Category Archives: Financial Independence

There's tons of advice online about building wealth and retiring early, but it's hard to know which approach works best for your specific circumstances.

Kiersten and Julien Saunders, a couple who retired in their 40s and host the popular podcast rich & REGULAR, suggest finding out what kind of spender you are before creating your wealth-building plan.

In their new book, "Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game by Walking Away," the couple explains that there are three different types of spenders.

In the book, the Saunderses say that understanding the true motivations fueling your current spending habits can help you choose a wealth-building plan that actually works for you.

The Saunderses point out that the financially insecure typically have difficult circumstances to navigate that make it harder for them to actually save and invest any money. "Because of this, they adopt a worldview based on the grim realities of life they experience every single day," the couple writes.

The financially insecure are more likely to equate their self-worth with their ability to perform well at work. They are always striving for higher-paying jobs, living paycheck to paycheck, and struggling to feel like they have enough.

To counteract the impulse to keep grinding hard at a 9-to-5 job, the Saunderses remind their readers that a salary is never going to outperform investing in the stock market.

The couple writes, "You must believe your income can work harder than you can. Instead of working for your money, you must adjust to managing your money so that it can multiply over time to serve your future wants and needs."

Of fast spenders, the couple writes, "Money both comes in and goes out at such a fast pace there's no time to build an emotional attachment to it and little incentive to try tracking it."

The couple writes about a friend of theirs who would rather go out for expensive drinks and indulge in luxury vacations instead of funding his retirement. "Plus, he believes that if he wantedto, he could start saving money tomorrow. The problem is, tomorrow never comes."

The book contains "richuals," simple guidelines that help readers change their relationship with money. A good "richual" for fast spenders is to track your income andhow you feel when you earn that money. The couple writes, "A dollar earned doing something you enjoy is always better than a dollar earned doing something you don't."

You will have about

$1,725,000

You will need about

$2,940,000

*Need is based on covering 70% of your annual pre-retirement income and a life expectancy of 100 years.

The Saunderses say that the financially insecure and the fast spenders are less common than the group they've named the middle. They write, "People in the middle often have enough income and are even saving for retirement, but they have no idea what they're saving for, how close or how far they are to achieving that goal, or why they're even doing it."

While their book speaks primarily to those in the middle, they recommend that all spending types create a distinct purpose for their income. The couple writes that income should first be used to gain security. Next comes flexibility to spend and save in alignment with your values. Then independence meaning, earning money is completely optional.

After achieving the first three purposes of money security, flexibility, and independence you can then use your income to achieve financial freedom.

For the financially insecure, financial freedom might be getting a better job or becoming free from a financial obligation. For the fast spender, it can be a state of emotional acceptance around your money, or selling a company that you built from the ground up.

For the middle, however, it can be hard to define what financial freedom actually looks like. This is why it's important to envision why you're trying to build wealth in the first place, and how you're going to assign purpose to your income to achieve those goals. The couple writes, "Financial freedom isn't a number; it's a feeling."

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How to Build Real Wealth, According to What Kind of Spender You Are - Business Insider

Keeping all your money in savings is a dangerous bet against inflation, since the purchasing power of that money decreases as inflation rises.

LIKE most people her age, a 63-year-old educator is looking forward to retirement after spending almost 40 years in the classroom.

The veteran educator, who asked that her name be withheld, is dreaming of "simpler days".

"Retirement is something I have been looking forward to for the past few years. My husband and I have been planning for it and one of our biggest dreams is to travel," she revealed.

But despite her plans, she admitted that she has been having second thoughts, as the recent price increases and the economic uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have made retirement seem like an unattainable goal.

"Honestly, I've been worried. From the pandemic hit, I have been wondering if I will be able to go through with my plans of retirement and now the rapid price increases have made matters even worse," the Clarendon resident said.

"We're spending thousands of dollars more than we used to each month, just on simple things like food and gas. Life has gotten considerably harder in the two years. I worry if I'll have enough savings to live comfortably, if I retire in the next year or so."

Dr Ransford Davidson, business relationship and sales manager, JN Bank, says it's natural that retirees and those soon to retire are worried about inflation and the impact rising prices will have on their retirement savings.

"It's not hard to understand how inflation can be a daunting prospect for retirees. Even in normal times, anyone who's planning for retirement or is already retired worries about running out of money," pointed out Dr Davidson. "The potential for rising prices only adds to that baseline of anxiety. Even for people with the best-laid plans, inflation is an uncontrollable factor that complicates retirement planning."

Dr Davidson noted that while seniors might be concerned about their future, they can still enjoy a comfortable retirement with the right amount of planning and preparation.

With that in mind, he provides five ways retirees can navigate inflation:

Review your budget

Seniors must ensure they adjust their budgets to account for the rise in prices. This way, they can see how much they're spending and where they may need to cut back. For instance, scaling back on unnecessary driving can help cut down on gas costs. When food shopping it may mean buying less meat and more vegetables, or going to the market for produce instead of the supermarket. Comparison shopping can also help persons save money.

Keep your portfolio balanced

Diversify your investments. Having a mixture of cash, stocks, bonds and other assets is key. "Keeping all your money in savings is a dangerous bet against inflation, since the purchasing power of that money decreases as inflation rises," Dr Davidson said. To ensure you can sustain your financial independence in retirement, consider dividend-paying stocks, growth stocks and real estate. These are assets that are going to fluctuate in the short term, but they are designed over a longer period to give retirees diversification and protection against inflation risk.

Get rid of debts

Many senior citizens are still straddled with debt, including mortgages, credit card and even car loans. This debt will be an anchor as inflation rises. That's why paying off or paying down debt should be top priority for anyone worried about late-in-life inflation.

Keep working in retirement

If possible, keep earning. "Every dollar earned is a dollar you don't have to spend. Your biggest hedge against inflation is your human capital. That doesn't mean you have to stay employed at a job that is stressful or that you were looking forward to leaving," Dr Davidson advised. He said seniors can scale down to part-time jobs, tutoring or consulting. "You can even change industries all together and pursue a venture you've always been interested in."

Talk to a financial advisor

Finally, Dr Davidson said seniors should seek out the knowledge of experts in the financial field to ensure they're armed with the relevant information to make the right decisions. "You don't have to figure this out alone. There are experts who are willing and able to assist you to work out a retirement plan that's right for you and to help you hedge against inflation or any other economic shock on the horizon."

When food shopping it may mean buying less meat and more vegetables, or going to the market for produce instead of the supermarket.

DAVIDSON... it's not hard to understand how inflation can be a daunting prospect for retirees

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Enjoy a comfortable retirement with right planning and preparation - Jamaica Observer

This is an opinion editorial by Boomer, a long-time and active member of the financial independence/retire early (FIRE) movement and a contributor for Bitcoin Magazine.

