It has been quite some time since I wrote about financial freedom and more specifically my journey towards it. Over the years, I realised there are many different views towards financial planning. Some would think it is not necessary to plan ahead and don't have to worry too much about money. Others will think its important to save money and plan ahead. Ultimately, what I strongly believe in is different mindsets will lead to different outcomes.
For example, if a person thinks his retirement will be taken care of by the government or his children, most probably this person will not plan for his own retirement. I would say everyone worries for their own retirement and whether they have enough to live during their old age but how they see that the retirement is provided will determine what they do now. If they think that other people will take care of them during retirement, what they would do now is nothing.
Financial freedom or financial independence is a different form of retirement. It is not about retiring from work and do nothing but its about making the best out of our lives. In essence, it is about living life to the fullest. More often than not, we humans focus on the what and how of our lives. What can we do to make more money? How can we achieve financial freedom? But, before we focus on the what and how, we should actually think about the "why". Thinking about the "why" will give us a sense of purpose and meaning of what we are doing now.
Why do we work? Why do we want financial freedom? Why do we want to live our lives? Knowing the "why" clearly in our minds will steer us in the right direction. If we just know the what and how, we will start to feel emptiness in what we do at some point in our lives.
I saw a video on the why and what we do which will show you why thinking about "why" we do is important. Check this out:
If you know your why, your what has more impact because you're walking in or towards your purpose. This made me think about why I started this blog.
For readers who are new to my blog, I actually started SG Young Investment back in 2013. It has been almost 3 years since I started writing. Back then, it was the busiest period of my life where I was juggling between full time work and part time studies for my degree. It took me a long time to decide which course I want to take. I made a decision why I wanted to go back to studies after working for about 2 years. My motivation was not the certification which I would get, it was the things that I could learn during the course of study.
I was interested in economics and doing research. Throughout the course, I had to do lots of research and reading up and also writing essays after essays. I realised my love for writing and started this blog. But, the main motivation of starting this blog is to reach out to more people on the importance of financial planning. I always feel sad when I see people or families who get into financial problems. All these can actually be avoided if we just have a little knowledge and live our lives more prudently. More than that, I actually believe in financial freedom and financial independence. I believe we can live our lives to the fullest and do what we really like. I don't want to live my life doing what I don't like just for money.
That was the essence of why I started the blog. I still hope to reach out to more people and make an even greater impact. What and how I do has more purpose because of the why. Do you know the "why" in what you are doing in your life now? If you are lost in what you do, consider taking some time to think about the why in what you do. You may just find the purpose to live your life to the fullest.