I was surprised to see the last post “The journey to financial freedom: my personal story” become my blog’s most viewed post in 2019 – in just 48 hours after putting it up.
I thought financial freedom is a dry topic unrelated to properties that the readers probably won’t be interested.
So, is it the keyword “financial freedom”, or the promise to share “my personal story” that draws your attention?
Anyway, I am sharing the few things about financial freedom as promised in my last post. Since I haven’t figured out whether you are interested in the topic or my story, I will share my thoughts where they echo with quotes from financially-free people covered in Gisela Enders’ book Financial Freedom: How People Live When They No Longer Need to Work.
1. What is life like after having financial freedom?
When you are not working for money, there is no work deadline and no boss or customer to answer to. You decide your own workload and schedule.
When I talk to people about financial freedom they always imagine it being like a holiday … Financially free people have to think about what I want to do that day and how to give purpose to my life … I need worthwhile activities … I need other success indicators. – Monika
I only blog or make videos if I have something to say. If there is an interesting topic or project, I can research, write or work non-stop for hours, sometimes late into the evenings or on weekends.
Because it is not work for me. It is my passion or hobby.
If I am not in the mood, I can read or hang around the whole day. After a busy weekend, I take a rest on Monday mornings. I also take the middle of the week or Wednesday afternoons off.
I have less and less in common with some people I know. If they’re going to spend Sunday evening complaining about how it’s almost Monday, I just don’t go along. I admit I used to be like that too. But today I look forward to Mondays or the day of the week just doesn’t make any difference. – Lars
2. How do financially free people work?
I don’t live on any advertising, writer or speaker fee. I have never posted an article, written from an angle or spoken about a topic just because an advertiser, editor or organizer asked me to. I have the freedom and luxury to choose what to say, and I say what I mean.
I only work on projects of interest to me. And I only work with people whom I respect and share the same values. I have turned down countless work assignments and partnership proposals that I am not comfortable with.
It has nothing to do with arrogance. Once you prioritize financial freedom over making money, you can choose what to do and who do work with. With no sales target or any team under your wings, there is no need to compromise. Besides, as a self-employed person, you are solely responsible for your job satisfaction.
When you are young, you do everything people say you are supposed to do. You live a socially and professionally correct life. After you know who you really are, you can live for your passion and you no longer waste time going after the wrong things.
My savings give me a certain amount of freedom so that I don’t have to market myself too aggressively as a coach or depend on huge sales figures for my books … And here too I allow myself the luxury of writing about things that interest me. – Gisela Enders
Whatever I do, it should be something I enjoy doing where no-one tells me what to do and when and whom. – Melanie
I can do whatever I want to whenever I want to … I didn’t want to have to work for someone else an didn’t want to have to answer to somebody else, so the thought of being able to do what I wanted regardless of whether it earned money or not was what was most tempting to me. – Brandon
3. How do they spend their money?
Contrary to most people think, people who have attained financial freedom are indifferent to luxury products even if they can easily afford them. They may have bought something expensive before. But they soon lose the interest to pursue luxury.
People who keep chasing for the next expensive toy have emptiness in their heart that they hope consumption can help to fill it up.
I do buy branded stuff as birthday or Christmas gifts for my sisters and friends. But my favorite shopping place remains the wet market where I visit three times a week to pick up fresh ingredients to prepare healthy vegan meals for my family.
We don’t need a car … They can’t put us in a pigeon hole. Lots of people just think we’re weird and that’s why it’s difficult for us to explain our version of “minimal light” as a lifestyle. At the same time we still have far too much stuff we don’t need and we still spend a significant amount of time on things that don’t really make us happier. – Robert
For me wealth has come to mean that my family and I are healthy and happy … Consumption may bring short-term satisfaction, but it doesn’t make you happy … while it was a nice experience, it wasn’t any more than that and it wasn’t fulfilling in the long-term. – Christian
4. What do they do with their money?
It doesn’t matter where (properties, stocks or insurance policies) you plan to put your money in, you should do your own research instead of relying on a middleman for advice.