I was recently inspired after reading Tomer Strolights piece, Bitcoiners Are Not Toxic They Have Integrity.

For context, I read it a few days after Nic Carters situation really exploded on Twitter, and Strolights article really resonated with me. To be clear, I have a great deal of respect for Carter and all the good work hes done for the Bitcoin community, especially the work hes done to debunk the energy fear, uncertainty and doubt out there. Like him or hate him, he really is one of the most important voices Bitcoin has in the energy and mining space. Over the past few weeks, hes been taking it on the chin from many people in the community for investments in blockchain and crypto companies through his venture capital investment firm, Castle Island Ventures. In his defense, hes been very transparent about his investments in these projects, talking about them quite openly on his On The Brink podcast for at least a year. In retaliation to the criticism, Carter has written a few articles and appeared on a few podcasts where hes punched back at the critics, calling out a vocal group in the Bitcoin space known as toxic Bitcoin Maximalists or derogatorily toxic maxis. I dont intend to go over exactly what was said about him or what he said back, but the whole thing has gotten pretty ugly. In this humble plebs opinion, it feels childish. It might be a symptom of the bear market that people in Bitcoin are turning on each other, or maybe its the Bitcoin immune system doing its job.

Over the past week, Ive been thinking about what the terms toxicity and maximalism mean to me. Ive purposely held back from reading too much on the topic because I want to make sure that I get to my conclusions on my own, but I know that there have been quite a few pieces on the topic recently. Pete Rizzo, Stephan Livera, and John Vallis have all written articles on maximalism over the past few days, and Im looking forward to reading them, but I want to get my own thoughts out there first. I have been listening to my regular rotation of podcasts and Ive heard pretty much every Bitcoin podcaster give their two sats on Carter, maximalists and toxicity. Id like to give a shoutout to Joey and Len from The Canadian Bitcoiners Podcast for discussing Carters recent spat with the maximalists in a way that I felt summed up the situation well. They get into it at the end of the episode.

When I first started my journey into Bitcoin, Elon Musk was in the middle of pumping dogecoin. I remember the mainstream medias fascination with the whole thing. Musk even hosted Saturday Night Live! It all seemed playful to me and it made sense. Musk is this future-centric tech CEO, and I knew that Tesla had put some bitcoin on its balance sheet. Bitcoin, ethereum, dogecoin it was all similar to me at the time, and Musk seemed to fit in perfectly. I remember listening to Bitcoin podcasts that were very critical of Musk, and it confused me. Any publicity is good publicity, isnt it? A lot of the Bitcoiners I was following were really upset over what this guy was doing, and I just didnt get it. I guess this was my first taste of Bitcoins toxic culture, not that I thought much about it. I wasnt ready. I was too busy learning.

Strolight wrote his article around the same time that Musk was hosting Saturday Night Live. It was before I was ready to understand it all, so Im thankful to have stumbled upon it now. It really motivated me to do a personal exploration into how I define maximalism.

Im nowhere near done in this exploration and it might be something that I ponder for a long time. Im still way too new here to have a fully formed opinion on what toxic Bitcoin Maximalism really is, but I know enough now to have a grasp on how Bitcoin continues to shape me and how important it is. Bitcoin means different things for everyone, so it only makes sense that Bitcoin Maximalism is just as personal. I truly believe that in Bitcoin weve discovered the greatest form of money ever and with this discovery, we have the potential to realign many (if not most) of the perverse incentives that plague this world. To me, this belief is Bitcoin Maximalism. Does standing up for that make someone a toxic Maximalist? I guess it depends on your perspective.

Generally speaking, Bitcoiners are leaders: type-A personalities that arent exactly the most politically correct group of people. What we are is a group of sovereign individuals guided by truth, transparency and a belief in a protocol that doesnt have time for bullshit. Of course, we can come off as toxic! Does that really surprise anyone!? There is a difference between being toxic and being an asshole, though. Some of the things Ive read on Twitter coming from defenders of Bitcoin are flat out rude, intolerant and childish. Slinging insults in the name of Bitcoin doesnt make you a maximalist, and it doesnt make you a hero, either. Stop that shit. It isnt helping. But if youre calling a spade a spade, that isnt toxic. And if youre offended by someone being toxic by defending something they believe in, maybe youre the toxic one.

Bitcoin is for everyone. And while there are no gatekeepers, maybe theres a need for protectors. Maximalism is that protection. Bitcoin Maximalists have to fight off threats, and there certainly are a lot of threats out there. Maybe maximalists need to be toxic since Bitcoin is itself, perfectly pure. Maybe Gigi is right and toxicity equals love. It's been said many times before, but I believe that the toxic maximalists serve as Bitcoins immune system. Like a biological organism, sometimes the immune system can go too far and kill off healthy cells from time to time, but it does so to protect the organism. A degree of toxicity is needed because if were not toxic enough, then shitcoins, scammers and fiat bloodsuckers will run rampant. But if were too toxic, well waste our energy fighting among ourselves and well alienate people who are looking on with curiosity. While no degree of toxicity will ever kill Bitcoin, an overly toxic environment could certainly slow down its adoption. Its a fine line to walk, and every Bitcoiner needs to find where they fit in, but we dont need to all agree on where that line truly is.

I know that Nic Carter has studied Bitcoin in more depth and for longer than I have. He knows that bitcoin isnt just an investment tool or an asset class. He knows just how important the discovery was. That being said, he should be allowed to invest in as many blockchain companies as he chooses to, but hes going to be held to a higher standard than some newbie, and he should expect that. He shouldnt be surprised (or triggered) when people call him out on it. Is this a case of the immune system attacking a healthy cell? Im not sure.

Personally, I find myself getting more and more convinced about Bitcoin by the day. I suppose my maximalism is growing and I find myself being less and less tolerant, but you still wont find me hurling insults on Twitter. Thats not who I am, but I reserve the right to be as toxic as I need to be. And you know what? You dont have to like it. We all have a role to play in this Bitcoin world. If I can eventually become the not-so-toxic Bitcoin Maximalist, thats a role Id be honored to serve, but to all the toxic maximalists out there, keep up the good work. Growth only comes from discomfort, and every time your toxicity makes someone uncomfortable, it helps someone else along their journey. Keep calling out bullshit as you see it.

This is a guest post by Boomer. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

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A Newcomers Perspective On Toxic Bitcoin Maximalism - Bitcoin Magazine

NEW YORK Six in 10 Americans believe they can build generational wealth.A recent survey of 2,000 U.S. adults, half of whom are homeowners, finds that 63 percent are confident they can accumulate property, investments, or other things with monetary value that they can pass down to the next generation.

