3 Surprisingly Simple Rules You Need to Follow to Achieve Financial Freedom

Financial freedom—the ability to make life choices without fearing for the future of your finances—is a dream that most people hope to achieve in their lives.

Nicole Victoria, a 33-year-old self-made millionaire and financial coach, shared three rules that will help anyone take control of their finances and achieve this almost universal goal. Her suggestions may not meet your expectations.

Here are 3 amazingly simple rules to follow to achieve financial freedom, according to a self-made millionaire:

1. Money skills are not something you know; it’s the way you act

“Knowledge will only take you so far until you learn to get out of the way and actually apply it,” Victoria explained.

Knowledge can be power, but without action knowledge is useless. You can learn everything there is to know about finance, read every business book, and listen to countless investing podcasts, but until you apply that information, nothing will change or improve.

“Think of it this way,” Victoria said. “We all know that vaping is bad for us, that we should eat more vegetables. We know that drinking alcohol makes us feel like crap. But we do it anyway. Just knowing something is not enough… You can know everything there is to know about money and still be broke.”

So, if you’ve been looking for a sign to take action, get your finances in order and implement new money management techniques, this is it!

“Remember, people don’t decide their future,” Victoria added. “They determine their habits, and their habits determine their future.”

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2. Price everything you buy based on how many hours it took you to earn the money to pay for it.

Imagine you make $20 from your job and have your eye on a $100 bag. While this may seem like a steal, keep in mind that this is 5 hours of work. Is it worth it?

Money doesn’t just fall into our hands; we have to work for it. So when you’re contemplating purchasing an item, don’t just think about the dollar amount at face value. Think about what you had to do to earn that money, how many hours you worked to get it, and how many ungrateful clients you put up with.

“The money in your bank account is not “money”, it is a physical reflection of the hours of your life,” Victoria emphasized. “You trade your most limited resource—your life—for money, and then you let that money, your life, fly away like it was nothing.”

Is this unnecessary purchase worth it to make you remember everything else you could be doing instead of work? Probably not.

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3. Stop falling for the Man in the Machine paradox.

According to Morgan Hasel, author of The Psychology of Money, the Man in the Car paradox states that when people see someone in a cool car, they don’t think the person behind the wheel looks cool.

Rather, they think that if they drove the same car, others would think they were cool.

Essentially, people want to demonstrate their status and wealth through material possessions, believing that others will admire them. This is a paradox because they believe that objects such as an expensive car will attract attention and admiration, but will not signal any of these things to the person they saw wearing the expensive car.

If you make a big purchase, it should be for yourself, not so other people might think you’re cool.

“You need to learn that material possessions are not status symbols or signs of success,” Victoria said. “What good is a luxury car if it just puts you in debt?”

As with the first rule, action matters. Knowing these rules alone will not help you achieve financial success, but implementing them into your life will.

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Sahla Saeda is a YourTango writer covering entertainment, news and human interests.