Everything has a cost. Your life will open up as soon as you live and breathe this mantra. You can have everything you want in this world if you pay the price.
The question is, what do you want? If you attach your happiness to “things” and “stuff,” you will have a difficult time being content.
There will always be a bigger house, a faster car, a nicer vacation, and a shinier diamond; the world wants you to chase these consumer staples.
Inflation vs. Passive Income 2
The biggest carrot. Because you’ll always need more money to buy more things, you’ll have to continue to work at your job—and there’s the rub.
For most people, happiness comes outside of their job. When you have time, you can spend it with family, helping others, being creative, and learning about yourself.
When you don’t have time, you rush through life and spend precious minutes trying to make yourself feel better by indulging in fast food, shopping, and relaxation techniques.
The true price of happiness is “measured” sacrifice. Measured sacrifice is knowing exactly both sides of an equation and choosing the answer that best suits your needs.
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Finding our happiness. My wife and I recently retired at ages 39 and 42, respectively. Finding financial freedom amidst the rubble of life was a long, arduous journey.
But we had a very tough decision as I approached retiring from the Marine Corps after 24 years: would we continue to work?
You see, we earned over $20,000/month in earned and passive income before retirement. I loved saving and investing and seeing our dividends account grow every month.
I didn’t love going to meetings and fighting over emails every day. As we retired, we knew we would go from $20,000/month to roughly $8,000/month—measure sacrifice.
If I decided to work another job, I could have the $8,000 and add it to another $20,000. We could have so much money flowing through our household.
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If I retired, we would have to live on a budget, enjoy the smaller things in life, and learn to love our time. We decided to live on $8,000/month.
Let me tell you, we have never been happier. Plus, we make additional income outside the $8,000 by dividend investing, trading options, renting properties, and writing books.
Finding both sides of the equation. The most challenging part for most people is understanding both sides of the equation; everyone wants it all.
I can’t blame them because the movies and media say they can have it all without sacrifice. We believe we can simply go to work, buy nice cars, live in a lovely home, and become financially independent.
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I watch a lot of romance movies for my review website. Everybody in the movies is successful, wealthy, and happy.
They all have impressive careers, find great spouses who are equally successful, and efficiently balance raising kids and work responsibilities.
The problem is that these lives don’t exist. My wife and I have two kids (17 and 12), and we know how hard it was to raise them responsibly.
My wife didn’t pursue her career to the fullest extent because she knew the importance of family and household.
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I rose to the top of the ranks, but it required me to be away from family for almost 50% of my marriage. We made sacrifices almost daily to ensure one day we could buy our freedom.
What are you willing to sacrifice? I have many friends who retired from the Marines and took another job. They want to quit, but they love having stuff.
The question becomes, “What are you willing to sacrifice?” Do you need the latest and greatest car? Can you downsize your home to retire ten years earlier?
I have friends who live in California and make over $40,000 per month. They could easily send their spouse and kids to a small city, buy a home outright, and retire in three years. Why don’t they?
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If this sounds hardcore, it’s because I have studied the actual cost of freedom. It takes massive humidity and sacrifice to walk the halls of greatness (financial independence).
Understanding the costs. Life is a simple math game; the sooner you play to win, the faster you escape.
My 17-year-old just started working at a restaurant. He earns about $600 per month, but $200 goes to his cellphone and insurance.
He will spend $100 to $150 on gas, which leaves roughly $300 for him and his girlfriend. It’ll be tough for him to save and invest because he is the newest contestant in the rat race.
Most people are living the same lifestyle, just at a higher level. You’ll never become free if you earn $20,000/month but spend $19,000.
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Lowering expenses is the cost of freedom. Your mission is to create the most tremendous cash flow (the difference between income and expenses) possible.
For example, a person earning $20,000/month needs to live on $10,000. Then, they invest the difference in income-producing assets such as dividends, real estate, and business.
The key to happiness is finding joy in living on a reduced budget (living below your means). You may need to downsize, move, change jobs, or start a blog.
Whatever the case, once you value your time over money (and things), you find your path to true happiness.
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Family is the key. The world never intended us to work for 40-50 years; that’s a modern concept. If we lived with our parents for our lifetime, we would only need to work for 10-20 years.
However, the more we separate from family, the more prosperous corporations and governments become—more property taxes, airline tickets, and furniture shopping.
Reconnecting with family is essential to our lifetime of happiness. We invest so much time into writing emails, building PowerPoint, and running from meetings that we miss what is truly important.
Multi-Generational Investing
Think about investing eight hours a day into raising your kid, helping your mom, and enjoying your spouse. How would that make you feel?
Conclusion. Happiness isn’t free (part #1, part #2). Everyone loves the concept of passive income—making money in your sleep.
The path to financial freedom is the same as finding a way to add value to others. Money is simply an exchange of value.
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Most of us value ourselves at whatever rate our employer pays us, (say) $45 per hour. Is that your true worth? Can you build a life that is worth more than an hourly wage?
Changing your perspective may take 1-2 years; you are fighting against years of indoctrination. However, you have the tools to create a business, homeschool your kids, and change lives.
If you want to change your life, you must change your life. If you’re going to wake up every day in peace, see your kids off to school, and be there when they arrive, it takes sacrifice. Are you willing to change? Good Luck!
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. All Right Reserved Military Family Investing
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