There is nothing wrong in chasing wealth

Chasing wealth is often chastised. The craft of acquiring wealth is generally not understood better because people think it’s NOT OK to talk about money and wealth.

Can you only acquire huge wealth via making really high salary income in your 9 to 5 job? Oh, this is for the rich. I have a middleton income and I will never achieve wealth or financial independence is what most people think. People make quick assumptions and think something is not for them quickly. This is completely untrue and the main cause is due to complete lack of actionable financial education.

Schools teach complex calculus which are not that useful to life but fail to teach money and money management. They don’t want to teach because if they do, you will not carry forward the torch of consumerism culture in the US. Economy depends on velocity of money that’s generated by people exchanging money for transfer of service or value.

It’s appalling that people enter into huge debt to earn that fancy degree for multiples of ten thousand dollars. But, many people fail to understand how that debt is going to set them back in life, especially if one doesn’t learn real skills. Money management is something that should be a common subject in the early years but for some reason never features anywhere.

Earned Income <> Wealth

Folks apparently think they will automatically become wealthy once they attain high salaries in their career. This is totally far from truth. Only those who keep lifestyle inflation out of their lives will eventually become wealthy.

It does not matter the amount of money you make, you generally have new things that you want to buy and experience. It’s like you keep dreaming of something like ‘if only I could afford it’ and years later you see yourself closer to being able to afford it.

The issue with making a lot of money is it opens up a plethora of choices. This opens up the endless desires and spoils you with more unnecessary discretionary spending.

For instance, with a higher designation and better paying job, you may think you deserve expensive clothes. Also, the new job may require more travel than normal. These things may drain both the extra income and mental health from you.

You suddenly get the urge to keep up with Joneses. That is exactly why the income you earn alone may not be equal to what a person has in his wealth kitty. Chasing wealth is not equal to spending them away for momentary pleasures!

For instance, folks with really high income are generally in a bad stage to attain Financial Independence and Early Retirement. It is only because their everyday life needs them to spend more than normal.

Acclimatizing to a costly living standards and going into a never ending spend flywheel as everyone else is the norm people want to fit themselves into. The ones with this attitude will definitely not be able to save irrespective of their income.

A clear difference is they will have flashy things that others will aspire to have, but don’t understand they also have insurmountable monthly payments to make. They tend to generally have high stress on their finances and the spend even more to bring their mental peace back. This goes into a vicious cycle. Do not get into this drain hole.

What Is Wealth?

According to Merriam-Webster, wealth is an copious amount of money or precious items of value. Although I am yet to be fully Financially independent, I have been learning that building wealth is grinding it out slowly and consistently.

There’s definitely no magic unicorn waiting to show up secrets on how to become wealthy. You could be lucky and inherit wealth but we are talking about common people here.

Amassing wealth needs extreme patience. So, a mix of smart decisions involving prudent investment asset classes, more than 50% savings rate (especially for Financial Independence Retire Early) and limiting tax liability legally.

How I Honed My Saving Skill?

Think about the freedom that can be afforded by increasing your Savings rate. My personal Savings rate is much higher because saving habit was inculcated in my life from childhood by my parents.

This is much before FIRE as a term was coined. You think building wealth is difficult? I make it fun for myself by having short goals. You need to find out what works for you.

The math works out simple. Save less, work more years. Or, save heavily and slave away less 9 to 5 hours. Even if you want few months off and travel, you need to have good amount of savings backing you. That’s why, your income level alone doesn’t determine if you will be wealthy.

If you have watched PlayingWithFire, they ask people to aim for 50% Savings rate. Technically, if you’re able to save 50% of your income per year, you can afford to take one year off work for every year you work, if you maintain your expenses constant. Do you want best practices to improve your savings rate?

Flashy people retirement needs more portfolio investment working tirelessly for them. This helps them have the same level of living standards, as that of peak earning years.

So, even if someone earns half of what you earned in your whole career at work, they could still be ahead in wealth. This may happen with high savings rate, smart investment decisions and pouncing on opportunities outside work.

Chase Wealth 

If you have a negative mindset with something, you will never grow in that field. It’s the same with money. You need to love money and money management. Enjoy watching your wealth grow once you do.

Average people think talking or having a lot of money is something bad. The best way to uncover bitter truth is to read more. Instead of dipping their head down and reading books on making and saving money, they will just whimper how life is too hard on them.

Don’t ever be influenced by rich or broke person with low savings rate. Aspiring to build wealth and then chasing wealth is the first baby step that you need to make progress.

Chase wealth! There is nothing wrong.

Independent Thinker

Wealth accumulation creates confidence that could make your life a lot better. It also allows you to feel financially secure and start thinking about things you want to do.

