I move around quite a bit, so I rent rather than own. The reason will be explained herein if I get that far. First I want to lay out a bit about some types of people as it relates to their wealth ability. I know these types because I have been each of them at one point or another.
Children
Most children are never taught correctly about money. They are taught to count it and to make sure they get correct change when they buy things. They are taught how to put it in a wallet and even how to borrow it to the max. That is what I was taught to do, and my first million was on paper and summed up against my debt. That is not as exciting as cash, really.
Getting Rich
Becoming a person of money requires learning to have money. Sounds really over simplified, but that is the part kids are not taught to practice. I learned to save and even did calculations on compound interest when I was young. That model failed as inflation kicked in, so it is no longer valid. We will be talking about things that work in this post.
So one of the first things you need to do is learn to have money.
When I decided to become rich for the fourth time, I decided to have money. I stopped borrowing it, spending it, wasting it, and paying for things that I needed. Then I put that money in a drawer.
I then had money
For me, that was the first step. I adjusted my life and my necessities to reduce spending, and I continued to work like a dog as I always had done.
I cleared out a room in the place I was renting and advertised it for rent. Took in $300 per month for any month I rented it. That also required some care, discomfort, and keeping the common areas clean. I had to share when it was much easier to keep it all to myself.
I had already moved close to work, as is my usual first thought when changing jobs, and got rid of my car, car insurance, plates, maintenance, etc.. It was a luxury, not a necessity.
I killed my health insurance. I am healthy and had not been to the doctor for many years. A little risk for a couple of years.
The money immediately began to build up in that drawer. Paper money is a bad investment because it always goes down in value, you know. So I started counting it and found a gold dealer that was trustworthy, found out how much paper I would need for a one ounce coin of pure gold. When I had enough, I bought some. I paid around $800 for that first coin. Today it is worth $1.800 and I had never planned to sell it. I have bought and sold gold over the years since, but I still have that coin.
About a year later I heard about the first ever crypto-coin and started checking into how it works. I remember signing up for Dwolla and having to transfer money to something called Mount Gox in Japan. I do not remember how it all worked, but BitInstant was a big factor in how happy I was or was not at the time.
That was the beginning of it all. Small habits build wealth and one need only learn how to just HAVE money.
Spenders
Most people are not looking to have money. They want to get money so they can give it to some cashier somewhere in order to obtain the next shiny object that will sell at the garage sale in a few years.
They are the ones that upgrade their gaming console every time a new one comes out. That is great for the ones who make the consoles - those people will be wealthy but not the gamer who does that.
A wealthy person can upgrade everything all the time because it a small percentage of what they have. It is like upgrading a tooth pick from wood to plastic. The wealthy can go broke if they upgrade their Corvette every year. Most do not do that because of the senseless losses. When Corvettes are like tooth picks too them there is not problem.
Spenders are the ones who can hit the lottery and will be broke a year later. They have no clue what proportions are acceptable related spending.
Borrowers
The guys with 12 credit cards, a mortgage, and the latest new car on a six year plan. That was me in 1990. It is possible to become rich by borrowing your way into an opportunity, but you need an insane amount of luck and a lot of foresight!
Borrowers are just spenders who spent too much and still want to do more of the same.
Savers
In general, savers learn how to have money but they get stuck at the drawer level and miss out on their money making more money for them. Some get rich but lose a lot of their wealth in paper devaluation. Many think they are making money just because they bought their house for $80,000 a decade ago and can sell it for $250,000 today. They even pay tax on the money they earned.
The house has not appreciated. In reality, it has gotten older and uglier. In asset terms, the house was worth four average new cars then, and it is worth four average new cars now. No value increase!
Misers
Frugal people are able to spend less, but their inability to spend money transfers over to their investments. Many times, they hold on to their paper and treat investments like expenditures and fail to spend money on them.
Investment money is NOT spent. It is the same as the money in the drawer but with one more physical barrier in place that keeps you from scooping it up and blowing it all, thus ruining all your hard work.
Stable
I consider what I have learned to do and I think it is a stable way of life. You could also call it a happy way of life. When you can reassess your needs and differentiate between actual necessities and the luxuries that you think you cannot live without, then you become more stable in an instant.
If your happiness is only attained by the fuzzy feeling of something new and a receipt in your pocket, then you have stability issues. The trick is not telling yourself that you cannot spend money on nice things, but that you cannot do it now.
