The most important things you need to understand about money

It seems like the most important things you need to understand about money was never taught to you. That doesn’t mean it’s too late to learn. If you start today, you can educate yourself and change your financial situation.

Everyone that has ever sought change has found it. If we don’t encounter change, it’s because we are seeing the same things, thinking the same ideas, and feeling the same emotions.

They don’t teach us about money in school, at least not how we should use it, earn it, or grow it. At eighteen, we find out that we have to pay this thing called “Taxes.”

But when do we get to learn about money? If you don’t see the education, chances are you won’t.

Education should start young

If your financial education started when you were (insert age here), chances are you were an adult. The best time to learn proper habits is when we are children. Our judgments about the world don’t exist, and it will carry the right habits into our later years.

The early stages of money are focused on money management and habit creation.

How can we earn money? Allowance, chores, helping around the neighborhood or collecting recycling. How we handle the money once we earn it, and how to make it work for us. Just as you would teach any sport to a child, you teach the fundamentals.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you should hire a personal financial coach. I know how busy life can be and now you’re supposed to find extra time for education, but where?

You don’t need all of the education. You need the right education. With so much information out there, it’s up to you to determine the path you want to walk. Once you have your destination, you can identify the education you’ll need.

“An educated man is not, necessarily, one who has an abundance of general or specialized knowledge. An educated man is one who has so developed the faculties of his mind that he may acquire anything he wants, or it’s equivalent, without violating the rights of others.”

Think and Grow Rich
-Napolean Hill,

Starting a business is the same way, there’s a lot of information out there that you’ll need but even more that you don’t need. If you need help navigating the path for your business, we can help guide you. We have assisted business owners in incorporating for over the last 20 years and we continue to help business owners get started today.

Chase skills, not money

The common understanding in our culture is if you want something, go after it. Chasing money will not bring you more money. Money is earned based on the value you bring. The real wealth is in the discipline. You also know this as a skill. When you chase something, it often eludes you.

When we think of discipline, we often remember getting in trouble as a kid. Discipline is more than just a belt; that’s one form of discipline.

The other side of discipline is in our skills. Our skills are developed by how often we focus on training them. If you have no skills, don’t worry, it only means you have a blank slate to start. It starts with awareness, your level of awareness will determine your skill set, and your ability to maintain that awareness will determine the level of your skills.

That’s what classes sell you, behind every internet guru, is a set of skills. It’s up to you to determine which ones you can use.

What skills are you building today that will give you a better future?

Never chase the job, the car, or the house. If you chase the skills, the money will follow. Consulting, the job of the future, is a good place to start. Building a business takes discipline and sometimes a team, if you’re planning on starting your own business, we can help you get incorporated.

Invest early

If you earned a dollar, how much would you invest? Investing is an excellent habit of starting early. Even if you can’t invest much, you will teach yourself that if you have something extra, invest it. This can also impact other parts of your life. If you have an hour left before bed, are you going to spend it watching TV or invest it on yourself by reading a book?

One of the most significant differences between the rich and the poor is what they do when they earn their money. Rich people invest their money and spend what they have left. Poor people spend their money and don’t have anything left to invest.

The earlier you invest, the easier it will be to reach your target financial goals. The habit of investing begins with how we spend our money. Out of your income, how much do you invest? If the answer is zero, then you should learn how today. Tomorrow never comes so if you wait for it, you will always be waiting.

But where do you start investing?

Money isn’t worth your health

Stressing about money isn’t worth it. Stress itself is costlier than you can imagine.

Check out this article on WebMD but don’t diagnose yourself.

One of my main reasons for this point, as we get older, we seek happiness or something that will give us the equivalent. When we search for happiness outside of ourselves, we will find it, but we will never be able to create it. Because we found it outside of ourselves, we won’t feel like we indeed found it.

Money is something that we correlate with happiness or success. But happiness is created when we achieve something, whereas success is achieved when we become something. Money is a tool, but it can feel like an achievement because it’s what we use to pay for value.

Stressing about money won’t solve your financial problems, it might even make them worse. When we stress, our bodies go into flight or fight, which an automatic response. It is hard to use the analytical mind when we’re operating on instinct. We want to run on Joy. Running on joy allows us to work at our highest potential.

If you are one of the few black belt ninjas that can manage your stress, you’ll live a wonderful life. You won’t worry about your health, because you won’t get sick as often. We become what we think. Monitor your thinking if you ever want to change it.

