As time goes on, you start wondering if you can truly get ahead in life. You put incredible effort into your job or your daily work and receive paltry raises or get bad bosses in return. When times get really tough, like during the pandemic, you may even see your hours cut or risk being furloughed. It’s hard to put any money away in savings when housing costs so much and you have to pay down debts. Monthly expenses for food, utilities and child care often to take the last dollars in your checking account.
Life was not meant to be this hard. Yet our economic system seems to have made it this way. In years past, you could get a stable, good job in either blue-collar or white-collar professions. Now, instead of good employment with benefits that really matter, we have millions of people employed in a benefit-less gig economy. It’s easy for the ultra-rich to get richer and for the poor to suffer more. The middle class has eroded to be a shell of its former self.
Story Stages
Restructure Your Existing Student Loans
Fortunately, there is a way to create a new life of financial freedom. To do so, you need to step out of the societal norms and be willing view things with new eyes and clear vision. The existing model of living has you working endlessly for little reward and no freedom until you retire or die. You can take control of your financial future, though, and do your own version of financial life hacking to create a much more rewarding way of being. The first step toward monetary freedom is to dramatically reduce your debt. Many college graduates are struggling with overwhelming student loan payments. You can change your relationship with existing education debt by taking 2 minutes to find out if refinancing would work for you. When you refinance you may get a lower rate that will cut your monthly payments and save thousands in interest over the term of your loan.
Buy Your Own Land
If you follow the traditional path in life, you’ll either spend your life paying rent to landlords or will buy a house with a 30-year mortgage. Clearly, paying a landlord every month is a recipe for simply giving your hard-earned cash. Many people opt to get out of the rental game and buy their own house. When you really stop to think about it, though, why should someone have to pay high monthly mortgage payments for 30 years. Where did that model even come from?
It’s time to get off the hamster wheel of struggling and claim your place in the universe. Begin to let your imagination flow and see yourself with your own homestead in the country. For countless centuries, people lived on the land and created their lives that way, mortgage-free. For just a small down payment you can often buy acreage on affordable land contract terms. Having your own land is the start of charting your own independent way in life.
Live in an Alternative Dwelling
Once you have your special piece of property you can begin to execute your financial freedom plan. Instead of living in a square box in the city and paying thousands on a mortgage each month, live on your own land in an affordable, alternative dwelling that you can completely pay for over several years. It’s possible to live in an innovative housing solution like a geodesic dome, yurt or even a Mongolian ger that will keep you warm and comfortable at a fraction of the cost of regular housing. Best of all, if you follow this path, you’ll be amazed by how affordable your new home is. Instead of a 30-year mortgage, you’ll be able to pay for everything in three or so years. Imagine how it would feel to have total financial freedom and live in a beautiful setting in nature, and to enjoy a life where you have no house payment for 27 years.
