Earlier today, I wrote about Brett Wilder’s The Quiet Millionaire. It’s different than most personal finance books I’ve read. It’s targeted at those who are further along their financial journeys rather than at those just starting out. Still, there are bits and pieces in The Quiet Millionaire that are applicable to everyone.
I particularly liked Wilder’s list of the seven enemies to financial success (which is my phrase, not his). Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself thinking of this notion again and again. He writes:
If you want to become and stay the quiet millionaire, you must plan and manage your financial way of life…You must be proactive in order to obtain the financial life you want. By doing this, you will overcome the seven major obstacles to financial success.
Wilder is saying that we know there are certain common barriers to wealth. These obstacles arise for everyone. Because of this, it’s possible to plan in advance to cope with them. First, however, we have to be able to name these enemies so that we can prepare the proper weapons to fight them.
According to Wilder, the seven enemies of financial success are:
- Lack of discipline. Without discipline, it’s difficult to build wealth. In fact, it’s impossible to get rich — slowly or otherwise — if you spend more than you earn. The math just doesn’t work. Wilder also warns against compulsive spending, and he urges readers to track where their money is going.
- Materialism. Stuff will not enrich your life. It’s so very easy to find yourself “keeping up with the Joneses”, succumbing to lifestyle inflation. But materialism breeds discontent. Instead, Wilder says, focus on intellectual and spiritual pursuits to obtain fulfillment.
- Debt. Not all debt is bad, of course. A reasonable mortgage on a sensible home is fine. But consumer debt — or a bad mortgage on a big house — is an enemy to financial success. In fact, bad debt may be the biggest enemy to financial success.
- Taxes. It’s our responsibility to pay the taxes we owe, but we’re under no obligation to pay more than that. “It is not unpatriotic to reduce paying your taxes,” Wilder writes. We should instead actively work to keep our tax burden as low as possible.
- Inflation. Inflation is wealth’s silent enemy. It will not destroy you all at once. But it’s always there, nibbling at the corners of your life, consuming a little cash every year. It’s impossible to keep inflation completely at bay, but you can learn to mitigate its effects.
- Investment mistakes. As many investors learned last year, poorly structured investment portfolios can be a killer. This enemy is fought through education, through an understanding of diversification and asset allocation, by taking the emotion out of investing.
- Emergencies. The final enemy to financial success is the unexpected: unemployment, death, illness, and legal complications. Without a plan for emergencies, you leave yourself at the mercy of the fickle fates. Carry adequate insurance and maintain an emergency fund!
I’d argue that there’s at least one additional enemy to financial success: lack of purpose. If you don’t know why you’re saving and investing, you have no reason to do so. Without a destination in mind, you cannot set a course. The road to wealth is paved with goals.
Note that some of these financial enemies are external and that some are internal. Some of these enemies come from inside of us.
I’ve fought all of these enemies at one time or another. I seem to have vanquished my internal foes — at least temporarily. But to ward against the external foes requires constant vigilance. And there’s always the chance that an internal enemy can rear its ugly head again.
Which of these foes is your greatest nemesis and why? How do you fight it?
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JD, as I’ve said before, my biggest enemy is fear.
Fear that if I invest in the market, the federal deficit will cause inflation and reduce the value of my investment in stocks.
Fear that if I invest in bonds, interest rates will rise and my bonds will be worth less.
Fear that if I invest in gold because of future inflation, the Chinese will stop buying commodities and gold will crash anyway.
Fear that if I save, the value of the dollar I save will be eroded by inflation.
Fear that if I spend, I’ll have to work longer regardless of my health or ability to work.
The way I try to overcome fear is to spread my risk around through diversification. I spend on things that will make me happy today, but I save to prevent having to work when I’m less able. I buy some stocks, some gold, and put some into savings accounts. I reduce or eliminate debts at higher than the minimum rate.
Most importantly, I try to continue to learn about the reality surrounding money and finances. Never stagnate!
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Early on in my life is was an overestimation of my ability to pick stocks and a willingness to use leverage (bad debt) to jack that risk up even further.
