Is one of your “life stressors” related to your finances?
If yes, you have come to the right place.
When I was still on my corporate duty; driving certain KPIs and motivating my staff members to join me in that, they sometimes told me that they were not interested in money. My response was: “Then, why do you drag yourself to work every day? Just because of the fun you have here?”
Of course, I have not really said that. I only thought it. After all, they were my employees. But I can write it here, because you are not one of my employees.
It’s all about money. There is no denying that fact. Whether we like it or not, money plays a big part in life.
We might as well develop some liking for it, identify the “good of money”, and explore ways to make our money work harder for our long-term enjoyment.
I write long-term as I have yet to come across any “get-rich-quick-scheme” that works reliably and for everyone. They are mainly scams initiated by people who are striving to get rich quickly themselves. And they might succeed, thanks to your sponsorship.
Don’t help them achieve their unethical goals, help yourself instead.
Yeah, but you want to be as rich as Warren Buffett. And presto! Ok, that’s a great and ambitious goal; however, have you ever found out how he made it to where he is right now?
In the theme of this website: Slow down, take a break, and let the portion of the 3 pounds (between your ears) called the Reflective System work a bit by looking at these facts:
– Of Warren Buffet’s current $68 billion net worth (more or less, who really knows how much he is worth?): $65 billion was added after his 60th birthday.
– He started to manage his money via the stock market when he was merely 13 years. And he is now 84 years old. Do you think he embarked as a teenager on a “get-rick-quick-scheme”, or a “get-rich-slowly-but-steadily-scheme” ?
– He is in the stock market now for over 70 years.
– If Warren Buffett would be the regular guy next door and started saving in his 30s, and then retired in his 60s, we would have never heard of him. He would not even have enough money to make it to the Forbes List at all. His secret is time in the market and the magic of compounding interests.
1) It’s not about how much money you make in life. It’s how much money you keep and make it grow.
2) Spend money wisely: If you spend money for things you will end up with things, and not the money!
3) Ask yourself: Are you investing enough right now—to make the rest of your life, the best of your life?
4) Do you spend enough of your time on Tacomob?
Lots of research has proven that the following does work to build a nice nest egg:
- Saving regularly (saving 1 $ a day everybody can become a millionaire in his or her lifetime!)
- Investing in the stock market with ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds)
- Keeping fees down
- Diversifying your portfolio
- Holding investments for the long term—like 15 + years
- Avoiding scams
This won’t guarantee overnight success, but it will heavily tilt the probabilities of long-term success in your favor. In fact, it would be hard to fail.
And allow me to clear up one misunderstanding that many people have about investing. Managing your money and investing should be boring. In case you are looking for excitement and entertainment, do look into other fields, but don’t expect excitement from investing your money.
The price you would pay for that excitement would be too high.
Investing’s simple goal is to provide you with enough money further (much further, think 20+ years) down the road, so that finally you can focus on more important things than money right now. Like the fundamentals of happiness; including things like close relationships with other people, health, a chance to be creative, and helping others. And above all, priority one for feeling happiness: continually working towards having control of your schedule and what you do with your time.
Plant those money seeds now to make them grow into “money trees” later.
It only takes an hour to learn how to plant a tree, but it might take a lifetime to learn why you would want to.
Savers get punished, investors get to retire. For sure, when they have all of these traits.
And once you have read about the basics and techniques of growing your money learn about your greatest weakness so that you can also keep your money.
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb
One more thought: “What do you want to do when it comes to investing?” The decision needs to be yours. You manage your money in a way that fits your personality, which can’t be captured with a one-sized-fits-all formula. Two rational people with the same finances may come to totally different conclusions about what’s right for them. The more I study personal finance the more I realize that coming up with a solution that lets you sleep at night, rather than one that’s academically superior, is how you help yourself.