Watch as she attempts to dig herself out of debt and navigate the path to wealth.

Showing posts with label debt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label debt. Show all posts

Monday, November 16, 2015

Debt Progress Like Woah

Woah. All I can say is woah. Since June of 2014, just 16 months ago, I have paid off almost $27,000. Thats 27 THOUSAND dollars. Is that right? Yes, this is true. I just did the math. I'm so proud of myself and excited at my progress. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This past weekend I made a final payment on my 3rd student loan and what remains is this little guy below. This little guy that isn't so little, a mere $20k, will be my final debt. Instead of concentrating on the large amount, i'll be taking it one step at a time month by month.






Liabilities
Min Payment
Balance
Interest Rate
Student Loan 1
$227.05
$20,879
2.36% / 6.8%

227.05
$20,879


I am so excited to be getting these debts out of my life once and for all. And the thought of instead of $1,600+ every month going out the window to paying off debt, will instead land in my savings account and allow me to live a completely different life is such a motivator. I will be able to go after goals that I have placed on the back burner because of this dead weight debt. What a great feeling to have on a Monday! Have a great week!

How is your debt payoff going? Do you have a plan in place? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl 

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

If I Can Get Out of Debt, So Can You!

Roughly $6,000 later...I'm down to my last 2.. let me repeat that. TWO of Six remaining debts. 

Today, I made my last payment of $184 to student loan #3 and closed the door to that bad decision, never to relive the mistake of taking a loan out for something that I can't pay for in cash. 

I love the feeling of knocking these debts off my list, one by one. Sometimes I get a little ahead of myself and start thinking about how much i'll be able to save once i'm completely free from these last 2 mistakes and what kind of freedom I will experience. 

My life will be completely different.

I started this blog in June 2014 and I've gone from $47K in debt to just under $29K. In 1 year i've scraped up nearly $20k to get these things out of my life. In 2013 I would have never dreamed this was possible! This year, i'm determined to dream a little bigger and pay the last $29K off in 12 months.

Can I do it?

I think I can but stick around and see for yourself! I'll show you how I do it. 
This is A Girls Journey to Financial Freedom.

Do you want to learn more about how to get out of debt? Send me a message and tell me about your own debt problems. Follow me on Twitter @financegirl

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Want to Know What Getting a Net Worth Feels Like?

Guess what? I just paid off my credit card today! I made the final $300 payment and i'm not looking back. Goodbye forever, credit card debt.
I'm down to my last 3 debts totaling roughly $31,000, down from $47,000 just 1 year ago. Wow! Can you tell I'm excited?? Whats even better is that next month i'll be paying down the last $2,000 on Student loan #2. I can't believe i'll be down to my last 2 loans and $29,000 of debt after sitting on them for 10+ years. The tunnel is still long, but I am really beginning to see the light at the end and I couldn't be happier. It is an incredible feeling. What will I do when I don't have to send $2,000/mo to debt collectors? I will finally be out of the negative and begin to actually have a net worth at a rate of about $24,000 per year to be specific.
I never gave too much thought to net worth before, but if you're in debt chances are you have a negative net worth. Which sucks! To me, saying, "I have a negative net worth" sounds way crummier than "i'm in debt". I think i'll make that my new mantra when contemplating purchases that aren't in the budget.

Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next post to be about? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

How I'm Getting Rid of My Debt - FAST

That's kind of a trick blog post title, because I actually don't think there is a FAST way to get out of debt. The secret to getting out of debt is persistence and considering all purchases carefully.

'Do I really want to spend $30 on a meal out tonight or do I want to get out of debt $30 sooner?'

I was listening to a finance podcast yesterday with a sometimes arrogant albeit entertaining host and he was talking about people who act rich. They have all kinds of fancy clothes, drive nice cars, etc. but they're up to their eyeballs in debt. They have no savings, no retirement and no paid for house. He yelled into the microphone, "Stop ACTING like you're rich!". I loled. It's so true. Sometimes I find myself planing and justifying luxury sunglasses and bags purchases, and then I hear that sentence in my head and I stop.

Stop ACTING like you're rich! 

Lets get out of debt so we can ACTUALLY GET RICH and then go shopping. 


Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl 

Friday, January 2, 2015

Recap and 2015 Kick Off

Hello 2015, goodbye 2014. 

2014 was a year of getting serious and taking action. I really got into educating my self about money matters and also getting real with my own situation. I had been in denial for way to long.

One of the biggest takeaways from 2014 for me was to get out of debt and do it before doing anything else. There is no sense in saving, beyond an emergency fund, when you have thousands of dollars of debt hanging over your head. Get it paid. So I went into my savings and pulled out what I could spare and left enough in there to have in the event of an emergency.
I also went through my stocks and thought, what I can sell here. I really shouldn't have this much in stocks when I have this much in debt.
Some people say that you shouldn't be contributing to a 401k while you're trying to get out of debt but I don't subscribe to this. I can't see passing up free money from my employer who is willing to match anything I put into the account up to 4% of my income.
I do have $100/paycheck going to a separate savings account automatically. This is my business emergency fund and I feel like it is important to be saving for this while i'm paying on debt.
What i'd like to focus the blog on this year is my continued push to get out of debt. But I will also be talking a lot about my push to move on from a 9-5 job and starting to plan the steps to moving towards working for myself and starting my own business. I am considering 2015 to be the start of this journey and I'm so excited to share every step of it with you!
Here's to a great 2015!

Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

GOALS For 2015!

2015 Finance Goals

Happy New Year everyone!
I love a fresh start. The ending of one year and the beginning of a new year is something that I look forward to, probably because of how much i've screwed up during the year in the past.
The following are my (perhaps lofty) goals for 2015.

1.) Pay off $12k of debt this year. By using 75% of my tax refund and anticipating a at least 4% raise in March, I should be able to pay an average of $1000/month on my debt bringing my end of year debt balance down to $27k.

2.) Double my business sales from 2014 and sell $5K in 2015. Whooptiedo! I have a small clothing and accessories line which I am creating and selling when i'm not at my day job. I do craft and art fairs around holiday times and have sold consignment to stores in the past. I'd like to do even more of this in 2015, which brings me to my 3rd and last financial goal.

3.) Get out there more! Participate in 1 Spring market and 2 holiday fairs. Sell to at least 1 store and creating more online buzz.

What are YOUR goals for 2015? 

Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl 

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

End Of 2014 Debt Update!

I am so serious about getting out of debt.

Remember that $4,500 credit card debt that I had back in June? It's gone! Paid! What a relief. The consumer debt weight has been lifted! There is light at the end of my debt tunnel and I feel so motivated. I am that much closer to obtaining financial freedom!

So my debt spreadsheet went from $47,039 of debt across 6 different 'loans' in June to $37,772.78 across 4 loans currently. This is called hardwork and dedication, people! If I can do it, you can too.

My current debt spreadsheet now looks like this below. I will take the $300 that I was putting toward the credit card debt and put it toward Student Loan 4 since this is the smallest and I want to keep the momentum going. (I should probably be putting closer to $400/mo extra on the debt but i'm cutting myself a break here at least until I get caught up from holiday spending). Also, all of my interest rates are quite low so the order of payment won't make a huge difference here. In addition, I will be putting $500 on this loan from an apartment rental that I am doing this month, bringing the balance down to $1,207.18 by the end of the week. I should have this paid off in the next 3 months and will start on SL 2 putting $372.55 extra on that loan balance every month.
LiabilitiesAmt/moBalanceInterest Rate



Student Loan 1$174.65$21,691.392.36% / 6.8%
Student Loan 2$82.50$5,797.625.25%
Student Loan 3$87.92$8,576.593.25%
Student Loan 4$372.55$1,707.182.36%
$717.62$37,772.78

You know what else will happen within the next 3 months? 

Tax refund! Oh yes, 75% of the refund will go to the debt, the other 25% will go to savings. AND March is raise time at work. Woo hoo. Chip, chip, chipping away.

Happy New Years everyone!

Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl

Saturday, July 5, 2014

A Personal Career Confession

It is Saturday
after the 4th of July, and as I sit in my boyfriend's empty and quiet apartment (he caught an early flight out of town this am) I decided to brew some coffee and write a quick blog post about some exciting things that are on my horizon. I have decided to put my efforts, well at least 50% of them back into designing and producing my women's clothing line. I designed and launched a small clothing line on my own about 3 years ago and was surprised by my initial success, as I really had no experience with any aspect of it, except for how to work a sewing machine. The success of the business was cut short because I was offered a full time job and took it. This action is one that I find myself thinking about often and contemplating a sense of regret. However, the full time job has turned into a great career, the type of career and work environment that some would kill for. I am surrounded by young, creative, smart and caring people everyday. I was promoted from a part-time bookkeeper to Accounting Manager to the Director of Operations of this successful small design studio in NYC in just 2 years. In that sense, my hard work for this company has paid off and I have so much respect for the company and the people that I work with and for everyday.

This is the confession part...
Working for someone else and in this job is not my passion and I want out. I have been silently struggling with this thought for months. I have been trying to push the though aside and remain happy and positive about what I have accomplished and what I have. In a sense I have built something within this company and myself. Perhaps this was my trial run. I have a feeling in my gut that there is more for me and that I should be on the other side of the employee/employer relationship. It is my dream to create a business and to work really hard for the success that I can truly call my own and that can put me on the path to financial freedom. This, I believe is the only way for me. Thank you for letting me confess my secret. I will be documenting my journey through this chapter and into the next.

Next steps:
*Get out of debt - I am working very hard on my credit card debt and should have this paid off by the spring.
*Emergency fund - I currently have 2 months of emergency funds in the bank and would like to have at lease 4.
*Work on passive streams of income to help financially support me - Blogging, investing, selling clothing samples at markets around the city
*Work on the clothing line in my free time - update my website, market it online and to stores, get people talking about it and get the presence going


Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl 

Friday, June 27, 2014

Steps to Financial Freedom Recap



I'm so happy that it's Friday and I wanted to take a minute to recap what steps I have taken so far to get me on the path to financial freedom! I'm giving myself a little pat on the back here because I think I deserve it!

Step 1. I decided that I wanted to get out of debt. Big step! So I made a list of my debts, corresponding interest rates, balances due and ordered them from the highest to lowest interest rate. The credit card is at the very top of the list with a 19% APR. I moved the balance from that card to a card that has a 0% APR for the first 12 months,  making my monthly payment $300. That's doable. Then I automated this payment so I don't have to watch the $300 payment leaving my bank account every month. It just happens which is way less painful.

Step 2. I took a look at my savings account. If i'm paying them then I want to pay myself too. So I spoke to my payroll dept at work and changed my direct deposit to put all but $100 of every paycheck in my checking account and put that other $100 into a savings account. The savings account is a high yield savings account, it is not connected to my regular bank, lessening the temptation to dip into it, AND I automated the action. It's a small amount but it's better then nothing and it adds up.

Step 3. I took control of my 401k and feel like I really know what is happening there. I know how much i'm investing through every paycheck, what i'm investing in, and how to check my YTD earnings and my progress.

Step 4. I did my research and started investing an old 401(k), that I rolled into an IRA through Sharebuilder, in the stock market. My first stock purchase was only 5 shares. This keeps my potential loss and risk low and at the same time i'm learning so much by being an active participant. It's really exciting!

Future steps:
Continue getting out of debt. After the credit card is paid off, move on to the student loan debt.
Continue to save. Increase this amount after the credit card is paid off.
Continue to invest in the 401(k). Increase this amount after the credit card is paid off too.
Continue to invest in the stock market. Alway research new stocks and sectors.
Work on my passive income streams. Blogging, clothing line, new products. (More to come on this topic!)

What are the steps that you have taken so far towards financial freedom? What will your next steps be?


 Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl 


Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Tips for Finding More Money in Your pocket This Month!


One way to find more money in your pocket and tackle that debt! is to first take look at your expenses to see what you are spending your hard earned cash on. You might be surprised at what you find.
Once you have your list, decide if there are any expenses that you can eliminate. My list looks like this:

Rent
Utilities
Cell phone
Internet
Student loans
Credit card payments
Netflix
Gym
Groceries
Metro Card

My list is pretty pared down, however, I could still make some changes. I could find a less expensive cell phone plan. I could cut that payment in half and have $50 extra/mo in my pocket. I could look for an apt with less expensive rent, something that I am seriously considering. (The rent is too damn high!) I am all about health and fitness and I am a regular at my gym, but do I need a gym membership in the warm months when I can run outside? Or maybe I could find a less expensive gym.
Just a few small changes here and I could have another potential $200-$400 extra in my pocket every month.
It's worth taking a look. Don't let your expenses weigh you down.