Once I got that under control, it is working to maintain consistency in your plan. I have worked on that one by creating a vision for my life. Writing down what a perfect day looks like and what needs to happen for me to get there.
Creating and focusing on that vision gives you a purpose so every decision is measured against it. If the decision helps you get to the goal, then go ahead. If it doesn’t, toss it aside and work towards the next one.
Great list of obstacles we all need to plan to overcome.
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I like this view on taxes. Some people think that tax loopholes and knowing tax laws is somehow unethical. I would argue that it is more unethical to let your hard earned cash fall so easily out of your hands.
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Excellent article….I knew i had financial enemies but today i know ‘em all.
Thanks
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Why do people consider gold to be a good investment if inflation is expected? Doesn’t the inflation number get incorporated into the earnings of companies and thereby into the stock prices? And similarly for other asset classes, bonds, whatever.
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Technically, if you have actual debt (i.e. more money owed than held), inflation is good for you. Inflation is worst for those who have saved.
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This is my favorite article of the week JD! Great job! I think Wilder’s list is right on and will be checking out this book for sure. Thanks!
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Is there a possibility of an eighth factor? What about ignorance? If you choose not to learn anything about using money wisely, budgeting, or saving, isn’t that also an enemy?
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You mentioned it and I think it’s worth repeating: No matter what stage of personal finance you’re in, these enemies still confront us. The further you get, the easier it becomes to manage them, but they don’t just go away.
My biggest enemy has always been your last mention, lack of purpose. Dealing with the other 7 has always been fairly manageable for me, but I would constantly ask myself, “Why bother?”
Without a sense of purpose, that was a hard question to answer.
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Inflation is definitely a wealth killer. The dollar has lost more than 95% of its value in less than 100 years. I won’t get into a big long explanation of where inflation comes from and what we can do to stop it, but I will recommend that everyone have an understanding of both inflation and currencies.
If you look at the currency section of the Wall Street Journal, you will see that the Brazil Real has gained around 20% on the dollar in the past year. If, instead of investing anything in domestic stocks or any other investment, simply put all your dollars into the Real, you would receive 20% on your investment over the past year. Obviously you lose some of the gains to the dollar inflation, but its better than parking it in dollars.
I’d say inflation and taxes are the top 2 wealth destroyers we face.
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I’m with Kandace, I think ignorance – willful ignorance – is right up there. “I don’t want to know” is what ruins a lot of people’s chances … people don’t read the fine print, don’t look at their bills, don’t do any research. Information is out there for free in the world.
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I know very little about how to mitigate the effects of inflation. Can anyone lead me to a good article/website about this?
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Morgan, I’ll do some research on inflation. It’s not a topic I’ve covered much at GRS, and I should. If I understand correctly, one of the best ways to hedge against inflation is to keep your money diversified. Don’t just sock it all into a savings account. Does that make sense? I’m under the impression that the notion of diversification doesn’t just help cushion a falling stock market, but also helps take the edge off inflation.
But, as I say, I need to do a longer article on this subject.
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Thanks for sharing the financial enemies; I agree, lack of purpose needs to be on the list. You always have to know what you’re working for and why.
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Great article, should we expect the seven Allies next? Equally important in my opinion. I guess this is pretty basic stuff but I like this approach and it next hurts to hear it again.
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Thank you for the valuable insight. So where is “being wasteful” placed ? Isn’t it one of the cause of poverty ?
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Dan, I was just thinking about what the allies of financial success might be. If we take away my suggested eighth enemy (lack of purpose) and then invert it, we get the first ally: Purpose. Somebody else suggested ignorance as an enemy. If we instead say that Knowledge is an ally, that gives us two. But what else?
I’d say that Patience is an ally, as is Support (as in support from friends and spouse). If we’re aiming for seven, that leaves us with three more allies to discover. What would they be?
I actually really like this whole exercise, and think it would be fun to find an artist that I could pay to create characterizations of these fourteen factors (seven enemies, seven allies). I wonder if my favorite comics artists take commissions?
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Heh, J.D., it makes me smile to see how your “to-do list” of articles is growing.
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Ha. Rumah just helped me see how to shift another enemy to ally. If we move emergencies from an enemy and make Preparation an ally, then Waste can be a new enemy.
