Economic Freedom vs Financial Freedom

Do you have economic freedom? If not, it's time you took control of your financial destiny! What many don't know is that economic liberty is very different than financial independence. Economic freedom is something you can have long before you ever achieve financial freedom. Especially during these current times, if you don't already have it, you need economic freedom! This video explain how to get it and why it's so critical to you achieving financial freedom too.

 

What is economic freedom and how is it different from financial freedom? Well as your freedom mentor, allow me to explain. The phrase economic freedom is typically applied to nations and describes how free citizens control their own labor and property. However, here I'm going to take it down to the personal level and further define economic freedom as your ability to produce economic results regardless of the circumstances. And what better test to signify whether you have economic freedom than right now with the coronavirus, which has brought most economic activity to a grinding halt.

Economic Freedom

Ask yourself this question: Are you being economically productive right now despite all the lockdowns and stay at home orders or are you waiting for that stimulus check, hoping Congress gets out of gridlock so they can fund more small business bail out money?

Some of you are already creative real estate investors and are being very productive right now. However, others are not and the unfortunate thing is you could be if you were in a position of economic freedom.

Economic freedom is twofold. It is the ability to be productive regardless of the circumstances, whether you have good, bad or pandemic market conditions, and the ability to work from basically anywhere at any schedule.

1. Producing Results Regardless of the Circumstances

While most people are at a standstill; my students, myself and my team have been highly productive. As you can imagine, we've had to get a little creative. For example, using Zillow 3D or other virtual tour tools in order to get retail buyers to see our properties if they're not doing actual showings.

Also, recently some of the lenders on the conventional side have been raising their underwriting guidelines, so when previously you needed a 650-credit score, you may now need a 680-credit score. Suddenly, the buyer can’t get a loan in certain deals that were in process.

We have solved this problem with creative financing:

• We've moved to a short-term lease option where the down payment becomes a non-refundable option payment
• They're paying as rent so we're getting a little bit of cashflow
• At the same time, we put in through credit repair to boost up their credit score for when those underwriting guidelines drop back down

So, whatever gets thrown at us, we're going to adjust. This is what is so beautiful about being a creative real estate investor. Whether no matter the market, we're still able to be productive.

Real Estate an Essential Service

Real estate is considered an essential service by Homeland Security and it is just common sense that it is a basic human need. Everyone needs food, water, and shelter. In our organization I've always taught to focus on affordable price range single family homes for several reasons:

• They are in the highest demand
• There is a lack of inventory of affordable housing
• You have the least amount of competition from new homes being built in that price range
• It has the most loan programs available

Even during the depths of this lockdown, we are still producing multiple offer situations when we put properties on the MLS.

2. Work from Anywhere at Anytime

Another aspect of economic freedom involves where you work and when you work, being as productive as possible. Most creative real estate investors work from home. I've been doing it for 20 years. If you have been working from home these past few weeks, you're realizing that working from home can be highly productive because you're able to control your schedule a little bit more. You don't have to drive to an office and waste all that time in a car, giving you more economic freedom.

When considering real estate, some people are concerned thinking they must drive around looking at houses all day. However, it’s just not true. Ninety-five percent of a creative real estate investors schedule is in front of a laptop or on a cell phone. Yes, we go look at properties, but usually only for strategic purposes.

Scheduling Time

It turns out that creative real estate investing works incredibly well on a part-time basis for beginners. In fact, I have a video that details why that is. Most of the people that join my program start off part-time. However, those that are full-time at home right now can be a full-time investor and be just as productive in that capacity as well.

Financial Freedom

Now that I have explained economic freedom you may be wondering how it relates to financial freedom and why it’s so important to be economically free. Financial freedom is the concept that your asset income cashflow from businesses and investments exceed your personal expenses. In theory, you could go on a three-month vacation, come back and it would have no impact because you have more money coming in from your passive income than your actual monthly expenses.

Financial freedom is a wonderful goal and some you have already reached this goal. Most of you are not there yet, however I'm confident that you all can achieve this goal given enough time and consistency focused on this goal.

Reaching Financial Freedom

Since financial freedom is a long-term goal, the question remains, "What happens between now and reaching the goal of financial freedom?” The answer is that life happens. You've heard the old phrase, life's what happens while you're busy making other plans. Things like your kids are growing up, time with family, time with hobbies. The concern I have for a lot of people is the focus on the long-term goal to the point where they work very long hours and end up sacrificing all of life to get there.

So, if we don't want to sacrifice the life that we have, how do we get there? Economic freedom is the answer. Economic freedom allows you to enjoy life while you're busy on the road to financial freedom and it turns out with economic freedom you reach your goal faster because you can be productive regardless of market conditions and time and scheduling conflicts. The role of economic freedom is your ability to be economically productive regardless of market conditions and the ability to work from basically anywhere at any schedule. Financial freedom is the end goal, and you get there by staying economically free all along the way.

Mentoring You to Financial Freedom 

At Freedom Mentor we've mastered the art of distance learning, not only mentoring but also real estate investing. When governments and corporations are trying to adjust to the new normal, we've been doing this for almost fifteen years. We have it dialed in on a whole different level. If you want to be a part of the greatest real estate investing mentoring service, even if it's not in your own backyard, that's what we do. We take people and we show them how to be first class investors.