When you are trying to change your life, tasks can overwhelm you. Change often feels like such a large task. Especially when it comes to money.
Where do you start? The numbers seem to swim. You have no answers. Where will you find them?
Making promises and huge resolutions are easy. You will change your financial situation for you and your family. You can plan and say it all you want.
But the getting there is the actual hard part. Take a breath and dive right in.
If you do it in little steps, it won’t be hard at all.
The idea is that you have to break things down. Take it one step at a time. Create goals, a list, a plan. Changing your finances comes step by step. You can’t simply make it all happen overnight. You have to give it time and go step by step.
Saving is step by step as well. Dollar by dollar and sometimes penny by penny. It is hard to see that you are making progress. But given lots of little steps and plenty of time, you will see how it all adds up.
The problem is that you have to stay focused and motivated. Simply focus on each smaller step. With each one that is accomplished, you will feel the drive to move onto the next step. Set overall goals that will give you time limits.
I suggest that you never sit down and look at your finances for more than one hour at a time. You will just get overwhelmed and stressed. Some people get on a roll. Work until you are able to take a break and give it a day.
Don’t work on your finances before you go to bed. You don’t want to be thinking and planning into the night. You want to sleep well. Put your ideas and goals and numbers on paper and leave them there. You are working on it when you are supposed to.
Make yourself goals. Keep them simple enough to be daily goals. You could have the following on your list:
- Call credit card #1 for lower interest rate.
- Close unusued credit card account #1.
- Check credit report.
- Advertise motorcycle for sale.
Like one taxi driver said to me, “when you don’t have money to provide the next days meal, you cannot even enjoy a good night’s sleep with your wife!”
You should also make a list of all your debts, the payment amounts, balances and interest rates. List from highest interest to lowest interest rate. Start at the top and start paying them off. Items that you will sell to pay off their note, such as the motorcycle above should simply be paid off when they are sold. Any excess money should go to the debt on the top of the list — unless it will completely pay off a debt somewhere on the list. In which case, you should just go ahead and get rid of that.
Keeping it step by step and little by little will help you from becoming overwhelmed. Remember, it can’t be all completed today, so don’t drive yourself crazy trying. All it takes is one hour a night. Financial freedom comes with time and dedication.
Financial Freedom Seminars
The only way for you to achieve financial freedom is to get out of debt and stay that way. Only when your financial situation is no longer controlling every aspect of your life can you say you have financial freedom.
For people who are in deep financial trouble, there is help available. From credit counselling to self-help books, you will be able to find a way to help you manage your debt. There are also many companies that offer seminars that deal with obtaining financial freedom. These seminars are usually held by financial institutions or financial experts.
The types of material that are covered in these seminars differ among different seminars; however, most have the same theme. They are all about educating you on your debt management and how to budget your money. These seminars could also educate you on long-term money management, as well as planning for your children’s futures.
When trying to achieve financial freedom, regardless of what other information a seminar can tell you, the most important step is to get away from debt. Once you have paid off all of your debt, your life will become so much easier. Your only task will be to stay out of debt. This is where these seminars can become very useful. Educating you on money management is an important skill developed in these seminars.
Regardless of what you learn from financial seminars, financial freedom is always dependent on your actions. It would not matter how much these people teach you, if you are unwilling or incapable of following their advice. If you want to achieve financial freedom you will need to work on it. No one else can do it for you. If you do decide to follow their advice and attain freedom from your finances, your life will be happier as well as easier to manage.
3 Keys to Financial Freedom
3 Keys to Financial FreedomWhether you want a $100 or a million is up to you. However, no matter what your position or occupation you need financial freedom. Now what is financial freedom? There is not set amount of money that could be established as the total any one person needs to acquire financial freedom. What it means is to have enough money so that you are not worried about money. You need all the money that you require to provide for you the basic necessities of life, whatever that means for you, and then some amount set aside for future needs.
Well it is a tricky business trying to set out for people just how much they need for economic security. However, you can determine for yourself what you need to be financially free. And this is of utmost importance because you cannot enjoy life if are always worried about money.
So how do you go about securing your financial freedom?
1.Set a definite amount of money that you need, whether it be a yearly income you hope to attaint or a gross amount you want, just set it in your mind and write it down. Keep your mind focused on this and never let the picture fade away.
2.Set a plan to acquire the amount of money you desire. Your plan need not be long but you need to establish one. Get it clear in your mind that there is no such thing as something for nothing and be ready to render useful service in return for the money you want to acquire. Earl Nightingale says that many for us get it wrong by saying that we want to make money. The only people who make money work in the mints, says Earl. The rest of us have top earn money. So be prepared to render useful service whether your are going to sell a product that will benefit people or work for wages in some establishment whose end product is going be useful to people, just be ready to do something and set out to do just that with faith and determination
3.Next you’ll need to change your attitude about money if you truly want to get more of it. Forget about all those clichés of money is the root of all evil and the like. Best selling author Denis Waitley opines that this is a grossly misquoted age old wisdom that rather says “the love of money is the root of all evil”. You also need to believe that you will get the money that you have targeted to acquire through legal means. The most significant fact about accumulating money though is as simple and as old as time. Spend less that you earn! No matter how rich or poor you are, if you want to acquire wealth you must budget your income in such a way that your expenditure does not outstrip your income.
There you have them now. Three sure and simple steps to financial freedom. Go ahead and work these principles in your daily life and money will soon cease to be your problem.
DISCLAIMER: Futures, stocks and options trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. The valuation of futures, stocks and options may fluctuate, and, as a result, clients may lose more than their original investment. The impact of seasonal and geopolitical events is already factored into market prices. The highly leveraged nature of futures trading means that small market movements will have a great impact on your trading account and this can work against you, leading to large losses or can work for you, leading to large gains.
If the market moves against you, you may sustain a total loss greater than the amount you deposited into your account. You are responsible for all the risks and financial resources you use and for the chosen trading system. You should not engage in trading unless you fully understand the nature of the transactions you are entering into and the extent of your exposure to loss. If you do not fully understand these risks you must seek independent advice from your financial advisor.
All trading strategies are used at your own risk.