How to Develop and Maintain Your Financial Health

12 min readJun 19, 2021

For Isabella:

Do you realize that you don’t necessarily have to work towards and achieve financial independence through your career? You can have a fulfilling career and still earn enough money on the side to pay for retirement and life’s extras, which is something everybody should seriously consider.

Later I’m going to refer you to other resources about financial planning, but for now I just want to cover the basics of your financial health because this will be the foundation of your entire life, arguably, everything in life is built from this starting point.

This area of your life will determine your future happiness and well-being, as far as managing stress and accomplishing your life’s goals. So I hope you give it the focus and attention it deserves.

And if anyone out there disagrees at this point, just try to live a healthy and happy life when you can’t afford to pay your rent or electricity bill, then we can argue finer points of well-being.

You don’t want your life’s goal to be financial independence, you want to accomplish financial independence quickly and early in life so you can accomplish other goals, perhaps developing new technologies, becoming a doctor or scientist or engineer, or something more philanthropic perhaps. You may not accomplish financial freedom quickly, but at least you can quickly get on the path towards financial freedom or security, then you can focus on other things in life. The goal is to not be worried about money your whole life. You want to get your finances squared away so you can focus on other areas of your life.

Even if you’re not a spring chicken, and this is not your first time around the dance floor, you can certainly take a step back, refocus your energies and efforts and move forward in a new, financially focused direction. You may not accomplish the same savings and investing outcome as younger people, but you can certainly improve your financial situation.

Your career doesn’t have to determine your financial future. You can pick a career and path that makes you happy and that fulfills you, then plan your financial future wisely. There are also plenty of, what they call, side hustles that you can do to earn extra money aside, apart from your career. You may even earn more money from your side hustle than from your chosen career, which is okay too.

On a side note, I want to point out that working a lot and working hard is not a bad thing. You’ll develop character, work ethics and I promise that if you miss a party or two, you’re really not missing much. There will always be a party to go to. I recommend foregoing some party time to dedicate to working towards your financial future. You can party later, I promise.

Working hard will get you further in life than getting drunk. You might not realize it now, but you can literally waste years getting drunk and not accomplish a damn thing in your life. And it’s a terrible and sad waste. Don’t go down that path.

I strongly recommend early financial planning. Meaning early in your life. Start when you’re young and you’ll never have to worry about your retirement, your financial future, paying bills or paying for all the extras you’ll want in life. Don’t get me wrong, you can start this at any age, but the younger you are, the more you can save for your future, and the older you are the more you’ll have to save and/or be creative.

You can pick up a side hustle or a side job at any time in life. In fact, if you do have a few years under your belt, people will pay for your advice, guidance, experience, insight and skills. So use what you have, refocus when you need to, be realistic and do what needs to be done, which is what being an adult is, doing what needs to be done without someone having to tell you to do it. You can change your financial future if you want to.

There are a million books and programs out there and even free and paid online courses to teach you detailed financial planning and how to improve your financial situation, but my point here is to convince you to pick some of them up and actually dedicate a portion of your education and lifelong learning, and a portion of your earnings to this important topic.

Remember, studying and researching this topic does not have to consume your life, I’m not saying you should become a financial guru or a banker or study economics, I’m just saying there are 4 basics you should do:

learn basic accounting and investing
start investing a portion of your income
pick a career you love
and earn a side income (think of it as a hobby that makes you money)

Those four things will give you a clear and meaningful financial path, financial security and the ability to pay for the fun extras in life. Taking these steps now will lay the foundation of a financial independent and productive life, giving yourself financial freedom the rest of your life.

Here are just some of the benefits of taking these four steps and paying attention to this area of your life:

Your bills are paid and out of the way! (I can’t stress enough how stressful it is when bills are not paid)
No financial stress
Ability to pay for the extras in life
Clear vision of your future
Ability to handle emergencies or life’s unexpected problems
Retirement is taken care of; you can live worry free later in life
Flexibility in life
You’re not tied down to a job
No one controls you
You can travel and enjoy the world
You can live wherever and however you want
And much more…

Now when I say things such as “no financial stress,” and “retirement” you young people might not understand the magnitude of what I’m talking about. So let me try to explain it.

Financial trouble is one of the single greatest cause of stress, divorce, arguments, fights, disagreements, and overall problems in a person’s life, and in marriages; the stress of it all will even affect your physical health. If you have money problems, then you have life problems, everything seems like a huge, massive problem, everything is magnified, and I mean everything. All the small problems you have seem 10 times bigger or harder if you’re broke, it’s just the way it is. And if you have some money and savings, then those same problems seem like small issues, simply to be dealt with, not major problems that cause arguments and strife.

Financial problems are the leading cause of divorce, second only to infidelity. I cannot stress enough how many problems financial insecurity and financial problems will rain down upon your life if you do not take care of it now.

Financial problems can and will ruin relationships and tear families apart, and it has.

Now you might start to think that money is the root of all evil, and all this may cause you to resent money. But don’t let it.

