It was a dark and stormy night in the bayou. No wait…I’m just joshing you. Ha ha! This story doesn’t start off like a ghost story you tell beside the campfire or even in a bayou. I mean who do I look like, Bayou Billy?
For those who don’t know who that is, Bayou Billy is a fictional character in an NES game from 1988.
As a 90’s kid, I liked playing all types of Nintendo games. What I loved about video games is that not only are they entertaining and fun to play, but they teach you critical thinking and problem solving skills as well. Nevertheless, I digress. Now back to how I paid off this $85k of debt.
Paying down massive amounts of debt involves sacrifice, effort, planning, hard work and fortitude. It doesn’t really happen by accident or luck It is consistent effort over time to keep paying your debt obligation while at the same time not continuing to borrow more of it. This is what I had to do to make it happen.
The number one thing I had to figure out was how much I owed. Opening up bank and credit card statements showed me this. I had to get this debt off by back: a $20,000 personal loan, $30,000 car loan, various credit card, and other debt of $35,000.
Those credit card statements showing me how much to pay over three years before it is paid in full really motivated me. Therefore, I would just put my head down and work. I worked on paying off one debt at a time.
Then I would go to the next one and concentrate all my time and energy on that one until it was gone. It took more than eight years to pay off all that debt.
I had to pay $448.65 monthly on my car note, $333 monthly on my personal loan, and additional over $500 on the other debt. Paying all that money out every month motivated me to do two things: 1) Not to get any more personal loans; and 2) Not to get anymore car loans.
I paid off my car in 2009. I am happy to report that as of 2021, I have not had another car note since. I kept my old car for 17 years total and then the next car I bought, I paid cash for it.
Instead of siphoning off my money to service debt, I began to invest that money in myself. I went back to school and starting dumping my money in my retirement accounts. Got an extra $5. Put in in the Roth IRA. Got a raise or bonus. Put more money in my 401(k).
All these years later and I am still contributing to my retirement accounts.
I have read more than enough articles on the retirement crisis and the shortage in Americans retirement accounts to know I had better take this seriously. I didn’t want to wake up one day and be 50 with no money saved for my golden years.
I know that those years feel like they’re in a galaxy far, far away, but trust me, no one stays young forever.
I want you to protect your 401(k) as Luke Skywalker protected Princess Leia in Star Wars.
Debt are the storm troopers. Your ability to avoid debt is your use of your strong will over your spending. Your checkbook is your light saber.
Your control over how you wield these funds is your Jedi mind trick over all those who try to part you from your money.
I hope that this post helps awaken the sleeping giant within that lets you choose financial freedom over spending.
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was just starting out and knew I needed to look into saving for my future. I was beginning at ground zero with $0 saved for retirement.
This was in line with the average 401(k) balance for a young person starting out in their 20s. My employer was offering 50% for every dollar we contributed up to 6% of our salary. I was all set to start making some moves into investing for my future so I got started right away. Then boom! Barely into starting out on my journey, the housing market crashed in 2008.
The Great Recession rolled in and people were losing homes and jobs left and right. I got my pink slip in 2009. I felt like I had just put $2 in my account. Not only did I lose my job, but also my employer contributions including thousands of dollars due to the fact you had to be an employee for 5 years to be fully vested. I was discouraged, but not defeated.
I always keep an up to date resume so I started sending it out. It took months, but I finally got a new gig that allowed me to be 100% vested from Day 1. This has helped me grow my nest age from $6,500 in 2010 to past a quarter of a million ($250,000) over a fairly short time later thanks to a raging stock market!
Total Vanguard Assets beginning from 2010
After I read a Fidelity report that stated 401(k) millionaires are on the rise, I figured I could be one of them too.
According to numerous financial pundits, it is recommended that you even need a minimum of $1 million to retire.
First, I had to get to $100k and that put me on the path to eventually passing the $250,000 mark. So you see, you have to have a goal. This is what I did to make it happen.
1) Set a goal
You can’t get anywhere without first knowing where you want to go. Therefore, I set a goal for myself of $100,000. I did this because after doing some research, I found that the first $100k is the hardest.
