This one belief is probably keeping you from being rich

Do you find it hard to save $$?  

Why is that?  Well on the surface the answer is pretty easy “I don’t have enough money left after my expenses”.  I hear you.  However, I think deep down your subconscious beliefs are what really keeps you from saving.

So here you are staring at that nice new golf club/TV/killer purse/Wii/etc and $500 are just burning a hole in your pocket.  You know you should save that money but your subconscious is telling you that if you stash away that $500 they will just go in a black hole never to be seen again.  

You then talk yourself into it by thinking “pleasure now, or pleasure later when you retire and are too old to enjoy it anyway…”    Sound familiar?

Most of us have been conditioned to think that saving means stashing away money and never seeing it again.  I think most of you know it by the name of 401k. We know our savings are growing (hopefully) but somehow it just doesn’t feel like real money.

Here’s an idea: Invest in vehicles that pay you now.   Huh?

If you had a $25,000 investment making you a 10% dividend you’d be pocketing $2,500 a year, every year.  Think about that.  It’s like getting a $2,500 bonus check year after year for not doing anything.

If you know that every $500 you invest will pay you $50 back every year would you be more inclined to invest?  That golf club doesn’t look that attractive any more does it?

Your Business Plan Sucks!

Whether consciously or unconsciously you have been sold on a life/business plan all along. You have been getting subliminal messages the whole time and you might not have even noticed. My friend, you were giving a life/business plan and it sucks!

Don't believe me? If you are like the vast majority then you subscribe to the following life/business plan:

1. Get a job and start working as soon as you graduate college (or high school)
2. Keep working every day of life (except for two to three weeks vacation) until you are 65/67.5 years old or until you die, whichever comes first.
3. Once you reach that magical age you "retire" and finally start enjoying life

Sound familiar? It should because that's what your plan is and that's how you live your life and manage your finances. If you're like the vast majority every major financial decision is based on that life plan and the thought process goes something like this:

Can I afford it? That is, if I break this purchase into monthly payments and add it to all my other monthly bills will my salary be able to cover it? After all, I'll be working everyday of my life until I'm 65/67.5 so why not treat myself. I "deserve it".

Have you ever even considered the possibility of not working? We live our lives assuming we are a perpetual cash flow producing machine. That's why we redline our finances to the max because there will always be another check next month.

Try this plan on for change: "I will only continue to work for the next five years and I plan to live well beyond that". Will this assumption change any of your financial decisions? Will it cause you to reconsider your career decisions? If you were only allowed to work for the next five years what would you do?

I know it sounds crazy that you could just stop working after five more years. That's because you bought into the perpetual work life plan a long time ago. You cannot yet conceive it but consider that it can be done for a moment. Entertain the idea in your head that you will only allow yourself to work for another five more years and after that the cash flow somehow will still keep going. Now sit back and relax and pay attention to the ideas that will start coming up in your head as to how this would be possible.

I will go more in depth on this subject in further posts but for now just let your subconcious bounce around that idea for a while. Consider the possibility and let your mind freely explore how you could pull this off.