Do you dream about having enough money to do whatever you want to do? Do you want to start a new business, provide financial help to family members or engage in a new hobby or adventure? Do you want more control over your time to do what is really important to you?

Achieving financial freedom is not a matter of luck, circumstances or fate. The power to achieve the life of your dreams is in your hands. The following five-steps will show you how to build wealth, invest for retirement and achieve financial independence and security based on the lifestyle you envision.

To create your own plan to achieve financial freedom, you can read Securing a Retirement Income for Life: Strategies for Managing, Protecting and Preserving Your Wealth, 2nd Edition.

The process of building wealth is analogous to building a business or professional practice. How would you build a million dollar business? By planning, setting goals, watching your expenses, educating yourself and by working hard knowing that all your efforts, discipline and your commitment will payoff in the long run. Building a million dollar investment portfolio requires the same discipline and commitment.

1. The first step toward transforming your life to one of extraordinary proportions is by identifying the specific financial goals that will make your dreams a reality. After all, it is much easier to get what you want out of life if you know where you are going. You must be passionate about achieving financial freedom and independence. It must be a priority for you. You cannot let diversions or obstacles prevent you from achieving your goal. The very worst possible thing you can do is to put off planning thinking that you will have plenty of time to save for retirement. A million dollar investment portfolio is not something you can accumulate overnight.
2. Second, you must establish your retirement income goal in time and dollar specificity. How much money you need to retire is based on your lifestyle goal and other factors. What type of lifestyle do you envision for the future? Do you want to maintain or increase your standard of living? What amount of income will allow you to do what you want to do?
3. Third, determine the amount of money needed to provide enough retirement income for the rest of your life. Many people depend on a fixed income stream during retirement. In an inflationary environment, a fixed income stream will not allow you to maintain a constant standard of living. A more acceptable means is to have your income increase annually with inflation. From your retirement income goal, you can determine the estimated target portfolio needed to provide an inflation-adjusted income stream for the length of your retirement life.
4. Fourth, develop an investment strategy designed to meet your goals. Decisions about how to manage your company retirement plan, how much to contribute and how to invest your money can be complicated. But how you manage your investments is one of the most important factors that will help you accumulate the dollar amount required to achieve your retirement income goal. Once you determine how much you need to accumulate, determine how much you should be saving for retirement. If you are committed to reaching your goal of financial independence, you can read about my approach to investment management and the six step investment process that I use in my practice. These strategies can be applied to your portfolio to help you invest for retirement and achieve your goal of financial freedom.
5. Fifth, protect yourself from the potential risk of outliving your money. When people retire, they want their retirement savings to last for the rest of their life. Uncertain knowledge of investment returns, length of life in retirement, and rising expenditures make assumptions about the future less reliable.

   Longer life expectancies increase the potential risk of outliving your money. An extended market decline soon after retirement could jeopardize the sustainability of withdrawals over the life of the retirement period. Meeting financial obligations through an investment-based approach is only one part of the process.

One of the best things you can do is to start early and stay committed to becoming financially independent. Building wealth is not a get rich quick scheme. It takes plenty of time and patience to become financially independent with the tenacity to overcome all obstacles. Putting it off just increases the amount of money you will need to save each year.

If your investment portfolio is not enough to provide the kind of lifestyle you are dreaming of, you can find out how to build wealth more rapidly and create new “income streams” by reading the book More Money for Retirement Right Now: Unlock the Equity in Your Assets, Create Immediate Income and Live a Richer Life.