financial freedom

Hola lovebugs,

I’m sitting outside on the verandah. I’ve been granted a reprieve from the nausea gods for a couple of hours. We ate fresh local pineapple and talked to our family of pademelons (tiny sweet kangaroos) who are hovering around our banana patch. They are quiet and happy to come up to within a few metres of us – they used to be named the philander (meaning: “friend of man”) which is quite perfect really – we consider them neighbours and friends. What a deep + dear blessing, a miracle for me to glimpse the splendour of this life.

I wanted to talk about something important today. I want to talk about TRUE financial freedom – not get rich schemes, not “receive a shit tonne of money and lose it all”, not law of attraction.

I want to talk real, grounded advice about what you need to do to actually have financial stability, security + success.

In other words: how to earn and keep your shekkels in a way that is prosperous and useful to YOU so you can live the life that makes you sing.

1. Know your Big Why + What

It’s really important that you know your reasons for wanting financial freedom, and what financial freedom actually looks like for you.

That way you’re much more inclined, inspired and motivated to stay on track AND you won’t get carried off the path by an idea of wealth that belongs to someone else.

I have three Big Why’s for my financial freedom:

  1. I LOVE the life we have together. I love that we live in this beautiful house in the rainforest. I love that my husband is home with us all the time. I love that we get to spend the majority of our time together. I love that I get to keep doing the thing that lights me up. This is my dream lifestyle.
  2. I want to make sure my family is able to continue living the lifestyle we have, and set us up so we are financially secure for the rest of our lives. I realise my husband made a big sacrifice in becoming a stay-at-home dad with us. I wish to return the favour by making sure we have really good investments and retirement plans.
  3. I want to be a major earth angel philanthropist. I want to be Bill Gates and JK Rowling huge in philanthropy. I want to be able to channel money energy into the places that need it to redistribute wealth, bring health, wealth & harmony to those without it, and take care of Mama Earth and her animals. I believe it’s one of the reasons I’m here on earth, and it lights me up to make a difference.

Here’s what financial freedom is for me:

  • Most importantly, being able to live my passions every day
  • Being able to stay at home to raise my kid(s)
  • Being able to have my husband at home with us
  • Living in the country on a piece of land in a home that inspires me
  • Being able to have a granny flat so my parents-in-law can live with us
  • Not having to worry about paying bills
  • Being location independent
  • Having money to donate to charity
  • Working on paying off a mortgage so we can be mortgage free
  • Working on passive income and investments for long-term financial security.

I personally don’t need financial freedom for:

  • clothes/shoes/handbags (they just don’t bring me that much joy)
  • clothes for my kid – a lot of her wardrobe is charity shop & hand-me-downs
  • travel (it’s not the stage of life we’re in right now. Some people love travelling with really young kids. I’d rather poke myself in the face with a cucumber)
  • live conferences (I don’t want to be away from my lil family right at this point in my life).

I’ve had people be shocked that I still shop for sales and live on a budget despite having a thriving high-six-figure business. My reply is “Because I wanna be the next Bill Gates in philanthropy, and that’s not going to happen if I spend a lot of money on crap that doesn’t matter.”

Your financial freedom Why + What may be different from mine. Your values might differ. You might want financial freedom to travel, put your kids through uni, build a yurt in your backyard, being able to retire at 35. Whatever YOU want is fine. Just know what it is so you can actually achieve it!

2. Stop relying on the lottery

Want to make friends with money? Have a great relationship with it? Stop freaking out about paying bills or getting fired or some crappy thing befalling you or your family that would result in massive financial hardship? Have the kind of things you dream about?

STOP RELYING ON THE FREAKING LOTTERY.

The lottery is NOT an investment strategy. It is NOT a “when I get rich” strategy. Sorry to break it to you possums, but it’s not going to happen peeps.

What’s more even if you did get struck by lightning and win the lottery, the odds are against you that you’ll actually be able to turn that win into lasting financial security. Simply put, lottery winners usually waste it NOT because they have the intention to – but because they lack the financial strategy, wisdom and goals.

YOU are the one to change your situation and create the life and financial freedom you want. YOU are the one that’s going to make it happen.

And yes it WILL take work and discipline. But golly gosh, it is GOOD work to do. You’ll feel your brain stretching in the most marvellous of ways. You’ll feel such a huge sense of achievement of actually taking the steps you need.

