You know those stories that you hear about the old bloke who stopped working then fell off the perch a few weeks afterwards?
Then his missus decided that she, too, had nothing much else to live for and joined him.
And the reverse.
Like they “arrived” and then… departed.
I like this phrase “You must enjoy the journey” because it implies that there is no destination, and the more I ponder the more I believe I don’t want to arrive.
Speaking to a friend yesterday morning, we were talking about how when we were in our 20’s that all we needed was a Lambo or big-ass gin palace and we would know we had arrived.
Like having those things was the be-all, end-all.
Then we realised cars are a pain in the arse and most people who ponce around in ridiculous cars look like insecure knobs. And they’re usually close to broke.
So owning “things” is “nice” but without enough substance to represent arrival.
Later yesterday, again with a friend, I was asked about success and what exactly it is that I’m out to achieve.
A wine or two deep, and taking a minute to reply, something like this came out of my mouth:
“I like working, so I don’t ever want to stop doing that. I’d like more of my work life to be about marketing, that’s kind of my thing. It’s not “stuff”, I don’t really care too much about that. I would like to have the choice, when and how to work, to be able to get up and go somewhere or do something without much in the way of budget constraints.
Like, if I decided to go trekking in Nepal on a whim, I could book business class tomorrow, get someone to organise the accommodation and itinerary and just enjoy the experience. And time, I’d like to have more free time.”
So if we’re talking about “arriving” at a financial or career-life point, I’d say the above sounds pretty good to me.
But “arriving” at a destination where there’s no work? No thanks.
The choice is what it’s all about, to me anyway.
The problem is, of course, that there’s two main factors working against most people (and me, still).
First is debt.
Second is cash-flow.
The principles discussed in my book, Millionaire Mortgage Secrets still hold up a couple of years after writing. Debt is a handbrake on your freedom.
Unless we’re talking about very lightly geared investments where there is positive net cash-flow. Which is an outcome, not a starting point.
You must be working towards being debt-free.
Which leads me to my second point:
You can’t pay your way without cash. It’s the energy which converts ideas into experiences or things.
To have it, you’ve gotta free it up from servicing debt.
Subtract other fixed, non-discretionary costs and that’s your free cash flow.
So that leaves us with a very simple two-pronged approach we could take to arriving somewhere more financially secure, or free, than we are today.
Sounds simple. Why isn’t everyone doing it?
Because achieving low or no-debt and sufficient free, non-earned cash flow requires all of these consistently applied over many years: education, discipline, continual effort, thought, action, practise (verb).
The problem I see is so few people have created a big enough reason “why” to do what’s necessary to get to that place where they feel they have “arrived”, or to have the freedom to enjoy the journey.
If you’ve already read my book, think we are on the same page and would like to get more personalised Professional Mortgage Advice, book a call with me => HERE .
Just a heads up we can’t start on any new work until late this week. But we’d still like to help.
Cheers,
Brodie Brown
Professional Mortgage Broker