If you want to be financially independent and free, you have to know your goals. 5 concrete steps on the way to the new “life design”.

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Step 1: let go

The first step is immediately the most difficult: Letting go and giving up habits that you have grown fond of. But with a clear one Objective in Eyes, for what you do it is much easier than you think, as Florian Blümm wrote in his book “Mit little Money to the Welt”, published in 2019 by MVG, writes – this is about saving the necessary Financing to get for a trip around the world.

A trip is nothing without saving a travel fund. Saving means doing without, and you have to be motivated to do so. Saving doesn't have to be terrible. The most important thing is your attitude. If that's true, saving can even create meaning act. Think about how the trip around the world will reward you for your frugality. Remind yourself of this every day, for example by hanging a map of the world in your home where it is clearly visible. So you always have your savings goal in view. Another Motivation to save can be geo arbitrage. The Term comes from the world of business and finance. It's about the efficient Take advantage of different wage levels and living costs around the world. The principle has been adopted by backpackers in cheap backpacker countries travel. Digital nomads even go one step further and to earn their travel money where they pay in euros or US dollars and spend it again in pesos or baht. Skipping lunch with your native Indian or Viet namesen is easier when you consider that you can get five lunches in India or Vietnam along the way. And for every cappuccino you don't order at your favorite coffee shop, you sip three cappuccinos in Thailand or Bolivia. Is that a good savings rate or not? Of course, you can only do without cappuccino and chai latte if you like drinking them as much as I do. In order for you to be able to save, you first have to know what you are actually spending money on. Write yours for at least a week expenditure on. Look at the items and try to lower everything that is unnecessary. There is for sure some surprises. Overdo it calmly and save aggressively. It's only temporary, and the better you save, the sooner you can go. You should definitely avoid going out to eat and going to pubs. Cook yourself and take sandwiches with you for the lunch break. It is best not to buy anything else apart from food and everyday items, i.e. nothing at all. You do not need new clothes before the trip and certainly no home furnishings. You can't take that stuff with you anyway. If you need travel accessories, buy them used. Or even better: let it be given to you. If you want to give up your apartment anyway for the trip around the world, you can move into a smaller apartment or a shared apartment while you are still saving. Or, if possible, turn your apartment into a shared flat. Cancel subscriptions that you will cancel anyway during the savings phase. Research cheaper gas tariffs, electricity tariffs and mobile phone tariffs - also prepaid. Set a monthly savings goal. In order to save 6000 euros in a year, you have to put aside 500 euros per month. It is best to set up a standing order for a world travel savings book. In this way, you automatically stick to the savings rate. Consider the tax return. In a calendar year in which you work less than twelve months, you get the overpaid prepaid Taxes return. Ideally, you should give notice about halfway through the year. My tax refund when I gave notice in September filled the budget for a good two months of travel. The same applies to the return. If you come back in the middle of the year and start a new job, you will get a refund the following year. Of course, you can't just save money by... Costs but also through higher income. This can be a part-time job or other additional income. For example, sell most of your stuff at the flea market, on eBay or via eBay classifieds. This makes it easier to move out. After the trip around the world you will have many beautiful memories and probably a penchant for minimalism. After you experience how little you need to be happy, you'll get by with far less consumption. You already know that experiences are more important than things, otherwise you wouldn't want to travel around the world. Ideally, you can live out minimalism even before the trip around the world.

Step 2: control your life!

Most of the time we know what we don't want. Often, however, this is of little help when it comes to reorienting oneself and emulating those people who have already turned their passion into something Job have made. Who have realized that there is less to a fat salary than on the satisfaction arrives That security can also restrict. That only today successfully is who is also there with all his heart. And that it is not the perfect life plan that counts, but personal passion and the ability to adapt flexibly to new events.

The Control Having control of your own life sounds easy at first, after all, that's what we all want. In fact, however, we do not all have control over it, we let others dictate it to us. Changing that is what it's all about. Because if you have your life under control, you can make changes more easily. And for that we must first completely Honestly to be with ourselves and find out where we stand. One must take an honest inventory of one's life in all areas.

Controlling your own life also means staying on the ball with your own goals. Therefore you should always consider the following points:

Step 3: get rid of the fears. Design your life!

