How to achieve economic independence?
“Economic independence means that you don’t depend on anyone or anything to live”. Plain and simple. That’s how clear our financial director, Oriol Tafanell, is. We follow, step by step, his advice, and we answer how the 11Onze community will reach it.
First, however, we need to ask ourselves why it is so important to empower ourselves. “Economic independence allows you to decide what you want to do in life and this, even though we often separate the heart from the brain, makes you emotionally stronger,” Tafanell says right at the start. With financial independence, we forget the stresses, the nerves, the sleepless nights and the anguish. Economic independence, then, is first built individually, and then we struggle to achieve it collectively. Let’s see it!
Three tips for individual emancipation
- Make a budget. Our CFO is concise: “The most basic thing is to make a budget, to know what income you get and what expenses you have”, he says. If the income is not enough to pay all the expenses, the most logical thing to do is to reduce the latter. And he gives an example: “If you have made a budget thinking that you will pay a rent of 1,000 euros a month, but then you add clothes, food, supplies, and it is not enough, maybe you have to see if the rent you have is too high. If you get obsessed, or you know you can’t reduce the expense in any way, you have to look at how to get more money.” For Tafanell, it is very important to know how much money we have, how we manage it and, for this reason, he considers an application like the one 11Onze’s clients will have, El Canut, to be essential: “People will have the possibility of seeing where and how their money is, they will learn how to manage it, how to move financially. It’s a tool,” he says.
- Force yourself to save. Even if you have achieved a stable balance between income and expenses, Tafanell recommends that income should always exceed expenses, for one simple reason: uncertainty. “You have to be able to deal with shocks, and in life they happen all the time: because you lose your job, because your fridge breaks down… Any situation can cause a crisis. Then, what will really make you financially independent is that your income allows you to save,” he says.
- Detail what you have to spend the money on. Finally, our financial director reminds us that each stage of life has to set savings priorities. “So, when you are young, if you study thanks to your family, it is important to work to save. Later, you live as a couple, you have children, or you build a career path, and savings are used to be able to pay for what’s coming up. And, in the end, when we are old, we have to invest our savings in a good pension plan, in retirement,” Tafanell says. The key, according to him, is to do “a little bit every day, to maintain discipline throughout your life.
The five objectives for collective empowerment
- Reduce debt. “Today, with the economic situation we have, if you are young, you have to study and work, and save. In cities like Barcelona, paying rent is practically impossible. This must change, it is clear. A universal income? In a country like ours, although we would like it, we have to forget about it,” admits our chief financial officer. And he reminds us that “Spain is a country with a high deficit”. “If collective economic independence is to maintain the expenses and income of a country, we cannot get into debt. And in Spain, indebtedness grows and grows, everything goes to pay interest,” he explains.
- Solidarity means paying taxes. For that reason, it is essential, according to Tafanell, “to be very supportive”. “That means that no one works under the table and that everyone pays taxes,” he summarizes. On a large scale, it means avoiding tax evasion and tax havens. “It’s unsupportive, and all it makes is sinking the country’s collective economy.” In fact, the more people pay taxes, Tafanell explains, the less taxes we will have to pay.
- Continue to educate the world. “There is too much capital that does not pay money. This has to stop,” he says, and the comment inevitably leads him to talk about the business culture of Mediterranean countries, which he sums up with the saying: “The law is made, the trap is made”. “It can’t be that the first thing we think about is how to sneak around, how to make the most of the system. Everyone makes a thousand and one tricks,” says our CFO with his gentle demeanor. Picaresque, he says, means that the unemployment rate has reached 25%, as it has during the pandemic, and there is no revolt. For this reason, he considers the reflection and debate that the 11Onze community proposes in La Plaza to be essential. “And from here, to continue educating. We can help, for sure. That is why we have created a financial community”, he says.
- Rebuilding the econmic network. Precisely, the community that 11Onze is patiently building is the key to rebuilding a Catalan economic network that, Tafanell confesses, “practically no longer exists”. “In Catalonia we were very proud to be a country of entrepreneurs, but the second and third generations of managers sold all the successful companies to multinationals, who don’t care whether the headquarters are in Catalonia or Mozambique,” laments the financial director. Moreover, instead of investing the money from these sales in innovation and development, it has gone into real estate and speculation.
- Defining our community. The last objective for achieving economic independence is, therefore, to define very clearly what our community is. “If it is only the territory of Catalonia, and we do not have to drag the deficit of the whole of Spain along with us, the power we have to build ourselves economically is impressive,” he says. And he concludes: “The independence of Catalonia is a dream, yes, but I believe it is achievable. We have to prepare people for when it is possible. How? Less words. We have to take to the streets”.
