How do you establish financial independence?

Platipus6 · 2021-11-14T01:21:03+00:00

Have self-control and discipline. Stop buying stupid shit like 'collectables' and 15 pairs of sandals and new skincare products while you have 3/4 of the first tube. You don't need a venti starbucks every day.

Sit down and budget. Add up those 5x$5 and see what you're losing every year.

Make a separate connected savings account that a debit card can't use. Make an automatic monthly payment just after your pay lands if you have to. Comm bank in Australia has a netbank saver that can only have money moved in and out on the app or webpage.

Make a savings goal and work backwards. If you want to save $5200 for your evacuate fund, that's $100 a week. Pay yourself first. Then your bills, then food, then fun. "That's not enough money for fun:(" Know what's not fun? Sitting in an ER with a broken jaw because you couldn't leave him.

Use a rental property website for local listings. Bond is usually 1 month rent, plus 2 weeks in advance. A moving truck and some dudes, say $500, or a U-Haul and friends. Fridge, microwave, desk, bed, drawers. Getting utilities connected, security system, blackout curtains, mail forwarded. It can be about $3000 to move ASAP.

Once you reach your savings goals, keep going. Don't view it as a vacation fund or as a credit card you can splurge then repay. It represents your safety and well-being.

gingerwabisabi · 2021-11-14T01:11:16+00:00

u/thewetdog_ has great advice so I'll just add what I wish someone had told me earlier.

Realize that wanting money is not evil and that you can do a great deal of good with money.

Decide you WILL be wealthy.

Begin learning about money in a relatively easy way, .i.e. haphazard absorption, by following high quality forums/authors/content creators who talk about money.

Learn about money mindset, including dealing with mental blocks, on a consistent basis.

Learn about how to create and use habits to better everything in your life.

Be step by step and methodical toward your goals.

Always have a secret stash of money that a guy in your life cannot access.

As you get more successful, you will hit a point where it's more efficient to hire out some parts of the labor in your life, but you will resist this and feel extremely selfish. Do it anyway.

Prioritize rest and good nutrition even while you work hard.

Not everyone is cut out for running their own business, and it is just fine to aim for high paying jobs. Side hustles are great, especially when young, just be aware of when you grow out of them. I've grown out of several profitable side hustles and it felt super weird to give up something that was making me money, but there were only so many hours in the day and I needed to go for something better.

23eggz · 2021-11-14T02:33:18+00:00

Always keep finances separate, have an emergency fund and keep anything extra in a diversified investment portfolio (so you don't lose savings to inflation). Prenup prenup prenup.

thewetdog_ · 2021-11-14T00:42:01+00:00

Having a job (active income). This will also give you mental independence as you’re not occupied with busywork which men really don’t respect.

Having a source of passive income entirely independent form him ie. Like rental property in your family’s name.

Having savings that only you can access. Squirrel way money/put assets in the name of your mom and dad, younger unmarried sister etc.

Having credit that you can pull on immediately if you need to get back on your feet or something.

If married do not stop working. Know the family financies. Know his. Have access to everything - all accounts. Have the passwords and monitor them every other day if you must.

You can trust a man with your heart but never with your livelihood.

It’s your life so act like it.

If married picture what you would need to hit the ground running if one day he loses his mind and drains the joint accounts, locks you out of everything and tosses your stuff out of the house and changes the locks.

It probably includes a car, connections, friends, cash stash.

Monitor your credit and your identity often (and his) to make sure he doesn’t accrue debt behind your back or in your name by stealing your identity.

If married, get a big life insurance policy on him. You don’t want to be widowed and on top of that destitute.

After you have as many kids as you want with him, persuade him to get a vasectomy (if possible an irreversible kind if there is such a thing). You don’t want him pulling an Alec Baldwin having 7 kids with the next woman and your kids getting screwed.