However, once you reach this milestone you can stop contributing completely to your 401(k) and still become a millionaire in 30 years without adding another penny.
As long as the stock market continues what it has done over the last 40 years (1980-2020), then you can expect returns of 10% a year. This will get you where you want to go over the long term. I’ll show you.
In 2012, I had $25,000 invested and by 2015, I reached my goal of $100,000. I have more than doubled my money since that time. You see how much faster your retirement accounts go up once you reach $100k. That money is doing all the heavy lifting for me.
It can take 5-10 years to reach the first $100k, but the next $100k may take only 3 years. Therefore, every year the next $100k takes less time.
Fourpillarfreedom.com
2) Cut expenses
I learned about house hacking from listening to a podcast on Bigger Pockets years ago. House hacking allows you to cut your housing expenses by 25% or more. Basically, you rent out your property and decrease your mortgage payment by having renters and becoming a landlord.
The other thing you can do is move to a less expensive location in order to save and invest the difference. You can also do this with a partner or roommate as you will have shared expenses that lower your living expenses.
I got my expenses down very low which allowed me to go from a savings rate of $1 to $5 dollars a day or 3% of my income to eventually working my way up to saving and investing 40% of my income.
Around 2013, my savings rate was 15%. Then it went to 25% in 2015. And I got it to around 40% by 2018.
I would incrementally increase my savings rate by 1% a month or a year depending on what I had going on. This is one of the best ways to give yourself a raise without feeling like you are being deprived.
Sacrificing when you are young and loose like a mongoose is best. Limiting your expenses during the lean years are well worth it.
Consider this. According to Vanguard, while the average 401(k) savings balance is over $100,000, the median account balance is much less at $25,775.
There was a time I was paying $448.65 a month for a car payment. I also had a $20,000 personal loan at $333 a month. Talk about a money suck!
This was draining my ability to save more. Once I got those items paid off, I started redirecting that money to my savings and investments.
That allowed me to put money into an emergency fund, brokerage account, 401(k) and my Roth IRA.
4) Start an emergency fund
The only way to stay out of debt is to have money in the bank so you will not need credit in the first place. Access to credit can become a nightmare when you have to start paying a large percentage of your income toward managing it. Therefore, I found a good number to start with is $1,000.
Then I worked my way up to $5,000. Again, I moved this number up to $10,000.
My personal suggestion is for people to have at least a minimum 3-6 month emergency fund. You can keep the credit card debt off you, if you can have money set aside for car and home repairs that tend to pop up at exactly the wrong time.
5) Be consistent
No matter what, I made sure to put money in my retirement accounts . If the choice was between having fun on a vacation or saving $10,000 first, I choose to save. Responsibility first, fun later. That is what my dad always used to say.
I save and pay myself first before doing anything else. That includes paying the rent! After my 401(k) and Roth IRA contributions are made, then I pay the bills.
6) Keep increasing your income
I increased my income through both annual cost of living increases, asking for and receiving pay raises, or getting a promotion. I was able to increase my income by 50% from my early 20s.
Every time I earned more money, I increased my contributions. However, please know that income is not enough alone to build wealth. It’s what you save. Notice the Vanguard chart below shows that higher income does not correlate with a higher 401(k) balance.
Annual income
Average 401(k) balance
Median 401(k) balance
Less than $15,000
$8,260
$1,356
$15,000 to $29,999
$13,069
$4,020
$30,000 to $49,999
$29,740
$10,439
$50,000 to $74,999
$66,033
$27,630
$75,000 to $99,999
$113,143
$54,020
$100,000 to $149,999
$177,597
$91,470
$150,000 and above
$298,851
$154,989
7) Live on cash
I know you hear this all the time, but cash is king and it is best to stay away from plastic. Debt just weighs you down. That money could be put to work for you in Mr. Market.
America likes to reward investors and shareholders by paying dividends. The more you invest the more you earn. Without doing any additional work, you are making money from income you already earned years ago. That is truly how you work smarter and not harder.
8) Invest in growth stocks
I started with a few thousand bucks and put it into Amazon and Apple back in May 2013. You can see from below that was the prices they were selling for back then. Amazon was going for $258 a share.
