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Shortcuts to Financial Freedom

There is no doubt that our push towards Financial freedom has been a loooong and sloooow churn.  It is funny how our debt can seem to accumulate so quickly when our broken appliances needed to be replaced, medical expenses needed to be paid, and our income level was dramatically reduced.  Comparatively, the climb out of debt has been downright methodical, and even as we are making progress, it still feels like we are running in place.

Month after month, we scramble to make some  side income, look for new ways to save on expenses, and continue to chop away at our debt mountain.  Our goal of Financial Freedom in March 2013 still seems so far away,  even though it is getting ever-closer.  If only there was a way to obtain a boat-load of money in an instant, so that we could put this “buckle down and pay off debt” phase behind us.  But just as this thought pops into my head, I know that this sort of thinking is what got us in trouble in the first place.  The ONLY way to fix this situation is with persistence and patience.

As a society, we have become far too reliant on the get-rich-quickly scheme.  More people than ever are playing the Lottery (sadly),  in spite of ridiculously bad odds.  You are 28 more times more likely to die from a bee sting (1 in 6 million) than you are to win the lottery (1 in 171 million), but that doesn’t stop the average American family from spending $525 yearly on lottery tickets and scratch offs.  Most of these folks know that they aren’t going to win the lottery, but that doesn’t stop them from throwing their money away and praying in front of their computer every Wednesday night, hoping that their numbers will deliver a sweet shortcut to a better financial future.

The lottery isn’t the only way people are hoping to get plucked from obscurity.  When reality shows are casting for the next season, offering fame and fortune to the winner, they can fill a country full of  football stadiums with contestants who truly believe that they have a good chance to win.  Also, many parents push their kids hard into athletics, thinking that their children will beat the impossible odds and become professional athletes.  Legions of twenty-somethings continue to migrate to Los Angeles, hoping that they will get noticed by the talent scouts and become the next movie star or supermodel.  Even bloggers can be guilty of this type of thinking, telling themselves that their blog is on the verge of becoming the next “Get Rich Slowly” (ironic, I know), without recognizing the hard work, dedication, and talent to inspire that J.D. Roth had to possess to turn that site into what it is today.  The reality is that all of these paths to wealth are long-shots, and attaching your ticket to those trains, will almost assuredly lead to disappointment and failure.

Those that purchase lottery tickets are just imaging a better life, and those that strive to be the next superstars are just dreaming big, and there is nothing inherently wrong with either, as long as your honest about your chances for success.  Much more troubling are those who attempt to “work the system” for financial gain, and take advantage of others with Ponzi Schemes or frivolous lawsuits.  From the folks that sued McDonald’s for their coffee being too hot, to the woman that sued a local weather station because they got the forecast wrong, the stories of people suing companies for ridiculous reasons are constant and widespread.  The threat of lawsuits forces doctors into purchasing expensive malpractice insurance, and forces businesses to purchase professional indemnity insurance, to protect their assets.   People need to wake up and realize that sometimes bad things “just happen”, and planning to sue your way into wealth, is immoral and a detriment to society as a whole.

There are no shortcuts to a better financial life,  it takes patience and it takes hard work.  Even if you are following traditional wealth building techniques like investing in the stock market, you need to understand that the market has ups and downs, and to make any money, you need to wait it out and let the market do its thing.  As much as I don’t like to admit it, I know that our only option is to keep with the plan, and keep fighting day by day and month by month.



This post first appeared on See Debt Run | Sprinting To Financial Freedom, please read the originial post: here

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