I’ve got to be careful of too much shuffling, though. I mean, “lack of discipline” isn’t a very good enemy, right? Wouldn’t it be better to make Discipline an ally? I love these sorts of games!
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The benefit of diversification is purely a consequence of the (mathematical) fact that the mean of a basket of stocks is the sum of the individual means (i.e. it’s not reduced), whereas the standard deviation of the basket is less that the sum of the individual SDs (compared to the mean, anyway).
Note that this only works if this basket of stocks moves at least partially in opposition to each other. However, inflation affects pretty much everything equally doesn’t it? I mean, that’s kind of the definition of inflation.
With respect to gold, is the argument that people will buy gold when inflation arrives or is expected and therefore the (inflation-adjusted) value moves in opposition to inflation? If so, then I suppose it’s a hedge. What’s the evidence for this actually being the case though?
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The biggest enemy is COMPLACENCY. People have this idea that they will just do whatever has worked before, for the parents, will also be true that the next 30 years will be the same as the last 30 even though the world is experiencing unprecedented acceleration of change. Anything which can be distilled to a simple formula (e.g. retire off 10% interest on bonds as quoted by YMOYL) can and will be repeated by everyone to the point where you just can’t do it any more. You can look at Japan (probably the most complacent country on the planet, at least outside of Europe) where they had to raise retirement age to 77 because too many people were retiring, retirement became too easy for the masses. Now they don’t have any workers left, the only hope for the future of their civilization is to build robots to take care of themselves. You have to be smarter, tougher, and stronger than the average person if you really want to get and stay ahead.
In 10 years, you will be able to buy a ticket to the Moon as easily as you can go to Cancun today. Maybe in 30 years, To Mars. What does this need for personal finance? Projecting your financial needs/wants into the future, when the opportunities which will be available to us and propelling our quality of life to unimaginable heights are unknowable, is futile at best; just like 15 years ago you wouldn’t know you would need internet or cell phone (and their corresponding monthly bills), or 100 years ago, that you would ever need running water and electricity and an automobile.
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I am such a geek. I’ve been working on this for the past hour. Here’s what I’ve come up with…
Enemies of Wealth: Debt, Inflation, Materialism, Taxes, Waste, Complacency, Greed (this covers investment mistakes)
Allies of Wealth: Knowledge, Patience, Purpose, Preparation, Thrift, Discipline, Support (from others)
Any suggestions? I don’t necessarily need to have seven of each, though there’s a bit of symmetry there that I like.
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J.D. Those Allies of Wealth you just came up with are great. If you had to rank them in importance I’d say discipline, patience and thrift are key!
-Gen Y Investor
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Gold vs. Inflation, the way it was explained to me: in 1850 during the first California gold rush 1 oz of gold would buy you a good suit, not the best suit, but a pretty good suit. Today 1 oz of gold will still buy you a good suit, not the best but pretty good. In 1850 gold was like $20/oz today it is $945/oz. That is inflation. Anything that was worth $20 needs to be worth $945 today (149 years later) or it has lost value.
Even at 5% growth rate would have take that $20 ounce of gold to $6,902 today. This is why most people say gold is a bad investment.
Gold has a very high transaction cost, buying/selling coins is much high cost verses stocks (which is probably why most people recommending you BUY!!! gold, are the one selling it, or buying it wholesale).
Gold has one unbeatable benefit, cross border portability. Think of “oh shit, the Nazi’s are coming” money. It is happening in Zimbabwe right now, your $945 (a year ago) of local cash would be worth penny’s. However across the border 1 oz of gold would be worth a pretty decent suit. The same thing happened in Germany post WW1 and Italy after WW2.
Gold as an investment for “oh shit, the Nazi’s are coming” means physical gold, not paper gold or mining company stock (which can be a good investment). This means gold coins or jewelery which I know nothing about.
You mentioned you are at level 3 in wealth building, I think I am too, I think physical gold has a place in some people’s portfolio. If we are at 3, I would assume it’s closer to level 6 or 7 “Ensuring Generational Wealth” or “oh shit, the Nazi’s are coming” money.
