There are two paths people take when seeking to achieve financial freedom. The first path is the short-term investing path and the second is the long-term investing path. If you were to choose a path based on the timeline alone, the short-term investing path will be the obvious choice. But that will be an unwise decision to make. The wiser decision is to ask yourself if there are more important criteria to consider than timeline- and there are. For example, you need to ask yourself – Why am I investing and what end goal Am I trying to achieve? You also need to know which of these two investment paths will deliver your desired end results faster? And finally, you need to know the path that possesses the most guarantee of delivering your desired result. Answering these questions will give you a better perspective on which path to choose and follow.
For example, we know from experience that not all shortcuts eventually become shortcuts. Most short cuts turn out to be longer cuts at the end of the day. So, you need to be sure that a shortcut will end up being a shortcut for you. It is also important to note that the timeline of a thing is not as important as whether you achieve the goal you set out to achieve in the end. Thus, hinging your investment decision based on timeline alone is a short-sighted approach to investing.
For over 12 decades, research shows that 80% of working professionals have been matching into retirement with a lower quality life. All of them are investors that have engaged in one form of short-term investing or the other. Some have even spent their entire career life investing. Yet, all of them fail to achieve financial freedom before retirement. If short-term investing were really working short-term, it would have been possible to achieve financial freedom within a 30-year work life. But for many, this is not so. Thus if you spend your active career life investing in ways that deliver everything else but the ultimate goal of investing, then you have simply wasted your time and pain awaits you in retirement.
The truth is financial freedom cannot be achieved through short-term investing efforts. Especially when these efforts come with little or no guarantees. But you also do not need 30years of active investing to achieve financial freedom. You can achieve financial freedom in half the time if you invest in ways that hit financial freedom straight on the head. The more guarantee you can have on an investment path the more likely it is that you will achieve your desired end goal. Investing is thus not a guarantee to financial freedom. You can invest all you want and still not achieve financial freedom. The only way to achieve financial freedom is to enter the financial freedom path.
So, what is the Financial Freedom Path?
The Financial freedom Path is the path that leads to financial freedom. To succeed in this path, you need four things. The first is time. The second is Money. The third is a Plan. And the fourth is Investment Neutrality.
Time is a critical factor in investing as it gives everyone a level playing ground. With time a person with little resources can achieve comparable investment results like the person that has large resources but no time. Without the introduction of time, people with little resources cannot afford investing or achieve comparable results like their richer counterparts. Thus, if you still have time but little resources, you should leverage on time as time is your greatest asset. The only way to achieve financial freedom with little resources but ample time is to focus on investing for financial freedom and not rush after quick and unstable returns.
Money is also another big advantage if you lack time. With the right size of money, you can achieve financial freedom within a shorter time. But this will only be possible if you have the right plan and follow the right guidance. The right plan is a financial freedom investing plan. And the right guidance is an advisor who themself have achieved financial freedom. No amount of money is immune to a loss. And despite the amount of money that you have you can lose all of it or tie it down in the wrong investments with the wrong plan and advice. Thus, if you have money, the only other thing that can hold you back is the wrong plan and advice.
Take a look at your own life for a moment and assess where you are and the goals that you have accomplished. All of it was made possible by the plan and advice you have followed before now. While they have brought you this far, they may not be able to take you further. If you have not yet achieved financial freedom, chances are high that they have taken their full course. To move to the next level, you need a new plan and advisor.
Lastly, you need to develop investment neutrality and approach investing from a result-based perspective. Many people fall in love with their investments such that they cannot move away from a bad investment decision or detach from a low performing investment. They fall in love so badly that they are blinded by emotions. Here is some advice, if this is you. You can invest your Love in your Spouse, Your Children and Your Neighbor. If you still have some love left, send some my way wrapped as a gift – I will take them. If it keeps you from throwing all that love on your investments. Your goal as an investor seeking to achieve financial freedom is not to love the investment. But to choose only investments that can deliver financial freedom. You must detach your emotion from investing if you will ever achieve success. If you can invest 10, 20 or 30years of your life going to a job that you do not necessarily love just to pay the bills. You can invest objectively in investments that deliver the right results and forget about your feelings or ego.
You have a 30year career life, a crawling salary, time that is tied to one source of income and a disturbing retirement gate. You cannot invest like everybody else.To achieve financial freedom, you must decide to think like the wealthy class. The wealthy class never pursue quick wins or get rich quick schemes. They are methodical, strategic and are the wealthiest people on the planet. If we are to compare results, their resultsshow that their way is working. If you will ever achieve financial freedom, you must learn their ways. The ultimategoal of investing is to achieve financial freedom. Any investment effort that falls short of this goal will keep you in perpetual financial bondage.
If you need help getting on the Financial Freedom path, we can help you. Send an email toinfo@createsolidwealth.com
About the author
Grace O. Agada is the most sought-after Financial Planning expert in Nigeria. She is a renowned Author, Financial Expert and Keynote Speaker. Grace is Popularly known as the Upper-Class Mentor and Her goal is to help working professionals escape middle-class poverty and transition to the upper class. Grace is the Author of three books and possibly the most widely read financial articles. Her articles are spread across seven national newspapers and four of the most popular Nigerian Blogs. Grace is also the Founder of the University of Wealth, The Rich Retirement Bootcamp, and the Wealthy Business MBA Program. Grace has been featured on BBC Africa. Business Day TV. Inspiration FM. and inside Naijatv. And she consults for Numerous Top Organizations, Company Directors, CEOs, Senior Executives, and High-Income Professionals.
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