Achieve Financial Freedom: The MBR Vision

This is how you will feel when you are free

Hello to all my fellow financiers the world over!  Welcome to MoneyByRamey.com where the goal is to teach financial literacy to all living beings in the Universe.  Our one goal is for you to achieve Financial Freedom.

Money is such a simple concept that it often times is lost on individuals through the noise of stocks, cryptocurrencies, market rise and market falls, and 401k jibberish.  But the fact remains that the simple goal of spending less than you earn. And saving/investing the rest is the pinnacle of all personal financial self-discipline.  

If you can achieve this simple and realistic goal, you are on your way to true Financial Freedom.  Whether you find yourself in the ‘what the hell do I do’, or the ‘I have this down’ camp you have come to the right place.  I won’t have all the answers, I may have some. But what will hold true is that we will all be learning together on this journey together.

The cold truth: it’s no wonder why many individuals have a tough time with money; the basic skills of money management are seldom taught in high school or even college frankly because I don’t believe many teachers found themselves capable of explaining such a concept.  

It’s almost like they don’t want you to learn what could arguably the most basic lifeskill – money management – that one needs to possess for adulting (conspiracy theorists unite!)…  Because of this lack of learning opportunity, generations of individuals are relegated to a meager existence of ‘getting by’ from paycheck to paycheck – the constant stress of asking the question “How will I afford such and such tomorrow?” constantly eating away at them from the inside out.  

It doesn’t help when concepts such as the American dream (I’m from America, so I will speak of this but it can apply the universe-over) continually telling the story that you need more – bigger house, bigger car, next best promotion… basically the individual needs the world to feel good about him/herself and her/his financial security.  

Finding Your Way to Financial Freedom

Now many people live within their means and don’t get caught up in a lifestyle that is bigger than they are but it’s so apparent that this spend-crazy lifestyle is what the world wishes to teach that we would be remiss to gloss over it as though it were a passing fad.  

Throughout history greed has been portrayed as one of the sins of humanity; today that notion is epitomized in the CEOs that pay themselves millions of dollars in bonuses while announcing mass layoffs of the ‘folks’ (Marissa Mayer’s $186mm golden parachute pay package comes to mind).  This, and other egregious pay packages, are just more examples of corporate greed run amok. And those high-flying CEOs believing that next million or another lake house in the upper North East will make them truly happy.  

Now before you free-market capitalist get your panties in a bunch I’d like to set the record straight: I am a staunch capitalist and I do believe that in today’s modern society, individuals should be paid what they are world.  Often times CEOs have very challenging positions – managing companies of hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of employees – one wrong move or strategic vision gone awry on the part of the CEO could spell the doom for their proverbial flock of workers.

More often than not I do believe that significant pay for a company’s top leadership is not only necessary but warranted to retain the top CEOs.  But just like the modern day super-athlete that is paid millions or tens of millions of dollars per season, the returns need to be produced in order to make the investment worth the initial cash outlay.

The Pathway to Financial Freedom

OK, so why am I digressing to an expose on corporate greed and athlete pay?  If only to prove the following point: in this world there will be many many people who make more money than you. And many many people that don’t make as much money as you.  

Your goal is to spend your money wisely and maximize your own savings. The one person that you have control over is you; perhaps not how much money you can make (to a certain point if you are earning a salary in the corporate world) but you definitely have control and prowess over how much you are spending on a daily, and thus monthly, yearly, and lifetime basis as well.  

Now, I don’t advocate a life of misery.  Rather, I would like everyone to have a great life full of abundance while spending money wisely. I’ve known of individuals that have spent their winters in Minnesota with their thermostat set to 50 bundled under layers of clothes and blankets.  This is not the type of spend-wise thrift to which I speak.  

Rather, I will write of the age-old wisdom Spend less than you Earn and Save/Invest the Rest.  That is where the key to Financial Freedom lay.  It can work for you even if you earn minimum wage; although granted it requires much more financial discipline the less money you make but the goal is the same regardless.    

My Vision

The naysayers will come and they will say that the achievement of Financial Freedom isn’t possible and that people need more money.  They would also argue that people need ‘this and that’ to be comfortable, etc. To them I say, be careful what you say as what one says becomes the “self-fulfilling prophecy”.  

I genuinely believe that every capable person – unless hampered by physical or mental disability – can achieve Financial Freedom if they work for it (please note that even those with physical or mental disability can still find the road to Financial Freedom as well).  

So now, without further delay, I am excited that you and I will take this journey together – welcome to Money By Ramey.  I sincerely hope that you will find benefit from my thoughts and ideas. And that I will continue to grow in my own journey as a result of my interactions and discussions with you.  Together, by growing our active and passive income sources, we will achieve Financial Freedom!