Peace of Mind Earned

Introduction

• Often feel anxious?
• Feel stuck in your career?
• Worried about losing your job?
• Having a hard time focusing?
• Your boss does not think you are great?
• Is a salary from employment your only source of income?

If you answered yes to more than two questions, please also answer the next one:

Do you have liquid funds worth your annual net salary?

If yes, good for you. You have one less excuse for not leaving your job when it no longer serves you.

Control

The feeling of being in control of the direction in life is fundamental for mental well-being. Being in control of those things in life that can be controlled leads to much better headspace than not being in control.

So why do most of us voluntarily give almost all the control away? Do we realize that is actually happening, or are we living in an illusion of being at the helm while we actually never really made an effort to even grab it?

The value of options

There cannot be control if there are no real options. Having options is the beginning of being in control.

You have real options when you can ditch your job the very moment you conclude it isn’t serving you anymore. Your boss should know that the reason you are still here is that you want to, not because you have to.

Options don’t just happen. They need to be created. And many times it boils down to personal finances.

What does that mean for a salaried employee? In essence, it is having an additional income stream that is either active or at hot stand-by, or enough liquid funds to maintain the current lifestyle for at least a year. Preferably both.

Simple? Yes.

Easy? Obviously not, as very few salaried people seem to have even one of those two.

Conclusions

The next time you are going for that home upgrade or that fancy new car, think about what is more important. Having that nice thing (that you want, but not need) right now, or sleeping well knowing you have your back covered.