Of those respondents, nearly three-quarters (74%) believe theyve already built generational wealth. However, homeownership isnt the only way to do so: more people who live with their parents or family and dont pay rent (83%) and renters (75%) feel they have already built generational wealth in comparison to homeowners (72%).

So, whats the most popular wealth-generating tool among homeowners? Making improvements to increase the value of a home (26%) tops the list. In comparison, 38 percent of those who dont own a home and currently live in student housing are turning to extreme savings and investment programs like Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE), or subletting part of their primary residence (38%).

Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of HomeLight, the survey also looked into other avenues for generational wealth building, including peoples plans to fund continuing education and business ventures.

To help with tuition expenses, 30 percent will take out a traditional loan through their bank or credit card. Those who live rent-free with their parents are more likely than homeowners to cash in their investments (36% vs. 23%), take out a traditional loan (41% vs. 24%), and use money theyve already saved (36% vs. 22%). People who plan to start a business in the next three to five years will take out a traditional loan (34%) or invest their savings (30%) in it.

Respondents also shared how they plan to finance upsizing their home or apartment. Despite the volatility of todays market, more than a third (34%) plan to upsize in the next three to five years, helping pay for it by cashing in investments (46%), taking out a loan (45%), and using money theyve saved up (45%).

Overall, the study proves that privilege pays off, and that those with access to family support and the foundation of generational wealth are already on the path toward accruing wealth. The survey shows that 77 percent of people currently living with family plan to inherit a home. Compared to homeowners, those who live with family without paying rent were also more likely to inherit a larger home to live in (46% vs. 33%) and borrow money from family or friends to afford their own home (42% vs. 28%).

The most expensive regions in the U.S. the Northeast and the West report the lowest homeownership rates, yet the highest numbers of those planning to inherit a home, at 63 percent and 57 percent, respectively. Overall, about two-thirds (64%) of millennials expect to inherit a home.

Despite changes in the market, homeownership continues to be one of the most surefire ways to build generational wealth in the U.S. Home equity surged to a record $27.8 trillion in Q1, but rising interest rates and costs of living have started to curb demand for home buying, says Vanessa Famulener, President of HomeLight Homes, in a statement. Those who have built up equity in their homes can take advantage of numerous tax, repayment, and interest rate benefits that home equity lending offers homeowners especially to help bring costs down for value-add home improvements.

One in three homeowners have plans to sell their current home, more than those who plan to live in it until they pass it down to their kids (20%). Fifty-seven percent are confident in their understanding of todays housing market, including more millennials than baby boomers (60% vs. 49%) and 47 percent of people 77 and older.

However, less than half (45%) are confident theyll sell their home at its highest value, with those in the West feeling the least confident (33%).

Beyond renovations, home equity loans and lines of credit offer an alternative to high-interest credit cards and personal loans for borrowers, but if youre reinvesting your homes equity in something else, its important to consider the collateral risk, Famulener adds. Investment properties are popular among those with equity in their homes one in five homeowners said they would use a home equity loan or line of credit on their primary home to invest in a single-family residence to rent out.

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Generational success: 6 in 10 think they'll build enough wealth to pass to their kids - Study Finds

MILWAUKEE, WI TheVeteran Loan Fundannounced this week that it has raised $15 million to support current and aspiring veteran entrepreneurs, including seed funding fromWells Fargo. The Veteran Loan Fund is a collaborative effort by a national network of Specialized Service Organizations and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) focused on providing affordable capital and technical assistance to veteran entrepreneurs.

Were so grateful to Wells Fargo for providing funding to continue the important support to veterans that the Veteran Loan Fund provides, says Wisconsin Womens Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC) President and Chief Visionary Officer Wendy K. Baumann. WWBIC is honored to provide development services to veterans as the Veterans Business Outreach Center for Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota and the Veteran Loan Fund helps us to assist even more veteran business owners in our area.

Lack of access to capital, formal business training or a network of peers are often roadblocks for veterans who aim to attain financial independence through entrepreneurship. The goal of the Veteran Loan Fund is to fill this gap. Veterans receiving loans from this program benefit from free access to a national network of business coaches and loans with low interest rates.

National technical assistance partners include Bunker Labs, Vet Met and Vet to CEO. Local partners include Veteran Business Outreach Centers, SCORE and SBDCs. Capital providers (CDFIs) include Access to Capital For Entrepreneurs (GA), Black Business Investment Fund (FLA), Business Impact Northwest (WA, OR), Colorado Enterprise Fund (CO), Dream Spring (NM), Economic and Community Development Institute (OH), Pathway Lending (TN, AL, KY), PeopleFund managing member (TX), Pursuit formerly Excelsior Growth Fund (NJ, NY, PA), and WWBIC in Wisconsin.

Wells Fargo support to the Veteran Loan Fund includes a $3.5 million investment and a $1.5 million grant to make it possible for the CDFIs to provide affordable loans to eligible veterans and for the fund to break even. Since the launch of the fund, member CDFIs have deployed more than $10.5 million in loans, creating more than 500 jobs and providing 2,200 hours of free technical assistance.

The estimated annual demand for capital from veteran entrepreneurs that do not receive any kind of funding for their businesses is $100 million. The Veteran Loan Fund plans to close this gap within five years.

Entrepreneurship can be a very satisfying career path as people transition out of the military, but veterans need more access to capital and expertise to operationalize their business plans, said Jenny Flores, head of small business growth philanthropy at Wells Fargo. We support the Veteran Loan Funds vision for a more inclusive economy and are proud to offer seed funding for this national effort to boost veteran-owned businesses.

Veteran Loan Fund loan recipients in Wisconsin will be complemented by the services of theVeterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC)at WWBIC. VBOC is designed to provide entrepreneurial development services such as business training, counseling, and resource partner referrals to transitioning service members, veterans, National Guard & Reserve members, and military spouses interested in starting or growing a small business. VBOCis funded in part by a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.For more information on VBOC, go towwbic.com/veteransor contact Wisconsin VBOC Co-DirectorDan Newberry.

For more information on the Veteran Loan Fund, please visitveteranloanfund.com. For details on applying locally for a loan through the Veteran Loan Fund, go towwbic.com/loansor contact WWBIC Director of LendingMichael Hetzel.

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Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation: $15 Million veteran loan fund closes its first round with support from Wells Fargo -...

Photo courtesy ofHuman Rights Watch

Earlier this month, a news report revealed that a 22 year old woman had filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission against the Welisara-Mahabage police. She alleged that her parents had subjected her to severe abuse after learning that she was a lesbian and in a consensual, same-sex relationship. She was locked up in her house for several weeks and taken to several Catholic priests in an attempt to convert her into heterosexuality. According to the news report, one of the priests had advised her parents to force her into a marriage and take away her financial independence to cure her.

