Almost a century ago George S. Clason wrote a book “The Richest Man in Babylon.” This book is considered to be a sort of the bible for creating wealth and it’s still pretty much in use as the main how-to guide. Nothing essentially changed in a way individual creates his wealth, so Clason’s work still applies.
In here, we’ll go over the 14 tips or hints or insights on how to behave in order to reach the moment where financial worries are things of the past. Follow these 14 tips, starting right now, with whatever you have at your disposal, even if it’s not more than $100, and you’ll pave the way for a bright financial future.
Remember, baby steps are the best way to learn something. Therefore, start now to develop a brutally effective habit.
#1 – Learn from those richer and more successful than you
For some strange and hard to explain reason, people are more likely to envy those with thicker wallets and heavy bank accounts, than to spend some time investigating their modus operandi.
That envy is what limits them mostly and it is a primary cause for the shitty financial situation they are in. Why? Envy develops a mental block because the person, who envies, automatically thinks that money is something bad. The brain of that kind of person learns and starts perceiving money, wealth, system and everything else connected as something hostile.
How do you expect that person to ensure the stable financial situation when he or she develops a primary hostility towards everything that is even remotely connected with the success? We’re talking about folks who will never make more than to pay few bills and live in scarcity for the rest of their lives, negatively impacting everyone around them.
It is imperative to change the perception and move away from the envy. Instead of trashing and blaming Soros and Buffet, one is better off learning something valuable from their history of behavior. Because, it is clear that they’ve done at least something better than the rest of the folks.
It’s not just them. We’re talking about anyone who is more successful in any aspect of life. Relationships, sports, careers, hell even driving a car. Our job is to learn from them. It’s the core of our species and the sole reason why we are at the top of the food chain right now.
Remember, if he or she is at least a bit more successful than you in any aspect of the life, monetary in particular (because we do live in a world where money is used instead of bow and arrows), spend time learning from that person. It’s the only viable way to succeed in life and if you think about that, it’s exactly the same method you used as a kid while learning basics of the life – you went to school and got mentored by the teachers! Who were they? Because those folks knew a lot more than you in that moment!
#2 – If you’re smart about it, the money you save and invest will make more money for you
This is another golden lesson we can learn from Clason’s work. The main purpose of the money is to make money. The main purpose of the monetary-market system is to allow everyone equal chances to create wealth.
The process is based on two principles:
1) Active savings
2) Investments.
What are the active savings?
It’s playing the game smart and investing the money you didn’t spend (saved money) in a long term, long risk portfolio such as Trident and similar. Keeping the money in the sock is being dumb about it because, if nothing else, inflation will take its part and sock-money will lose its value proportionally to the inflation rate.
But that’s not the major issue. The biggest problem with socked money is the completely wrong and destructible practice that goes against not only the main purpose of money but also the common sense.
If you want to create a solid financial structure, you must invest your money. Keep it hidden in some closet and you’re doing more harm than good.
It may seem like a wise thing to save like a maniac, but if you’re not doing something with that money, everything is more or less in vain, because you’re losing the money instead of making more with it, which is the basic principle of the monetary system – something people simply refuse to comprehend.
What about the investments? How they can make me rich?
The only freakin’ way to create wealth is to preserve the portion of the money you’re making with your brain, muscles and spine and to push that portion back into the system through some form of the investment.
To do that effectively, you must learn how it’s done. Same as you had to learn your biology, math and how to drive a car, you must learn the theory of investments and then slowly move to practical application. But that’s not done on some hunch as many assume. Investing your money is a serious matter and inexperience, driven by longing for riches, will backfire sooner than you think.
Therefore, spend months learning the system. And all that time, save a portion of your money.
#3 – The part of everything you earn is yours to keep and spend the way you want it
Not all – but only the part. This is the biggest mistake people do with their money – they spend not only everything they earn, but also borrow additional (someone else’s money) and spend that also.
Now, if you have a fixed monthly income and you did something like this, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how the entire structure could collapse at any given moment due to the interest rates, overdraft and inflation. You’re losing money instead of making more and the only reason for that is lack of patience.
Due to our own limited time on this planet, we are driven by the urge to have everything in the shortest period of time.
The optimal modus is different.
Why you can keep only a part when you’ve earned the entire sum?
How’s that working for you, when you keep spending everything you earn? You have seen some particular satisfaction in necessity to borrow ever more money to restructure your debt?
