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Acquiring Wealth
by Nikki Willhite
www.allthingsfrugal.com
Saving money with
Regularity is the Key to Achieving Financial Security
I recently attended a lecture by a gentleman employed as a
financial planner and tax specialist. His lecture was about saving money, and
how one accumulates wealth.
He talked about some of his clients who
had a lot of money to invest. Others had a lot less.
The interesting thing was that how much
money each had saved was not the result of their monthly incomes. Some of the
people who had meager savings were the people who made the big paychecks. They
were up to their necks in debt for their houses, cars, boats, etc. They had not
put anything aside.
On the other hand, some of his clients
with small weekly paychecks had accumulated good sums of money through living
below their means, and saving a little each month with regularity.
While money does not bring happiness, a
lack of it causes innumerable problems in our lives. If you want to have money,
you must put aside some money each month, without fail. You must take advantage
of the power of compound interest.
There is only one way to do it. You must
live below your means. Living below your means is different for each person. It
may mean that while you might be able to make the payment on a bigger house, you
don't buy it. It may mean that even though you could afford to go out to eat
once a week, you stay home and save the money.
One thing is for certain- you are going to
have a place a bigger value on saving money than on something you want. There
are just too many things to "want" in today's society.
How do you convince yourself, or your
partner, that you need to save money, when so many others are "throwing it out
the window as soon as it comes into the house"?
I heard another talk recently that really
impressed me. This talk was given by a woman who took piano lessons when she was
young. Like many students, she did not enjoy practicing. However, she had a
trick that helped her. She would practice the finale of the music before she
learned the rest of it. As she was playing, she would visualize what would
happen after she performed it during her recital. She would think how proud she
would be to hear the applause. That was the boost she needed to spend the hours
necessary to learn the whole piece.
When it comes to saving money, you are
going to have to think way ahead. You may have to think 10, 15 or 20 years down
the road.
Try visualizing some different scenarios.
Perhaps you may have to move and buy a new home. Imagine yourself sitting in
front of a loan officer. You will be asked about your net worth, or how much
money you have saved. Think about what you will answer. Do you really want to
say that you do not have any money in savings? Perhaps one of your children may
need help to go to college. How will you feel if you have to tell them you don't
have any money to help them?
I don't know what will work for you. I'm
sure some of your family or friends have been in situations where they needed
money, which they didn't have, and it made an impact on you. Learn from them,
and use their experiences to motivate you to place more value on saving money.
Use the power of visualization. It works.
As to the "nuts and bolts" of finding the money to save, keep reading, studying,
and working at it. That is what The Pennypincher, Tightwad Tidbits, and other
similar newsletters are all about.
Incorporate any idea that you find that is
practical for your family. Accumulating wealth, and focusing your life on making
money grow, is not going to make you happy, and should not be your goal.
However, using your resources wisely, and increasing your family's financial
security through prudent living is a wise goal.
Have the wisdom
to know the difference. If you can save, do it
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