While I am working out the HOW to get there, I am a little clearer on what it WILL look like when I get there, this place called "rich." In all my reading of motivational, entrepreneurial, and personal development books I have become pretty good at the first step they all suggest as a starting point...HAVE A VISION. Without getting too kumbaya about it, MY IDEA OF BEING RICH IS HAVING ENOUGH FREEDOM TO DO WITH MY LIFE WHAT BRINGS ME THE MOST JOY.
Top Ten Things that bring me JOY:
1. Being able to live with myself and my decisions
2. My Family
3. My Friends
4. My Health
5. Service to others
6. Interesting and Challenging Work
7. Learning new things
8. Having new experiences
9. Getting enough sleep
10. Shopping
I am not going to lie, I do like to shop. I like shoes, clothes, books and Crate & Barrel. Very much. I am mostly a DO girl, but partly a HAVE girl and I'm ok with that.
What is your definition of rich?
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3 comments:
One "get rich" idea: I read a great article that said if you invest in the mutual fund that has done the best over the last 12 months, over time, you'll get a return of over 15% per year. That means you'll double your money every 5 years. (The rule of 72: divide the rate into 72 and that tells you how often your investment doubles, so 72/15= 4.8) Mind you, last year's best fund won't always be this years best, but by changing funds every Jan you should average 15%. I'm going to try that one.
It seems to me that you have clarity about what you seek in life, I love your vision, planet Earth awaits and accepts your energy rock on sugar!
Prioritizing is brilliant, and it also lends itself to a great realization: "Rich" isn't a place we arrive at with sufficient accumulation of wealth, it is the condition of being able to live as we desire. In your case that is:
1. Being able to live with myself and my decisions
2. My Family
3. My Friends
4. My Health
5. Service to others
6. Interesting and Challenging Work
6. Learning new things
7. Having new experiences
8. Getting enough sleep
10. Shopping
The key to being able to live like this: SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN. The key to spending less than you earn? Make wise spending decisions.
I've found the best tool for making better decisions is a system of budgeting and tracking expenses.
When you have a budget and track your decisions, the quality of your decisions will increase, and waste will decrease. By spending less money on things of lessor value, you will have more money for things of greater value:
A cheaper dinner when you dine out in favor of saving more money for the trip to Europe. A less expensive car in favor of a more beautiful home. $400 in clothes per month instead of $700, in favor of investing $300 per month, which in 25 years would be nearly $600,000 if invested in a mutual fund which achieves the stock market's annual return of 12%. (at 15% it is almost $1,000,000)
If you double your income and double your expenses, you could still be "poor" if you make bad decisions. You will not have money for what you value most if you spend it on what you value least. Your wealth can only accumulate if you do not spend it.
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