I was financially free when I was working in India for 20+ years.

Let me first define what Financial freedom is to me.

Financial Freedom never meant to me to hang up my boots and sit on a beach.

Financial Freedom meant I no longer cared about what my boss thinks of me at work.

I no longer was afraid to try something new, not having to worry about paying the bills and mortgage for several years. I could bring more of my authentic voice to work and challenge status quo.

Moreover, I was completely debt free. Owned my home and another one completely paid for, had a growing mutual fund portfolio that held many years of my expenses and a retirement account that had accumulated 20+ years of disciplined contribution at the rate of 10-12% of my gross income and match from the company.

But then something happened in the family. This is the reason I think most people cannot define financial freedom practically, because life is unpredictable and it will force you to come out of the theory into the real world.

I had to abandon my plans of nicely retiring in India with a debt free life.

We had to move to the US as a family due to some unforeseen circumstances.

Now what? My financial freedom went out of the window. All the calculations, all my assets and my freedom number when converted to US dollars turned out to be small.

My financial parameters also changed. Suddenly at the age of 43, I was staring at a retirement runway of only 20 years, with my daughters going to college in next 4-8 years.

My funds were not adequate to even sustain a four year private college degree.

I have always lived in my own home. So apart from the pain points, I had the desire of owning my home in the US as soon as possible.

So I created few financial goals in 2017. And I decided to achieve them without bringing any of my India assets to the US.

• I have to buy my home in Austin within a year or two.
• I have to send my first child to college in 2022, debt free.
• I have to start saving for second child to be in college by 2026.
• I have to become a silent millionaire.
• I will reach a financial state when I can feel free again.

By 2023, in just six years, I had achieved most of the goals above.

• Bought my first home in Dec 2017 and then invested in more real estate between 2019-2022.
• My first daughter started in a state college in 2022 with four years of fees saved up.
• My other daughter’s 529 plan is growing to fund four years of college starting 2026.
• My net worth in the US is beyond what I targeted for.
• I can go without pay for several years and feel financially free today.

How did I become financially free in 5-7 years and achieved all the above goals?

• No I did not become a full time real estate investor.
• No I did not open a startup or sold a business.
• No I did not invest heavily in cryptocurrencies – I bought few when it crashed in 2022.
• No I did not find the best investment – in fact, the type of investment played a very small role in my net worth.

It is simply good financial planning, a step by step process to automate my finances and keeping track of my goals.

It was the result of a four step process, each step has a detailed action list.

• Financial Awareness – I had to understand where I am starting from, what resources I have and will deploy where.
• Financial Planning – Goals as I listed above. Having goal is not enough, I had to break it down and create a month to month, year to year plan for each goal.
• Financial Flow – I had to get out of my own way. I had to create a budget, a spending and investing plan, then went and automated it so that it can work on its own.
• Financial Growth – Once my goals are set up to run, I had to make more money. So I focused on self development, worked hard at my job to elevate my position and invest the bonuses, raises and stock options.

This simple four step process got me to where I am from where I started in 2017.

That is why I believe anyone can improve their finances with intentionality and a flexible step by step process, the stages of which can be customized to the individual’s situation.

If you would like to experience this for yourself and design your own financial freedom, you can email me at info@startyourfinancesright.com or go to this page:

https://the-log-house.com/your-finances-your-dreams/