What is the #1 cause of stress in America?
Answer: Money
What is the #1 cause of divorce in America?
Answer: Money
What is the #1 cause of happiness in America?
Answer: It’s NOT money. In fact, of the Top 5 most popular answers given to what leads to happiness, money is not one of them.
Money is a part of each of our life equations, but it’s not ultimately part of our happiness equation. Money is a means to an end. In order to be free from the hold that money can have on us, we must have a plan and understand how money works. Over the coming five weeks, we will unveil a series of practical concepts designed to give you a framework with which to make financial decisions.
Concept #1: Financial freedom should be the goal.
With longer life expectancies and Baby Boomers wanting to stay purposefully engaged in their vocation longer, the term “retirement” has been redefined. It’s no longer a function of handing in your notice, planning on 5-7 years of golf and shuffleboard and then calling it a life. It is about having the choice to keep working, quit working, rebalance the ratio of work to leisure, or start a second career. This is the time in your life when your money, time, and talents are most negotiable–when your assets create an income stream that allows you to replicate your lifestyle without the need for an earned wage. Ultimately, Financial Freedom is what we should all be after.
Understanding this concept, and more importantly, the age you would ideally like to be Financial Free is step #1. That is the easier part….
The practical concepts we will discuss over the coming weeks will help you define what it will take to achieve Financial Freedom:
- The Five Uses of Money
- Five Key Money Management Principles
- Determining your Savings Goal, thus freeing you to live or give more
- Systematic Rebalancing vs. Timing the Market
- Bringing it all together
If you can embrace these concepts, no matter where you are in your lifecycle, you will be able to achieve contentment, confidence in decision making, and maximize the negotiability of your time, talent, and money.
