The best way to learn how to handle money is from the rich. The articles below are tips that rich people have used to become wealthy.
It has been over 3 months, since my last savings goal update article. Things have gotten pretty crazy as my wife and I booked a full fall. It has been great, but exhausting at the same time! With our busy fall, I gave myself permission to not focus so much on new articles and just be fully present all the time. Now, I have found time to sprinkle some articles in over the past 4 months. I found the time to write those articles while I was on flights by myself. I just edited and added to these articles as it came time to post. Now, that I dug into our busy schedule and lack of posting, what have we been doing?
The school year is officially over. It the summer months that I enjoy, because I am working on an article, when I would normally be running out the door to take my daughters to daycare. Instead, I am writing an article as the sunrises while I drink a cup of tea.
My baseball season is officially over. This means that my Saturdays are free once again! It was a rough season as we had two games cancelled due to weather. We had a chance at winning the district championship, but the two rainouts hurt and we ended with the 2nd best record in the league. This means that I get to focus more time on my writing.
The end of March and beginning of April have been pretty interesting for the Summit of Coin Household. Baseball season began the day I returned back to work. This season of the year, requires me to spend a minimum of 10 hours a day at work, plus we play our games on Saturdays.
A couple weeks ago, my wife and I decided to rent a movie. We don’t really watch too many movies, but on that particular weekend, I suggested it due to the fact that neither of us had to work on Monday (MLK day). We had a three day weekend, why not relax a little?
Growing up and still today, I am intrigued by the civil war era. I have books upon books on the civil war and 5 or 6 on Abraham Lincoln alone. Because of my love of this time period, Abraham Lincoln has always been my favorite President. There is something amazing about a guy who never gave up on his bid for public office, despite so much failure early in his career. There is something amazing about a President whose plan was to still unify the country after the war had ended. Most people wanted him to punish the south.
Earlier this week, I was listening to one of my podcasts and an article was discussed. This article followed a young intern in New York City around. The young woman makes $25 an hour, receives a $1,100 allowance from her parents/grandfather and her parents pay her rent.
As a parent of a 19-month old, I work with teaching my daughter each day to control her emotions. Everyone, as a child, experienced a struggle to control their emotions. My daughter, for example, has thrown herself on the floor to cry, because she is mad that we won't let her do something. This is part of growing up, kids want to do something and as a parent you can't let them do it for safety reasons. Now, the struggle comes with trying to teach our daughter how to control those emotions.
For me, respect is a tough topic to write about and define. I believe this stems from being an educator. As educators, we always talk about the importance of teaching our students respect. In professional developments, this is met with a question, "What does respect look like? What does respect really mean?" The leader of this type of professional development is trying to make us see that not everybody knows the meaning of respect. Therefore, there is a broad understanding in the educational field that respect needs to be taught and modeled to our students.
Since gambling is not a drug or alcohol, people find its addiction less damaging. But, the truth is - gambling can wreak havoc on a person’s life. Though you can’t die because of overdose, its addiction causes serious damage to the welfare of individuals and everything related to them.
My life is completely shaped by the fact that I grew up in a small town of less than 2,000 people and I went to a school that had one building for K-12 grade (my class was the last class to attend all years of their schooling in the same building). My life experience is different than somebody who grew up in the city and attended five different schools for K-12. I propose we change the question a little bit. What would the conversation sound like if we asked a slightly different question? This is not a question you have with a brand new acquaintance, but a discussion you have with a significant other or an accountability partner.
Over the entirety of this blog, I have continued to preach the importance of buying used cars, driving these cars until their wheels fall off and always buy cars in cash. What would push me to think about getting rid of my old car? It's simply one number:
Last week, I was listening to the Tim Ferris podcast. He was interviewing Kyle Maynard. I had never heard of Kyle Maynard before this podcast. I don't know how I had never heard of Kyle before last week, but he has an amazing story. Kyle is a quadruple amputee, who has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, won awards in mixed martial arts, wrote a book and travels around the world inspiring people. He never shied away from anything and sought out wrestling in high school and sought out mixed martial arts as an adult. He was successful in both endeavors.
In everything we do with our finances, our goal is always a focus towards financial independence and the freedom that financial independence allows. With that focus, we must make a concerted effort to cut expenses wherever possible.
I recall my journey to launching Summit of Coin. It was December 2014 and I was listening to a podcast. The podcast was an interview of Mr. Money Mustache. This sent me down a journey of reading every article that MMM had written and peaked my interest in writing a blog detailing our journey to financial independence or as I like to call the Financial Summit. Being a teacher, I waited until summer to prep ten articles for the blog and develop the website. After a month of prep, I officially launched this blog on July 13, 2015.
The title of this article may surprise you. You may be thinking in your head, "Of course rich people have fun! They have lots of money! They can do whatever they want. They can drop thousands of dollars on vacations and not even blink an eye."