Remember the book Where are the Customers’ Yachts? recommended by Warren Buffett? Someone was admiring the yachts of the bankers or brokers and asked where all the customers’ yachts were. Buffett shared the lesson learned here: If you listen to your brokers or consultants, they get rich but you get broke.
Especially when it comes to money, we often entrust our capital to third parties … Several brokers made good money off me. If you really want to be financially free, you need to strive for independence. – Alex
Yes, actually I do (enjoy managing my assets) … But I also find it interesting to think about what I’m spending money on, and I can easily spend hours with my Excel sheets calculating the ROI, the annual capital gains and so on. – Monika
Where do people who have achieved financial freedom choose to put their money in?
Since we know how real estate works, we’ll stick with that. – Christian
I put most of it in fixed-rate investments … I also let myself be talked into investing in funds. That was never really a success. – Monika
My investment strategy is basically very boring. I use a system and a structure that tells me when to invest in which company. That’s why I created the dividend alarm. – Alex
I just don’t enjoy paying for or dealing with any of the stuff that comes with owning real estate. I’m happy with just having stocks and passive index funds. – Brandon
Mostly in stocks, REITs, ETFs and bonds. – Lars
5. What do they value most?
It is not money. Things that financially free people value most are free.
People I personally know who have financial freedom usually spend a lot of their time exercising for good health, being with people they care, pursuing their hobbies, or doing projects they are passionate about – everything that normal people don’t have the time for.
For me, being rich has nothing to do with money, but rather with quality of life. For me financial freedom does not mean being rich – rich in time, rich in health, rich in family and friends, rich in fulfilling, meaningful projects, rich in lust for life and in the desire to constantly learn new things and develop yourself. – Emma
Financial freedom gives you time to devote to other things that you then also want to talk about. Things people don’t have much time for in their everyday lives if they’re living life of dependence – for example big ideas, travelling, hobbies and other things that bring personal fulfillment. – Alex
People who have financial freedom as a goal are happier and more environmentally aware. At least the ones I’ve met. Almost all of them are very interested in sustainability, community, nutrition, and environmental protection.
If you don’t have to think about your finances much anymore you work differently. You work with your heart and soul and that makes you happier. I’d rather be treated by a dentist who doesn’t need any money and who makes sure I get the treatment that’s best for me rather than one who tries to sell me the most expensive treatment available. – Robert
6. Why do they want to find like-minded people?
In my 2014 blog post “Achieving sustainable financial freedom: What works and what doesn’t”, I mentioned the Whoischick.com study that shows only 2 percent of us are living our dreams. The rest of the 98 percent are living in our comfort zone – play it safe, settle for less and lead a dull life.
If you choose the path less traveled, your live in solitary because your lifestyle differs from most people. When you tell others that you are financially free, they either envy you or they are jealous of you. But few are interested to find out how you end up financially free.
According to my experience, only less than 30 percent of guys and less than 5 to 10 percent of ladies are interested in topics about money. For those who don’t mind a money conversation, rather than your boring speech on saving money or investing prudently, they would rather you share hot stock insider tips or get-rich-quick strategies.
Should I be surprised that you are reading this post and following my blog?
Unfortunately people are rarely curious about our lifestyle though, they tend to be jealous instead. We’d love to tell people about how we do things, but on-one’s interested. – Robert
I’m happy to answer questions and give people insights into my life. Unfortunately not many people are genuinely interested in digging any deeper. Simply because their everyday lives are so stressful and their time is so tight that they can’t afford to. – Lars
That’s why we are interested to find people with similar background, interests and values. We want to exchange our knowledge and experience with other financially free or like-minded people. That’s exactly why I started this blog, opened my youtube channel and set up Property Club Singapore.
