The Rules of Making Money are simple.
However, people complicate the ability to not only make money, but save and invest for your future.
I’m going to share the rules of making money that I follow and have adopted in my life.
These rules have been formed over a decade of trial and error on different investments, strategies, principles, and information gathered.
**Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor, These rules of making money have been put in place and tested over hundreds of scenarios assessing risk, growth, through recessions, and all while building a family. That being said, before making any large financial decisions, I recommend you consult with a professional before embarking on any large capital investment.**
Rules of Making Money #1 – Live below your means
This is a rule that I’ve struggled with as more money has come in. The fun part is, you can train yourself to be more disciplined with you money, here’s how I did it.
It might come as a shock that there’s a systemic problem with the western way of thinking.
We’re so concerned to keep up with the Jones’ that we always seem to be upgrading our lifestyle to impress others who don’t really care. Materialism is a horrible thing.
People think they always need a bigger car, house, boat, fancy toy, or whatever other thing that doesn’t make your life any better.
The issue with this flawed way of thinking is once you start buying the unecessary crap, you feel like a king for a few hours, maybe a few days, then the pursuit begins for MORE things.
Simultaneously, when you buy that thing to impress others, (whatever it is) you end up needing to work more hours, for the same quality of life.
Trying to impress others by buying unnecessary things is wildly Foolish
The journey of the never ending rate race begins. You end up accumulating more and more things. Eventually, your purchases will get the best of you. One of two things will happen;
- You’ve either financed a majority of the items and they’re requiring you to work extremely hard in order to just make the payments ON TOP of needing to put food on the table.
- You paid cash for these items (more preferred) but now you’re cash-poor towards things you could have bought and your path to a better life is delayed.
Everything is an opportunity cost, you can try to make the argument that you NEEDED __XYZ__ (insert whatever excuse for wasting your money here) Now that you’ve put yourself back thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Those purchases were more of a WANT. We’ll need to assess what’s the most important next step you can take next.
After reading this, you’re not allowed to say, “I didn’t know” when it comes to managing your money.
I’ll give you a simple framework for how to filter if it’s worth buying… that thing, whatever it is.
If you have to ask if you really need it, don’t buy it.
Our brains know us better than anyone, and it knows EXACTLY what we need to hear to convince us that it’s a good idea.
Our brain is always looking for a quick dopamine hit.
Buying useless stuff does that for us.
Did you ever notice after you buy something, a few days later you don’t feel as excited about that thing anymore? It’s because your brain tricked you into buying something you don’t need, AGAIN!
Rules of Making Money #2 – Have a pulse on your income/expenses
This is a rule that is best to learn before you start earning A LOT of money. I was fortunate to understand this when I was earning the lowest income amount of my life. I learned this rule by necessity actually.
It’s easy to let your money spending get out of control if you have no clear idea of what is coming in/out of your account each month.
I’m a huge fan of using services that allow you to get a full handle on what comes in and out of your account every single month.
That way, when you FINALLY put some parameters on what your monthly spending amount is, you can control your future. Otherwise, you’re just running on the hamster wheel.
You can use YNAB, Empower, Every Dollar, and other relevant services that allow you to see where your money is going every month.
Certain services allow you to link bank accounts, credit cards, and any other place where money is coming in or out. That way you can get very accurate with your money management.
The Rules of making money wouldn’t be right without this one! This will take you from being clueless in your spending to finally be able to have confidence in where your money is going.
If you want to really have a slap in the face, pull all of your transactions from the last 3 months combined. This includes bank and credit card statements. Going line by line and categorizing certain purchases will bring awareness to how you’re doing financially.
Ideally you’re allowing yourself the opportunity to put away money for the future. (another rule later in this article)
If not, you will be able to see what areas need to be reduced in order to finally be able to save. That brings us to the next rule!
Rules of Making Money #3 – Have a budget and stick to it
While it’s common to hear “You need a budget!” I’m the first to say, a budget will be the best thing you do for yourself and your financial future. I’ve had plenty of experience with “loose spending” in a past life and my family and I are much better off since utilizing a budget.
A budget means you assign every single dollar to a category.
While budgeting, most people start to let things slide.
