My theory of financial relativity: A floating number of current achievement that is more than you used to have but less than you currently want.
Here's how to have what you want financially:
Understand that financial freedom isn't having a certain number in savings, it's having enough income that the work you do (if any) doesn't matter. If your monthly expenses are $1,000 and you bring in $1,100, you are free! If you have a million dollars but are spending it down and concerned about running out at some point, you aren't free.
While most people associate insurance with car or life, the most important kind is actually disability insurance because your income- your ability to earn money- is your single largest and most important asset. The related problem with being able to earn money is that you usually have to keep earning it. We associate portfolios of rental real estate and municipal bonds with the uber-rich, but what if they were for the common people as well?
I bought a house when I was 25 and moved out of it and across the country a month later. For years after, I learned how to negotiate leases, sniff out problem tenants and take care of good ones. I learned about mortgages and business interest and depreciation. I read books about commercial real estate. I started imagining. Then I got a job selling muni bonds, and I raised a few billion dollars. And the credit market fell apart, and came back together, and I learned some more about credit spreads and default rates and interest cycles. I got involved in politics and read some and learned some more.
My life will surely cost more as I upgrade through the years. But there's a strategy involved. There's a different number I'm aiming for- the FREEDOM number. I know what my bills are. I don't have any debt. I will be free. And I'm taking everyone I know with me.
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