Financial Freedom Dream
In May 2018, I wrote about my financial freedom dreams, and this dream still exists today. I am still far away that this dream could come true, but now years later, steps are taken in the right direction.
It is a bit funny to read my old blog post and see now that I can express the content of the whole article in 5 lines.
How to become financially independent?
1. Do not spend more money than you earn.
2. Save some of your money, but also remember to enjoy your life.
3. Invest the money you save and put the money to work for you.
4. Do not lose the money you invest.
5. Develop yourself and the four points I mentioned above.
If this is so easy, then why isn’t everyone financially independent?
The biggest problems for most of us are to reach financial freedom:
1. How to make enough money that it would also be enough for savings?
2. How to keep life in balance to be able to save more money?
3. How to invest money forward and not lose it?
4. What is ultimately the goal of getting yourself financially independent?
Let’s go deeper into these questions, and hopefully, I can help you by gathering my thoughts together.
Here we go!
Question 1: How to make enough money that it would also be enough for savings?
There are a limited number of hours per day, and none of us can work more than we can. Our life should be more than just work and money, and each of us needs to walk our path to resolve this question.
I struggled with this question for a long time. I tried and explored different options, but nothing seemed to work. I went through several dozen options on how I could make extra money. Each path that I followed ended in a dead-end or would have required a lot of work that would not have been worth it. There would be plenty to write on this topic, but I will save them for my future blog posts, and I will focus next on these choices that work for me.
My sources of income are:
1. My monthly salary and yearly share bonus for my daily job.
2. Gains and dividends from my equity investments.
All other paths have ended in a dead-end.
One new path to earn an income could be to set up a holding company with my brother. However, this idea is still on the planning table atm.
Now someone who has read my earlier blog writings is probably wondering, how about these game ideas? Shouldn’t these produce good income if the game succeeds?
Of course, this is possible, and revenue streams are needed from games to make bigger and better games in the future. However, I do not include this in my own goals. Money is not what I aim for or what motivates me to develop games. Money is a tool for us, and it allows us to do different tasks better and faster in the future.
I have a dream to be part of creating games that are different than current video games, and which can change our thinking the gaming forever. Of course, I have nothing against receiving extra income if that is possible in the future. Honestly, I do not think about money at all when I work on our game projects, and as I said before, money is the tool that allows us to create new things in the future.
How about blog posts, could there be a revenue stream?
Perhaps this picture is enough to answer this question.
Sure, anything is always possible, but this blog works for a way to bring my thoughts together. I am not seeking income streams with this writing.
Question 2: How to keep life in balance to be able to save more money?
We all struggle with this question daily, more or less, and many people do not even have the opportunity to save anything. I fully understand how difficult this can be, and as a father, I have noticed that there are constantly becoming some extra expenses.
Then some people stretch every penny and save everything where it is possible. We live only once, and we will not get our money with us when our time has come to an end on this planet. (At the moment of writing, Elon Musk has not yet established a colony for Mars.)
Like I mentioned in a previous post, we can never know what tomorrow will bring when it comes, and that’s why we should enjoy every day like it would be our last one. Finding a way to save money and keep it in balance with life is not easy, and very few of us can stay on that golden middle road. Luckily, every day we have a new opportunity to improve ourselves.
“The best investment you can make is an investment in yourself. The more you learn, the more you’ll earn.” -Warren Buffet
Question 3: How to invest money forward and not lose it?
I have been invested my money for years in stocks, so it took a moment to think about this question. Many of us have never invested in the stock market, and the idea of investing our money could be scary.
I do not recommend anyone investing directly in stocks if you are not willing to understanding how the value of stocks is determined, and put some effort and follow the companies. It also does not make sense to keep money in a bank account, as our interest rates are close to 0, and inflation is constantly eating up the value of cash.
How to invest then?
It is good to remember that if someone promises you a quick return on invest some assets, it is probably a scam. Also, when the media highlight some huge returns of some investment items, it is most likely too late to start investing in these items. Each of us is are responsible for our investment, and I cannot give a direct answer to this question. However, I can only tell you how I invest myself.
I am investing directly in stocks, and this topic is so close to my heart that I could talk the whole day about my investments and strategy. The way I invest for my children could better suit all of you who are unwilling or unable to spend a lot of time following directly stock market.
The plan for how I save for my kids is simple.
– I have selected three separate low-cost index funds which to save.
– I do not care if the market goes up or down, and on the first weekday of every month, I invest this same amount of money in all three index funds.
– If the market goes down -10%, I will add extra monthly money to funds and repeat this after every -10% index level drop.
– The investment horizon is over 15 years, and I will not sell funds before that. After that, my kids can do what they want with their money.
Let the time be your friend, not your enemy.
“Someone is sitting in the shade of a tree today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” -Warren Buffet
Question 4: What is ultimately the goal of getting yourself financially independent?
I am afraid that we will never have clear answers to this question. Every person’s needs are different to reach financial freedom. Some people need more to be financially independent, and some other people will be needing less than some other people. Price levels in many different countries are also very different, so we can not compare any amount of money between different countries.
My own financially independent targets are that I would not need to continue my daily work after I am over 60 years old, and my income stream maintains my current standard of living. My dream is a house next to the sea or lake-shores, far away from the big cities, and where I can spend my retirement days in peace.
Luckily, I still have around 20 years left to reach my goals. 🙂
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See you soon, thanks!
Milestonemonger
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