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Time, Money and Life-Balance, Part 2: Money!

Guest post by: Rodger Blaker

Article Overview: Do yourself a favor and master the art of money. Avoid or get out of debt. Spend less than you make. Save the difference and invest over time. Treat money as an honored guest in your life, one who will quickly flee if you do not treat her well, but one who will stay and enrich your life beyond measure if you treat her with skill, care and respect.

Time, Money and Life-Balance, Part 2: Money!

We began this series on Time, Money and Life-balance by looking at time. As I stated last month you cannot manage time. Your only choice is how you manage yourself so you use time effectively.

This time, we turn our attention to Money, and the good news is that there is an abundance of money, and it is all around us! Many people will earn hundreds of thousands to several million dollars during their careers, so there is plenty to work with. And, it can be replaced, managed, and invested to create even more! The only stipulation is that you are fully responsible to manage it
well.

This can be difficult, because money is not "real". Money is simply an invention, or a concept, that allows us to quantify the value of our contribution to society. I read a story on diamond mines the other day, and while they earn millions of dollars every day, one man pointed out that this is a "miracle of marketing" since we don't use diamonds for any practical purpose. They are merely pieces of compressed carbon. But society values them very highly because we like diamonds!

The ancient rule is that to earn more money, you must produce more of what society values. To make more, contribute more.

Secondly, to become wealthy, you must invest some of the cash you receive as "seed" to produce even more money. Most people will never earn large amounts of cash, and even if you do, taxes and temptation make earned income the LEAST efficient way to achieve wealth. A far more effective path is through investment.

Saving five or ten percent of your income and investing it over time is a simple, powerful and nearly full-proof recipe for wealth. It's simple, but not "easy".

We live in a consumer society that encourages us to spend every penny we earn, and even a bit more. I recently read that Americans get 3000 marketing messages per DAY! No wonder we spend until the money is gone.

The road to riches is paved with small, consistent investments that accumulate over time. Einstein referred to compound interest as the "eighth wonder of the world." The cost of your morning latte, invested daily, will make you rich in 30 years. There is no mystery here.

Money wants to grow. It wants to flow into the hands of people who treat it well and use it wisely, but most of us have never mastered the art of managing money and becoming rich.

Fortunately, there are thousands of books and dozens of magazines available to help you. There are classes and workshops, professional advisors and other resources all around us, and yet most people have never seriously studied money, and that's a shame.

Do yourself a favor and master the art of money. Avoid or get out of debt. Spend less than you make. Save the difference and invest over time. Treat money as an honored guest in your life, one who will quickly flee if you do not treat her well, but one who will stay and enrich your life beyond measure if you treat her with skill, care and respect. This is not difficult, but it is an art most of us have never mastered. Study money. Learn to invite it into your life, and encourage it to stay once it has come to visit.

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Article Tags: abundance, ancient rule, diamond mines, diamonds, einstein, full proof, hundreds of thousands, invention, investments, life balance, marketing, million dollars, miracle, one man, real money, road to riches, society values, stipulation, temptation, time money



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Making Money in 2011 - Hello forum members! As we draw closer to the new year I thought it would be appropriate to change the title of our forum category "Making Money in 2010" to "Making Money in 2011" - I'm looking forward to some interesting discussions and wish everyone a prosperous New Year!
QuickBooks vs. Microsoft Money vs....? - I have always used Microsoft Money to run my business - accounting, invoicing, etc. It came with my computer when I got it and integrated well with my online banking system so everything is a breeze. It only takes 30-60 minutes every quarter to do the bookkeeping (keep in mind that I have a very simple business - no inventory, very little invoicing, I do all my payments by credit card, etc). Is QuickBooks or Money the best accounting tool for small business owners? Or is there something even better?
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Question: What has been your biggest business challenge? - Regardless of the industry they may be in, it seems all small business owners and entrepreneurs face similar key challenges in growing their business and becoming as profitable as they would like. These can be grouped into the categories of "Time", "Team", "Money", and "Exit Strategy". What has been your most significant challenge, the one that seems to be your biggest hurdle to moving forward and achieving the level of business success (however you define that) that you would like to? If you could have one issue solved in your business, what would that be? Your insights are invaluable and I appreciate your honesty. Regards, Gavin


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