The road to financial freedom is a lot shorter than
you may think. For those of us who did not start
our lives wealthy because of our family, we only have
46 to 49 years of income producing – more if you want
to work into your “retirement” years.
During that time, we must complete our education or
training, get a job or open a business, while meeting
the many demands on what income we have left after
taxes.
We have to provide for food and shelter, clothes and
transportation, child rearing expenses, college
tuition, vacations, Christmas presents, insurance
premiums and more. The list never seems to end.
How is it that some people can retire at age 50 in
spite of all this while others will never retire at
all. If you read the article,
Get Rich Slowly - http://www.credit-yourself.
com/get-rich.html - you can see how you can
use the power of compound growth to amass millions
if you start young. However, this is the period in
most people’s lives where the greatest demands seem
to be made on their income.
First of all, you’re just starting out and are nowhere
near your peak earning power. You might have just
married and need a home and furnishings.
You might have to buy your first suits or business
dresses for your new job. And you want to enjoy life,
so you vacation, buy or lease new cars frequently and
just basically run up debt, many times to be piled on
top of your existing student loans.
But some people manage.
First they live within their means and save as much
as possible.
They take advantage of all the tax shelters the
government allows and if possible, save even more.
They invest in or start a part time business, rental
properties or learn to increase their returns by smart
investing.
They insure against potential risks that could ruin
them financially.
They use debt wisely. They don’t necessarily shun
debt, but use it as a tool to grow wealth. For example,
they can leverage one 20% down payment into a string of
houses using mortgages. They can use margin debt to
double the amount of their investment funds.
They can take advantage of tax credits, government
guaranteed loans or grants offered to small
businessmen or to certain minorities to fund multiple
streams of income.
But they don’t use debt to fill the house with things.
They pay cash for their new TV’s and stereos.
They take taxes into account when planning their
lifestyle and investments and use all the tricks the
IRS lets you get away with.
For a little over $3.00 a day, starting at age 22,
you can amass over $850,000 in an IRA.
The difference between the financially independent
and most of the rest of us is that they can find that
$100 a month and don’t consider it some kind of
sacrifice to invest it rather than spend it.
Most people will complain they have no money left over
and that they live from paycheck to paycheck. But in
almost all cases this is a lifestyle choice.
There are many stories of very low income people managing
to put multiple children not only through college, but
also graduate school or leaving millions to a favorite
charity.
These people are special in the sense that they had a goal
and stuck to it no matter what. They worked hard, saved
their money and achieved what they wanted to achieve.
Everyone can do this. You just have to ignore the siren song
of commercialism, and decide whether a secure future for
yourself, a college education for your children or a large
bequest to your favorite charity is worth skipping the daily
double latte at Starbucks.
That about all it takes to get you well down the road to
financial freedom.
The road to financial freedom is literally paved with gold,
yours for the taking.
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Chris Cooper
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