If one of your life goals is to be rich I have some most excellent news for you. You don’t need to be swimming in cash in order to be well-off. Not by a long shot. And I think that once you consider the facts, you’ll agree. Let’s explore this together.
What Does Rich Mean?
The first order of business is to really define what “rich” means. Personally, I find it more effective to look at how you live rather than what you have. That’s because you can live rich without necessarily being loaded. In other words, it’s far more important to live richly than to have riches. What good is having piles of pesos in your basement if you don’t enjoy it? If you don’t order an extra-large glass of orange juice once in a while, what’s the point?
That being the case, the question is how much money do you need in order to live richly?
The beautiful thing about this question is that you get to decide what the answer is. I know people who live richly on $40,000 a year. (I also know people who live like paupers on $400,000. My guess is, if you do the numbers, you’ll see that you need a lot less than you think.
What does living richly really mean?
I talk with people about money every day all day long. And I’ve been doing it for close to 30 years. That experience tells me that there are 4 common threads shared by people who live richly:
- They live below their means.
- They carry no consumer debt.
- They love how they spend most of their day.
- They realize they have the power to make changes in their lives.
The first two themes are almost self-evident. Living richly conjures up images of people who are happy. It’s much easier to stay on cloud nine if you don’t have to make huge debt payments and if you save money every month. It just takes a big chunk of the pressure off. Let’s look at the other two points.
People who live rich find a way to love what they do and/or find a way to do what they love. There is just no way to have a wonderful life if you spend most of your waking hours hating what you do. That’s true no matter how much money you get paid.
But here’s the good news. It’s usually pretty easy to find a way to love what you do regardless of what it is. You don’t have to be the next Steve Jobs or find the cure for cancer in order to feel useful, productive and proud of yourself. Be happy friend.
The last ingredient is a little tricky. I said you need to have the awareness and the power to change your life in order to have a rich life. This means freedom Pilgrim. And there is a lot to that statement if you take it apart.
The first part states that you must have the power to change your life. The second element is that you have to be aware that you have this power.
Most people do have this power – but many aren’t willing to exercise it. That’s because they aren’t willing to pay the price. As a result, they remain unaware. They think that living richly is beyond their grasp so they dismiss the very idea. I understand this but I still think it’s an awful shame.
What’s holding you back from recreating your life? Your debt? Savings? Career? All these obstacles can be overcome with focus, hard work and a little time. I realize that change is frightening. But please don’t allow fear to stand in your way friend. If you don’t succeed your first time at bat, what have you lost? Probably very little. There is no much upside and so little downside that you really owe it to yourself to go for it.
Personally, I’ve never met a person who was able to live richly who tied their satisfaction in life to the house they lived in, the car they drove, the job they had or the money they possessed. Living richly is really an inside job. Of course you need to be financially stable but that’s really about it. Set yourself up to stay clear of debt. Automate your savings and find a way to love what you do during most of the day.
Once you accomplish these tasks you’ll have a very rich life indeed. Are you living rich? If not, what has to change in order for this to happen?
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