The Art of Getting Rich…
Money…Like all good things, you want it to last and you want it to be there for you when you need it most. As humans we often act based on impulse. We either want it badly in the here and now, or we buy it if we have the means. Sometimes we find ourselves jumping on a purchase. A)Because we wanted it when we didn’t have the money and now we do. Or it has come into our field of vision so therefor it’s meant to be, and we must buy it. B) It sounded like a good idea at the time.
What we fail to realize when we do this is that the item may no longer be serving us. Not always the case but can be distressing when we bring it home and a period of time later find ourselves suffering from a case of buyer’s remorse; which never feels good. It’s particularly bad if it’s something like a car, house or boat.
Money can often provoke feelings in us that we aren’t ready to deal with or we simply choose not to. Fear is the number one emotion that comes to mind. A long series of “What if’s” followed by “I can’t because I don’t have enough money…”.
The broke mindset is the leading cause of broke-ness. The common mindset is to simply hand your money over to someone else and let them deal with it. Why? Because money is difficult and YOU need an expert to handle it.
It’s one thing to have an accountant manage your business, taxes and even personal finances. When it comes to your wealth however, why would you trust someone else? You worked very hard for that money, why shouldn’t you choose how it’s used?
A well attired business person with a savy demeanor makes a lot of money off that fear. In fact being a financial advisor is generally very lucrative. With good reason, fear pays really well. You may say my portfolio is making 6-8%, I’m happy. How is that really working for you? Not to mention the 2% annually that your “Wealth” person is taking for payment. And if your Wealth managers strategy sucks? Well, sorry to say, but that’s not the way the cookie crumbles. It’s just what you are settling for. The question that you have to ask here is: How can I get my money to work for me at the highest possible return with the lowest risk?
You may be convinced that you need an expert to manage your money simply because we have been programed to hand our money over to someone. And it is often times the man of the house that controls the money. Some people wake up one day to find out that everything is gone *poof!* like that because the person that they trusted was pulling the wool over their eyes. So and so is off in Jamaica with your hard earned cash and you can’t feed the kids.
All I am suggesting here is if you only take control of one thing in your life, why not make it the one thing that gives you freedom & power.
If you’ve read this far and you are ready to re-train yourself, then let’s take the next step.
Mindset: So you want to become wealthy? Imagine…being able to buy whatever you want with your money, not on credit. Imagine being able to send your children to that great alternative school you would have loved to attend yourself. Imagine teaching great values to your children on how to become wealthy so they don’t have to struggle to raise their kids. How about not having to spend your golden years in some trailer park retirement home that you almost can’t afford.
The key here is what you think, you become. You may not have a dime to your name right at this moment, but that’s about to change. You must sell your brain on the idea that you are already wealthy. Only then will you be able to attract it.
Daily affirmations are key:
Pick a few for money. Write them down and put them next to your bed. When you wake up read and repeat the statements and, repeat them before your go to bed.
Make sure never to use negatives in your statements and eliminate all doubt.
Good Examples:
Money flows easily to me every day.
I am a money magnet.
I am surrounded by wealth.
Bad Examples:
I don’t want to be poor.
I don’t want to eat crappy food.
Look at the above statements. Take out the word don’t and what do you have?
It reads, I want to be poor. I want to eat crappy food. And my friends, that is what you will attract. Your brain and the universe do not hear the negatives. So, let’s agree not to use them.
Here’s an exercise: Go put a $100 bill in your wallet. You are not going to spend it but you will know that it’s there. Go run your errands and think about all the things you could buy with that money. Just leave it there and practice this all the time. Start thinking, “I could buy that” This will help your mind start to open up to the possibility of abundance and having more.
As you move on with this exercise, start using larger amounts of money that you already have. Say you have 5K in savings or some equity in your home. Use that amount and start mentally purchasing things that you would like to have. This will help with those impulse spending desires as well as training yourself to think rich.
Dress how you want to be seen. If you want to feel wealthy, dress like it. Whatever that looks like for you. You don’t have to be rich to look rich. I shop at Ross & Resale Shops. I can dress it up and knock some socks off anytime that I want to, Sassy & Classy! Your attire will help your confidence and in turn will help your mindset. If you don’t know where to start, search the web, like everything on the web, copy it!
Saving: What is Saving? It’s a verb, and action, a behavior. A behavior that anyone can learn.
Saving means different things to people. For some it means forgoing the luxuries in life so you have more money in which to build wealth with. For others it’s simply putting aside a portion of what you make. For some, it’s both. Bottom line is that if you want to get rich, you must start saving. The number one way to do this is to Pay Yourself First.
But, I can’t do that she says, I have to feed the kids and pay the bills!
Yep, you do, and you still will.
Think of the money that you make either daily, weekly, on contract or monthly. Can you live on 90% of that? That’s .10 less for every dollar. I am guessing that that wouldn’t be a stretch for you.
Here is the key, you must pay yourself first and you will pay yourself the .10.
Before you pay any bills, you pay you. If you receive cash, grab an envelope, write savings or whatever inspires you on it and put the 10% in there. Then stash is and do not touch it.
If you get a check, open up a savings account and transfer the money first. Then forget about it.
Your only job for the next 3 months is to be consistent and watch it grow.
When you’ve gotten comfortable with that and you are still surviving just fine, bump it up to 15%. A few months later 20%. 20% is a good cap, some people like to keep going. I encourage you to figure out what works for you. You will be surprised that you have all this extra money all of the sudden. No spending it!
Education & Action: The decisions you make now will be what builds your future, your children’s future and your grand children’s future. No matter how old you are or where you are at in life there is always room to become wealthy.
So, now you’ve saved a bunch of money. You are probably wondering what the heck to do with it. Since you can’t spend it, the trick is to put your money to work for you. Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it? Make your money to work for you! This my friends is how your build wealth.
So, what kind of job do you want your money to have? Do you want an investment that you physically work? A rental unit perhaps? The benefit here is that you can get paid each month but it does take a bit more energy.
Or do you want a quality stock portfolio with a few choice stocks perhaps just one mutual fund style stock that yields between 10-30% returns?
If you are not sure, it’s up to you to explore a little bit.
Here are a few of my favorite books that will help you get started:
101 Reasons to own the world’s greatest investment. Berkshire Hathaway-Robert P. Miles.
The Tao of Warren Buffett-Mary Buffett
Feel the fear and do it anyway-Susan Jeffers
It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be -Paul Arden
Money and the Law of Attraction-Abraham Hicks, Jerry & Esther Hicks
All these books are fun, fast and easy to read and understand.
The first book will teach you how and why to invest in the Warren Buffett school of thought.
The 2nd will talk about Buffett’s principals and why he makes the decisions that he does.
The third is dealing with limiting beliefs and how to break out of that.
The 4th is mindset training.
The 5th is the best book on manifestation that your money can buy. If you’re hooked there are a bunch of them.
I hope that you have enjoyed this article and are able to benefit.
Here’s to your Wealth & Good Fortune!
Lara Livengood
Comments