To be financially independent is to be free: free from debt, free to move around, free to leave an unloved job, free to fulfill your kid's dreams and freedom from the stress of living paycheck to paycheck under the scrutiny of bill collectors. Does that sound appealing? It's a wonder that more people don't want to invest the little bit of time and money needed to learn how to achieve it. When you're ready, this is what you'll learn to do:

1. Pick some realistic Goals: most people don't need a billion dollars to be happy. Typically you want to live in a nice place in a safe and comfortable neighborhood that's close to work, and good schools for the kids. Throw in a nice vacation once or twice a year and you're good to go. Those goals are achievable to virtually anyone willing to do a little work and make a few changes to their spending habits. But, if you don't know where you're trying to go, you'll never get there. 

2. Monitor your Money: If you ask most people how they spent their money in the past 2 weeks you'll be greeted with a blank stare. We're usually pretty good at spending money but less so when it comes to determining whether what we bought was something we wanted or something we needed. Once you've picked your goals it will be a lot easier to say 'no' to that extra Latte or bag of chips and put that money into savings for the future instead.  

3. Eliminate Your Debts: Once you start to save some money by cutting back on unnecessary expenses, put all of it into paying down your high-interest debts like credit cards. Mortgages are not the problem; we'll deal with them later. It's the credit card debts and payday loan balances that keep us locked in a kind of debtor's prison. Pay them all off as quickly as possible. We can show you how.

4. Start a Savings Plan: Once you're out of debt, celebrate your victory - frugally, of course - with a nice dinner or bottle of wine with friends, then put all of those extra dollars you've learned to save into a savings/investment plan. As we say, most people work for their money but the smart ones let their money work for them. Be one of the smart ones.

5. Be a Life-Long Learner: The four steps above weren't very difficult to accomplish, and once you do, you will have literally changed your life for the better. So, why stop there? Why not increase your knowledge about financial literacy? Maybe you want to accelerate your earnings by upgrading your skills and getting a better job, or learning how to start a small business from your kitchen. It's all possible with just a little investment of your time. Want to get started?