AMAZON.COM INC
Buy
5.0000
$258.84
APPLE INC
Buy
3.0000
$463.66
After investing more with both companies, as you should not only buy the product but the stock as well, the stock splits and appreciation has caused my investments to go up. I remember being amazed that Amazon had gone up to almost $2k a share. I even took a picture of it. Cause you know, seeing is believing. Back then it was going for $1,897 a share.
Amazon is now $3,300 a share! That is inching closer to the S&P 500 price of $4,000. Keep in mind the S&P 500 is made up of over 500 stocks.
Amazon is just one company. Its evaluation is pushing closer to what the evaluation is for 500 companies. Amazing! That is when I learned growth stocks can make you rich.
9) Invest in index funds
I invest with Vanguard because they have the lowest expense ratios I have seen. You can invest in the VITSX or VTSAX and get a low expense ration of around 0.003% and 0.04%, respectively.
The goal is to keep maintenance costs low as this will eat into your money later when you take those required monthly distributions (RMD) .
That is a good reason open up a Roth.
10) Have a Roth IRA
The Roth has no RMDs. You can let it ride forever or whenever you do take money out it is tax-free. Instead of paying interest on distributions with your 401(k), you could get access to them for free with a Roth.
If you are unable to do a Roth due to income limitations, then you can do a backdoor Roth. This allows you to convert your 401(k) into a Roth with a conversion ladder. Due to the Roth allowing you to make after-tax contributions, this is the superior investment vehicle.
Find a way to get one and watch that money go in after-tax and come out tax-free because you have already paid taxes on it.
And there you have it folks.
As of this writing, I have continued to watch my investments go up and continue to invest regularly. It has been awesome to watch my money grow. It has been very rewarding making those early sacrifices in exchange for building more wealth.
I have more money and freedom than I have ever had. All the sacrifice was worth it in the end.
My next money goal is 401(k) millionaire.
Keeping track of my net worth, investment portfolio, spending habits and increasing my savings have all helped me get here.
So my advice to you all is to keep stacking that dough.
According to a study done by NYU economist Edward Wolff, 84% of stocks are owned by the richest 10% of American households.
Even more extreme than this is the fact that the top 1% hold 50% of all stocks in America. Meaning a teeny tiny amount of Americans own trillions of dollars, and a vast majority own nothing. That type of inequality is just sad.
So many Americans are locked out of a real wealth machine by not being invested in Mr. Market.
Who is Mr. Market?
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is an American stock exchange on Wall Street in New York City. With a market cap of more than US$16 trillion, the NYSE is the world’s largest stock exchange, averaging US$169 billion in daily trading value in 2013.
That would mean the richest 1% own approximately $8 Trillion worth of stocks.
Sadly, only 52% of Americans were invested in stocks.
GALLUP
Let’s fast forward just five years.
According to Barron’s, the stock market is worth $30 Trillion as of 2018. You see that?! The stock market has almost doubled in size! This is tremendous.
In 2008, most portfolios lost half of their value. Now look at us today. The S&P has more than tripled since the Recession! A trillion here, a trillion there and boom we have almost double the assets we had in 2013, the same year LeBron won his second championship ring with the Miami Heat.
Therefore, as of last year the richest 1% now own $16 Trillion dollars of wealth in the stock market.
The richest 10% has a mind-boggling $25.2 Trillion in stock wealth! Each owing over $900,000 in stocks.
Keep in mind that the bottom 50% of the poorest households have virtually no wealth as many have $0 in savings and investments.
The U.S. stock market has been on fire as it returned 22% last year.
With a 220% increase over the last decade, that means the rich are getting richer.
You need to get a piece of that stock pie in the sky
Why is it so important that you invest in Mr. Market? It’s simple. Investing is how you beat inflation.
With inflation averaging 2-3% annually, you must find a way to out run it. Investing will help you do just that.
I do not want you to miss out on the next $8 Trillion the market may gain over the next decade or so. Don’t sit on the bench! Get out there and get in the game! Nothing ventured nothing gained.
Wealth building takes time.
It’s a long game. You may need a decade or more to build some significant assets.
Did you that know with an interest rate of 10% your money doubles every 7.2 years? It’s true. It is because of the rule of 72, which states that a certain amount of compound interest will dictate how much you can earn over time.
