Is There A Fast Lane To Financial Freedom? (Most Won't Tell You The Truth)

In this article, you’re going to be given the truth about financial freedom.

Not as I have read it in a textbook, but as I have lived it, seen it and achieved it from working with hundreds of UAE expats.

There IS a fast lane to freedom… But nobody wants to take the risk, responsibility, and handle the backlash after showing it to you.

And I’m going to be the one to show you.

You won’t have heard this before because this isn’t ChatGPT content like the rest of your feed on LinkedIn.

You’ve already heard everyone say…

“Buy stocks, bonds and global ETFs, hold them forever” - IBKR gurus?

“S&P500 outperforms everything, put $10,000 there and leave it for 50 years”. - Finance Gurus

“If you hold any property long enough, it WILL appreciate” - Your realtor/rental income advisor

I will not bore you to death with this line of thinking. Everybody already knows these things.

You can go on chatGPT and ask it for financial advice if these are the only strategies you are willing to learn/explore/try.

If knowledge = results, every person who knows about fitness would have a six pack. And every person who starts an IBKR/Sarwa/eToro account will be financially free.

But this is simply not reality. Our human journey is irrational, unpredictable and far more frustrating that rational frameworks imply…

Especially if you care about living a life that feels good.

• You value the business class flight and vacation to Italy (“irrational”)… as much as your bank balance/net worth (“rational”)
• You value your wife having the option not to work (“irrational”)… even if it would financially be more practical to have her work and split expenses (“rational”)
• You value being able to eat nachos on a Saturday (“irrational”) as much as you value your long-term health and longevity (“rational”)

So if you strictly follow these rational frameworks, you’re going to quickly discover you won’t get very far without ruining your quality life OR slowing yourself way down.?

“Buy stocks, bonds and global ETFs, hold them forever” - Wonderful, until you lose your job, want to start a business, or have a baby. All of a sudden you don’t have the “forever” that theoretically exists.?

“S&P500 outperforms everything, put $10,000 there and leave it for 50 years”. - Except 3 years in you might want to switch careers, get married, buy an engagement ring, pay for kids’ college counseling or tuitions, or have a medical bill come up.

“If you hold any property long enough, it WILL appreciate” - Your realtor wants you to believe this so you rush into buying a house, but after all of the fees and commissions, one job switch away, you’re left with almost no disposable income and resenting the purchase, just living in the guilt of buying it

If you follow very strictly rational frameworks.

“Play the long game”

“Think big picture”

“Keep it simple”

You will not get very far.

You will not go fast.

You will get somewhere, stressfully and slowly, especially if you're planning to do it without the right team.

You will get to financial freedom... but it'll take you 15-30 years.

Because the fast lane to freedom?

There is ONE.

There is ONE CLEAR fast lane to freedom.

And that path is SHORT-TERM CASH FLOW.

And myself and every client who has achieved financial freedom are on it…

Those who are on career breaks, go on sabbaticals, learn new skills receiving AED 50k/month for doing whatever they want at 37.

These are real stories of extraordinary, ordinary people who are also my clients.

But I’ll tell you first who won’t get there.

IF YOU DON'T VALUE...

• SHORT TERM THINKING. You are using long-term thinking as an excuse for your life to be exactly the same it was 5 years ago financially. You may have the feeling of a cushion but in the case of a career change, you are aware that your situation is fragile, highly dependent on your salary, and you do nothing about it.
• SMALL GOALS. This is notoriously common amongst high earners. Some people want to skip to the part where they have AED 80k/month in passive income but they don’t want to sit there and plan knocking out their AED 500 DEWA bill. If you can’t celebrate small wins, financial freedom will take you 20+ years.
• SPEED. If you speak to me and tell me you’re ok with a 10 year time horizon to financial freedom, that tells me you don’t value your own time, your own security and your own life. You’re afraid that if you achieve financial freedom faster you’ll miss out on buying a property, starting a business, or investing long term. Which is not true.

Plain and simple, if you want it to be done fast, you'll find a way to do it fast.

If you're OK with being in the slow motion lane, that's where you will be.

This is a choice. Two people can have totally the same knowledge at 30…

One person is financially free at 35. The other person has 5 different portfolios, 3 properties and still has to exchange time for money.

The one person used “long term thinking”, "keep it simple" and “instant gratification” as an excuse to create a life of financial stress, dependence on a salary, and collected lots of shiny objects and distractions along the way.

The other was humble enough to think short term, deciding “let me generate something small in the next 30/60/90 days" with whatever I have right now and commit to the process.

Then, they actually got STARTED.