Hi everyone and welcome to Your Financial Freedom website. I have had a passion for finance for most of my adult life but now, as I approach retirement, it has suddenly become an area of my life that I would like to take much greater control over. I subscribe to several excellent financial newsletters and the information they provide gives me a balanced outlook in my various financial undertakings.
With the ability to follow finances from the macroeconomic level right down through to micro cap stocks and even cryptocurrencies, I believe that I can provide valuable insights into the financial systems and the techniques available to help you generate sufficient income to achieve financial well-being and to allow you to retire earlier than you could with a normal 9-to-5 work lifestyle.
Receiving some valuable guidance (more like a strong push in the right direction by a good friend) during my early working years has placed me in a comfortable position moving into retirement.
So now it is my turn to give back.
Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about the steps to financial success and how, if you were to start using these techniques from an early age, you could position yourself to retire early. I mean, retirement in your 40s and 50s is achievable. So is retiring in your 30s if you are willing to put in the hard yards during your 20s and even your late teens.
I would like to offer others some insight into how they can achieve financial freedom as well as provide tips and techniques that are now available to almost anyone in the world who has access to the internet.
By reducing your debt levels, maximizing your retirement saving and generating multiple streams of passive income, it is possible to jump off the 9-to-5 bandwagon and start generating income for yourself instead of your boss.
Some History About My Working Life
I began my working life with a large oil & gas company in the early 1980s. At the time, I was fresh out of university and didn’t have a care in the world, blowing money lavishly whenever I had the whim, as I had the rest of my working life to make it up. Or so I thought!
After the first few years of working hard and partying hard, I had very little savings to show and the signs of a paycheck to paycheck existence were starting to show in my life. At a very opportune time in my life, a good friend pestered me to start putting money away each week for my retirement. I thought it was a stupid idea as I still had 40 years of working life ahead of me! I am so thankful that he persevered and I took him up on the offer.
With minimal weekly salary deductions and the benefit of compounding interest over the next 30 years (and some astute investments along the way), my retirement savings have grown to the point where early retirement is an option.
So how are your financial skills going to be impacted by this?
Over the past decade, I have spent a great deal of time studying and emulating some of the greatest financial minds of the past 100 years. People like Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, W D Gann and Peter Lynch. And more modern financial minds including Robert Kiyosaki, Dean Graziosi and the now-famous crypto twins, Cameron and Tyler Winkelvoss.
I would also spend hours sifting through stock market data to improve my chances of stock market success. Following some great wins and some great losses investing in stocks and options, you eventually realise that anything can be overcome if you have the knowledge and the desire to succeed.
A good work ethic and hard work can truly lead to your success in achieving final freedom, just as it can in anything in life.
Moving Towards Retirement, Somebody Moved The Goalposts
When I started my career in Australia, there was no compulsory retirement savings scheme. Most people worked their entire life on the expectation of an Australian government pension when they retired. The Superannuation Scheme, a compulsory system of superannuation for Australian employees, paid for by Australian employers, was not introduced until 1991.
The age pension was available when you reached 65 and for many people, this was all the financial support they had during retirement. However, the aging demographics in Australia began to put pressure on government finances.
Now, the age to receive a pension is increasing and will be 67 by 2023. Who knows what the government will do after 2023! Increase the official retirement age further or maybe abolish the age pension completely. So, with the government already moving the retirement goalposts, it is becoming more and more crucial to take over your own retirement planning.
Much of the content that I am going to be discussing here is centered around improving your financial skills, with an underlying focus always being on saving for retirement and reducing your debt and how you can no longer rely on others to support you.
The game has changed and so does the way you need to plan for your retirement.
Time To Fight Back
There is no point in trying to strive for financial freedom if you are heading in the wrong direction. You will never get there!
There are 1000s of get-rich-quick income streams available to you on the internet. A few of them work if you are one of the early starters, where you make money at the expense of those who join after you; those that you invariably drag into the scheme as you progress towards your goals. The rest of the get-rich-quick schemes are largely scams to ensure you are quickly parted from your hard-earned cash.
If you ever want my support or have any questions, feel free to contact me below and I will be more than happy to help you out.
All the best,
Gary
Founder of Your Financial Freedom
