I want to be rich.
…is what most people like to say whenever I ask them about money.
There’s no set amount.
If your pockets are fat, you have the freedom to do anything you want. But, there is a limit to how much money you can make if you don’t earn enough.
There are only 24 hours a day, and most of it is spent working, eating, sleeping and playing with our phones. Honestly, we don’t have that much time in our lives, and most of it is spent doing our day-jobs. How do we make more?
It’s simple. Start investing.
I’m not talking about those crazy stock charts, or loans, or paying money to see some guy talk technical shit about ‘predicting the stock market’. Let them do that, they’re passionate about it.
We’re not. We’re passionate about living a healthier life.
If you want to start earning your life back, you should start with investing in yourself.
The thought of having complete control over your money, the freedom to not worry about your finances, the power to know your future will be safe. I want to share that feeling with you, and I want you to experience it yourself.
So. What is investing?
Firstly, if you’re young with money to spare, you need to understand what you are getting into. Most millennials never had the chance to learn the basics, but now you can start!
Let’s start from the very beginning, so you can learn at a comfortable pace.
Investopedia’s definition of ‘investing’ is this:
Investing is the act of committing money or capital to an endeavor (a business, project, real estate, etc.) with the expectation of obtaining an additional income or profit. Investing also can include the amount of time you put into the study of a prospective company, especially since time is money.
Note that there are a few key words in this definition: Money, study, time = more money.
If you break it down, it goes like this:
- Money here means…well, money. More specifically, it’s money that you own at the moment.
- Studying here doesn’t mean some final exam you have to cram for. Studying means, studying how to earn more money.
- Time. My favorite. Time is something that everyone has, but is too precious to share. You spend a lot of time trying to earn money, so without time, you would have no money.
Mixing these 3 things together, and mixing them well, can get you more money! Simple right?
So how do I start?
Here’s a summary of what you need to learn, without all the financial lingo:
- Learn how money works
- Learn how to make more money
- Make more money.
- Control how much you earn.
- Control how much you keep.
- Use money to make more money
- Automate the process
- Trade your money for time
- Live.
- Repeat.
That’s it. That’s the essence of living: live and repeat. Investing helps you with that. It doesn’t get any simpler. Those steps cover all the fundamentals.
What ‘investing’ used to mean
We don’t get rich by swapping a 9-5 to midnight-to-midnight: You can earn tons of money that way, but you won’t have the time to live. When you realize it, there’s no balance. You can go ahead with that if you want.
But personally, I will never agree with it. This is what I believe in:
My life is my career. All jobs I take play a small part in my career, to create a fulfilling life.
We get rich by living. Rich in money, therefore rich in experiences. With rich experiences, come richer lives. With richer lives, come happier lives.
Therefore, you will get rich.
To achieve this, you need to invest. If you want balance, there’s no other way.
Money has to be made without you there, so you can have more time to yourself. To do that, you need to prepare.
First, you need to understand how money works. If you learn the know-how of money in society, and how to benefit out of it, you can earn your living and even more.
Does that sound nice? I think it’s pretty awesome. If I read up on it now, I can buy my freedom back in the future. Sounds like a great deal.
So, let’s start living rich lives.
What’s your story? How do you want to start investing? 🙂