8 Habits to Financial Freedom

Success is very relative and defined in many terms. Common to rich and successful people are the habits they develop in time.

1. Create a budget.

'Failing to prepare is preparing to fail!' 

A budget serves as our financial guideline or plan. Without it, you'll surely end up in a financial disaster. You won't have the overall financial control if you don't know where all your hard-earned pennies are going. Create a budget and work on it!

2. Be Proactive.

Control your financial situation by preventing past financial mistakes from ever happening again. Work on things that will prevent you from being broke. Start with developing the habit of saving, be it big or small, just save.

3. Reading a lot.

Studies show that an average CEO reads 52 books a year which is equivalent to one book a week. If you want to be rich and successful, always upgrade your knowledge through reading. Don't let your precious brain cells go to waste.

If you are not born an avid reader, practice daily until you reach the speed 200 words per minute. My favorite reads are not only books but articles, magazine, newspapers. Of course, if you want to improve your finances, try to read self-help and finance books to equip yourself financially and money terminologies.

4. Having a mentor.

It very challenging to find a good mentor especially when it comes to money. A mentor does not necessarily mean an accountant or someone who's very good with Math. Personally, a mentor is someone whom I can relate to. Someone who give me insights on the hows to of my business or helps me tackle issues I am currently going through.

If you're only a beginner like me, who has very little network with successful, wealthy and rich people, a mentor could be someone from Youtube, a personal finance blogger, an author or a finance guru that you feel comfortable listening to and whose opinions matters to you. But of course, back yourself with facts and information by doing a little research on your own.

5. Setting goals.

Successful people have definite and measurable goals, be it personal, business, work and other aspect of their life. It aligns to the direction or the life they want to have in the future.

6. Making daily list.

A to do list help you to remember all the things that need to be done. List down the activities from the most important up to the least important. 

7. Have Multiple Streams of Income.

Rich and successful people all have things in common, having a multiple income steams. Income comes in three forms: active, passive and portfolio income.

Active income comes from our salary from work while passive income comes from real estate rentals, online selling, side hustles and etc. while portfolio income comes from paper assets.

Rich and successful people has two or three or all of these types of income stream. 

8. Avoiding time wasters.

Rich and successful people know that main ultimate capital is not money but time. All of us has 24 hours a day. We spend half of it sleeping, resting and eating while the other half is up to us. The way we spend time impacts our future career, wealth, health and any aspect of our life.

Rich people find ways to leverage their time by avoiding time wasters and knowing their priorities. They know that spending too much time on useless activities cost them both time and money. Hence they make use of other people's time, hire and pay them do the things needed to get done, so that they'll have more time to focus on more important things they need to do.