This is perhaps the funnest step. Take time to dream: How do you really want to live? What dreams did you have as a child that you want to fulfill now? Travel? Pursue a hobby? Family? Volunteer?

A good exercise there is mine Opinions Try to imagine what you could do if you had enough money. And if you couldn't fail. This step is not about "yes, but" and not about realism, but about collecting good ones ideas for your own life design. However, one should consider one thing that is often overlooked in the whole "Realize-Yourself" literature: Perhaps one is already living the life of one's dreams, finding fulfillment in one's job and one's family. Then why should that be changed? Because: Complete satisfaction will never be achieved and it is also not desirable.

What is important is that you have to realize that often only irrational fears prevent you from realizing an idea. Becoming aware of these can provide clarity - and helps you get rid of your fears. For example:

Step 4: get funding

Now comes the "but"! Now it's about financing his – maybe crazy – ideas. And that's the part where most people fail. The goal is to figure out how to raise the money to make your ideas come true. Tips and suggestions usually point towards working part-time - for example by selling something or doing something online - and thus having more time for your own interests. I think that's difficult, to put it mildly: Even in every job, no matter how simple, full commitment is required today and there is Stress, which you bring home in the evening. Doing what really interests us only in our free time, we will focus on Future simply being able to afford less and less.

What I think makes more sense: Trying to reconcile your own ideas with reality. Maybe not the big life change in the Head have, but take small steps to success. Itself merchandise – which unfortunately is often the case negative sounds - i.e. convincing other, potential employers or clients of your own ideas, which can only be achieved if you stand behind your ideas. And then gradually adapt your own life to your wishes.

The authors Vicki Robin Joe Dominguez offer an approach to this in their book "More money for more life: How to change your relationship to finance in nine steps and earlier in pension be able to walk”, published by MVG in 2018. You write on the topic of financial freedom very clearly and clearthat there without one rethink just doesn't work:

“What does it mean to 'remake' your attitude towards money? This does not mean getting more or less money; but to know how much money is enough for you to live a life you love now and in the future. It means no longer a slave to money and the Economy to be, but to make conscious decisions. Anyone can do it. What do we mean by "financially independent"? Basically, financial independence means no longer having to work for the money. In addition, More Money for More Life guides you through a process of liberation that first rids you of the illusion that buying things will make you happy, or that "more" equals "better." You will see so clearly what controls your financial behavior that this Behavior resolves itself. As you go through the steps of the program, your dept fade away. As your debt goes down, you'll start building up savings on your own. Unexpected outputs no longer trigger the panic button. Saving becomes a habit. You save more. And more. Finally, you can choose whether to Fun or work for money. That's how it is for many People happened - and it can happen for you too. Because then you will realize that you do not have to devote the majority of your waking hours to earning money. Like working eight hours a day in our Society may be common, but you can navigate your life via other expressways—with exits to your true purpose and a brighter future. What will you do if you don't have to work for money? You may not know this right now, but taking the suggested steps will build clarity, focus and confidence to reveal the dreams just waiting for you to discover.”

Step 5: live your life!

The last step is the best. But not the easiest. Because now it is a matter of actually implementing his plans. And to keep his life interesting - that is, not to say “Can you make a living?” to spoil the mood. Staying on the ball, with the goal in mind, even when things are not going well.

Michael Berndt provides his very personal experience in his book “100 COUNTRIES, 100 WOMEN, 100 NOISE: My crazy trip around the world”, published by MVG in 2017:

“When we landed in Sydney, I had no idea what to expect there. The plane was mostly freshly graduated, seventeen or eighteen, who knew exactly how and where to go. Some had fully planned the coming year, week after week. Everyone knew where they would stay in Sydney. "And where do you sleep?" I was asked again and again. "I don't know," I said, feeling worse with every question. Everyone had a plan, except me. I only knew one thing - it had to be cheap. Some had bragged on the plane that he could hit five thousand euros on the head. I wanted to make do with a ridiculous seven hundred euros in the first two to three months. "What, so little?" Asked these cared for little mothers and put on a worried expression. "You won't get very far with that." It was like a slap in the face. They had just left school and already had their pockets full of money - but I was now twenty-four years old and had to save. But at least I had arrived in Sydney, and only a few people at home in Saxony could have expected that. ”