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Ditch the Debt: 8 Unconventional Tips to Achieve Financial Independence!

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Ditch the Debt Unconventional Tips to Achieve Financial Independence

In a world where financial freedom is the ultimate goal for many, the path to achieving it can seem daunting, especially when saddled with debt. The journey to financial independence requires more than just traditional budgeting and saving; it calls for innovative strategies that can accelerate your progress. This article unveils eight unconventional tips that can help you break free from the chains of debt and embark on a faster route to financial independence, leveraging current trends and insights to maximize your financial potential.

1. Embrace the Gig Economy

Embrace the Gig Economy

The gig economy isn’t just for side hustles anymore; it can be a powerful tool in fast-tracking debt repayment. Diversify your income streams by tapping into your skills and interests—whether it’s freelance writing, graphic design, or ride-sharing. Each extra dollar earned can be directed towards your debt, significantly reducing your repayment timeline. The flexibility of gig work allows you to adjust your efforts based on your financial goals, making it a relevant and adaptive strategy in today’s ever-changing job market.

2. Leverage Micro-Investing Apps

Leverage Micro-Investing Apps

In the age of technology, investing has never been more accessible. Micro-investing apps allow you to invest small amounts of money, often just spare change from daily purchases, into diversified portfolios. While it might seem counterintuitive to invest when in debt, the compounding returns can provide an additional income stream. This approach not only helps in debt repayment but also inculcates the habit of investing, laying a solid foundation for future financial independence.

3. Utilize Debt Consolidation Wisely

Utilize Debt Consolidation Wisely

Debt consolidation, when used strategically, can be a game-changer in your debt repayment journey. By consolidating multiple high-interest credit cards or loans into a single debt consolidation loan with a lower interest rate, you can reduce your monthly payments, as well as limit the total interest paid over time. This method requires thorough research and consideration of your financial situation to ensure it’s a beneficial move. Remember, the goal is to use consolidation as a tool for faster debt repayment, not as an excuse to accrue more debt.

4. Adopt a Minimalist Lifestyle

Adopt a Minimalist Lifestyle

Minimalism is more than a trend; it’s a lifestyle choice that can significantly impact your financial health. By focusing on what you truly need, you can reduce unnecessary spending, freeing up more funds for debt repayment. This approach not only accelerates your journey to becoming debt-free but also cultivates a sense of contentment and simplicity that is invaluable on the path to financial independence.

5. Implement a ‘No-Spend’ Challenge

 

Implement a 'No-Spend' Challenge

Challenge yourself and your household to a ‘no-spend’ month, where you only spend money on absolute necessities. This drastic measure can highlight areas of frivolous spending and help reset your financial habits. The money saved during this period can provide a substantial boost to your debt repayment efforts, proving that temporary sacrifices can lead to long-term gains.

6. Take Advantage of Balance Transfer Offers

Take Advantage of Balance Transfer Offers

Credit card balance transfer offers, particularly those with 0% introductory APR, can provide a temporary reprieve from high-interest rates. Transferring your debt to such a card can halt the growth of interest, allowing you to focus on the principal amount. Be mindful of transfer fees and the promotional period’s end date to maximize this strategy’s benefits.

7. Explore Employer-Sponsored Debt Repayment Programs

Explore Employer-Sponsored Debt Repayment Programs

With the growing recognition of financial wellness as a component of overall well-being, more employers are offering debt repayment programs as part of their benefits package. These programs can include matching contributions to loan payments or direct financial assistance. Investigate whether your employer provides such benefits and take full advantage of them to accelerate your debt repayment.

8. Optimize Your Tax Refund

Optimize Your Tax Refund

Instead of viewing your tax refund as a windfall for discretionary spending, allocate it towards your debt. This lump sum payment can significantly reduce your principal balance, shortening your debt repayment timeline. Additionally, review your tax withholdings to ensure you’re not overpaying taxes throughout the year; the extra funds in your paycheck can be directed towards debt reduction, making your repayment efforts more consistent.

Ditch the Debt and Start Toward Financial Independence

Ditch the Debt and Start Toward Financial Independence

Achieving financial independence is a journey that requires creativity, discipline, and a willingness to explore unconventional paths. By incorporating these innovative strategies into your financial plan, you can expedite your escape from debt and pave the way to a secure and independent financial future. Remember, the most crucial step is to start, and with these tips, you’re equipped to tackle your debt in ways you never thought possible.

