I want to be rich.
What?
Something wrong with that?
Rich in what? Money?
Money.
Why?
Because with money, I can do everything I want to.
Why don’t you just start now?
Because I don’t have money.
So you are waiting until you have money to do what you want?
Yes.
So, what have you been doing until now?
What do you mean?
Haven’t you been doing whatever you want until now? Being with friends, family, shopping, traveling, stuff like that?
Yeah.
So, you had money.
No, not really.
What do you mean?
Well, I do, but…I want more.
A lot of people tend to think that money is some sort of measurement of success.
They’re not wrong. A lot of the richest can flaunt their riches with confidence.
But, it’s inaccurate. Money isn’t the only factor to success. There’s family, love, friendship, memories, you know. All those cheesy things you hear in the movies.
The richest in this regard, they planned this. They planned their financial success, or that they had planned out their obsessions, and made money in the process. The money just so happens to be a lot.
But let’s not talk about the richest in the world for now. Let’s talk about us.
What I don’t understand, is why a lot of people want to be rich. I understand the benefits of being rich, it can bring you lots of things. But, what would you do with that money? What does it solve?
It’s such a general statement. Anyone can be rich if you give them money. I could give a beggar a thousand bucks and he would be rich in his own right.
Anyone can be rich if they earn enough. Is it only then they become happy?
Here’s the main reason why we want to be rich.
Money IS the problem.
You didn’t want to be rich because you want a lot of money.
You want to be rich because you don’t want money to be a problem anymore.
It’s a never-ending battle: you want to cut money problems out of your life. The bills, the commitments, the debts, the loans. The banks throw all these wonderful things at you, at the cost of your bodily health and effort. You become pseudo-employees, earning them money as their customer (minus the employee contracts of course).
There is no ‘love’ for money. there was just love for its use: money solves money problems.
With more money, I can solve my problems. With more money, I have safety. With money, I can finally stop worrying about money.
That’s actually it.
Getting rich is one solution. Getting rich quick solves the problems that you have now.
But you can’t strike gold on the first hit. You can, technically, but if you could, you wouldn’t be reading this right now. You would be working on your million dollar idea.
Most of us don’t have million dollar ideas. We just have 10 dollar ideas (aka. where to go for a cheap lunch). I only have 5 dollar ideas, because that’s just how little I want to spend.
But I digress. We just want to be free from the shackles of money. That’s all.
What should we do about it?
You know the reason. Now, how do we fix things? Money issues will always come up. We hate it. We want to get rid of it quickly, and quietly.
Normally, there are 2 ways to look at this:
- Work really hard all the time, so you have a lot of money to solve your money problems.
- Get rid of your money problems by cutting out as much as you can out of your life.
Number 1 sounds nice. Work really hard, and you will have tons of money. No matter what life throws at you financially, you would have the money to solve it. It won’t be a worry.
The problem here is working really hard. You might love your work, which is great, but having no time to experience the finer things in life? That sounds like a punishment.
Live more. You’ll need that, thank me later.
Number 2 sounds even better. Just cut out all the things that are giving you money problems. Sounds easy right?
No, not easy at all. Most things require money and regularly need it. If you need to cut out everything that needs money, whatever you have left you might not be so happy with. House loans, bills, cars, electricity, phones, laptops, clothes, a roof over your head: these cost money to keep up. If you take them out, you won’t have a place to live in.
Example: I love my hot showers. They cost money. I am not cutting my hot showers. It makes me happy. The tradeoff is worth it. It costs money, but at least I’m happy. Plenty of other benefits for hot showers too.
Instead, I propose a third one:
3. Fight fire with fire.
Aka. use money to earn more money, to solve your money problems.
That third one is investing. Lots of preparation needed, but once that’s done, you don’t have to worry about money anymore.
It’s a combination of 1 and 2: If you work hard, in the beginning, to prepare for this to happen, you can let the money do the work. Then, cut down unnecessary things a la 2, and automate the entire thing.
Automation is beautiful. It lets you think the following:
I can stop working hard if I invest. I can live longer if I invest. Now I have more time to myself.
It’s good stuff.
Money: The Problem Child
So, what do the problems look like now?
Think of money as a child growing up.
You’ll have trouble taking care of him in the beginning. He will want so much of your time and attention. You might cry, you might get angry.
You’ll enjoy time with him when his mood is just right. You can enjoy plenty of things together. You will be happy to have him as one of your own.
He grows up. Money then becomes not just your child, but your friend. But, he needs more friends of his own. That’s why you find more money to help him out.
Money then graduates with a degree in adulthood. He matures. He works hard and independently. Money becomes someone you can count on. He will find friends of his own. He will create happiness wherever he belongs.
So help him out. Learn how to make money. Make money. Use the money to make money.
Then stop worrying.
Teach him how to walk. He’ll make friends. He’ll make more.
You won’t have to worry then.
His happiness will bring you happiness too.
Let me know what you think about this, I’d love to hear your stories and comments! And as always, share with those who need to read this! 🙂