Financial Freedom? Myth or Reality (Part 4 – Conclusion) – [Essay]

Picture captured on one of our walks in Montreal, Canada, enjoying our first autumn in this lovely country

In Part 1 of this series of essays on the above subject, I had highlighted the humungous rise of material on the internet about side hustles, making money online, how to create passive income, this that and the other. But I also did mention, that not all the material out there is worthless. There is a lot of good, educational, and practical learning available to anyone who wants to learn.

YouTube is one such place which is full of education, knowledge, learning, inspirational talks, motivational video’s, maths, science, language, etcetera. You type what you are looking for in the search bar and I am 99% sure you will find something to address your need.

In Part 2 of the series, I had established 4 questions to make it easy for everyone to understand the difference between a business and a person.

It is anyone’s guess after reading Parts 1, 2 and 3 that logically there is not much difference, but both are exact replicas of each other.

One may say, there is a difference i.e. a person eats, sleeps, takes shower etcetera. For arguments sake, I agree to that but then my thinking tells me that a business does the same but in a different manner i.e. it eats resources, enabling it to produce products and services; it organises and re-organises itself to clean itself from unnecessary processes; it becomes sick when business slows down and thereafter it either re-energises and comes back with a bang or just fails and falters off.

I am sure you must have read this in various different ways, but the meaning is the same, i.e. you fall and you rise again; you fail and you learn; without failure you don’t know what success is; and the list goes on…

In a business, one needs to invest (time, dollar, resources, knowledge, etcetera). As a human, we need to invest (resources = nutrition, education, awareness; time = to research, focus, dollar to buy nutrition or education). I hope I have been above to establish and help you visualise that a human being and a business is not very different.

Category	Business &/Or Person
Revenue/Salary	Selling products/services
Operating Expense/Living expenses	Expenses to generate products/services
Profit (Revenue – Expenses)	Profit if revenue is higher than expenses and vice versa

If we understand the above concept, then it is easy for us to focus on how to make ourselves profitable in cash terms as well as in peacefulness. Focus on what is important in our lives.

Changing one’s mindset is the beginning, instead of saying ‘I can not do this, or I can not afford this’, ask ‘How can I do this or how can I afford this’.

One of the lessons I have learnt in my career and jobs is that ‘What’ is important but ‘How’ is more important than that.

Financial Freedom is a reality but only after one overcomes the myth.

I know a few people who have used their skills to come up with material on YouTube, Instagram, and other channels, from which they earn as well as get known. I give them credit and learn from them, rather than envying them.

All we need is positivity. Every failure, every rejection has a silver lining, which we do not necessarily recognize at that moment. I know and understand the feeling a person has when he/she is unemployed (I have been in the same situation). I had a choice, self pity or look for opportunities and push myself.

Even after understanding the concept of financial freedom, I am yet to achieve it, but I can say that I overcome the first part. Now it is time to act to achieve the goal. Nothing happens overnight, and everything happens at the right time.

Wishing you all success (how do you define success is another topic for another day).

Hope I have been able to help a few, if not many, with this series.

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Please share your views and opinions in the comments below. My purpose to expand my horizons by connecting to the people of this world.

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This article is for informational, discussion, reference or reading purposes only. There is no set Financial or Legal Advice. All information may not be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.

Financial Freedom? Myth or Reality (Part 3) – [Essay]

Knowledge stored in shelves for us to discover. Picture taken at Antique Book shop, Crows Nest, Sydney, NSW

What is it being ‘profitable’? Continuing from my previous essay in this series of personal finance articles where instead of jumping to give any financial advice (as this for someone else who is qualified and legally certified), the objective of my articles is to try and first understand the similarities between a full business entity, organization, company, venture, etcetera and a normal living individual, a human-being.

Let us begin from where I had left in the previous post of Financial Freedom? Myth or Reality (Part 2). A profitable business is a business which can utilize the available resources it has on hand and be able to deliver a product or service which is of higher value than its costs. Simply put in a few lines as:

A. Revenue = Income = earned by delivering a product or service (Inflow)

B. Expense = Cost = used to create the product or service (Outflow)

C. Result = A less/or minus B = (Positive = Profitable) & (Negative = non-Profitable)

Now, let us go back to question number 2 in my essay in Part 1 of this series i.e. ‘When is an individual profitable or non-profitable?’

To answer the above question, let us begin by looking and assessing at what we do daily, weekly, monthly, and annually. Majority of the people, get up each morning, shit, brush, take a shower, get dressed, have breakfast and then leave their abode to go to a set location where they do work i.e. render their services in the form of many tasks which are labelled accordingly. Such as, accounting work performed by an accountant, secretarial work performed by a secretary, carpentry work performed by a carpenter, plumbing work performed by a plumber, so on.

And for performing the assigned tasks, at the end, upon completion or at the end of the month, what do we receive, a paycheque. This receipt of paycheque is the same as what we understood above while discussing a business i.e. revenue = income (Inflow). In essence, we the ‘individual’ is nothing other than a ‘business entity’.

