Rich Invest Their Money

Here are three things that struck me this week, related to the topics on this blog, and some thoughts for you on each.

Jim made the comment that the rich invest their money and spend what's left. The poor spend their money and invest what's left. So think like the rich!

If you are like most people, you started out earning barely enough to make ends meet right out of school and then steadily raised your income over the years. What is fascinating about this upward slope is that so many people can never seem to sock any money away and their net worth is basically the same at 40 as it was at 20. So what happened?

As their income grew, so did their expenditures and they never paid themselves first. When they were making $20,000 a year, they would have been blown away if someone would have given them an extra $20,000 - then they could have saved and invested. But instead, they got just a little bit more and they spent it. And soon they are making five times what they did right out of college and they are spending five times as much.

What is the answer? Pay yourself first no matter what you are making.

"But Chris, you don't know how much I make - I am in a low income job!"

Well, then just save a little! Put a buck a week away if that is all you can do. Invest something and then never touch it. Take whatever steps you need to do to save and invest. That is what the rich do. They take care of their own investments first - and most of the time the government gives them a tax break to do it!

The poor however, just keep on spending and making excuses on why they can't invest.

Decide that you will think like - and ACT like - the rich! Begin to take your investment dollars right off the top and sock them away for your financial future!

Start something and make progress.

Sometimes the most powerful lessons are the simple and not profound. It certainly doesn't shake the earth's foundations of wisdom to hear someone say that the beginning of success is to simply start, and yet simply starting may be mankind's biggest obstacle.

Think about it. Everybody knows how to lose weight - eat right and exercise. Everybody knows how to build an investment portfolio - spend less than you earn and put the rest away, yet millions of people never get the job done.

Why?

Simply put, they never start. Or if they start, they don't continue and make progress. Amazing, isn't it?

We know what to do and yet the biggest hindrance to our success is our own willpower. I wish there was a pill we could take that would give us intestinal fortitude, but there isn't. There is only one thing that can get the job done - our own guts and self-discipline.

Do you want success? I believe that you do or you wouldn't even be reading this right now. I know for a fact that you can most certainly have it. Will you get it? Only you can decide that. Taker a look at what you want to accomplish and then take one step toward the goal each and every day - in other words, "start something and make progress." One year from now you will have taken 365 actions to help you reach your goal, and that will put you far down the road of success!

What makes Jim wealthy: Heritage, country, experiences, friends, knowledge, future and relationships.