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Your most important responsibility as an adult is to achieve financial independence for yourself and for your family. Aside from the practical tangible benefits of having all the money you need, there are even more important reasons for obtaining financial freedom.

To achieve financial freedom you have to be in control of your life and you cannot be in control of your life if youre constantly worrying about not having enough money to pay your bills. Constantly worrying about not having enough money will rob you of any feeling of being in control of your life more than anything else.

The feeling of security is one of the most important and basic human needs. Every person wants and needs to free from feelings of poverty, being destitute, and the feeling failure that is associated with it. The lack of security causes more unhappiness and more underachievement than any other single factor.

Financial freedom is only possible when you accept complete responsibility for your financial condition. You must refuse to make justifications, excuses, or rationalizations for the financial situation you are currently in. You have to accept full responsibility for your current situation before any meaningful financial change can take place.

Financial independence begins with a specific goal and a plan to achieve it. You must decide exactly how much money you want to make in the next 12 months, the next 5 years, and in the next 10 years. Then, you must make a detailed plan of action as to how youre going to reach the financial goals youve set.

For example, are you going to reach your financial goals and financial independence through entrepreneurship, investing in the stock market, or investing in income producing real estate? Set your goals, make your plan, and then work your plan.

You also have to be able to delay or withhold gratification. You have to learn to withhold unnecessary spending in the short term so that you can enjoy the rewards of financial independence in the long term. This begins with small efforts of savings and sacrifice with the knowledge and belief that these efforts will eventually lead to continuous, monthly cash flow that will enable you to eventually become financially free.

Weve all heard the saying, It takes money to make money.?This is true because when you save money it activates the Law of Attraction. So when you begin to save money it creates energy that begins to attract more money to you. As long as your attitude towards money is positive, youll find yourself acquiring more and more of it.

As you increase your savings and invest your positive emotions in them, youll find more and more money attracted to you from a variety of different sources. The key thing to remember when you save money is that the more money you save the stronger the force of attraction will be and more money will come to you.

Your starting point for a savings program should be to make a habit of paying yourself before you pay anything else each month. With each paycheck you receive you should put 10% of you net income into a savings program. For example, if your net income after taxes is $2,000 per month, you should be saving $200 every month.

You might be asking, What if Im already in debt and dont have enough money as it is to last out the month??If this is the case, then you have to start out by saving what ever you can. With a little effort, you can easily save 1 or even 2 percent of your net income and then live on the other 98 or 99 percent. As you become more comfortable living on this amount each month youll find that you will be able to increase your saving to 3 or 4 percent, and then later up to 5 or 6 percent and finally up to 10 percent.

The next step in your plan towards financial freedom is to save enough money so that you have a supply of quick access money for emergencies. You should have an amount that will protect you from the ups and downs of the dynamic economy of the 21st century. Your goal should be to have at least three to six months living expenses in savings for you and your family should anything happen to cut off your income.

Having this type of financial cushion will free you from worrying about money. It will enable you to work at a job that you choose or leave a job that that you dont like. Youll be able to choose the kind of work you want and work with the kind of people you want to work with.

The next step towards financial freedom is insurance, as you save you must be insured in order to feel secure about our financial status. You need life insurance but only if you have a spouse or a family to provide for.

If you have a wife or a family you should buy term insurance. Term insurance is much cheaper than whole life insurance. Term insurance builds up no cash dividends. Whatever amount you buy, it will pay out the face amount to your estate or to your family when you die.

Your term insurance policy should be for an amount that enables your family to live at their current level from the proceeds from your policy should you die unexpectedly. For example, if your current income is $50,000 per year, you should have a term life insurance policy with a face amount of $500,000.

You should also have insurance coverage for your vehicles and other personal property. In addition, you need to have health insurance and disability insurance is a very wise investment as well. No matter what success you achieve, a catastrophic illness or natural disaster can quickly erase an uninsured fortune. Once you have built up your wealth and have an estate to protect you should also look at purchasing whole life insurance.

For both men and women whether theyre single or married the achievement of financial independence is the most important issue that determines whether or not they become all that theyre capable of becoming. Once you develop the right mindset and begin to save 10% or your net income every month you will have taken an important step towards achieving financial freedom and never having to worry about money again.

Copyright2006 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in personal and business development. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many businesses around the world, on the subjects of leadership, achievement, goals, strategic business planning, and marketing.

Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com

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