The reward will come in the form of relaxation every month knowing that you have the money to pay all the bills this month. I worked my way up to a goal of having three months in cash in case something happened and I could not work.
Beggars and Cheats
These folks usually sometimes make money. They may even get rich, but how they make their money does not give them an escape from being one of the other categories listed in this post. They are just able to replace the bills in their wallet faster than they spend it in some cases.
Back to my road...
Soon I had enough to pay all bills for a year if I lost my job. Then I was hit with a very complex legal matter and had to take time off of work. I took a month to clear it up. I never went back.
That was many years ago. I have gotten used to never having to worry about how I will pay my bills. To me that is better than any purchase that made me smile. Why? Because it lasts.
I learned to live with very little compared to others who have the numbers that I have. I am content and I have many nice things. The most expensive thing I have bought in the last ten years had not cost even a small percentage of one percent of my net worth.
Percentage is the key as our wealth starts to build. Many see that I just spent thousands on that really nice (fill in the blank) and they want to have one too. For them, it would be 600 % of their yearly income. For me, it is a tenth of one percent.
The only difference between them and me is that I have been spending tiny percentages of what I have, and I have been happy doing it for many more years than they have. When will you learn to have money and spend tiny percentages of what you have?
I am starting you all on some very basic rules to growing wealthy. It is a mathematical formula that never fails. I have done it four times in my life. It always works if you are willing to sacrifice comfort today for super comfort in the future.
Sacrifice a tiny bit today for a long hard trip to moderate wealth in the future? That works. But readjust two words in that sentence and shorten the road and result greatly.
I said "sacrifice" not suffer. I stopped suffering the day that I readjusted my list of needs in trade for eliminating my list of worries!
Why I move around
As I said, I rent. I prefer renting because the investments that I have will all double in the years to come. If I cash them out to buy a house then I will have the opposite of capital gains to show for that decision. I will also be locking myself into a neighborhood, which can cause difficulties. And finally, I would be spending more than a tiny percentage of my total and I have learned not to do that. I have also learned to be happy with what I have.
Why I may soon move
A neighbor and I have become friends recently. He is starting to guess that I have a little more than most. I have been generous with him and have helped him out with some hard times. He and others in this neighborhood have started coincidentally "running into me" from time to time, more frequent as each month passes, and they all have investment ideas or partnership ideas for ways to make money. If we just buy a (fill in the blank), then we can...
I have never had a partnership. They sometimes succeed and then you need to argue about money with a good friend. I do not like to do that. The arguments are usually those of a spender or borrower. . .
If I cave on one idea, the next one will be bigger. . .
I have bailed hundreds of people out and they always bounce back with a bigger ask. . .
I will still be friends with these people if move. I just won't see them each several times per day. I have no problem giving them money for their ideas. I have a problem watching them fail. The ones that spend until they have zero always do and it is sad. Everyone could have money if they were only taught how to do it.
I plan to make this into some sort of series. There is much more to share. Please feel free to ask questions and I will try to cover them in upcoming posts.
1 How to Have Money
2 Debt and Percentages
3 Waste not, Want Not
4 A Practical Example
5 Cost Averaging for Investing
6 Overnight Successes
I went ahead and reblogged your article. It was very well written but the subject matter is that which everyone should read.
Anyone hear in hive especially the LeoFinance community will want to practice the Art of Having Money :-)
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You come long way. Congratulations
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Looking forward to this as a series for sure! I like the way you think on this, it's something my wife and I have gotten to. We were never really big spenders, I spent more than she did but we adjusted that many years ago. I would love the nice fast cars and stuff that I dream of but will I actually buy one, even though I could technically afford it? Hell no!
I have been putting money into various crypto things instead. I've already seen far better ROI's on what I have invested than I ever did before with my traditional retirement accounts. We are at a good point now but always try to keep a net-positive income to spend ratio. Some months it's much higher than others but we have thankfully not gotten into a negative income to spend ratio for many years. Meanwhile, our friends and family are getting into massive debt for fruitless shit!
Only concern we have is that we have to make sure we keep ourselves stable since we have a child. If we didn't, we could be a lot riskier but we are comfortable with where we are at now thankfully.
Something I do on a regular basis. I go through any sub-one-cent cryptos and see what they are about. I take a small amount of money and buy thousands of the ones that look interesting. I grab the official wallet and note my private key, then put thousands of coins in it. Rinse and repeat.
