Wealth can only be accumulated by the earnings of industry and the savings of frugality.
Imagine you have a goal to own a house in an area you always dreamt you’d one day live.
You have a picture of your dream house sitting on your bathroom wall… you wake up every morning affirming to yourself…I live in this house on xyz street…
You dream …and smell fresh coffee, egg bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes served by your chef each morning…as you read the Wall street Journal and USA today in its 1,000 square foot black marble top kitchen….
In fact, this house is so real for you that your wife thinks you need to see a doctor.
One day you hear from your realtor that this dream house is for sale… because the owners want to retire and move abroad …so they can stay close to their children and grandchildren.
The owners want to sell their house quietly.
They are looking for a buyer who can move quickly and buy their house… They are going to give the buyer a significant discount from the asking price.
What would you do? … I guess you’ll act fast if you had cash …or raise a mortgage loan quickly to buy your dream home.
However, you have no money and your credit history is not good enough to get a mortgage to buy your dream home from your bank…
You realize you were daydreaming … your wife’s observation ring true- that you may need to visit your doctor.
I hope the imaginary story I have just described is not real for you because for many people… their hopes of ever-living their dream lifestyle … is a living nightmare.
One of the major reasons many people find it difficult to fulfill their millionaire dreams boils down to one thing…they don’t have enough money to live their dream lifestyle.
Many people lack money to invest because they have… little or no savings to jumpstart their investing plan…quit their job to start their own business…or to invest in the kinds of assets that will yield enough income-so they never have to worry about money when they retire.
You need capital to start investing your way to wealth.
The start-up cash you’ll need must come from your own pocket… That is why you need to have savings.
The biography of many millionaires I have read follow the same pattern…. that is they started their businesses with their own personal money at the outset:
- Michael Dell started Dell computer in his dorm room with his personal savings of $25000
- Jeff Bezos started amazon.com with his personal savings before taking a loan from his parents
- Sara Blakely invested her life savings of $5000 to start Spanx an under wear shaping company from her garage
These millionaires were able to get their shot at becoming wealthy because they had savings.
You must develop the habit of saving a part of your income because it’s easier to start investing with your own money than borrow money from others
The truth about savings is that millionaires save more of their income than the rest of us…
Why Millionaires Save Money
Millionaires save money so they can take advantage of investment opportunities when they come knocking…
Millionaires make more money in bad economic times because most wealth producing assets are usually up for sale on discount.
In times of recession most companies, government and people are looking, to survive and will mark down most of their assets to stay alive….
…And guess who buys the goods they have to sell? Investors who have cash reserves.
That’s why you need to form the habit of savings…
When you save and have cash reserves…you’ll find it easier to invest…have money to buy bargain investments …and enough money to ride through rough financial times.
You see, one of the reasons many people are scared of leaving their jobs to start their ideal business is… because they lack money to keep them going while they grow their business.
When you start saving, you’ll not be afraid to quit your job to pursue your ideal career.
The good news is you can form the habit of saving money and begin to accumulate enough money… so that you can start to invest and increase your net worth.
In order to form the habit of saving money… you need to make a conscious effort to start saving money.
Let me explain…
Habits form from repetitive actions that eventually create neural pathways in your brain… these neural pathways then become part of your subconscious mind.
The first step you need to develop a skill is make a conscious effort to start practicing the skill until you become masterful…
This conscious and deliberate effort to a skill also applies when it comes to developing the habit of savings.
The major obstacle most people have when asked-why they are not saving money… is they say they cannot find money to save.
I used to have the same block until…I made a conscious mindset shift to do what millionaire do as habit.
The number millionaire habit for saving is to learn to pay-yourself-first.
This advice sounds simple yet more than 99 percent of adult don’t practice it
Learn to pay yourself first or stay broke forever
In order to learn the habit of paying yourself, first… you must set aside a portion of every income you earn …no matter your financial situation.
The reasoning behind this principle is simple…. When you pay yourself first …you are building your net worth.
You see, when you pay your bills…you make the electricity, gas and credit card companies rich…when you save a portion of your income you are building up your wealth.
The more you pay yourself first, the more you accumulate money for saving and investing.
When you have enough cash reserves you feel more confident about taking smart risk … you’ll feel safe that you have a cushion even if your investments fail.
I know this may sound unreal for some of you reading this article…the truth is you can never become wealthy if you spend all your money…and then wish and hope to win the lottery or hit one home run in the stock market.
Even if you won the lottery, …you will end up losing all your income because you don’t have what it takes to accumulate wealthy.
When I started to pay myself first I struggled with the idea of saving a portion of my income because I had bills , expenses and credit card debts.
I thought I needed to scrimp and save on my lifestyle…However, I soon found all I needed to do was to make a switch in my thinking.
Develop a million dollar habit in 30 days
Here’s you can jumpstart and form a saving habit in the next 30 days:
- Go to a shop and buy yourself 3 piggy banks (I know it sounds silly just do it) or open 3 savings accounts
- Make a commitment to start saving $ 1 dollar a day for the next 30 days.
- If you find it difficult to save $1 dollar bring it down to 50 cents
- Try to make saving money in your 3 piggy banks a daily ritual
- At the end of 30 days empty your piggy bank and put one portion into your saving account, investment account and give the rest to charity
The whole point of doing this exercise is to train your brain to form the habit of savings.
Once you can embed the neural connection for the habit of savings in your subconscious mind… you’ll notice that your spending habit will change.
When you form the habit of saving’s …you’ll feel more confident to question bills…negotiate and ask for discounts when you shop.
All you need to save like a millionaire is to…start paying yourself first
To your success
Akin