Towards Financial Freedom - Part 2

After debt the next area in your life that you need to address as you move towards financial freedom is:

2. Your Income

Whatever your income level is today it is always possible to increase it in some way. You need to start to think outside the box.

Here are some hints -

- Ask your boss for a raise. Stop laughing! He may be quite impressed that you had the courage to ask, and, if he values your services enough, may well surprise you by saying "yes". Warning - be prepared to do more work for it. As the saying goes - there is no such thing as a free lunch. Why not start doing more work on your own initiative and then asking, pointing out the new areas that you have been taking more responsibility in.

- Look for a new job - quite obviously one that pays better. Better still, look for a better job that is closer to home thereby saving travel expenses as well - a double whammy.

- Get an after hours part-time job. Perhaps just one day on the weekend or a couple of nights a week. This can make a significant difference to your income.

- Start a home based business in your spare time. I believe this to be by far the best option. Some people who take this option end up generating far more income than their day job. Guess which one they end up giving away.

Life is all about generating multiple streams of income. Doing this gives you tremendous security due to the fact that if any one of your income streams fail you still have the others to fall back on. Where do you look? Start by checking out some of the resources and advertisements on this site. It's a beginning - take the first step!

Just a warning. Don't even think about gambling nor any number of the "Get Rich Quick" scams out there. They offer you the world but you end up with only headaches. If it sounds too good to be true - it probably is. Do your research. Due diligence is the key. A few hours of research can save you a lifetime of regret. Have fun with it.

Next time - Your goals.

A quote for you: "A lean purse is easier to cure than to endure." - George S. Clason

A good book to read: "Cashflow Quadrant" by Robert Kiyosaki

Towards Financial Freedom - Part 1

Every person, no matter where they find themselves financially, has the opportunity to change their situation for the better. I will set out below a simple step by step plan that anyone can follow to lead them to a financial level at which they are comfortable.

For you to start out on the path to financial freedom four areas of your life will need to be addressed: Your debt, your income, your goals (dreams), and your self. Let's start with the nasty one first -

1. Your Debt.

OK, here we go.

The guaranteed all time No. 1 solid gold method to reduce debt and, in fact, never need debt in the first place is something I call "The SSM Method". This is going to knock your socks off!! If you adopt this method from right now I absolutely guarantee your life will show financial improvement from this moment on.

This is a tough method. It looks easy if you say it quickly and kind of move on to another topic real fast. I'm going to tell you most people today will fail at this one, our first step. I told you it was the nasty one!

OK, get a hold of something solid - I'm going to reveal this secret of controlling debt now.

Ready?

The SSM in The SSM Method stands for...............STOP SPENDING MONEY.

That's it. Period.

I want you, from this moment on, anytime it comes to the moment of swapping YOUR MONEY from your pocket into someone else's I want you to stop! I want you to think. Do I really need this? Is it totally necessary to my survival? Can I get a cheaper one? Can I live without it altogether?

Don't waste. Drive slower - don't waste petrol. Switch off the lights when you leave the room. Eat a little less - we can all do that and improve our looks and health as well. You get the idea now. Lower the size of all the hundreds of individual expenses in your life and your bank balance will begin to make you smile again. Start to enjoy a simpler lifestyle - believe me, it has many benefits beyond just the financial.

Begin to analyze your expenses. Find the cheaper products and services. They are out there. You just have to motivate yourself to find them. Tricky. Yes, I'll repeat again, I did tell you this was the nasty one. I find a bigger bank balance can always motivate me though and I bet just the thought of it will begin to motivate you too.

Use the money saved to begin to clear your debts. Start with the smallest debt first. Clear that, then add the payment you were making to the next debt repayment (snowball) and so on till all gone. It may take a while but just starting will give you a smell of the victory that awaits you.

The good news is that once you get used to it you'll really love this step. The reason is you get to see results from day one. This spurs you on to the other three steps.

Next time - Your Income

A quote for you: "It's not your salary that makes you rich, It's your spending habits." - Charles A. Jaffe

Highly recommended reading: The Credit Diet

Homespun Advice

Where you are now is where you have put yourself. Every human being is responsible for his or her own personal space and happiness in life. You must be prepared to take responsibility for yourself and, most definitely, your actions.

