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Freedom Habits

The Ability To Choose

This site and resources contained within are not simply about making and saving money per se, but about a larger issue of personal and financial freedom.

There are many interpretations of freedom and it certainly has different meanings for different people. Webster’s New World dictionary defines freedom as: -

  1. Independence
  2. Liberty
  3. Ease of movement
  4. A right.

For our purposes, we will define freedom quite simply as: -

Having The Ability To Choose…

Inherently, we all have the ability to choose – it is one of our God given rights but most of us do not exercise this precious gift. For example, we have a choice as to how we react to a certain event that may occur. In otherwords, we can choose how we see and react to certain situations; it does not need to be a knee-jerk reaction.

However, the freedom or the “ability to choose” we’re talking about is more about being able to do what you want to do in your life. And this is achieved through achieving financial freedom or, put another way, “being free of money worries and having a peace of mind”.

So how can you become “free of money worries” and live life to the fullest? Well, there is a framework which consists of various habits that, if exercised consistently, will allow you the ability to choose to do the things that you want to do; the things that are important in your life.

Plan-Make-Save-Give-Live Framework

This framework is called and depicted below: -

Plan-Make-Save-Give-Live

  1. Plan Freedom. This step is vitally important. There are three aspects to planning – first, identifying where you are currently with your personal and financial goals.

    Second, figuring why you are where you currently are with your goals. This step is crucial because you cannot fix something if you don’t know what is wrong to begin with.

    Thirdly, defining exactly what your financial and personal goals are.Most people start with the third step and without spending any amount of time, they superficially identify what their goals are. This is why they never get beyond this step, and as you’ll read below, the gold is in Step 2 and Step 3, and the fun starts in Step 4 and 5.

  2. Make Money. Now why is making money important? Well, it’s really quite simple. Money, whether you like it not, will give you financial freedom which in turn will give you choices or options that you would not otherwise have. For example, if you are out of work and have no money your ability to choose to go on a Caribbean cruise is limited. You just cannot do it. You have no choice.

    However, if you complete a real estate deal that nets you $55,000 or you have a $10,000/month passive income from your internet publishing business, then you can choose to go on a $6,000 Caribbean cruise. Now whether you should spend $6,000 on a cruise is another matter. The point is that you have the choice.

  3. Save Money. This is age-old principle of “pay yourself first”. Now, it is unlikely that you are going to get wealthy simply by saving money, if indeed that is what you want. It’s possible, but very difficult. The reason for saving money is so that you can make more money.

    The more money you make, the more you will save. It’s a vicious, but very beneficial cycle that gives you more choices and ability to choose. After all, that is what it is about.There is an added benefit of saving money… it will come in handy for a “rainy day”.

  4. Give Money and Time. In order to live a complete life, at some point you will ask yourself “what is my purpose and how can I serve others?” This is where giving comes into play.

    It’s not always money that you give. You can give your time and your support to your family, friends, and worthy causes that you believe in.Giving money also keeps the “money cycle” intact, in that, the more you give the more you receive. Having money and savings allows you the ability to choose to contribute your time and services to your community and environment.

  5. Live Free. Ultimately, we all come to the realization that life is simply about living it to the fullest and enjoying all that it has to offer.There are many wondrous things that we can enjoy, that we should take the time to enjoy. We can do all of it if we have the ability to choose.

Most people think in a linear fashion and believe that the natural progression of the above disciplines is PLAN, MAKE, SAVE, GIVE, LIVE, in that specific order. In otherwords, you have to make money in order to save money, give money, and live the life that you would like to live by spending the money.

This is not quite how it works. Of course, planning precedes the other four steps, but really the only two disciplines that really are tied together are MAKE and SAVE, i.e. Make (creating income) would precede Save (save money), after all, without income there is no way to save money.

Give and Live are really independent. It is very important to realize and truly understand this. We can make a massive contribution (GIVE) and live life without ever having to make or save money. Although giving and living is possible without making money, it can and does restrict the choices and therefore the level of freedom we ultimately experience.