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Financial challenges are a consistent and somewhat predictable occurrence. At one point or another we all struggle to keep up with our bills despite having a so-called “good job,” or barely have enough money to survive. Even a celebrity like Mike Tyson, who earned close to $300 million in his prime lost everything because he ignored and disrespected the rules of money.
The rich people we look up to seem to have mastered the rules of money because they took the time to study and educate themselves.
If you want to get your money game right you need to learn these critical principles below and apply them religiously:
1. Assess your current situation
Many people are under the illusion that their financial situation is in great shape. That’s because they never take the time to assess their current situation. To achieve financial freedom, you need to know where you are before planning where you’re going.
Take some time to calculate your total debt and the cash value of all your assets. If your assets exceed your debts, you are in good shape. However, if your debts exceed your assets, that means you are broke. You need to think of ways to pay off your debts by either earning cash from a second job or creating and selling products.
This is not an easy task, but it can be done once you have a plan and are willing to do whatever it takes to work your plan.
“The first step towards change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” – Nathaniel Branden
2. Measure and manage everything
Peter Drucker once said, “what gets measured, gets managed.” Having a budget is the cornerstone to building a financial fortress. There are several ways to create a workable budget. You can use a tool like an excel spreadsheet or a fantastic piece of software like You Need A Budget “YNAB” to track your income and expenses.
Once you have gathered some data, periodically go over your expenses, to ensure that you catch any fraudulent charges and unauthorized transactions that might have slipped past you.
3. Be logical when making expenditures
The worst time to go shopping for groceries is when you are hungry. That is because you are driven by the need to satisfy your appetite at that moment. Meeting your current emotional needs clouds your ability to make rational decisions.
Nobody earns their money because of emotions. Emotions are the leading cause of expenditures. Logic is the driving force of income. The universal principle is we engage in logical activities that create value, and then trade the value created for money.
Simply put, when it comes to affairs of money, emotions cannot always be trusted if you are trying to preserve or increase your wealth. Always look for ways to save money on expenses but be courageous, daring and decisive when making investments. Make it a game and enjoy it. Remember money earners rely on logic, money spenders rely on emotions.
4. Diversify your source of income
There are very few millionaires and billionaires in the world that rely on one source of revenue. This advice is very common in the business/finance community but is often overlooked. Many people believe that the money they make from their jobs plus their retirement contributions is enough to sustain them for the rest of their lives. News Flash! Your current income or retirement plan will never be sufficient to support you.
No matter how busy you are or how challenging it may be, you need to start thinking of ways to earn some alternative source of income. You can either freelance online with your current skills online, launch a gig economy business like driving for Uber during your off time or renting out your free space on Airbnb.
No matter what you do, the goal is to start getting something extra coming in when you don’t need it because sooner or later you will have no choice. This principle is especially important during periods of systemic market upheavals like recessions.
“Never depend on a single income.” – Warren Buffet
5. Focus on the future
Achieving financial freedom requires a massive dose of discipline and responsibility towards managing your cash. You cannot fall for every hot stock tip or buy into every new get rich quick program. Success leaves clues. There’s always a trail of how people make money.
For every Elon Musk that creates a Paypal, there are a few dozen others who will create a Dwolla, Square or Stripe. To become independently wealthy you need to study long-term trends, human nature, and cultural and geopolitical dynamics. I have found that the best way people get rich and stay rich is to provide a solution to one of the seven needs in Maslow’s hierarchy.
6. Be antisocial for some time
Getting your financial house in order requires you to make some tough decisions which will have an adverse impact on your social life. That means learning to say a big fat “NO” to socializing with friends and family. I am not saying your friends and family are the cause of your problems, but they are the unwitting enablers that will help you stay in your problem.
Use your reclaimed time to upgrade your abilities by learning new tools, skills, and languages. The sweet spot for financial freedom is usually at the intersection of your passions, skills, and opportunity.
7. Be obsessed with achieving results
Your initial financial freedom plan is going to fail. I am 97.75% certain of that. In spite of the guaranteed failure, I believe something in this article will resonate with you, and push you to act with purpose.
Once you start moving with purpose, you need to be obsessed with achieving results. If something works for you, keep it. If it does not work, cut it out and try something else. It is your plan. You are the secret sauce. Tweak it, Twerk it, Remix it, Work it. Do whatever you need to do to make the plan work for you.
“Most people fail in life not because they aim too high and miss, but because they aim too low and hit.” – Les Brown
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In life, one of the major goals for many people is to be financially successful so they can live life without worrying how they’re going to pay their next bill. Financial independence isn’t created overnight.
You’ll find, those who are financially successful, are those who have worked hard a majority of their lives to get to where they are now. If you’re tired of living pay cheque to pay cheque, this expert guide will give you the powerful methods to reach financial success in life without worrying about money.
