“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
– Aristotle
Accumulating wealth and developing financial independence does not happen overnight, but it’s not nearly as complicated as most people think. Good habits create results when consistently applied over time. Today, we are going to talk about how to get on track and create new wealth building habits.
Frankly, most of my clients are already doing these things. That’s why they have money to invest with me. So, I’m not really writing this for them. I meet a lot of people who have a similar level of income, who are intelligent and successful in their own field, but unfortunately, their habits are never going to lead them to become wealthy.
This past week, I gave four presentations at different companies around Dallas about personal financial planning and estate planning. One of the most common questions was about saving money and creating wealth. I think there are a lot of myths about building wealth that are holding people back from success. We need to dispel those myths and replace old habits with a new habits that create wealth.
Myth 1: You don’t make enough money to become wealthy.
I’ve seen families who become millionaires with incomes under $100,000, and I’ve seen people go bankrupt who make over $300,000. Stop thinking that the problem is that you don’t have enough income. Until you have a savings plan, you are probably going to end up spending everything you earn. Without a savings plan, a raise will only stimulate additional spending.
To be a better saver, look at your biggest expenses. When you make smart choices about your home and car choices, everything else in your budget will fall into place nicely. If you have reached a bit too high for your budget, there is no magic way to save money when your fixed expenses consume all of your income. If you are in over your head with these costs, you need to find a way out. Don’t focus on how much you make, focus on how much you can save.
Habit 1: Wealth Builders are frugal about their two biggest expenses: their house (or rent) and their cars. They view these as expenses, not as investments or as “lifestyle” choices they deserve.
Read more: Rethink Your Car Expenses
Myth 2: You can’t save right now.
You’ve got student loans. You’ve got young children. You need to save for a down payment. You need to pay down your mortgage first. You’ve got a kid about to start college.
There’s always an excuse why people aren’t saving and investing today. But there’s never going to be a “green light” where you will feel that it is easy to invest.
Habit 2: Wealth Builders put their investing on autopilot.
First: establish an emergency fund with at least three months of living expenses. Pay off your credit cards so you do not carry a balance or pay any interest expenses. Then establish automatic monthly deposits into an account for each of your financial goals:
- a 401(k) or IRA for Retirement
- a bank account for your next car purchase
- a 529 Plan for your child’s college education
It doesn’t matter if you start small. If all you can afford today is $50 or $100 a month, just get started and don’t wait. When the money comes out automatically, you won’t miss it. As you are able, increase your monthly contributions. Your eventual goal is to save at least 15% of your income. Can you get there in a year or two? Calculate how much this is and get started. If you have to adjust later, that’s okay. Don’t wait another day, because that day could turn into years. Wealth building habits need to be easy, and it doesn’t get any easier than automatic.
Read more: Don’t Budget, Focus on Saving
Myth 3: Things will take care of themselves.
You’re not worried. Time is on your side. You’ve got other things to deal with. It can wait.
Yikes. Get your head out of the sand. You can do this. Educate yourself about investing.
While I encounter an attitude of denial sometimes with younger investors, it is not just Millennials who think this way. In fact, I think a lot of Millennials are proving to be much smarter than previous generations about materialism, credit card usage, and their life goals.
What scares me more are older entrepreneurs who tell me that their business is their retirement plan and that their company is the best investment. Great, how many times have you built and sold a company for over a million dollars? Never done that? What is your exit strategy? It’s not a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket, and the successful entrepreneurs I know build a positive cash flow business which creates personal wealth in addition to their ownership value of the company.
Habit 3: Wealth builders educate themselves about their finances, are organized, and track their net worth.
Read more: buy this book, it’s the best investment primer I have read.
The Cost of Waiting from 25 to 35
Myth 4: You have to become an expert in the stock market to be successful.
Day trading. Penny stocks. Cryptocurrency. Stock options. Commodity futures. Hedge funds.
You don’t need any of these things to become wealthy. You don’t have to read the Wall Street Journal everyday, watch CNBC for hours, or spend your weekends pouring over spreadsheets or stock reports. In fact, trying to beat the stock market is not only exceedingly difficult and unlikely to achieve, it often creates unnecessary risk in the process. The antidote is simple:
Habit 4: Wealth Builders buy Index Funds.
Buying the whole market gives you diversification, low cost, and tax efficiency. Evidence consistently shows the benefits of using an index approach. And you don’t have to be an expert, or become a stock trader, to use Index Funds.
Read more: Manager Risk: Avoidable and Unnecessary
Myth 5: Your best bet is to do it yourself.
We can all agree that no one cares more about your money than yourself. Unfortunately, there are reasons to distrust the financial services industry and to question whether they are putting their own interests ahead of yours. And it costs money to get professional advice. Those are the three main reasons why people want to manage their finances on their own.
Over the past 15 years, working at three different firms, I’ve had the pleasure to serve some incredibly successful people. There was a retired surgeon who served as a chairman of a major University. The president of an S&P 500 company. The co-founder of an oil and gas company who sold his company for $300 million. A Harvard educated software engineer. An engineering PhD who speaks five languages.
These people are way smarter and more successful than I am. They could do it themselves if they wanted. But they all decided to hire a financial advisor, develop that relationship, and out-source their financial planning.
Why Get Professional Help?
- You cannot be an expert in all fields. Successful people rely on professionals who have specialized training, knowledge, and experience, including accountants, lawyers, and financial planners.
- Time. They have more valuable uses of their time, not just for work, but also to spend with their family, hobbies, or other interests.
- You don’t know what you don’t know. An advisor can help you avoid costly mistakes as well as to identify any behavioral biases or blindspots you might not be thinking about. Laws and regulations change all the time.
- Accountability. An advisor will help you set goals, coach you to make good decisions, and proactively keep you on track even when you are busy thinking about other things.
- Family: knowing they have planned for their family if something should happen to them and that the professional management of their financial affairs would continue.
If the most successful people you know have a financial advisor, maybe it’s time you stop trying to do it on your own.
Habit 5: Wealth Builders value and seek professional help.
New wealth building habits take time to establish. In an age of instant gratification, recognizing that today’s steps might take years to pay off takes particular maturity. It won’t happen overnight, but I can assure you, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to build wealth – just keep good habits. Apply your habits consistently, with patience and perseverance, and you won’t be surprised when someday you open an account statement and see a seven-figure number.
Or you could keep doing what you are doing, and you will stay right where you are. Everyone believes that they are rational and logical, but in reality, we all naturally resist change even if that change is in our own best interest. We have to look in the mirror and be honest with ourselves if our actions are truly in line with our goals. That can be painful to acknowledge, but the reward of radical honesty could be the realization that you need to create new, better habits.
Unless you receive an inheritance or win the lottery, wealth is not an event, but a habit. Thankfully, even small changes in your habits can pay big rewards over time.