The only reason why you had to borrow that money is the fact that you’re considering every last penny you earn as yours to keep.
In reality, only a portion of everything you earn is yours to spend. The rest must be put back in a better way to do more with it. Thus, borrowing is not the way. Investing is.
You see, the purpose of money is to reach the moment where your labor is no longer needed (ever seen Buffet sweating with the shovel in his hands?) and the only way to do that is, to perceive the portion of the money you make as the sweat that drips from your body when you’re working for your money.
It’s not yours to keep. It is an essential product of the mechanism that is used for a higher purpose. Your sweat is used to keep you cool in order to keep you going without difficulties. Same applies to the portion of the money you make – it’s used in a same fashion; to keep you cool in order to keep you going.
How much are we talking about?
That depends on your average monthly income, but generally speaking, the minimum amount you need to preserve (save) and to push it back into the system is 40% of everything you make.
It may seem drastic and illogical, but it’s the only way to live without the need for labor and without financial worries. It takes time and efforts, but eventually, this approach acts liberating. The one who stays persistent gets rewarded by the system and earn his right to spend his days golfing while his money makes more money.
It’s how is done and it’s how the system is designed in the first place. The problem is with people who just don’t want to learn it. Be smart and learn it!
#4 – Be particularly cautious about your expenses as your incomes grow
You can live with $2K and with $20K each month and if you’re not careful, you’ll fail to save money. That’s the nature of almost every human being. Somehow, we are perfectly capable of getting to the next paycheck with the bare minimum. You would expect that with the substantial growth of monthly income, the saved portion of the money will proportionally grow but that doesn’t happen.
Why?
We want more and when we can afford more, we don’t wait for a second to go out and buy the new home cinema or even a car.
Same thing happens on a global scale. The more money a state earns, more it spends and more it borrows because the appetite grows.
#5 – Long term thinking and planning
What is more important to you:
- A) new home cinema right now,
or
- B) future financial stability?
100% of people will answer B) and a few minutes later do the A). How do you explain that? And then everybody is bitching how life is tough and system is corrupted.
It has nothing to do with the banks, central banks, governments or marketing. The shit hits the fan due to lack of self-control and spoiled brat behavior.
The $2K you’ll invest in home cinema will have to be re-invested in 3 years because the one you bought will become obsolete and most likely go to hell since the policy is to avoid making stuff that can last for more than 3 years. It’s counter-productive.
But if you take that $2K and invest them or add them to your long term investment portfolio if nothing else, you’ll grow richer. In 10 years, that $2K will buy you 5 home cinemas. It’s just the matter of patience, that’s all. Refrain from having right now, and you’ll be just fine.
#6 – Spend your money wisely and flip each coin twice before you spend it
What do you do when you decide to buy a new car? In simple terms, you do a sort of due diligence, paying a visit to numerous car dealers, making sure that your final pick is the best that can be.
The problem here is that you’re not doing that because you want the best for your money. You want the best your money can buy. In other words, you want the best for yourself. And the proof of that comes when you decide to purchase a $50 product. You’ll take less time to assess it because it doesn’t hold that much value for you.
But if you’d apply the “house wife approach” when purchasing items with the retail price up to $100, you would not only buy the best possible product, but you will also save the money because, when researching your option diligently, you’ll find that same item 50% cheaper.
Cost control is essential in the initial phase of wealth building. You don’t waste your money on the first sight of some goods. You take few days to investigate the market and study the item before you spend your money on it.
One thing will occur when this approach is applied: you won’t buy 50% of everything you intended because the more you think about it, the harder it gets to waste money on something that will hardly ever be used or become obsolete in a matter of 6 months.
#7 – Make your money work for you
It’s the basic purpose of the monetary system. The money you earned by selling your labor should start making money and eliminate the need for laboring. It can only be done after you make the effort to understand the system and learn how money is employed to make more money. It’s a science on its own and one must spend much of his time, learning every possible approach when it comes to investments.
But when we say investments, we don’t refer only to stocks, bonds and equities. We are also thinking about investing in a product! It’s the one thing many fail to realize. While you can create wealth by simply investing your money with the help of a broker, you’ll speed up the process if you can find the solution for any sort of the problem people have. The bigger the problem, the bigger the value you’re bringing to the market, which translates into more revenues for you.
These were the first 7 hints of creating the wealth. Continue to part 2 and the final 7 tips.