Here are 4 ways to become financially successful in life:
1. Ignore The Status Of Others
You may have heard the saying ‘keeping up with the Joneses’. It’s important that when you want to reach financial success that you ignore the status of others. You don’t need to keep up with what others are doing.
Your friends may be spending large amounts of money on insignificant things, this doesn’t mean you have to do the same. Many people fall into the trap of keeping up with others who are living the high life. The problem with this is that it can drain your funds quickly. You need to remember that although their lifestyle and income may be a lot different than yours, when it all comes down to it, no one cares about what you drive, where you live, or how you dress.
They care more about how you treat them. When you stop comparing yourself to others and focus on your own financial well being instead, you’re on the right path to becoming more successfully free in life.
“The single most powerful asset we all have is our mind. If it is trained well, it can create enormous wealth in what seems to be an instant.”
? Robert T. Kiyosaki
2. Only Spend What You Need To
Another area where many people fall short is spending more money on things they want, rather than things they need. Many people use their money on items that aren’t really needed. If you focus on spending only what you need and use the rest of your money to pay down debt, or placing it in savings, you’ll find that over time you’ll be in a much better financial state.
A good way to work out how much you can afford to save is by:
- Tracking your income and what you make every month.
- Deducting your important expenses such as water, electricity, food and house rates etc.
- Keep a small amount for spending on yourself otherwise you will become stale. Spending $20 a week or fortnight is much better than spending $70.
- Place any additional funds, even if it’s $10, into a savings account.
Before making your next purchase, ask yourself, do you really need this or do you merely just want it?
3. Avoid Unnecessary Debt
Many people fall into the trap of taking out a loan in order to upgrade something that really doesn’t need to be upgraded at that time. Examples of this include upgrading a car, buying a new boat, or renovating the home. The key here is to decide whether or not you can wait and save the money first.
Think positively about money and debt . The process of becoming financially secure is all about thinking positively about money and how you will get out of debt. It’s a good idea to sit down and really analyze your income and debts to see where your money is coming from and where it is going.
Consider what we call good debt and bad debt. Good debt is where you may have a loan on an investment property and, depending on your circumstances, may be eligible to access some taxation concessions. Bad debt on the other hand, is a high interest debt that simply eats away at your income such as credit card debt or purchases made on a store card. Focus on paying down bad debt first.
4. Rewrite Your Life Goals and Create A Strategy
Last but not least, it’s important to set major financial life goals that you want to work towards. When you write down your goals you’ll begin to understand what’s required to make them become a reality.
Some things to ask yourself when you’re thinking about your goals:
- Where do you want to be in 5 years/10 years/retirement?
- Are there any foreseeable expenses that will emerge that may affect your ability to reach your goals? Such as children’s education or caring for elderly parents.
- Do you have any debts that will need to be paid off before you reach your goals?
- How much income will you need to achieve your goals?
- Do you have any family or other dependents that rely on you?
- What would happen to your family and dependents should you lose your source of income?
- Are your goals realistic given your financial resources?
“Obstacles can’t stop you. Problems can’t stop you. Most of all, other people can’t stop you. Only you can stop you.” — Jeffrey Gitomer
Becoming financially successful is all about the road you take to get there. Even just making some small changes such as reining in credit card spending, paying off credit card debt and starting a savings plan can make a significant difference to your financial well being.
To achieve larger goals such as planning for a comfortable retirement, it’s worthwhile speaking to a qualified financial adviser. A financial adviser can help you to define your goals and work with you on a financial strategy that’s designed to make your goals become a reality.
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Here it comes…push, HARDER, push yourself. If you don’t push harder it’s going to pass you by. LET’S GO! Stand up! Do you feel that? You’re riding the momentum wave. For any start-up, new business owner or leader, creating and maintaining momentum is crucial to the success and future success of their companies.
Many have asked, “How do I create momentum?” and equally as important, “How do I keep momentum going?” in order to ‘ride the momentum wave’.
Here are 4 ways to create and keep momentum going with your team:
1. Celebrate the small victories
Recognize when team members are doing the right things. Whether its consistently showing up to the office 15 minutes before everybody else, dressing exceedingly sharp or just demonstrating great follow-through. Anything that they are doing, big or small, make a point to let them know personally that you notice. This could be done with a simple gesture like a high five or a great job. This will reinforce the positive actions and build their level of confidence.
“Acknowledge all of your small victories. They will eventually add up to something big.” – Kara Goucher
2. Give public recognition
When giving recognition, find a time to do so publicly. It is typically very easy to do this with your top performers, but it is equally as important, if not more, to do this with your fresh, new team members. This will create a company culture of winning and high performance. Especially if your team sees that even the newest guy is exceeding expectations.
A winning team culture will subconsciously push each person to take their performance to the next level. Consider this, if you have 20 team members, and each person gets just 5% better, then your team just got 100% better.