With the help of a friend, she had manged to make the police aware about her situation, but the tables turned when she was brought into the station. After her parents informed the police that she was being confined due her sexual orientation, the police illegally confiscated her personal belongings and attempted to subject her to physical examinations against her will. Her lawyers from iProbono said that the police attempted to subject her to a psychiatric evaluation as well as a physical examination by a Judicial Medical Officer in order to prove that she suffered a mental illness as a result of her sexual orientation.

This is not an isolated incident. In the wake of Pride celebrations last month, the Sunday Times reported that a lesbian couple had been arrested by the Akkaraipattu Police due to their sexual orientation. It was revealed that one of the women was from India and she was attempting to help her partner migrate to India so they could get married. They were arrested when the father of the Sri Lankan woman lodged a complaint against them at the police. Subsequently, the court ordered the two women to be sent to the Kalmunai Base Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

Research and anecdotal evidence show that women who love women (including lesbians, bisexual women, transgender women and queer women) are often subject to discrimination, harassment and violence at home, workplaces and public spaces due to their sexual orientation. Families often try to subject them to conversion therapies (both by medical and religious means) and/or force them into heterosexual marriages to turn them straight. It is difficult to keep track of and document these incidents as often they happen behind closed doors. Nevertheless, coercion into unwanted marriages happen with alarming regularity as families see marriage as a way to avoid the stigma attached to victims sexuality. Often, their financial independence is also taken away by forcing them to quit their jobs and not allowing them to leave the home, resulting in the victims unable to seek help. And in instances legal help is sought, the police often invoke Section 365 and 365A of the Penal Code to arrest the victims and harass them further, even forcefully subjecting them to psychiatric evaluations and physical examinations.

The current legal and social context

Sri Lankan society is structured on strict gender roles and responsibilities where anything that strays from heteronormative and binary gender standards is considered abnormal, deviant and deserving of punishment/discrimination. Due to Sri Lankas colonial past, same sex sexual relations between consenting adults are criminalised by Sections 365 and 365A of the Penal Code, which states that carnal intercourse against the order of nature (in other words, any type of sex that is considered unnatural) and acts of gross indecency are criminal offences punishable by law, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years. In 1995, human rights activists attempted to repeal the Penal Code but instead of decriminalising same sex sexual relations between consenting adults, the amendment substituted the word males in the original legal text with the gender-neutral term people, thereby criminalising same-sex sexual activity between women as well.

Statistics by Human Dignity Trust (HDT) show that Sri Lanka is one of 70 countries that criminalises private, consensual, same-sex sexual activity. It is also one of 42 countries that criminalises private, consensual sexual activity between women using laws against lesbianism, sexual relations with a person of the same sex and gross indecency.

However, it is important to note that while Sections 365 and 365A can be interpreted to criminalise same-sex sexual relations, they do not criminalise diverse sexual orientations and gender identities/expressions. In other words, it is not a crime to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and/or queer in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan authorities, particularly the Attorney Generals Department, have on multiple occasions assured to international bodies that the constitution implicitly grants equal rights to LGBTIQ persons and protects them against discrimination.

Nonetheless, it is not surprising that these legal and cultural biases against queer people, especially queer women, have bled into all facets of society including the medical and mental health professions.

Conversion or corrective therapy

Last year, EQUAL GROUND received a complaint from a gay man in his mid-twenties, who sought treatment at a mental health clinic in a state run hospital. The psychiatrist who was supposed to treat his mental health issues reprimanded him, claiming that homosexuality was unnatural and it was the cause of all his problems. He went on to pressure Kamal to change himself if he wants to be helped and claimed that no medical professional in the world would be able to assist him with his mental health issues if he continued to be gay.

It is common for certain hospitals and clinics in Sri Lanka to provide conversion or corrective therapy the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change an individuals sexual orientation and gender identity from LGBT to straight (heterosexual). For instance, Suwasevana Hospitals (Pvt) Ltd in Kandy lists homosexuality and transvestitism as conditions that can be treated with its medical hypnosis service.

While Sri Lanka continues to marginalise its LGBTIQ population, global psychiatry and medical bodies have largely accepted that diverse sexual orientations and gender identities/expressions are not mental or physical illnesses. The Diagnostic Statistics Manual (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) what is considered the standard classification of mental disorders removed the diagnosis of homosexuality from its second edition (DSM II) in 1973 nearly 50 years ago. Further, the World Medical Association (WMA) has strongly emphasised that homosexuality does not represent a disease, but a normal variation within the realm of human sexuality. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisations (WHO), International Classification of Diseases (ICD) removed homosexuality from its list of diseases in 1990 and states that sexual orientation by itself is not to be considered a disorder (ICD 10); in 2018, it announced that being transgender is no longer considered a mental disorder in its latest ICD, published in 2019 (ICD 11). Other prominent mental health organisations have also affirmed that homosexuality and being transgender/gender-variant are not mental disorders or illnesses.

Even the Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists (SLCP), the countrys main medical body on mental health and psychiatry, last year stated that it does not consider homosexuality a mental illness and called for its decriminalisation. The Sri Lanka College of Psychiatrists would like to categorically state that we do not endorse the view that homosexuality is due to a disease of the mind or body, it said. Modern day psychiatrists do not identify or diagnose homosexuality as a mental illness or treat it as such. This myth that homosexuality is a mental illness is not in keeping with the evidence-based science practiced by our membership, the SLCP added. We would like to strongly urge the authorities to change article 365 of the penal code which states that homosexuality is a criminal act. This archaic law should be abolished and homosexuality decriminalised in Sri Lanka, the statement said.

Since non-heteronormative sexual orientations and gender identities are not considered as mental or physical illnesses or a disorder, there is nothing to cure or correct. In other words, all sexual orientations and gender identities/expressions are natural and valid. Conversion and correction therapies are considered pseudoscientific practices and are widely discredited in the medical field. Also, there are no credible scientific studies that prove that conversion therapy is effective in any way. Mainstream international medical bodies have acknowledged the potential harm and ineffectiveness of such therapies/cures. For instance, in 1998, the American Psychiatric Association listed depression, anxiety, and self-destructive behaviour as some of the key risks of such corrective/conversion therapies. In fact, the United Nations (UN) has stated that such practices can amount to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishments.

Earlier this year, Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) MP, Rohini Kaviratne, tabled a private members motion to ban conversion therapies by unregistered clinics in Sri Lanka. However, there has been no updates on its implementation or the next steps so far.

CEDAW ruling on Sections 365 and 365A

In March this year, in a landmark decision, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) committee found that the criminalisation of consensual, same-sex relations between women in Sri Lanka is a human rights violation. The decision was in a case brought by Rosanna Flamer-Caldera to at the UN, with the support of the Human Dignity Trust (HDT), and sets a major legal precedent, holding that the criminalisation of lesbian and bisexual women violates the Convention.

