
Financial freedom – something we all aspire to and hope to achieve in spite of an ever changing economy. While taking ownership and responsibility for your finances is easier said than done, there are ways to plan ahead when it comes to your financial situation.
In this post, we’ll share a few financial freedom tips that you can use in 2023 to get you ahead of your finances.
1. Understand your current financial situation
Before you achievefinancial freedom, you need to understand your current financial situation. This means looking at the debt you have, the savings you have, and how much money you will need to bridge the gap.
Start by writing a list of your debts. Consider any personal orshort term loansyou have, credit cards, store accounts or cellphone contracts that you are currently repaying. Add all of these numbers together to get your total debt amount.
Next, write a list of all themoney you have in your savingsand monthly income (whether it’s from a salary, invoice or side hustle). Add all of these numbers together to get your total savings and income amount.
These two totals will give you a clear understanding of your current financial situation, and from here, you can start to make decisions that will help you get financial freedom in 2023.
2. Write down your financial goals
No matter how big or small, you will havefinancial goalsthat you want to achieve in 2023. Whether it’s saving up for a house or car, or wanting to pay off all of your debts, start thinking about the financial goals you have and how much money you will need to achieve them.
Remember that you won’tachieve all of your financial goalsin a day or a month. It will take time but once you know what goals you want to achieve and what it will take to get there, achievingfinancial freedom in 2023 also becomeseasier when you create an action plan for yourself.
3. Watch your spending
In order to achieve financial freedom in 2023, you will need to watch yourspending habits.
Usebudgetingapps to help you track how much money you are spending, which categories (like Entertainment or Food) you are spending money in, and how much money you have left each month after spending. By getting better at watching your spending habits, you will start to see where you can spend less and save more, and take another step towards financial freedom.
4. Pay off your debt
There is nothing quite like the relief you feel after repaying that final instalment on debt that you took on. And that feeling will also lead towards financial freedom.
If you have, for example, R20 000 debt but only R15 000 in your bank account, you still have R5 000 debt and aren’t completely financially free. So you willneed to pay off your debtsbut do so in a way that won’t put you in financial distress. This means that if you can afford to repay your debt in full, do it, but if you can only afford to keep repaying your monthly instalment according to theDebiCheck mandateyou authorised, continue to do that as well. Just make sure that you are paying off yourdebt in a manageablemanner, and taking those steps towards financial freedom.
To end off…
Financialfreedomis all about taking ownership and responsibility of your finances. This means finding ways to live within your financial means, keeping an eye on how much money you are spending and working towards your financial goals while paying off any current debts you have.
Financial freedom means enjoying life too, and hopefully, by following ourfinancial freedom tips, you will do just that in 2023!