#72: What's Keeping You from Financial Freedom?

Welcome to the Passive Income MD Podcast, where we talk about creating your ideal life through multiple streams of income. I'm your host, Peter Kim. If you enjoy hearing about this stuff, make sure to hit subscribe so I can bring it to you every week. Now let's get on with the show. Hey, everyone, hope you've had a great weekend or week. Whenever you're starting to listen to this. This week we're going to be talking about one of my favorite subjects, financial freedom. And then we're going to be finding out the blocks and things that are actually keeping you from it because, you know, so many people are focused on the strategies to get there. But what a lot of people don't realize, it's actually something else that's keeping them from getting there. And if they can unlock or unblock that, that will kind of open up the path and journey for them to get there. But before we do that, I want to remind people that our course, Passive Real Estate Academy, is actually opening up for enrollment coming up anytime, you know, depending on when you're listening to this. Any day now. Okay. It only opens up twice a year. And it's your chance to join a community of now thousands of physicians who are creating financial freedom through passive real estate investing. And we're, we're having a community of people who learn to vet and share opportunities with one another. And in four weeks, you can learn how to confidently invest in these things. We talk all about those syndications and funds. If you're interested in that, head over to passiverealestateacademy.com we always have a guarantee. If you go through the entire course and you feel like it didn't give you value, let us know and we'll give you money back because we want people there to get as much out of it as they want. And we have some amazing goals, and we know that people will accomplish them by being a part of our community. So head over there if you're interested. But this week, we're going to be talking about what's keeping you from financial freedom. Now, financial freedom, it might mean different things to different people, but to me, it's pretty simple. It's when you can quit your day job and still be able to cover your expenses with some other source of income, you get to live life on your own terms. And whatever that dollar amount is, it depends on your unique situation, where you live, the lifestyle you lead. But I believe that all physicians, we have the opportunity to attain financial freedom now. Some encounter obstacles, though, that keep them from reaching that point and they never even notice that that's what's happening, that's what's keeping them from getting there. Not not having the strategies, not that they don't have enough money. There are other things. But let's talk all about it. So I believe that this is the most important aspect of trying to reach financial freedom. It's all about the mindset. That might sound a little out there to you, but I believe it all starts here and it helps keep you on the right path throughout your journey. I mean, why is this important? Mindset kind of sets all your actions, it kind of sets your path, right? I mean, when you decided, hey, I'm going into medicine, like how many smart people that do you know that actually never made it right? And there's something that got them off the path. Maybe they didn't keep the goal in mind, they didn't have a strong why for doing so. I think that having the wrong mindset, it could definitely keep you from achieving your goals. I mean, if you have self limiting beliefs, like you say things to yourself, let me know if you catch yourselves ever saying this, like I can never do that or I don't or I can't, that can become like self fulfilling prophecies. I don't know if you've ever heard the saying, whether you believe you can or you can't. It's true now I absolutely believe that. I mean, I talked to my daughter, right? I don't know if you have kids, you know, they oftentimes like you ask them to do something and they say I can't. Right? I mean, do you let them go at that point you may see something that they don't, but they tend to limit themselves. Here are some other quotes that I tend to like. This is by Les Brown. He says, life has no limitations except the ones you make. And Amy Purdy, she says that, you know, if we can see past preconceived limitations, then the possibilities are endless. I mean also maybe you have a scarcity mindset. I don't know if you've ever heard of this saying, like what is it? It's about serving one's own interest through competition versus collaboration. Maybe it limits you from learning from others. You're so focused on that competition, making sure you're in the good position and you're not able to work with others to achieve your goal. Well, let me tell you, goals are more easily achieved. I promise you when you learn and work with others, right, Having a community will help accelerate you towards your goals. Because surrounding Yourself with people who are on the same level or above you or have achieved what you want to achieve. Honestly, that is the goal for you to uplevel your game, to kind of move into a different position and actually have a different standard for yourself. And so you need to make sure you're always open to learning more. I know that many of us are doctors, we feel like we know everything, but there's always so much to learn, especially when it comes to finances. So let me ask you, out of all the things I've talked about, is some sort of mindset thing or mindset issue holding your back? Now, there's other things that might hold you back. It's about the concept that debt is bad. I mean, there are some pretty big financial gurus out there who say, cut up all your credit cards, never have debt. Now I don't believe that all debt is bad. I believe that debt can help you create more income or wealth and that's considered good debt. But there's also something called bad debt, right? It's the kind that continually eats away at your net worth and really your ability to create wealth. I mean, student loan debt, I mean, it's unavoidable for most people who decide to become a physician. However, what you do with it, once you start making a good attending salary is the key, right? Most of the time. I mean, today's interest rates and lending environment, it might make sense to get rid of your debt quick, quickly. I mean, kind of depends on what the rates are. You know, you can take measures to reduce and mitigate the impact of debt in your life, right? You've got credit card, you've got auto loan debt. I mean, those honestly are net worth killers and can suck you dry, especially if you're trying to grow and get closer to financial freedom. So I would say obviously do your best to minimize these. I mean, I used to carry so much credit card debt all throughout college and medical school. I'll be honest, I was horrible with finances. I never understood the concept of interest. I just paid the minimum payments. I don't know if anybody else was out there like that. And you thought you were, were okay. I mean, I signed up for those free credit cards at school and I just carried debt. I mean, the interest payments were killing me. But I didn't know that. I mean, it was honestly