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Financial Freedom

Freedom - what a beautiful concept. According to Webster's Dictionary the word freedom means "Liberty of the person from slavery, detention, or oppression"; "the capacity to exercise choice, free will" as well as "exemption from an unpleasant or onerous condition".
Is that what you think of when you think of money and freedom in the same sentence?
Ask most Americans and they'll say that having "enough" money means freedom to them. Freedom from a boss, from debt, free to go where they want and do it when they want to. Yet if you look at their lifestyle, take a peek in their checkbook and you'll see that they don't really want to have that much money.
If they did, wouldn't they cut back their spending and utilize the unspent money in a wiser manner? A few dollars here and a few dollars there and it will all adds up over the course of a four decade long working career.
If you saved $7 a week, placed it in an account earning 4-6% interest in 20 years you will have nearly $20,000. Who couldn't use an extra $20,000 in the next two decades? Of course, the younger you are when you start saving the $7 a week, the more the money will grow by the time you need it.
While we're looking at their checkbook, how much do they give away for charity? There is something about charity that not only makes us feel good about helping others, it also doesn't seem to make us any poorer. If you doubt me, try donating 5% of your income over the course of a year and see if you are any worse off after that year than you were before.
Now take a look at the average Americans credit cards. Nearly 2/3 of us are in bondage to one or more credit card companies. Yes, I know that I said bondage and that is exactly what debt is - bondage. If you are in debt you can not exercise your free will to do what you want because you have to make those payments to pay back what you have borrowed.
*On a sidebar - nearly everything purchased with a credit card is a consumer good meaning that by the time you receive the bill next month, you have already used the item you bought. I call this the PLUN plan - Pay Later, Use Now. Can anybody say stupid?
means exactly what it sounds like - freedom to use your money, your resources, your time in any manner you wish (within reason and legality of course). You don't have the onerous condition of having to work for a credit card company, a mortgage company, or any other lending agency and having to pay interest on money borrowed years ago. After all, if you owe somebody something you have to work to repay your debt so you are in fact working for that lender. Not a pretty thought.
So if you agree that financial freedom is a desirable condition then why aren't more Americans striving to reach this goal? Some of us are lazy, some don't care, and a few have given up, but most just don't know how. To help you know how, at least as much as I can in this short article, there's two things you can do and one you really should do.
*The first thing to do is talk with your spouse. All the plans in the world won't work unless they are involved and understand the necessity of making a change. Explain why you want to become financially free.
*The second thing to do is take a look at your lifestyle. Do you routinely spend more than you earn? Do you place some money into a savings fund every payday? Do you willingly give to charity from your paycheck?
Simply cutting your spending is a good place to start, developing a budget to track how much you spend where is even better. If you know how much you allow for each portion of life i.e., car insurance, mortgage, food, entertainment, etc., then you will be able to decide where to limit your spending.
You don't want to cut your spending so much that you feel deprived, though. Just like a diet, doing a crash change will not produce long lasting results. Gradually change, see the results and be encouraged.
Oh, you really should do some plastic surgery too. Cut up all your credit cards and charge nothing more. If you have to have one for business or emergency, make sure you and your spouse agree before charging anything and then pay the bill in full when it comes due.
*Thirdly, even if you don't go so far as to develop a budget that you stick to is to quit using our credit cards. In fact take out all of your credit cards, decide which one has the highest interest rate and/or the lowest balance and pay it off in full by making the minimums on all the other cards and paying as much extra as you can on this one card. Even $10 a month extra will pay it down sooner. Do this until the card is paid off.
Take the money you had been paying to this one card and apply it to the next card with the highest interest rate and/or lowest balance. Repeat this process until all your credit cards are paid off. Then take all the money that had been going to credit cards and apply it to your auto loans. After that, pay off your mortgage.
After you have done all this, and you are financially free, take the money you had been paying on your debt and pay it to yourself. Don't go crazy with it and run rampant through Target, but put the money into your retirement fund, your savings account or whatever you choose for your future.
Always keep your eye on the reason you make decisions like this - to be free, free, free!

Roger Sorensen is a Financial Author and Speaker, and the editor of Money Basics, a monthly personal finance newsletter found online at www.brighterfutures.com. After filling in his own debt pit equal to 150% of his annual income, Roger has turned the experiance into Brighter Futures, a Financial Literacy company. "There is hope for you, no matter how large your debt load might be."

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