You have to be firm with the money that you spend!
The longer that time goes on without you being disciplined in your spending, the more money you’re throwing away.
Every dollar outside of your budget that doesn’t go towards its assigned category is going to take you that much longer to get you to the desired location.
It also provides more mental peace knowing that you have assigned buckets where your money should go.
Preferrably, I like to take a 6 month average of what my most common expenses are, set up bank accounts for the biggest expenses like House, Food, Miscellaneous, etc. If it’s a short term, recurring expense, I’ll put it into a checking account, longer term expenses go into a savings account.
Here’s an article I wrote about how I’ve set up my bank accounts if you wanted to see that broken down in more detail.
This method is thanks to Ramit Sethi and his wonderful book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich
Budgeting helps you Solve for problems in advance
One of my favorite benefits of budgeting is you’re proactive to solve problems wether that’s for buying a house, having a baby, repairing your car, or another some kind of emergency.
When you have an emergency fund, you provide a buffer on those, “OH SH*T” moments where you didn’t plan that expense.
Winter will come eventually, give yourself the luxury of not stressing because you already put the necessary funds away. Plus when you have a proper budget, you can also put money away for things you would like to buy anyway.
You don’t need to complicate your budget, just make sure that you are staying on top of your expenses.
The biggest thing is having the discipline to not buy that thing, whatever it is.
For starters, make sure you add up all of your recurring expenses, rent, food, baby expenses, utilities, etc, then add a small buffer in case you spend a bit more.
That way if you average $3,000/m in expenses, ensure that you’ve got $3,500 in your account before all bills are paid so you have a decent margin.
After the $3,500, put the rest into savings (or $1,000 as an emergency fund for starters)
If you want an even simpler savings plan, every paycheck you earn, put away 10% to build your fortune.
As you gain more momentum, increase that % more and more.
The savings rate will increase as you pay off debt. What a great segway to the next rule 😉
Rules of Making Money #4 – Get out of debt and stay out of debt
My personal experience with debt hits close to home so forgive me for being harsh but i’ve got a bone to pick with this thing called “debt.”
There’s nothing that will hold you back from a better financial life than debt.
Debt should be seen as the most evil, destructive, and ugly monster you’ll ever face.
It needs to be visualized as a monster that needs to be destroyed.
Dramatic?
I don’t care.
Debt really is the biggest limiting factor to long term growth because you’re guaranteed to be losing 3, 5, 10, heck even 20% to the bank EVERY. SINGLE. MONTH.
You’re burning your money by being into debt.
The only debt that is acceptable is buying a house, especially if you’re house hacking.
Even then, taking a mortgage out on a house has its risks. Since you don’t fully own the property fully plus if you miss a few payments, the bank can take your house. While a mortgage on your house is not a big problem, the more you are able to put down at closing to pay for the house, the less risk you will take.
There are loans you can get on a primary residence for 3.5% down called an FHA loan. (We got one of these for our first house. We really prefer it but you’re open to more potential issues by putting less down.)
With lower down payments, you will normally have higher interest rates and monthly payments because you have more to pay off over time.
Now the person who can put 20% or more down on a rental property can avoid PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) Which is the mortgage companies way of protecting their downside if you are unable to make payments since you don’t have much “skin in the game.” (Equity)
Therefore, with a higher down payment, or if you get the house for all cash, you raise your equity in the ownership of the house and are able to be more protected if the property values start to fall.
That said, if you’re getting a mortgage for an investment property, that’s more understandable since the tenants are paying off the mortgage for you.
Apart from a mortgage, DEBT is nothing more than a hinderance on your long term growth!
Car loans, student loans, credit card debt, (Insert excuse for a debt here) It’s all got to go!
Believe me, I’ve had every type of debt there is, never in my life have I ever felt good even with a small amount of debt. It just hangs over you. Eventually, if you have been making the minimum payments for long enough, you end up paying more than double the initial balance.
So what should you do to avoid debt?
Pay cash!!!!!
If you’re not in a position to pay cash for certain expenses, the next best situation is to save up until you can.
Now personally, IF you’re good with money management, I’m a big fan of Credit Cards. Over time, your purchases made through Credit Cards will start to accumulate rewards points and travel miles to be used for trips.
