Everyone wants to achieve financial freedom at some point in life. However, not all people know precisely what financial freedom means. That’s what this blog post seeks to explain. By the end, you will get to know what financial freedom is and how you can effortlessly achieve it.
So, what is financial freedom? According to Moneyfit, achieving financial freedom is having enough savings, investments, and cash in hand. That means you have enough money to afford the lifestyle you want and to keep your family comfortable too.
You can also say that you have achieved financial freedom if you have enough savings to enable you to retire. This also includes enough investments to ensure your money works for you and not the other way round. In short, various factors determine if a person is financially secure.
Steps to Financial Freedom
Now you know what financial freedom is. Next is knowing the steps to help you achieve it. But it is worth noting that there’s never been a surefire way to achieve financial freedom. You need to try the steps we’ll list below as they can push you closer to achieving your objective.
Here’s what to do if you want to achieve financial freedom;
Set SMART Financial Goals and Prioritize Them
Setting smart financial goals can help you achieve financial freedom faster. These are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound goals. For instance, you can set a goal like, “By the end of this year, I want to pay off $30,000 of credit cards.”
As you can see, that goal indicates what you want to achieve. It also shows how long you plan to take before achieving it. The benefit of having such goals is that they keep you on track. But you should ensure you handle one goal at a time not to get overwhelmed by them.
Start Saving for Short and Long-Term Investing
Savings are among the best avenues to financial freedom. And the good news is that you can start with saving small and not necessarily huge amounts. Short-term saving for emergencies can help you develop a saving culture that will help you build up your wealth.
But saving alone isn’t enough to guarantee you a secured financial future. You need to invest your savings profitably to multiply them. The best way to do this is to look for profitable long-term investments. An excellent example of such an investment is gold because of its rich history.
For instance, you can purchase gold bars, store them and resell them at a profit later. Dealers like Acre can help you get started with gold investing. Also, you can decide to invest in paper gold such as gold stocks if physical gold won’t be a good pick for you.
After investing for a while, your wealth will multiply. The next step you should think of is investing for your long-term needs like retirement. You can, for instance, keep some gold as retirement savings because gold doesn’t lose value. Gold bars can be easy for a beginner investor.
Pay Off Your Debts
Debts can derail you from achieving your financial objectives. You need to repay your debts if you need to achieve financial freedom. Start by checking whether you have any debts, including credit cards, student loans, car loans, personal loans, etc.
Then go ahead and draft a plan that indicates how you’ll pay them off. This can help you build your creditworthiness, which is also key to achieving financial freedom. Paying off debts frees up a considerable chunk of finances that you can use to improve the quality of your life.
Increase Income Sources
The more income you have, the easier it will be to achieve financial freedom. Let’s say you have debts to pay and your income is stagnant for a long time; paying them off will be an uphill task. It will, however, be easier to repay such debts when you have more than one income source.
That’s why you should consider looking for a passive income opportunity. There are many such opportunities today, thanks to the internet. For example, you can create a website, sell ebooks, run a blog, start a podcast, become an affiliate for a company, and many other online jobs.
Also, you may consider investments like gold when looking for passive income. You can buy gold bars and have the gold dealer keep them for you. Then, your work will be to keep an eye on price movements and ask them to resell the gold on your behalf and remit the profits.
Do Regular Financial Check-Ups
Without proper evaluation, you cannot know how far you are from your goal. Regular checkups will help you know if your financial plan is working or needs changes. In addition, it will make it easy to see financial roadblocks that could make it challenging to achieve your goals.
The first step should be evaluating your credit score. Monitoring credit scores help people develop good spending habits. It also makes it easy to create plans to resolve any negative marks on a credit score. That plays a significant role in the journey to financial freedom.
You also need to check your investment accounts. How well are the investments performing, and are they adding any value to your financial future? If your financial checkups reveal that your rental assets, for instance, are declining in revenue generation, consider shifting to alternatives like gold bars.
Automate Your Payments
Many people lose track whenever they try getting on the path to financial freedom. If you are struggling with staying on track, you should consider automating your payments. This is the best technique, especially for people who struggle to save money, invest, clear debts, and build good credit records.
You can stay on track with all your payments if you automate them. This means your auto loan, mortgage, credit card, etc., will get paid before you get money for personal spending. You can also have a savings account where a percentage of your earnings automatically goes into.
It is possible to build credit using this technique if you have a bad credit record. You’ll easily stay updated with the payments, and your records will improve over time. In the end, it will be easier to access financing when you want to invest in something more significant in the future.
Enlist the Help of a Professional
The journey to achieving financial freedom isn’t easy, especially when starting. That’s why having professionals on board can be an excellent idea for you. Financial managers with experience know how to ensure their clients achieve their goals while staying within their budget limits.
But then, you need to research before settling on a financial advisor or manager. You do not want to fall into the hands of rogue financial experts and lose your hard-earned money. Take your time to research, consider experience, read online reviews, etc., until you find the best pick.
A reputable financial advisor will first seek to understand your financial goals. They’ll then use their industry experience to craft a plan to get you to your goals. Also, a good financial advisor will ensure they complete the journey rather than exit before you reach your big dream.
Why Is Achieving Financial Freedom Important?
You could be wondering if achieving financial freedom is worth it. Well, you should be thinking about it if you want to live comfortably and build sustainable income for your children. The quality of life you lead will depend on your financial capability more than anything else.
Various benefits come along with achieving financial freedom. However, the many years it takes to achieve financial freedom often discourages people from pursuing it. That’s one reason to invest in it by bringing professionals to help you go about it and automating all your payments.
In the end, the fruits of your efforts will show that it was all worth it. You’ll increase your financial potential and secure a future for yourself mainly after retirement. Also, you can quickly build a sustainable investment for your kids, so they have an inheritance to avoid struggles in the future.
Conclusion
Achieving financial freedom is one of the most significant milestones you can achieve in life. But as said before, it is also one of the most challenging goals you can try to achieve. You need to develop a strategy and follow the correct steps to ensure financial freedom within specific timelines.
This article has provided the best steps to follow in this case. All you need to do is implement these tips in your journey to financial freedom. Consider starting with essential tasks like setting goals, saving, investing, budgeting, etc. That will make it easy to reach your financial goals.
It would be best to make informed decisions when investing to increase your finances. As said earlier, an investment in the gold industry can be worth considering.
Contact us today for more investment advice if you want to put your money in gold bars to move towards financial freedom.
Sources:
How to Set SMART Financial Goals (With Examples) | finmasters