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Investment mistakes is my biggest enemy. I lost a bundle in my late teens, so I’ve been ultra conservative ever since. Even though I have another 30+ years to retirement, too much of my money is in guaranteed accounts. I’m slowly reversing that, but my stomach actually cramps up every time I click that transfer button.
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As per the blog article writer said:
“I’d argue that there’s at least one additional enemy to financial success: lack of purpose. If you don’t know why you’re saving and investing, you have no reason to do so. Without a destination in mind, you cannot set a course. The road to wealth is paved with goals”.
I agree with you and have been mapping goals for awhile now. I’ve had people tell me why am I planning my 40′s in my 30′s that’s weird, and that I should live my 30′s and enjoy. I told them why live my 30′s when I can plan for my 40′s in my 30′s and continue till I see I’m satisfied? I also told them I’m not use to planning my current decade because I’ve always planned it a decade earlier. If my thinking wasn’t this way I don’t think I would be where I am today in my early 30′s. I will always have goals no matter what, and I will always plan my decades a decade earlier. See my analyzations below:
1. I plan 30-39 in 20-29
2. I plan 40-49 in 30-39
3. I plan 50-59 in 40-49
So by time I reach 50 I should be satisified because I wil have already planned it when I was in decades 40-49. It may seem like I’m not enjoying the life since I’m planning my decades in decades the planning shouldn’t be, but in my case when I’m able to reach a decade and actually see the results from the hard work from planning 10 years in advance, then I know it was worth it.
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Always looking for a new book to check out, so thanks.
Our greatest nemesis has been emergencies, and more specifically, defining an emergency. Often an emergency was simply “failure to plan”. e.g., we are a military family and we know we are going to move, but financially we would react to a move instead of prepare for one!
After 15 years (and 11 moves) we are finally getting our act together. Always meant to earlier, but there were always boxes to unpack…;)
What saved us was NOT being materialistic people who keep up with the Jones’. Easier to do when the status quo of the Jones’ changes with every move… Sure gives you a better, more objective perspective on what is necessary in this life when you move regularly and witness differences in priorities based on where your living, the culture you’re in, etc.
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May I put forward another Enemy which isn’t on the list?
All these other Enemies are predicated on the person initially having a sufficient income stream to manage or mismanage.
On a river, one can sail a riverboat, in a lake a rowboat, in a stream a canoe — but all your skill is no help paddling a canoe in an inch deep trickle or a dry wash that holds a navigable flow only a couple times a year.
These are all very useful points, but not for all Americans — 10 or 20% cannot benefit in the way money managers would like, from prudence alone.
Noni
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Hey JD, you’re really on a roll this week. What a great string of thought-provoking, useful articles. Thanks!
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Here is one thing I think we could add to the enemies list lack of self-confidence or the belief that the financial world is so big it cannot be conquered. This is quite similar to the suggestion of fear. However, we fear that which we do not know. I might be a fearful investor, but if I am confident person I will learn what is necessary to be a successful investor. If I believe that is impossible from the start I’ll just stay where I am.
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To me the one thing has always been a lack of discipline, particularly for the small things. We’ve always been great on the big purchases, but the daily things for the wife and the kids just eat us alive. This is particularly the case for me in that the most difficult part is getting my spouse and kids on board, because if the spouse fights you, it’s a fair bet the kids will as well. It’s been, and continues to be, a long slow slog in working through these issues. I’m guessing I’ll finally get my spouse on board around the time we retire.
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Time and compounding interest i believe are the two most important allies for becoming financial independent. I am still relatively young at 24 and strongly feel these two components of building wealth are going to help me the most in achieving my money goals.
JD keep up the great work. You help me find motivation/knowledge to become financially independent on a daily basis. Thank you.
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The second enemy, materialism, seems contradictory. If one wants to overcome this enemy, the desire to be “rich” does not become virtuous simply because one pursues financial wealth “quietly” or “slowly.”
As we’ve discussed, JD, materialism is certainly an enemy but is arguably best defeated by contentment.
I’ve not read this particular book but anything with the word “millionaire” in the title does not have a firm foundation to speak out against materialism.
