While my family and I took the day to enjoy each others company on Labor Day, I started thinking about how people work their whole lives for money. A percentage do well enough to be able to walk away from work and retire while their money goes to work.
As I sat with these thoughts, it dawned on me that there are only two legitimate streams of income. People at work for money and money at work for people. Both are important!
For many years I have felt two areas of most working professional lives carried more weight than all the other areas. We get distracted by so many good things we could be doing. These two areas are focusing on improving your worth in your career so you can earn the maximum amount of money possible. The second is to live within your means and be a great saver.
Making the most you can.
I hear people complain about not making more in their job, but rarely outside of entrepreneurs do I hear people talking about going the extra mile, acquiring new skill sets, honing their skills, becoming the best of the best in their industry, going back to school, asking for a raise or job hopping to a place that will pay you more.
Studies have found that most places of employment are willing to pay employees more money if they would become more valuable for the company. You are your own greatest asset. Your time and abilities are worth money. Don't settle for less pay than you are worth, but don't be worth less than you are being paid. You must commit to being the very best. Excellence is the goal.
Put in the time and effort. Don't give up 8-12 hours of your day to be making less than you could or should. Become valuable.
In your personal goals and your employment goals or running your own business goals, making as much as you can should be at the top of the list. You get what you demand but you must demand more of yourself than your job does.
So make as much as you can.
Save as much as you can.
A portion of all you earn is yours to keep. This is my favorite nugget of wisdom from the best-selling book Richest Man in Babylon. With your focus in place to make as much as you can, your next priority should be to save as much as you can.
It would be a shame to earn $2 million over the course of your career like the average American and let most of that income slip through your hands. Have plans in place to keep as much of that money as you can.
If you don't pay yourself first, no one will pay you. Recently I was working with a family that earns $140,000 a year and saved $150 a month. I was shocked by what I was hearing. We went through their budget to see where they were really spending money. We discussed the importance of saving for themselves before they paid any other bills. We also set up a plan they could have confidence in and excitement about.
Within 60 days of working with me, they made saving a priority and made other changes to the way they handled their money. Suddenly they found they could save $1500 a month. 10 times more than they were saving before we met.
If you don't save for yourself, who is going to save for you? No one!
Once you have these two areas as lifestyle focuses, money will start to accumulate in your accounts at a much faster rate than you ever thought possible. Once you start saving, it's incredibly satisfying to see your accounts increase.
Think of this like a plumber that has a cobbled together system of piping placed over time and by someone unfamiliar with plumbing. The best thing he can do is stream line the piping network and stop any leaks. Once he has a streamlined system in place that no longer leaks, he is going to have an incredibly efficient system for moving and collecting water. The same is true of money.
This is what I do for those that work with me. We focus on how they can be better with money, stop unnecessary money leaks, put money to work in a better system that protects against taxes, losses and still gets the growth we need. With a system of confidence in place, clients can focus on their career and increasing their income. Then that extra income is piped into their already highly efficient system. The result is more money for them and their families down the road.
We have programs that protect against losses, give tax advantages, remove all worry of losing money and have a great track record of growth. If you didn't have to worry about low interest rates, losing money or being taxed into the dust, wouldn't that give you confidence to save more and then focus on your greatest asset which is yourself?
Let me help you get this confidence and system in place.