As a frugal, minimalist, it’s easy to explain why I enjoy this lifestyle but will be hard to convince.
I began adopting this mentality from my parents, who immigrated from Poland with nothing.
They lived below their means, educated themselves, took nothing for granted, went to college in the states, and now work at the top of their industries.
We usually learn things through encountering a bad situation, lesson, or painful moment that force us to make a change.
Whether itâs noticing you gained 20 lbs over the holidays and decide you need to be serious about cutting the munchkins or shopping addiction that has your credit card screaming at you, weâve all had to push ourselves to make a change when something scary happens but absolutely dread it.
Why do challenges seem easy and impossible for others?
This is a major case because we are stubborn creatures.
Change is scary and unless we see the benefit and the current circumstances so drastic they are practically life or death, we finally take steps to get away from them.
With my familyâs circumstances, they wanted a better life.
They werenât Jews evading the Nazis in WW II or fleeing Vietnam for a better life in the immigrant land of opportunity here, they took it upon themselves to enjoy life more.
We assume we will get more from doing less.
Now, enjoying life more would mean, staying situated in their home country of Poland, eating more Pirogies, and staying the same because they did enjoy it but wasn’t good enough.
There was nothing wrong but despite that, they knew that a sacrifice to leave things behind and work a little harder would pay off big time.
With that came reduced spending, increased savings, learn English, and put expenses first.
Even if this sounds miserable, they were the happiest theyâve ever been, living off of a baguette and knowing that will pay off.
We live too much in the moment.
We want to impress people and make sure we come across as superior, so we would rather blow our money go into debt for temporary pleasure than long term benefit.
That is sad.
Thankfully since America is the land of opportunity for immigrants, weâve taught this country a good lesson.
Fight for what you want and staying comfortable is for losers.
Now, this of course doesnât just happen here, but since my family has lived here now for 2 generations, there are some striking differences that we see in this country that just doesn’t exist elsewhere.
First off, the pandemic says it all.
As we are the leading country with the most cases and deaths, that is a direct result of due our diligence, cooperation, community, integrity, and stupidly aggressive approach.
Americans believe they are always right and cannot be controlled.
Everything is a debate and as a result, a health crisis needs to get political.
No wonder Asia and Europe are doing some much better. They wear that mask and donât complain!
They care about each other and are not divided because there is no reason to be!
I donât know if this behavior is due to our ignorance and self-justification or simply because we believe everything is a hoax.
Regardless, just with our finances, taking precautious measures and being comfortable with the uncomfortable is always the best way to grow and develop.
When was the last time you achieved something you were proud of?
It can be as simple as making a peanut butter jelly sandwich because we need to appreciate the small things these days to being promoted at your firm.
Regardless of what it may be, you must have done something different that took more energy, patience and responsibility to get it done.
Anything that comes easy, isnât results, it is temporary satisfaction that only deteriorates you in the long run.
So why has my family flourished during tough times and risen?
Donât Take Anything For Granted
The college education that you want to drop out of or the ugly bookshelf in your room, someone wishes they had that.
You must get out of your own bubble and thinking that what you have is not enough.
There is always something we wish we had and never have enough of.
You must appreciate what you do and what you have in order to work harder, smarter and better.
Comparison is the death and the best way to waste your time.
If you appreciate your:
-Time
-Age
-Resources
You will already have the right mentality and ethics to put you on track.
You donât need much to succeed, it all starts with that attitude.
Foreva without the -er
There are over 300 million millionaires in the world.
A million dollars isnât as much as it was back when my parents grew up but it is important to still not underestimate how long it takes to earn a million.
The average age to accumulate a million dollars is 32 years old so pace yourself.
If you want to become a partner at GS, it takes roughly that time to get to that positon and if you want to create the next TikTok breakthrough dance, brace yourself because it only takes grit, resilience and a lot of tries that people cannot deal with.
Money is testing your behavior and resilience to saving long term, working towards a goal and not giving up.
If your goal is money, well, you will be more than disappointed becuase it will not happen.
If it was easy, everyone would be rich and inflation would be at its highest and cause additional problems.
Too much of a good thing is bad.
Impress yourself by understanding that you can produce, design, project and built whatever you want now but it takes diligence to ride the wave long term.
Rich Quick Doesnât Exist
It really does and even if you can count a few examples of those who were able to bypass, most likely it was a pony scheme or they are in jail now.
It is all about your mentality and how you will use your time.
Everything that is accumulated is through time.
Most of us are not CEOs at age 10 because we had other priorities and that is perfectly fine.
Great if you want to break the world record for being the youngest CEO of a firm, but be careful of major burnout, rejection, competition and drain in the next few years.
Life is not a sprint, it is a marathon.
