A Definition of "Financial Freedom" Changed My Life

[Mitch Stephen]

I once heard a defintion of "Financial Freedom" that changed my life. The definition went like this;

"FINANCIAL FREEDOM happens when your wants and your needs are exceeded by your passive income."

Once I heard that definition everything changed... everything became crystal clear to me. I had been chasing money but I didn't know exactly why or how much I needed. How much was enough? I had nothing to measure by.

Until I heard that definition, I always assumed that people who were "financially free" were rich. After hearing that definition my life changed completely because I finally understood that being financial free and being wealthy were to completely different things.

That definition said to me that I controlled the bar. Where the bar was set was up to me. At the time I needed $3,500 per month to be free... free from having to have a job or to answer to anyone else on a daily basis. Thinking of becoming rich was daunting but financial freedom was doable. Freedom was well within reach. $3,500 per month was doable!

That definition also said to me; when I become financially free at a modest level, I'd then have the luxury of persueing my hopes and my dreams 24/7/365 days a year. I instinctively realized (finally) that the sooner I became financially free, the sooner I'd have my run at being wealthy.

From that day forward I became singlular in focus and knew exactly where I was at and how fast or slow I was approaching the inevitable first step to my freedom. I had to create $3,500/mo worth of passive income. Suddenly, the mountain of entrepreneurism was not so tall. I could see - smell- the first platue along my own personal hike towards success.

I achieved that goal in a relatively short period of time...1 year. I quit my job and began chasing my dreams every day - all day. My first year I did 45 houses. My 2nd year I did 65 houses. My 3 year I purchased 150 houses and sold 97.

It all started one day when my desire for "chunks of money" was replaced with a desire for "slices of cash flow" that added up to $3,500 per month. After all, money isn't what we are really after is it? I contend we are after our freedom. If freedom could be bought with jelly-beans, we'd all be reading books about how to find jelly-beans...right? All money does is buy you freedom.

I didn't have to be rich to keep my overhead low. In fact, being poor had already tempered me towards doing just that; living modestly. The secret was to keep my overhead low even as I began to make more and more money. Personally, I wanted my freedom more than I wanted a boat or a new car. I put a premium on "Freedom." I wanted my freedom so I could see just who I'd become if I didn't have the pressures of making a living haning over my head. It ended up just as I suspected. I became wealthy after I became financially free.

[J Scott]

Mitch -

Welcome to the forum!

Nick's comment about a sales pitch was just more of a function of the fact that we get a lot of people who come here, don't contribute much, and then try to sell us stuff. We're a close knit bunch and very protective of the less experienced investors, which is why we get a little paranoid.

But, the nice thing about this site is that as long as you keep making contributions like this, not only will you help educate all of us, but you'll also gain the trust of our members, which will in turn help you and your business (we have nothing against people who sell stuff, as long as they are willing to give as much as they take).

All that said, it's great to have you here, and I'm looking forward to more about your "adventure" and success.

Let me start with a question that I'm sure some of members are probably wondering about: You mention that you realized the benefits of passive income, but it sounds like much of what you've been doing is very active (wholesaling, flipping, etc).

Are you involved in passive investing at this point? To what extent?