Your desire for financial freedom may start when you realize that you don't have the job security you were promised, that your savings will be inadequate to live comfortably when you retire, or that you would like to spend more of your time pursuing your true calling and passion.

You actually can live life the way you choose rather than simply trading all of your precious time for money alone. Financially Free explains in a clear and concise manner how to attain that goal and what it will take to accomplish it. You will learn how to become financially free and more importantly; you will come to believe you can.

Financially Free provides you with practical ways to build passive streams of income which will enable you to become financially independent. Like the famous story of the farmer and the goose, you will learn how to create your own lifelong stream of golden eggs. It's time to take action! Financial freedom clearly takes work. When people put their minds to accomplishing great things, great things are accomplished. There are no limits to what you can achieve when you put your mind to it - even financial freedom.

Financially Free

How to Achieve Financial Freedom So You Can Live Your Life to the FullestBy Damon Janis

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 Damon Janis
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4401-8954-8

Contents

Acknowledgments.............................................ixIntroduction................................................xiFocus.......................................................1Determination...............................................9Belief......................................................15Independent Mindset.........................................19Break Out of the Middle Class Mentality.....................24Think Positively............................................31Discipline..................................................39Select Your Vehicle.........................................45Action Plan.................................................54Conclusion..................................................69Resources...................................................71

Chapter One

Focus

Laser-guided focus enables you to keep moving forward in the attainment of your financial goals.

* * *

Picture a commercial airliner just leaving the runway with 155 passengers on board. As it climbs rapidly and gains speed there is a sudden thud and the passengers and pilots are thrown forward in their seats against the pressure of their seat restraints. Both engines lose all thrust while the ascent and speed of the aircraft quickly decelerates. After climbing to only 3,000 feet before the engines quit there is very little time to figure out how to get the plane down safely and save the lives of passengers and crew.

After a few seconds of processing what is going on the pilot immediately swings into action. He considers turning the airplane around and trying to make it back to the airport but realizes they will lose too much altitude in the turn and won't make it. He considers putting the plane down in the direction they are flying but realizes the tremendous loss of life that will occur because it is a densely-populated urban environment. Not only will passengers and crew likely be killed but many people on the ground and in buildings as well.

At about this time the pilot remembers the Rolex watch on eBay he had bid on the previous day. Curious to see if he won the auction and now distracted from the task at hand, he pulls out his iPhone and logs into eBay to check the status.

You know what the end of that story would be. By losing focus on the task at hand the pilot would cause the certain demise of all the passengers and crew on board including many people on the ground. If there were a way to land safely he would not have found it.

In this same sense staying focused on your financial objectives is just as critical to your financial freedom as the pilot's focus was for the safety of the passengers and crew.

In January 2009, US Airways flight 1549 collided at 3,000 feet with a flock of birds just after taking off from New York's La Guardia Airport. Both engines immediately lost power. Captain Chelsey "Sully" Sullenburger became a hero that day by landing the plane successfully in the Hudson River and saving the life of every passenger and crew member on board.

No challenge is surmounted and no obstacles are removed without focus. Nothing can be created unless the creator is focused on the creation. The book you are reading could not be written if I hadn't focused on it. So focusing on your financial freedom is required to create it.

Here was my experience as I recorded it when I sat down to start writing this book:

I'm in my air conditioned car at the beach. It's 94F outside and feels like 102F because the humidity is 90 percent. We are parked on the beach in the sand facing the waves while my children and their cousins play in the water and my wife Tiffany is sitting next to me knitting, ironically, a winter hat.

The water is lapping at the front tires because there is hardly any beach at the moment, even though I've moved the car as far from the water as possible. A hurricane is 300 miles east of our position and the storm has caused the surf to swell.

It's difficult to start this chapter and gather my thoughts about financial independence because I'm feeling anxious that if the water comes up further we are not going to be able to get this vehicle off the beach as access to the road will be cut off by the water.

Every time a car door opens, black flies come buzzing in. I'm in shorts and they walk on my bare legs, tickling and annoying me.

One of the little cousins is getting food out of the back of the car and taking her sweet time about it, not realizing I'm feeling anxious about the door being open and letting in more flies which will annoy me and distract me from writing about financial freedom.

My legs still feel like flies are walking on them even though they aren't. I keep moving my hand to my legs to brush them off but they aren't there.

I want to explain what financial freedom is, why we crave it, and how we gain it. But my thoughts keep going back to being stranded on the beach as the water rises and flies tickling my legs. The only way I will be able to do this is by mentally focusing on what I choose to do rather than letting my environment determine it for me.

Financial freedom and independence works the same way. The only way to get it is by mentally focusing on it and not letting our environment distract us from the goal.