until I met my wife and she told me that like this is not normal. Well, it is normal in today's world, but it wasn't okay. And it was important to pay the balance off each Month. So I started to set that doing like an auto pay full balance. Honestly, I began to see my net worth grow, right, Because I didn't have that debt, especially all the interest payments weighing me down. So simple goal should be to get rid of bad debt and use good debt to help you on the path to financial freedom. Another thing that might be keeping you from financial freedom is the concept of lifestyle inflation. I mean we've all in the medical field, we've given up our 20s, right? We say that in the pursuit of our careers. I mean, while some of our college classmates, I don't know if yours were, I mean I came out in like the heyday of the dot com era. I mean they went out and paid like six figure salaries right away as consultants and you know, dot com, that kind of stuff. And they were living the life right at that time. They were making the money. They probably, if they were smart, they were putting money away for retirements. Retirement. They were already buying cars, right? And homes. And I felt like I was eating like tuna straight out of the can. I was eating ramen noodles, whatever. It was, right? So it's natural that when we come out of our training, we try to catch up right after experiencing that sudden jump in income, like having that first attendee check. I don't know if many of you remember that, but kind of blew my mind, right? You felt like you were working almost a little less, but making a ton more. I mean the whole concept of keeping up with the jones, it kind of is on hyperdrive with doctors and we're notorious for this, right? Like we have this expectation of this country club lifestyle driving the nice cars and we know it's not like truly the reality today, you know, when people say, hey, doctors are rich, we know that, you know, the finances aren't what it used to be, but we still have that expectation in some ways and it's hard to stay disciplined. I mean, again, I don't believe there's anything wrong with wanting nice things, right? Living the good life, there's definitely a balance here. But I think that if you can delay gratification for just a bit, right, as you're growing your wealth and trying to obtain financial freedom, you can actually have a still pretty good lifestyle and then start growing that passive income on the side. Because to be honest with you, it takes time for those passive income ventures and there's opportunities to grow and so the earlier you start, the better off you're going to be. Now my wife and I, we love to travel. You know, before all this was happening. We love to enjoy great dining spots and food experiences, and it's always been a priority for us. But to be honest, in the early years, we kept it a little bit leaner. And now all our investments, side ventures and that sort of thing really allows us to splurge how we want. And we're very feel fortunate that we're able to do that. And the last thing you want to do is make sure you don't end up in that situation that many doctors find themselves in. Living paycheck to paycheck, right? And if you're not careful, it can happen. I mean, I can understand how it can happen. There's so many different expenses. Private school, nice cars, home mortgage, and this kind of thing. And expenses pile up, and next thing you know, you're just living up to whatever your salary is making and paying you. And that will definitely hold you back on the way to financial freedom. Now, the last obstacle, it's fear. The fear of failure, I think, is what happens to a lot of physicians. We're not known as risk takers. I mean, we're used to taking all the evidence, all the data available to us, and then we make that decision that we think will provide the best outcome for the patient. Right. We don't just take shots in the dark, however, when we actually try to create financial freedom, especially through all these other investments, it seems like a scary place, Seems like something outside of our comfort zone. So we tend to go with what's familiar and safe. I think what that is is that if we work, we get money out, right? We know that we can just pick up an extra shift, take an extra weekend, and we know we're gonna make money. You're just trading your time for money. There's a limited amount of time, right? You have to give up something for that. And then as the expenses kind of rack up, you increasingly have to put more time to get the same output. Right? I mean, again, this becomes the opposite of financial freedom. You're tying yourself to that time money equation. And a lot of time that's just because the fear keeps us from trying something new, trying something different outside of what we're used to, to create other sources of income. Like, I've heard it before, I heard it plenty. Like, oh, I'm just a doctor. There's no way I could learn that stuff. And I really think it has to do with insecurity or fear. The funny thing is, when you ask them, like, what have you accomplished in your life? Like, how did you actually get where you're at. I mean, everyone had to be the cream of the crop. You had to work harder than anybody else. You had to work smarter. You had to do well, you had to excel. And many people forget what it took, what it took to get where they're at, to accomplish what they've accomplished. You're in the top of the top of the top. And why do you think you cannot exceed in something else if you put your time and energy into it? You know, trust me, people can do this. Physicians have done it. Physicians can achieve financial freedom. They can be clever, they can be creative, they can to figure and honestly, they can be resourceful to figure out ways to get there. Because let me tell you, you're not going to earn your way to financial freedom. That's what they say. You cannot earn your way to financial freedom. You have to invest wisely. You've got to get your money working for you and leverage your time and really unlink that time for money to make it happen. Now, the key to getting actually started is deciding that you want it badly enough. You know, have you figured out why you want that? What kind of life you want, what kind of life you're missing out on? Right. And that will ultimately, in my opinion, help you get past the fear. It'll help you get past all of that kind of mindset issues if you have a strong enough reason to get there. So those are just a few things off the top of my head that might keep you from financial freedom. If there are other things that are doing that I'd love to hear from you, let me know. In any case, hope you have a great week. Whatever I can do to support you, please let me know. Take care. Enjoy the show. Let me know by dropping a review in the podcast app you're listening to us in. And if you haven't already, make sure to hit subscribe. Are you part of our community yet? Join thousands of physicians who are also on this journey to creating their ideal lives through multiple streams of income. You can join us on our Facebook group Passive Income Docs and you can always learn more at our website, passiveincomemd.com thanks again for allowing me to be a part of your journey. See you next time.