When I am done with the ones that I like, I find that I have spent less than a hundred dollars on them all. I then forget about them for a year or so. It is the least risky investment I can make. Some go bust and others go five times their value. One in the group goes exponential.
Worst case. You tossed a hundred out. Best case. Six figures on one of them.
Awesome idea, I’m going to have to look into those and how I can get ahold of some. Do you use a stable coin or some other cheaper crypto to get them?
It is such a small amount, like 10,000 coins for $10, it would not matter what coin you use to buy them. Every dog has its day. And every crypto project has its spike.
Very true! Have there been any coins recently you got into and would recommend for an opportunity? Granted I’ll spend some time figuring out how to get ahold of it but that’s okay. When there’s a will there’s a way!
My wife drives me crazy with her spending... it's like she sees a different number in the bank account then I do. 😡🤬
Yes, I believe some people don't like money since they are so quick to get rid of it!
Ah... I see you've met her 🤣
Loved reading this. I wonder what it must feel like to always move.
Givers never lack. I guess you’ll have a lot to say about this too.
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You are right about that. Gain altitude with an attitude of gratitude.
Thanks for your detailed blogs, so much thought and research and time spent. I agree renting is better not a long time commitment like when you buy a property, this way funds can be invested..... Much more liquid !
This is currently the issue when it comes to regular gaming, however it's being redefined by blockchain gaming. The model is built around and reaching developers of the game creating a system of wealth and maintaining value for a person who is just the regular gamer. So the advent of cryptocurrency affecting gaming has redefined this and I only pity people who are still gaming for free.
This is generally amazing, I use to look at my life as well and how I've come to streamline my expenses to be rather meaningful, sometimes I think having Money is basically having an understanding of how to manage it rightly. Sometimes what others would generally place value to, might be utter stupidity in our own books.
I definitely move a lot like you too, but in my country it's more favourable to build rather than rent because tax is inconsequential especially when you're not working for the government.
Overall, I believe that you've come a long way from the first day you bought into Crypto. I guess it redefines who we are and helping us become better in all aspects.
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Great post. Much emphasis is on making money or investing it. But, little attention is paid to just having it.
I recently learned about not locking up my savings in investments. I needed cash, suddenly, which caused me to sell some BTC. Ouch.
Now, I keep some money on the side to help get out of sudden squeezes. It's nice to get yield. But, flexibility is also important.
For the first time ever, we have what is a significant amount of savings for us. We are optimistic that this will continue to grow.
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@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 45/85) Liquid rewards.
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful post. Is good to own something rather than being rented. When you own something, it's give you the freedom and rest assured of mind and cut short unnecessary spending.
This is pure gold (or BTC in crypto language)! I think many need to not only read it, but also understand it as may change their life. It's the right way of thinking and I want to say thank you for this.
Keep them coming as we all need it, trust me! Last but not least, thanks for all the support.
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Te felicito amigo eres una gran ahorrador, malgastar el dinero no es bueno, sin embargo siempre hay que recordar que el amor al dinero es perjudicial y que hay más felicidad en dar que en recibir. Creo que tienes un equilibrio en eso, por eso te felicito. Gracias por compartir estas estratégias. Saludos
@ezrider
Really enjoyed this and so much is common sense when you sit down and think about it. I was raised in a household that had very little money and have appreciated what I have more than the rest of the family. I say that as they like to spend and I like to keep it as the other half came from a totally different background. I think this is why I am so serious with things like Hive and my crypto as they have no clue and it is a way for me to get ahead in life. I am looking forward to your next episode as there are some great tips in here. I also did away with the car a few months ago as it was a waste of money when we have the use of a company vehicle.
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I learnt this quite early because of my dad. I owe him that.
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I Believe you but the Best way to make money is by decision. Dedication is what help us to be successful in this life. We need to avoid borrowing if you want to make it in this life. Always learn how to save. That's what makes us great.
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Thanks for the powerful Tips! looking for the next.
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Yay! 🤗
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Something I noticed is people who are rich or have any kind of substantial amount of money invested in something be it property crypto or shares. It's very hard to become rich just from a job alone, hence why even some successful singers and bands who earnt a few million go bankrupt.
Whether you're freelancing online, driving passengers, or selling your stuff, you'll learn how long it will take to see the extra income.