As on today, there is nothing more special to me than financial independence. I heard the concept of financial independence few years back. I was surprised to realize that how I could have missed to notice a great vision of financial independence. I was cursing my self as to why my logic did not draw my attention towards this concept. I am basically an engineer and its no secret that to earn my living I have to work hard each day for six days a week. If I will use the phrase that, ‘my requirements of life has forced to me work almost as a bonded labor’. Life of engineer is no better than that of doctors, lawyers, accountants etc. We all are bounded by the domains of our knowledge that we gained while graduating. Fortunately or unfortunately we have obtained a degree in subjects that are of least interest to us. You will often find people saying that after college ‘I have never used the concepts of my books’. People feel that education and real life are two different things. There are very few people who use their education expertise for managing their profession. The reason behind this slag is lack of co-relation between our studies and practical life. So does it mean that our syllabus and studies has a fault? The answer is no, the reason for this slag is more deep routed than we think. Let me give you few examples:
- Assume a student who has excellent knack for Physics and Math. If you use this student to design fighter planes then there is a very high chance that he will use his analytical abilities in his profession. For this student use of physics and math for designing planes is an effortless task. In fact solving complicated physics and math problems is his hobby, and he is using his hobby in his profession. There are all chances that this student will rise very high in his career, because for him work is not an effort its fun. Whenever you can link your hobby with your profession, there is a big chance that you will score very high in life.
- I had a friend who was very interested to socialize, attend public gatherings, throwing parties and enjoying night life in particular. He was out-and-out extrovert. Today he is working as a Marketing Executive in a top notch company. His performance is very well appreciated by his top managements as it has been observed that he maintains very good PR with customers. Basically he has used his personal knack and ability to socialize easily with ease. The best is that he has always enjoyed a lot the very process of socializing form his school days.
- You can imagine any famous sports personality like a football star Lionel Messi. He is basically an Argentinean start whose football skills were recognized very early by his coach and his family. In turn he shifted to Europe for further training. As on today he is around twenty two years of age and he is one of the richest football players in the world. What Messi is the richest footballer is not because he plays the game so well, he is richest because he has transformed his knack, his hobby to become his profession.
The point I am trying to prove is that when people cannot co-relate their profession with their knack, their hobby they will never job. If one is not enjoying their job they will not be self-driven in their profession. An employee who I not self drives will always need a supervisor to push them to complete their work. Once we become dependent (sub-consciously) on supervisors to execute our work we loose our Independence. The biggest casualty of loss of independence is our self-confidence and ability to think innovatively.
A person with an innovative thinking and reasonable self confidence can do miracles in their life. There are very people in this world whom we can really call as financially independent. What is the reason that makes only few elite people to attain financial independence? One thing that you will find common in all of these financially independent people is that they are all innovative and self-confident personalities. They have succeeded in developing a ‘out of the box thinking’ which has made them to get out of the rat race of their life.
In order to get out of the rate race, these people have thought innovatively and found ways and means to link hobbies and knack with their profession. You will find that most of these so called financially independent people are individual entrepreneurs. Most of them are doing business which complements their personality and likings. Like a bloggers who blogs on the topic of electronic gadgets has combined his liking an interest for gadgets to be shared via his blog portal. This way he uses his interest to analyze or narrate his understanding on a gadget. This in turn makes him earn loads of money to attain financial independence. Suppose the same person decided to start blogging on a topic of finance, you can be sure that he will soon loose interest and will stop blogging.
So, the precondition to financial independence is to realize that what is your knack and your likings. People often do not know about their strengths and weakness. Realization of ones strength may take some time. Rule of thumb in realizing this is to observe ones activities in which one feels most comfortable while executing. I will give you one example of an introvert person who has observed that he is most comfortable when he is alone. His thoughts flow most freely when he is given some space. During his moments of peace he shows extraordinary knack for financial calculations and liking for money related matters. He like reading article, books on investment and financial planning. This person has used all of his personal characteristics and knowledge to develop a blog (web site) on Investment principles and techniques. It is not a surprise that this persona very well earns $1000 per month out of blogging and that too in his area of liking.
I would like to add a point that people who has fat-pay-cheque does not necessarily mean that they are financially independent. Financial independence is a state of life when a person is not required to work to manage his daily family expenditures. A person with a huge salary may loose his job the next month and his source of income will stop the very day. A person who is financially independent will continue to make money whether they work or do not work. If they work they will make more money, but that is his choice. Take example of a person who has properties which adds $1000 per month in his kitty in the form of rented income. This person will continue to make money each month irrespective of whether he works or not. His property is his asset. Similarly a person who has say $200,000 stuffed in fixed deposit. Suppose the return paid by fixed deposit is 6% per annum. Just by the virtue of interest earned on his deposit the person will earn $1000 per month. This person can be called as financially independent. For this person his cash locked in fixed deposit is his asset.
To conclude, I would like my readers to understand that in order to be financially independent one must realize their personal knack and likings (hobbies). After realizing ones knack, people shall find ways and means to transform their hobby into their profession. Once a person is able to stabilize his business which is fuelled by their hobby and generates money like a profession we can assume the battle is half won. Generating income is only half way towards financial independence. Converting income into savings and giving the savings the power to grow is the next step. Converting savings into assets is most important. Ultimately assets will help you to achieve financial independence. Invest on assets and avoid liabilities is the tag line of this website. You can learn more about good investment options to convert your savings more effectively into ever growing assets.
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