Time to Choose Freedom

Some simple choices now will make maintaining your future freedom that much easier

Time to Choose Freedom
Photo by Pablo Heimplatz / Unsplash

Bob Dylan sang 'The times they are a-changin' back in 1964.

He was right then and he's right now.

We are in the midst of one of the greatest societal upheavals in history and too few seem to grasp the threats and opportunities.

Here's how I see what's going on and how you can benefit from it.

Governments are having a last roll of the debt dice. They are printing money, fuelling inflation and smashing the middle class.

It won't be long before they start raising taxes on income, capital gains and anything that can't be relocated.

The income tax rises will hurt the wage earner more than the wealthy. The rich can divert funds through trusts and entities to reduce or even eliminate their tax bill.

Capital gains taxes will be more focused on the wealthy but the super rich rarely sell when they can borrow tax effectively against their appreciating assets.

Those with multiple rental properties are particularly vulnerable to new or higher taxes. You can't relocate them and as prices rise (thanks to inflation) your property taxes will go up too. The government can also 'tweak' the rate of tax for a bit of added cash.

Of course this will force rents up (to compensate the owners), raising the cost of living which will hurt the lower/middle class even more.

So what can we do about it?

There are some major and minor decisions that can help insulate you from what is likely to come.

Firstly, you need to get out of cash. It is a rapidly depreciating asset and in the current environment is a losing proposition. You want inflation to be your friend which means you should be in hard assets.

One of the simplest inflation hedges that anyone can do is to stock up on non-perishable items that you will use in the months/years ahead.

Many will already have noticed that grocery prices are increasing while product content is decreasing. Buying forward protects you and will return more than cash in the bank.

Secondly, you should make the move to embrace the digital world, both for earning and learning. It costs a few dollars to acquire apps and courses that can teach you valuable or entertaining skills.

I've been learning Spanish online and developing my chess game in live play with the global village. Neither will be a money spinner for me but they keep my brain active and they are pastimes I can enjoy anywhere.

Earning online is also important because it will give you flexibility of location should that be necessary.

There are three main methods of earning online - writing, ramping or e-commerce.

Writing can be a hard grind to establish an audience and is relatively low reward. Most bloggers and content producers earn very little with a few making a lot.

The rampers are the social media influencers. It takes ages (and a lot of hard work) to generate a strong enough following that someone will pay you to pitch products. In this space, the biggest fish take the majority of the market.

The third course is the e-commerce route. We've started to explore that on this blog through a step by step process which we'll be reporting on again soon. More and more transactions are taking place online and this provides the highest risk/reward profile for most people.

This is also where developing an understanding of the new payment protocols can help too.

Crypto is the future and it will smash so many existing industries and jobs that you leave yourself vulnerable if you don't understand it.

Make no mistake, we are in the midst of a life changing transition.

As governments lose their way, they will be seeking more and more control over every one of us. They will use the economy, taxes and bureaucracy as the levers.

The further you can isolate yourself from these instruments of coercion, the more freedom you will have.

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