The CEDAW Committee said that section 365A of the Penal Code of 1883 (amended in 1995) that criminalises same sex sexual relations between consenting adults compounds discrimination against women in Sri Lanka, and as such, violates lesbian and bisexual womens right to non-discrimination under article 2 (a) and (d)(g) of the Convention. It also noted that that decriminalisation of consensual same-sex relations is essential to prevent and protect against violence, discrimination and harmful gender stereotyping.

As such, the CEDAW committee urged the government to decriminalise same-sex sexual relations. It also asked Sri Lanka to take measures to protect women against gender-based violence by adopting comprehensive legislation against discrimination against lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women, and provide adequate protection, support systems and remedies, including reparation, to lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women who are victims of discrimination. Further recommendations included ensuring victims of gender-based violence including lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women have access to effective civil and criminal remedies and protection, including counselling, health services and financial services, addressing workplace discrimination against LBTI women and providing sensitisation training to law enforcement agencies.

Research has shown that globally, LGBTIQ persons experience much higher rates of depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses, even leading to self-harm and suicide in certain instances as a result of the daily traumas they go through. In this context, discrimination and harassment by families, authorities, as well as medical professionals, especially those working in the field of mental health, cause irreparable harm to LGBTIQ persons. As they are unable to get the help they need, they are forced to live in the shadows, often at the cost of their mental and physical wellbeing. Therefore, it is high time for the government of Sri Lanka to remove oppressive laws and practices against the LGBTIQ community and grant them their basic human rights.

To obtain EQUAL GROUNDs Counselling Services, visit https://www.facebook.com/EGcounsellinghotline/ or call +94-11-4334277 (LB women), +94-11-4334278 (Transgender Persons), +94-11-4334279 (General).

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Out of the Shadows: Violence Against Women who Love Women - Groundviews

Some of the Black educators that artist Alexandria Clay replicated in charcoal portraits as part of Lost In Transition include top to bottom, left to right: Lethia Hankins, William Grady Lowe, Bertha Boykin Todd, Dorothy B. Johnson, Fred J. Rogers, and LS. Williams. (Courtesy Black on Black)

WILMINGTON Theres a difference between integration and desegregation, Michael Williams explained during a phone conversation last week. He was speaking about an upcoming art exhibit, Lost In Transition, hosted by his Black on Black Project.The initiative produces exhibitions, short films and programs to inspire dialogue surrounding equity in Black communities.

Sponsored by the N.C. Museum of Art, Lost In Transition displays portraits of 10 Black educators, illustrated in charcoal on paper by Raleigh artist Alexandria Clay. Most of the images are based on pictures of former teachers that have been published in the Willistonian Williston High Schools yearbook from 1945 to 1966.

Throughout its 150 years, North Carolinas first accredited Black high school has changed names, moved locations, endured a fire, was rebuilt, then closed and reopened. Today, it operates as Williston Middle School of Math, Science and Technology at 401 S. 10th Street.

It also has managed to churn out Black alumni of varying successful professions athletes like basketball player Meadowlark Lemon (Harlem Globetrotters), Wimbledon champion Althea Gibson, and MLB player Sam Bowens, as well as jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath and architect Robert Robinson Taylor, who helped build Booker T. Washingtons Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

Williston closed and desegregated in 1968 14 years after the Supreme Court found the Brown v. Board of Educations separating schools by race was unconstitutional. Black students were moved to the white-populated Hoggard and New Hanover highs. Yet, the decision to shutter the school, made by the New Hanover County education board at the time, was one of financial interest more than social justice, Williams explained.

It endured a lawsuit filed by Dr. Hubert Eaton, who wanted his daughter to have the same access to materials and quality facilities. Like many Black schools, Williston was disproportionately underfunded and utilized furniture and books passed down from white schools. The board didnt want to disperse money to upgrade the facility.

In the fall of 1968, for the first time Black and white students began walking halls together; however, many Black educators the students had become accustomed to didnt get transferred with them, Williams explained. In effect, it created a cultural disparity something the curator maintains is just as important as academic curriculum.

Im always cognizant about using desegregation versus integration, Williams said. Desegregation, when you think about it, was more about, Hey, we need access to resources. Thats the purpose of it not to necessarily truly co-mingle with people who maybe dont want to have anything to do with you.

Williams pointed to Jennifer Eberhardts book Biased, one of a dozen he read while preparing for Lost In Transition. The book features a story of a Mississippi student, Bernice Donald, who experienced teasing upon being transferred into a desegregated school. Eberhardt writes the teacher at that time didnt do anything about it.

When you put students in an environment in which their humanity isnt fully seen, theres going to be a lot of stuff that is lost. I think thats the part that maybe we dont want to talk about, Williams said. Everything about these former institutions was supposed to affirm Black humanity, Black intelligence and Black achievement. Lost In Transition aims to remember that.

Williams carefully researched who to feature in the art exhibit by listening to 80 hours of oral histories as documented at Duke Universitys David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library and UNCWs Randall Library. He also watched interviews regarding Wilmingtons former Black educators through archived footage from Cape Fear Museum.

One is Herman Johnson a native Wilmingtonian who graduated from Williston Senior High in 1961 and moved on to teach at Cape Fear Community College.

When the schools desegregated, hed hear white faculty members talking about how Black students didnt want to learn, Williams explained. And hes telling them, No, its not that they dont want to learn its just that this is probably the first time theyve had a significant interaction with white people.

Black institutions of the era were emboldened by community at the root and educational foundation for African Americans dating back to slavery.

Ninety-five percent of Black people were uneducated at the onset of Reconstruction. Those who could read and write which was illegal to teach slaves in North Carolina during the Civil War did so from being self-taught or learning from family members or others on plantations and in clandestine schools.

Once the war ended and slaves were freed, education became imperative in order to achieve financial independence and equality. Schools popped up in churches and were sponsored by philanthropic organizations, or were established by the U.S. Freedmens Bureau, which funded buildings and supplies for African American schools.

In 1866 a year after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed Williston opened on 7th Street. Founded by the abolitionist American Missionary Association, it was intended to serve free slaves 450 pupils in multiple departments: primary, intermediate, advanced, normal and/or industrial education.

It wasnt until 30 years later the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy vs. Ferguson that public schools would be separate but equal for Black and white students, essentially legalizing segregation.

Willistons principal from 1875 to the 1890s was Mary Washington Howe, the inspiration for Williams pursuit of Lost In Transition. Her portrait was shown last year as part of Black on Blacks Continuum of Change exhibit in downtown Wilmington. It centered on business people, politicians, doctors and educators thriving in Wilmington pre-1898, before the Wilmington Massacre thwarted progress.

