This Is the Week to Choose Financial Independence

If there ever was a week to choose financial independence — this is it. On Wednesday, Jews will celebrate Passover. On Sunday, Christians will celebrate Easter Sunday.

In a way, both holidays are fantastic examples of bravery, sacrifice and the overwhelming value of freedom. Regardless of what your religious views are, we can all benefit by tapping into the messages of these two holidays. Their applications are especially powerful in the personal finance world.

You might be thinking that I’ve had a bit too much Manishevitz wine (yuk…never liked the stuff). Actually, I have never been more serious.

Both holidays tell the story of people who leave the safety of conventionality in search of their own truth. (They might not have been Wealth Pilgrims, but they certainly were pilgrims.) They risked everything they had to live in alignment with their values.

Let’s apply their example. Let’s take action to gain freedom from whatever it is that enslaves us.

1. What are you enslaved by?

Do you need to get going and get out of debt? Is worry your task-master? Do you spend or invest compulsively? Do you put up with a stinky job because your fear tells you there is nothing better out there? Are you glued to computer screens, a slave to the stock market?

Think ahead one year from today and look back. Finish this sentence:
“I’m grateful that I am no longer (fill in the blanks) like I was last year.”

How did you complete that sentence? What are you most interested in becoming free of?

2. List possible solutions.

Do you need to track your spending? Do you need to educate yourself about investments? Do you need more training to find a new career? Do you constantly complain “I WANT TO MAKE MORE MONEY” but never take action?

3. What resources are available and what resources do you need to acquire?

Regardless of what you want freedom from, two resources become super important: knowledge and accountability. You’ll need knowledge so you can make the right decisions and navigate to freedom. You’ll need accountability so you take action and have consequences if you become a lazy Wealth Pilgrim (no such thing). Your accountability partner might be your spouse, a good friend, a work colleague or a financial adviser.

4. What steps you are going to take to achieve your goal?

Write it down. Don’t miss this opportunity. Financial freedom is yours if you are willing to work for it. What are you willing to do to be free this year?