Never, under any circumstances, allow other people, governments or institutions of any description to do your thinking for you. Be proud that you do it for yourself. Be accountable. Stand proud and tall. Always check out the facts. Never take anything on face value - it is the essence of personal responsibility. "I'll check that out and get back to you" will become your anthem. The world is full of trickery and fraud.

Learn to live within your means. However hard it may be it is the only life that can set you financially free and lead to you becoming a truly free person. Debt is bondage. I'm sorry to appear boring and oh so old fashioned, but the truth is - if you want something - teach yourself to save up first, purchase second. The only real exception would be a home. My advice in this case is to buy a small easily affordable one. Remember, it is the people inside that make a house a home.

Live your life. Truly live your life as if each day was your last. Be brave. Have a go. Try. Become a hero to yourself. Be the best you can possibly be. Strive. Step out. Stand out for all the right reasons. It may appear at times as if life is trying ever so hard to beat you down. Learn to treat it as a challenge - a challenge that of course you can and will overcome.

You are unique in all the universe of universes. In all existence there is none other, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, another being the same as you. You are eternal. You are a spirit entity clothed in human form. You are the very stuff of God. You are here to experience life in the flesh in all it's many and varied dimensions. You life has purpose even if you are not currently fully appreciative of it.

Treat yourself with the respect you deserve. Love yourself - for only by genuinely loving yourself can you also love others. Love is just another word for the all encompassing primal energy from which all things are made. By being in the vibration of love we bring ourselves into vibrational harmony with all creation. In so doing our lives change for the better. We up-step ourselves.

Be persistent. Persistence is really the key to success. It always has been and always will be. If you really want to achieve something - you will - as long as you persist and believe. Learn to break large tasks down into small easily achievable tasks and the desired result will be yours for the taking. You can become, achieve or be, absolutely anything you desire, as long as you are prepared to persist. Success is always within your grasp.

Dreams and goals. They are a must. Without them nothing happens. I'll just repeat that. Dreams and goals - they are a must - without them nothing happens. With them everything happens. Now re-read the previous paragraph.

Live your life in a constant spirit of gratitude. Give thanks for both the good and the bad. Every cloud has a silver lining. Every disappointment carries with it the seed of an even greater opportunity. Grab with gratitude the opportunities that are always coming your way for life is chock full of them if you will just watch for them in a spirit of expectation. Give thanks.

No matter what anyone may tell you or how you may feel - you have a right to be here - this is your world too.

A Quote for you: "Man is made or unmade by himself.....In the armoury of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends to the Divine perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and man is their maker and master." - James Allen "As A Man Thinketh"

The Moon Landings

Men from Planet Earth first set foot upon another celestial body on July 20, 1969. I consider this to be the most significant event in all the recorded history of mankind. Another six such moon landings were carried out between 1969 and 1972. Who among us can ever forget the immortal words of Neil Armstrong as he set foot for the first time on the surface of the moon: "This is one small step for man, one giant leap forward for mankind."

At the time I was working for a bank in the heart of the city of Melbourne. Someone had done the right thing and had placed a television on the counter so everyone could watch. For a small period of time the world stopped what it was doing and looked. An estimated 500 million people worldwide watched this event live, the largest television audience for a live broadcast at that time.

It is interesting to note that the computers on both the Lunar Module and the Command Module were each the size of a shoebox. Total storage capacity of each was roughly equal to the 64K bytes of a Commodore 64 computer. The Lunar Module computer is probably comparable in speed to a pocket calculator. The people involved would not have believed the storage capacity and speed of the laptop I'm typing this article on.

But you know - they did it anyway. It shows that we can truly amaze ourselves when we set very big goals and set about accomplishing them with resolve. Really the only thing that stands in our way of achieving anything we want is the level of our belief that we can do it.

A rocket is only on course towards it's objective for a very small part of it's total journey. Interaction between the on board computer/s and the gyroscope keep returning it to it's correct course. Isn't that so much like life. As long as we have a goal, even though we may stray here and there along the path, as long as we keep going, with our objective in mind, the destination is ours for the taking. How's your goal list going? How sharp is your self-belief? Are you on course?

If you would like to know more click here

A quote for you: "I think we're going to the moon because it's in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It's by the nature of his deep inner soul... we're required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream." - Neil Armstrong

And another (equally as good): "The important achievement of Apollo was demonstrating that humanity is not forever chained to this planet and our visions go rather further than that and our opportunities are unlimited." - Neil Armstrong