Five Ways to Become Financially Independent

5 Ways to Become Financially Independent
 1. Become a Homeowner. Becoming a homeowner increases your credit score, proves that your are a responsible spender, provides a tax write-off, provides you with an asset that will appreciate over time which will provide you with equity and increases your financial worth.
2. Buy Health, Life and Disability Insurance. Life insurance is critical because medical costs increase by 10-20% each year. Disability insurance will help you in the event you become seriously ill and have to be off work for an extended period of time.
3. Start a Business. Find out what your passion is, what you love to do more than anything else. Do your research before starting your business and take small steps. Start your business in your home; there are many tax write-offs for home based businesses.
4. Purchase Investment Property. Investment property provides cash flow that can be used to generate wealth and allows more opportunities to become available to you.  If you are not sure how to begin, do research and buy 2 or more books on buying investment property, join a real estate group, and listen to financial investment shows to find out the best way to get started.
5. Plan for Your retirement. Determine what age you want to retire and develop a plan to reach that goal.  Join your employer's retirement plan and ask questions about your plan, i.e. how much will your plan be worth when you retire and how much you need to contribute to reach your goal.