Sitting still and wondering how I will finally make this money or blow, like they usually like to term it. Racking through my brain and still no results,I finally give up and go to bed exhausted from all the deep thoughts.
Financial freedom is not something that should be taken lightly, it can’t ever be overemphasized. Growing up,we were always used to our parents,guardians ,uncles,aunties and any well-wisher doing things for us that we didn’t even have to have a care in the world about meeting our needs. Now you’re all grown up and you’re in deadlocks fighting to have a good life and working really hard for that good life.
Well look no further, because you’ve come to the right page. I will walk you through 4 easy but effective steps that when practiced consistently will lead to financial freedom.
1)GET BASIC EDUCATION ON FINANCE
What Is Financial Freedom?
First of all, we need to understand the meaning of financial freedom before we can actually enjoy it.
Financial freedom is simply you being in control of your finances in relation to your life in general, which implies you are not required to take permission to make any personal financial decision.
As much as we have all become acquainted with the word financial freedom, it is really essential that we don’t trivialize this experience and what it can mean to us.
We need to educate ourselves on the basic information pertaining to finance.It will really improve the quality of our life when we read books or articles or even watch clips that can educate us on the ABCS of finance. You don’t even have to be a full fledged adult to start educating yourself about finance, starting early is a pulse and it gives you an advantage in making early but bold steps.
Wherever you find yourself,either behind the desk as a 9-5 employee, self employed or even an entrepreneur, never stop equipping yourself with financial knowledge.
2)BE AWARE OF YOUR SPENDING PATTERNS(TRACK HOW YOU SPEND)
It will interest you to know that as much as we inherit physical features and characters from our parents, we also inherit their financial spending/saving traits as well. This is because as we grow up we become aware and unconsciously draw our conclusions from what we learn from our parents, bad money habits can be one of them.
Again knowing or firstly becoming aware of our financial spending patterns takes us a step closer to financial liberty. One significant way of doing this is tracking or recording our financial activities or habits. We could record our expenses through the traditional means of writing it down in journals or record books, we could also use the help of apps(e.g Cash-Book Daily Expenses) to help us track these spendings. What most of us do not know is that we actually spend a lot and also frequently on luxury/non-essential products than we actually need or can afford. So before you shout “there is no money”, check how much you are really spending in a year, you will be amazed.
By tracking our financial activities we become aware and are able to repent of our sins then start making intentional financial steps to be financially responsible and accountable.
3)PLAN YOUR FINANCIAL JOURNEY/ MAKE A BUDGET
According to a famous quote by William Feather, “a budget tells us what we can’t afford, but it doesn’t keep us from buying it”. Simply put, a budget gives us an overview on what and what not to spend on, we can go ahead and break the rules by spending outside the limit of our budget OR we can decide to listen to the tiny whispers of wisdom directing us on the wise path of spending within the confines of our budget.
We can plan a budget manually by ourselves or we can seek financial assistant for that. We can also use apps to help plan our budget for us, such apps include ,Money Manager, Wally ect. I highly recommend money manager, it has amazing features and they are easy to navigate through.
Your budget can include different categories under it ,based on your unique lifestyle but it should make sure it includes 2 major parts, which are : income, expenditure.
Income : should clearly state your source of income, whether actively or passively earned.
Expenditure : it should consist of everything you are spending your income on. We spend our income mostly on wants(luxury items),needs(essential items necessarily for life) and on savings and investments, these are not only restricted to the categories stated above, there could be other things we spend our money on,but it should be clearly stated in our respective budgets.
All these should be plainly stated in order to help us allocate funds based on our unique lifestyles.
Once you have a clear cut out budget, you can become accountable to yourself or to someone else so they could help you diligently follow through with your plans.
4) Schedule Appraisals
After following through with the above steps, it is always important to do a progress appraisal or somewhat of a review of how much headway you have made in your financial journey within a constrained time period. This could be after a week, month or even a year. The essence of this is that it will serve as a positive drive that will boost morale to do more and get better at spending wisely. You will notice this as you mark financial milestones whether big or small and start laying off harmful financial habits and inculcating the best for yourself.
As you start to make healthy financial choices you will notice that your skin will not only start to glow but you will also start winning in all other areas of your life. You are welcome though,no need to thank me too much. When this begins to happen I’ll be right here cheering you on this wonderful journey of financial freedom. See you at the top.