Financial Freedom

After turning 18 early this year, I was introduced to many new aspects of adulthood that I had never considered important as a kid. Managing money is the most vital skill I need to learn and master to succeed as an adult. On finishing a life-changing book called “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki, I was introduced to a new perspective of viewing the concept of money and growing wealth. One of the most important lessons was that most 9-5 workers in America are financially illiterate, not their fault. The middle and lower classes earn money by working but do not know how to manage the money they earn and grow their wealth over time. The education system does not teach anything about financial literacy but how to be good, hardworking employees to the country’s most prosperous.

Over the years, schools have taught us to get good grades to obtain a secure job that provides benefits like social security and pensions. But, in today’s economy, aiming to work and produce an income to achieve the American Dream is not safe anymore. There is more unemployment and layoffs than ever before. No job is secure, with a guaranteed pension that will continue after retirement.

I view the current job market also from an investor’s perspective. Imagine you have invested in a tech company like Tesla, and you are hoping for significant gains over time. To appease investors like you and others who own bigger chunks of the company, Tesla needs to minimize expenses and maximize revenue to get more profit. The number of employees at the company and their benefits is subject to change on any given day to reduce costs. From what I have observed, no job is 100% safe anymore, even when someone has worked there for decades.

After reading this book, I have decided to embark on a journey to obtain financial freedom. Freedom that unchains me from working to pay my bills, trading my time in for money. The idea behind financial freedom is that you develop different portfolio and passive incomes over many years that will eventually grow to pay for your monthly expenses. Portfolio income includes property and stock gains, while passive income is regular income without much maintenance. To achieve this goal, I will need to develop many different income streams over the years.

I am currently learning more about the stock market and gaining experience from the little money I now have. I hope to create a high dividend yield portfolio and use the dividends as portfolio income by reinvesting them until they become large enough to be turned into passive income. I have also discovered an opportunity recently called Amazon FBA where you sell products to make a profit on amazon by buying the products cheaper directly from manufacturers. This could be a learning opportunity as I enter the market of e-commerce.

Before entering my freshman year, I was dead set on becoming a physician. I can not even imagine that my interests would turn towards business, money, and entrepreneurship. But, now, my goals have changed after gaining more knowledge about the job market. My first semester in university has been a very transformative experience.

If I start early, I can, one day, reach financial freedom and grow my assets to retire my family and my parents next. I would never have to trade my time in for money as a regular employee again. Once I reach that position, I can do so many things with my time that would have typically been pushed aside to pay the bills. I could travel the world and experience all that life has to offer. If I really wanted to learn a specific profession, I could work a job, but I would not really need the money that comes with it to switch jobs as much as I want to learn new things. I can spend the rest of my life reading books and learning more about the world. I could make a lot more time for my family and raise my kids instead of becoming a dad who is always working. I could teach through the internet about how to achieve financial freedom. I urge you to read “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and learn about the wrongs that society has been teaching us so far and how we can achieve financial freedom and retire early.