3 Steps to a Life of Financial Independence
When you were young there was lots of time for playing and getting together with friends. And in college, there’s even more time for fun and adventure since your classes only take up about 15 hours a week. Life looks pretty good when you have that much time to enjoy things. Then suddenly you are an adult and one day you wake up and realize that the life that has been set up for you is one where you work tirelessly for the next forty plus years. You are expected to show up at a job, work 40 to 50 hours per week and, most of the time, you’ll make just enough money to get by. At some time you start to wonder if there’s a way to escape the hamster-wheel grind and create a life where financial independence and freedom is the name of the game. If that sounds all too familiar, the following are some great ways to begin that journey.
Refinance Your Student Loans
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If you’d truly like to enjoy financial independence, one of the best ways you can do that is to pay off all your debts quickly. Recent college graduates often emerge from their educational experience with extensive student loan debt at interest rates that leave them strapped for cash. By refinancing or consolidating your student loans, you can move your existing high rate loan to lenders who offer much more attractive rates. Once you refinance, your monthly payment will drop dramatically and you will be able to pay off your debt much sooner and pay far less interest over time.
Live in a Tiny House
You will understand the plan for your life when you buy a regular house and take out a high payment mortgage for thirty years. When you strap on this sort of mortgage obligation you are pretty much setting up a life where you will always have to seek that high paying, long hour job. There is another way. Interest in tiny homes has been trending over recent years. You can purchase a tiny house for under $60,000 and begin your new way of life. If you finance this purchase you could pay it off in four years and still be paying less than the typical mortgage payment during that time. Then you’d have no payments for the next 26 years.
Go Off the Grid
Once you have settled into your tiny house and refinanced your student loans, you can take the next step to assure even more freedom and independence. A typical homeowner pays a substantial part of their monthly income on utilities. By going off the grid, you can substantially reduce your utility costs and live a more sustainable and eco-friendlier lifestyle. With a tiny house, it’s easy to set up a small-scale home solar system to take care of all your electrical needs. Small stand-alone propane heaters such as those used on marine crafts can take care of your heating. If you add a composting toilet you will really lower your water usage and you can supplement your water supply with a rain barrel water collection system. All of these will save you a lot of money each month when compared to what you’d spend for connected utilities in a neighborhood.
If you’d truly like to enjoy financial independence, one of the best ways you can do that is to pay off all your debts (such as student loans) quickly. Recent college graduates often emerge from their educational experience with extensive student loan debt at interest rates that leave them strapped for cash. By refinancing your student loans, you can move your existing high rate loan to lenders who offer much more attractive rates. Once you refinance, your monthly payment will drop dramatically and you will be able to pay off your debt much sooner and pay far less interest over time.
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