“Financial freedom is not about having more money; it’s about having the freedom to make choices that allow you to enjoy life.”
– Suze Orman
People chase the dream of having millions of dollars.
They’re trying to have a big bank account.
But what most people really want is time.
You probably want this, too!
Years ago, I used to be a medical sales professional.
I worked hard every single day, but could never get more time.
I wanted to travel more.
I wanted to spend more time with my family, build experiences with my daughter.
In other words, I wanted to have financial freedom so I could have time freedom.
As soon as I achieved time freedom, I wrote a book, started creating content like this, and did things that were really important to me.
Today, let’s have a conversation about true financial freedom and time freedom.
We’re going to go over three tips that can help you start your own journey.
Let’s get into it!
1. The Pursuit of Wealth vs. the Pursuit of Time
You can make more money with wealth.
That’s pretty much a guarantee, if you make the right financial moves.
But while you can always make more money, you can’t make more time.
When it comes to figuring out how to do that, we’re limited by our own creativity.
Having a huge bank account is great.
It’s honestly a pretty good first step.
But if you want actual time freedom, you don’t need as much money as you think.
A 2021 survey by Charles Schwab showed that 65% of respondents associated wealth with the ability to be more carefree.
They thought wealth was more about life fulfilment than financial accrual.1
Most people’s worries are associated with not having enough money.
Money disagreements are proven to be strong predictors of divorce when compared to other marital conflicts.2
This can very much come from a scarcity mindset.
There is more than enough money out there.
To start claiming it for yourself, you need to figure out a way to create value for people.
As an example, one of the things I do is write these blogs.
If you have a business, you’re already one step ahead!
Your next step then would be finding ways to not be so involved in the day-to-day.
Time is always the most valuable thing.
Everyone gets 168 hours per week.
This is true whether you’re working a minimum wage job or you’re Jeff Bezos.
There are ways to leverage your time so you can do things either provide an ROI or some sort of service to people.
2. Defining Financial Freedom
Having financial freedom is not as expensive as you think.
Owning a jet is great and all, but it also costs millions of dollars in upkeep.
Compare that to chartering a jet, which costs around $20,000 coast to coast.
For those who have the wealth to spend, that’s a good price for a decent flight.
You can bring your entire family and have a cool experience together.
Personally, I travel a lot.
In 2024, I traveled six times internationally.
I experienced the base camp of Everest.
I went to India, Portugal, Ireland and Mexico twice.
You might be thinking that’s a ton of money.
Honestly, like with financial freedom, it’s not as much as you think!
I use credit cards.
Then, I pay off the card so I can get the points at the end of the month.
I probably spent around $5,000 of my own money to travel six times internationally.
The trips totaled around 45 days.
It’s totally doable!
When you think of financial freedom, you probably think of having piles of money.
You think of Scrooge McDuck swimming in a pile of gold coins in his vault.
That’s not what we’re talking about.
We’re just talking about having enough to take back your time.
There’s an amazing book on this topic: Die with Zero by Bill Perkins.
Perkins says if you have money in your fifties, sixties, and seventies, it might be time to spend some of it.
Go have some experiences.
You get a return on the experience even way after it happens.
I completely agree with that.
Prioritize experiences instead of buying stuff or saving in a huge nest egg.
If you have kids, this kind of spending can also benefit them as well.
When your kids are in their mid-twenties to their mid-forties, they’ll start having their own money.
But they might not have enough to spend on their own experiences.
If you wait until you pass away to allocate your assets, you’re wasting precious time.
You can use the money you have to give experiences to your children or even help them along their path in another way.
Definitely something to think about!
Especially when you know that only about 11% of people currently say they’re living in financial freedom.
This is according to a survey by Achieve, a digital personal finance company.3
However, it’s important to remember that financial freedom is defined in different ways by different people.
When I was in the medical field, I worked with a couple of doctors who made millions of dollars per year.
But they were working 60 or 80 hours a week.
They didn’t take a lot of vacations.
I knew I didn’t want that kind of life.
Instead, I want a life where I can travel and have unforgettable experiences.
3. Strategies to Achieve True Financial Freedom
There are a few strategies you can use to achieve true financial freedom.
Going back to books, there’s another great one you can read called Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell.
He talks about how you can buy back your time by finding people who can help you.
If you own a business, is there a way to delegate some of that work?
Is it possible to make money without taking up more of your time?
Once you’ve achieved that, you can think about what to do with your money.
Giving money away to causes you believe in is a great place to start.
After you set all that up, you can start living without as many worries.
You’re free to make new memories by doing things you enjoy.
A lot of people get to the end of their life and regret not having those experiences.
Nobody ever says they wish they’d worked more.
Maybe someone will say that they wish they had pursued their purpose.
Financial freedom allows you to do that without worrying about how monetarily beneficial it will be.
It allows you to live out your values, have fun, spend time with family, and go on trips.
You can do everything you enjoy.
A great way to get started is by pursuing passive income.
I don’t mean buying houses that you operate yourself.
If you have to do the work, it’s not passive.
You have a property manager or, away from real estate, investments in trading or stocks or maybe an online business.
In order for an investment to be passive, you need to do your due diligence and hand it over to someone else to continue.
You’ll get the mailbox money, which also happens to be the name of my podcast.
We talk about this topic all the time.
Now I want to hear from you!
How are you using financial freedom to maximize your time?
Let us know in the comments.
Before you leave, make sure to check out our special report about inflation investing. It shares the best choices to invest during an inflationary environment.
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Disclaimer: I am not your investment advisor. This is for educational purposes only. I am not giving specific advice on what you can do. I am simply giving my opinions.
Works Cited
1. Gourani, Soulaima. “Be Free – That’s Rich! The Paradox of Financial Freedom.” Forbes, December 18, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/soulaimagourani/2023/12/18/be-freethats-rich-the-paradox-of-financial-freedom/.
2. Jeffrey Dew, Sonya L. Britt and Sandra J. Huston. “Examining the Relationship Between Financial Issues and Divorce.” Family Relations, 61 (2012): 615-628. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1741-3729.2012.00715.X.
3. Achieve. “Only 1-in-10 Americans Are Living Their Definition of ‘financial Freedom,’ Achieve Survey Finds.” PR Newswire: press release distribution, targeting, monitoring and marketing, August 22, 2023. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/only-1-in-10-americans-are-living-their-definition-of-financial-freedom-achieve-survey-finds-301906121.html.
