9 Questions to ask Yourself to help you Determine your why so you can Achieve Financial Freedom

Growing up, I thought it was so cool to meet a millionaire or aim to become a millionaire. As I got older, I realised the real goal is financial freedom through various sources of income. Rental properties, businesses and shares quickly became interesting to me.

However, the pursuit of riches is generally an empty one. If you only do what you do to get rich, you will likely lose motivation. Instead, you need to work out why you want to be wealthy, financially free or rich and what that looks like to you.

1. What gets you Going in the Morning?

When you feel really good about the day, what is it that makes you feel good? Is there anything you truly look forward to doing or that lights you up? Make a list of those things.

2. What are Your Core Values?

Aside from basic human needs, we also have core values which drive us. These are things which dictate how we do things, decisions we make and what is important to us.

For me, family first is a big core value and obvious to anyone who meets me. I structured my whole life around my family and am incredibly grateful to come from a large, supportive family. My siblings are my best friends.

Soul Salt explains core values well and has 102 core values listed.

3. How do you Want to be Remembered? What Legacy do you Hope to Leave Behind?

When I was a wayward teen, I read about imaging my funeral or 80th birthday and what people would say about me. I wasn’t a terrible kid but knew I wanted to be better.

Sitting down and writing out what I wanted to be remembered for helped define my life purpose and my why for doing what I do. It’s something I have revisited a few times over the years and helped when I was getting clear on my goals for financial freedom.

4. How do you Want to Live Your Life?

Thinking about how you want to be remembered is one thing, thinking about how you want to live and spend your days is another. What do you want to achieve in your life? Are there any experiences you want to have? How can you make those things happen?

5. What Would you do on Your Ideal day?

Your ideal day is…

Take some time to write down exactly what your ideal day would look like. What is your home like, how and where do you wake up, what activities do you do, who is with you etc. Write it all down. Seeing how you want your life to be and how you want to spend your days can be a great way to solidify your why for chasing financial freedom.

6. If you Could do Anything for Work, What Would it be?

This changed a lot for me. Originally, I dropped out of school, worked for the government for a bit at 16 (office work was not my thing) then got a hairdressing apprenticeship. I thought I wanted to do hair and beauty but in reality, I was doing it because it was suggested to me so often and I liked the day spa idea.

One day I’d still love to own a day spa and am grateful for my background in both hairdressing and more recently business and marketing. It was definitely not what I loved doing every day though.

In my mid twenties, I switched to writing. Something I had always loved but was told I would not be able to make a living off it. A decade later and it helped pay for custody, my lifestyle and pretty much anything we want. It also enabled me to get paid to go on once in a lifetime trips and work around my kids so I could be there for them.

Deep in your heart, what do you truly love to do and would do for ‘work’ even if you didn’t have to?

7. What Does Wealth Mean to you?

Being wealthy is different for everyone. Some people are happy to retire and live frugally because time is more important than money to them. Others want to retire with a fat wad of cash, assets and income.

Define wealth and what financial independence looks like for you. Get specific with numbers, lifestyle and income streams as well as what age you want to retire.

8. Happiness: What Makes you Happy and why? What Makes you Feel Fulfilled?

Money on its own won’t make you happy but it sure can help give you a life you love. Ask yourself what makes you happy, what makes you feel fulfilled? What do you want more if in your life?

Time with my family, travel, diving, new experiences and helping others all make me happy and feel fulfilled so I created a business around that.

9. What is Holding you Back?

What are your fears around money? What has stopped you from pursuing your goals or dreams? Often, when we dig a little deeper, we can uncover reasons we haven’t lived up to our full potential or have been scared of making too much, also known as money blocks.

Learning about what has held you back or what you fears are can also help you work out your why. It can also give clarity on what you do and don’t want as you work towards financial freedom.

What is our Why?

Family and freedom. Being able to spend time with them, not having to put our kids into daycare so we could be the ones to raise them, being able to travel. All of these things matter to us.

My mother died at 37 (I was 15), I’ve been paralyzed twice and had other health issues. It took 7.5 years to get full custody of my daughters from my abusive ex and it almost killed me financially, emotionally and physically. As a result of my life experience, I know how important and precious time with my family as well as my health is.

For my partner, he was living and working in one of the least developed countries in the world when we met. He then had to spend some time unemployed as he couldn’t work in Australia. His why stems from being able to provide and have the lifestyle he always dreamed of. We both want lots of time with our kids and freedom to do what we want. Our family is our focus.

What is your why? How did you decide on it?

Each month we will share our net worth. Right now, a few things are hard to check or get valued so while this is the beginning of tracking our net worth, some of the figures could be a little off. Also, with our net worth, not all of it can be sold off easily due to cultural expectations or conditions.

What we Include in our Net Worth

Net worth is simply your assets minus your liabilities. Some people include ALL their belongings such as cars, home items etc. We won’t be. Here is what will be included:

For assets, real estate, retirement funds, business, shares and collections. Liabilities include any debt such as mortgages, loans, credit cards, all of it.

Our goal is financial freedom, not just $1,000,000. The first step is to be worth $1,000,000 each as it is an easy goal to track. Our net worth will not be tracked separately though. Everything is combined below as we are working towards a future together.

Our Assets

We have 3 properties in Vanuatu but these cannot be sold. They must remain in the family and our son will inherit them. One has a rental property and the income from that currently goes to support family in Vanuatu. The other two are being used to farm and support family. Combined, these lands are estimated to be worth about $600,000AUD.

Our businesses need to be valued so I can’t give a rough guide on them as yet. We have had trouble accessing retirement from different countries we lived as well so that will be added once it can be sorted. As for shares, we only have $250 invested right now.

Our Liabilities

Combined, our debt is not great. We have a few separate loans and are focusing on one at a time while maintaining minimum repayments on them all.

Custody debt $9,000
Visa debt $6,000
Personal loan $12,000
Cash debt $600
Cash debt $500
School debt $900

Total: $29,000

Net Worth

Once we remove the liabilities from our assets, our net worth isn’t terrible. We have a positive net worth which is the main thing! Our net worth is roughly $571,000AUD. This will be different once the businesses and retirement are sorted.

Plans For May

All going well, we will sell a few items which will clear some of the debt. Shares will increase as they are set up to be done automatically. Our budget is being revisited tonight to make a proper plan to include what we want in our lifestyle while achieving our goals.

We will also be doing some more research on the best way to set things up regarding tax, incomes, investments etc as Mr Aspiring Millionaire will hopefully have a job soon as the residency visa is being applied for this week.