Tag: mindset

Don’t go broke trying to look rich.

Don’t go broke trying to look rich. ​
Don’t go broke trying to look rich.

I saw this post from FinancialSimplified on Instagram and loved it. How many people spend above their means just to try to impress other people?

If you have the “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality, it’s going to take you a really long time to build wealth. And if you’re ok with that, that’s fine. But if you have children, maybe it’s time to shift that mindset. I say this for a few reasons…

1) It is your duty as a parent to live responsibly, and to teach your kids to live responsibly. This goes for health, work ethic, attitude, teaching them about money, etc. If you have bad money habits and idolize material things or trying to impress others with your new clothes, new shoes, new car, etc, what does that teach them?

2) You don’t have to leave your adult children anything. At that point, they should be self-sufficient. I remember my dad saying that when he passed away, he wanted his last check to bounce. I have the complete opposite mentality. When I pass away, I want to leave my kids with millions. As long as I’ve given them the proper financial background so they don’t blow the money, and I’ve raised them to be good human beings (moral, just, etc), I’d be more than happy to relieve any sort of financial burden from their shoulders. If you don’t have to worry about how you’re going to pay your bills, it gives you the freedom and creativity to try new things that can be more fulfilling.

We never know when we’re going to pass away. If you’re not financially set, or if your passing will create hardship for your significant other and your dependents, you need to have life insurance set up. It’s a small cost for you right now, but if you leave this earth without it, the people you love most will suffer the most – not only emotionally, but financially too. If you needed two incomes to pay for your house, child care, food, transportation, and general living, what kind of stress and struggle will your family encounter if you pass away and they’re left with nothing?

3) You owe it to yourself. Why is it that we love ourselves so much, we are all so selfish in a way, but we care about what other people think? Why should other people’s opinions of us matter when they don’t really even know us?

You know yourself. Are you buying that $500 fancy wallet to impress yourself, even if there is no money in it? If I did that, I would feel worse about myself. Why cave into others’ expectations? Why have no money left over to spend on an experience with my wife and kids? And, not only that, but you’ll feel like an imposter too. Sure, you look rich. But you’ll know that you don’t actually have the money to back it up.

Don’t go broke trying to look rich. Don’t try to impress people you don’t know, you don’t like, and who don’t have to deal with your poor financial decisions.

We all have to start somewhere. Live within your means. If people laugh, just know that as long as you keep saving and investing money, trying to increase your income constantly while it increasing your spending, you’ll eventually have the last laugh. You’ll get to retire early when they are still slaving away in their 9-5.

Leadership and development

The way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement.
“The way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement.” – Charles Schwab

If you want to bring out the best in people, you must work on how you communicate with them. Here are some quick tips:

Be firm, but fair.

Be gracious.

When they do something good, reinforce that behavior by praising them for their effort.

Show your appreciation for them and provide encouragement.

Help them develop a growth mindset, not a fixed mindset.

If they haven’t done something right, it’s a learning experience, not a failure.

They can get to where we need them to be with the right attitude, practice, and learning from their mistakes (and the mistakes of others).

Occasionally, you may need to push them a little. People like their comfort zone. But if they want to reach their full potential, they will need to go outside of it.

Hold them accountable. If they say they’re going to do something, check in with them to make sure they’re on track to complete it. If they need help, you can help them brainstorm, but don’t just give them the answer. If you do this then they will always bring their problems to you and not try to think of solutions on their own.

SMART Goals for 2022

Have a SMART goal in mind.

S.M.A.R.T. is an acronym standing for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. These goals are designed to keep you on track and motivated to achieve what you want in life. They work because instead of just having a general idea of what you want (i.e., “I want to retire early”), they make you think about the path of how to actually get there.

For example, if you want to retire early, how early? Does retiring early mean retiring at 60? 55? 45? You need to set an end date to create a sense of urgency. This will also help you reverse engineer your goal to see if it’s realistic/attainable. You’ll need to figure out how much you need to live off of per month or per year and then can use cool tools like the 4% rule to see how much money you need invested to hit your retirement goal. Are you ok living off of $40,000 per year ($3,333 per month) or do you need $80,000 or more? What expenses will you have when you retire? In addition to basic living (food, water, transportation, cell phone), will you still have a mortgage payment? Don’t forget you’ll likely need to pay for healthcare. Using the 4% rule, you’ll need $1,000,000 invested if you want to live off a $40,000/year income.

The good news is that if you’re young, you have a lot of time to make good financial decisions and allow those good decisions to compound over time. The bad news is, it’s a long time to stay focused on a goal. So Instead of taking a straight line to where you want to go, it might be more of a winding road.

How do you stay focused for 20 years? To do this, you have break it down into more manageable chunks (having “milestones” to look forward to), celebrate the wins once you achieve those milestones, review your goals regularly, have an accountability partner to make sure you’re not straying too far off your path, understanding that sometimes you’ll have to delay gratification, not worry about what others think and stop comparing your life to theirs, and have a strong reason for wanting what you are stating is your goal. Do you want to retire early only so you can sit in front of the tv all day or do you want to enjoy life with others? If it’s the latter, who’s to say you can’t do that now?

On winning

Part of winning is not being afraid of losing, of looking dumb, of not being “the best” at something…you have to keep pushing your limits. If you want to continue winning in life, you must always be learning and improving. You may be naturally good at certain things, but if you don’t work to improve your game, everyone around you will catch and surpass you.

Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Don’t let fear overcome you. Just go out and get to work.