Avoid the accelerated aging, depression, and obesity side effects that come with stress. Future ‘You’ will thank you for it. But it’s easier said than done, so how can you use stress the same way a muscle uses it, to grow?

I’ve learned that physically what I do is as important as what I do mentally. Reading grows your mind, and physical exercise helps the body exert emotions. When emotions are suppressed and remain in us. Thinking causes more stress by amplifying the problem instead of making it smaller. By exerting your energy, you’re releasing stress, and even if you can’t get over the problem, you’re giving yourself serotonin to help combat the stress.

Rent to invest

In this era, owning a home and having your equity sitting, you aren’t maximizing your potential income. Instead, focus on investing in 4 or more units, so you rent them out and have your money work for you. Instead of renting and owning one home in the next twenty years, your family could all hold their own home in the next ten years.

Buying a single-family home will give you freedom but won’t provide you with income. For instance, if you buy a home for $400,000. You own it, but you didn’t do anything with it. After a time, the housing market takes a dip; your home is now only worth $200,000.

The way you use your house is significant.

This is why you want to rent to invest.

Consider if your house is a good location, or parts of it can become an Airbnb. If you’re hosting someone regularly, it could help pay off your mortgage. You would own the house quicker, and you’ll have more freedom to get creative.

Hear me out, from a logical standpoint. Your asset will only lose value over time. It will require continual maintenance and money to keep it up to living standards. Create a strategy with everyone who brings an income into the house. Focus on buying one house at a time. Rent out whatever previous homes are purchased and paid in full.

Then, watch your money work for you.

Let’s say you weren’t throwing $800 a month into a small one bedroom. What if you spent that money on food? You might be more inclined not to spend it. Most of us choose the short term reward of living on our own and waste money that is working for you.

Living on your own is not a rite of passage, don’t let anyone sell you on that. Our culture doesn’t have rites of passage, not anymore. If you want to feel empowered, empower yourself, and start making progress towards your financial independence. Owning more isn’t about what you have but what you can give.

Self-sufficiency pays dividends

This will cover more than just cooking at home. According to a Harvard business review, only 90% of people don’t like to cook.

Self Sufficiency pays
dividends and pays off.

Cooking at home instead of going out to eat can save you thousands. If you buy lunch every day at work for $10, you’ll spend $2600 after a year. That was just lunch. Self-sufficiency is another word for confidence because it’s how you express the level of your faith and ability. You might not cook because you’re unsure of your ability to make something that’s enjoyable.

It might be easier to eat out, but the more comfortable choice isn’t always the right now. Usually, the natural choice gives us an immediate reward, but it hurts the long term. What you don’t pay for today you’ll pay for tomorrow. Building self-sufficiency today pays off for your future.

How much do you think a new washing machine costs? At the low end, you’re looking at $400. The reason I bring this up, recently our washing machine broke. What did we do?

We went on Youtube, Google, and any other site that would help. My family figured out what was wrong with the washing machine, and we fixed it. The total expense breakdown was; $15 for a new belt, compared to the $400 for a replacement. It’s exactly 2,566% more beneficial to be self-sufficient, which is the difference in what we saved, fixing the washing machine? We saved $385.

The internet has forever changed the way we communicate and conduct business. Building self-sufficiency can help you adapt in the future. If you find you need help, we have mentors who can teach you.

Your income can change if you change

One of the hardest things for me to figure out was the level of income I earned. Your income can change if you change, if you make minimum wage, it’s because you’re using minimum wage skills. I learned this concept from Jim Rohn, you don’t get paid for the time you spend, but instead the value you bring.

You can’t change the time you have, each of us has twenty-four hours, and if you figure out how to add more write it down, box it up, and teach the rest of us. But you can change your value, the skills you have, the things you know, your abilities. You can add value by reading more, learning more, becoming more. When you become more, you give more value.

Asking for abundance in your life only works if you believe you deserve to receive it. You can reinforce these beliefs by action. Without action, you’re showing yourself that you don’t believe in the abundance you wish.

Think about the last great idea you had, did you act on it? If you did, it’s changed into something we call a lifestyle. If you didn’t, then nothing happened. Ideas are amazing, but its what we decide to do with those ideas that ultimately change our lives. If you’ve thought about starting a business, that’s great, but did you start? The world needs you to express your ideas and vision. Only you can do this.

Nothing changes unless we change, once we begin to change, everything around us slowly begins to change.

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