I haven’t bought a flight with my own money in years for this reason. You’re going to buy certain items anyway so you might as well throw the purchase on a credit card but make sure to pay off the card IN FULL at the end of every month.
It’s also wildly easy to organize expenses for My CPA when tax time rolls around. Plus just organizing your expenses in general is easier when you use cards.
I also really like credit cards simply because I don’t need to carry cash around, and it’s extremely convenient to buy things immediately without counting up the crinkled dollars in my pocket.
Please only use credit cards if you’re responsible with your money and feel you have a decent grasp on your spending.
If you’d like a recommendation on my favorite three cards, This is my card for everyday spending, this is my card for travelling, and this is my card for business expenses.
There will always be “what ifs” there are roofs that are costly to replace, cars that break down, etc. That’s the beauty of a budget 😉
The rule of getting out of debt should be your main focus from this point forward if you’re currently in debt. Chances are, you’re looking for a way out. Don’t worry, it’s very easy to get into this trap.
Here’s how to get out of debt
- Commit now to attacking your debt (except the house) with everything you have
- Sell things around the house that are not needed, take on another job, anything to make more income
- Stop with the unecessary purchases (this is temporary and is only for a chapter in your life)
- Order all debts from lowest remaining balance to highest
- Take the monthly excess of your budget that you would put away for savings and put it all into the lowest debt (You could also put the excess payments away into the debt with the highest interest rate first. This is known as the Debt Avalanche method and statistically works faster but the Debt Snowball works better psychologically, for me personally at least)
- Once the lowest debt is paid, take the excess from your monthly budget PLUS the amount you would have paid for this debt to the new debt
- Rinse and repeat until all debts are paid
- Pop some champagne and celebrate (Seriously, you earned it. You’re amazing!)
- Return back to saving 10% and beyond of your income
I promise you, this is the exact plan used by millions and it WORKS.
From here, continue putting money away for emergencies, 3 months is a great place to be but 6 is even better 🙂
From this point, you can take a MASSIVE sigh of relief. Now you can control your future and start to build on your future.
What is your future though? Why are you doing all of this? Let’s cover that in the next section.
Rules of Making Money #5 – Always have a plan
My approach to having a plan stems from my athletic background of always being prepared. It’s something you learn as a part of being an athlete is setting goals and sticking with them.
There’s a common saying if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Don’t wander through life expecting that you’ll “Figure it out” Start today by being goal oriented no matter what it is.
This could be family focused, financial goals, faith, fitness, or future lifestyle changes like moving. Have a target so you know generally where you would like to go.
That way when times get hard, you know the core reason behind why you’re doing what you’re doing.
There’s nothing more motivating to see a plan start formulating and seeing results slowly compound over time.
Just imagine setting a goal to fully fund your moms retirement, and then seeing the look on her face when you not only paid off her house but also give the news that she never needs to worry about money again. You know how liberating that would be.
Whatever your plan is, please commit it to memory. Put posters around the house, make it your sole focus to keep in the back of your head. Especially while you’re on this journey. It will help you reach another gear and push even harder.
Rules of Making Money #6 – Invest In Yourself and keep learning new skills
An important part of development is consistently looking for ways to improve. It’s one of the few things I take pride in. I’m the brightest, fastest, (insert any other adjectives you can) but one thing I can control is my knowledge on things I want to know. If there’s something I’m not clear on, I can always read more about it or surround myself with people who DO know.
Even if you achieve 1% growth day after day, over the course of 10 years you’ll be decades ahead.
You don’t have to make radical improvements. Simple meditations from headspace, reading books, journaling, going to the gym, and much more. The rules of making money is all about incremental growth.
Books I would recommend;
- 4 Hour Workweek
- I Will Teach You To Be Rich
- Think and Grow Rich
- Rich Dad Poor Dad
- Richest Man in Babylon
- The Greatest Salesman in The World
When you start to prioritize your health and education, you see things differently. Not only that, you take action with more perspective, and win faster.
Most people put themselves last in terms of what’s important. While I don’t disagree to prioritize certain things like religion, family prosperity, etc. It’s extremely important to ensure your family will be thriving because you made great decisions earlier.
