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Education
Minimalism is living below your means to payment, not including the costs of maintenance,
where you can still live a quality life without repairs, utilities, furniture, taxes and insurance?
getting yourself deep into debt. Minimalism How about buying a modest house with a purchase
allows you to take control of your expenses price of no more than $150,000 and seeking to pay
and spending, which are the key components that off within 10 to 15 years?
of becoming financially free. • To fly off every week to new islands, the names of
which you can barely spell?
see my prior articles, "Are you in the payments matrix?"
and "The one man show: Be a piker, dream middle class" • To consistently consume processed foods through
in The Green Sheet issues 16:10:01 and 16:01:01, Oct. 10 and the drive-through or dine at the most expensive
Jan. 11, 2016, respectively.) restaurants? How about cooking at home, which
also gives you the opportunity to eat healthier
Should you embrace minimalism? food and save money at the same time?
Regardless of where you might stand, why not embrace • To buy new clothes every week? How about
minimalism as an additional protection layer? Why not maintaining the clothes you already have?
be a piker, that is, structure your life as a minimalist,
and seek to just live a comfortable life? Think about it. Is Can $49,000 per year lead to financial freedom?
there really anything wrong with the goal of just living
comfortably? Based on various economic reports, including U.S. Census
Bureau data, you are considered to be middle class if, as
I've never understood why the image of a successful an individual income earner, you make $37,000 to $90,000
person is so often portrayed as the guy who racks up the per year. Making this income range also means you are
most expensive "toys" to impress people he doesn't know, in the top 6 to 15 percent of individual income earners in
doesn't like, and who, in return, wouldn't spit on him if the country and make more than 85 to 94 percent of all
he were on fire. It's the proverbial keeping up with the individual income earners. So by making a typical MLS
Joneses mentality that leads people to over-consume; even income of $49,000 per year, you are in the top 15 percent.
if they make $100,000 per year, they spend $120,000 per
year and place the overage on credit cards that charge If you position yourself in a low or average cost-of-living
high interest rates. region, you can live in great quality suburbs on $49,000
per year, as well as achieve financial freedom. For
Minimalism is living below your means to where you example, let's say you bring your expenses down to $3,200
can still live a quality life without getting yourself deep a month using minimalism-based tactics, while building
into debt. Minimalism allows you to take control of your a residual portfolio that pays out $49,000 per year, which
expenses and spending, which are the key components of is $4,083 per month (before taxes). This means you would
becoming financially free. be financially free.
My goal in this industry has always been financial Imagine if you were financially free as well as a
freedom. In a nutshell, to be financially free is to structure minimalist? Both provide you the option of living a life
your assets to where your passive income from them free of tyrannical bosses and debt collectors, freeing you
covers all of your personal expenses and debt payments. from the daily work grind and the stress of high debt.
Is the higher consumption lifestyle really necessary? Do While I'm not here to tell you how to live your life, I would
you really need: like you to consider an alternative lifestyle path. If you
decide to follow my path, you might be chided by certain
• To purchase a $60,000 car for $1,100 a month over members of our industry for being a piker, but remember,
60 months or, even worse, lease the same car? How these words from an anonymous source: "It's your life.
about saving up and buying a car out of pocket, Don't let anyone make you feel guilty for living it your
that's at least two years old, with a car purchase way."
budget of no more than $15,000 to $20,000?
John Tucker has over 10 years of professional experience in commercial
• A $500,000-plus house, putting yourself on the finance and business development. He is also an M.B.A. graduate and
hook for 30 years of a $2,500 a month mortgage holder of three bachelor's degrees in accounting, business management
and journalism. To connect with John, please send him a connection
invite via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/johntucker99 or email him
at tucker@1stcapitalloans.com.
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