Now Buddhist monks aren’t your usual role models, but perhaps they should be if you are serious about achieving financial freedom and having a fun life!
When I talk to people about their frustrations with life, usually underneath it all, it comes down to one thing – frustration at the constant pursuit of money. And why is it such a frustrating task? Well, we seem to have a constant need to pay for the things in life that we think will bring us enjoyment, but actually don’t – the big house, the flash car, the luxury holidays. However, the enjoyment is short lived and is soon overtaken by the constant pressure of having to earn enough to keep your head above water.
And that is where the Buddhist monks come in.
Having been guilty of my own pursuit of the rat race in the past, I started to consider where I was going wrong. I couldn’t understand why I was frustrated with never having enough, when others who had much less are truly happy. It comes down to one thing – Financial Freedom.
Believe it or not, monks have financial freedom. They have enough money coming in to provide the lifestyle they want, without the constant pursuit of money. Granted, monks have low demands in the lifestyle stakes – but it is all relative and the formula is constant:
Financial Freedom = Passive Income – Outgoings
Seems simple, and what I’ve learned is that it is. Financial Freedom is closer than you may think. It just takes a little focus and determination to make a life outside of the rat race an achievable goal.
Here are the proven steps to success:
- Decide what lifestyle you want (for example – travel the world for 6 months each year)
- Calculate how much you need each month to give you financial freedom – that’s the amount of money you need to live
- Make a plan to build your passive income to equal or exceed that monthly amount
- Achieve that goal – and go to the beach, book-store, wherever you please, whenever you please
The secret is the passive income; that’s income that comes in without you working for it – from investments, businesses, internet marketing, anywhere that doesn’t need your physical presence to make the money.
And that is what the monks know – they have enough money to pay for their daily life (albeit a simple life), so they can spend all-day doing what monks do. And that is a long way from being caught up in the rat race. It’s scaleable – same rules, just different levels of passive income required.
The formula is simple, achieving it isn’t – despite what it says in the four hour work week. Don’t get me wrong that is a fantastic book, but it does skip the fact that setting up a ‘muse’ as Tim Ferriss refers to it, isn’t as easy as it sounds – trust me, it takes a lot of experimentation, determination, and hard work. But when it comes off, it is worth it.
So if you want to escape the constant grind of the rat race and live a life you enjoy, start by thinking how much do I actually need to live off? If you take out the things you think you want/need but don’t really it is not as much as you think.
As the saying goes, “ask a dying person what they regret and it’s the things they didn’t do, no what they did do” – and let’s be honest, when are you happiest, going on holiday, or going to work? I love my work, but I’d still rather do it on my boat than in the office!