One of the biggest distractions people have with becoming financially independent is their desire for stuff. Like that cool huge plasma HDTV you've just got to have. So you get the HDTV and then you are bombarded with advertisements for more stuff you don't need.

People accumulate so much stuff they need bigger houses to keep it all in, and then they need more stuff to outfit their bigger houses.

These things take up our money and our time which we need to use instead in the pursuit of the financial freedom we want to achieve.

Some activities distract us from financial freedom-a demoralizing and controlling job for example. The money you get from your job is a necessary tool for gaining financial freedom, but it needs to be used correctly; you can't let the job control your life.

Perhaps you are addicted to day-time television which saps your intelligence, time, and motivation and skews your perspective of life into a fake drama. Perhaps you are obsessed with sports and spend all your waking hours thinking, talking, and watching sports. Can you imagine if you allocated just 50 percent of that energy, thought, and focus into something productive in your life?

Giving in to instant gratification will keep financial freedom from you. If you can't afford what you want but you have to have it anyway, you will increase your consumer debt from which it is difficult or next to impossible to break free. Consumer debt is like being imprisoned and will inhibit your ability to attain financial freedom.

J. Reuben Clark, a prominent ambassador, attorney, civic leader, and religious leader said, "Interest on debt never sleeps nor sickens nor dies; it never goes to the hospital; it works on Sundays and holidays; it never takes a vacation; it never visits nor travels; it takes no pleasure; it is never laid off work nor discharged from employment; it never works on reduced hours. Once in debt, interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss it; it yields neither to entreaties, demands, or orders; and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you."

Many years ago I was in a meeting with a group of people from my church discussing debt and the wise management of our personal finances. The person leading the meeting asked my parents to share their philosophy on personal financial management. What my dad said was amazingly simple. "We only go into debt for things that appreciate in value."

Boy was that true. They purchased all their cars with cash and we had beat up old cars when I was a teenager. The cars took us from point A to point B and that was about it but they served their purpose. My teenage ego starved but my parents' financial independence goals thrived.

What is more important, ego or financial freedom? Just keep in mind that your ego doesn't care about you, so keep it in check.

My 14-year-old son Taylor just hurt his ankle skim boarding. He leans on his cousin's shoulder as he limps to a beach chair to sit down. Tiffany gets out of the car to help him and to see how bad it is. I stay in the car because I know Tiffany is fully capable of taking care of the situation and while I would like to help, the situation is under control. I'm determined to write about financial freedom so I'm telling myself to stay focused.

Financial independence is something ...

Tiffany just informed me that Taylor actually hurt his leg and that we've lost a skim board. She's going back to Taylor to do a more thorough assessment.

Focus.

Financial independence is something we crave because it is our natural state to be free. Common people have craved freedom for thousands of years. We are fortunate for the freedoms we enjoy in the United States and the opportunities provided to us because we are politically free already. It gives us the blessing and opportunity of pursuing a higher level of freedom which is financial freedom.

The door is opening and fortunately I just completed that paragraph.

"Taylor is in pretty bad pain," Tiffany informs me. She's on top of it.

Focus.

Many people find ...

The door is opening again. "Uncle Damon, I want some food but I can't open the back door." My cute six year old niece is hungry but not quite strong enough to open the large back door of the mini-van where the food is.

"Can you find Bryan? He can open it for you," I respond.

"No."

"Okay, come in through the side door and don't worry about being all sandy."

"Okay."

Focus.

Many people find that by mid-life they have been working in a job for 20 years and have very little savings to show for it. In addition to realizing that they may not be prepared for retirement in the next 25 years based on how the last 20 have gone, and that they have worked 40 to 50 hours per week and accomplished so little in the way of building wealth, they start wondering if they are on the right path.

Perhaps you are thinking some of these thoughts right now in your life. The idea of financial freedom is that you stop trading your time for money - to eliminate a job that creates stress, generates money only for the moment, and confines your activities to what is good for the people who own your company, but not for you.

Tiffany is getting back in the car.

"How's Taylor?" I ask.

"He can't walk."

"Where does it hurt?"

"Behind his knee. He heard a pop so it may be the joint, maybe a ligament or a muscle."

"Do we need to leave?" I ask hopefully, thinking that perhaps if we go home I will have fewer interruptions while I write.

"I don't know." The knitting needles are in motion again which I interpret to mean that she hasn't found it to be urgent or serious but does feels badly he is in pain.

Focus.

Each of us is motivated to attain financial freedom for our own reasons. What's important is that we desire it enough to focus and do something about it.

The text I'm writing now could not have been created unless I focused on it. We cannot obtain financial freedom unless we focus on it.

