A Personal Finance Roadmap for Beginners 1

An easy 12-step guide to your financial freedom

But if these years have taught me anything it is this: you can never run away. Not ever. The only way out is in. — Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

With that out of the way, I will attempt to give you a financial roadmap that you can use to help you make and track your progress. This is what I have used and continue to use in my financial freedom journey.

Step 1: Understand the financial rationale that makes you act the way you do

I was listening to Fortune Favours the Bold podcast on Tuesday morning as I was preparing breakfast and getting ready to go to work. It’s Mastercard’s podcast hosted by Ashley C. Ford (She sounds like Maya Angelou!). She talks to her guests about all things money as she shares her struggles with managing her money as a freelancer and paying her student loan.

Step 2: Read! and talk about money

To get to a place where you finally feel calmer about your finances, you need to learn and verbalise your struggles. You will need to read and reread books. Many books. Most importantly, you’ll need to read actively by writing down the lessons. I’m sorry to say but there’s no short cut.

Step 3: Get an accountability partner

One of the people that I guide in her financial journey was stuck in so much debt that it crippled her from taking action. She didn’t know how deep in debt she was until I helped her through the process. It took her about two weeks to remember all the people and institutions she owed.

You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results. — James Clear

Step 4: Budget and Spend less than you earn

I did a simple budgeting guide in 3 parts:

Over the past few years, I’ve learned that to be good with money is like a good long term relationship. Instead of everything being chaotic peaks of highs and lows, there is a more quiet, sustained happiness that allows you to plan for the future, feel safe and comfortable and really figure out what you want in life. — The Financial Diet

Part 5: Pay off debt

“You dint learn about money at school because the system is incentivized to keep you ignorant.You weren’t taught to think and act independently because the system is incentivized to keep you obedient.Imagine if people consumed only what they needed.

The system would crumble.”@Orangebook-Twitter

If you’re stuck in debt, I wrote a detailed guide on how to beat the debt cycle.

Part 6: Build an emergency fund

If you want to put a stop to your knee jerk financial decisions, build an emergency fund.

Know that you will have a million different passions and desires and dreams in life and that being savvy with money will be the difference between never giving yourself permission to pursue them and being able to live without them. — The Financial Diet

There are more steps to this road map after the 6 above that I’ll cover in part 2 of this article. Keep in mind that some can be done simultaneously as I did with my debt payment and emergency fund steps.

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Your voice of reason before you blow all your money this weekend! www.thewealthtribe.com

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