Have you tracked your expenses? Where will you cut some corners?

Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @financegirl


Monday, June 23, 2014

Emergency Fund and How Much to Have


It's a good idea to have a few things in place before you begin to invest and reach out for those passive streams of income and eventually wealth. I have talked in previous posts about a few of these things. We talked about 401(k) and how its a good idea to participate so you can take advantage of that employer match. I also talked about getting out of debt which is something that I am currently working on. I will have much more money to work with once I do this.

The emergency fund
Another good idea is to have an emergency fund in place. In the event that something terrible should happen to you or your family, like losing your job or needing an unexpected operation etc. you will be happy that you have this safety net of a fund in place.

How much is enough?
There are some different schools of thought on the amount that should be in your fund. Some people say the amount should be able to cover 3 months of expenses, others say that it should cover 6 months. My fund (yes, I do have a fund ) will cover me for just about 3 months. This makes me feel pretty secure.

Do you have an emergency fund? Do you feel safer knowing that you have a financial safety net? 

Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl



Saturday, June 21, 2014

2014 Midway Point - Goal Reflection


It occurred to me today, that we are just days from the midway point of 2014. Wow, already!? This year, a year that was supposed to be THE YEAR for me, has I have to admit been pretty good. I started out 2014 with a slew of goals as I always do, making sure to keep them high enough but still attainable. No one likes failure! Below are 4 of the most important goals that I made for 2014.

Credit card debt: This was the first goal that I had on my list. I feel pretty good about this one, even though my cc debt won't be paid off completely until early next year. Not only do I have my system in place for paying this down, but it's also automated, requiring no work from me. It's just happening!

Saving: Next, I had a goal to save $200/mo. It is really hard to have debt and also a 401k that gets contributed to every month, but to also be saving money in a savings account? Guess what people, i'm doing just that! And again, it's automated! $100 comes out of every paycheck and gets directly deposited into my high interest yielding savings account. Check!

Financially free plan: The 3rd goal was to put a plan in place to become financially free. This one is a little less measurable but I think I can say that i'm at least on the path to getting there. I believe that if I continue to educate myself about investing, debt reduction, passive income, and entrepreneurship, I will get there.

Career: The final thing on my list of goals is to work on my career. Whether it be getting a promotion at my day job (which did happen this year, btw) or by getting my entrepreneurial side of things up and moving. This goal needs more focus over the course of this 2nd half. The focus needs to be shifted on what I want and what will make me happy.

Overall, I think it's been a pretty successful 6 months. So congratulations and lets celebrate our midway 2014 successes and work hard on accomplishing more over the next 6 months!

How will you make your 2nd half of 2014 as sucessful as it can possibly be?

Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl

Friday, June 20, 2014

My Debt Spreadsheet

I want to talk about my debt in specifics. I'm prepared to get very real and open about my debt. In the hopes that it will keep me on track (because I really don't want to fail publicly) I have prepared a spreadsheet listing all of my current debt, the monthly payments, interest rates, as well as the balance still owed. I'm not going to lie. I had been hiding from the truth, a bit, and got a little sad when I saw the actual number presented before me of what I owe in the balance column. Gulp!

LiabilitiesAmt/moBalanceInterest Rate
Credit Card 1$190.00$380.0015.24%
Credit Card 2$300.00$4,335.000%
Student Loan 1$174.65$22,898.002.36% / 6.8%
Student Loan 2$82.50$6,792.005.25%
Student Loan 3$87.92$9,695.003.25%
Student Loan 4$72.55$2,939.002.36%
$907.62$47,039.00

The good news is that i'm only 2 months away from paying off credit card #1! Yay!!

Whats your debt look like? How close are you to paying it off and 
celebrating your new financial freedom?

Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Paper Trading.. for the Gun-shy


The stock market has always fascinated me. I've always wanted to get into investing in the markets but never knew quite where to begin. It seemed like such an intimidating world and way out of my reach but recently I decided to take control (that's kind of my new thing if you haven't picked up on that already), and dive in! I'm reading everything I can get my hands on, scanning all of the stock market websites that I come across, and keeping my ears open for any tips on specific stocks that are "going up". I think i'm finally ready to give it a shot! But if you're feeling gun-shy and want to practice first, you can try out one of the paper trading sites like Investopedia or Trademonster. Both sites allow you to sign up with them and let you place real trades on real stocks with fake money. You can track your gains and losses against real-time stock quotes and see how you stack up against the pros before placing your bets with your hard earned cash.

Are you paper trading now? And if so, how is it going?

Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

5 Easy Tips for Taking Control of Your 401(K)


When my current employer decided that the business was growing at a consistent rate and that she wanted to offer a 401(k) retirement plan to employees, I was stoked. When she decided she would match at 4%, I was even more stoked! A combined 8% of my earnings will be going to my retirement fund instead of taxable income to fill Uncle Sam's pockets at the end of the year. Sounds great to me! But how do I get the most out of my 401(k)? Keep reading for my 5 easy tips for taking control of your 401(k).

1. Roll over old 401(k) - Do you have a 401(k) from a previous employer that's just sitting out there in space? I did for years. At one point I totally forgot about that $2,500 just sitting there in that account! When I remembered my money, floating there in space, I decided to take control and suffer through what I thought would be a really boring and painful process of rolling it over. Turns out, it was quite simple. One short filled-out form later and my new 401(k) was authorized to withdrawal and deposit the $2,500 from my old 401(k). Done!

2. Increase your contributions - Every time I get a raise or a bonus I increase my contribution. It could be as little as a 1% increase. Regardless this is an important step if you want your investment to grow larger and faster. And besides you won't even notice that 1% or more is gone when it comes out of a raise or bonus!

3. Match the match! - What you contribute to your 401(k) is going to depend on a lot of different factors. Are you in debt? Is your job stable or are there layoffs in the works? Could you better use the money to build up your 3-6 month emergency fund? I decided that the best thing for me is to match what my employer is going to match. Until my debt is paid down, I will stay at this comfortable level. I can't see passing up free money!

4. Picking the Investment - There are a lot of choices out there with different 401(k) plans. Bonds, money markets, stock mutual funds, value funds. It's really going to depend on your risk tolerance and years till retirement. You're going to need to do your research on this one. (Stay tuned for a more intense 401(k) investment-picking blog post to follow!)

5. Don't borrow - Leave it alone! The only way it will grow is if you continue to contribute to it and let it grow up to be a be strong pile of cash!

Take control of the management of your assets. If you don't understand something about your investment then ask. But remember, no one cares more about the safety of your money than you do.

Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Wise Words from Einstein?


One of the most popular quotes that I have come across on my path to financial freedom is, Compounding interested is the 8th wonder of the world - Albert EinsteinApparently, there is no evidence to prove that he actually said it, but who cares, it's true!

This is how I understand and define compounding interest. (Disclaimer: Feel free to google the definition and find all kinds of different ways of explaining it, most more technical than my layman version here. This is how it makes sense in my head). There is also a great book called The Power Curve: Smart Investing Using Dividends, Options, and the Magic of Compounding.  In it, he talks about the magic of compounding.
Compounding interest is when you have an investment that gains interest. This interest is then reinvested with the original amount and as a result, the combined amount is now gaining interest. As time goes by and this reinvesting keeps happening, your investment grows exponentially.

Lets look at my current 401k investment. I have a whooping $10,000 currently in my 401k, and i'm getting about a 7% annual return on it. What will I have in 30 years? Not enough, but I plan to fix that, as soon as I get out of debt!
I will have $76,122.
How did I get there? The formula goes like this:
Present Value x (1 + interest rate) to the n-th power (years) = Future Value OR
PV x (1 + r) n = FV

So...

$10,000 x (1+.07) to the 30th power = $76,122

Compounding interest is key to understanding your investment to time relationship. The longer you wait to invest and save the less time you allow for the 8th wonder of the world, compounding interest, to work for you! When I crunched the numbers on my own finances it was a bit hard to swallow some of the financial choices I made in my 20s, but beginning now is better than never starting at all!