READ MORE:Portrait project highlights Wilmingtons Black-centric world, pre-1898

Williams said he began thinking about how hard it must have been for educators post Reconstruction, in the Jim Crow era and during civil rights to rise above the fray of political and racial turmoil to continue to teach and influence students.

These Black educators didnt have full citizenship themselves, Williams said. Yet theyre educating students and encouraging students to go after full citizenship, which meant you had to have an education to do that. It is interesting how they were able to navigate the world around them while also teaching future generations to do the same thing.

William Grady Lowe is one of the portraits that stands out to Rhode Island School of Design graduate and Lost In Transition featured artist Clay. Lowe graduated from Williston in 1942 and returned to teach social studies at the school in 1951. One of his students, Joseph McNeil, became a prominent North Carolina activist of the Greensboro Four.

In 1960, the group was a catalyst inspiring sit-ins nationwide after nonviolently protesting equal rights for Black people to eat at the counter at F. W. Woolworth department stores. The movement led to the incremental change in the company, which eventually removed its segregated policy in the South.

[Lowe] inspired his students to take action, fighting for what they deserve, even demanding it, Clay said. The impact that he had on Joseph McNeil was clear.

Theres so many anecdotes in these oral histories about how William Grady Lowe helped students understand their rights and encouraged them to understand how government worked, Williams added.

Clay spent several months sketching all 10 figures. Normally, the artist works with subject matter she knows well, such asfamily and friends. But after immersing into each educators story for Lost In Transition, she said she could feel firsthand their indelible imprint.

That feeling is evident on the 24-inch-by-30-inch page.

Alex uses charcoal to create memories that seep into your soul, Williams praised. She uses the heavy contrast of the pigmented black on the white paper to make us feel this lasting impact something that lives in our collective memory.

Clay said one story that resonated with her in particular was of Ernest Swain. He worked in Brunswick and New Hanover County schools and always spoke to his students about dressing for confidence, she described as the role model they wanted to become.

Always looking your best, no matter where youre going, is something that my mother preached often, Clay said. Also, I saw a slight resemblance in Swains picture to my father. I can count on one hand how many Black teachers Ive had in my 16 years of education. Its interesting to think of what it mightve been like to have a plethora of teachers that look like you, or your cousin, or your dad.

Representation is one of the many disparities Williams said was lost during desegregation and continues. Currently, in North Carolina, state data indicates 54%of students are nonwhite, while only 22% of educators are.

Williams said he looked at data from ProPublica and Cape Fear Collective, as well as report card information published by the Department of Public Instruction, to help inform and shape conversations he wants Lost In Transition to impart upon others. He found the modern-day numbers between white and Black third graders in reading proficiency and school suspensions particularly alarming.

White third graders are at a proficient reading level 2.3 times higher than Black third graders, he said. Out of 115 school districts in North Carolina, 97 reported a Black third-grade reading proficiency. And then New Hanover County ranks low in black reading proficiency at 70% out of 97 districts. So that in and of itself is a problem. And a lot of the time we want to blame the kids.

Williams said his mother, also an educator, always frowned upon leaders condemning students. Many times its the adults who arent properly equipped to communicate or relate.

Its not on the children, she would say, Williams recalled. Its about how we are transmitting information and, because of a confluence of circumstances, a lot of kids may not have the greatest support system at home.

Williams added its not uncommon for families to often work two or three jobs just to maintain shelter and food for their children. Even in 2022, there is an imbalance of wage disparity for Black communities in the labor market. According to the Economic Policy Institute, today Black employees earn 24.4% less per hour than the typical white worker a number that has risen from 1979s 16.4%.

Black education during the first 100 years after slavery thrived on a three-point system, a phrase Williams said he heard coined by former student Linda Pearce, while listening to the oral histories. Essentially, people within the Black community watched after one another in church, home and school. The teachers went to the church with the families parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who in turn always had a watchful eye on the kids.

So there was this way that students were educated in a holistic kind of manner, Williams said. And when you look at Alexs portraits of these educators, when theyre in their prime, dealing with the Jim Crow world, but also helping students navigate it, its like this conversation in real-time about What do we do? How do we show you what the Constitution says so you understand your rights now, but also make sure you learn the Middle English of The Canterbury Tales, so when you get to the Ivy League school, you can handle that too.

Williston became the first accredited Black high school in the state and remained that way in New Hanover County for more than 40 years. Despite having deprived resources, it was considered the best performing Black school in North Carolina as well.

In one of the oral histories about Lucille Simon Williams also a featured portrait a student, Bertha Boykin Todd, called the disciplinarian one of the most intimidating teachers but most respected among students. She taught English, Latin and sociology and to pass her class, reading aloud a passage from Chaucers The Canterbury Tales in Middle English was required.

When the school desegregated she was close to retirement, Todd recalled in a film on the Lost In Transition website, also featuring backstories about every educator sketched. She taught at Hoggard one year before she retired. And the students, white and Black, loved her. She was such a fascinating character.

When looking back at the former Black educators, Williams said Todd used one word to describe them: dedicated.

She also loved to say loco parentis, he noted, translating to in place of the parent.

The sentiment is teachers went further than merely providing an education or teaching for statewide mandates and test scores. Sure, they would go by the curriculum handed to them to receive municipal funding, but Williams said they also would bring in texts that resonated with Black communities yet perhaps not recognized by state-level academics.

Theyd have a curriculum on the desk, and if a principal or a superintendent walked in, it would be what was on the desk and what students were engaged in, Williams described something he learned by reading Jarvis Gibbons Fugitive Pedagogy.

But when that administrative figure left, the teacher would have Carter G. Woodson books in their lap, teaching from that so the students can understand, OK this is how this country got to be this way. And this was our Black culture, our contribution to things being this way. And I think thats very important.

In 2022, this idea is being debated between the political divide as cultural race theory, in essence. Yet, showing the successes of the Black educators via an art show, Williams said, felt like a more palatable approach to talking about situations that were and are still very real among Black Americans. There was a fundamental understanding and at-ease communication and comfort Black educators established, which, in and of itself, created trust and a sense of belonging among their students.

Im not saying desegregation was better, Williams clarified. This art show isnt to debate that. But in a Black school setting, there was a familiarity with people who looked like you; educators reflected you and that is important for students. Its not always about race either but students need to see themselves in their teachers.

Clay said her first Black teacher wasnt present until fourth grade a community leader of a local youth group.

Even though my siblings and I didnt attend elementary school at the same time, her impact, care and involvement was felt in the lives of my whole family, Clay said. She was a leader and role model for all of us in the different chapters of our lives.

Clay said part of the joy in creating the portraits came with listening to the students speak so highly of their mentors stories would inevitably overlap.

