“Better to lose count while naming your blessings, than to lose your blessings counting your troubles.” Malthbie Davenport Babcock, 19th century clergyman and writer.
What is Wealth? A quick Google search returned 447 million responses
How to build wealth is one of the key messages on this website. Not only do I let you in on my personal wealth building methods, I strive to alert you to your existing wealth. This article takes a random look at wealth building. Think about the concept and how to tailor wealth building tips to your own life.
Drill a bit deeper, how can you expand financial and personal wealth in your life? Sure we know about gratitude journals, and how in the developed world we have more than those in other lands. But you need a plan. A concrete step by step guide to get you where you’re going.
My Copy Editor Thinks I’m a Wealth Building Snob
How to Get Rich; Wealth Building Guide for the Financially Illiterate is in the final editing stages. The book will be out soon and lays out the steps to build wealth. The copy editor accuses me of being too judgmental when I talked about a mom spending $200 on a pair of boots for her teen daughter who will soon outgrow them. He continues by saying I’m ignoring those people who have already cut all the fat out of their budgets.
Am I too Judgemental?
I’m a bit perplexed by those comments. Building wealth is different for each of us. I don’t care about cars and drive a very old car. There are others who prefer to drive a new car and save in other areas in order to afford one. You must decide on your own priorities and live accordingly.
I am judgmental. You’re not going to get rich if you don’t save and invest. Period. It’s not a secret that spending all your money and buying on credit does not build wealth. Buying on sale is not “saving”. It is spending.
Building wealth involves making life choices. You can’t walk through life without being judged, but if you want to learn how to get rich, why not listen to someone with extensive financial education and personal experience?
Getting rich means something different to each of us. CNN reporter Jack Caferty recently asked his viewers, “How much money would it take for you to feel wealthy”? One reader needed enough for his family to “live comfy, not millions”. Another reader set her “feeling wealthy” number at about 3 million.
You decide your own priorities, just realize you can’t have everything you want.
Financial Choice, Not Sacrifice
Getting wealthy is not about sacrifice, it’s about choosing what’s important to you. Your upbringing, friends, and many factors impact your values. Analyze your own values. Make sure you’re living your own choices, not your parents, or the medias choices for you. Your actions, purchases, and how you spend your time indicate what you value. I’d rather take a vacation than buy expensive clothes. What’s most important to you?
Building net worth and financial stability requires a enacting a few simple steps. Follow these guidelines to learn to meet your own personal wealth building standards.
What are the tips, strategies, and commonalities of the wealthy?
Incorporate these behaviors, common to the wealthy, into your life. Build wealth habits, enjoy what you already have, and finish rich.
1. Get educated.
2. Get out of debt. You cannot build wealth with consumer debt.
3. Work more than 40 hours per week.
4. Get a side job for extra income. Try self employment or a part time jot.
5. Take action. Don’t wait for the right time to try out a money making idea or apply for a new job, do it now.
6. Enjoy low cost hobbies and recreation. Try the library.
7. Buy less house than you can afford.
8. Spend less on rent than you can afford.
9. Have money automatically transferred from your salary into your workplace retirement account.
10. Live in a low cost part of the country. It’s harder to get rich if your rent is 40 percent of your income.
11. Think less about money and more about living.
12. Write down your goals and review regularly.
13. Build and practice discipline. Do what’s important today, even if it’s hard.
14. Think before you spend, think at least 48 hours before making a big purchase.
15. Avoid flashy ostentation people.
16. Spend time on activities you love.
17. Spend time with people you care about.
18. Give to charity.
19. Give time to your kids, not stuff.
20. Be patient. It takes time to achieve, do not quit.
21. Spend less time at the mall and more time in nature.
22. Start saving and investing NOW, no matter how old you are
Take your cue form CNBC’s “The Highly Effective Habits of Millionaires,” and pay down debt and save money.
How do you vote with your pocketbook? What are your splurges and saves?
image credit; google images heartland payment systems
