Hey guys, what is that one thing that you do differently, and you know you do differently than most people when it comes to your money? Let me know in the comments below on this blog post.
I want to give you 6 things that are going to help you be different with your money starting today.
These are the things that 99% of people won’t do to get rich.
Consumer Debt in America
Guys, recently the New York FED has reported in their quarterly Household Debt and Credit Survey that the total consumer debt in America is over $17 trillion, and that’s an all-time high.
Americans are swimming in debt. Total automobile loans in America are over $16 trillion, total credit card debt in America right now is over $1.2 trillion, and mortgage debt total in America is over $12 trillion. And the list goes on and on
When it comes to our personal finances, guys, we should be striving to be different. And why do I say that? Because most people in America are not moving towards financial freedom.
Most people in America are moving backwards into more and more debt, a lifetime of bondage, servitude, and debt. Now, let’s jump into those 6 things.
Use the Internet to Make Money
Now, the first thing that 99% of all people won’t do is use technology to make money.
Right, use technology to explore ways to actually earn some money from technology.
Listen, we’re all on our phone or we’re on our laptop, a computer.
So hey, why not make money from it? Most people are not making money on the internet.
All the apps that are available to us, all the social media access that’s available, the AI technology, right, all the software development guys, it’s all laying right there.
Right now is the easiest time in the world, in the history of the entire world, to make money.
Do it using the stuff that’s available online.
Hey, there are 5.3 billion people who have access to the internet, which is about 67.7% of every human being walking the planet. That means they have access to you guys. That’s an enormous amount of people that have access to the internet. So whatever you have, use it, sell it, brand it, market it.
Start learning how to make money from the internet. While everyone else is taking bathroom selfies, laughing at things that are maybe funny online, trash talking online, you can and you should be figuring out how you can use this to actually make some money.
Most people won’t do that, right? Stop getting used by technology and start using technology to your advantage.
Get Out of Debt
No.2, most people won’t pay off their debt. If you want to be different than most people, get rid of all your debt as fast as you can.
Any discretionary income that you have, use it to knock out your debt as soon as possible. Right, it’s going to take a lot of focus, but focus like crazy.
Maybe use the debt snowball plan where you list your debts from smallest to largest, and you start paying off the smallest debt first, and you roll all that money into the next debt, etc., etc. But debt doesn’t have to be your birthright.
You don’t have to live, breathe, and die with a whole bunch of debt hanging around your neck like most people will.
Calculate Your Net Worth
Now, the 3rd way to be different with your money than 99% of everybody else to get rich is to calculate your net worth at least 3 times a year. That’s where you’re focusing on your assets, focusing on your liabilities to go down, and assets to go up, right? You have to know your net worth to grow your net worth.
According to a recent survey from Credit Karma, nearly 70% of all Americans don’t track their net worth. 70% of all Americans don’t know what their net worth is. They haven’t taken the 5 minutes it takes to add up their assets and add up their liabilities and do the subtraction to come up with the net worth.
Most people have no clue what theirs is. It’s assets minus liabilities equals net worth. The market value of your home goes on the asset side, the amount that you owe on your home goes on the liability side, right?
The market value of your car goes on the asset side, the amount that you may owe on your car goes on the liability side.
Most people are not figuring that simple equation and figuring it at least 3 times a year as they focus on it, so their assets will grow and their liabilities will go down, right?
What this does, guys, when you do a net worth statement 3 times a year, it plants the seed in your mind for what you want to occur that ultimately will resonate in your actions and your behaviors, which will ultimately lead to different outcomes with your money.
If you want your net worth to grow and you focus on it, I guarantee you your net worth is going to grow.
Stop Investing in Single Stocks
No.4 is this: get out of your single stocks.
Hey, if you love investing in individual stocks and picking stocks, great, keep doing it.
Hey, unless you enjoy reading profit-loss statements, 10-Ks and 10-Qs, and doing all the research that has to go into analyzing individual stocks, and these are things you should be doing if you’re investing in single stocks, if you want to keep doing that, cool. But if you don’t want to do all that, think about investing in index funds and ETFs.
Index funds and ETFs, they track a bucket of stocks that’s an index, and they’re much less expensive to own.
They’re easier to research. There’s less volatility because your diversification is spread across hundreds of different individual stocks all in that one bucket called an index fund or an ETF, and it’s better for the passive investor like most people are.
Most people don’t want to do that extra research to research and analyze individual stocks and individual companies.
So consider getting rid of those individual stocks and putting most of your money into ETFs and index funds.
Invest 20% or More Into the Stock Market
Now, No.5 is this: to invest 20% or more of your money in the stock market. Most people won’t do that. I know it’s hard. I know it’s very difficult. But according to the Federal Reserve, only 58% of Americans invest in the stock market.
Now, that number goes to 61% from a recent Gallup poll, but the point is this: the 1 thing that’s going to set you apart from other people in terms of your investments in the stock market is not whether or not you get a 9% or 10% return.
What’s going to set you apart is the amount of money that you’re actually putting into the stock market, your saving and investing rate, the percentage of your money that you decide to put in the stock market. That’s the big determining factor of whether or not you’ll have a million dollar in 20 years or $300,000 in 20 years.
Although right now there’s a record number of people that are actually investing in the stock market, there’s still a large number of people that don’t invest anything in the stock market, and there’s even a tinier percentage of people that are actually investing over 20% of their money in the stock market.
So right now, how much are you investing in the stock market? Now let’s be real, there’s some risk involved, right? But hey, if the American stock market fails, guess what? America fails pretty much, right?
So if you want to be different than most people, save and invest more, much more than the average person, over 20% or more of your money in the stock market.
Pay Off Your Home Early
Now, No.6 is pay off your home early. Why not? If you like where you live and you plan to be there a while and you really want to see the asset side of your net worth equation go up, you can consider paying off your home early.
And I know it’s not really right now and really popular to say that, right? Because most people today say, hey, you can get a better rate of return on your money if you invest it in the stock market than if you pay off your home at a low interest rate, right? Well hey, personal finance is personal.
What some people want to do with their money in terms of paying off their home or not paying off their home is up to them. For some people, they want to save that interest that they would be paying on paying off a home.
For some people, they don’t want the risk of putting that much money into the stock market, they’d rather put it in something tangible like a home.
For some people, maybe it’s their dream to have a paid-for home, right? Or for some other people, maybe they just want to free up that $1,000 a month that they’re putting on their mortgage or that $2,000 a month that’s going towards the mortgage.
Some people just want to free that up. Some people just want to have that ownership, right? Everybody’s reason is different. Some people just want to always know the security of having a paid-for home to always have a roof over their head. Listen, whatever the reason may be, most people are not paying off their homes.
Although a recent study from Bloomberg shows that 40% of all homeowners in America do own their home mortgage-free, there’s still another 60% that have a mortgage and are paying a mortgage every single month. But overall, guys, most people, they don’t have a paid-for home. And if that’s something you want to do to be different than most people, feel free to do it. You have your own reasons.
Guys, if you want to be rich and get to a new level with your money, you’re going to have to go right when everybody else is going left. And you’re going to have to do what 99% of most people are not willing to do with their money.