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Welcome to Money Talk for Real, a podcast where I talk about making money, spending money, and everything in between. And in this episode, I want to talk about some of the reasons that I see and my opinion as to why most people never become truly financially free. A lot of people work their entire life and they're chasing financial freedom. Let's be honest. You're not working for fun or for a charitable donation. You're working to have money because that money allows you to do things outside of work. Your job is not your entire life. Your job is one part of your life. And I understand it can feel that it is your entire life, but at the end of the day, you are there to make money. And again, they say money doesn't buy you happiness, but it can buy you things that make you happy. And maybe that's not physical things, maybe that's just time or opportunities. So again, people working their entire lives is to chase the freedom. They're working because they want the money to be able to do things, but they never actually reach financial freedom. It's not always about the income, though. It's certainly about the spending and the income combined. It's about all the money decisions, not just the amount that is physically coming into your, you know, into your account. It's about the patterns that you have probably created. And it's not that financial freedom is impossible. It's just that most people never set themselves up for it. And generally, this is not just one single reason, one big reason. It's multiple things combined. It's not one thing that holds them back. Again, it's a pattern that I mentioned a minute ago. The main point that I would make here is that there's no target, which means there's no direction. People are just, quote, getting by. They're in survival mode. They're doing what they have to do to live. And that means insurance and car payments and, you know, things that they think are necessities, some of them are, but a lot of them are wants, not needs, that get confused for needs. If you don't know where you're going, you won't get there at the end of the day, right? And that applies financially as well. Um, if you have uh no plan, no system, no structure, no, you know, budget in this case, financially, then you're not going to get to where you want to go because you don't know where it is that you want to go. You'll say something like, I just want to have enough money not to worry. Well, how much money is that? Do you know the answer to that? You think you do. You think, oh, well, if I had a million dollars, I'd be all set. Well, no, maybe not, right? I mean, you don't know. Maybe you, or the the opposite is true. Maybe you currently do have enough money, but you um spend it all. And so you you maybe could end up living on a lot less than what you think you need. And that brings me to my next point of people just spending everything they make. This is outrageous in today's times. There's no margin, there's lifestyle inflation, which is legitimate, and a lot of people struggle with that. It's not a good thing, it's just legitimate. And what that means is the more you make, the more you spend. It's lifestyle inflation. I'm not talking about economical inflation with the economy. I'm talking about you're gonna there, there's always somewhere for the money to go. And I've talked before about the solution to this, and really what that is is lock in your expenses before you get an increase in income. Um and with people, you know, in inflating their lifestyle, they have normalized spending everything. They think, oh, well, I have the money. Money's made to be spent, so let me spend it. And they can, you're not gonna get financially free like that. Financially freedom comes from a long time of actual work. It's not gonna happen by accident, it's not gonna happen overnight. It comes from saving money. You cannot build freedom if nothing is left over after you spend all your money away. You've got to have money left over. Sometimes people also just rely on one income, whether that's one getting income like one of two spouses, or even if both spouses are working, um, you know, maybe you could get a second job. I know that's not a popular belief, but it's absolutely doable. If you're working seven to three, you could get a job from four to six. I get it, that's only two hours a day. But if you do it five days a week, that's ten extra hours a week, right? Single income is can can potentially be limited growth. And there's uh, you know, the the single income, and and again, I'm not trying to uh uh attack anyone or be condescending, but one income will absolutely keep you stable, but maybe not free, maybe not financially free. Along with the income is the expenses that I talked about a minute ago. And debt can absolutely hold you back. This one's probably the most obvious on the list. Debt is going to delay progress. The payments that you make every single month eat all of your income. You think, oh, well, it's $100 a month, it's $500 a month car payment. That's no big deal. I can afford $500 a month, but it's every single month, and we and part of that car payment is paying interest on an asset that is depreciating. A vehicle is a depreciating asset, and I'm using vehicles as an example here, but the monthly payments can be on vehicles, it can be on personal loans, it could be a boat, a camper, a travel trailer, a vacation home, a condo, whatever it is, a vacation, a credit card debt. I mean, monthly payments just eat at you slowly and slowly, and it's a painful, painful way to lose money. Um, and the debt can certainly limit your flexibility. Debt keeps you tied to your income. This all ties in together to the lifestyle inflation. You know, you spend, you make more, so you spend more. You make more, so you take on a monthly payment, another monthly payment. You take another vacation on a credit card because you just got a raise at work, or you get another car because I can make the monthly payment. I just got paid more at work. You're living on exactly what you're making, or legitimately maybe above your