The analogy I believe in is if the plane is going down, take care of yourself first. That way, you know that you’re going to have enough strength to help others.
In the event that things are “going down” you don’t want to drag everyone else down around you.
Soo..
Invest in yourself so you can be the best that you can be.
You’re not being helpful to anyone by being uneducated, sad, and unhealthy.
It’s not your fault if you’re born into unfortunate circumstances but it’s 100% your fault if you don’t do anything about it to get out of that environment.
Let’s normalize personal development.
I’m not saying to stand on the mountains and shout how great you are, but take care of your body mind and spirit and it will take care of you.
Ideally, putting a small percentage aside to invest in your health is ideal. On that note, the next section is all about allocating funds!
Rules of Making Money #7 – Put a percentage of money aside to build your fortune
If you’re like most people, you might be thinking, “But i’m living paycheck to paycheck, how could I possibly invest 10% of my income?”
There’s always leftover money that you would be able to put away for your future.
It’s often the saving of dozens of small purchases over the course of a month. By doing that is what would enable you to put away a percentage of your income.
If you can’t put away 10%, start with 5%.
START. SOMEWHERE.
Start with 10% and increase as your income goes up. The only acceptable thing to do with your investment funds is to put it towards things that are proven to grow over time.
Real estate, index funds, and standard tax-advantaged retirement plans are among the few I’ve ever really seen play out appropriately over time.
NOT dropshipping, Amazon FBA, Crypto, or any other get rich quick investment.
Feel free to put away a percentage for those businesses as well. Please understand most of those ventures are more gambling versus something consistent like properties.
When it comes to the riskier pursuits/investments, ONLY INVEST WHAT YOU’RE OKAY WITH LOSING.
If you’re looking to See When to get out of your investment, pay attention to what your plumber does..
A good rule of thumb is if the plumber starts to tell you about an investment he’s made, GET OUT!
Mainly because if it’s become widely popular to the masses, there will inevitably be a dip of some kind.
You don’t want to be caught when there’s blood in the streets.
This reminds me of the famous quote by Warren Buffet
“Be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.”
Warren Buffet
The plan is to put money away for the LONG TERM that provides you peace of mind knowing it’s making money for you and will become your slave in the future.
Your money is best served working for you, as opposed to you working for it. The rules of making money is all about setting yourself up so you can prosper in the future.
Automate your retirement funds, rental property investments always be thinking about putting money aside for future prosperity.
There’s a reason why people say keep it simple.
Simple and boring is best.
For the vast majority of people the best plan to do is to automatically put money away every single month towards a boring index fund.
You can’t lose with that strategy, you just need time.
Real estate is my preferred method, you put a property manager in place and you rarely need to check on the property.
Having a stock portfolio or rental properties isn’t as emotional as building a startup, and That’s GOOD!
The more boring and out of sight, out of mind, the better.
You don’t need to pick the next home run stock, that’s gambling.
You.
Just.
Need.
Time.
Time is your friend in this game, $1 turns to $2, $2 turns to $4, then before you know it, you’re in the compounding growth phase.
“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t … pays it.”
Albert Einstein
As long as you don’t mess with your portfolio, the faster it grows over time.
If you constantly try to keep up with the Jones’ and what they’re investing in, you’ll be spinning in circles without any real progress.
Rules of Making Money #8 Block out the noise
I still struggle occasionally with comparing myself to others, it’s okay, we’re human.
Everyone has a different reason for starting this journey of financial prosperity.
The rules of making money only matter if you’re willing to stay focused on the path ahead.
The second you start to pay attention to others and what they’re doing, you lose.
It’s common to compare yourself to others.
The challenge with comparing yourself is you’re never contempt because you’re concerned with what other people think.
Comparison is the thief of joy
What’s flawed with comparison is we spend so much time valuing what other people think of us while they rarely think of you. It’s almost unhealthy the amount of weight that we put into others opinions of us.
When you compare yourself to others, you try to impress people who don’t even think of you and switch up your investing style, you never see the progress you’d like.
I’d rather go 1 million miles in one direction than 1 mile in a million different directions.
BOOM.