Let me explain:

Think of it this way. Finances are a part of life, just like: Your social life, your family life, your sex life, your work life, your private life, you have to work on and maintain every part of your life. It’s like the lion in Africa, if she doesn’t hunt, she doesn’t eat, and the pride starves and dies. We are no different. We have to take care of that area of our life, it’s fair, it’s natural, and it’s what is expected of every person on the planet. It’s just that most people don’t do it, or don’t pay enough attention to it. So working and money to us is the same as hunting for the lion, it’s what we both have to do to survive and thrive. It’s not evil, it’s life.

So money is not the root of evil, it’s just that life can be difficult, earning a living can be difficult for some people, and they start to feel beat up by life and tiered, so naturally they resent other people who seem to hunt or earn a living easily.

Here is something I want you to always remember, no matter what anyone says, or what any social movement says or any activist says, your life is your responsibility, the responsibility for your financial health sits solely on your shoulders, no one else’s, period. Again, regardless of what anyone else says, your life is in your hands.

Somehow the idea that other people or the government is responsible for your financial well-being has wormed his way into society, which is simply not true. And if you think you were destined for a life of pain and misery and financial hardship, it’s just a thought that someone planted in your head, it doesn’t have to be that way.

So if you think the government or rich people should support you for some reason, then stop reading, but if you want to live life in reality and realize that your future and your finances are your own responsibility, then you’re in the right place.

I hope that all makes sense. Don’t resent it, face it head on and take care of that area of your life.

Now let me get back to planning your financial future and your career.

Imagine for a minute you’re interested in biology (or whatever you’re interested in), you’re not just interested in it, you love it. However, you also want to be able to take vacations and buy a nice car, buy a big house etc, but a biologists’ salary might not cover the extras you want in life, however, you really love biology.

How do you pursue a career in biology and become financially secure? There is a way to resolve this, you can have both if you follow this simple plan.

You’re going to get your degree in biology (or whatever you need for your area of interest) and get a job that you love, in the field of biology for this example. Then you’re going to start a side hustle, a side job, or something extra that you can do to earn you extra money, and there are no shortages of options these days.

Then you’re going to divide up your income into different savings accounts for different reasons or uses.

Also, always, always, always…did I say always? Always have a rainy day fund. Meaning: always have extra money tucked away in case of emergencies. If there’s one thing we’ve learned in 2008 and 2020, is that you cannot financially depend on a job, or really anything for that matter, to get you through tough times.

In 2008 banks actually closed their doors with people’s investments and life savings and said, “sorry, there’s no more money.” People lost everything but the bank executives got millions in bailout money. Really, the lesson here is two fold. The bankers were looking out for themselves and made millions, and no one is looking out for you, but you. Learn from this.

And in 2020, as you are all painfully aware, millions of people lost their jobs due to a worldwide pandemic. Unemployment numbers have not been this high since the great depression of the 1930’s. Businesses closed and many shut down permanently.

Both of these situations point out that the economy is unstable, and you cannot count of the government, a job, your family or anyone to take care of you financially, you have to do it yourself, which is actually as it should be, and we’ve had a couple of tough lessons lately to drive that point home.

So sock away between 5% and 10% of you income as rainy-day money, emergency money, and more if you can.

Next you’ll also put aside 5% to 10% of your income for your future, your retirement.

Then you can put aside 5% to 10% of your income to pay for the extras, like that big screen TV. Or even better, use your side hustle money to pay for the extras, then you can put aside 15% to 20% for retirement.

Now, depending on how you saved, what math you used, you have between 85% and 70% of your income for you normal everyday expenses; rent, water and power, electricity, gas, groceries, etc.

Now remember, the more you earn on the side, the more you can play with these numbers, the more you can save and the more flexibility you’ll have.

So earn extra money for the extras in life, put money aside for retirement planning, for emergencies, for entertainment & recreation, and for everyday life, rent, mortgage, electricity, food etc. you know, life’s basics.

Now here is a huge, life changing piece of advice that is taught by Robert Kiyosaki in his book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and it’s some of the best financial and basic advice that I’ve ever heard, which is, buy assets not liabilities. Meaning, what do you spend your money on? A car or boat that you’ll have to make payments on, or do you buy investment property or stocks or bonds that actually make payments to you?

You see, you can spend your money on things that will make you happy for about 5 minutes, then sit around and collect dust, or you can spend your money buying things that will provide you an income.

So the idea is to start using your money, your savings, your side hustle money to buy assets, things that pay you. Then as you accumulate assets, you’ll have the extra money you want to buy the extras in life. So you can buy the extras you want, but it’s how you go about doing it that matters. Use the income from your investments to buy those things, don’t use your income from your job or side hustle. See the difference?

Now that I’ve hopefully convinced you to start thinking about your financial future, and convinced you how important it is, and how easy it can be, let’s talk about the next steps and where to go from here.

A good place to start learning more about investing is a book by Tony Robins, called “Money, Mastering the Game.” He’s also written several other books, so look into those as well. He’s also an amazing life coach, I highly recommend his work.

How to Develop and Maintain Your Financial Health

Here are just some of the benefits of taking these four steps and paying attention to this area of your life:

Let me explain:

Now let me get back to planning your financial future and your career.

A good place to start learning more about investing is a book by Tony Robins, called “Money, Mastering the Game.” He’s also written several other books, so look into those as well. He’s also an amazing life coach, I highly recommend his work.

Other books you should read are:

Written by Benjamin Taylor