I’ll start with a question that I often use to start my lectures and trainings: Is money the most important thing to achieve financial freedom?
It is possible that an affirmative answer is the first thing that comes to mind when hearing this question. And, in part, it’s okay for those who think that no dream or company can be built without money. However, some people put other factors ahead, such as habits, skills, knowledge or dedication. They seem like simple words, but no. They are the milestones that guide us on the route to that financial freedom that we long for.
And what do these actions have in common? That, to develop them, to acquire them, to polish them, time is needed. Time is the fundamental variable in the construction of capital. The beginning of this process is not the same if one prepares to do it at an advanced age, let us say, when he is five years away from retirement and realizes that in a short time he will not have so many resources to sustain the quality of life he leads (we are not talking of wealth, but to match the standard of our active working years), than to start it when we are young and imagine that we have our whole lives ahead of us. Here is a very tempting little trick. Because it is precisely that youth that leads us to procrastinate that projection with the excuse that “we are living life.” And life is always lived, but some decisions are essential to be made on time.
In short, the more time we put our money to work -which will not necessarily have to be much-, the more it will contribute to the construction of our capital, which will result in the consolidation of our financial freedom sooner rather than later. As we can see, this is the answer to the initial dilemma.
Another of the keywords in this journey towards the goal is consistency. Without this element, everything will go uphill or fork until we become disoriented. The relationship between profit, expense and investment must be equitable, because otherwise the company will fail. Only in this way, we can do what we dream of, I think, all unanimously: enjoy the road. Being financially free is not swimming in money, but fundamentally not depending on anyone else, not even on factors outside of us.
Financial tools to build capital:
- Emergency fund that contains between 6 and 12 monthly income in a principal account.
- Negotiable obligations or sureties in the capital market.
- Acquisition of MEP or Cash dollar with liquidation.
- Life insurance that protects the greatest capital we have, which is ourselves (against illness or disability, not just death).
- A retirement insurance that allows us to sustain the quality of life we had before that stage began.
- Medium-term investments for periods of enjoyment and pleasure.
Finance reading for all ages
- Beyond the fixed term, Alejandro Bianchi
- The economy explained to young people, Joan Antoni Melé
- The wallets are from Mars, the wallets are from Venus, Marcelo Elbaum and Cecilia Boufflet
- Aporophobia, rejection of the poor, Adela Cortina
- The production of money, how to end the power of banks, Ann Pettifor
- Silver, a financial education story for children and not so children, Gabriela Totaro
Gabriela Totaro is a Specialist in Financial Education and CEO of GT Financial Education, a consultant whose mission is to disseminate financial education from early childhood. She is a Psychopedagogue, graduated in finance and an insurance producer.
by Gabriela Totaro