I feel like that scene in Oliver Twist when he asks for more. But instead of food, I want dividends! My advice t to you is to invest!!!
Yes, give me some of that compound interest. It’s raining dividends and capital gains.
The first $100,000 is the hardest!
No matter how much you earn, it will take time to grow your wealth to something much grander over time.
Even with a nice return, the majority of your first $100,000 will come from your savings. The higher amount you save, the faster you achieve this goal.
I cut back on everything to get to through this first hurtle on the wealth accumulation phase.
I skipped the movies, $7 lattes, fancy vacations, new cars, clothes, subscriptions services, and nights out on the town. Put that money to work. Don’t act rich, get rich!
I know some guys that want to be rich, but spend like the world is flat like Columbus said; so they think we are going to fall off the edge and it is all going to end tomorrow, so you gotta treat yourself!
These poor souls decided to buy bottle service for a friends 45th birthday. The cost: $4,000! They split it between like four or five people.
Here is a little background on one of the fellas, let’s call him Scotty.
Scotty is still renting after being unable to afford to buy a home. Instead of banking his money for a down payment, he’s tossing around G’s more than Floyd Mayweather after signing a $100 million-dollar deal.
Sorry my man, hate to break it to you, but you ain’t “Money” Mayweather and don’t have his bank account.
Forget that! I would rather be financially independent than act rich for a couple of hours.
And the ladies loved that he spent that $1,000 on that bottle service. But then you know what happened at the end of the night, when the lights came on? All the ladies left!
I guess it was all about the bottle service. That’s just money down the drain right there. Bad money decisions happen everyday.
Maybe it really is like Jamie Foxx said, “blame it on the alcohol.”
Regardless, I want you to put that money in Mr. Market and let it grow.
If you are worried about downturns, then hedge your bets by putting money into savings as well.
Since it usually takes about 10-16 months for the stock market to recover from a crash, keep that amount of money in your savings. This will let you ride out the storm.
The goals is to not have $0 in your bank account. Something is always better than nothing.
Now save up that first $3,000, go open up a Roth IRA with a discount brokerage firm and go get started.
Don’t have $3,000 just lying around? No problem. If you can spare $100 bucks?
If so, then you can use the Automatic Asset Builder that lets you invest for just $100 a month with places like T. Rowe Price or Charles Schwab.
Now let’s go get this money. No excuses! I just gave you all the information you needed to get started.
Happy investing! And may the odds be ever in your favor.
Like Aesop’s The Ants and the Grasshopper, we must prepare our bank accounts as winter is coming.
When I woke up this morning, it was 44 degrees. Sweater weather indeed my friends. You know what also needs shelter from being left out in the cold, your money! Affluence is your duty.
Affluence Defined
I will define an affluent person as any adult that is saving and investing more than 25% of their income; with more money coming in than going out.
When you have enough income to pay your bills, save, and invest the difference, then you are rich compared to the rest of the world as most are living check to check.
Once you are able to save and invest more than 50% of your income, have more than $2 million in assets and receiving dividend income of $100,000 or more you are fairly wealthy.
When you make more in capital gains than you would from W-2 wage work, then you can kiss the working world goodbye after hitting a goal of $50,000 or more in income.
A salaried adult makes on average $40,000-$50,000 annually. Getting your investment income to this level means, you have created a passive income source large enough to replace a paycheck.
Good for you.
The bigger the gap between income and expenses is the difference between being rich and poor
Recently, I read two books; Evicted and $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America.
The premise is that welfare is dead and families no longer have access to cash assistance.
Those that do eke out a meager existence on modicum amounts of cash, SSI benefits and food stamps.
Within the book it also discusses how landlords were making a mint off the dregs of society, “the poor,” with one making $447,000 a year after expenses meaning he is part of the 1%.
Another landlord had an estimated net worth of $2 million.
The differences in their lifestyles versus their tenants were stark.
The difference between eating everyday or going hungry was just one of many. If this doesn’t scare and motivate you to save more money, then like Poncho’s owner in 101 Dalmations said, “no evil thing will.”
