How I’m Reaching For Financial Independence Through Self-Development

Money is so much more than just numbers on the screen. It is so woven into our emotions and self worth that managing it requires more than just a calculator. Here’s how I’m reaching for financial independence through self-development.

*Disclaimer: This post will include an affiliate link. If you choose to click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission, at a no cost to you! If you’d like to support my blog by using the link, thank you!

What exactly does financial independence mean

Financial independence, financial freedom, FIRE, etc. Maybe you have heard someone say these, or maybe you’ve read it on a news headline.

But what do they actually mean?

Financial independence and financial freedom can pretty much be used interchangeably. Both mean that you no longer need to work to be able to live your life.

FIRE then is short for Financial Independence Retire Early, so the same thing, the big emphasis is on the retiring early part which is the driver behind wanting to become financial independent.

Personally FIRE doesn’t appeal to me as I’m very ambitious and driven by the thought of status and prestige, so I’m not aiming to not work.

Financial independence on the other hand is something I’m definitely interested in achieving.

The point is to create passive income streams, so that you can make money and live on it, without having to do traditional work.

Passive means that once set up, you don’t have to do anything further to keep making money.

Although this definition is a bit stretched sometimes, considering that receiving rent income as a landlord is often listed as a passive income stream, even though it can require a lot of work, especially if you don’t hire a property manager.

While I personally don’t want to retire, I’d like the freedom that financial independence can bring.

To be free to work and when and where I want. Not being tied to a place or a situation.

Passive income streams could are for example dividends shares, interest received from savings accounts and bonds, rent from property, affiliate links, etc.

For you to know how to reach financial independence you need to know how much money you need each year to support your lifestyle. Then you can plan how to get that money through passive income streams.

What does self-development have to do with anything

Reaching financial independence doesn’t happen overnight, and most of us weren’t raised with the required financial knowledge anyway.

Therefore, to be able to reach financial independence, you need to learn how to do it first.

Self-development is really just a fancy way of saying that you are teaching yourself some new things.

This could be new skills, new perspectives of the world, or understanding your own behaviour better.

The following are a few ways I’m working on myself and learning new skills to reach financial independence, and the tools I’m suing to get there.

Working on myself

Your mindset when it comes to money is very important to your overall success.

Often you hear about abundance versus scarcity mindset, which affects whether you think of money in a positive or negative manner, and also how you might feel about those who seem to have more than you.

For example Happy Money by Ken Honda was a great eye opened for me for when it came to understanding money mindset and how to work on it.

I haven’t written a review of it yet, as it has been a few years since I last read it, but I do recommend it! You can get a copy of it *here if you are in New Zealand or *here if you are almost anywhere else (or if you prefer the Kindle version).

Another important thing to understand when it comes to yourself and money, is your money personality.

Now depending on where you look up information there is wide variety of how many different personalities there are.

The basics are simply the saver or the spender, but us humans are quite nuanced and the drivers behind our behaviour are varying, so the saver and spender can be split into further different money personalities.

For example Sorted.co.nz has a money personality quiz you can take, and it has 16 different money personality options.

I have done the quiz and my result (Practical Homebuilder) was nearly spot on so I do recommend the quiz. It is only 25 questions with two options to choose from so a very quick quiz to do!

Understanding your money personality can help you then understand your own behaviour when it comes to money and how to counter behaviours that might make it harder to get to your financial goals, like financial independence for example.

For me, working on getting from scarcity mindset to that of abundance when it comes to money has been a game changer, and with my money personality, while I’m better aware of my own behaviour when it comes to money, I’m still working on my impulses when it comes to spending. And I’ll keep working on them by reading, spending diaries and reflecting.

New perspectives

There is a lot be said about social media, but one thing is absolutely brilliant about it.

You get to access so many different points of views, different experiences of the world and be inspired easier by others’ journeys.

I follow a lot of personal finance accounts on social media, especially on Instagram, and mainly people who are already where I want to be.

The experiences they share, and the insights to their journey are inspiring and encouraging. Because if they could do it, why wouldn’t I be able to?

Do I sometimes feel jealous of those who are further in their financial journey? Yes. But less and less these days.

This is where my practice of changing my mindset from scarcity to abundance has been life changing. I no longer feel jealous but inspired by others’ journeys and encouraged to keep going on mine.

Like I already said, financial independence doesn’t happen overnight. It is a marathon and you need motivation, and to be able to put things in to perspective.

Having access to other people outside your immediate circle can be very helpful with that.

New skills

When I was younger I thought the only way to learn new things was going to school.

It is definitely not true. The internet is full of learning opportunities, and so is the library to be fair.

I have learned a lot about money and investing from books (here’s my Reading List, although it is hardly complete).

I have also bought courses and eBooks from those on the internet that I have perceived as reliable sources on a few different topics. (Although I am very careful on who I give my money to on the internet, and you should be too!)

But one of my favourite platforms to learn new skills from is Skillshare.

Skillshare is a platform where people with any skills, be it drawing, writing, computers, etc. can teach classes and share their knowledge.

You can learn marketable new skills there, or new skills to set up side hustles and passive income streams.

Personally I have been learning SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), blog set up, Pinterest strategies, how to best use Canva, how to design planners using Adobe inDesign and so on.

You get your first month for free if you sign up using my link above. I will receive 1 month free in return if you do decide to pay for the subscription after the free month.

I paid $19.99 per month when I signed up (I paid one year’s worth straight away), but they reserve the right to change the prices, so it might be different now.

It has been well worth the $240 I paid, and I will continue to pay that considering there are so many classes that I want to listen to and so many new things I want to learn.

I would highly recommend giving Skillshare a go to increase your earning potential, start a side hustle or just to learn something new and fun.

I have used Skillshare to learn skills to up my passive income game, like blogging, writing eBooks that I can self-publish and creating other downloadable e-products as well for example.

Financial independence through self-development

Financial independence looks different for everyone, there is no cookie cutter solution that suits everyone.

That’s why you should start your journey towards financial independence through self-development.

There are a lot of tools available online, including this blog, my Instagram (@love.of.finance) and my Facebook page (Love of Finance) that can help you learn what you need to know.

I keep going on my journey, sharing it along the way so you might be inspired to start your own journey!

What do you think of financial independence? Is it something you are aiming for? Let me know in the comments!