Earlier this week, I was listening to a podcast and the conversation on the podcast got me thinking. I have heard a certain statement time and time again. I have heard it from my pastor, my father and even the people I listen to on podcasts. They all have stated at one point: "The stock market is at its highest value in history." A lot of times this is said with the idea that the value of the stock market is a bad thing. And I will admit, there is no guarantee in the value of the stock market. It flucuates over time and it will go down, but will the fall be that bad?
There is just something about the galaxy far, far away that peaks my interest. I love the characters, the story, the force and the lightsabers. I would even re-enact lightsaber battles using yardsticks with my sister as kids. I have been mesmerized with everything Star Wars and Rogue One was no different. Rogue One was made and developed in a way to honor the original Star Wars movies and I am a big fan of how it showed us a story leading up to Episode IV: A New Hope.
We've all had those co-workers that constantly complain about their job. We've all seen the negative comments that are thrown around the internet. We have all heard the complaints from people that sound something like, "It is just too hard for anyone to get ahead in this day and age." We've all heard the complaints about the economy. And of course, I have heard many complaints about our current President and our President-elect.
We are 12 days removed from the end of the holiday season. We are 12 days from the beginning of a new year. This is the perfect time to make a change. This is a perfect time to start preparing for retirement. This is the perfect time to stop expecting things to start taking control of your own life. This is the perfect time to start saving more money.
Sure there are some wealthy people that inherited their wealth, but a majority of wealthy people built their wealth over long periods of time. They had to take some risks. They had to sacrifice a little. They had to make changes in their lives. Some self-made millionaires realized that they had a problem and did something about it. They didn't just sit around waiting on things to get better, but instead they did something to change their lives.
Back in the beginning of this great nation, there were great leaders that imagined a different kind of country. A country built on the freedom of all men. A country where anybody can pursue their own happiness. A country where people can make something out of nothing in their own lives. This country was built on the imagination of our forefathers.
Christmas, in my opinion, is one of the best holidays to celebrate. As a child, I always enjoyed running into Mom and Dad's room and waking them up. The whole family would then go out and open presents on Christmas morning. Just like any child, I loved the whole season and the anticipation for Christmas morning. As I get older, the anticipation for Christmas morning is not as prevalent, because I understand that those gifts cost my family money. I even feel bad when my family spends too much on me, just for the holidays.
The other day, I was listening to the "Retire Inspired Podcast" hosted by Chris Hogan. During this particular podcast, he listed off characteristics of highly successful people. I jotted down notes and wanted to dive more in depth into each topic. One particular characteristic stuck out to me.
One thing that I continue to hear are complaints about the fact that this country has developed a bunch of entitled brats. People who think everything in life should be easy. People who think that they are owed a specific job or that they are owed a promotion. People who think that they can show up to work and push their jobs onto other people. People who complain when things don't go their way. People who want to get rich quick. People who waste all of their money, but hope the lottery will bring them riches.
I found this picture and knew it just fit this time of the year. Fall is my favorite season of the year, because it involves some of my favorite things to do. With Football season and the build up to the holidays, what is there not to love? I love at how the weather changes from summer to fall. Living in Texas, the summers can be pretty hot, but the fall weather in Texas is beautiful. I have enjoyed many fall days outside in the cooler temperatures this year. Along with the cooler temperatures, comes a change in the color of the trees. The leaves fall and the vibrant reds, yellows and oranges fill the horizons. This is probably one of the things that I miss the most about living in Nebraska. We don't get the full seasons in south Texas, and my only opportunities to see the weather change is to visit the Northern States.
As a husband and soon-to-be-father, I worry about certain things. I worry about reaching the financial summit, so my wife and I can be financially secure. I worry about a safe delivery for my wife and my future child. I worry about whether they would be okay, when I am gone (And by this I mean financially). I know that losing a loved-one is very difficult, but with money problems it can become even more difficult. I don't want my wife to have to worry about money, if I happen to die early.
I was completely shocked the other day when I heard that one of my friends was contemplating buying $600 shoes. My response was, "Are you kidding me?" It took all the energy I could muster to talk with them calmly about this stupid decision.
Becoming a millionaire has always seemed like an impossible feat for someone growing up in middle america striving to become a teacher. I had never thought about even reaching one million dollars. I didn't even know it was possible. Most people in this boat, (maybe you are one of them) don't believe that becoming a millionaire is possible. If this is you, then let me be the first (or the tenth or the thirtieth person whichever it is) to tell you:
I have always been a big fan of hard work and I believe there is no greater thing than hard work. I was brought up in a household that required me to do chores on a daily basis and I learned a lot from these chores. I learned that I needed to do them or I would get in trouble. I learned about how much time it takes to keep a house clean. I learned how much sweat is involved in weeding the garden and mowing the lawn. These were all things that were taught to me by my parents. I sometimes feel that our society is losing the hard work gene.