Adopt that mindset you are an immigrant taking one journey at a time.
Exploration and you have all the time you need.
Just stick with it.
The majority of rich people become rich through decades of living frugally and investing.
These are longtime habits that sustain and cannot be broken.
You donât get rich by making a lot and then blowing it.
Not Much
You donât need much to get started or perform at your best.
Yes, eating a McFlurry vs. broccoli before the big match might make you drossy but if it is fuel, you use your own!
It is possible to rise from the bottom up.
Is it hard?
Yes, virtually impossible but we know people from Tony Robbins to Ed Mylett who have done it.
It takes persistence and diligence.
It all comes down to the mentality.
Yes, you need a computer, stable internet connection, email and water if you are thirsty, but then it’s just up to you for your creativity.
Once you hit that threshold of making a few million, you feel you are on cloud 9 until you realize you could be making more, and that isnât really that much.
Joe Bidenâs tax plan is especially alarming.
He declared he will be taxing individuals who make $400k per year or more.
Now that sounds like the 1%…in Nebraska but in NYC, California, or any other high tax state, that is a comfortable, average lifestyle with 2 kids believe it or not.
To be in the 1% living in Manhattan, you make over $800k per year, in Georgia, push it down to $400k.
Itâs all relative and you must decide how you will perceive it and what your goals really are.
Retirement Coming Soon
Itâs all about savings and investing.
Why keep all your money in checking?
It is only depreciating and loosing with inflation.
The rich make their money work for them through passive income, generating income while they are sleeping and enjoying their life.
Our lives arenât any better than someone in the middle class.
In fact, we have more problems because we have to deal with security, taxes, penalties, fines, parking, and everything that is never talked about.
Being rich is not more pleasant, only in Wolf of Walstreet and the faster you can get that into your head, your dreams will become realistic.
Donât equate money to fun.
To be rich, you must be stern, diligent with your money in order to have fun saving and growing it later.
Appreciate the process not the result.
Invest Your Time
You are your best investment.
Education is the number one thing that you can do to enhance your chances to create and change the world.
As exaggerated as that sounds, it works.
It is an investment that never appreciates, unless you donât use it wisely and can never be taken away from you.
This requires time and patience.
You cannot expect results right away.
Stop with the lofty goals of becoming a billionaire by a certain age or date, be realistic, and start teaching yourself.
And donât underestimate those soft skills and of course, personal finance, two skills we arenât taught enough.
Corporate, Out
86% of Millionaires are self-made.
And even more remarkable was that 78% of them started out as middle class or poor.
Ok, if you don’tâ want to work for someone, you are actually, not in luck because you will always work for someone.
When you are self-employed, your viewers, audience, customers or clients are your boss.
They direct what you need to provide them.
But what is remarkable is that traditional 9-5 jobs are fading because they are more volatile, get less severance, less reward and satisfaction, time for living life and offer no real fulfillment, besides a paycheck and 401k benefits.
Life is not linear and if you want a non-linear job, work for corporate America and also become an entrepeneur.
But both are not bad!
This is a tricky decision.
They both have more risk but becoming an entrepreneur and quitting everything is the biggest one for sure.
In order to prevent that, if you still want a steady income from your regular job, you must sacrifice your time.
Time is the only thing you cannot get more of so you experiment and build after hours.
If not, enjoy working in a cubicle.
Everywhere
The poor and middle class usually depend on 1 or 2 income sources max.
The rich usually have over 5 to 10 income sources that are passively making money for them.
First off, if you have to work manually and perform hard labor for your paycheck clocking in and out without making money on your vacations or weekends, that will slowly kill you.
You must find a job that is passive and you can work at a desk until retirement.
Although surprisingly they are less stable since someone needs to always milk a cow, a robot canât replace you compared to e-trading can, it is more realistic in the long run.
Investing, saving in a ROTH IRA, compounding, mutual funds, ETFs, purchasing real estate, and paying down high-interest debt such as car and credit card debt are great, easy first steps.
Count Every Penny
The first, logical conclusion from this research is that: rich people didnât get rich by wasting money.
I know, crazy right?
What many people fail to realize is that the someone who diligently saves and invests their money to one day become a millionaire doesnât magically change the day they become wealthy.
It is tempting.
The faster you make money, the quicker you tend to spend it.
According to The National Endowment for Financial Education found that up to 70% of people who receive a large amount of money upfront, blow it within a few years.
The upper class are the opposite.
And there you have it! These are some of the techniques that my family has followed since they crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a plane, not the Mayflower a few decades ago.
The beauty about these tips is that anyone, anywhere can follow them and they will only hurt you if you don’t.
Stop focusing on your wealth goal and start planning for the future, becoming debt free and unleashing your potential.
What are you waiting for?!