Saving vs Investing: Investing for Income

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Saving and investing go together like milk and cookies, sweet and sour, and Elvis and banana peanut butter sandwiches, right?  Right.  Well, almost right.  It’s easy for us to say that saving and investing are important parts of a personal finance plan.  It’s easy for us to say that and then move on.  After all, we just said they’re important, right?  Not so fast.

Saving and Investing ARE important

They just aren’t equally important.  Heck, it’s another whole post, but even the different types of investing aren’t equal.  Just as important as saving and investing together is the concept of when to use which, and how much.  The mix of liquid savings in the form of cash accounts and CDs with the amount of your money that’s invested can be one of the most important parts of your overall personal finance plan.

Traditional advice tells us that cash accounts and CDs are the super safe way to keep your money with you, and investing, in it’s varying forms is all kinds of risky.  Investing in stocks?  Risky.  Investing in pork bellies?  Risky.  (unless you really like bacon.  Just kidding, still risky.)  But, is the amount of risk involved in investing more or less risky than leaving too much of your money in the bank to rot away at current interest rates?  How about you ask the people of Cyprus if they still feel safe having their money in the bank?

Saving vs Investing : Investing for IncomeSuccess is risky.

Few who accomplish success do so without some element of risk.  In fact, the easier the path to success is perceived, the less chance there is of truly obtaining it.  I don’t say that to seem philosophical.  I want to make a point, however.  You’ve got to have a little risk, if you want to succeed.  You’ve got to have Investments if you want to succeed financially.  And, I think the ratio of investments to savings should probably be much higher than most would suggest.

Investing for Financial Independence

One of the key tenets in a financial independence plan is that you need to replace your income in order to free yourself up to be independent of a job.  Not independent of work, but of a job.  There are, obviously, many ways that you can go about replacing that income.   Decreasing your expenses is usually a part of most plans.  But, most people’s expenses will only decrease so far.  Sure, you can go extreme, and get them lower, but for many that isn’t what financial independence is about.  Even with your expenses decreased as low as you’re willing to take them, you’ve still got to replace the income to pay those expenses.  Investing can be a very good way to get started towards replacing your income.

Investing for Income

In order to replace income with investing, you’ve got to invest for income.  You probably try and do that by becoming a super successful day trader and making up the income in profits from all the great deals you made.  First, find yourself a few super successful day traders who have done that.  Come back when you’ve given up.  If you’re going to invest for income, it’s got to be reliable.  It can’t rely on your ability to find a good bargain and then sell it at a massive profit a few days later.  There are traders who are still waiting on Facebook to make a comeback so they can even get their money back.  Reliable income is the key.  For this, we need investments that are steady, don’t require the continued increase in value of the stock, and also don’t require us to sell like a fiend in order to create the income.  What are these mysterious investments, you ask?  Dividend stocks.

Dividend stocks are stocks that pay a dividend on each share of the stock that is held.  The amount of the dividend can vary, but there are many that you will find that pay dividends in the range of 2-4%.  Depending on the policy of the company, they usually pay quarterly, but there are some that pay monthly and yearly.

Dividend stocks aren’t the only way to invest for income, however.  Investing in peer-to-peer lending in a program like Lending Club is one.  Rental real estate is another.  A business can even be a way to invest for income.  Each has varying levels of passivity, or the amount of direct interaction on your part to earn the income.  A business that you run can mean well over 40 hours a week of direct interaction to create the income.  Something like Lending Club or rental real estate can be brought down to a level that borders on passive income entirely.

Savings vs. Investing

With any investing tool, whether it be dividend stocks, lending, real estate, or some other instrument, there will be risk.  With risk usually comes reward.  I’ve been earning over 8% return on my Lending Club portfolio.  Dividend stocks can lose value, or even stop paying dividends.  The real estate market can dry up, and you can have problems finding renters.  Risk is inherent.  Unless you want to directly trade your time for money (call it a job), you’ve got to take on a little risk and begin setting yourself free.

Savings shouldn’t be shunned completely.  I still believe that an emergency fund is an important tool.  I still covet a debt free lifestyle.  But, once my debt is paid off, and my emergency fund is full, you can bet the rest will go towards investing for income, and building my wealth towards financial independence.

How about you?  What is the role of savings in your personal finance journey?

Original img credit: Two men with pipes posing as boxers / Deux hommes, pipes à la bouche, prenant une pose de boxeur by BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives, on Flickr

What is Financial Independence

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In my post “Are we Doing Personal Finance Wrong“, I talked a little bit about “Financial Freedom”.  Of all the comments that the post got, that was the one thing that was mentioned most of all.  Which, to me, means it bears some further discussion.

