Financial Independence can mean a lot of things. To me it’s not worrying about working for money to pay my bills. Sounds great right? Imagine life where you don’t have to work that 9AM-5PM job 5 times a week or that 7AM-7PM shift 3-4 times a week. Imagine life where the wealth you build pays for all your bills and you’re free to do whatever you want. You can work on that passion you have, you can travel the world, start a business or just flat out do whatever the hell you want! That is financial independence to me and that is VERY achievable in this lifetime. The main question for you as the reader, what is financial independence to you? (Comment below to tell me what FI is to you! Or if you don’t know, answer this: What do you want out of your life?)

“Why?”

I am working towards achieving financial independence because I do not want to have the traditional work lifestyle that a lot of people around me have grown accustomed to. Do not get me wrong the lifestyle is great, but it’s not for me. I explained that previously in How I Began My Real Estate Investing Journey. I do want to get married, have children and own a (forever) home, but work for 40 years? Revolve my life around work? I just can’t. I am meant for more than the office job. My significant other recently said to me, “You care too much about your job that you are working your life around it.” And that hit me and inspired me to write down my why and purpose for this. I want to be able to not miss a moment with my significant other, be present and enjoy life with her. I want to be able to enjoy and be present for all my future potential children’s biggest moments. I want my dad to not worry about paying bills and enjoy his working retirement life (my dad does not want to retire at all, but to stop working 7AM-4PM and being on-call, that is something he is ready to let go of in my opinion). My parents are well equipped for retirement, but I want both my parents to not worry about any housing expenses, medical bills, everyday living expenses, etc. I want to travel the world and see what this world has to offer. We are often stuck in the bubble of where we are born, but there is so much more out there in this world.

So What Does Financial Independence Have To Do With Real Estate?

Being a Real Estate Investor & Landlord is a business. This business will help accelerate my process to becoming financially free by owning cash flowing properties. Cash flowing properties means the excess amount of income you receive after expenses are paid for each month. The more cash flowing properties you have, the more income you’ll receive each month. My goal is to own more enough than enough cash flowing properties that will cover all my bills and savings! Most people do enough for bills, but I want to be sure my savings are taken care of too, especially when I decide to leave the traditional workforce. For me, I want to be a full time investor and manage multiple properties. The traditional work life is just not for me! The more I acquire property (strategically and responsibly), the closer I am to living this life of financial freedom.

Here’s how YOU can get started!

• Research financial independence on Google!
  • That’s a great start, understand the meaning to being financially free (and for free too).

• Read some books!
  • I will start you off with the most one of the most popular books to get you into the mindset of building wealth and eventually becoming financially free: Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

• Find other blogs! There are many Financial Independence blogs out there, but there is still not enough to get the message out there. Learning from others is the best way to help reach your goals!
  
• Understand how much you are spending and how much you are making.
  • Remember Get Your Money Right! An Introduction to Tracking Your Finances?
    
• Find your “Why”
  • Find your purpose for doing all this. What’s most important about being financially free is the journey. What is it that drives you? 
    
• Plan and then take action!
  • Will you budget? Will you tackle debt first then save? Will you half and half with saving and paying debt? This is YOUR journey! Personalize it the way you want, how long you want and how aggressive you want! 
    

Working toward financial Independence is a lifestyle. You do not have to be extremely frugal to achieve financial independence. Will it possibly take you more years? Sure, but would you still feel fulfilled with life throughout the journey? If so, then those extra years are well worth it! My goal is to open the conversation and hopefully inspire one person to start their own journey towards financial independence. I hope this sparks something in your brain. I don’t want anyone to suffer working for 40+ years because they feel or think there is no other way. There are so many ways, you just have to THINK and TAKE ACTION!