As you know, one of the most important keys to creating wealth is the right attitude. That is why I decided to share with you in a series of articles the Attitudes of the Wealthy. This is the ninth article of that series.
Attitudes of the Wealthy #25: Have money work, not you work
When I was in my 30’s I had to work for money, and it did not seem like there was enough to set aside and save or invest after making a house payment, paying bills and raising a family. For about a year I paid myself first $300 per month from my $3000 per month income, and after 10 months saved $3000.
Then I completed my tax return and owed $3000 to the IRS. That was so discouraging that I stopped paying myself first for another eight years until I re-read The Richest Man in Babylon. Paying myself first was really the key to creating wealth.
Now my money works for me, instead of me working for money. Here is how you can have money working for you instead of you working for money:
Example #1: In 2001, I purchased a tri-plex with my wife and her real estate partner. My $18,000 down payment grew to $130,000 in six years while the tenants paid down the mortgage and the other expenses with their rent payments. This was money working for me at about 40% compounded annually.
Example #2: Several years ago we re-financed our house at 3% and invested the money with a private lender and earned 7%. That allows us to make our loan payments and provides a profit of $670 per month. Our money is working for us.
Example #3: Recently I met a couple of young ladies creating a short term rental business. They were profitable and wanted to grow. Loaning them money at 8% interest is helping them grow, and has money working for me.
There are many businesses that are profitable and can grow faster with more money. Until you pay yourself first or create an account for saving and investing, you will not be able to take advantage of those opportunities and have your money work for you.
What opportunities have you seen, or currently see, where your money can work for you, instead you just working for money?
Attitudes of the Wealthy #26: Time versus Priorities
Next, we will talk about how the wealthy understand there no such thing as a lack of time; only a lack of priorities.
You have probably heard of the Pareto Principal, more commonly known as the 80/20 rule. This is where you can see that 20% of your efforts or customers can produce 80% of your results.
By the same token, 20% of your customers or clients can produce 80% of your headaches. They are NOT the same 20% that produce 80% of your results, but that’s a conversation for another day.
Let’s say you have one hour and four tasks to handle or complete:
1. Take the mail to the post office (30 minutes)
2. Drop checks off at the bank (30 minutes)
3. Call your best client for a referral (5-15 minutes)
4. Work on a marketing brochure (1-2 hours)
First, you will notice that working on the marketing brochure can take up the full hour or more. Going to the post office and the bank will also take a full hour. But calling your best client will probably not even take 25% of the hour.
This is where you measure priorities against time and look at the 80/20 rule. What has the highest likelihood of growing your business NOW? It is not the marketing brochure or the other two tasks. It is calling your best client for a referral. That is the highest priority, so if you only have one hour, that is the action to take first.
And, I think I discussed in the wealthy attitude series of emails that someone else can go to the post office and bank for you. Who says you are the one who has to go?
And for the marketing brochure, should you work on this alone, or with an expert? Someone else who has expertise in marketing can get it done in probably less than one hour and do a better job. And if you focus on getting more clients and customers, you will have the money to pay your assistant and the marketing expert.
Hopefully, you can see how no one has a lack of time, only a lack of priorities. Whether is it you, me, or the leader of a country we all have the same 24 hours in a day to achieve our goals.
Can you see how by using the 80/20 rule and setting priorities, the results you produce can shift dramatically within any time constraint?
Attitudes of the Wealthy #27: Control versus Hope
To wrap up this article in the series we will talk about how the wealthy control their money versus hoping someone else can make it grow.
One of the wealthy people I know talks about the “park and pray” method of investing. She says that many people, maybe even you, hand their money over to a stockbroker and hope they can make it grow.
One my favorite investors is Warren Buffet, and he commented that it was odd how the guy who drives up in a Rolls Royce hands his investment money to a stockbroker who had to take the subway to work.
Early on in my life, I recognized I had some control issues, and I also see how that has served me well. As an example, if I were to purchase some stock, let’s say with General Motors, they will not pay any attention to my suggestion on where to have a production facility, how to design a car, what features I think would be good, how to market it, what commercial to air or even who to hire.
However, when it comes to investing in multi-unit residential properties, I can pick where I buy. I can select how I want to improve the property, paint the exterior or interior, or re-model (as long as my wife agrees). I can choose the tenants. I can choose to keep the building or sell the building. I can choose to defer the taxes under IRS Section 1031, or pay the taxes on the gain, on and on and on. I am the one in control; not a stockbroker or the board of directors of some public company.
If you have your own business, you are in control. You choose how you want to market your product or services. You choose your pricing. You choose how it will be manufactured or delivered. You choose the hours you will work. You choose the technology you will use. You choose whether you want to rely on cold leads or referrals. You choose your employees and how you will train them, on and on and on.
When you look at the wealthiest people, like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, Sam Walton, or many others, you will see how they were in control of their companies and their fortunes.
What is the area where you can be in control of your business and/or your money?
To your prosperity,
Rennie
Often in the media, Rennie Gabriel supports individuals and business owners to create work as a choice, instead of a requirement, just as he did for himself. Rennie had gone broke twice (two divorces), but using the same concepts published in his book, Rennie created more wealth in each recovery than what he had prior.
As a highly rated instructor at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), Rennie uses his award-winning, best-selling book, Wealth On Any Income, to teach effective money skills from both the emotional/psychological aspects as well as the practical components. His book has been translated into five languages. Rennie is a retired Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and Certified Financial Planner® (CFP®) and often adds BFD to his credentials.
His extensive knowledge on real estate and finance is useful not only to those who own or invest in real estate, but to anyone striving for a better life by trying to achieve financial freedom.
His clients range from financial professionals, like CPAs, stock brokers and financial planning firms, to entrepreneurs in the transformational space (coaches, authors and speakers). He also works with large organizations like the FBI, American National Insurance and Toyota Motors.
After 40 successful years in financial services, Rennie now works to donate 100% of the profits from his speaking fees, wealth programs, books and business coaching to charities, the primary one is www.ShelterToSoldier.org where dogs are rescued, trained and donated as service animals for soldiers with PTSD and TBI (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injuries)