Here’s another analogy;
Imagine you’re building a bridge (an investment portfolio/strategy/business idea) to an island with all the money you could ever want. Once you get halfway, you get bored and start building a new, exciting bridge!
You repeat this process.
Over.
And over again.
Until…..
You’ve created 1,000 bridges and still haven’t reached the island.
Isn’t that frustrating?
Why not just find a tried and true method out there that will ensure you’ll be able to reach financial prosperity?
For me that’s real estate investing.
Why Real Estate Investing?
Personally, real estate checks all of the boxes. Here’s why:
- Appreciation of Value: Real estate often increases in value over time. (you can tap into this equity without selling to expand faster)
- Rental Income: Properties can generate steady rental income. (You get this monthly, I refer to this as “now” money)
- Tax Benefits: Deductions on mortgage interest, property tax, operating expenses, depreciation, and potentially lower capital gains tax. (there’s a reason why Donald Trump paid $0 in taxes, he owns BILLIONS in Real Estate)
- Equity Building: Mortgage payments build equity in the property.
- Leverage: Use of leverage to buy a property with a relatively small initial investment. (You can go as low as 3.5% down for an owner occupied loan)
- Inflation Hedge: Real estate often keeps pace with inflation.
- Diversification: Adds diversification to an investment portfolio.
- Control and Autonomy: Direct control over the investment.
- Passive Income Potential: Rental properties can provide passive income. (especially when you put a property manager in place to handle the “headaches”)
- Legacy and Estate Planning: Can be passed down to future generations.
- Real Estate is an Amazing Wealth Building Tool: You can use the cash flow now while building equity for the long term. It’s the perfect mix!
- Physical Asset: Tangible asset with intrinsic value that you can see with your own eyes.
- Potential for Refinancing: Option to refinance the mortgage for better terms or to access equity.
- Community Contribution: Owning and maintaining property can contribute to community stability and improvement.
- Potential for Business Use: Can be used for commercial purposes or as a home office.
- Rental Demand: Consistent or growing demand for rental properties in many areas.
Real Estate Is Not The Holy Grail, but it’s hard to beat the benefits
Now, there are other investment options out there. Buying existing businesses would be a great step up from here. But you need to crawl before you can walk.
Real estate investing is a great way to get some consistent monthly income. As you build up enough cash flow, it allows you to scale up your portfolio because you have a stronger safety net.
That being said, if you can remove yourself of any risk, (outside of a mortgage) then that’s the best financial decision you can make.
Speaking of paying cash… that brings me to the next rule…
Rules of Making Money #9 – Pay cash for everything
In a world full of consumerism and the never ending desire for more things. Debt is way too popular.
It’s not uncommon for people to find themselves with over $50,000, $100,000, and even $250,000 in consumer debt.
This pairs nicely with #4 in the Rules of Making Money, “Get out of debt and stay out of debt”
This rule is just more simple. It’s a way of life.
Only spend what you have currently, NOT what you will have one day.
The saddest part of this country is allowing 18 year kids who just graduated high school to take out 6 figure loans in order to pay for an education that will MAYBEEE give them $50,000+ out of college.
For many people, it will take them decades to pay off these outrageous loans.
A majority of Americans have some form of student loans which robs you of the ability to truly get ahead.
I’ve met some people in their 50’s who still have over $40,000 in student loans.
As retirement approaches, it becomes frightening to witness the flaws in our current system.
Our upbringing often dictates this perspective to push things down the road
But it’s wrong.
It’s fine to go to school, especially if you’re learning a trade or going into the medical field or law.
However, it’s not okay to take out $80,000 in loans even though you don’t have much of a plan and are just “going with the flow”
The fastest way to get yourself into a sticky situation is by taking loan after loan on stuff you know you don’t need to impress people you don’t even like.
I can promise you, the simple fact of not burning any cash every month and having complete control over how much you actually spend/give away each month is so freeing.
Please don’t fall into the trap thinking that you need financing or that leverage can be helpful.
Believe me, I used to think it was helpful to not have to pay upfront for certain payments.
It’s just not worth it to pay more for something down the road.
You not only have interest rates that increase the overall amount of what the item is worth but the mental cost is more expensive to me.