Evictions are on the rise all across America. Why? The reason is that there is no rent cap.
Rents are going up about as fast as a four-year college degree.
Having more than 50% of your income going out in rent leads to one word: Despair.
You must have cash in the bank.
I know that the price of everything feels like it has shot up overnight.
You are in the red and bleeding out money faster than a corpse does on The Walking Dead. However, you must save. The possibilities of something requiring your immediate cash assistance are endless!
All of the sudden Aunt Edna needs a new roof, the dog needs his shots, the basement flooded (for the third time this year) or junior needs braces.
I once had a Harvard educated orthodontist quote me almost $8,000 for treatment. And that was just for my teeth!
The human body has 206 bones and not any of them are receiving service from this guy. After, watching or hearing more stories of outrageous prices from car loans to purses (a Louis Vuitton handbag could set you back $400 or more), I knew that having liquid savings was the answer.
I’m as serious about saving money as Sarah Connor is about eliminating Terminators!
Cash. There is no substitute.
I refuse to lock up all my money in investments, but I know better than to just have all my cash sitting around earning no compound interest or dividends.
Pac-Man shows us how to get the job done
If you have ever played Pac-Man, then you know how the game is played. The player navigates Pac-Man through a maze with no dead ends.
Pac-Man’s favorite snack pellets — the tiny dots he munches as he moves around the video game board — were originally cookies. The “power cookies” are now the larger pellets he uses to eat the ghosts. The maze is filled with Pac-Dots, and includes four roving multi-colored ghosts: Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde.
The game was not designed with an ending.
You know what that tells me, that your money too should be looked upon as having no ending. You should save as if you are going to live forever.
I hope that last statements lights the fire you need to start saving this paper.
Using Pac-Man as an example, I want you to imagine the four ghosts are the following: debt, despair, denial and broke.
Your job is to eat as many power pellets “dividends” as you possibly can. The only way to do this is by investing your money.
You may be unsure where to start. I want you to start by opening up a brokerage account with a discount broker such as Vanguard, Fidelity, E-Trade or Charles Schwab.
Just FYI: Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ:IBKR) and Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) got rid of stock trading commissions, creating a major shake-up in the brokerage industry, and competitors TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD) and E*Trade (NASDAQ:ETFC) quickly followed suit. Robinhood had already been offering this service, but now the big boys are getting in on the action.
Once you open up your account, you can purchase any 500 index or index fund that owns all shares in Mr. Market. If using Vanguard, that would be the VTSAX.
You put in enough money in Mr. Market and he starts to pay you for showing up in class everyday 365 days a year.
You earn money just for raising your hand and saying present.
How compound interest works
Compound interest is the difference between the cash you contribute to an investment and the actual future value of the investment.
In this case, by contributing just $8,000 per year with the annual contribution being increased by 1% per year (cumulative contributions of $278,779) you are able to accumulate $1,080,688 over 30 years. Compound interest makes up $801,908 of your future balance.
If you start saving $8,000 a year and earn 8% on those earnings, look what happens. You will notice in the beginning you earn only $680 bucks, but by year 30 you are earning $80k a year!
You must chomp away at collecting money to invest it and start collecting dividends.
Year
Beginning Balance
Savings @ 1%
Interest @ 8%
Ending Balance
1
$500
$8,000
$680
$9,180
2
9,180
8,080
1,381
18,641
3
18,641
8,161
2,144
28,946
4
28,946
8,242
2,975
40,163
5
40,163
8,325
3,879
52,367
6
52,367
8,408
4,862
65,637
7
65,637
8,492
5,930
80,060
8
80,060
8,577
7,091
95,728
9
95,728
8,663
8,351
112,742
10
112,742
8,749
9,719
131,211
11
131,211
8,837
11,204
151,251
12
151,251
8,925
12,814
172,991
13
172,991
9,015
14,560
196,566
14
196,566
9,105
16,454
222,124
15
222,124
9,196
18,506
249,826
16
249,826
9,288
20,729
279,842
17
279,842
9,381
23,138
312,361
18
312,361
9,474
25,747
347,582
19
347,582
9,569
28,572
385,724
20
385,724
9,665
31,631
427,019
21
427,019
9,762
34,942
471,723
23
520,109
9,958
42,405
572,472
24
572,472
10,057
46,602
629,132
25
629,132
10,158
51,143
690,433
26
690,433
10,259
56,055
756,748
27
756,748
10,362
61,369
828,479
28
828,479
10,466
67,116
906,060
29
906,060
10,570
73,330
989,961
30
989,961
10,676
80,051
1,080,688
Playing for keeps and dividends
Let’s say you start a Roth IRA at 20 and save $6000 annually, thereby maxing it out.
