution to a brokerage account or something similar.
Ideally, the money should be pulled the same day you receive your paycheck, so it never even touches your hands, avoiding temptation entirely. However, keep in mind that the recommended amount to save is highly debated. In some cases the feasibility of such a fund can be a question.

5. Start Investing Now
Bad stock markets can make people question this, but historically there has been no better way to grow your money than through investing. The magic of compound interest will help it increase exponentially over time, but you need a lot of time to achieve meaningful growth. Don’t try to be a stock picker or trick yourself into thinking you can be the next Warren Buffett. There can only be one.
Instead, open an online brokerage account that makes it easy for you to learn how to invest, create a manageable portfolio, and make weekly or monthly contributions to it automatically. We’ve ranked the best online brokers for beginners to help you get started.

6. Watch Your Credit
Your credit score determines what interest rate you are offered when buying a new car or refinancing a home.1 It also impacts seemingly unrelated things, such as car insurance and life insurance premiums. The reasoning is that someone with reckless financial habits is also likely to be reckless in other aspects of life, such as driving and drinking. This is why it’s important to get a credit report at regular intervals to make sure that there are no erroneous black marks ruining your good name. It may also be worth looking into one of the best credit monitoring services to further protect your information.

7. Negotiate
Many Americans are hesitant to negotiate for goods and services, worrying that it makes them seem cheap. Overcome this cultural handicap and you could save thousands each year. Small businesses, in particular, tend to be open to negotiation, where buying in bulk or repeat business can open the door to good discounts.

8. Continuous Education
Review all applicable changes in the tax laws each year to ensure that all adjustments and deductions are maximized. Keep up with financial news and developments in the stock market and do not hesitate to adjust your investment portfolio accordingly. Knowledge is also the best defense against those who prey on unsophisticated investors to turn a quick buck.

9. Proper Maintenance
Taking good care of property makes everything from cars and lawnmowers to shoes and clothes last longer. As the cost of maintenance is a fraction of the cost of replacement, it’s an investment not to be missed.

 

[jemmy]

Financial freedom is very possible and it is a very important thing to be attained, because when someone is financially free, life will at some point be a bit easier and some needs can be met with ease.

 

[Jasz]

Financial freedom is possible for anyone who is willing to make the right decisions, plan their financial future and then execute their plans. It's true that people financial situations are often beyond their control. What isn't beyond your control is how you deal with your circumstances. The key to financial freedom is in the decisions you make.


If you're like most people, the word "retirement" automatically brings images of a regular monthly check from Social Security. The thought of financial freedom probably doesn't even register. Unfortunately, it's easier to find a four-leaf clover than it is to win the lottery. You can, however, achieve financial freedom in a far more realistic way – by living within your budget, saving and investing wisely over time, and by knowing some basic financial strategies that just might change your lifestyle . . . forever!

Perhaps the most important financial decision you will make is to figure out where you stand financially and what actions you will take to be the steward of your money and manage it wisely.

 

[btaliat]

It is very possible to be financially free but it has to be through rigorous efforts. There is need to set goals as you have rightly said. This will be guidance to how the goals will be achieved and even when to achieve the goal. This will facilitate the time the goals will be achieved. Aside this, there is need to have multiple streams of income. We cannot set financial goal using only one source.

 

[Mataracy]

To be financially free is not all that easy except if one can be satisfy or contented with the money or resources has.
Though if one is free from debt and have surplus resource. Also one can achieve this is there is proper management and all expense is cult down .
I said its difficult to attain the other time because ; human want are unsatisfactory so to now be financially Free will be some how difficult so far the earth still exists.
Because that word freedom means being free from all worries about the things going on around some one.

 

[Kingsley]

Being financially free might not be a concept that will be attained by all because the truth is even the very wealthy people still want more wealth, this goes on to tell us as that the human needs is highly unlimited, and even if you give the world planet to some people they will never be satisfied. Hence for we to attain financial freedom in the Rae light of it the word will be near impossible. The only time people can be financial free will be when they are decide to stop their quest for the search for more wealth or when they are either sick or dead.

The purest way to get out of financial limitations and break through into financial freedom will not be when you amass all the wealth in your country own a full state to yourself or even become the president of your country, because somany people had been there and they are still searching for more wealth, position and power in other to still amass more wealth. The true safety net lies when one deliberately makes the decision to stop searching for more and learn to be satisfy with the one your already have.

 

[Deleted member 28127]

You cannot be financially free because bigger you have returns bigger you will have VAT on your business and also VAT can let you a loser on your sales while some people selling without paying any VAT to the state are selling cheaper than you and then clients are moving to purchase from them.

 

[Caramelle]

It's very much possible to achieve financial freedom but it will take a lot of discipline and commitment. For me, financial independence means being free from the shackles of debt and employment. It's a stage where you can depend on passive income streams for all your expenses. Very few people are born with a silver spoon. Most have to go through life's struggles from school to employment or business. You can choose to retire the traditional way by working hard until you reach the mandatory retirement age or you can choose to retire early by achieving financial independence early on in your life.

To be able to retire early, you must start early and help yourself to become financially literate. Craft your strategy and stick to it. Set aside a good portion of your earnings and use them to grow your funds. Learn to control money and put it to work by wisely choosing investment instruments. Value money and stick to a sensible budget. Take a second job or a side gig to accelerate the accumulation of funds. Invest in yourself by acquiring more skills and knowledge and make yourself indispensable to your company. Along the way, do take care of yourself because poor health can be costly. It will also keep you from enjoying your hard-earned victory.​

 

[PICKFORD]

Everyone will want to be financially free me personally I want to be financially free, a lot of people are financially free already some at a young age and son at a middle or old age, whatever the case maybe it is possible to be financially free. Being financially free does not come easy it requires sacrifice, determination, persistence etc .
What are the ways of being financially free is to invest your money letting your money lie there in the bank won't multiply or surplus it but rather invest your money on well calculated investments like trading and cryptocurrency can boost your earnings. Another way to pursue your course of being financially free in the future is by buying stocks bones from the stock exchange.

