I grew up with the goal of screaming "I'm debt freeeeeee!" I did that. Then I didn't know what to do next.
I floundered for a while not knowing how to go to the next level. I believe Robert Kiyosaki's book, Rich Dad Poor Dad should be required reading for those that have become debt-free. The problem is that he espouses the evilest of concepts, he encourages debt! Here's why.
In his cashflow quadrant he describes 4 types of cash flow:
Employee - You have a job.
Self Employed - You own a job.
Business Owner - You own a system.
Investor - You own investments.
My new goal is to become an investor.
For a long time, I thought that I was a business owner. Thanks to Seth Godin's blog on freelancer vs. entrepreneur, I realized I wasn't... I was and have always been a self-employed freelancer. As Seth notes, there's nothing wrong with that. The problem only arises when you think you are one thing, but reality says different.
Every job I took, I had a new boss.
Like any company some bosses are good and some are bad. I've gotten to work with some amazing "bosses", that act more like peers where we share ideas and create something together. But, I've also had the exact opposite. There's a saying in the freelance world of directing, that a job has to fit into 2 of the 3 Rs. Reel (portfolio-worthy), Revenue (good money), Relationship (good people). If you get 2 out of 3, it's a good job. But, what if you could get 3 out of 3? That's what true financial freedom offers.
Once I realized I wasn't a business owner, I decided to become an investor.
The investor is the most alluring quadrant to me. The idea is that you buy assets, that then cash-flow money that you can use to invest into more assets or live off. To me, this gets someone to true financial freedom. You have the freedom to say yes to the work you want to do, that satisfies you emotionally, as well as financially. And then he takes it to the next level by encouraging investors to leverage (use debt) other people's money to make huge investing gains.
I'm not there yet, but I see the way.