Things to think about
*Compounding interest and how it helps you in your investments.
*Run the numbers on my investments. Where will I be in 10, 20, 30 years at the current rate? Where will I be if I make monthly contributions to my current investment in 10, 20, 30 years? Where will I be if I increase my monthly contributions by $100 in 10, 20, 30 years?

Have you done the math on your investments yet? Are you contributing enough to get to your investment goals?

Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl


Get Lost, Debt! - My Goals

After a lot of research, it is clear to me that you cannot get to wealth and financial freedom without getting out of debt first. This has been the common thread of all of the books and financial websites that I have read and podcasts that I have listened to and it has become my own personal mission. Yes, I have debt. It is time to stop ignoring the student loan statements and making excuses. Free me from the shackles of debt!
My debt consists of 1 credit card and 4 student loans. I went to college at a very affordable school. Great idea. But I took out the max on the loans that they would give me so that I could continue to live on my own, in an apt, and not work while studying. Bad idea. This is your money and your life so be careful with it. Think twice before purchasing something on credit. Do you really need it? Wouldn't it be better to wait and buy it outright with cash?

My get out of debt goals:
*Pay off the credit card first since it has the highest (19%) interest rate. Vow never to let my credit card spending get out of hand again..no matter how many travel points i'm earning.

*Triple the minimum payment amount on credit card. In my case it's $100, so i'll make $300 payments.

*Automate this payment every month so that I don't even see it come out of the bank. This is key to staying on top of debt and not letting it get you down.

*Pay off student loans with the highest interest rate first next.

*Once credit card is paid off, use the credit card payment of $300 and put it towards my student loan on top of the $85 minimum payment that i'm currently making on the one with the highest interest rate.

*Once student loan numero uno is paid off, transfer the amount that was being paid to the credit card AND the amount of the student loan payment, $385, to the 2nd student loan on top of the $75 minimum payment on that loan. See how it's a snowball effect?

*Continue till no more of my hard-earned cash is owed to anyone else.

Paying off debt becomes really fun when you start making final payments, checking the debt off the list, and watching it vanish into thin air, never to return.. hopefully. No, definitely.
I'll keep you posted on my progress.

How are you going to begin to get yourself out of debt?

Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl

Monday, June 16, 2014

How Can I Make My Money Work for Me?

People often ask me why I got so interested in the topic of financial freedom and the means of getting there. Well, first of all the topic is money. That's a pretty interesting topic, especially if you're a young girl like me, living in one of the biggest most exciting cities in the world... and you are broke. But the light bulb really went off when I was introduced to a book called, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki a few years ago. It was a quick read, I flew through it in a weekend. A real page-turner.
One of the biggest tips I took from that book was that I should work my 9-5 but I should also work on MY BUSINESS. My business? What did that mean? It meant that I should be making my money work for me by building my assets. This was eyeopening for me. I was raised to think that you work hard, you get a job, you stay at that job, and you're grateful for it. No one ever told me that I could be working on MY BUSINESS and creating wealth at the same time! 
So what does it mean to build your assets and make your money work for you? Assets are things, both tangible and intangible, that you own that have value and can produce wealth. An example of a tangible asset is real estate. A great idea for someone who has cash to throw down on some property and then rent all or some of it out. 

Things to think about: 
*Work on MY BUSINESS. 
*How can I attain assets and build wealth?
*What types of assets could I own that could put me on the path to wealth?



Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl

Friday, June 13, 2014

Financial Freedom - The Journey

Financial freedom is a phrase that I heard over a year ago and immediately had to learn more about. It was like I was struck by lighting. Stunned, I sat there and thought, what the hell is this financial freedom and how do I get it?? You mean there is an alternate path in life to wealth that does not necessarily include a 9-5 job for the next 30 years? You mean I can have more than one stream of income coming in at a time? It was truly eye-opening.
I listen to podcasts daily on investing, entrepreneurship, and automation. I read books about stocks, options, dividends, and getting out of debt. I scour the web for articles on passive income and how to get it. The list goes on and on! The more I dig, the more I find. There is so much information out there and i'm here to share it with you!
This blog is a documentation of my financial discoveries and how I implement everything that I learn on my journey. This is A Girl's Journey to Financial Freedom.

-Girl Finance