Below are the overarching “rules” or “principles” that I have adopted to guide myself in my ongoing financial growth and development. I believe each of these is important to achieving the long-term goal of building sustainable wealth and a financial independent retirement.
.5) Personal Responsibility – With rare exceptions, most do not inherit their wealth or win the lottery. Most wealthy people of taking control of their financial lives and made it happen. Unless you commit yourself to your long-term financial well-being it is not likely to happen.
1) Invest In Yourself – Unless you take the time to learn and educate yourself you are likely to miss significant opportunities throughout your life.
2) Spend Less Than You Earn – Some say this is more like a mathematical law of life, yet many don’t take the time to consider it. Regardless of your income, if you don’t keep some of every dollar you earn; you will never grow wealth.
3) Get Out Of Debt – Once you have come to realize that the key to wealth creation is an understanding that what you make is not as important as what you keep, your priority should be eliminating your debt. When you owe creditors it’s harder to keep what you are working so hard for.
4) Save More Money – Beyond any short term objectives, like getting out of debt, accumulation of wealth for financial independence/retirement should be a major target of your long-term goals. Based on data I have explored most people significantly underestimate how much they will need.
5) Investing – Once you have begun to accumulate some excess funds it is time to consider how to make that money work for you. The options are numerous including stocks, bonds, commodities and real estate to name a few. Each requires an education on its own.
6) The Skill Of Negotiation – Throughout life you both need to earn and to spend. On income you have the opportunity positively impact your income significantly if you can negotiate well. When making purchases big and small you have the opportunity to reduce your expense significantly if you can negotiate well. Over your life you may add literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in wealth by improving your skills of negotiation.
7) Goals Setting – It’s one thing to want to improve your finances, productivity or organization; it’s another thing to actually succeed. The difference often comes down to setting goals and sticking with them. This article explores the S.M.A.R.T. approach to achieving your goals.
8) Stay Healthy – Over 50% of all bankruptcies can be linked to healthcare issues. In many cases these were people that even had insurance. Take the Smokey the Bear approach; the best way to stop high medical bills is to prevent them.
9) Budgeting – You wouldn’t dream of taking a cross country trip without a roadmap. Why would you take a financial improvement journey without one either. You cannot manage what you don’t measure! Tracking your spending is the only way to identify opportunities for improvement.
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