So far we’ve covered three of the four quadrants. Physical, mental, and spiritual. Now we’ll cover the third which is monetary. I know we’ve covered a lot of ground but the promise of achieving almost everything you’ve ever wanted is not something to be taken lightly. In today’s world we do not survive through superior hunting or raiding skills. We cannot go day to day through the use of superior farming techniques alone.
Money controls our day and that’s not going to change anytime soon. Even if you were completely self-sufficient on a piece of land you “owned” you’d still have to pay taxes on it along with other things. Hence mastery of money, how to acquire it, keep it, and grow it, is essential to our day and age.
It’s not much different then tribal societies teaching their children to hunt and fish before all the world was owned. It’s a fundamental aspect of survival and how to thrive. Money makes our world go round, for better or for worse. You can rail against this fact and get angry about it but that’s not productive.
Instead you should understand it, accept it, and do what you will and learn the mastery of money. It blows me away that schools will teach all these useless subjects but never proper mastery of money but then again government schooling was never about success nor creating well rounded people.
But with that said let’s get started.
The Acquirement Of Money
We’ll break down “mastery” of money into three basics parts. The acquirement of money, which is the most important part. Followed by the keeping of money and finally the growing of money. And again this is a subject that takes years to master and could never hoped to be covered in a single article. But we’ll hit the main points. First off understand that a basic job will most likely, never make you rich. A job is something that you leverage to make money in other ways.
Whether it’s climbing your way up the corporate ladder, which will take more manipulation and good people skills than hard work, or using the money to get into another line of work or business. You always want to look at how to leverage the position that you’re in to get you in a better position. Understand that a corporation will use you, chew you up, and spit you out without a second thought.
They deserve no loyalty or anything else from you and never trust them to take care of you for life. The only “safe” retirement plan is making as much money as you possibly can from as many sources as you possibly can. Regardless of what job you seek there is direct correlation between certain skills and acquiring money. Whether you’re climbing up the ladder, negotiating for a good job, working a sales profession, or going into business for yourself there are a select set of skills that are essential.
Those skills are sales/people skills/persuasion, copywriting, and marketing. Understanding and grasping these three skills will make you more money than just about any other skills out there, especially that first one. Those three together have tremendous power to propel you into income brackets that you never thought were possible.
If you’re just starting out a job where you can go on your own like a trade jump such as plumbing are good choices as well as high ticket sales jobs like selling boats, RVs, or cars. These provide access to more and more money, quickly, money that you can use to then invest in assets that’ll keep making money for you.
But if you’re already a ways into your career then look for opportunities where you can leverage you experience for higher pay. Is their promotional opportunities? Understand that those aren’t achieved by being great at your job but by making the boss like you. If there’s not can you leverage your skills to go into business for yourself or change careers into a similar field? Which way is up? And how do you get there?
Again I cannot provide a blueprint here but start thinking about these things.
The Keeping Of Money
It doesn’t matter how much money that you make. If you can’t budget then you’ll lose it. Doesn’t matter if you’re homeless or a professional athlete. If more money is going then is coming in then you’re in trouble. And don’t think that this ever goes away at a certain income level. The “candy” store is always happy to adjust their prices depending on what you want. As a child it’s a gumball, as a young professional it’s a sportscar, as a seasoned veteran it’s a yacht and a wife forty years younger. And so on and so forth.
This is basic, yet hard at the same time. Essentially you have to track your expenses. Count up how much you spend each month and how much you earn each money. Simple, easy, and yet barely anyone does it. Most people figure “They’re good” and don’t worry about it. However you want to get a handle on your numbers. How much is going out week to week and how much is coming in?
You need to know your numbers. Then you need to budget and save for the unforeseen stuff that comes out of left field and blindsides you. Meaning things like getting robbed, medical emergencies, losing a job, and all of the other craziness that’ll happen from time to time. You have to have a barrier to these things so you’re not screwed when they happen.
Basic budgeting is an essential skill. It won’t make you rich on its own, hence why income is the most important part. But it’s an essential part of keeping what you earn and making sure that you can go to the next part.
Which is growing your money.
Growing Your Money
You’ve earned the money, kept the money, now how do you grow the money? Here’s where things can get a little crazy and there’s millions of things that you can potentially invest in that can potentially make you money. Retirement plans, banks, stock markets, and much more. None of those things are necessarily your best bet though if you have knowledge of those areas then perhaps they’ll work for you.
Here’s what I’ll say. Investing is almost always a risk. And because of this you want to avoid things that you do not have control over. When you invest look for things that give you maximum control. For me this is myself and my own businesses. I don’t play the stockmarket as I’m not a fan of gambling. And I know trusting a retirement plan is like playing Russian roulette. Not that these things don’t have their uses but I know they’re unreliable.
And if you get the income part right then the bank can work. You put away a sizeable amount and the returns can be good. Again I’m not an expert on this stuff and this is not investment advice. Just know the field is filled with mines and you have to be careful and do your research. Look for things that give you maximum control and are at the mercy of forces you have nothing to do with.
The Mastery Of Money
Is something that takes time, experience, learning, trial and error, and a whole lot more. And not something that can be completely covered in such a small space. But just by being aware that money mastery is a skill and a skill that can be learned you are already ahead of the curve. Throw yourself into learning everything you can about money as soon as you can. How to acquire it, keep it, and grow it. Learn how to be a master gardener of your bank account. It’s a skill that is one of the most critical that you can learn.
And it sets you up for success in just about every other endeavor in life.
If you’d like advice beyond this or a more detailed guide you can sign up for my coaching program. Regardless I hope the information here helps you and as always, thanks for reading.
-Charles Sledge
