"The Nine Steps to Financial Freedom"

by Suze Orman

by Dana Tjosvold

If you are anything like me, you're already thinking to yourself, "It's going to take a lot more than 9 steps to get me to financial freedom!" As a single mom, I often struggle just to get to my next paycheck. In a good month, I manage to pay most of the bills almost on time, but financial freedom?

Suze Orman's 9 steps are straightforward, easy to follow and enlightening. They include:

1. Seeing how your past holds the key to your financial future. Did you grow up in a home where there was never enough, or where love was measured in gifts? This first step will allow you to understand where your perceptions of money come from.
   
   
2. Facing fears and creating new truths. Are you afraid you won't be able to support your family or that you'll never be able to help with your children's college education? Step two helps you to pinpoint your fears and, using positive affirmations, replace the fear with a new truth.
   
   
3. Being honest with yourself. This step requires the most work, but is also extremely valuable. How many of us have sat down, made out a sensible monthly budget, and still come up short at the end of the month? This step will encourage you to determine what is really coming in and what is really going out on a monthly basis. It will also help you with realistic "trimming" ideas as well as a common sense approach to paying off debt.
   
   
4. Being responsible to those you love. Do you have a will? Have you considered a trust? Step 4 will walk you through financial planning for your death. Although this is not something any of us look forward to, planning ahead can make that time less painful to our loved ones.
   
   
5. Being respectful of yourself and your money. This step is all about understanding investing and debt. It will help you to make the most out of what you have now, so that you can allow it to grow for the future.
   
   
6. Trusting yourself more than you trust others. How many of us have made bad investments because we have listened to everyone but ourselves? This step educates you on mutual funds, financial advisors and your inner voice.
   
   

   The last three steps are, by far, the most unusual and the most important in this book. They are:

7. Being open to receive all that you are meant to have.
   
   
8. Understanding the lessons of the money cycle.
   
   
9. Recognizing true wealth.