FREE EBOOK: Practical Steps to Financial Freedom and Independence

Author: Usiero Uko

A Matter of Choice

Financial freedom is within the reach of every single one of us. All it requires is focus, persistence, and a strong desire to invest in yourself and become who you ought to be. In order to achieve what you have not achieved before, you need to become who you have not been before. It all comes down to a matter of choice.

Each time money comes into your hands, you have a unique opportunity to make a choice—to build assets or accumulate liabilities, to remain poor and middle class or to become rich. Your current financial state is a result of what you did with money in times past. You are writing the script for your financial future with what you do with your income today. Are you becoming richer or are you stuck in one spot?

Attaining financial freedom has nothing to do with how much income you receive. It has a lot to do with what you do with your current income. To change your financial future, you have to change your personal philosophy. Your actions flow from your thoughts, so you have to think differently. When this change on the inside happens, the doing part becomes easy.

You first have to be so you can do in order to have. Be… Do… Have. You can attain financial freedom starting with your current income by making a few adjustments in your personal philosophy. You’ll be amazed by what a difference these few Practical Steps to Financial Freedom and Independence changes will make in the course of your life. These simple steps, if diligently applied, will change your life forever:

1. Make Up Your Mind. Move from interest to commitment, from should to must. Be willing to pay the price no matter what. Cross the line and burn your bridges.

2. Change Your Mind-set. Upgrade from your poverty mentality to an abundance mentality. Dismantle self-imposed limitations. Think assets rather than liabilities.

3. Know Your Financial Health. Put your financial house in order. Know what you own, what you owe, and your net worth, assets, and liabilities.

4. Set Clear Financial Goals. Decide where you want to be financially in a year, five years, and ten years from now.

5. Get Out of Bad Debt. Shake off the yoke of consumer debt and focus on building assets rather than liabilities.

6. Spend Below Your Income. Cut your coat according to your cloth, not your size. Eliminate wasteful spending.

7. Pay Yourself First. Save first and spend what’s left rather than spending first and save what’s left—if anything.

8. Avoid Budget-Busting Monsters. Avoid the temptation to misappropriate funds. Stick to your plan.

9. Invest in Your Financial Education. Invest in knowledge. Know what you’re doing before you jump in.

10. Let Your Assets Buy Your Luxuries. Don’t use your income to acquire luxuries. Create assets that will generate cash flow to pay for them.

11. Mind Your Business. Take charge of your financial destiny. Don’t depend on your employer or someone else to do it for you.

12. Make Your Talent Pay. Develop your talents, gifts, and hobbies and turn them into a business.

13. Develop Multiple Streams of Income. Don’t depend on your salary alone. Have other sources of income.

14. Take Baby Steps. Start right where you are. Don’t wait for tomorrow.

15. Insure Your Assets. Protect yourself and your assets in case of the unexpected. Don’t leave your assets naked and exposed.

16. Understand Asset Allocation. Have financial security and growth plans in place before you attempt to be rich.

17. Plan Your Estate. Determine what will happen to your estate when you’re gone. Don’t leave it to predators.

18. Give Back to Society. Make your unique contribution and leave the world better than it was when you met it.

These steps are transformational. It’s not simply a formula to get rich but a means of becoming rich on the inside through thinking rich thoughts so you can take rich actions and ultimately live your dreams in reality. The most rewarding aspect of your journey to financial freedom will not be the money you make but the person you become in the process. It’s about becoming who you were born to be so you can do what you were born to do and make your unique contribution to the world.

There’s no one way to financial freedom. You have to chart your individual path to your dreams. Each of us is unique, with a unique set of circumstances, talents, skills, temperament, hopes, and dreams. There is no one else on this planet like you. You alone know who you are, where you came from, and where you’re heading. You are the only one who can find your way home.

This book is only a map showing you the terrain. You have to decide the specific path to take to get to your desired destination.