achieve financial independence

I prefer to focus on the positive, so I’m wording it this way instead of saying “get out of debt”. I realize that it’s not going to be easy, but I feel confident that I’ve already made some great strides. I don’t have a ton of debt, but I am the sole provider for my family currently…so things are tight.

I don’t spend much money, I’m not incurring more debt and I’ve been reading up on money so that I can invest it wisely once I have more of it.

I’ve been also studying internet marketing in the hopes that it can help me achieve a side income while I’m working my regular jobs. I realize that the money will start small, but that I can scale it over time…this is my goal.

Able to meet my personal, spiritual & familial obligations, defined as:

1. Providing an upper middle class lifestyle to my immediate family
2. Maintaining sufficient savings to cover 12 months of necessary income
3. Maintaining my professional skills and relationships to allow for ongoing income-generating activities
4. Contributing at least 10% of my income and 2.5% of my waking time to charitable causes
5. Maintaining sufficient income to live overseas for up to one year at an upper middle class lifestyle while retaining my U.S. properties

while maintaining a flexible schedule that permits me to:

1. Travel for up to 15 days at a time without having to answer phone calls or email
2. Spend no more than 500 hours a year focused on income-generating activities
3. Work from anywhere in the world that has internet and cell phone access

I’ve taken control of my finances. I’m no longer hiding from my financial situation. It was kind of scary to see the numbers in front of me. It doesn’t look good but at least now I know where I stand and what I have to do to get us out of debt. I am still setting up the budget. I found a great program, YNAB (you need a budget!) and it’s the easiest system I’ve seen. It sure beats my old spreadsheet that was a muddled mess!

I’ve always been dependent on someone else in so many ways. Emotionally and financially. I intend to work on both of those this year. Financially I would like to:

• be self-employed, earning enough to be financial independent. Enough to pay my bills, food, etc, without having to rely on my partner’s pay check.
• be debt free. I have some very old debts I need to pay off, as well as my partner’s debts that need paying off if we are to ever stop struggling each month.
• have an emergency fund that has at least 6 months of living expenses in it
• have an savings account set up with regular payments into it

It does mean more than this to me. Eventually I want to be far more self-sufficient too. But without some sort of financial stability and independence I will struggle to make even the basic changes around here.

i’m working on it.

This means different things to different people, depending on where they are in their life. To me it means being out of debt, being able to quit working to earn money to live on and being free to do what I want each day instead of what I have to do.

So, I’m going to take it of my list and work on it in private.

I want to see the trees that grow flat and African animals in the wild. I want to sleep under the stars and see elephants running wild. I want to see zebras and giraffes, lions and all of it.

and it’s big pleasure. Independence gives me pleasure. I’ve been living on my own for 7 years now and I still feel the freedom of choosing how to spend my money. The only trick is to minimise needs if you don’t earn so much. I love to minimise my needs, to gain a pure view of what i actually need, to feel in control of my money. Money means energy to me: earning it costs energy and effort, so I’m not going to waste it. I feel I’m experiencing a good balance with this.

NO MORE RAT RACE! Let the young kids kiss the bosses ass and fluff up their resumes. I don’t want to compete with the cheesy guy who wants to beat me out for a raise or promotion. I’d rather be sitting, beer in hand, watching the sunset over a tropical beach.

I already have my small pension and will be getting social security soon. Maybe some good investments are inorder.