This is actually one of the best way to be financially free in the future whether it is a long-term bonds or short-term bonds buying of shares is actually great for future financial freeness. Also investing in real estate and land investments freedom for the purpose of agriculture .commercial, or residential purposes. Land investment is considered to be the best. Because it is permanent and it is a free gift of nature you can earn money investing on land

 

[Kendy]

It is very possible to be financially free and the first thing is to have a vision. To be financially independent, you must first have motivation towards an achievement and also have set realistic goals. Setting goals would make you strive to align with the goals and guide you to working in line with it. Setting of goals would be more feasible, where you pen down what you want to achieve.


The next step would be to align your vision with the set or written down goals, which you need to make a budget of how much would be required to achieve your dreams and you should have a realistic budget aside your realistic set goals. Your budget value would determine the level of hard work required and also determine how much time you will need to accomplish the goals.

The next would be to invest or save simultaneously from your present venture, investing both online and offline would make your ideas to come to realization in the shortest possible time. You should invest in companies or real estate which holds good repute inorder not to fall victim to fradulent sites. It is also advisable to inculcate the attribute of saving atleast 10% to 15% of your income and better still put it in a fixed deposit.

 

[Sotherefore]

Thank you for sharing, this is one of the most important topic we really have to put into consideration because these are the things that has to do with our lives and how we can achieve the best success in life, if people can be able to take this into proper consideration and put into practice the possibility of people achieving something tangible with their life will be high compared to people who do not achieve anything.

In as much as everything in the list is necessary for our daily life and activities the most important thing is just for us to have a goal in life , goal are the things you are interested to achieve before a certain period of time and it is always the best that you stick to whatever you are interested to do.

If a person start beating about the bush and not knowing what he or she wants in life the possibility of not achieving anything is very high because at the end of the day when you won't really have a single one to concentrate on.

Investment is also necessary and in any amount of money we are making both offline and online it is better for us to save a certain percentage for future purposes

 

[eldavis]

Well I believe it is possible and at the same time I'mpossible, it all depends on how you view and define financial freedom. Personally I see and define financial freedom is a period where I do not need to depend on anyone to get what I want, neither do I have to wait or ask for permission from anyone before doing it. It's a situation where I have enough to cater for all my needs and want cause truth be told, the expenses never ends. The more you get money, the more things come up you need to spend the money on.

 

[Richee84]

Financial freedom can be understand by people on different ways to different individual. By nature humans want are insatiable and can never be satisfy so for human to be completely free financially will somehow be a little bit difficult to achieve. It is possible to have enough money to meet our present need but the more money we have the more our needs or demand increase for higher or greater things. To be free financially completely is totally not impossible to achieve but one must defind his or her level of financial freedom. The poor people see financial freedom as when they have enough money to provide for them the necessary need of life to live like feeding, housing, clothing etc, but because human by nature are insatiable so they will still demand for more things as their finances increases. The richest man in the whole world today have not stop working because he is the richest man but he is still working to increase his earnings and income. One will have said that the richest man have attained financial freedom and should stop working cause he has enough money to do whatever he likes but that is not the case for him as he still feel there is need to keep increasing his income.

 

[Good-Guy]

There are various ways a person could achieve financial freedom. I think that one of the greatest ways to achieve financial freedom is by avoiding bad debts. bad debts is one of the biggest enemies of financial success. there are many big companies that take loans and they go bankrupt just because they were not able to pay the loans back. I would rather sell off my asset but avoid borrowing money from others. Another way to get financial success is by making the right kind of business strategy. You must have a great business plan and never make the mistake of investing money without learning about the right way to make an investments.

A third way to become more successful is by investing what you can easily afford to lose. many big investors make the mistake of investing a huge amount in a new business or trading activity and they end up losing everything. This is a really big mistake. No matter how good you are at trading, you must never invest the whole amount, even if you are sure that your strategy will never fail. So, these were some really basic things each and every businessman should know so that he could be successful.

 

[Alexandoy]

In our culture there is a saying that you can only be financially independent if your parents are wealthy. I can agree to that because I have seen my contemporaries to have started a business with the capital provided by the rich parents. There is one friend who was given a house when he got married. I envy those people because they are lucky to be in that serendipitous position.

My take on financial freedom is to be able to buy what you want and that your savings can tide you over for many years. When I retired my target is to have a savings that can last me for 10 years. My wife and I have that plan especially for her future retirement that she will receive a big sum from her employer. Unfortunately that dream did not materialize because she went ahead to heaven. However, she left me with money that I consider wealth which means I am now financially independent that I can buy what I want especially that I am not a luxurious person in my lifestyle. My savings are okay from now maybe until the end of my life. My objective now is to have a happy life.

 

[moonchild]

Financial independence is attainable through sheer hard work and discipline and not comprising standard, a lot of people have done it and many are still doing it, you don't have to Elon Musk type of rich before you become financially independent, in life, what we should seek out for is contentment, we have to be contented with what we have, because if not we'll always be chasing the next thing

Also, we need to live within our means, don't spend to impress anybody or to live up to any body's standard, you're your own standard, only spend on reasonable things that you really want.

Understand that you'll fail, it's still part of the process, when you fail, learn from it and come back stronger.

Note that the beauty is in the struggle, when you finally make it to the top, you'll realize that the fun and the great moments are in those times you're struggling.