And please if you are going to max out anything, let it be a IRA and not a credit card.
Earning 10% interest, you would have $105,187.
Then you decide to stop investing and let it ride.
After about 23.5 years, you would have over $1M.
After 24 additional years of parking your money on the financial equivalent of Park Place with a hotel, you are sitting pretty on $1,036,063.83.
Investing your money for only 10 years would allow you to stop and not have to worry about your golden years.
Just some food, I mean power pellets, for thought.
Hey if Geoico can have Geicoween, then surely so can we.
On today’s spooktacular blog post, we are talking about why you should avoid the black cat of investing: fees.
They come in all shapes and sizes. From front-load, back-load and even fees you pay to trade stocks.
However, one of the most overlooked of all fees come from commission based salesmen disguised as your friendly neighborhood financial advisors.
They wear the greatest costumes 365/24/7: a suit.
And we are not just talking any suits my friends, but the kind you drop a month’s wages on; think more John Wick and less death of a salesman, as to portray a sense of wealth that make you feel like you be anyone or can do anything and believing you want to run up and kick that football that Lucy is holding.
You are unstoppable.
Then it happens.
You get that investor statement in the mail. You are so excited that you rip the envelope open to see how well you are doing. The market is firing off dividends and capital gains the likes of which you have never seen before. You just know you are making a killing in Mr. Market, right?
Then you see that 2% of your portfolio goes to the fund managers and realize that you just got punked!
You look to your left, you look to your right, but Ashton is nowhere to be found.
Why you must be your own financial advisor
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I must confess that being a DYI investor is best.
While reading a plethora of books on the subject of personal finance, I have learned the following:
Don’t invest in anything you don’t understand. It is not enough to buy the product. You must research the company behind the brand.
Know if a company has a competitive edge. For example, once digital cameras came on the market Kodak fell off the face of the earth. The last time I had a Kodak moment was right before Apple unveiled the iphone.
Don’t time the market. If you have money to invest, then do it!
Don’t invest in anything you can’t draw with a crayon.
Invest in index funds instead of individual stocks.
Only invest in funds with an expense ratio of less than 1%.
You can do exchanges between index funds you already own without paying any fees. This is pretty sweet!
Most millionaires are worth between $1 million and $5 million dollars.
90% of millionaires over the last 200 years achieved wealth by investing in real estate.
Forget buying the product and own the stock. Millionaires collect assets – stocks, bonds, real estate, and intellectual property – like monopoly pieces. The poor collect consumer liabilities like big houses, boats, and cars. An asset pays you. Collect assets.
No one cares about your money more than you do
Although self-explanatory let us dig deeper children.
Would you hand over all the passwords to your bank, credit card, and investment accounts over to strangers?
Of course not.
However, in an essence that is what we do when people hand over the financial reins to business partners, financial advisors, and handlers.
Instead of working through the struggles of figuring out how money works, many just give up the responsibility to someone else. Nothing screams “just take some” more than giving people free range access to your money. Nothing attracts grifters more.
Just pick up a few free library books on investing and get started right there.
Heck you can even search online for podcasts or website that talk about money! That is how I got started.
Why you want to have $100,000 in investments
It is simple. If Mr. Market does what he has over the last 90 years, then you can turn $100k into $1M in 30 years. Not bad for a kid that gets picked last to play dodge ball.
Once you hit this number, then the money starts finding you.
Depending on your rate of return you could double your money to $200k in less than 8 years. It took me about 2 to 3 additional years to get that next $50k after the first $100k.
Do you want chocolate Halloween candy or a rock?
If any of you out there have seen The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, then you know what I’m taking about.
