We all have a desire to either be rich, wealthy, or financially independent and free from the money worries of life.
Many times we work so hard to get there but we are putting too much time and effort into the wrong goals or plans and thus end up short of our goal and frustrated with life.
Get Rich Quick
Wouldn’t it be awesome to be rich right now? You hear about super-rich people all the time and some of them are young. One of the best ways to delay your wealth goals is to constantly chase the get-rich-quick ideas.
You are simply wasting your time when you should focus that time and effort on proven methods to build wealth. Do some people get rich quickly? Yes, absolutely. They are the exception and not the norm.
Just 1% of millionaires are under the age of 35.
Average Age of Millionaires
According to Spectrem Group, the average United States millionaire is 62 years old and 38% of millionaires are 65 and older. West Coast millionaires skew slightly older. And again just 1% of millionaires are under 35.
So this shows that you have some time to work on building your wealth.
Trying to Get Rich Without Hard Work
You can hope you inherit a lot of money, but that will likely be later in life and is not a guarantee…or right now you can do something about it and make it happen.
I’ve had two millionaire grandparents that passed nothing down (well I did get an expensive hand-me-down suit) …because it was THEIR money. It was a big-time shocker to some of my aunts and uncles that were expecting major paydays. I think it was awesome. It was their money, they worked hard for it, and they decide to use it how they want in life.
Attributes of the Wealthy and Patient
Hard work
and
hard work
and did I mention
hard work?
Let’s add in smart work, consistent work, and smart financial decisions over decades. No fear of investing. There is no luck…it’s creating your own “luck” and building wealth.
People will say you are so lucky to be rich but there is no secret recipe. It’s just like working out; eat right and exercise, no real secret, it just takes time and consistency for real results.
What Is Your Secret?
Don’t you love when people ask you how did you do it as if there is some secret thing you have done?
“How did you get so tone and fit?”
“I worked out every day.”
“No, tell me your secret?”
“I work out and I eat well every day.”
“Fine…don’t tell me…you jerk.”
It’ ‘s amazing how disappointed folks are with the simple reality of what works in life. We work so hard and put so much effort into finding shortcuts that we delay real results for years. Sorry, there are no shortcuts that have true long-lasting results.
“How did you get rich?”
“I worked hard and saved and invested over decades.”
“Ugh…really…that sucks.”
Sorry to disappoint, but that is how it works.
Inherited or Quick Money Disappears Fast
Those that inherit their money often lose it quickly because they haven’t learned lessons in life on how to handle it. Looks at professional athletes and how many declare bankruptcy just years after earning tens of millions of dollars.
That is why most millionaires are older and guess what…wiser. They have no desire to spend the money they have worked so hard to acquire over their lifetime. They aren’t trying to just be rich, they are trying to be independent and free from work. It is completely different than trying to be rich. Their spending habits don’t suddenly change with the accumulation of wealth.
There was no shortcut for them, it has taken a long time and they put their time and effort into the things that build long-term wealth. That is why they are rich and that is how to remain rich.
Avoiding the Wealth Killer – Debt
Avoid debt. Nothing will work against your future wealth more than going in the opposite direction.
Really we make it harder than it should be because we don’t control our spending early in life and get too comfortable with debt. It’s not a complete killer, but it does set back the clock, but as you have seen above, it takes several decades for the majority of people to become wealthy.
What Is Your Plan For Wealth
Since you know it takes multiple decades, we’ll start with 30 years, what needs to be accomplished over those 30 years. All of these things require some time and effort, but the results will be what you are hoping for at the end of the day.
Get your finances in order – First, you need to know what you earn and what you spend. If your spending is greater than your earnings then you need to figure out how to reverse that immediately! Again don’t let things like shiny new smartphones, high cell phone bills, cable TV, and eating out lunch each day really contribute to you not being able to be wealthy. That would suck to not be rich because of those minor things in life. You can do everything else listed below but if you don’t do this first you will be wasting your time.
Get Your Family on the Same Page – It is hard to control your finances long-term if you and your spouse/significant other are not financially on the same page.
Learn to invest – You simply cannot get there without learning about ways to earn more money. Since your time frame is 30 years that is a long time to be in the market letting your money work for you.
Learn about real estate – This is another way for your money to work for you. Just like the market you need to take the time to learn from others who have been successful in this area. It may feel completely foreign to you, but that is no reason to completely avoid it. You have decades remember. You have the time to learn.
Increase your income. Being frugal is awesome, it will get your finances in order, but to build real wealth you will need to be able to move up over time in your job or find ways to create passive or other income sources over these three decades.
Watch the Major Expenses – You can save and scrimp and do it for decades and then blow it by maxing out your mortgage or buying cars that have no business being in your garage depreciating by $500-1,000 every month. Don’t mess it up at the end. You can overcome small finance errors, but large ones could force you to work an extra decade or more.
Have Fun Along the Way – Saving, investing, and growing your money does not have to be a miserable experience. It’s fun to be in control and watch your money grow. Really you should be able to evaluate what really matters in life and the more money you have the more you realize it doesn’t truly make you happy, it just makes you secure. Find happiness in life along this long journey to financial freedom.
Are you putting too much time and effort into things that aren’t going to get you to your end goal? Do you have an end goal and know how to get there?
