Fill Up Your Cup With Financial Freedom

March 16, 2023

As we celebrate the women who are moving the needle for the collective, it’s important for every woman leader to remember: fill up your cup. No one can pour from an empty cup – not even the most resilient woman. On this International Women’s Day, nourish yourself with a cup of financial freedom.

In this blog, you’ll dive into:

The meaning of financial freedom
How financial freedom boosts your wellbeing
The 3 essential ingredients of financial freedom

What is financial freedom?

Financial freedom is the state of feeling at peace with your finances. When you tap into financial freedom, money becomes a tool that you control, rather than a tool that controls you.

What financial freedom looks like:

Feeling in control of your finances
Using money to help meet your life goals
Recognizing your power to make financial decisions
Adapting to significant life changes
Accepting support when you need it

While it’s important to have enough money to meet your essential needs, material comfort is only one piece of financial freedom. When we have a healthy and honest relationship with our money, we can find mental and emotional comfort in our finances too.

How financial freedom boosts your wellbeing

When women achieve economic independence, they access greater agency over their life paths.

By taking deliberate steps towards financial freedom, we can reduce the chance of feeling trapped by our finances. Here’s what we avoid when we find financial freedom:

Feeling highly stressed about financial decisions
Rarely checking in on your investment portfolio
Obsessively checking in on your investment portfolio
Selecting a financial plan that is misaligned with your values and goals

So what’s the special sauce? What’s the recipe for financial freedom?

The 3 essential ingredients of financial freedom

Everyone’s financial freedom has a unique flavor, but every plan requires the same essential seasoning. Here are the 3 essential ingredients of financial freedom:

1. Vision

Our vision is the “why” behind our finances. Whether you’re planning next month’s getaway or a long-term plan like retirement, you have vision. Vision is what connects us to our purpose and fuels our financial decisions.

What’s your vision? To get the ball rolling, ask yourself these questions:

What brings me joy?
How do I want to spend my time?
How do I want to relate to my family?
How do I want to relate to my friends and community?
What do I want my quality of life to look like now?
How do I want my quality of life to look like later in my life?
How is my life currently aligned with these goals?
How is my life currently misaligned with these goals?
In what ways does my financial plan serve these goals?
In what ways does my financial plan not serve these goals?

Remember, your vision can shift. Checking in on your financial plan offers you an opportunity to reassess your goals and how to achieve them.

2. Clarity

Before jumping to action, it’s important to find clarity around your finances. Achieving clarity is about surveying the financial landscape to find what is most relevant to your current vision.

Consider a woman at the height of her professional career. She wouldn’t want the same investment strategy as a woman on the edge of retirement, right?

Here are some areas we can evaluate to achieve financial clarity:

Personal behavior – including your personal relationship to money, your approach to money, and your current financial plan
Financial education –including how to spend, save, and invest according to your goals
Financial tools – including budgets, investment platforms, and financial apps that will keep you on track
Financial support – including wealth advisors, accountants, and lawyers who can provide tailored advice

Reaching clarity is a process. As life ebbs and flows, it’s helpful to remember that you can always begin again. You can reassess, learn more, access new tools, and find support when you need it.

3. Action

As we sharpen our vision and reach financial clarity, we can spring into action.

Take someone who is saddled with student loans.

Acknowledged the burden of debt? Check.

Created a debt management plan? Check.

All that’s left is execution.

Sure, execution can feel like the hardest part. But the great thing is this: now you have vision to help you drive the ship. As you begin to drift from your plan, can always refer back to your vision to access your inner motivation. If necessary, you can also reassess your plan to reach newfound clarity.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Is financial freedom in your future?

We say yes. Leave behind financial distress and embrace financial freedom. When you’re ready for us, we’re ready for you.