Often I run across people who appear to have a very affluent and luxurious lifestyle. 

Fun, fashion, freedom to travel, adventures, the best of everything, big home, nice cars, socially active, etc. Over time it becomes obvious which group these folks fall into:

• Those who have accumulated real wealth and can actually afford to live this lifestyle stress-free (good for them!)
• Those who live this lifestyle on credit, various forms of debt, hocking their future, and diminishing potential wealth through heavy interest and impulse spending

Typically the latter, if you get to know them, have a underlying foundation of stress, problems, inconsistencies and erupting consequences.  If you get to know someone on any level past the superficial, then it becomes very obvious (no matter what their lifestyle) if they are living on debt, or living with financial freedom.  (and I'm talking to those who CHOOSE this... I realize some people are forced into debt because of tragic circumstances)

Remember, financial freedom can be, but is not necessarily, being at a point where money is not an issue (being legitimately wealthy). Financial freedom (whether wealthy or not) is rooted in our attitudes, in our discipline and in our choices of how we live regardless of our current income or accumulated wealth.

If I'm a true millionaire, I can buy a Harley and go riding. If I'm making $30K/year with a wife and three kids, then the "fun" you'll have financing that Harley won't be worth the stress, debt and strain you put on your family and marriage. True financial freedom is the peace and lack of stress that comes with know you are doing what is right (true freedom in ANY area can be defined that way).

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Our problem too often, like the Government, is that we want it all NOW, and we are willing to hock our future to get it believing that sometime down the road we will have all the money we want to pay for it.  Many lives and marriages find out this NOT true? Why?

Because the same lack of discipline, the same impulsiveness, the same attitudes of instant gratification are the very things that keep people from ever getting to the point of true financial freedom. 

• Proper attitudes: why have money? what is it for? how should it be used? what about debt?
• Conviction and discipline: the conviction to do what is right, and the discipline to continuing doing it no matter how you feel or what the circumstance
• Absolutes: when you based your convictions on absolutes, then you don't waiver in the face of hardship.
  
  Examples of absolutes: don't buy lifestyle on credit; don't spend impulsively (except for the part of your budget where you actually allocate money to spend impulsively); don't live a lifestyle out of sync with your income... there are many more, but the point is, if you have convictions that aren't absolute, then you'll absolutely not keep them when the pressure is on.

ABSOLUTES ARE KEY TO DO ANYTHING DIFFICULT IN LIFE

In our society today, we don't believe in absolutes. It is a byproduct of tossing God out. To be absolute is to be close-minded, judgmental and intolerant.  It worked for 250 years to make America great... now 50 years of relativism and "progressive thought" threatens to doom us (and it can).

Be ABSOLUTE in your beliefs, convictions and goals. Otherwise, you'll just be tossed to and fro by feelings, fads, trends and pressures.

You can be financially free in the NEXT TEN SECONDS if you simply come to the right understanding about money and the right convictions about how to proceed. Yes, you'll still have debt to pay off, but it won't hold you hostage or control your life anymore. No, you might not have the house you want, but you'll be content with what you've got, asking God if it is His will that you have more. No, you may not be able to quit work, travel and sit on the beach full time, but you won't have the life-sucking stress of hopelessness either.

THE NEW AMERICAN PERSONAL FINANCE REALITY

In the new America of "hope and change" (hope for more goverment control and a change to European Socialism), it is not the time to hang on to the loose, undisciplined financial habits of the past 30 years. The economy is NOT going to grow endlessly; credit is not always going to be there; prices are not going to fall perpetually; houses are not always going to go up in REAL value... prosperity is NOT a God-ordained right of Americans, despite the entitlement mentality we have successfully cultivated.

The sooner you accept that, and begin to return the Godly ideas of contentment, modest lifestyle, debt-free living and frugal finances, the sooner you will be on track to fixing the mess you are in. Or, you can wait around for the government to "bail out" your personal debt, and then become THEIR slave in exchange for the favor (financial slave, or spiritual slave... either is horrible).

You can be financially free the SECOND you adopt the right attitudes and convictions, and adopt them as absolutes. The rest is just making those attitudes and convictions happen.

My latest book - Life Without Debt - shares the timeless principles of true financial freedom, Biblical perspectives on money and practical methods on getting out of debt, and staying out of debt.