I loved to hear how each individual received their education and then turned around to inspire more and give back in their communities, Clay said.

Many students often spoke of Willistons sweet cinnamon buns and the Glee Club as high points ingrained in their memories. Beryl Constance ODell, Todd recounted, was Willistons choir director, who led the club around the state to perform. She went on to work as the head of counselors at Hoggard, after receiving her masters. And even after retirement, she oversaw a Williston alumni group to sing at the White House.

Whats great about Wilmington is we have the great Bertha Boykin Todd and Angela Hankins Metts, whose mother was Lethia Sherman Hankins, to hear from firsthand, Williams said. He sat down with both women at Cape Fear Museum to recount memories of the climate of Black education 60-plus years ago. He said Hankins described her mother also featured in the art exhibit as a bridge.

She graduated from Williston High School in 1951 and returned by the end of the decade to teach English and drama. Hankins was an educator for 36 years, served on Wilmington City Council from 2003 to 2007 and was a co-chair of the 1898 Foundation in 2008.

We should ask ourselves today, Who are the members in the community that serve as bridges? Williams asked. There are definitely some and we need to wrap our arms around them in support.

Lost In Transition is a jumping off point to inspire those deeper conversations and make connections to improve, to understand how culture impacts education and how to work toward better relationships in the teacher-student dynamic.

The myth is that the past was always better, Williams said. Its a myth. What is true, though, I believe, is that we can pull from the past to the present, and figure out the recipe to go forward. And I think thats kind of what Im interested in doing in this project.

Black on Black presents Lost In Transition, which opens Thursday night at 210 Princess Street in the former Art in Bloom Gallery space. It will be on display through Sept. 25. The opening exhibition, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on July 21, will include a video featuring theatrical performances by UNCW students who will be re-enacting some of the oral histories of students and educators. The show is open on Thursdays and Fridays, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 4 p.m.

Tips or comments? Emailinfo@localdailymedia.com.

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Cultural reflections: Art exhibit celebrates Black educators in Wilmington before and after desegregation - Port City Daily

When I created my money and lifestyle blog Making Sense of Cents in 2011, I had no idea what I was doing.

I was a 22-year-old financial analyst making $40,000 a year and struggling to pay off my student loans. But my debt was actually a large part of why I started blogging I wanted to track and share the progress of my financial goals.

Eleven years later, Making Sense has grown beyond my wildest dreams. Over the last five years, I've grossed an average of $760,000 per year in passive income by providing advice on how to start investing, which financial products to use, and how to tackle other money decisions.

My husband and I have reached financial independence, and we've saved enough to retire whenever we want. This has allowed me to live my ideal lifestyle: I work just 10 hours a week and travel full-time on our sailboat. I am regularly out snorkeling, exploring and hiking.

Best of all, we have plenty of time to spend with our six-month-old daughter.

Michelle's passive income allows her and her family to live and travel full-time on their sailboat, where they have limited access to internet.

Photo: Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Making Sense began as a hobby, but about six months into writing, my friend connected me with a company that wanted me to write a sponsored post for them. They paid me $100 to reach my 50,000 monthly site visitors.

After that, I started studying other bloggers who made money off their blogs. I posted more frequently and set up display advertisements on my website. I also continued writing sponsored posts by reaching out to brands that I saw other bloggers working with.

In just two years, I was earning around $5,000 to $10,000 per month more than what I was making at my day job. Once I fully paid off my student loans in 2013, I decided to quit my job and blog full-time.

For the first few years, I focused on the blogging element of my business and published new posts almost every day. I posted guest articles on my friends' blogs, too.

Then I doubled down on my social media presence. Now I have 110,000 followers on Facebook, where I post multiple times a day, and 161,000 followers on Pinterest, where I post about twice a week. I also have over 130,000 email subscribers.

Over the years, I've leveraged my audience to create several passive income streams. And in 2016, I launched my first blogging course. Today, I write and publish blogs just once or twice a week, and I have earned over $4,000,000 gross revenue in the last five years.

Working only 10 hours per week has allowed Michelle to spend more time in nature with her family.

Photo: Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Making passive income from a blog doesn't mean that you never have to work. You are always going to have to manage the accounting side of your business, maintain your website, and create fresh content. But you can do a lot of work upfront and earn money for years with little maintenance.

I have three main passive income drivers: affiliate marketing, course sales and display advertising.

Affiliate marketing commissions make up about 50% of my revenue. I'm paid when I direct traffic or sales to partner brands through links on my blog including on posts that were created months or years ago and are still discoverable via Google, my social media channels, and my blog.

About 20% of my revenue comes from course sales. I have two blogging courses that I sell to my blog audience and email subscribers: Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing and Making Sense of Sponsored Posts.

I created my first course on Teachable and did all of the planning, writing and recording work. I commissioned the graphic design elements to freelancers.

I sell Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing for $197 and Making Sense of Sponsored Posts for $159, both cost much less than what my competitors charge. Nonetheless, I have earned over $1,000,000 over the years from these two courses.

I also make passive income through display advertising commissions through Adthrive. I'm paid when readers see or click an auto-generated ad on my blog.

I'm always trying to increase my passive income. On top of blogging, my husband and I invest in both individual stocks and investment accounts to add our retirement fund.

Since I live and travel on a sailboat, there's not always reliable internet. So without passive income drivers, my family and I wouldn't be able to enjoy this wonderful nomadic lifestyle.

Michelle and her husband travel full-time on their sailboat with their daughter.

Photo: Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Here are my top tips for creating content that can help you earn passive income:

On Making Sense, I discuss financial topics using language that's easy to read and understand. People walk away feeling like they've learned something instead of feeling patronized or confused. This makes them more likely to return or to share my blog with their friends.

Make sure your social media language is engaging and personable, too. A good trick is to write as if you're casually talking to a friend over coffee.

Affiliate marketing, display advertising and digital product sales are some of your best bets for making passive income.

Diversifying your income streams allows you to not be reliant on just one way of making money or just one of your traffic sources. Instead, you will have balanced income streams to mitigate risk.

While your old blogs can earn you income for years down the line, it's still a good idea to keep generating fresh content. This helps you attract new readers or followers while also maintaining your loyal ones (who don't want to see the same stuff over and over).

The goal is to make people want to come back to your blog. You want them to trust you enough to buy a course or affiliated product that you recommended.

Ask readers what they want to read more of or what questions they have. Conduct your own research on what's trending for fresh ideas. Include actionable tips that they can use right away. And lastly, only promote and sell products that you personally believe in.