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👌 A tot, en especial a la conclusió: “Si no hem d’arrossegar el dèficit de tota Espanya, el poder que tenim per construir-nos econòmicament és impressionant”.
Gràcies Oriol per parlar tan clar i català.
Fem comunitat per alguna cosa més que per la independència econòmica individual.
Fem comunitat perquè som una Comunitat.
Si volem podem. Un bon dia per a fer memòria.
🙏🏿
Moltes gràcies pels consells
Molt bé
Molt bons consells.
Contents que et sigui d’ajuda aquest article Carles.
Molt be 👏👏
Gràcies, Josep.
INDEPÈNDENCIA!
Som-hi
👍
Gràcies, Joan.
Un país que inverteix en trens d’alta velocitat i no en rodalies, que inverteix en aeroports fantasma. Que enlloc de perseguir el frau fiscal de les grans empreses es dedica a escanyar les petites empreses. Un país que permet abusos com els que perpetren les companyies elèctriques. No ens estranyi que en aquest país és facturi en negre i es facin mil i una trampes per pagar menys impostos.
Gràcies, Francesc. Malauradament, tot i la raó que tens en els teus encertats punts, escapolir-se de pagar impostos és un mal endèmic en aquestes contrades i no ajuda gens veure la gestió que es fa de subvencions i fons europeus, tantes vegades malbaratats.
Independència!!*!!
Som-hi
Als països on els impostos retornen als ciutadans en forma de serveis, pagar impostos no és cap problema. És un problema quan veus que els teus impostos van a pagar els vicis dels altres.
Totalment d’acord Montse. Per això la meva incidència en l’educació. Educació per a tothom: per satisfer els impostos, i educació perquè les administracions realment siguin efectives en la distribució de les recaptacions, arribant a tothom on faci falta.
Indispensable la bona formació, seny, sentit comú i resar perquè la vida nos ens doni un gir de 180 graus.
Gràcies, David. Els imprevistos estan a l’ordre del dia i, malauradament, moltes vegades ens sorprenen i no ho hem pogut preveure. D’aqui el comentari d’intentar estalviar, encara que sigui una mica, per evitar que siguin una sorpresa a la qual ens costarà fer-hi front.
Gracies Oriol
Gràcies a tu, Luis Miguel per seguir-nos.
Mol bo
Moltes gràcies, Ricard.
En aquest estat que s’hi em vist inclosos,, no hi han empresaris,, la majoria són oportunistes, van ha sac ha buscar el diner , sense importar l’ús gens com es sent l’empleat (En línies generals) esperem que sigui un canvi substancial, la creació d’onze,, amb tarannà català cap la independència.
Hola, Miquela,
Que l’estat hi ha tingut el seu paper, per descomptat. Això no obstant, em permeto incidir en l’educació, des de baix de tot fins al més amunt. Els empleats, assalariats, han de saber complir al 100% amb els seus drets i deures. I els empresaris també. I, part d’aquesta educació passa per fer veure als empresaris que, com a tals, també tenen una certa responsabilitat social. Repeteixo: educació, educació i educació a tots nivells.
Gràcies Oriol per la teva tasca👍
Ai, Laura. Sobretot, sobretot, gràcies als qui ens feu costat.
Bona 👍
Gràcies, Josep.
Completament d’acord amb en Tafanell. S’han de pagar impostos si volem serveis públics (escoles, hospitals, mitjans de transport, etc.).
Per descomptat, Jordi. És la base de tot, però ens manca educació en aquest àmbit.
Fins que no valorem el paper de l’empresàri, el punt 4 continuarà igual. Sembla que estiguem delinquín quan busquem el benefici, unica font d’estavi e inversió.
Gràcies pel comentari, Joan. Jo estic d’acord amb tu: l’empresari és qui hi posa el risc i, per tant, també és qui ha de gaudir dels beneficis. El problema arriba quan hi ha empresaris que només busquen incrementar el benefici com sigui, sense tenir en compte la bona gestió i l’impacte, al final, en la mateixa empresa (i, per tant, els seus treballadors).
Gràcies Oriol, ets un gran professional, i el punt 5 “Definir la nostra col·lectivitat val tot l´or del món
Gràcies
Gràcies a tu, Mercè. És molt important que tinguem definida la col·lectivitat, per no allunyar-nos d’allò que perseguim.
Una bona salut financera es necessària per a tenir un país independent i fort
Per descomptat, Alícia. És el primer que cal.
Una actitut responsable i coherent en l’estalvi i el consum són la millor eina per assolir objectius ambiciosos i solidaris com la independència del nostre país
Exacte, Francesc. Estem en un acord absolut. Gràcies pel comentari.