You’re going to become empowered. And you’re going to keep an open mind and keep learning. And you’re going to find out what works for you. Even if it’s scary. Even if it presses your buttons.

3. Keep learning about money & investments

You are NOT destined to be someone who is always broke. You CAN change your financial literacy. It doesn’t have to be boring.

It’s your job to do this. It’s completely up to you. You are the conscious creator of your world.

You can create great, huge, wonderful change in your finances & lifestyle. But it’s something YOU have to do.

Don’t freak out about learning new things. It is GOOD to learn new things. It doesn’t have to feel like that scary hard thing you did at school.

You can do this on your own speed, learning about things in a way that feels good for you.

4. Spend less than you earn & be wary of consumer debt

Don’t get stuck in the mindset that earning six figures means you get to go on crazy expensive holidays, lets you buy pricy fashion and live extravagantly. I mean, you can do that if you want, but don’t expect to be building true financial freedom as you do it.

You still need to be on a budget (GASP! SHOCK! I KNOW!) You still need to spend less than you earn. You still need to be diligent about savings.

Otherwise it’s just money coming in one door and going out the other.

Don’t live a millionaire lifestyle – it’s actually not the way real millionaires live. That’s more for people who want to APPEAR rich. Real millionaires are focussed on building their wealth.

This also counts for non six figures peeps. Spending less than you earn & being wary of consumer debt is something you need to be aware of for lifers.

Not all debt is bad – if you are investing that money into something you expect to see a return on. For example, I’ve used credit cards before to buy equipment for my business when I was just starting out. Then I made it a priority to pay off those cards and cancel them once I had enough built up in savings to accommodate for cash flow and expenses.

Consumer debts sucks giant donkey clangers + takes away from your wealth

It’s consumer debt that sucks donkey balls: cars, TVs, clothes, concerts, holidays, homewares. All the stuff that you buy that doesn’t keep its value when you take it out of the shop. That’s the stuff that you shouldn’t be going into debt for, the stuff you should be thinking “is this really going to bring that much worth into my life? Is it going to add value? Is it going to add to my dream lifestyle.”

I’m not saying don’t buy anything ever. I like pretty shit as much as the next person. But I only like pretty shit if it doesn’t stop me from growing my net worth and creating true financial freedom for my family.

5. Set yearly & monthly goals

The more you set goals and check back in on them, the more likely they are to actually happen.

I set goals every year about:

  • how much I want to earn
  • how much I want to save
  • what I’m doing with my savings to make it an investment

In my yearly goals workbook, I wrote down my financial goals for the year, including my savings goal, income goal and what other goals I wanted to make happen to make my finances better. Some of those goals were things like:

  • see a financial advisor
  • have regular finance reviews
  • review our mortgage
  • learn more about investments
  • change accountants.

Bonus Tip: Talk About Money More!

So many women have crappy financial knowledge & situations because they COMPLETELY IGNORE this part of their lives.

They won’t discuss it because to do so means you are shallow or money hungry or unspiritual.

I CALL BULLSHIT.

I’m always asked about why I’m so open about money. I’m happy to say exactly how much I earn. And there are so many reasons I do it: It’s just a number, like any other number. It helps women see what is possible. And it removes the stigma away from money. If by sharing what I earn it helps you see what is possible, and what you impact you could have on the world through that money, than that makes my heart sing. Money conversations are important!

If we are going to be true conscious creators of our lives… If we are going to step up into our power… If we are going to change this world, we need to lead a revolution of smart, savvy, spiritual women who aren’t afraid to talk about money.

The more we talk about money the SMARTER about it we will get.

And when we do, that means more financial freedom for our lives, families and communities. Women are much, much more likely to use their wealth to change the lives of children, invest in their education and be philanthropists than men. We NEED to have these discussions and become powerful in the world of money just as we are powerful elsewhere too.

Let’s talk about money more, and what it means to be financially free as women, creatives & hippies.

The world (and our world) will change because of it!

Spread the financially free virus!

Remember that finance can be just as joyful, fun + playful as the rest of your life.

You don’t need to dress up in a pinstriped suit & grow a Ron Swanson moustache in order to talk about money.

If you’ve found this article at all useful, please share it along. This stuff needs to be talked about more and more!

With so much love, joy + abundance,
Leonie