3. Challenge when confidence is high
It is important to constantly challenge your team. It will keep them fresh and committed to performing. If you want to build off the momentum that you will create within your team, then it is important to recognize when you have people with high levels of confidence and to challenge them at that moment.
Give them a task that is slightly more challenging than what they have been doing on a regular basis. Their high level of confidence will push them through and allow them to complete a task that they may have been able to complete at any other moment. By completing these more challenging tasks, their level of confidence in their abilities to succeed will be at an all-time high.
“Together we can face any challenges as deep as the ocean and as high as the sky.” – Sonia Gandhi
4. Develop goals as a team
Take some time out of your normal routine to sit down with your team to develop goals. By having your team create these goals with you, it will create “buy-in” from your team. As you and your team get closer to hitting these goals, vocalize and ensure that everyone is aware of the progress.
No one wants to let down the team, so this will create a level of personal commitment to the team from each individual person which in turn drives your business toward accomplishing the goals.
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Everything is a test in life. Defining moments like graduation, job, marriage, house, relationships, failures, and pain are daunting moments. Our conscious mind dwells on living up to expectations that society pushes on us.
Fear carries a great source of growth; a doorway to discover more about you. However approaching such tests with a negative attitude will have a detrimental effect on your health. The driving force to overcome fear is your ability to respond when it surfaces. To keep it at bay, live with passion and positive energy so you can prove to yourself that it was worth overcoming.
Here are seven ways of overcoming your fears:
1. Decode your fear
The first step is setting aside time to reflect on your fear and embracing it. It can be a dark and lonely place and thrown around are a whirlwind of doubts and emotions. If you want to make it out, stare it dead in the eye and decide whether to accept your situation or do something about it in a world that is moving so fast.
Self-reflection and meditation is a remedy to initiate the “the I HAVE TO DO THIS” moment. Write down what has been holding you back, elaborate on the steps that led you to develop this fear, talk to somebody that has gone through the same process. Face your fears face and it will start to lose its power, don’t face them and they become your limits.
2. Remember to relive
Look past to remember your previous successes. This will surge positivity into your life, strengthening your confidence and provide building blocks in overcoming fear. Fear is waiting whilst you prepare your onslaught of positivity so next time something bad happens it won’t hurt as much. Accept that going through rough patches is just a learning experience.
You will realise that you’re more powerful than you think because many people are hit hard in life so don’t lose focus if you don’t hit your mark. I can provide many examples of famous individuals who constantly hit rock bottom but they never lost sight of their dreams. Relive because you are special and destined for success.
“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair
3. Your actions define you
Fear exists as an imagination in your mind to prevent you from moving forward so you will worry about the outcome before you have taken action. Be patient because it feels rewarding when you evolve from not trying anything at all to putting in the hours of blood, sweat and tears. Sometimes the adrenaline rush gives an amazing sensation of a HIGH that you get after taking action.
Use this to develop courage and belief in yourself that you can handle fear. It is in our actions that we grow as humans and where our abilities are not only tested but doors of opportunities are opened and new skills are created. I treat actions as experiments, slowly but surely creating a new you that learns from mistakes, failures, and setbacks. Let go of fear if you want change.
4. Train for a healthy life
The mind and body is your temple and what you take in affects how you feel. Regular physical activity is important because it improves several body functions. Hit the gym and use exercise to refresh and renew the mind, body and soul. With every repetition say positive affirmations and make it your mantra.
Fear can be built up inside and needs to be extinguished from the body so pay attention to your balance. Many other factors also play into part such as eating healthy and sleeping well. Developing your body forms a great barrier to fear because you become more resilient by learning to push harder and fight through the pain. The key to success is to focus the conscious mind on the things we desire not on the things we fear.
5. Ask for help
There is always that one person in life that you can go to and talk to about anything especially in times of hardship. Develop the courage to speak up and don’t fear embarrassment or rejection because you are not the only one.
Therefore stay conscious of asking for help so that you gain momentum in climbing those hurdles and gain some perspective and guidance in achieving your dreams. Find a heart that will love you at your worst and arms that will hold you at your weakest.
6. Live with passion
Learn to dwell on positivity and appreciate life. Don’t pay attention to negative media, voices, distractions, illusions, and the doubts that fear presents. Work hard in silence and let success make all the noise, breathe in; and run towards your fear and fear itself will start running away. Fear is just false evidence appearing real. You will be victorious.
“Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.” – Michael Jordan
7. Purpose and belief
We go through fears because there is a special meaning behind them. All the events that happen in life are connected and the significance of them is the timing at which they happen. You will look back to see that each lesson came with a much needed message to prepare you for the future. The future is unpredictable and yes we do fear the unknown so learn to release being over paranoid and believe in yourself.
