Financial Freedom
Obtaining financial freedom seems like a long shot in the midst of COVID-19. It doesn’t have to be that way. As long as you are bringing in income, these steps are a possibility. Here are the 8-steps that need to be taken:
Track Expenses
First, start tracking your expenses. If you can afford a program that does all of the tracking for you, use that. I currently use QuickBooks and I’ve used Quicken in the past. If you would like to use the free option, any spreadsheet or word processing software would do the job. Tracking expenses is important in being able to recognize what is needed versus just arbitrarily spending.
Cut Unnecessary Spending
Which brings us to the second order of business. Cut unnecessary spending. I don’t need to get into the weeds of what is necessary and what is not. Remember, we’re in a pandemic and anything is possible, so now may not be the time for that shopping spree you’ve been meaning to do.
Do Your Research
Educate yourself on the various types of savings and investments that can be made. In the era of the World Wide Web, there are so many options at your fingertips. If you follow Business Bullish on Facebook or @BusinessBullish on Instagram, you’ll be sure to get consistent information on apps that will help you with saving and investing. @MarloNicole often gives her personal picks on recent investments for free. Doing your own research is always important when making investments, but nonetheless these are great starts.
Multiple Streams of Income
The 4th process is one of my favorites… build multiple streams of income. Your job, your side hustle, your part time business, your home based business, your eBay sales or your comic book trading; the point is to have more than one. Diversity is not only important in people, and perspectives, it’s extremely important to finances as well. All of the streams may not produce passive income right away, so having multiple can offset your ability to earn consistently.
Save Your Money
Save Money. I’ll say it again, save money. It doesn’t matter how much you make. What matters is how much you save. Saving is what will allow you invest.
Invest
Which is why the next step is to invest. The entire purpose of saving should be to invest. Yes, you can still “save for a rainy day”, but, do so by investing. Where and how you invest is what will be the deciding factor. When you decide what you’re going to invest in, the next step is to reinvest.
Reinvest
There are stocks that pay a dividend in addition to any profits that are made. Try reinvesting those dividends into the stock and have your account grow without you personally adding additional money to it.
The 8th and final step is to live a life with passive income. My mother used to tell me that money doesn’t grow on trees. She was right factually, however it goes grow. It grows when you save it, invest it and reinvest it.