BasieSkanks · 2021-11-14T10:12:34+00:00

I didn't come from money, but I have managed to increase my net worth exponentially by earning more money. I juggle multiple side hustles alongside my main job. This allows me to live the lifestyle I want AND meet my financial goals (i.e pay off debts and save). More people need to think about increasing their income as opposed to just cutting back. Life is there to be lived, and like another person on this thread has said, there is no limit to how much someone can earn. I currently work four jobs, all of which are lucrative. I hire a cleaner to clean my home and I also order in my meals and outsource my fitness (a personal trainer writes me a programme). It is unlikely you will get rich off one income, unless you already come from money. Moreover, the richest people in the world have multiple streams of income. Not only will diversifying your income make you richer, it will also allow you to upskill much faster because you are gaining experience in multiple job roles.

pukubr · 2021-11-14T02:45:12+00:00

I feel like society preys on women to be consumers. Too many people define their personality based on what they buy, do not fall into this trap! Learn to enjoy your life within your means.

One thing I think many people need to know and is little known is that the stock market is safer than the bank. What do I mean? Returns on your stocks are higher than the interest you get at the bank, so you are basically losing money by keeping more than you need in your savings account. Keep enough for a couple months living expenses.

The more you know the wealthier you get. Start reading; if you dont know something and avoid it, instead you should learn more about it.

this tip came from Why Men Love Bitches and it's to make sure you make enough money to afford the lifestyle you want. It's better to be content being single and living in a small apartment, than NEED to depend on sugar daddies because you NEED lavish mansions.

Another less known tip is, it's easier to earn more money than to budget harsher. Instead of spending time figuring out how to make your dollar stretch more, it is easier to earn more instead. Keep looking for ways to earn money.

consider the economy of scale whenever you make a side hustle or sell merchandise. Its easier to sell one thing a million times than to find one thing to sell for a million dollars. That's how microtransactions in apps make billions. This is also the reason why if theres a job that anybody can do, it will be paid very little. the more skillful you are the more you earn.

I think everybody needs to invest early and often. I feel like it's just part of American culture to invest.

I also never had a need to budget, actually I just set a certain amount in my checking account and dont let myself spend more than that. I never sat down and traced where all my bills go to. I just make sure I dont spend more than a certain amount each month. you are financially free the day you get more from passive income than your daily expenses, so any money that does not go towards daily living expenses goes right into investing.

I feel like theres something to be said about the trade off between safety and wealth. you must take risks and do unconventional things if you want to be wealthy. Many people are living paycheck to paycheck because they're afraid to take risks, afraid to get an education when they job they have pays just enough, afraid to seek a better job or look stupid if they can just stick to what they know.

also pay your taxes at the last possible minute to squeeze out as much earnings from capital gains as possible. for example if you have 30k you owe in taxes, but from january to april you can earn 10k more in the stock market, if you pay the 30k you owe in January you'll miss out on the 10k you could have made by holding onto and waiting until the last minute to pay taxes.

klops_fighter · 2021-11-14T03:09:13+00:00

An emergency fund with 6 months worth of your expenses. That you can only touch in case of an emergency.

Technusgirl · 2021-11-14T02:35:50+00:00

Starting your own business is extremely difficult and most new businesses fail. Plus you need money to invest up front too. I lived with my father until after I graduated College. I was able to get my education paid for through grants and scholarships and worked part time during college. I got a full time job after college, unfortunately that was during the market crash in 2008, so finding a decent paying job was difficult. But after a few years of working my way up, I bought a house. You can buy a house these days without even making a down payment as long as your credit is decent enough.

Work on building your credit as soon as possible, get a credit card at 18 and use them and pay them off. Don't overdo it though, don't go running up that credit card to where it gets hard to pay for credit cards and your bills at the same time.

fdsonlynoscrubs · 2021-11-14T06:53:53+00:00

Two books I love:

I will reach you to be rich by Ramit Sethi Young, fabulous, and Broke by Suze Orman

Earn more than you spend. Set up automatic withdrawal for saving. Invest for your retirement (401K or IRA) in low-fee, highly-diversified index funds. Invest at least up to your company’s match. Live your life. Don’t let anybody convince you to do anything with your money that you don’t want to do. If you do marry, make sure it’s a HVM and you talk about finances ahead of time because his debt would become your debt in a marriage. Enjoy :)

lansburysoda · 2021-11-14T02:42:59+00:00

[permanently deleted]

2021-11-14T12:43:36+00:00

[permanently deleted]

Emotiona1Panda · 2021-11-14T03:35:21+00:00

I'm a mix of lucky and prudence in this area. My parent left some money when parent passed away. Not sizeable amount, but enough to not make me feel like the sky is falling. A lump sum of USD2000 at that time, and also a monthly sum of usd300 (if I remember correctly). At that time I was in my final year of my study, so I'm really super thankful because my parent had a good job. That sustained me until I graduated.

