What would it mean to you if you never had to “work” for money? Let’s say you have enough money coming in from investments to cover your living expenses. Not just the basic household expenses but everything including dining out, vacations, auto expenses and all that you need to maintain your lifestyle and prosper. It would mean financial freedom independence. How do you get there? Determing your level of wealth and spending habits are the first steps.

Ask yourself, how would you survive without “working”? The most common answer would be the all important savings account. So move to the next step. After the savings account, after the severance pay, after the support from friends and loved ones, how do you survive financially? So they key to knowing your wealth becomes figuring out how many days could you survive without working. Adding up your monthly living expenses, calculate the amount plus ten percent. That is the number you need to “survive” every month. Remember, you have no salary, no business income and this is based on your current standard of living. Let’s say your monthly living expenses were calculated at $3000 and you have $7500 in available cash. Your wealth would be 2.5 months. You could survive for 2.5 months without working. Knowing your level of wealth is good news. It is the first step in toward financial independence because your total monthly number now becomes your financial freedom number. Being financial free is not about becoming a millionaire and knowing this lessens the pressure and increases your chance of success. Being financially free, knowing your financial freedom number is about the amount of passive income you’ll need to get there. It is the system of paying yourself first, tracking your expenses and understanding money and behavior.

Paying yourself is an often used and overused cliché. We all know it, so now it is time to expand the concept. Make yourself uncomfortable. Yes, in this case discomfort is good so whatever percentage you are saving, triple number. Now, how do you feel? You save 10% and now you moved to 30%. This is stretching your financial outlook. Knowing we can do more creates an atmosphere for us to do more. Remember, being wealthy starts off with a mindset.

We all have money habits, good, bad, and indifferent. After all, finances involve powerful emotions. Think back to when you had a job that never paid you on time or when you lost a large sum of money. Emotional responses to spending drive us to clearer explanations and expectations. Our foundational exposure to money starts in childhood. Theses transgenerational behavior patterns toward money will interpret how you spend and why. Keep in mind that every day we make decisions about money. Not just planning for the “big purchases” but our daily transactions. Did you stop at a newsstand to buy a newspaper? How about that bag of pretzels and gum you quickly grabbed for the corner store? These are one of the many financial transactions we make on a daily basis. Now stop and ask yourself, are those transactions determining your wealth? It’s always better to know than not know.

The numbers don’t add up. There seems to be a hole in your budget. You know your monthly expenses, have a balanced check book and you examine your bank statements with a magnifying glass. What else can you do? What would happen if you carried around a small notebook and wrote down every amount you spent? These means magazines you bought checks you wrote or the 50 cents you gave to the kid down the block. Do this for 30 days and if you miss a day, start all over. Your money consciousness would become extremely detailed very quickly. This is exactly what you want. You are building a habit of action, discipline and thought. You have now planted the seed of financial freedom and the space to let it grow. Remember, fortune favors the bold.