Category ArchivePhilosophy
Philosophy John on 27 May 2008
The Four Pillars Of Financial Freedom
It is my belief that anyone wishing to achieve financial freedom needs to address four key areas of their personal finance.
- Getting out of debt;
- Minimising monthly outgoings;
- Making regular savings and investments;
- Making money.
These are what I refer to as the four pillars of financial freedom. The first two pillars are about minimising your monthly outgoings and the second are focused on maximising your passive income.
You’ve achieved financial freedom when your passive income exceeds your monthly outgoings. Which means that the route to financial freedom is to minimise your outgoings and maximise you passive income.
So what does each pillar mean?
Getting out of debt
I believe there are two types of debt, wasteful and enabling. Wasteful debts should be avoided. Enabling debts are acceptable but in an ideal world we would avoid them too.
To achieve financial freedom you need to get rid of all wasteful debt as soon as possible.
Minimising monthly outgoings
The less you spend each month, the less you need to earn to cover your expenses, therefore it makes sense to minimise your outgoings. You can then use any spare income to make savings and investments or to start a business and make money.
Making regular savings and investments
Nearly 50% of UK households have savings that are less than or equivalent to one months income. If anything happens that stops these households from earning they’ll be in financial difficulties almost immediately. To achieve financial freedom you need to start saving money, the more the better. Savings and investments should however only be considered AFTER wasteful debt has been repaid.
Making money
The more money you make, the more you have to repay wasteful debts and to invest. Making is therefore key to financial freedom. There are to aspects to this 1) maximise your earnings from your current employment - or switch employment to a better paid job and 2) starting a business, ideally one that has the potential to create passive income.
In future posts we’ll be expanding on the strategies and tactics you can use to build each of the four pillars required for you to achieve financial freedom.
Philosophy John on 23 May 2008
Our Manifesto
What is financial freedom?
Financial freedom, in Tristan’s opinion, is the point at which you no longer have to service debt to keep a roof over your head and you have an income that you do not have to go out and earn – like a pension style income.
John believes financial freedom is having enough passive income to be able to maintain your standard of living without having to work.
Who can achieve financial freedom?
Anyone can, with the right attitude, motivation and determination to achieve it!
How can we help you achieve financial freedom?
We believe there are four pillars to financial freedom:
- Getting out of debt
- Reducing your monthly outgoings
- Savings and investments
- Making money
In this blog we’ll explain how we believe anyone can achieve financial freedom.