With that in my bank, I paid the absolute necessary for my studies. Which meant I borrowed whatever I can, beg for second hands, scour for leftovers papers/ book stationeries. I don't even own a computer (borrowed / university library). I also had a student loan, but this again, only absolutely necessary school expenses. You bet my friends are buying mobile phone and pc setup and whatnots. You have to persevere.

I live like I was on McDonald's pay, even when I'm earning more. When I get into a good industry and get paid more than what any of my family ever made, I kept that to myself. I didn't buy designer goods until I'm working my 10th year. Compared to my other colleagues who bought expensive cars when they're in their second year and still living with their parents. I scoorge 😂

HermiticalyKermit · 2021-11-14T14:13:04+00:00

Work and hustle. Pay yourself for any labor you normally do unpaid. Banks offer packages and bonuses for using their services, sign up for a card that gives you rewards, use it and pay it off, small amounts, daily bills that you would already have to pay, no frivolous expenses. This built up overtime and in the US you can also built your credit score. A f**k off fund is immensely useful, because other than a potentially abusive partner, you may have to change jobs because your boss wants you on your knees in his office behind a locked door, if you know what I mean. It's a great power to have the ability to say fuck off and leave. No amount of therapy will give you back everything you will lose by staying. Create a budget for groceries without coupons. Get coupons anyway, and the amount you save put it in a savings account that will return a percentage. Have assets that will make money for you. Use your money to make money, let your money work for you. Work on your mental and physical health, one of the biggest causes of bankruptcy is medical bills. If you aren't healthy, you cannot reach your full potential. We usually take the role of the "carer" in a relationship, which leaves the partner better off, because they won't have to worry and fret about meals, cooking, cleaning, keeping their health in check. Time is money and your time that is being spent during these activities is time they use instead to evolve. If you have any addiction, cut it out. Coffee is addictive, as well as sugar and alcohol. Other forms of addiction can be self harm and gambling, adrenaline inducing and dangerous sports. And if someone offers to pay for you, let them. Just remember that this does not obligate you to give them sex. They know the risk of "losing money by paying and not getting laid" and they do it anyway. If they want to, they can pay a sex worker instead, and leave us alone.

cat_realness · 2021-11-14T01:15:45+00:00

Always aim to make more money as possible. Jobs are like men, they get what they want and toss you whenever they feel like it and you should treat it as such. Meaning you should be keeping your resume up to date, always interviewing. When you start working, do not rely on a job as your only income source, work on a side business, investing (real estate and/or stocks). Start by investing in your retirement accounts (401k: limit in 2022 is going to be $20500, Roth IRA: limit in 2022 is $6000). Open an investment account (Charles schwab, fidelity, vanguafx) and set yourself a monthly limit to investing mutual funds.

Don't marry a man who makes less money than you, or a man who makes good money and hates his job. He will eventually quit.

Do not have children with poor men because they don't deserve a legacy

Professional_Maybe67 · 2021-11-14T02:19:19+00:00

Everyone else has such great recommendations, but I just want to add an awesome podcast that might help inspire you and give you some financial basics. It's called Her First 100K with Tori Dunlap. It's super bingworthy, everything from adressing poverty mindset to learning about ETfs to the racial wealth gap.

thinktwiceorelse · 2021-11-14T12:37:55+00:00

Any advice for women who are from countries where they make $12000/year at very best?

iwanttobesobernow · 2021-11-14T01:27:12+00:00

I get paid basically nothing. I’m a PhD student on a living stipend. I went straight into academia, so I never had an actual paying job.

I’m still financially independent. I just live within my means. I take advantage of any and all social benefits that I qualify for. I buy fewer but higher quality things. My entertainment budget is tiny because I study all the time.

The kicker? I’m even a single mom.

Honestly, I think there’s no excuse for staying in a relationship for financial reasons. You’re just selling your happiness at an unfair price. Use your support system if you need to when starting out, but you should always be able to make it on your own.

(I realize that poverty is incredibly difficult to overcome and it’s possible that I’m completely wrong/unaware of my privilege though).

InternalEmu1477 · 2021-11-14T09:24:42+00:00

Spend consciously less than what you make.

Comments