So if the above concept of a business and a person is correct and clearly understood, then why is it that day-in and day-out, we, a normal individual will go to any length, for example, skip lunch, keep working late in the evening to complete the tasks, checking emails from others receiving more of the tasks from others and keeps doing this each day, every day with the objective that the business he/she is working for should be profitable.

But when it comes to our own selves, we have lost the lunch time when we could enjoy a meal with ourselves while doing some reading or listening to music or anything what we enjoy.

By staying back in the office late, we have lost the time we could have spent with our loved ones who are waiting for us at home, or we could have invested in ourselves by enrolling in an evening educational class learning a different language or earning a degree, for instance.

I am pretty sure that majority of us know and understand (myself included, sometimes though) what I wrote in the last three paragraphs, however, we already have come up with excuses and explanations for not making time for ourselves, for not investing in ourselves, for not living our lives, for not doing what we dreamt off, for not doing what interests us.

I am also aware that someone might say to the above, that many people DO NOT have a choice as they need the money to feed themselves and their families. Totally, 100% agree to that logic, but my question then is, what did they do to change the situation they were/are in?

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Please share your views and opinions in the comments below. My purpose to expand my horizons by connecting to the people of this world.

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This article is for informational, discussion, reference or reading purposes only. There is no set Financial or Legal Advice. All information may not be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.

Copyright: Kirtan Varasia (2021)

Financial Freedom? Myth or Reality (Part 2) – [Essay]

Picture captured on one of our walks grounds of ‘McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada’

Since I last wrote (see my previous post), I have come across some really good informative material on the Internet for example theminoritymindset (again a disclaimer, I am not promoting anything or anyone) just sharing what I have come across in the hope that someone else will/can share something which I have not come across and I can learn from.

Is Internet a blessing or a curse is a subject to discuss for another day.

Coming back to the question I had asked myself previously when I ended the last post, what is Financial Freedom?

The above question led me to another question, is Financial Freedom only related to the balance sheet value of an individual at a point in time?

When I first began pondering over this topic, my view was that Financial Freedom would mean that one is financially free when one has accumulated X amount of dollars in one’s bank account. But what was that amount? I found it extremely difficult to answer this question.

To dig further, I first tried to understand myself, an individual by nature. What was the difference between me and a business? The answer I found was surprising, i.e. I am a business on my own.

In my opinion both Individual and a business entity has same objectives of existence, as:

i. Consumer & Provider of goods &/or services

ii. Receiver & Payer for the goods &/or services

Economic activity revolves around the above which is driven by the ‘Needs &/or Wants’ of the individual or a business.

Now, if the above can be understood, it is extremely simple to understand your own worth.

Let’s begin our journey to understand the comparatives between an individual and a business by deliberating over some simple questions:

1. When is a business profitable or non-profitable?
2. When is an individual profitable or non-profitable?
3. What does a business do to become profitable &/or successful?
4. What does an individual do to become profitable &/or successful?

In my experience, when I began to answer the above questions, I started to think beyond the normal responses which resulted further exploration. 

Let us begin by answering question number 1: When is a business profitable or non-profitable?

When the revenues of a business are higher than the expenses, the business is profitable. I ask myself, is it that simple? No, it is not. The above is just a definition. The main answer lies in the answers to the following questions: 

1. How does a business generate income/revenue?
2. To generate this income/revenue, what does the business do?

So, to generate some income/revenue a business needs to do some expenses. When the expenses are less than the income/revenue it generates, the business is profitable, but it is in loss or non-profitable business if the expenses are higher than the income/revenue it generates.

In other words, it is also called the ‘Inflow and Outflow of Cash’. 

If the above concept is clear, then we should ask some more questions. Remember we are still on the topic of understanding a single ‘business’.

Since this series of my ‘essays’ relate to personal finance and financial freedom, I will stick to the example of a ‘Profitable’ business. But for that, you will need to wait for part 3 of ‘Financial Freedom? Myth or Reality.  

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Please share your views and opinions in the comments below. My purpose to expand my horizons by connecting to the people of this world. 

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This article is for informational, discussion, reference or reading purposes only. There is no set Financial or Legal Advice. All information may not be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.

Copyright: Kirtan Varasia (2021)

Financial Freedom? Myth or Reality (Part I) – [Essay]

Picture taken on one of our many road-trips in NSW, Australia

Has anyone noticed the sudden rise in the number of articles (this included), podcasts, videos on YouTube, etcetera, based on or linked to the title of this article?

I certainly have, and maybe I am one of the many thousands who have subscribed to these channels, read multiple articles, heard many podcasts and maybe you have become an advocate of some or one of the ideas you have come across; liked; implemented and is working for you. Some may like one and not the others and so on. 

I must say there is certainly something (good or bad) to take away or learn from every content I have come across.