“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” ~ Frederick Keonig
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TERRIFIC article, and comments too! I like your lists. Add “Fear” to the enemies list (like @Ann’s post).
This is really such a wonderful, wonderful blog.
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My biggest nemesis is ‘emergencies’ coupled with ‘low earning potential’. I’ve always had an emergency fund, but it can only tackle so much. 4 years of partial unemployment isn’t going to be helped by a single emergency fund (i try to just be as frugal as possible and not tap into it except for things like car repairs, medical emergencies, etc). I’ve pretty much conquered the first 6 foes, so my biggest goal in life right now is to increase my earning potential from ‘near poverty wages’ to ‘a real living wage’.
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@ Kent #33 – I don’t see wanting to become a financial success as materialistic. Personally, I don’t want financial success because I want material goods or STUFF. I want financial success because I want to relieve the stress of worrying about bills and payments and spend the rest of my days writing and traveling the remaining 4 continents left on my list. I want to be able to live on a writer’s salary, which is generally pitiful and getting worse each day, without having to eat dog food.
Not everyone who pursues financial success wants a McMansion and Porsche 911.
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For me it is taxes. Last year we diversified some stocks while saving for a new baby. Well, I didn’t take into account taxes and got to see a huge chuck of our savings whipped away to pay for the taxes due to the diversification. It was so devastating to write that check to the IRS just because I took money from one account and put it in another!
I learned from that mistake, but still do not regret the reason for diversification: we had some old stock in only two companies! I put the money in some index funds.
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Minimizing taxes at all costs isn’t always a good idea. I could take out a bigger mortgage and write off more taxes with the increase in interest.
Then again, I could just pay Uncle Sam the 33 cents in taxes and not pay the bank and extra dollar in interest.
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Great article.
One of the dangers is described thus:
“Investment mistakes. As many investors learned last year, poorly structured investment portfolios can be a killer.”
If I have $100k in cash, how should that be invested today so that I can prove to you that I haven’t made that mistake?
Other commenters please give your views too.
If you can’t recommend an ideal structure, what sorts of common mistakes in an investment portfolio would you point to that would prove I was doing things wrong?
How do you know that if I make the changes that you suggest, then my ultimate profit will be greater in the future than if I left things as they are?
Many thanks,
KC
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@Matt at Comment #32.
Hi Matt. I’m glad that you’re keen to study how to improve your net worth by doing sensible and knowledgeable things through viewing this excellent website, but I feel I have to warn you that time and compound interest are not enough.
Lots of people who retired just after the recent crash, when the market lost a third of its value, all believed in “time and compound interest”.
Now they believe they’ll have to try and keep their jobs and work on into retirement.
I mention this because I don’t want you too to suffer this massive disappointment when its too late to put things right.
Indeed, I guess the point of this article is “diversify into many unconnected things, so if one of them takes a major hit (e.g. stocks) then the others won’t come tumbling down too in unison”.
You may have a great question now – “so where do I put some of the money so I don’t take that significant hit?”
Sorry, I don’t know – the usual mantra is something like:
60% in stocks
30% in bonds
10% in whacky things like fine wine
but with bonds paying so little, you’re putting a significant proportion of your money in a vehicle that will only pay peanuts even after decades.
So if you want to make a higher return then its foolish to avoid the stock market, but the stock market may end up making you weep on the day after you retire.
Please let us all know if you manage to overcome this unsettling conundrum.
Good luck,
KC
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One needs goals otherwise what’s the point? When I was 26 years old, I had about $230,000 in cash sitting in the bank from a fortunate stock purchase, and 4 years of bonus savings.
Another bonus was around the corner, which would add to that figure. But, by then, I was VERY wary of work, and started questioning what the meaning of work and life is to just save cash in the bank. It was boring. And so, I put 25% ($140,000)down on this two bedroom, two bathroom condo overlooking the park and lit a fire of fear under my arse to make work purposeful again.
The funny thing about debt or a mortgage is that it gave me the motivation to work again. The place still has a mortgage, but it’s much smaller now and is a cash flow rental.
One needs a purpose to work, especially if you don’t require a high standard of living.
