The Young Professionals Guide to Financial Freedom

Ugh, adulting. /ādülting/ [Urban dictionary] to do grown up things and hold responsibilities such as, a 9-5 job, a mortgage/rent, a car payment, or anything else that makes one think of grown ups.
Adulting is that one thing we are all starting to do but no one really likes it or talks about much about it. Well guess who’s here to address the elephant in the room?
 

Life Goals

In life, there will be many wins, and likewise many L’s. The journey to financial freedom, will cause you to laugh, cry, and be thankful about your many blessings. Most of all, you will watch yourself grow and blossom and start to see that, really money was never the goal. You made the sacrifices for your kids, for the health of your parents, so you could see your loved ones smile again.
You kept pushing to hit those goals, not because it was easy or because life dealt with you nicer, but because you saw life beyond the money.

If you had all the money you’ve ever wanted, what would you do differently? How would you live your life?

Setting SMART Goals

It’s time to make SMART goals. Where do you want to be in 5 years? How about in 2? This year maybe?

We all have goals and dreams. We have things we want to do, places we want to visit and things we’d like to accomplish. However sweet our plans seem, they are nothing without actions. We all want to wake up in 5 years in our dream homes with our dream cars etc. That’s all well and good. Except from the part where we’re not changing our actions to reflect that lifestyle. We are acutely aware that our choices today determine our tomorrow. Why then do we stay doing wishful thinking instead of actively working on those goals? Nothing ever came to those who slept and dreamt sweet dreams.

 ‘Start doing and stop ‘dreaming’.

Your SALARY vs Your INCOME

Do you know the difference between your salary and your income?

I didn’t.
Some people equate how much they ‘earn’  i.e their salary,  to how much they get ‘paid’. I used to think that too when I started university. You get income from your salary when you get a job. So the plan was work hard to get a good job so you get a good salary and therefore a good income. Right? Hm, maybe. But as I got to my second year and I started making ‘income’ even though it was not my ‘salary’, I started to think a little different.
You see, your salary and income aren’t the same thing. Your salary can be your primary source of income, and indeed is a good chunk of a lot of people’s income. But it is not necessarily your only income. So many people have made it to the their financial goals without being on a ‘salary’. The idea is that they created multiple streams of income.
Your job holds the keys to your salary. They give you a figure and tell you that’s what you get paid for working for them. That’s fair enough – they’re in control. YOUR job, is to be in control of your income. Note the difference. Your income is not limited to your salary.

How I went from being broke to saving £2000+ in a year

Here’s a story about going from being broke to big time woke.

Contrary to popular assumption, I’ve not always had it all together financially. I haven’t gotten into debt or done anything too crazy but towards the end of 2014/ early 2015, I was at an all time low financially. I had finished my first year of uni and decided that instead of looking for an internship over summer, I was going to create a job for myself ? #Winning #YouGoGirl #Solopreneur
FAME 2014 was one of the various projects I started in uni. A creative event that allowed creatives in the music and fashion industry to come together for the coolest mashup. Or at least that’s what my intention was.

How To: Increase Your Earning Potential

Leveraging your skill set to maximise your earning potential doesn’t always mean starting your own business. In Gen Y&Z, everyone is either an entrepreneur, about to become one or is friends with at least one. I can already see you nodding your head to one of those three. But some of us get discouraged when we are in that first section “about to be/looking for ways to become an entrepreneur” and start our own thing and launch our brand. For those ones, I encourage you to remember that the fact is that not everyone can become an entrepreneur. More importantly, instead of trying a thousand start up ideas, look to be more entrepreneurial in your thinking and find ways to add value wherever you are. Entrepreneurship is fortunately or not, a one size fits all approach. If it comes to you, great, do your thing hunny. But if it doesn’t, don’t force it- focus more on using your skills to make you the MVP employee. There are more than one ways to make more money. 
Increasing your earning potential is (unfortunately) not as easy as just merely asking for a raise. You could increase your earning potential by doing the following three things: