Spend less than your earn – invest the difference.
This is one simple way you can accumulate money for your investment fund. Your money can’t work for you if you don’t have any money to put to work.
Sure, it takes a bit of sacrifice to put away $100 a month, $200 a month, 10% of your salary, or whatever you decide is right for you. But by sacrificing a little bit every month, you’ll have all the money you want for years and years and years.
It is said: “A penny saved is . . . not very much.” That’s probably true. However, “Saving 65 cents a day in pocket change will add up to tens of thousands of dollars over time.”
Consider this. It’s almost impossible to become rich by spending more than you earn. Most people spend more than they earn. Most people aren’t rich.
Use a part-time job or a part-time business to add more money to your investment account.
By adding this extra income, you’ll cut years off your personal plan to wealth. Getting rich quicker is good, right?
Use people leverage to add more money to your investment account.
You can turbocharge your journey to wealth by employing other people in your part-time business or by taking advantage of network marketing.
Buy things that appreciate. Don’t buy things that depreciate.
Stocks, mutual funds, and real estate appreciate over time. That means your money is working for you. Stereos, fancy clothes, automobiles, and big screen televisions depreciate over time. That means you are going backwards – that you are losing money. That’s not the way to get rich.
Own your own home.
Renters and homeowners both make payments every month. You won’t get rich collecting rent receipts. You get rich by owning real estate.
Get a good tax accountant.
You want to minimize your taxes so that you’ll have more money working for you in your investment account. Your tax accountant can show you ways to reduce, defer or eliminate taxes on your investments. You can reduce the effects of taxes on your extra income by investing through IRAs, Keogh plans, 401s and other tax-favorable investment vehicles.
If you are really worried about paying taxes on the extra money you are earning, simply work a few extra hours for the taxes or arrange to have extra taxes taken out of your regular paycheck.
Avoid debt.
Some types of debt are good. An example would be the mortgage on your home (assuming you're not in over your head). This is debt on an appreciating asset.
Most debts are bad because you are paying interest on that debt. Paying interest is having your money work against you. It is robbing your investment fund of valuable capital that could be used to work for you.
Worst of all is paying interest on a depreciating asset such as an automobile or stereo. Not only are you losing money by paying interest, but the item you are paying for is also losing value at the same time. That is what’s called a “double whammy.”
If you have a lot of debt siphoning away your salary, maybe the first place for you to invest your investment money is in reducing your debt. This will ultimately free up more money in your monthly budget that you can put into your investment program.
Start young – or as young as you can.
That means start now. Let time work for you, not against you. The longer your investment fund grows, the more money you’ll have. Even if you invest very conservatively, time and the magic of compound interest will serve you well.
Don’t be someone who says,
“Oh, I wish I started ten years ago. Look where I would be today.”
“I should have invested in McDonald’s and Chrysler stock back in 1972.”
The past is past. You can’t redesign your past. However, you can design your future.
So start designing your future today. Ten years from now will arrive whether you start saving and investing or not. The choice of what you’ll say ten years from now depends on what you do today.
Protect your investment fund by reducing risk.
What good is it to save your money, only to lose it later on a speculative risk? It’s better to have a lower return and all of your investment fund than a higher return and sleepless nights worrying about your money.
Certainly all investments have some risk. You’ll want to keep your risks to a minimum while looking out for good returns.
You can invest your extra money monthly in a mutual fund, in real estate, to reduce your personal mortgage, or even in your own part-time or full-time business. Your investment risks decrease with knowledge.
Have patience.
Your investment fund won’t grow rapidly overnight. Consistent investing will give you good returns in the long term. For example, when is the best time to invest in stocks?
The obvious answer is to invest at the beginning of a long bull market (rising prices). Since no one can accurately tell the future, the best time to start investing for most of us is right now. Obviously stock prices go down also. But a stock portfolio that goes down in price is worth much more than never investing or saving a cent.
Investors who have become rich in stocks have invested over a long period of time. That includes up markets and down markets.
Handle your finances like an adult.
How do four-year-olds handle money? Do four-year-olds use their allowance wisely – or do they spend it quickly on something they want? Usually they insist on spending their allowance the same day they receive it. Saving or creating an investment fund is the furthest thing from their mind.
If you handle your money like a four-year-old, you’ll have the savings account of a four-year-old.
Don’t worry about inflation.
Inflation will occur whether you save money or not. So why not save money? You’ll like inflation a lot better when you have a large savings account.
Can’t seem to find any money to start your investment program?
Try this. Now I’m not asking you to budget. I’m only going to ask you to keep track of where your money goes for 30 days. Here is what you do.
Take a blank register from your checkbook. Simply record every expense, every dollar you spend for one entire month. Write down when you buy a pack of gum, a pack of cigarettes, a soda, when you pay the VISA bill, when you buy that sandwich or movie ticket.
At the end of the month, review your register. Look at all the miscellaneous expenditures you made that could have been turned into investment dollars.
Will you do this? Only if you are serious about becoming rich.
Want to increase your cash flow by $100 a month? Take ten activities and cut $10 from each one.. Now you have a extra $100 per month in savings to invest. I've seen people who earn $10,000 make regular contributions to their investment fund. I've also seen people earning $100,000 a year spend $110,000 a year and go bankrupt.
Saving money has nothing to do with how much money you make. It has everything to do with personal commitment.
And now it's up to you.
