Think Rich, Feel Rich, Be Rich
August 15, 2009
Before you can become master of your life, you must become master of your own finances. Here’s Larry Kendall’s definition of wealth.
“Wealth is the ability to wake up every morning with the time, talent, health, friends, wisdom, passion, and financial freedom to do whatever it is you want to do today.”
I used to stop by Acme Fence Company to see Uncle Adrian, and before I would leave, he would always ask, “Boy, have you got money in your pocket?” I would look into my pocket for my father’s old money clip, which I always carried, find a few dollars there, and say, “Sure, Uncle Adrian, I have money in my pocket.” Uncle Adrian would respond, “No, boy I mean some real money!
Here! Take this.” He would peel off a hundred dollar bill from the money he carried in his pocket and say, “Put this in your pocket and carry it around. Don’t spend it. Just carry it so you can start to become rich.”
I never really understood until much later in life what lesson Uncle Adrian was trying to teach me, but I always took the money because I usually needed it and put it in my pocket.
Uncle Adrian would say, “Look, son if you walk around broke, you’ll feel broke. If you feel broke, you’ll act broke. If you act broke, you’ll always be broke! But if you have money in your pocket, I mean real money, then every time you put your hand in your pocket, you’ll think, ‘There’s money in my pocket, so I must be rich.’"
“If you have money in your pocket, you’ll think you are rich. If you think you’re rich, you’ll begin to act rich. If you act rich, you’ll do the things necessary to become rich. In the end, being rich is just a state of mind.”
What’s your state of mind when it comes to money? Do you consider yourself wealthy? Do you think like wealthy people think? Wealthy people do not squander their money on lavish living! They put their money to work for them making more money.
How do you start accumulating wealth? You should pay yourself some money to invest out of your next paycheck before you pay any other expenses. You pay the light bill, you pay the phone bill, you make your house payment…but do you pay the most important debt you owe – to yourself and your future investments? Your money is a tool of trade, and you need to act like rich people do by having your money work for you. You need to pay yourself for your future financial security.
Take ten percent of your income from your next paycheck, and put it into a specially marked account for your future. Have a little fun! Name your nest egg “My Million Dollar Account,” or whatever will get you emotionally involved in the process. It may be that your employer has a savings plan where you work, or your bank can be instructed to draft ten percent of every one of your checks into a savings program. Uncle Adrian always said, “I didn’t make a lot of money in one place at one time, but I made a little money over a long period of time.”
How much money will you have in ten years if you do not invest a little of it right now? You have to be disciplined enough to set aside money today, knowing that it is going to work for you in the future.
When I began to accumulate wealth and to see the importance of investing in my future, I finally began to understand what Uncle Adrian had meant when he would ask me, “Boy, have you got money in your pocket?”
***Great concept. I was at Hallmark yesterday with my husband and he paid in cash. I never have more than a few dollars and when he pulled out his cash, it seemed like he was rich. And he is my husband! So, what do you carry? Cash, check card, or both?
Written by Zan Monroe. Get the book here: http://www.zanmonroe.com/index.php?mod=product&id_prd=88