Rarely Talked About Signs That You Are On Track Financially

You might be a part of a community that is constantly striving and pushing for the next level, especially in the realm of career, money, and acquiring more stuff.

In a space like that, it is hard to know when you have arrived financially.

I know because I am speaking experience.

The word arrived has been with me since 2018. After…

• paying off $71,000 in debt

• improving my credit score by 200 points

• and saving a substantial cash reserve

… I still hadn't felt like I arrived. I still felt like there was way more work to do financially.

I decided to use all my financial knowledge and mix it with my passion for positive psychology to come up with indications I had arrived in my financial life.

When I hit this pinnacle a few years ago, I still didn't feel complete. That was partly because I was continuing to take in the messages of more.

What ended up happening was a year and a half of striving for the next great financial milestone, only to hit it and realize that it wasn't needed, and it didn't make a difference to my quality of life.

That is why I am sharing this with you. It is important to know when you have arrived financially, so you can learn to maintain.

I know it is weird to think of financial maintenance. We are constantly either reversing progress or moving full throttle forward. But maintenance is a space to embrace to keep success going. Maintenance is a long-lasting phase of celebration in my eyes.

1) Your debt isn't interfering with your quality of life today and in the future.

I am going to share an unpopular belief in the finance world, but the math proves it. It is not the debt that is the full problem. It is your lack of knowledge about debt management that is the problem.

When you don't know how to manage debt properly you may not always feel it today, but fast forward to the future and it can compromise...

• Your ability to upgrade your home

• Retire with the same quality of life or better

• Leave generational wealth

• Feeling of financial safety and security

• And more

When you are not buried in debt and you have advanced knowledge of debt management you secure your continued financial growth.

2) You have clarity on your longer-term financial goals and have a system that is second nature to get you there

In personal finance, goals rang

e from short-term to long-term. Usually, we don't know how to think in the long-term and only focus on the next couple years. This is incredibly damaging.

Fast forward ten, twenty or thirty years and you realize you could have developed millions in assets and had a cushy retirement, but your situation looks very different.

Too many short-term financial goals will reduce your chances of long-term financial success.

Additionally, too many short-term financial goals can cause high financial stress. Pacing is not only financially healthy, but it is mentally healthy.

3) You have reached financial freedom- The goal of reaching financial freedom doesn't apply to everyone.

Primarily it doesn't apply to you if you...

• Enjoy working for someone else

• Feel a sense of agency in your career

• And there is a great amount of upward mobility in your career.

But you must have all three of these. Why?

Because what we do in our careers is more than just money. It takes a lot of our time and emotional resources. In fact, our jobs are where we spend most of our time and can be the biggest proponent of stress or happiness. Therefore, you should enjoy what you do and have increased earning potential in your career.

If you don't have all three of the things, I listed above, you should be aspiring to financial freedom.

Financial freedom is your ability to afford your lifestyle without working for anyone else.

Hitting this goal allows you to determine how and when you work, creates more career satisfaction and work life balance. It also allows you to earn more money with less effort.

4) You have a goal and plan to reach financial independence and you are on track to make it happen.

While not everyone needs to reach financial freedom, everyone should aspire to financial independence in their futures.

Financial independence is when the assets you develop can support your lifestyle without you working at all. Basically, this is full retirement.

As I mentioned earlier in the article, we are often shortsighted when it comes to our financial goals. We have a hard time seeing into the future and think mostly about the here and now. When we reach our nonworking years, it is important to have the option to stop working.

Even if you love what you do, you won't always have the option to do it. That is where smart asset development comes in to save the day. This goal should not be optional for anyone.

Here is a hard truth- In your late 70s and 80s if your only option to pay your bills, deal with emergencies, and feed and clothe yourself hinges on you exchanging your time for money you have limited your sense of financial safety and security. What if you don't have the same energy? What if you get sick? What if you just don't want to work anymore?

Conclusion

When you have hit all of these goals you slide into a sense of “enoughness”. This is a feeling that creates certainty. It ensures that even if you don't do anything more financially you are happy with your financial life and know the your future is secure and abundant.

I hit a space of “enoughness” this year, though I was already there and didn't know it. It gave me permission to stop pushing financially and settle into maintenance. It was and still is a beautiful feeling.

My financial maintenance has all the above. I have...

• Low debt and incredible debt management skills

• Financial freedom and work with clients to help them devices strategic financial plans to hit their goals

• Semi- financial independence now, but monthly I execute on a plan for full financial independence for my non-working years

• And not only are all my plans clear and second nature, they are working as we speak.

To move into a place where you are able to yes to all of these indicators feel free to schedule a consultation.