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The Secret To Financial Independence

Let me give you the one thing, the simple step that makes the difference, the golden goose – the money secret, the little thing that no one else knows. The thing you must do if you want genuine independence, to have financial freedom.  

I can tell you exactly what it is you need to do, it is a formula and it is the same formula that has worked since Roman times – really, it has worked since money became a thing. 

Before I give you the step I want to explain a couple of things to you.  

Not having debt is one of the best things that can happen to you. Debt is mainly borrowed money spent on stuff that goes down in value – and very effectively mortgages your future income, ties up your future income for the benefit of someone else. The reason debt is so prolific, is because it is such an easy way of using money as a resource, as a lever. Debt, from a lenders point of view means a source of future income without physically having to turn up and earn it.  

Working, trading your time for money means your income is always going to be limited by the amount of time you have and your hourly rate. You can only work so many hours in a day and your rate of pay can only be as high as – the rate, the person paying you is prepared to pay for that work. 

Eventually, you run out of time – death. You don’t know when that is going to be nor do you have any concept of it being now or later. It will happen when it happens. Sure, you take an educated guess but really don’t have any idea when. 

Then there is running your own business. Sure, this allows you leverage, you can use ideas and processes to get your money working for you. This is a proven method and of course it works.  

Provided your business is more than a one man show – then you get the chance to boost the earnings ability of your money. 

Lastly, there is investment. Taking part or all of your money and placing that into something that will work for you. Investing in company shares for instance. Each investment you make buys part of that company, part of its workforce, knowledge, buildings, and processes. Provided the company makes a profit then you will be rewarded in the form of a dividend – if you like a payment of interest and potentially some capital growth. All you need to do for that is to sell your share at a higher price than you paid for it. 

Investment allows further leverage, you’ve traded your time for money, what doesn’t get spent on stuff and living can be invested.  

The returns from the investment (income and capital growth) is money you have not had to work for. The very best kind.  Once income is paid to you, it can’t be taken away, it’s yours forever. You can reinvest that money, combining the money you have worked for and the money you have not – and grow and even bigger pot of money that can now work for you.  

I hate this phrase – virtuous circle – but that is what the above paragraph explains. Leverage that is ongoing and never-ending.  

With all of that in mind there are a few questions you need to ask before you make decisions about your money. Before you spend it or invest it you need to make sure that you are clear about what you are about to do, what I call being mindful.  

Your money is a valuable resource, once spent it never ever comes back to you. It has gone forever and will not return. Which leads me to the one answer to the question… 

How do I become financially independent at some stage in my life? 

Ready? 

Spend less than you earn and invest what remains. 

You can contact me here to arrange a Money Workshop at your place of work.

My Free Course – Money is here FREE MONEY COURSE

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March 2019 Podcast – All About Debt

Dealing with this area of your personal finances is really the kingpin or the starting point to improving your future wealth and happiness.

it does seem to be the case that we are all overloaded with debt of some description or another and this seems to be at the very start of people’s lives, my daughter was being offered credit on her 18th birthday, just as soon as she was legally able to consumer court. the problem with credit is the if it is not used correctly then it effectively steals your future. one of the reasons credit is such a powerful medium for those that are offering it is this, it guarantees them a share in your future income. Money that you should be using in order to provide the things that you need and want, ends up being paid in interest charges. But, it’s worse than that, the entire system is designed so that you never effectively repay debt and are caught on a treadmill of having to give up future income in order to service the financial liabilities you have. From the lenders point of you it becomes a very good stream of income from your point of view, it is a very large stone hanging around your neck.

Given that we now have things like student loans, it is accepted that every 24 or 25 year old will end up with some kind of long term debt. even if there is no student finance to be considered then there is car finance, lease plans and bank overdrafts and credit card lending. The numbers involved or truly fantastic, and I will cover more of these in the content below. The problem from your point of view, is this if you have any form of debt and you are currently still working your debt, is going to be serviced out of your future income. That is money you have not earned yet. if this money is going to be earmarked for somebody else, for example your debt repayments then it can’t work for you.

Importantly, most of the things we tend to buy on credit are the things that go down in value, or are consumable which makes things even worse. You end up with no long-term value and the benefit goes to the manufacture of the product or of the service and the credit card company. Sure it is the system of capitalism that gets us to this point, problem is far too many people don’t think about this subject in a mindful way or bother to really consider the options and the short term future.

This is exploited by the banks and credit card providers. If for a minute you did sit down and think about what today’s credit card borrowing was going to do for your future income, you probably wouldn’t borrow. You’d probably make a plan b. This is the plan b I would encourage you to consider sooner rather than later.

it is not possible for you to have a rock solid, and independent financial future if you have debts kicking around. Sure, there are such things as good debt – but in the main debt of any description is a bad thing. Over at moneytrainers.co.uk co.uk I have a couple of downloads on this particular subject.

It is vital that you review your existing financial circumstances as a matter of urgency and consider very carefully the level of debt but you have and what that is going to look like in the future.

