Which Trap Are You In?

In years gone by, the mantra was "go to school, acquire a certificate with a good result, come out and get a job", it worked then because the population was small, the percentage of the educated to the uneducated was small and there was not much competition going on.

But in the now, the population has more than quadrupled, millions of people are educated and throwing their certificates all over the place, there is so much competition going on now that to get a job has become as difficult as the biblical saying of the head of a camel passing through the eye of a needle; and so that mantra of "go to school ..." has become a mirage.

However whether in the "then" economy or in the "now" economy, statistics show that 99% of people fall into two common wealth traps

No. 1: The trap of the “regular employee”

Are you a Medical Doctor, Lawyer, Architect, Surveyor, Pharmacist, Nurse, Microbiologist, Medical Lab Scientist or other professional? How about a salaried employee?

If so, you’re in a trap.

And you’ll never get out unless you listen right now.

Here’s what I mean…

At the end of the day, you’re charging for your time.

And if you want to make more money, there are only two ways to do it:

a.       Charge more per hour (though not too much more, or you’ll risk sounding ridiculous or, worse, being replaced).

b.      Work more hours (though there are only so many hours you can work and still have a life).

As you improve your skills—or stay long enough with one company—you may earn more for every hour you work. Eventually, you might even earn a couple hundred thousand dollars per year.

To earn that money, you’ll have to work very hard. Often, that means 10- to 14-hour workdays.

If you’re a salaried employee or you have a job that pays by the hour, you know exactly what I mean.

You may be earning good money, but it’s hard to enjoy your success because you’re always up to your eyeballs in work.

Moreover you cannot afford to offend your boss or even your Supervisor because then your job might be on the line.

Retiring is an option. But remember, when you retire, you lose your active income. That’s not good. Because if you keep to the lifestyle you have already built up over the years and no active income, you would become broke before anyone could say Jack Robinson and then mr. death would be on the door knocking.

Not sure if you’re falling into this wealth trap?

Consider asking yourself these questions:

i.        Are you 100% confident you can work yourself up the corporate ladder (considering not just your ability, but also your environment)?

ii.       Are you comfortable with the time it’ll take to get to the top?

iii.      If you don’t make it to the top, are you comfortable having less money by the time you retire?

iv.      Can you trust the company you work for to guarantee you a lifetime of income?

v.       Once you’re ready to retire and give up your job, will you be comfortable cutting off that sole source of income?

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, you must start setting up other cash flows.

Once you do, all these worries will go away.

Your income isn’t dependent on the number of hours you work.

You can make money when you’re on vacation… when you’re sick… when you’re sleeping.

You’ll never have to worry about your income again.

No. 2: The “not-enough-cash” trap

And then there are those who would never start anything because they are not earning what they ought to be earning, they always come up with the excuse of "not enough cash"

It is, of course, much easier to end up with a multimillion-dollar income if you start in your early 20s.

But even if you’re older and have fewer than 10 years to generate the income you want, you can do it. 

But you must get started now.

Let’s talk about this—where you could be starting.

I’m going to assume you’re not yet wealthy—or not as wealthy as you’d like to be.

Perhaps the financial crisis in 2008-2009 devastated you.

Perhaps you’re starting from scratch.

Or you had to delay your retirement plans 10-15 years…

In each of these scenarios, the single best answer I can give you is: Generate extra streams of income.

The problem most people have isn’t that they’re getting only 0.5% on bank accounts, 3.5% on bonds, and 8% from stocks.

The problem is they don’t have enough cash!

Stop and ask yourself if that’s true for you.

What will change your financial life in a dramatic way? Getting an extra few percentage points on your current investments? Or bringing in thousands of extra dollars in cash every month?

Very few people build lasting wealth through stock investing and options alone. Yet the vast majority of financial advisers you’ll speak with only offer these “solutions.”

Instead, you need to increase your income through different avenues and opportunities.

And then put that money into ventures and operations that’ll gush cold, hard cash.

The most important thing is getting started.

 The train is leaving

This may be the most important thing to understand about generating extra income: Getting started is the only difficult part. The rest is a relative piece of cake.

Inertia is always the biggest challenge.

You know you need to take some action, but you aren’t quite sure what to do.

And even if you do know what to do, there are so many distractions and responsibilities keeping you from the first step.

You will see—I promise you—the first step is by far the hardest. After that, it’s like walking. One step after another.

Before you know it, the cash will flow almost automatically. And it’ll increase with each passing month.

If you can get started, I have full confidence that by this time next year, you’ll have at least one—and maybe two or three—extra streams of cash coming into your life every month.

This year is going to pass by quickly—whether you’re on the train or standing at the station.

Why not hop on now?

#DrJTF