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, where she helps readers make smart decisions about how to earn, save, spend and invest. She paid off nearly $40,000 in student loan debt in just seven months and now travels full-time with her family on sailboat. Follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

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This 33-year-old mom makes $760,000 a year in passive incomeand lives on a sailboat: 'I work just 10 hours a week' - CNBC

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Whether youre living to work, drowning in debt, struggling to save, overspending, or existing from paycheck to paycheck, youre all too familiar with the invisible chains of financial stress. The answer, of course, is financial freedom, but with so many bills and so little money left over at the end of the month, how could anyone get from here to there?

Check Out:GOBankingRates Top 100 Money ExpertsMore Advice:Dave Ramsey on the Right Way To Become a Millionaire

Grant Sabatier a self-made millionaire and golden child of the FIRE movement has created a roadmap that he says can bridge the gap between financial servitude and financial independence. There are seven levels, and if Sabatier is right that most Americans are already at the second level, you only have six more rungs to climb.

GOBankingRates asked the experts for the best ways to level up. Check it out.

Step one is to assess and clarify. Its time to take inventory of where you are financially and develop a clear picture of where youd like to be. That means checking your credit and revisiting your bank and credit card accounts. Youll also have to do the unpleasant job of gathering your bills and tabulating your monthly expenses.

You do have to do it, but if you keep up with it after that, youll only have to do it once.

In order to take control of your finances during these changing times, as well as get a hold of your spending and investments, its important to create a financial plan, said Radu Tyrsina, CEO and founder of Windows Report and Reflector Media. To successfully manage your financial progress you need to be able to track your net worth, spending, and investments in order to get a larger view of where you stand.

When you clear this level, youre standing on your own two feet. Youve moved out of your parents house and youre off any public assistance youd been relying on to get by.

Its important to note that self-sufficiency and financial independence are two different things. At level 2, youll probably be living paycheck to paycheck, struggling with debt, or both, but youre no longer dependent. Although it might not feel like it, youre finally in control of your own destiny.

The Most Influential Money Experts:Where We Get Our Money Advice

This level is where you break the cycle of paycheck-to-paycheck living and all the anxiety that comes with it by finally building up some savings.

Having breathing room right now with inflation at a record high in the past 41 years is imperative, said Adrienne Taylor-Wells, an accredited financial counselor with Tailored WealthSaver.

If you reach level 4, youve made it you are officially financially stable. That means having six months worth of savings in the bank and no toxic debt.

If youre still living one paycheck away from disaster, saving six months worth of expenses might feel like an impossible hill to climb. The keys are consistency and patience.

Automate your savings so that 10-20% of everything you earn is automatically saved and invested, said entrepreneur, author and financial advisor David Delisle, who wrote The Golden Quest to get kids interested in money. This way you never see the money and dont even miss it. The habit is automatic.

Once youve established a healthy emergency fund, youll divert some of your income to investments instead of savings. It works the same way by doing it slowly, steadily and automatically, a little will eventually become a lot.

Over time youll reach level five. Thats when you have at least two years worth of expenses banked, which gives you the flexibility to take a year off of work if you choose to travel, spend more time with your family or finally write that novel.

For Kris Fothergill, CPA and founder of the Diagno accounting firm, flexibility meant buying a yacht and running his business from the sea. Its a dream worth working toward.

Living on a boat has provided our family with many unforgettable memories, said Fothergill. We have been blessed to surf world-class waves, visit remote villages that are often unheard of, frolic in crystal clear waters and explore some of the biggest cities in the world, all from our humble floating home.

This is the step where you get to quit your very last job and live off the income that your investments generate, maybe from stock dividends or rental income. If you make it here, you have achieved the holy grail of personal finance financial independence.

Real estate investor Brian Davis, founder of Spark Rental, advises people to measure their progress to financial independence by tracking their FI ratio.

Your financial independence (FI) ratio is the percentage of your living expenses that you can cover with passive income from investments, said Davis. For example, if your monthly living expenses come to $4,000, and you have $1,000 in average passive income each month, you have an FI ratio of 25%. When you reach 100%, youve reached financial independence. You can quit your job and retire if you want. Its the one financial goal that every adult shares, but it also serves as a good measuring tool for financial benchmarks.

This ones simple youre rich. You can now eat at high-end restaurants without looking at the right side of the menu and jet-set around the world on a moments notice. Youre officially in the 1%. Enjoy it and reach down to help the lower 99 whenever you can.

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Andrew Lisa has been writing professionally since 2001. An award-winning writer, Andrew was formerly one of the youngest nationally distributed columnists for the largest newspaper syndicate in the country, the Gannett News Service. He worked as the business section editor for amNewYork, the most widely distributed newspaper in Manhattan, and worked as a copy editor for TheStreet.com, a financial publication in the heart of Wall Street's investment community in New York City.

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7 Levels of Financial Freedom: How To Work Your Way Up, According to Experts - GOBankingRates

The asset management industry is poor at addressing women, who in turn need to take more control over their finances, the managing director of Carmignac's UK branch has said.

Maxime Carmignac told FTAdviser she began to realise there was a gender inequality in investing through personal experiences at the start of her career.

I felt among my friends, even in my family,there was an inequality in financial awareness between men and women.

As I grew older, [I realised] the huge value that women are missing, because they are not investing, and [therefore] not compounding their wealth, she said.

Carmignac conducted a straw poll and asked her friends why they are not compounding.

They said it is because I am not wealthy enough.

It is the opposite - because you are not wealthy enough you should let the money work for you - and this is a huge misperception, she said.

Carmignac said it is important for women to take better control of their long-term financial planning, because it gets to the very heart of their independence.

Indeed, financial independence for female savers equates to greater independence for women as a whole and the key to this financial independence is understanding how to invest, she said.

The outlook for womens'investing is improving, with research from Janus Henderson showing that women start investing three years younger than their male counterparts.

However, the investment industry is set to lose out on 2.36tn of global investment unless it becomes more inclusive.

According to a report from BNY Mellon, if women were to invest at the same rate as men, this could have a significant and lasting effect on the investment industry worldwide.

To this end, Carmignac created a fund aimed at women.

The Carmignac Portfolio Grandchildren is run by Mark Denham and Obe Ejikeme and has AUM of 66mn (57mn).

Due to naming restrictions, the UK fund in this strategy is called the Carmignac Global Equity Compounders and has 51mn under management.

The UK fund has returned 25 per cent in the two year to June, compared with its benchmark, the MSCI world index.

The USP of the fund is to combine active management and compounding, as a one-stop shop for busy women who cannottrade.

"I have four children and a full-time job, I do not want to go around and see what stocks XYZ are doing.

"I want to invest and forget about it," she said.

Carmignac emphasised the important of everyone fighting for womens development.

I think this fight has to be won by both men and women, this is very important.

Having realistic role models both within companies and externally is important [too].

I think it is something that in the next 10 years will change.

sally.hickey@ft.com

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'Women must take better control of their financial planning' - FT Adviser