Science Fiction and Financial Freedom

I love to read science fiction and recently finished reading "House Corrino" (written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson) being one of the three prequels to the Dune series of novels. Dune was written by the Hugo and Nebula award winning author Frank Herbert. The prequels were written by his son and other well-known science-fiction authors.

To read science fiction is to dream of the future
One of the things I love about science fiction is how it fires up our powers of imagination. Science fiction (sci-fi) authors dream of worlds, technologies and a future that not many of us can conceptualise and envisage. They bring us out of the realms of possibility into the realms of impossibility. They free our minds to dream of a future bigger than any of us could imagine.

Some of you must be wondering how reading science fiction helps one to become financially free? I'd like to share that in order for us to achieve financial freedom, we must be able to dream about it. To first conceive of the possibility of having enough passive income that supports our lifestyle and then being able to live our dreams without worrying about our rice bowls.

Those of you who are into self-help literature covering positive thinking, daily affirmations, programming our mind or self-hypnosis know that our minds are our greatest assets. Fans of Napolean Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" acknowledge the power of our mind to imagine and to visualise outcomes of being financially free.

To achieve financial freedom in our lives, we must achieve it in our minds!
The power to achieve financial freedom, i.e. the point where our passive income derived from portfolio investments, businesses, royalties, patents, copyrights etc. flows in such abundance that it pays for our living expenses and continues to allow us to grow our investments in a virtuous cycle of wealth and prosperity.

We can achieve this only if we first achieve it in our minds. I.e. visualise our goals clearly in financial freedom. Establish it vividly as a SMART objective, where S=specific, M=measurable, A=achievable, R=realistic, T=(specified) timeframe.

Now visualising it once or twice before we go and punt on 4D, TOTO or Big Sweep (or even the stock market!) is not going to cut it. It has to be a consistent, disciplined effort to consider our goals and let our actions then flow from bringing us closer or further away from our goals.

For instance, let's say you just want to build up your investment kitty by $5,000 this year or grow it by 5%. That's a clear and specific objective. During the year, before you spend money on upgrading your handphone or buying that new accessory for your car. Consider how your earning, spending and saving decisions move you closer or further away from your objective. What are you going to do when your bonus comes in? Blow it all on a holiday for the family? Blow half of it and save the rest? Or save up everything?

What you decide is based on how you have set your objectives
There is NO RIGHT ANSWER. It all depends on what you have set as your objective. In order for us to stay on course towards financial freedom however we have defined it, we need to be crystal clear about it because it is that clinical clarity that strengthens our resolve to save and invest. You will do it only if you find the reason compelling enough. If your reason for saving and investing is not compelling enough, chances are, your mind will tell you the thousand and one other reasons WHY you should just enjoy yourself, spend your entire bonus because LIFE IS SHORT... WHY DEPRIVE YOURSELF, LIFE WON'T BE WORTH LIVING and so on and so forth.

Life is INDEED SHORT, in that all of us have the same 24 hours to do as we choose. To live to the heights of hedonistic pleasures or to suffer by denying ourselves all that makes it worthwhile to live. We have to choose either way. By being OPEN to the possibilities of FINANCIAL FREEDOM and re-examining WHAT TRULY IS IMPORTANT TO YOU can you establish what, how and why you want to achieve financial freedom through this regime of prudence, savings, wise investments and some degree of risk taking.

Dune
In the novel Dune, the desert Fremen of the planet Arrakis (also known as Dune) desire one thing above all. To terraform the climate of Dune from the blistering desert to a verdant oasis. Would they be able to achieve this despite the imperial intrigue, politics and warfare that threatens the very imperium? Read Frank Herbert's novels and find out. But one thing is for sure, the Fremen BELIEVED IN THEIR VISION for Dune.

Do you have the same fervour for your own VISION OF YOUR FINANCIAL FREEDOM?

Be well and prosper.