RB
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Re: taxes. While I don’t think one should pay more than they owe, I think scrupulous citizens benefit from actively engaging in the debates that decide how our tax dollars are spent. When I hear folks talk about how they want to cut their tax burden, I often wonder what they are including in their calculations. For me, I look at things like the cost of replacing a set of tires, if my roads weren’t repaired. Or, the cost of private education if my public schools weren’t quality (which thankfully they are). The health care debate has me paying attention to this as well. How much am I paying in health insurance premiums and deductibles? Would an increase in my taxes lead to less costs in the health insurance category? I guess I just don’t think the tax discussion should end at “keep your taxes low.” We owe it to ourselves to dig deeper than that.
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J.D.
I think you’re right that lack of purpose needs to be added to the list. I think if you can’t figure out why you’re saving money, you end up talking yourself into spending money.
For many years, my husband and I didn’t have any clear financial goals. We owned a business and were prospering, but never saving any money when we could of. This past year, we have changed our outlook and decided we needed a purpose: 1. save a downpayment to buy a house, 2. invest some of our hard earned money, 3. begin thinking of creative ways to bring in additional streams of income so that we can continue to save money after meeting our goal of purchasing our house.
This is definetly helpful.
thanks-
Little House
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I love the point of @Ann above.
Far too many people look down on the desire to be wealthy or financially independent. I strongly desire wealth, but my wants have little to do with fancy cars or luxurious vacations.
To me, true wealth would mean financial security for my entire lifetime, including a couple of decades at the end of my life when medical needs may be great. It also would mean leaving a legacy to my children and grandchildren, so they would never have to worry about living out their lives with dignity. And it would mean having the ability to step up for my extended family in times of emergency. For example, if a relative got a horrible disease and ran out of funds, how wonderful if my wealth could assist them.
Also, true wealth would give me the ability to bless others on a regular and generous basis. That would be amazing – for me as well as them.
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Great article.
On a side note…
Have you ever had one of those teachers who explained a concept in such a way it just sticks and you remember it years later.
LMAO!!! @ Bill #24 for the “oh shit, the Nazi’s are coming” example.
I will not be able to look at a gold bar without thinking that now…
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Brenda, #35…keep looking up! You are obviously very intelligent and articulate, judging from your comment. I’m sure you are going to do very well!! J.D.> I’d like to add “attitude of gratitude” as an ally, but I really do sometimes think that it helps to feel just a smidgen of discontent. Like RB #41 said. We all need that fire under our arses!!! (Pl.-arsi?)
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On the debt side, I think that’s become a real hidden land mine in our society. People today don’t have the fear or at least respect of debt and the havoc it can wreak, the way previous generations did.
People are far too casual about using credit cards or taking on gargantuan mortgages, crippling car payments or outsized student loans. The real problem I think is that once you get on that treadmill you can’t get off. It becomes difficult to save or to even be objective about what you do for a living. Then debt begets more debt, and you’re floating hopelessly.
I knew a successful business man who had no savings, but considered the unused portion of his home equity line of credit to be his “savings”. When it gets to that point, there’s no turning back.
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I like the article but based on my personal experiences, I would put a far greater emphasis on saving money. When we think about it, isn’t the real issue of our lives based on future income? The problem is we do not know what is ahead. A debt will be paid in future income. Do we really know what the future holds for us?
Too little information exists for individual investors. We can’t possibly know enough to make really intelligent decisions. This is why we end up being wiped out–we are the last to learn the truth. Look at the Blue Chip stocks today.
Save your money and focus on your goals. Enter into investments very carefully. There is just too many lies and corruption that are waiting to ensnare us.
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Do you think that people who are rich, or on their way to being rich, tend to be more organized and neater than the average joe? I don’t know for sure, but it seems like there may be a correlation.
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@ Sue #49 – wow, that’s a really interesting question. I know that disorganization can be costly in practical terms — late fees, etc.
But I think you’re asking something deeper: Is there a way of life, or way of thinking, that lends itself to more prosperity. I doubt there’s statistical data to bear this out, but it sure seems true anecdotally, doesn’t it?
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