What I have learned after being in the financial industry for over a decade is that deep down financial freedom is different for everyone, while at the same time there are guiding principles that are the same for everyone. The difference is your view on money and its utilization. Depending on your view you can either be empowered and $$ can be a tool for living a happy grateful life, or $$ can be the root of stress in your life and hold you back.
The good news is you have the power and control and your choices and decisions can make all the difference in your world!
Growing up I learned a lot about money by not having it. While I was a young boy money was the root for stress in my family’s world. We did not have control over money and learned to resent money and sometimes even the people that had it. When I was a teenager I vividly remember having a conversation at home about a successful real estate mogul. I just learned about them and their view on money and real estate, “look at all of the housing they are providing people in desirable areas and doing a great job of it; they are happy and so aren’t their tenants.” Another family member said, “Yeah but look at all the money they are making off of people, they are making so much money it is horrible.” Same story two completely different views on what is happening. 1 is empowering and creates opportunity “How can I do the same thing” the second is limiting and creates the “stuck” position of no place to go.
Over time I learned discipline is freedom. Sometimes doing the things you don’t want to do first allows you to do the things you want to do later… and BIGGER and BETTER! The first step to this is knowing what is coming in and what is going out. When my wife and I first started doing this I was pleasantly surprised by what we had going out that we could easily stop to get more money in our lives. At the same time, I was unhappy about the extremely small amount of money I was bringing in (I did not want her to know how small my paycheck really was, embarrassed). However, this forced me to get and think creatively. 1st step financial organization = what is coming in and what is going out, what can you cut out, but even more important is how can you expand your world? Think: “This is what we want, what is the best fastest way to grow and expand” rather than cut back and reduce. We started using an app called Goodbudget to set and track our expenses. It provided the discipline and structure and our view of it gave us a game to play around finances, “can we stick to it this month?”
We try to look at 100 areas of our financial world and make each area 1% better. These small steps that lead to giant leaps. And even when we thought we were all set financially and doing well, because we now had this expansion view of finances we learned new innovative ways to grow more efficiently and avoid things like taxes, fees and hidden cost. This has led to a life of living in my ideal town, my ideal home, my ideal office and business. Rather than being in the rat race and not knowing how to get out and working every day and never really getting ahead; which was the view I had and the road I was on. Change your view change your world.
TrueView.
BIO: Jim DesRocher is a financial advisor in Middleton, MA. You can schedule a COMPLIMENTARY consultation on his website dev-trueview-financial.pantheonsite.io.
2018-62659 Exp. 7/20