The reason many of us invest is the same reason kids trick-or-treat because we want the treat, that is something that gives us great pleasure.
You go from house to house looking for a reward for putting together that perfect costume.
Investors buy investment after investment looking for the same thing.
Nobody wants a rock!
I remember a time in school that I sold so much for a fundraiser that I got a chance to go in the money machine (where you stuff money into your pockets for like 60 seconds). I wanted that reward!
But guess what? The night before the big event I stayed up late and overslept the next morning! I missed the whole thing. That could have been my seed money to start this blog! That could have helped me start a Roth IRA at 17! The funny thing about rewards is that you may earn them, but you still have to go and pick them up.
Now I write down everything in a journal so that I do not miss a thing!
I wanted to one day be able to have ‘F everyone’ money like Mark Cuban said: “‘F everyone’ money means you can have your favorite band in your backyard, not care how much it costs, and lend them your jet to get there.” You should invest for your future self to have that option.
If you take nothing else from this post, at least remember this: we like the kind of money that jingles, but we invest so that we can have the kind that folds.
Never spend your money before you’ve earned it. – Thomas Jefferson
If I could rub on Aladdin’s lamp, I would wish for world financial literacy. Oh…And world peace.
However, what I really want is for more people to get involved with the family finances and build generational wealth for their future.
Within the last 72 hours, I have read that college students are unable to afford housing in Sacramento, Forever 21 went bankrupt, WeWork will be letting go of 2,000 employees, Sports Illustrated (SI) sacked half the staff.
In addition, that there is also an aging population and a doctor shortage due to issues with stress, debt loads in the $200,000-$500,000 range, not to mention under funding of residency programs; and that most of the growth in the job market is concentrated in only two areas: health services and education.
What your job is, should you choose to accept it, is to keep as many dollars in your bank account as possible. Unlike Tom Cruise’s message in Mission Impossible, this message will not self-destruct in five seconds.
If this were a financial hospital, I would want you to form a triage and determine which parts of your finances need most immediate care. Your bank account is the heart of your finances so let us perform a little CPR. Greenbacks Magnet style of course. This post is all about letting you know what you cannot do with your finances in order to grow your nest egg to a fortune. This reminds me of a sketch comedy show called You Can’t Do That on Television. Let me explain.
You Can’t Do That on Television is a Canadian sketch comedy television series that first aired locally in 1979 before airing in the United States in 1981. It featured preteen and teenage actors in a sketch comedy format similar to that of American sketch comedies Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and Saturday Night Live.
What I loved most about this show was that they would always say what you could not do followed by some hilarious punishments such as being covered in green slime. And nobody wants that! Who wants to have to wash all that slime out of your hair?
Let’s pretend that everywhere you go there is a bucket of green slime waiting to be poured on your head for any financial missteps that you make. You may think twice about maxing out that credit card or renting that posh pad in the SoHo district for $4,000 a month. I’m just saying.
Here is a list of things that you cannot do with your finances:
Overloading on Student Loan Debt such as paying $100,000 for a Sociology degree
Buying a car that costs more than your annual income
Paying for a family member’s vacation to Disneyland on your credit card because theirs is maxed out
Taking out Personal Loans for more than you can afford to repay
Buying a home for more than four times your salary
Spending on fancy jewelry
Going on shopping sprees at the mall just because its Tuesday
Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about what you can do with your finances. The list is short and quite simple:
Save until it hurts aiming for 50% of your after-tax income
Invest in index funds such as the VTSAX at Vanguard
Open up a Roth IRA
Max out your Roth IRA
And that’s about it.
I know what you’re thinking. That’s it?! The list for what not to do was more than twice as long.
That is because there are endless ways to spend money, but the road to wealth is quite simple. Spend less than you make and invest the difference. Therefore, if your take-home pay is $75,000 a year and you spend $50,000 on living expenses, then you should invest $25,000 a year. No matter what the numbers are, the goal is the same. The way to get to your destination may change, as life happens, but keep the goal.
I must now bid you farewell. Do not worry. I will not be far away. I am only a tweet away.
This is not goodbye. As they said in the 1987 He-Man film, Masters of the Universe, we Don’t Say Goodbye, we say Good Journey.
