Hey everyone, it’s Finance Fridays again. Last week I talked about Risk and Responsibilities, but today I’m going to talk about something some what related “Financial Flexibility”. This should be a short post.
Stock Photo from: Pixabay
Financial Flexibility?
Yea.
What do you mean?
First a little background:
I kind of put things into a few different categories when it comes to finance.
Necessities
- Food
- Water
- Shelter
Priorities
Flexible
Basically, this is comes after you’ve finished everything on the Checklist. You’ve already put away money into all the most efficient avenues you have available to you. What you do from here is flexible, you could just put money into a Taxable Account or Dividend Stocks, or maybe you’re a gambler and you want to throw some money into Cryptocurrency or even Individual Stocks.
However, when I am talking about Financial Flexibility, I am mainly talking about money you have in easily accessible accounts, such as a savings account or risk-free CD, basically liquidity. While technically you have access to the money in a Taxable Account, Dividend Stocks, Cryptocurrency, or Individual Stocks, they are not necessarily readily accessible. You obviously would want to avoid pulling money out of these entities when they are down… or even at all since you will probably need to pay Capital Gains.
Why?
Well, while having money in a bank account or CD doesn’t really make you much money, they do offer you flexibility.
For example, you usually can’t buy an investment property without a reasonable down payment. If you don’t have that money readily available when the “perfect property” comes along, then you probably won’t be able to get it. Or let’s say you had the opportunity to invest in a new business that you really believed in, but couldn’t because you didn’t have money readily available.
This is what I consider “Flexibility” in the financial sense.
Now then, if you don’t ever plan to own an investment property or own part of a small business, then this doesn’t matter to you. However, for those of you looking for Passive Income potential, it’s probably a good idea to keep at least some of your money easily accessible, without a potential penalty.
Why are you bringing this up?
Well, a few different entrepreneur opportunities have been presented to me in the recent past. Some of them I passed on, and some of them I am working on or am working toward. Each and every one of these opportunities required some amount of money up front, as well as work on my part (sweat equity). However, if you don’t even have the money up front to start with, it all ends there.
Like I said, you could pull money out of other accounts, but that’s not usually very optimal.
So, I guess my point is it that if you are truly interested in “making moves” outside of The Philosophy, you will probably need at least some money above your emergency fund. Most opportunities that come up will require money (and work) on your part.
However, make note that any and all business opportunities and business ventures will have significant risk.
You could lose everything.
However, you could also get a significant multiplicative return on your monetary investment.
High Risk. High Reward. Every “business opportunity” or “business venture” is a gamble.
Is that it?
Umm… yea.
In my head, this post was a lot more complex than it actually turned out to be. I had like some cliché quotes and some videos I remembered seeing which I was going to include, but ended up not including.
Less is more.
TL;DR
Financial Flexibility comes from having liquidity.
Most business opportunities or business ventures will require you to have some cash on hand.
No cash on hand. No opportunity.
Just remember this is High Risk – High Reward stuff, and outside The Philosophy.
-Sensei
Agree? Disagree? Questions, Comments and Suggestions are welcome.
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