Financial freedom, or financial independence, can be defined a little bit differently depending on the person doing the defining.  Like most personal finance, it’s highly dependent on the values of the person.  What I define financial independence as might be a whole lot different from what you define it as.  I think, no matter who is defining it, the real keystone is the word freedom or independence.  We all want freedom and independence.  Some autonomy from the rat race.  The idea of having the financial ability to declare our independence is alluring.

What is Financial Independence, for me.

Financial IndependenceMy definition of financial independence is likely pretty similar to most.  In it’s most broad sense, I define it as the ability to not be swayed by financial needs.  Breaking it down a bit more, it means not “needing” a job just to make ends meet.  It means not “needing” a job to keep a roof over my head.  It also means having the ability to take advantage of opportunities to improve my situation.  Whether that means having the cash on hand to be able to buy or start a business, buy a rental property, or just take a month off to travel or learn something new isn’t all that relevant.  It’s that I have that ability.

Something that needs to be said here is that at one point, not that very long ago, I thought of it as being synonymous with “independently wealthy”.  Which may or may not be true depending on your definition of independently wealthy.  For sure, I don’t believe that it matches up with the definition I had back then.  Back then, I would have told you that independently wealthy meant retirement and not doing a dang thing.  Sitting on the beach all day, every day, being utterly non-productive.  That definition has changed.  A lot.  Financial independence, if it’s synonymous with independently wealthy, doesn’t mean that you don’t work, but that you have the financial freedom to do the work you want to do.  Because you are free from the “need” part of the financial equation, you have the ability to do the work that you feel called to do without regard for how much it pays, whether it’s part-time or full-time, or whether it’s a short term project or not.

What is Financial Independence, for you.

As I mentioned above, your definition might differ slightly (or a lot) from mine.  Maybe, for you, it really does mean sitting on a beach somewhere, doing nothing.  Maybe it means not having to work and spending all your time volunteering instead.

However our definitions might differ is somewhat irrelevant.  Our personal definitions still mean that it’s something worth pursuing to each of us.  And, if our end-game is to be financially independent, I still don’t think we’re doing personal finance right.  I still don’t think we’re even close.  I think we need to break away from the systems we have, find the ones that work for our personal finances, and then achieve our financial independence.

Achieving your Financial Independence.

Breaking away from the systems we have for personal finance won’t be easy.  Heck, our definition of financial independence will probably change along the way and require a new system again.  But, achieving that financial independence should be our primary goal.  Not retirement.  Not our childrens’ college education.  And certainly not saving up cash to pay for that big SUV.  Our primary goal in our personal finance should be achieving financial independence.  Once we’ve achieved that, retirement, education, and big trucks will come.  And they’ll come without sacrificing anything.

The Path to Financial Independence.

Much like our definitions differ, so too will our path to financial independence differ.  Undeniably, I think that the first landmark on that path has to be the complete and utter destruction of all debt.  Before we worry about anything else, we have to be free of the yoke of debt.  Joan Otto, the community manager at Man Vs. Debt, wrote about this recently specifically referencing retirement accounts.  Take a minute or two and read it.  Then, pay special attention to the comments.  Aside from a few people, almost all of the comments are people who think she’s off her rocker.

Is she off her rocker?  Or is she just developing a new system for her personal finance that leads towards her financial independence?  It takes a certain amount of courage to admit to the thoughts and ideas that she does in that post.  (I should know, see: Why I’m Withdrawing from an IRA)  But, then try and remove what you’ve been taught about retirement and saving from your mind for a minute and re-read section 4 of her post.  She’s not being irrational.  In fact, I’d argue that she’s being overly rational.  I think I’ll have to write more about that in another post, but the Vulcan, logic loving, part of me thinks she is right.

Our paths to financial independence will vary.  Some of those people in the comments of Joan’s article will achieve it using the current system.  Many of them will have started saving early, and found ways to drastically save.  But, will they have the liquidity available to make a move on an opportunity in the 30’s, 40’s, or even 50’s?  Or will it have to wait until they’re past “retirement” age and have penalty free access to their nest eggs?

Find your path.  Start the journey, and achieve your financial independence.

Have you already started on your journey?  Have you found your path?  Have you achieved your financial independence?  There are many of us here, including myself, that are new to the journey or haven’t even begun yet that could benefit greatly from your story.  Will you share it with us?

img background credit:Fireworks at Swindon by Stephen_Gunby, on Flickr