Within a short space of time we had met some interesting people through the blog … That’s why we organized a European meetup about financial freedom. – Robert
Lots of people have contacted me through social media … I’ve had with them a lot of knowledge has often flowed in both directions. That allowed me to gain expert knowledge in areas I otherwise had little or no knowledge of. What I love most is that I sometimes get to talk to people with similar moral and ethical views. – Christian
Of course I also want to earn money from it, but that’s not my main motivation. I simply want to put knowledge out there and if I myself learn a lot by doing so … I started making educational videos and posting them online … Only I don’t see it as work … I could also call it a hobby. – Lars
Hope this post gives you better insights into people who are financially free. Do drop me a note and share where you are in the journey of financial freedom.
Don’t waste time and money attending any property seminar about owning multiple properties with no money down. Sign up for the Property Investment Finance and Profit-Risk Analysis Workshop to learn from Ku Swee Yong how to evaluate and finance property investments. Sign up today before we run out of seats!
Dear Vina,
Thank you very much for your sharing. It is very inspiring and I feel invigorated to write this after reading it. 🙂
I am already embarking on my own journey to financial freedom. If you don’t mind, I would like to share with you my game plan (in order of priority): get a good cushy job (done), force save 60% of my income (doing), record daily expenses to track spending tendencies (doing), get as much protection as possible from insurance (done), follow like-minded sg personal finance bloggers and keep learning from their posts (doing), find something to be passionate about outside of work and get good at it (doing), read about investments read about self-help read about hobbies (doing), marry long term bf but spend as little as possible on wedding (in 1-2 years), get a decent roof over our heads at a price based on your 3-3-5 rule (in 1-2 years), aim to settle mortgage in 5 years and be debt free (in 7-8 years), hopefully be able to declare myself semi-financially free and do whatever I want (in 10 years).
I genuinely believe that financial freedom is attainable. But having embarked on this journey, it does feel lonely sometimes because, as you pointed out, not many people seem willing to discuss this deeply. My colleagues skim over it, my family members dismiss it, my friends avoid it. It is this reason I am very thankful to this community of online bloggers like yourself.
Looking forward to your future posts, as always!
Cheers and take care
Jessie, thank you very much for sharing. Congrats for embarking on the journey of financial freedom. You are on the right track. Be patient and persistent and you will reach there before long.
Yes, people who will never achieve financial freedom will always try to discourage you from doing so. Our culture also promotes instant gratification. Marketers convince us that life is short so let’s spend and be merry. We forgot that it is because life is short, we must make the most out of it and spend our time on things that are far more valuable than consumption, job, status, power, etc.
As T. Harv Eker said in Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, “If you are willing to do only what’s easy, life will be hard. But if you are willing to do what’s hard, life will be easy.”
This made my day today. It is really useful and informative piece of information for people like us. Keep it up!
Thanks for following my blog. Glad you find this post informative.
Thanks Vina for the time to share. Really motivational.
The pleasure is all mine : )
What are your thoughts about those talks you mentioned at the end of the article then?
I have several friends who joined and paid 3-4K for these and now are Super charged / motivated to find their next passive income with “little to no money down”
The problem of these get-rich-quick property seminars is they over-simplify the strategies. Until the naive understand there is no short-cut and no magic pill in property investment, they have wasted much time and money. They really don’t have to pay so much and go around in circles to learn that.
Long time lurker, but first time poster here.
Thanks for the extensive article, which hits a few home runs on how I feel. I got lucky in life and achieved financial freedom just before my 33rd birthday, and pulled the plug from full time corporate work ever since Sep 2018.
Since then, it’s been evident to me that some of the best things in my life are free, and the one thing that means a lot to me is the ability to control where I deploy my time and efforts.
Also, the point on the solitary pursuit is super real. I do think of myself as an independent introvert, but even then, there are certain times where I do get quite lonely, as I have very few friends whom are walking down this path with me.
Please keep on writing – you certainly have a gift and I’ve learned a whole load from your posts over the last couple of years. Cheers.
Good for you. There are more people like us who have achieved financial freedom at a young age. I found the solution to solitude is to engage in things you are passionate about but not necessarily about money, and find like-minded people along the way.