As investors and journeymen of financial freedom, we focus on what we can control.
- How we spend money
- How we invest money
- How we earn income
At the beginning of our journey, we focus first on spending. Next, we bring awareness to the categories and places our money goes. Then, we move through that and seek value in every dollar that leaves our lives. Finally, we spend less on what’s dumb and more on what’s important.
We bring balance to our spending. The mindfulness of these new spending habits will keep us on track from now on. The more time we spend on this path, the less we need to consider spending how much on what.
When you run through the finish line of financial independence, something amazing happens. Thoughts on spending money decrease at an accelerated rate. You then realize how unimportant spending is to provide happiness. And how utterly useless it is to find tranquility.
What else can we control? How we invest. The most important is the asset class. Then the vehicle to access that asset. And finally, how often and how much cash we push into these investments.
Wisdom urges us to be simple and boring. Invest in index funds that track the total stock market. Ignore the millions of other options.
We’re lucky to have access to cheap and liquid ETFs and mutual funds that track the stock market. Vanguard, iShares, and Schwab democratized financially accessible to the stock market.
The decision of how much and how often to invest can all be easy. Augment the familiar cycle of biweekly paychecks.
Take half of your take-home pay, and invest in stocks.
Stay the course, and one day you’ll hit FI.
Ignore the market returns. You can’t control them—red and green tickers. Up and down arrows are exciting and evoke feelings. The rush of dopamine and anxiety fills your mind with noise.
Focus on what you can control.
How you invest, what you invest in, how much, and how often you invest.
Ignore the market the best you can. We’re all junkies when it comes to feeling rich when the market is up and poor when it is down.
Finally, we have power over how we earn income. We can decide what work to pursue and the means to earn income for our families. We can control the value we create for our employers. We can focus on how we decide to work on what.
Everyone has more control over their work than they think.
The weak and lazy minds say things like,
I had no choice.
I was following orders.
You always have a choice. It just takes more thought than you are willing to put into figuring this out.
- We can focus on how we manage our boss
- How we celebrate victories
- How we champion projects and progress
- How we negotiate compensation
- How we deliver and add value
- And how we show up to win every week
How we spend, how we invest, and how we earn. These are areas of our lives we can control. Not entirely, but with significant influence.
We have no control over everything else. The world is random and chaotic. Stop pretending like you don’t know this to be true.
Focus on your mind and your life.
Financial freedom is only available to those with financial resources and calm minds.
Today the world is a deep blue ocean
- Saturday morning is my favorite time of the week.
- Seize the day while the world sleeps in!
- Saturday morning is the perfect time to stimulate your mind 😉