A road trip to financial freedom
A joyless job. 40 years of being kicked out of bed by an alarm. Living for the weekend, wishing every month, year, your life away... It doesn’t have to be this way.
Go freedom is about the journey to financial independence.
A life you'd never want to fast forward.
If financial freedom is on your mind, you're probably one of two types of people:
It's about the journey:
You're not exactly mad about your work, but racing towards retirement or that place where you never need to work again is not your focus. Instead you want to gradually explore different routes of working and earning a living. You want to keep on learning, changing, and shaping your life until you’re leaping out of bed every morning to get going on that dream project of yours. You understand this might mean studying full-time at some point, starting over at less pay, volunteering, or even having to throw a truckload of capital at your start-up. Claiming your freedom is a journey and the destination keeps on changing. At the same time you know your dreams will require capital, so you're serious about living below your means and saving up for your next goal.
It's about the destination:
You're focused on reaching that place where you no longer need to work. You might be so fed up, burnt out, rusted out by now that your response to a job change is “Same shit, different place.” You want to never, ever work again. And you're willing to save at least 30% of your income every year for as long as it takes to eventually get where you want to be - unencumbered by work.
Without a doubt, the first approach puts less pressure on you. There’s less risk of running out of money, your brain stays active and challenged if you continue to do meaningful work, and you’re more likely to leave a legacy. If you still prefer to go all-out for the destination, not looking left or right, I do have a roadmap to complete financial freedom for you. So you never, ever have to work again.
Racing towards retirement is not your focus. Instead you're exploring different routes of making a living. You want to shape your life until you’re leaping out of bed every morning to work on your dream project. The destination Financial Freedom keeps shifting. You realise your dreams require savings, though.
It's about the destination:
You're focused on reaching that place where you no longer need to work. And you're willing to save at least 30% of your income every year to get where you want to be - unencumbered by work.
Recent blog posts
An update on my journey to freedom
22 November 2019
It’s almost six months since I launched this website and time for an update on my journey to financial freedom. It’s been a mostly smooth drive since June and my overall feeling is one of being hopeful. If this update was a song, it would be Jenn Johnson's 'You're gonna be OK'.
Investment fees: the clear, the hidden, and the plain hairy
31 October 2019
Fees need to be hunted down no matter how deep they’re hiding and cut if they’re for a service that adds no value to your life. So, how do you find out how much you’re really paying? Start by looking out for the three A’s of investment fees - advice, admin and asset management - and pin those hairy figures down.
About me
Hello. I’m Lizelle and I have no intention to retire from a working life. Only from my corporate life. I’ve tried on many skins over the past 25 years: actuarial technician; investment performance analyst; product manager; hedge fund manager; client experience designer; finance forum owner; communication specialist; coffee stall owner; and Nia teacher (much fun). And I've been on a few sabbaticals, being a strong believer in proper breaks. I’ve been a salaried worker and a freelancer, and definitely prefer the latter. So, my next goal is to save up enough to return to the freedom of freelancing – for good. To me, financial freedom is a process; it's not an absolute destination. Do I feel like I've made progress? Absolutely. I am 700% happier with my current job than my first one. My long-term plan is to kickstart learning centres and co-working spaces in rural areas, where people can learn various skills, such as web design, that empower them to work remotely and stay in their communities – if they want to - to stop the devastating impact of urbanisation on the platteland.
Aside from work, I love to travel, dance, yoga and go for long walks. I also write children’s books and the occasional poem. Oh, and I absolutely love picking up new practical skills. This year, with my own website in mind, I signed up for a short course in Web Design through UCT GetSmarter. The result: free2dobedo - a DIY labour of love.
Hello. I’m Lizelle and I have no intention to retire from a working life. Only from my corporate life. Over the past 25 years, I’ve been a salaried employee and a freelancer, and I definitely prefer the latter. So, my next goal is to save up enough to return to that freedom. I’m probably more than halfway to never having to work again (imagine if work was optional), but the future may hold as many detours as the past, and I don’t expect the rest of the road to look like the N1. Free2dobedo is where I share what I’ve discovered so far on my road to financial freedom.