means. Some things that can also keep people from becoming financially free is simply just waiting too long to start. And this is gonna sound a little bit cliche, but they're delaying their action. They're saying, okay, well, you know, I'll start after the first of the year, or I'm expected to get a pay raise next month. So I'll start then. Absolutely not. The I'll start later mindset is bull crap. You need to start it right now. And even though starting right now may not get you very far in terms of actual dollars saved, it can absolutely get you super far in the mindset, the habit, the think, the way of thinking, the methodology. Start right now. Time is the biggest advantage here, and most people waste it. Um, people are also sometimes scared of investing. They have a fear of investing, they're not putting money to work. They're going out and they are working to get money, but they're not making their money work. And that's literally what investing is. You send dollars out, and then more dollars came back than what you sent out. That is the root of investing. And some people are scared to invest. Again, it's the fear, it's the confusion, it's the hesitation, it's just the unknown. They maybe don't understand what investing does or the best way to invest. A lot of people just get impatient. They have the one hit mentality, meaning, okay, well, if I invest $10, by tomorrow I should be making money. It doesn't always work like that. That's gambling. That's more risk involved. Investing is more of a guarantee and it is a long game. And I'm not saying long like invest to 18 and you don't spend it till you're 90, but it could be, you know, investing all of your life and just letting it sit there. The biggest thing is the longer it sits there, the longer an investment sits there, the more money it will make. Meaning the more you will see the fruits of your labor, so to speak. Money sitting still doesn't build freedom. And again, when money is being invested, it is working. I do not consider that sitting still. Money sitting still is just in an account somewhere, say a checking account, right? Investing is the money's moving, it's growing, it's working, it's making more money. That's not sitting still. Money sitting still doesn't build freedom, but money invested absolutely can get you closer to financial freedom. Next, we'll talk about uh the lifestyle over the freedom. So some people are choosing the lifestyle. You can't always have both. You can't always have the lifestyle you want as well as the financial freedom. Now, ironically, I understand that financial freedom is a lifestyle for people. And so that that's not necessarily what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the lifestyle that you're trying to live right now. Instead of focusing on your future self, think about yourself 20 years older than you are right now. What do you wish you would have done right now? Do you wish you would have lived that lifestyle with a fancy watch and a thousand dollar car payment? Or will that car probably be gone in 20 years from now? You won't even remember or care about the car because it'll have so many miles and be so dirty and banged up, you won't care. And you really wish that you would have invested money. Choosing comfort right now over long-term gain is kind of summarizes this point. You're choosing the small dopamine hits, the small comparison, the feel goodsies right now over the long-term gain, and it's keeping you from being financially free. Spending and investing decisions all play into that. Again, the right now. You're thinking, okay, well, I want a vacation right now because I've worked for six months and haven't taken a vacation. Well, do you need a vacation? I understand they say, you know, at the end of the day, everyone needs a vacation, right? But do you want that bad enough to potentially compromise your financial freedom for your overall life? You're talking about your entire life of being financially free down the road in the future versus a one-week vacation right now. The choice is yours. I can't make it for you, but it's just something to think about. Most people do choose a better today over a better future. And again, that's your choice, not mine, but it is absolutely something to consider if you're wanting to become financially free. Now, all of these points that I've talked about compound. They all are small little components that if you add them up and play each one of them correctly, can lead to financial freedom again over time. Financial freedom does not happen overnight. You're probably not going to win the lottery. You're probably not going to wake up tomorrow and magically have $50 million in your bank account. Um, this is why you do the things to get you financially free. The small things that I've talked about that compound. This is why people sometimes stay stuck. It's not one mistake. It's not one of those things that I talked about. It's a pattern of mistakes. Anyways, financial freedom is possible, but it does require attention. It requires effort. It does require some work. And really, it requires patience. Freedom isn't about luck, it's about the decisions over time. The keyword being over time. It takes time. Be patient. Do not lose sight of the goal. Do not take your eye off the prize. These might be some of these little points by themselves might make you go into the what's the point mindset. Like, what's the point of, you know, not having a car? I gotta have a car. Yeah, you do have to have a car, but you don't have to have an $1,100 a month monthly payment car. You could have a $5,000 car that you pay for cash and no monthly payments. Let me know what you think. Do you think most people can actually reach financial freedom? Is it even possible? Let me know your thoughts. I absolutely want to hear from you. I'd like to start featuring some listeners on the show, whether that's you sending in stories via email or maybe I can have a voicemail setup or something. But let me know your thoughts. Thank you so much for listening. Leave a five star review, and I'll catch you on the next episode. This is Money Talk for Real.