Financial Freedom is a myth. At least in our current paradigm of life. We all know that ‘life takes money’ but the majority of the world’s populations don’t necessarily understand the money game very well. In our current financial ‘situation’, it is sometimes difficult to step out of the picture to see it through a new paradigm. Let me help.

Let’s first look at what we ‘think’ happened that has led us to this place of panic, which is truly what it is, but doesn’t need to be.

1) The stock market took a dive in the early 2000s with the correction that happened as a result of overvalued tech stocks.

2) This stock market correction happened because of the advent of the internet and the general public’s ability to play ‘stock trader’  without the requisite education to do so.

3) This stock market boom which was led by the introduction of so many internet companies happened because human beings have a ‘herd mentality’ and we have a tendency toward being greedy but it is somewhat hard wired in that we are all looking for ways to survive. Though many of us want to try and make life mean more than it is, we’re still an animal that is born, makes babies and dies. All the purpose in the world and all the justification for our existence, religious or non, won’t change that simple fact.

4) Moving forward from the stock market correction, the money had to go somewhere. So, into real estate it went with leaps and bounds and the thrill of the hunt ensued (for the perfect investment house that is). Oh, wow, now that American dream so illusive to so many seemed easier to attain and a great way to make a bundle of money (remember the old agage…if it’s sounds too good to be true?).

5) All these people gambling their money on real estate now needed mortgages. In comes the mortgage companies. I didn’t look to see how many mortgage companies popped into being during this sub-prime time but you can bet it was more than any other time in our history! Opportunity definitely knocked and people answered.
[ad#ad-1]

6) These mortgage companies somehow got the idea, and were allowed by laws put into place somewhere, to offer mortgages to people who wouldn’t normally qualify for those loans. And to offer types of loans that they knew would eventually cause a huge problem for the soon to be homeowner. Oh, the poor home owner! How could you blame him/her for being lured into the false security that home ownership is supposed to provide. Right! Remember the next adage, buyer beware?

7) Said poor put upon home buyer is now in an ‘affordable’ mortgage that will soon turn around and bite them in the butt! Enter whining homeowners, stage right.

8) All of the above go screaming to Daddy to fix it. Only problem is that the only thing Daddy has at his disposal is band-aids and ice cream cones to sooth the pain. Only problem with that is that the band-aids will eventually fall off and the ice cream is a figment of Daddy’s (and our) imaginations.

9) Now, everyone who has bought into the ‘other’ presupposition that we’re supposed to work for 50 years and ‘accumulate’ money in our sweet little 401ks, our 403bs, our IRAs, and the rest of our stock portfolios and has money in anything related to the financial industry (did you know it was an industry?) sees that some of those financial companies made poor business decisions and are going out of business. People, this is what’s SUPPOSED to happen in a capitalist society!!! Can we feel sorry for them? Yes, but you know…they are the ones who made the poor business decisions.

NOTE: ask yourself what would happen if our government (and it is OURS) started rescuing all businesses that made poor business decisions and failed. What kind of government is that? A communerepublimat!

10) Since the financial decisions of many (government, mortgage lenders, real estate purchasers, stock brokers, financial planners, and on and on) are insidious over a long period of time, and us humans are just looking for ways to keep ourselves financially secure, this was bound to happen. And it has happened before and it will more than likely happen again.

So, the MYTH part? Oh, I almost forgot. We’ve been conditioned to think, from our earliest days from watching our parents and other adults, that we had to grow up, get good grades (as if good grades lead to happy adults), go to high school, go to college, get a good ‘secure’ job (worst assumption maybe of them all), save money for 50 years by investing in all those fancy sounding accounts, find all the tax advantages (instead of jointly questioning why we have to pay them in the first place!), and then, viola`, we get to do that magically thing called ‘retire’ and live out the rest of our lives and pay for it with all those savings that hopefully have grown over time.

THIS is where the problem is. The other events? Painful but fixable if left to their own organic solutions: the strong and wise survive and the week and ignorant (I refrained from saying stupid) die (so to speak).

We have to stop thinking we can save our way to freedom. We can only BE free by creating streams of passive income NOW. And we do that by using our God-given talents and individual creative nature to be productive members of society, creating businesses that offer products and services that other individuals need and want.
[ad#ad-1]

I’m not going to delve into the philosophical battle of whether it’s right or wrong to create businesses of a destructive, resource-wasting nature because that’s all subjective but suffice it to say, businesses that are sustainable in nature will have an advantage going forward and they do fulfill that human condition called ‘finding purpose in life.’

What’s the point? Stop whining. Stop thinking you have to work at something you don’t want to do for 50 years while you’re healthy and strong so you can then do what you want to do for 10-40 years while you’re older and more than likely, sicker and weaker.

Look around you. Put on a new pair of dimes, I mean paradigm, of how you see life and your role in the whole picture. Create something others need and want. Be of service. Be of purpose. And if you make a mistake, stop blaming others for your situation. Gut it up. Own up to it and fix it. Oh, and it’s OK to ask for help but don’t assume it’s your right to be bailed out. Often times there is greater learning from the pain of finding ways that don’t work than from getting it right the first time.

And finally, let’s stop raising employees and soldiers in our schools. Let’s make it so ALL kids get to express themselves, find their genius, be of service and purpose from the get go. Let’s turn our schools into creativity laboratories, not employee farms.

OK, now go find your calling…