What is freedom and why would you want to achieve financial freedom in order to feel free? I thought it would be fun to write a piece about this.
When I read the book Rich dad, poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki in 2017, I first came across the term “financial freedom”. But what does it mean exactly?
Financial freedom is different for everyone. Imagine that you are used to a salary of 1500 euros per month with which you can fully make ends meet, then this 1500 euros per month is your ‘magic number’. If your investments provide a 10% return per year, you ‘only’ need 180,000 euros to be financially free.
The calculation is child’s play, but the way to get there is of course a lot less simple. It takes courage and perseverance, but the reward is great. In particular, the mindset you develop to achieve your goal is priceless.
What I personally love most about achieving financial freedom is the freedom to do what your heart desires. I have met so many passionate, hard-working people on my journey to FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) that I am now convinced that the world would be a better place if people no longer had the pressure of having to work.
Personally, I don’t believe we are made to do nothing because if you are not growing, you are dying. But let this be the very reason why the people around me who achieved financial freedom some time ago are still working hard. The biggest difference is just: not having to work, but being allowed to work. This is the only way to fulfil your soul’s mission, even if it doesn’t pay off.
By far my biggest lesson from this journey to freedom is that you should not believe everything you think. We have all been given a blueprint and have been conditioned in a certain way, which gives us the idea that we have to live our lives the way it has been presented to us. Fortunately, this is not true.
Wherever you come from in the world and whatever you have experienced, everything in life happens for a reason. See these (perhaps painful) lessons of life as fuel to go for the life you dream of. All you have to do is write down your magic number, visualise it on a vision board, write out the plan and take action.
Remember, you are the Picasso of your own painting. At the moment you take final responsibility for your own life; only then… are you free.
