How To Build Wealth? Keep It Simple!

DISCLAIMER: No part of this website should be taken as financial advice. This is just what I've learned on my journey to financial freedom. If you need more help, consider consulting a certified financial planner or a certified accountant or any other certified professionals - not some random dude on the internet.

In order to build wealth, you have to keep things simple. Yes, the tried and true methods of building wealth still work - on a foundational level. Saving money is important. So is earning more money. Doing a combination of the two will help you have enough money to invest - whether that investment be in developing your skills, investing in the stock market, or building your own business. You could even do a combination of all three. But in order to put the right systems in place, you have to keep things manageable and easy to understand. When you do that, you can get on the path to building true financial freedom.

But life isn't always simple, is it? What if you start off broke? I did. So let's go over how to save money when you're flat broke, shall we?

How Do I Save Money When I'm Flat Broke?!

How do you save money when you're broke? You don't obviously. How do you save what you don't have? So you, as someone with a big goose egg in your bank account or a negative balance cannot save money.

So what now? Is that the end of your wealth building journey? It doesn't have to be. Of course you're going to have it harder than those in society who were born with more money than you. Those who were born taller than you can reach high shelves that you can't reach. Those who have more strength than you can lift heavier weight than you can. My point is that there is always someone out there who's better than you in some aspects of daily living. The same goes for me as well.

But life goes on for us all. And it doesn't necessarily mean we can't live fulfilling lives just because we can't do certain things that others can. That's such a short-sighted way of viewing life, don't you think? Just because I can't play in the NBA doesn't mean I can't play ball at my local park or at a recreational center. And just because I can't join the rich people's club in business class and with jets doesn't mean I can't build wealth.

So just because I'm broke doesn't mean I can't even start on my wealth building journey. It does mean I'm going to have a harder time as I'm starting way behind certain people in life, given I don't have resources. But that's not necessarily a bad thing! If you can make do without certain things in life and still live a relatively satisfactory life, then money doesn't have to be a thing that controls you.

Money doesn't control me because I was born poor. I didn't know being poor was a bad thing, though. I mean, I always got fed and I had a roof over my head, even if it wasn't the best roof in the world. I always had access to hot showers and could get whatever I wanted - mainly because I've never really wanted much in life. So I could've had it much worse in life. At the same time, I could've had life a little better. But because I didn't have money, I'm not a slave to money.

This isn't the case with everyone who grew up poor. Some people become obsessed with escaping poverty to the point they only live to make money and keep the money they make. They will never go back to being poor - and that's understandable. Being poor sucks. I won't pretend to be happy because I can tolerate being poor and live a decent life regardless of the amount of money in my bank account.

So what does this mean? Why tell you that I grew up poor and money isn't an all-consuming part of my life? I tell you that because if money doesn't control me, I can control it. And because I can control my money and decide its fate, I can build wealth. My poverty helped me to realize I controlled the dollars that go into my pockets. I can set aside a portion of my paycheck to go to investments and savings. It doesn't have to be a big portion - maybe 10-20% of my earnings. For every dollar I make, I can set aside 10-20 cents for savings.

If you're flat broke, then you have to make some money. There's something out there you can do to make money, whether it be taking surveys online (which doesn't pay much of anything, but it's something you can work with in the short term at least) or picking up extra shifts doing part time work. Or you can go knock on someone's door and find out what kind of help they need in exchange for some cash. As long as you can communicate with people, you can find a way to make some money. And that's a great thing because we have a chance to make money so long as there's people who have some money they're willing to exchange for whatever services you can provide, whether it be cleaning their garage or cutting their grass or washing and detailing their vehicles.

So the way you make money when you're flat broke is to find a way to do something someone is willing to pay you to do and go from there. That's the simplest path from flat broke to having at least a few dollars. And when you have a few dollars and understand that you control your money, then you can allocate your money to a savings account so it can make you more money down the line. Simple enough to understand, right? Definitely not easy to do, admittedly.

Automate It So You Don't Have To Make It A Habit!

Let's say you have a pretty steady income. You get paid every week. So now what? How do you make things simpler for yourself now that you have a steady income? You automate savings. You pretty much know when you're going to get paid, so every pay period, set aside some money for saving and investing. How much money should you set aside? There are different budgeting styles for different people. You could start off with the 50-50 rule, meaning you keep half of your paycheck for expenses and you send the other half to an emergency fund in a high yield savings account.

Or you can do the 50-30-20 rule where half of your money goes to expenses, 30% goes to wants and 20% goes to savings. Or you could put 30% to your savings and 20% to your wants. You can adjust and make the best plan for your money as needed. Personal finance is personal because we need different things based on our specific needs and situations.

But one thing that is good in general is to make it easy to do a good thing. Every time your check gets deposited into your bank account, you can make sure that whatever amount you choose is best for saving and inveseting can be automatically taken out. I bank with SoFi and they make it very easy to automate my savings. I can set aside a certain amount for any Vault I choose. A Vault is just a certain portion of what I'd put in my savings account that's earmarked for a specific thing that I choose. For example, I can create a vault dedicated to my Emergency Fund. From there, I can set up how much money I want taken out and when I want it taken out. This makes saving and investing a no brainer for me! I don't have to remember to set aside money into my savings account when I've already set up everything to do it automatically.

The same can be done with investing. You can invest via SoFi as well which would make investing and saving your money a lot easier as it all happens on one platform. However, you can choose an investing platform like Vanguard, Wealthfront or Betterment to invest your money. With advancements in technology and a variety of resources available to us, we can build wealth without any gatekeepers blocking us for whatever lame reason they have (you know, like skin color or what you have between your legs or who you choose to love and so on).

Investing In The Stocks To Build Wealth Is A Good Idea!

It's probably a good idea to invest in the stock market. It has been well researched and documented, so there are tons of verifiable pieces of data to evaluate so we can potentially make the best investing decisions possible in order to have a better chance at earning more money. Besides, many rich people invest in the stock market already, so it must be a great place to put money if they're putting their money in it, right? I mean, that's not the best logic to use, but it is the logic I used as a young man to begin my investing journey.

If rich people were making money from the stock market and I now had access to that same stock market, wouldn't it make sense for me to invest in it as well? Of course I don't have as much money as they do. However, I have some I can put aside and watch it grow over the years. So why shouldn't I give it a try?

It is true that we can't guarantee anything in life. And yes, the stock market could tank and all of my money could evaporate. But if that situation happened, there would be a serious economic problem. Money wouldn't be any good regardless of whether it was under your mattress, in a bank or tied up in the stock market in that scenario. So that means the government and the rich people will do all they can to ensure the stock market or banks don't collapse. I've already seen proof of this during the 2007 recession. So it's probably not a bad idea to put my money where the government and rich people put theirs.

And with automation, investing is easier to do than ever. You can do it in about five to ten minutes, set it on autopilot and then be on with your day. You can check back over your financial plans and your automatic investing every week or every month and make adjustments as needed. What's more, investing is the closest thing to true passive income there is! If you're looking for a passive way for your earned income to get you more money, then investing in stocks and bonds isn't a bad idea. Check your financial situation and come up with the best plan for yourself utilzing all the resources at your disposal.

With the many advancements we have in technology, investing is easier than ever. It's also very easy to save money because both saving and investing can be automated. You can sest it and forget it, making adjustments every week to every month when needed. Of course, there are downsides to investing and saving that you should consider as well. But as a general rule, it's probably best to encourage saving and investing as those strategies tend to work out well for most people.

Keep things simple and clear when building your wealth. It's the best way to be rich in the long term. But what do I know? I'm just some dude writing blogs on the Internet.