Three Commandments to Achieving Financial Independence

People think it is not easy to achieve financial freedom. Some say that money is never enough. Maybe it is true that money is never enough but my position is money is never enough for the unprepared. Money is like success, sometimes to get it, one has to prepare and as the old saying goes, if you are not planning to succeed you are surely planning to fail.

Achieving financial freedom is much more than having lots of cash. This is the freedom of being who you are financially and being able to do what you want to in life. It is about letting money work for you other than you have to work for money. Some economists define financial freedom as the ability to maintain and sustain your regular and desired lifestyle without a regular paycheck.

Is it possible to achieve a financial freedom? The answer is yes. There are three rules to achieving financial freedom which I would prefer to call Three Commandments to Achieving Financial Freedom.

1. Invest in yourself

This is also called paying yourself. The only way to pay yourself first is not by buying clothes, eating good food and going places, it is through saving. When you get your earning, how many times do you usually think about yourself first? Some of us think about paying school fees for our kids, paying rent, sending some money to our relatives back home but forget about paying ourselves. I call this rule paying tithe to yourself. This means that you need to be in a position to save 10 percent of your earnings every month. If you earn 30,000 shillings, for instance, your savings account should receive 3,000 shillings. If you are not saving 10 percent of your earnings each month because ‘the money is not enough,’ then know that you are living beyond your means.

2. Your job should not be your sole source of income

Many of us entirely rely on our jobs as the main source of income. What will happen if the job is terminated? Frustrations and suffering. The best way to achieve financial freedom is to let your job supplement your income. The simple underlying factor here is you should invest. The old antiquated saying of do not put all your eggs in one basket applies here. When you find yourself solely depended on your job to the point that you fear taking up new opportunities because there is so much at stake and you fear drifting into poverty, then you are dreading along a dangerous financial path.

3. Have a budget

One of the surest ways to spend money and have it gone without noticing is not to have a budget. A budget is the only guiding tool that will give you a list of things you want and those you do not urgently need. Your budget should be flexible in that you can drop some things from the list if need be. While preparing the budget, start with things that you need, those that are essential and cannot do with. Avoid all the unnecessary things if you want to be financially free.