In 1995, the year I graduated from Texas A&M University and entered the workforce in my chosen career path, I started building my financial house. I set financial goals. I wanted to make $100K a year. I wanted to buy my first house. I wanted to buy my first car. And even though my goals were material, they still tied back to financial because I needed money to achieve these goals.
Well, once I reached these goals, I set higher goals. Now, my goals were tied strictly to numbers. I didn’t want a bigger house, I didn’t want a newer car; I wanted to make more money so that I could help more people. I always designate 10% of my income to giving, because I understand how important it is to support something that is greater than your self. Leaving a legacy for others who follow is very important to me. My financial goals now are significantly higher than they used to be. But what I have learned is that if you build your financial house, and the foundation has cracks or even worse, craters, it could all come tumbling down and you may have to re-build.
My financial house is a skyscraper. The $100K a year is one of the floors. Each numeric goal represents a floor ($250K, $1 million, etc.). As my goals increase, so does the number of floors.
A crack here or there in your financial foundation is not a problem. But, a crater can be catastrophic. And the challenge is you may not realize you have a crater until you start to add another floor. As you add that floor, signs of a shaky foundation show up as a financial loss. You lose money in a particular investment. Or you lose money in your business or job through lowered sales, a pay cut, or unemployment. Sometimes the loss means that those things are no longer serving you and it is time to let it go, as in the case of a bad investment or unemployment. I had some real estate investments that I had to let go because they were no longer serving me. I have also lost a job before I became self-employed and a business owner. Sometimes the loss is preparing you to soar to that next level of financial success by forcing you to step back so that you can get a running start. But other times, it is a reflection of a shaky foundation, because that foundation can no longer stand the weight of your impending success. The good news is you’re about to become more successful than you could have ever imagined. The bad news is you need to fix the craters, or it will ALL come tumbling down.
The craters I discovered in my own foundation were tied to self-worth. I thought I was worthy, and in many ways I felt worthy, but it turns out it was only to a certain degree. And that certain degree of self-worth has taken me to a point financially. There are certain things that we all internalize about money beginning in our childhood. I have actually cleaned out much of this, but I did not realize until this past week, that even I still have stuff that has to be purged. Stuff that I had absolutely no idea was there until now, when I started to add another floor to the skyscraper. With all that I know about finances and growing money in the stock market, I am still on a journey, same as you. And I still have my challenges, my ups and downs.
So, what resources have worked for me?
T. Harv Eker – founder of Peak Potentials and The Millionaire Mind Intensive
Dr. Michael Craig – author of The Logical Soul
http://www.meetup.com/logicalsoulatlanta/
All the best to you on your journey!
Aneshia
Many people say that one shouldn't invest in stock market, but I don't think that people should not invest in stock markets. Many investors are getting profit by investing in the stock market. My cousin has got lots of profit but the investor should be careful and should have full knowledge of stock market.
Posted by: invest in stocks | 09/06/2011 at 05:12 AM
I agree with your comments, "invest in stocks." If you do not have any training or education about the stock market, then you should not be in the market. And I say the same of any investment. Unforunately, many people are in this situation. They are in the market and have absolutely no idea what they are doing. In essence, they have jumped in the water without a life-preserver vest. Essentially, these people are gambling. The people who say one shouldn't invest in the stock market are either completely ignorant about the stock market or they don't know as mush as they think they know. There are always opportunities to make money in the stock market, you just need to use the right techniques.
Posted by: Aneshia | 09/07/2011 at 12:01 PM