My definition of financial freedom is simply that we don't need to work but have money and income to live life however we choose. I personally don't need or want a mansion, a fancy expensive car, or stuff to satisfy my ego. I want to do some good in the world, be a good husband and father, and have some fun while I'm at it.

You may be materialistic and want lots of expensive stuff and to live the high life. That's fine. Just be careful that you follow the principles that lead to financial freedom first and then you can satisfy your wants once you attain it.

You need something specific to motivate you. The amount of money I need to be financially independent is just enough to enable me to live a comfortable life and have the ability to assist other people in the ways that I choose.

If you are motivated to become financially free so you can live a life of pleasure and laziness just understand that it will take a lot of money, time, sacrifice, and work to get there and ultimately won't be very satisfying.

Stephen R. Covey in his book First Things First discusses what real human needs are: "to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy." You must have these needs filled to be fulfilled and satisfied in your life - to have a meaningful life. Pairing the fulfillment of these needs with financial freedom is very powerful. It's possible to seek satisfaction and fulfillment our entire lives through pleasure, to accumulate tons of material wealth, and still not feel satisfaction or fulfillment. Satisfaction comes from fulfilling our basic needs of living, loving, learning, and leaving a legacy. Having some fun on top of that adds to the richness of life but it is not the substance of life.

What would you do if you didn't have to haul yourself to a job each day? Have you actually thought about it or have you just given in to our society's common belief that you will need to work in a job until you are 70? Take a few minutes and think seriously about what you would do. You need to do this when you start on your path to financial freedom because it will provide guidance, direction, and motivation to you.

I just realized that my legs don't have the "walking fly" itch anymore. None of the children have opened a car door for quite some time as they are sitting in chairs in shallow water and just relaxing as the small waves come in. The water has receded from the front tires of the car. In fact now that I'm tuning into my environment again I'm noticing that there is about 50 yards of beach between the car and the water.

It has worked out. I focused so entirely on what I was writing that the environment around me took care of itself. At first it was difficult and I was easily distracted. But as I kept at it, I kept refocusing. Whenever I allowed myself to get distracted I took it as an opportunity to learn the discipline of focus. Each time I got better at it, more confident, and more effective.

And that, my friends, is how to start on the path to financial freedom ... focus.

Keep your goals in focus continually and you will attain them. This doesn't mean live an unbalanced life doing nothing but pursuing financial freedom. It means that each day you take some time to evaluate where you are and where you want to be and do something to get there, even if it's just to think about it. Keep your objectives in sight, keep moving and making progress. Stay focused on your goals and you will naturally gravitate toward accomplishing them.

Determination

No obstacle can stop you.

* * *

There is a passenger record at Ellis Island, New York, which shows that a young 17 year old named Dobe (pronounced Doba) Fingerman departed from Liverpool, England and arrived at Ellis Island in February 1906 on a ship named Lucania.

The passenger record lists her nationality as Russian, ethnicity as Hebrew, her marital status as single, and her last residence as Chosniky, Russia.

The ship manifest documents Dobe's finances ($10), her profession (dressmaker), and the name and address of her older brother living in New York. She travelled in steerage in the lowest decks of the ship which had only basic amenities, limited toilet use, no privacy, and poor food - what the cheapest class of ticket provided.

That was my grandmother, whom I affectionately called Nanna. She arrived in America with nothing but that $10 (if the passenger had less than $50 they had to state how much they had) and a piece of paper with her brother's address on it. I sometimes imagine her feelings standing at the ship railing as the Lucania steamed into Upper New York Bay and she saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time.

Considering what she had experienced in Russia, including poverty, the daily grind of hard work, barely having enough food to eat, and witnessing violent pogroms as a young girl, it must have been a powerful emotion seeing the symbol of liberty, being so close to freedom and what she was determined would be a better life.

They had no plumbing in Vitesbk, a city in western Russia near Poland where she was raised. She had to walk down to a nearby river and haul water back in a bucket. It was a hard, tough life. Her hopes must have soared and her heart must have been full as she arrived in the land of opportunity and saw the symbol of liberty that many of us now take for granted.

Dobe changed her name to Dora when she arrived. She spoke no English, could not read or write, and had never stepped inside a school. She came however with a determination to make something of herself and proceeded to teach herself English, including reading and writing.

Nanna passed away in 1976 when I was only 10. I remember her accent and her fierce determination to accomplish whatever she put her mind to. I also remember her telling me that she was nothing special but was just "Russian peasant stock." Yet she was a remarkable woman filled with wisdom and the strength that comes from conviction.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Financially Freeby Damon Janis Copyright © 2010 by Damon Janis. Excerpted by permission.
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