DEAL WITH DEBT

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”

Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

Current UK National Debt – the amount owed by the government is £2.156 trillion (at December 2018). At the end of December  2018 personal debt – the amount owed by us all personally was £1.65 trillion or £59,261 each.

UK National Debt now stands at £2,156 trillion. It’s currently increasing at around £5,000 per second. http://www.nationaldebtclock.co.uk. Someone will have to repay this at a future date.

Just so you know: a trillion seconds = 31,688 years or would take to back to 29,000 years bc.

Jesus was just a twinkle in an eye somewhere fact not born for another 27,000 years or so. These numbers are mind boggling.

There is something about debt, on one level it seems we can’t live without it, yet millions do manage it. Supported by the government and the banks we are encouraged to live now, buy now, have it all now on borrowed money – effectively mortgaging your future very nicely.

Borrow if you need, just understand how bad it can be for your financial health – like smoking it feels good at the time, but stuck in a cancer ward with terminal lung cancer does not seem that great.

The message we get from all of those trying to sell us things is this …Imagine how good you’ll feel when you have x or y. Just do it! There are many problems with this kind of thinking or approach to having stuff, and most of the stuff we all buy on credit is just stuff; first problem is this.

It’s a poor man’s (or woman) approach to life. The wealthy understand the truth about borrowing – you mortgage your future income in order to get that car or holiday this week rather than next month or next year, waiting for the right time, perhaps when you have saved enough.

Wealthy people, those that are able to earn and keep hold of money have very different spending patterns to most of us, and certainly don’t borrow to buy stuff. Working on your buying decisions is one way to ensure you become FI (financial independent) at some time in your life.

Long after the buzz of the purchase has gone, you will still paying for it out of your future income. Debt, effectively robs you of a future, an independent future.

It’s also stressful, and stress is a killer. Debt equals death, bit harsh, but go ask anyone in debt.

Repay/Overpay

I have a budget planner available from my website (email me on admin@moneytrainers.co.uk and ask me for a copy of it.

On the debt side of this planner I ask you to rank debt in order of it’s interest charge. Often you will find that the actual interest charge on much of your debt varies from 16% – 28% right down as low as 1% for mortgages.

You should then consider what borrowing can be repaid without penalty – credit cards are not normally a problem, but loans and other types of finance may have a penalty, check first.

Once you know what the most expensive debt is you should start to make larger payments to this, and maintain the minimum or contracted payment to the rest of your debt.

This method provides you with a ‘snowball effect’ as the more expensive debt starts to reduce, thus you’ll be paying less interest and more capital; forcing the debt to reduce.

True Cost Of Credit – Alison Average.

A few years ago Alison went on a very nice holiday and she put the cost of this on her credit card which leaves her with just half of the UK average debt of £4500.

This is likely to be paid off over the next ten years or so if she doesn’t spend any more on her card. Based on average repayment time, and an interest rate of 18.66% assuming she makes the minimum payment she should clear the balance completely in around 31 years, and pay £6350 in interest. Total cost is over ten grand.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Buy On The Dips

 

I’m sure you have heard this  before, that you should only invest your money in stocks and shares when the price is right.

The problem is no one fully explains exactly what that means.

So, let me explain in a little more detail about how this works in practice. And provided you follow the steps laid out in the money trainers training you will be aware that you need to secure any investments in cash first,  and then allocate this cash across a range of investments – when the time is right.

The problem being, when is the time right?

We know that the markets fluctuate on a daily basis and very often you’ll find the markets on a roll upwards over a period of weeks and then dip slightly, the market never continues to go up it always levels out,  consolidates and/or often falls slightly.

Falls in any market; of any share price of one or two percent are very common, falls of 3% or 4% on less common but do happen on a regular basis.

Buy on the dips – moneytrainers investment training.

Larger falls in the price of the market happen less frequently but nonetheless arrive with a reasonable amount of regularity.

Therefore it makes perfect sense for you to invest when the markets are lower than they were yesterday rather than the highs of today, quite simply we know full well, and can state with some certainty that the price in the market today of a given share or stock index will different tomorrow, or the day after, or stay the same.

Provided you have cash in your portfolio you have no need to invest today and you can time your investment to suit you, if we use a different analogy.

Let’s say you need to purchase oranges, you don’t need them immediately but it would be nice to have some in the house at some point in the future you can  – simply wait until the price of oranges falls.

You have no need to invest today or tomorrow or the next day but simply wait for the market dips and let the market come to you rather than you chasing the market. Provided you allocate your funds correctly you can simply invest when the market suits you, or at least when the price suits you.

This kind of market timing can improve your investment returns by 10 or 20% per year dependent on market conditions.

Just one simple method can improve your returns exponentially. Sure it’s a bit fiddly, but making money it’s always been fiddly.

when you’re ready to get some more information on this don’t forget to subscribe the box is on the right-hand side of this post, or drop me an email via the contact form

https://www.moneytrainers.co.uk/contact