Financial freedom. From beautiful dream to reachable goal.

Financial freedom. From beautiful dream to reachable goal.

A possibility to never work again and spend your days doing what you love instead. Who hasn’t thought about it? I have done this a lot. It happens every time I have to do something unpleasant.

Not worrying about money, playing football, travelling around, enjoying my life and being free to do things that really matter. That’s the dream, right? For long, I thought it’s only possible if something extraordinary happens. If I win a lottery or find a rich spouse…

But then people started to invite me to some kind of meetings where they talked about “Plan b” and “Financial freedom”. It turned out they were trying to bring me to pyramid schemes.

Luckily I was smart enough to reject them, but the idea of financial freedom stayed with me. And still reminds itself often.

Financial freedom is a fantastic dream, but seriously, do you believe in it?

Unlike many people, I think about financial freedom as a goal not as a dream. The goal is something I work towards to, the dream is just a beautiful thought.

For me, the goal is to have a lifestyle where a constant stream of passive income will cover all my expenses and also provides funds to invest for the future.

Woman laying under parasol. Don't want to look like this when I achieve financial freedom.
Should financial freedom look like this?

Passive income means that I am not getting paid directly for the work I am doing, but instead, I create or own something that pays me even if I am not participating actively.  There are different ways to earn it: dividends on shares, rental income from properties, creating an online course that sells itself online and so on. There’s a nice list of them here. For some, I need to do work up front, for others, I have to have money to invest.

Another thing that makes me believe in financial freedom is my “big fat greedy final vision”. What am I going to do when stars align one day, and I manage to grow my passive income large enough to live without worries?

The last thing I imagine myself doing is laying on paradise island every day drinking beer and eating nachos. Not that I would refuse a bottle of craft beer, nor enjoy location independent lifestyle, just image of life without bigger cause looks meaningless.

If my final vision would be something related to the word “lazy”, then I would soon reach a point, where it’s difficult to find motivation and determination to work towards my goal anymore. I could find a couch to sleep on right now. Why would I need to work hard and wait till I am old?

People want freedom. They need purpose.

There’s a great quote I stumbled on Running Remote conference in Bali island „People want freedom, but need a purpose“.  I totally agree with that.

That’s also why the world’s most successful people keep still working after making billions.

The great final vision to motivate me is doing something purposeful that aligns with my values. I still can’t exactly say what it will be, but it will definitely include spending a lot of time with my family and friends and improving the people’s lives around me. Very noble, I know. That’s why it keeps me going.

So, how do I plan to reach my goal?

First of all, I acknowledge that this is a very long-term goal. And there will never be a moment when I will say now it’s a job done, let’s forget it and move on.

But still, every S.M.A.R.T goal has to be measurable and time-bounded.

I have divided my plan into 3 smaller milestones to make it feel more reachable. And also, to help me congratulate small wins and keep me motivated this way. (Although, when writing this here in Kuala Lumpur with almost no active or passive income, even the road towards the first step looks to be a ‘little’ long)

The mentioned milestones for me are:

Working on a bus with tired face
Happily working on a bus while travelling
  • Minimum income to survive without working. Out of rat race! I can make the ends meet and have just enough to theoretically survive when becoming jobless.  40€/per day – end of 2020
  • Comfortable lifestyle. At last, I don’t have to work anymore! And can start doing something meaningful. (If work isn’t that for me at this point). 100€/per day – end of 2022
  • Finally rich! Time for a huge party! I made it! Now, how can I make the world a better place? 1000€/per day – end of 2030

Where did I get the numbers? These are my expectations for my needs in the near future. I know the numbers quite well as I am punctilious in keeping track on my expenses, having counted every cent since my university times. For some, it looks like a waste of time, but for me, it helped me to cut my expenses and save for my journey here in South-East Asia.

And time-constraints? These are the dates that make me really nervous about wasting any minute. The ones that make me work even on night buses on mountainous roads.

Ambitious goals. What’s my precise action plan towards the financial freedom?

Google ‘passive income’ and you will find ‘How-to’ and ‘Ways-to’ guides and lists to read for days. There are a lot of great ideas, guides and recommendation.

But before following anyone’s advice, which I also have to be really careful of, there is a more important thing to do.

It’s creating a right mindset. Unfortunately, no one ever taught me about this in school or university. (Same story with personal finances.)

The ‘right mindset’ is an entrepreneurial mindset.

  • First, I have to believe that it’s possible to be capable of having financial freedom one day.
  • Then I have to be open-minded and creative to see opportunities.
  • When I have found the right opportunity, I need to have the courage to take risks, show up, and invest my money and time into it.
  • But I also know that I will definitely fail on the road. And most often, there will be no-one else to blame than my self. So, I have to be accountable for my own decisions.
  • And when I fail and fall down, I must have a determination and a drive to get up and find a new way towards my goal.

At the same time, I can’t forget an ‘accountants mindset’ that will protect and steadily grow the money I have made. The same mindset that has allowed me to save for my trip to South-East Asia.

  • Keep track of all expenses and have a budget
  • Earn more than spend
  • Invest the savings wisely

To explain it to a footballer like me, the entrepreneurial mindset is about attacking more money, while accountants mindset is about defending everything I have earned. I could have a lousy defence if the attack is really good, but it doesn’t work another way around. To win the game, it’s very important to have a great attack. Too bad I am a goalkeeper.

Mart as a goakeeper being frustrated.
Need to step forward from the goalkeeper position to win the game of financial freedom.

It’s a long game, no, an infinite game, where I am still an amateur. Just have to keep on practising,  set up tactics, and start entering into competitions.

In conclusion, I would like to leave a simple recipe for every reader who is also dreaming of financial freedom. There are only 8 easy steps you have to do:

  1. Set well-defined goals
  2. Tune your mindset
  3. Create an action plan
  4. Work (and fail)
  5. Change a plan
  6. Work (as it’s going well…)
  7. Work even more (to finally make it)
  8. Work on (as it’s now the only thing you know to do in life…)

Good luck!

And if you have any books about attacking? Please leave them to comments.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.