When you finance or pay something off over time through debt, you have this dark cloud hanging over your head reminding you that you still owe some corporation something.
There’s nothing more expensive in finances than the mental stress you have with outstanding balances owed on your debt.
There’s one thing that’s guaranteed, by paying off everything you can, WITH CASH, you will sleep like a king knowing you don’t owe anybody anything.
Imagine committing to a debt free life for 10, 20, or 50+ years…
As long as you continue to pay cash for everything that you buy, you will be a wealthy person as long as you continue to make wise financial decisions with the surplus of savings.
Even the simple fact of not burning your money sending monthly payments will make you feel so free it’s indescribable!
One of the approaches that can “hit the reset button” is to sell off unnecessary purchases to buy something within your budget.
Oftentimes, people will sell that car they purchased for $50,000 in order to buy a more modest $15,000 car.
Of course there are excuses to come from this, but I think you need some humble pie if you get offended when told to sell items in your househould….
Believe me, the feeling you’ll have when you’re saving hundreds if not thousands of dollars A MONTH by being debt free is unbeatable!!
The faster you can get to a place of paying cash for everything, the faster you can win the game. Speaking of winning the game… that brings me to the next rule.
Rules of Making Money #10 – Change the rules to win the game
The thing I’ve always seen about the standard way of thinking is we never attempt to question what’s “normal”
There’s nothing normal about going into thousands of dollars of debt as a teenager. All of that to fund your education, living to work, and just following the status quo.
Too often we find ourselves in a trap what used to work.
Decades ago, you could buy a house for an honest wage.
In the 1950’s, If you earned $3,500-$6,000 a year, you could buy a house with cash within 1-3 years.
As time has progressed over the past 20 years, the dream of owning a home has only become more difficult.
Our grandparents bought a home with 2 blueberries and their properties have quadrupled in value over the years.
It’s no secret that the average wages in America are not matching up with the prices of homes today. Hopefully, that pattern will reverse and homes will become more attainable for the average person.
If you’re a bit like me, I’m not waiting on prices to go down, it’s better to be proactive rather than reactive.
That said, we need to think of ways to change the rules a bit.
Who says that you need to work in a miserable desk job earning $50,000/year?
There’s so many ways you can flip the script and get much further ahead in life with a few tweaks to your lifestyle.
You’re not helpless, there’s plenty of methods to not only lower expenses but truly grow your income 2-10X
Some of my favorite ways to change the rules;
- Take on more jobs
- Sell things around the house
- Flip items online
- Rent out rooms in your home (AKA House Hacking)
- Start a blog
- Rent out space in your garage
- List your car on Turo
- Take on a low cost side hustle like dog walking, babysitting, power washing, window cleaning, a vending machine business, etc
- Learn a high income skill
- Move to a more affordable city
- Move to another country ?(AKA Geoarbitraging)
There’s countless ways to go outside of the traditional way of thinking.
You don’t have to stick to your job for 40 years like society tells you.
There are millions of ways to create even a small stream of income for your future. Every extra dollar you earn will get you one step closer to the life you ultimately want anyway.
Everything is risky, but you need to assess what’s worth taking a risk for.
Out of all the options, Geoarbitrage might be the least practical but will provide one of the highest returns on your quality of life. This will allow you to significantly reduce your expenses while keeping the same and in most cases, better quality of life.
Whatever path (or path’s) you decide, you have the ability to change the entire direction of your life with a few key decisions.
Rules of Making Money #11 – If it’s too good to be true, it is
This one hits close to home.
No matter how often you hear this, you shrug it off most likely and never really take it to heart.
The biggest thing that you can do for yourself and your financial longevity is to invest in boring things.
No matter how “Amazing” that opportunity is, it’s not going to work out like you plan.
I wish I could tell you that there were exceptions to this rule.
I’m sure you’ve seen enough things play out that you understand that there’s always a price to be paid.
There’s a common phrase, “Experience gets the money and the money gets experience.”
One of the best things you can do when it comes to opportunities that, “look like a steal” is read the fine print, why isn’t everyone doing this?
If the idea is so good, why aren’t more people doing it?
