The Vicious Life Cycle

Life can be a vicious cycle.

Working long hours at a stressful job, so you spend lots of money in your free time - to have lots of fun.

Enormous house, fancy car, high-priced travel and entertainment, bar tabs. Sounds about right!

Unfortunately those items add up and have a very tangible long-term impact.

High monthly bills for the home and car. No money leftover from the entertainment and possibly even high interest credit card payments.

You then work harder in that stressful job to pay for the monthly bills, so you don't fall behind. But you still want to have fun in your free time, because you're working so hard!  You deserve it, right?!

And the cycle continues, an entire career of stress and money issues.

The stress causes health problems, which costs even more money...which you don't have, so you put the medical bill on credit. You now have another monthly payment, that you need to cover by earning more...at the stressful job.

Too many bills. You need a higher paying job, which is more stress!

You'll need those performance bonuses (because you've already spent the money), which is more stress.

Stop the cycle!

Work towards financial independence.  Work towards a life where you control how your money impacts your life (not the other way around).

You'll benefit from more fun and enjoyment in life than you did from the high-priced entertainment, because you'll be free - financially, from stress, from the desk.

I'm not saying to not care about your job. Do care. Care because it's the means to the end. Use it as a tool to reach your goals and priorities/dreams. Just don't be used by it.

I'm not saying to not have toys and have fun. Do have fun. But balance it with your current finances. Live within your current financial means.

You'll be stress free. You'll be happy. You'll have time to find yourself and your life.

Play the game, but win. Game the system.

Win not with the highest salary, but instead with the most fulfilled life.

Are you living in the vicious life cycle? How are you planning to break free?