{"id":79381,"date":"2016-08-05T15:30:55","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T21:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/renewsblog\/?p=79381"},"modified":"2024-02-14T15:57:40","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T22:57:40","slug":"good-news-for-those-seeking-financial-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/good-news-for-those-seeking-financial-freedom","title":{"rendered":"Behind on the Path to Financial Freedom? Here’s the Good News You NEED to Hear"},"content":{"rendered":"

I remember when I first understood the concept of financial freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lights went on.<\/span><\/p>\n

I got it. I understood building wealth. I understood saving my money, earning more money, and investing the difference — and how this could compound to a lifetime of prosperity, freedom, choice, abundance, and the ability to stop worrying about money. <\/span><\/p>\n

I got it, and I wanted it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then I pounded sand in frustration for months, YEARS before anything clicked. I <\/span>wanted<\/span> so badly <\/span><\/i>to get started<\/span>, yet I had nowhere to direct those efforts. Sure, I could bring lunch into work and start cooking dinner at home. Sure, I could make little decisions to buy less expensive meals out and forgo things like video games and pricey\u00a0trips. But forgoing things like nights out as a single guy in my early 20s? Forget it, that\u2019s going to happen. Dates? Gonna happen. Skiing? Gonna happen. Rugby (my favorite hobby)? Gonna happen. Saving significantly more than I was at that point in time? Seemed impossible.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I tried earning more. I tried working second jobs, tutoring, driving Uber, and all sorts of stuff like that to make a few extra bucks. The problem was that this too cut into my free time, and there\u2019s only so many hours of minimum wage work that you can take after working a full-time job.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I tried my hand at picking stocks. I tried beating the market. I tried options, short sales, and all that junk. That didn\u2019t work either, and not only did I fail to get average returns, I actually lost money!<\/span><\/p>\n

The point is that there really wasn\u2019t much I could change to get more \u201cserious\u201d about financial freedom — at least not in the short-term.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I was wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"raise-funds-deal\"<\/p>\n

Related:<\/strong> At Age 26, I\u2019m on the Brink of Financial Freedom: Here\u2019s How I Did It<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

What I’d Tell My Former Self<\/h2>\n

Looking back, I\u2019d tell myself, “<\/span>Scott, it was THEN that you won this game of money and financial freedom. It was THEN that you mastered the basic fundamentals that have gotten you to where you are today, and those things will get you to where you are going.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Those frustrating times — that WAS the point where I took control over money. Even if the markets crash, if I get sued, if I lose my job, and if everything goes to hell, I\u2019ll be fine because I understand and want financial freedom. It\u2019s because of that frustration, that desire that I know that even though it felt like I was losing, that it felt like I was getting behind, that\u2019s when I actually got ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this article, I want to relate to all the folks out there who\u00a0finally \u201cget it\u201d — the folks who\u00a0understand financial freedom and what they need to do to start working towards it. This is for all those folks who\u00a0understand what needs to happen, but can\u2019t figure out <\/span>how<\/span><\/i> they are ever going to get there. I want to let you know that I know how frustrating this can be for you. You see all the other folks here on BP getting ahead and feel left behind. <\/span><\/p>\n

You feel like there\u2019s so little you can do and that the little things you <\/span>can<\/span><\/i> do are so meaningless that it seems laughable to bother. Little things like saving $4 on a Starbucks coffee and drinking the lousy stuff at work. Why bother with that?<\/span><\/p>\n

If that\u2019s you, then you <\/span>know<\/span><\/i> that you need to start saving more. You <\/span>know<\/span><\/i> you need to build passive income and start investing in real, tangible assets that can be harnessed <\/span>today<\/span><\/i>, not in 30 years<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

You know that you need to be frugal. Or get a second job. Or get your real estate license. Or whatever it is you need to do to begin pulling ahead and working towards financial freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not rocket science. In fact, it\u2019s <\/span>simple<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"conventional-loan\"<\/p>\n

But Here\u2019s the Problem<\/h2>\n

You\u2019ve got two kids who\u00a0need daycare while the two of you work.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got a nice house, and you aren\u2019t going to sell it. <\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got reasonable-ish cars that you might not have bought if you knew what you know now, but selling them doesn\u2019t <\/span>really<\/span><\/i> make sense and would be a major life alteration.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve got a 401(k) plan. You\u2019ve got home equity. You\u2019ve got a good, maybe even great, job. But you can\u2019t seem to accumulate cash. At least, not enough to make a meaningful difference in your life. Certainly not enough to make a big purchase like a rental property<\/a> or small business\/franchise. You know that it is the result of your past financial decisions, decisions that seemed so right, so <\/span>normal<\/span><\/i>, so widely accepted in the past that you are in this position of stagnation right now. You accept that and are a little frustrated with your past self.<\/span><\/p>\n

You <\/span>know<\/span><\/i> how to build wealth. You know that this is an important goal, and that it\u2019s not <\/span>hard<\/span>, it just requires some changes. You know <\/span>why<\/span><\/i> you want to start down the path towards financial freedom. The problem is just that you don\u2019t know how to start. You don\u2019t want to make drastic changes like selling your house, your cars, or going headlong into playing games with self-directed IRAs or something like that — at least not yet. You don\u2019t want to take out big new debts when you can barely come up with a few hundred extra bucks saved at the end of each month as it is!<\/span>
\n
\nRelated:<\/strong> The Secret the Rich Understand About Building Wealth (And No, It\u2019s Not All About Cash Flow)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I get it. <\/span><\/p>\n

And I\u2019ve got some good news for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"newbies-wholesaling\"<\/p>\n

You’ve Already Won<\/h2>\n

This is the worst part<\/span><\/i>. This is the worst phase of working towards accumulating wealth. It’s all uphill from here, as far as how you feel about your finances.\u00a0And I\u2019m here to tell you that you aren\u2019t alone in feeling this way. Everyone I know who\u00a0\u201cgets it\u201d wants to suddenly go off to the races. They feel, terribly, that they are behind, that they could have done it so much better if they knew what they knew now, but that their previous choices have left them stuck.<\/span><\/p>\n

The good news is that <\/span>you\u2019ve<\/span> won<\/span><\/i> when you start to feel like this. You\u2019ve already won, when it <\/span>feels like you\u2019re losing<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why — it\u2019s because you\u2019ve turned the corner in your decision-making process. You will explore the options available to accelerate this whole wealth thing. You will seek out opportunities to save. You will ponder the reality of making drastic changes in your life to make drastic financial moves. You may not be able to take action, or you may decide against it, but you\u2019ve already won because you <\/span>want to<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>will <\/span><\/i>make gradual changes towards that goal from here on out.<\/span><\/p>\n

That feeling doesn\u2019t go away. Or at least it won\u2019t until you are well on your way, or even past your destination.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll notice it with little decisions at first:<\/span><\/p>\n