Asking a financial favor from someone else is not my cup of tea. I read, learn, evolve, understand what works best and unlearn the rest. By having independent thinking traits, you build a strong character. In the end, you can rejoice saying you have made it so far all by yourself.

Independent thinking allows me to nail my job interviews. I don’t have to keep fishing for referrals. Nowadays, referrals seem to be the only way to get jobs. Thankfully, I am good at my job and don’t have to frequently change companies every now and then.

The wealth accumulation mentality came through repaying my student loans. I didn’t qualify for any scholarships so had to pay the full student loan principal along with the interest. I hate debt (except for Mortgage) so I quickly paid it off. Being debt free allows me to sleep better at night.

To be frank, all actions that I have done in the last three years have all been solo – vacations, investments and learning anything complex in the financial world.

I have high regards for independent folks out there because they will definitely not be influenced by anyone else. Chances are high that they will make smart decision by building up their knowledge quickly over time.

Own Your Time

I am very particular about owning my own time and that is the greatest motivator for Financial Independence for me. Blog helps me pour my thoughts into written form that could helps readers. I still have my day job and can’t wait to make the blog a viable career alternative and own my time.

Personally, I invest a lot and diversify it within many asset classes. At the end of the month, when I look at my passive income sources actively contributing 20% to my networth, I get a high. The whole of 2020, my passive income sources have been great and always have contributed atleast 20%. One of the months I had 51% which made me think, if only the passive income remained similar, I’d start owning my time.

Financial independence and owning my own time is the righteous cause to accumulate wealth.

Regularly Invest And Teach Financial Freedom

You need to have a lucid vision on exactly how you intend to use your leisure time, once you hit your target. Your wealth needs a purpose. You need to know yourself better before retiring and know exactly what you want to do with your time. Otherwise, Early Retirement could end bad.

I understand, I fully enjoy investing and teaching financial freedom. It is not true that I don’t like my day job but it is more fulfilling to work on my own product rather than making another company rich through my efforts.

I already excel at investing with a high win ratio (well aware it could change any day) and now trying to help everyone with my knowledge on this blog.

With respect to my investment journey, I’m trying to build a cash cow. This will help generate steady passive income through appreciation and dividends (or staking or lending in cryptocurrencies). The first step is to get passive income cover all my expenses and then slowly increase over time. This will make retiring early a reality!

At the time of writing this article, my blog gets no hits (one week baby!) apart from bot hits. I am ready to produce at least 500 quality content before the blog turns 1 and then evaluate the performance of the blog. It’s a form of giving back (knowledge). Hopefully the blog is useful at least to some people in a year.

Make Life Easy For Kids

The world is running at a break neck pace with increased competition. Leaving a great legacy can set your kids up for success. Financial security in the future is uncertain, so you can leave behind everything to make their lives better.

Your kids could inherit all the wealth and not have to start from zero if you don’t waste money on things you don’t enjoy, just to keep up with friends or colleagues. You have the opportunity to leave behind a legacy for your family.

Wealth Matters

Folks love to use the cliched sentence that’s often repeated “money doesn’t buy happiness”. On the contrary, an old study shows the correlation between acquiring more money and increasing happiness in life. But, the diminishing effect of money kicks in beyond $75,000 annual income. The diminishing returns effect of money plays its part beyond that. But anyone pursuing fire would need to accumulate wealth faster in their formative years so they could do what they like in their latter years of FIRE life

Listen Money matters! Also, wealth matters! If you like it or not, we live in a world where everything is based on how much money in your wallet. Money is not everything but it definitely is something.

Play the capitalism game with money or currency well or the game will still be played without you. Be street about your money moves, as this can make or break your life.

Parting Thoughts

If any career path is really easy, every one will want to fancy their chances to “get rich quick”. A limited number of people generally succeed in making it a viable career path.

It requires amazing level of commitment to win in any field. You need to come to terms with what you can do and cannot do. Then, pursue the path to glory on things you’re good at.

You have to do what you have to do until you amass wealth and have more options. Sometimes, it may mean you have to sell out to your 9 to 5 company financially and pursue a boring career. Some people are really clever and can do whatever they like and generate income through that. Until you figure out this magic, continue doing what you do.

Give more importance to your side hustle along with 9 to 5 and try to convert that into the main hustle. The first step is to have your side hustle covering your annual expenses. Finally, work hard on your side hustle to  entirely replace your salary and increase your wealth generation.

Owning your own time and being financially independent should be the primary guiding force. Work on a plan with creating your business and progress towards a happy life with self reliance. Chasing wealth is definitely not wrong as long as it helps achieve your goals!