This isn’t rocket science but make sure you understand every single part of the opportunity before you dive in fully naive.
It’s far too easy to become wrapped up in the hype of something without fully understanding the finer details.
If you involve yourself in a new investment or scheme that you don’t understand, you become vulnerable to losing a lot of money.
So please don’t invest into something you don’t understand
Trust your gut, if you have to convince yourself that it’s a good idea, don’t do it
Being naive has a price to pay.
Rules of Making Money #12 – Avoid Lifestyle Creep
One of the most challenging things as you start to earn more income and grow in your finances is lifestyle creep.
It’s a gradual increase of spending as you start making more money.
At first, you make $4,000 a month and spend $4,000, then eventually you get a raise.
Your income goes to $5,000, wouldn’t you know it, so does your spending.
Soon enough, you’re bringing in $7,500 in income and your spending is matching that exactly. (if not more)
You start having more expensive taste, fancier clothes, more frequent dinner trips.
It compounds where you get used to earning over $80,000 a year. Then…
It happens.
You lose your job/business for some wild reason and you now have to pay for this lifestyle on $0.
Your friends are all “busy”, you’re more stressed out than you’ve ever been, and you have nothing to show for your income.
It’s easy to fall into this trap simply because you’ve been deprived of living a “good life” for so long.
“I’ve earned it” is the common way of thinking.
It’s hard to define a good life. Especially if you never travel to other countries.
Western cultures have much more than other cultures, who are accustomed to living on much less.
They often feel happier because family surrounds them, they are content with what they have, and they are grateful for waking up today.
Practicing gratitude and focusing on what makes you happy can be a great method to avoid getting wrapped up in lifestyle creep.
When you realize you already have all that you need, then you’ll be happy. More things won’t make you happy.
Materialism and over consumption is what leads to many peoples downfall.
Rules of Making Money #13 – Give Generously
This last rule is the most fulfilling.
You can’t take the money you earn when you pass.
There’s no reason you shouldn’t donate even a small percentage of your earnings to charities, churches, or the less fortunate.
A good rule of thumb is to donate 10% of your earnings.
This is a good target to have but it’s not where everyone is at financially.
There’s not really a set amount you NEED to give, simply whatever you believe in your heart you WANT to give.
“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.“
2 Corinthians 9:7
For starters, grab some extra change around the house, or some money that you’re saving by cutting expenses.
Tithing is extremely fulfilling for your spirit.
Even if it helps someone 1% to help out their situation, it’s such a rewarding part of life.
The more you work on your financial freedom path, the more amazing you’ll feel to be able to help those in need since you’ll have more to give.
Think of the famous youtuber Mr. Beast.
He’s known for his outrageous videos and giving money away.
He has single handedly changed the lives of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people.
The more that Mr. Beast gives away, the more help he provides and exponential his people he’s saving.
One changed life turns to the people around them and looks to help them as well.
There’s a compounding effect that comes from tithing.
Now take someone who never gives out of the kindness out of their heart, it’s not that they won’t do well financially, but they might feel empty to some degree.
Truthfully, there’s very few things that fill up your heart like being generous to others.
One thing to note is that you should not expect anything in return.
Your mindset around tithing is one of abundance. Once you switch from a scarcity mindset to abundance, opportunities for money are equally abundant.
The reason being is you lovingly welcome money rather than hold onto it with a tight fist. That’s a core part of the rules of making money – a mindset of abundance.
When you start to open your fist that’s clenching the money and start letting money ebb and flow more, the chances of prosperity naturally increase.
People want to help those that are giving, so more and more opportunities start popping up.
Life is great when you start sharing your wealth with others.
There’s a commonly used quote from Dave Ramsey, “Live like no one else now so you can live and give like no one else later”
A good option to consider is to join a community of volunteers who either donate food or partake is consistent donations.
When you surround yourself with good hearted people, you fill up your cup and those in your own personal circle.
Generosity is contagious.
Start looking for additional ways to give because that’s the most fun part of this entire journey.
If you enjoyed reading this article, all I ask is that you share it with someone else. That would mean the world to me! 🙂
Other than that, if you have any feedback/things to add, let me know in the comments below!
God Bless and stay tuned.