I was first introduced with the expression ‘Financial Freedom’ a couple of years back when I first read the book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’. This is one book; I will not forget; I will re-read and listen to; I encourage others who are willing to change their mindset about life, money, and their own selves, to read it. I did not further go on and read the many other books which Robert Kiyosaki published however the essence from this one book got instilled in me forever. I began looking at life and things differently. This book literally helped me understand my worth.

As I mentioned above, everyone has their opinion and views, and some may not like this book and may like something else. I am not promoting the book or the author. I am only using this essay and platform to share my views. My objective is to (i) come up with a series of articles on this subject, (ii) try to educate myself and others about the tools available, & most importantly (iii) to help myself and others find when to identify the moment when the goal has been reached. I would really be happy to connect with people with whom I can share my views and learn from them about their perspectives.

Sadly, our education system across the world is as such that we all are educated and trained in all the major subjects and topics, which most of the time we will never ever use in our lives. I don’t remember when I last used trigonometry in my practical life. Why was it taught to me, I wonder!

Unfortunately, personal financial education has never been taught in schools, colleges, or universities. Yes, we are trained and educated in plus, minus, debit, credit, dissecting frogs and humans, constructing giant structures, revenue, expenses, etcetera; all with the one objective that the student will one day go and either get a job in an already established or upcoming organisation or setup their own business. Mind you, even people who setup their own business many times don’t know what objective or goal they are pursuing.

Coming back to the title of this article, I want to ask myself and others, what is ‘Financial Freedom’? Because after having read books, articles, listening to podcasts, watching videos, I focused myself on getting out of the rat race, but in the pursuit to achieve that I became a part of another race i.e. to achieve ‘Financial Freedom’. 

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Please share your views and opinions in the comments below. My purpose to expand my horizons by connecting to the people of this world. 

**************************************************************************This article is for informational, discussion, reference or reading purposes only. There is no set Financial or Legal Advice. All information may not be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.

Copyright: Kirtan Varasia (2021)

Treat your money as your own [Essay]

We humans have this tendency to see everything from the half empty perspective (that’s majority of us)! Including myself.

Never do we realize that if we have a half glass of water, there are many on the planet earth who don’t even have a glass which could be filled with water, to say the least!

Water, a basic human need is becoming scarce i.e. people who can afford it can have it in abundance and people who cannot? will remain a mystery for us, people like you (the reader) and me (the writer). Similarly money is something we all need to survive i.e. people who have it, live a life of material fulfilment and who don’t …???

Holding onto your well earned money is important and essential in this world but obviously first step is to find ways to earn to pay the bills!

This write-up is related to after you have earned the bucks. Mainly holding it! What happens normally is that we finish schooling (if we are lucky) and then get a job, start earning with the aim to pay the bills for our basic living, that’s again the majority of us, we just earn to pay the bills at the end of the month and then keep repeating the cycle month after month after month without realizing that there will be a day when we would be on the selected few and our services or work will not be required. This has happened to many of the technical professions in this evolving and developing world. Depending on where you live, the usual sights have changed dramatically. Do you see a cobbler? A road-side motor mechanic or a watch repairer or a tailor, etc. With times we have to make that effort to make a change.

Getting back to the subject i.e. money after it is earned. Firstly, your earnings should not ONLY be to pay your monthly bills but also something you have EARNED.

Typically, you work and you earn at the end of the month or at the end of the job (temporary). Instantly you start paying towards the outstanding invoices. Have you ever questioned yourself how did these invoices arrive at the first place? Did you get into something you can not afford or have you used the water and electricity in such a manner that it was a waste!

1. Manage your usage of electricity, water and gas. Yes you have to pay for it but it would be less if you pay attention about the usage.

Saving money involves not wasting the resources we pay for.

2. Pay yourself first before paying the bills i.e. save/put aside some amount from your salary first and then start paying the bills and other liabilities.

Saving from the monthly salary is something we all struggle because we strive to save at the end of the month. Have you thought about paying yourself first i.e. put aside some money and then the bills?

3. Assuming the reader understands that a business prepares an annual budget and then tracks it through forecasting. Revenue and expense are budgeted for a year i.e. planned and then through forecasts are tracked.

Same can be applied to an individual, Revenue = Salary and Expenses… we all know that. But are these planned? or is YOU (the business = individual) able to afford the expense.

4.  Similar to how discount vouchers work i.e. discount or buy one get one free, Debit/Credit & loyalty cards can be used to your benefit. Collect points on the expenses and use it for something. But you need to understand the terms and conditions.

I have personally used my card to access airport lounges, free parking and in addition have saved ~$300 per annum on airfare. In 2015, I saved around $1,000 in cash back while spending. Learnt it the hard-way initially but didn’t make the mistake again.

There could be many more money saving or beneficial ideas and tips around the world. As the saying goes, there is nothing infinite only our imagination. So keep up with the time and learn how to apply it practically, I am sure the benefits will be in abundance, nothing happens overnight but in a couple of nights you will get a hang of how it works.

Try to look at the glass being half full and increasing, rather than being half empty and decreasing.

Copyright: Kirtan Varasia