I recently met a gentleman who owns a company in the financial services industry.  He is passionate, runs a successful business, has won numerous awards for his achievements and enjoys the wealth that this generates.  But his life wasn’t always like this.  

Years ago he was struggling to make ends meet.  He had close to $90K in credit card debt, didn’t have any savings, was working hard to support his young family, was extremely stressed and unsure of what to do.  You can only imagine the toll this stress took on his physical health, mental health, and relationships. Not a good situation to be in at all.

He was eventually presented with an opportunity to get educated on personal finances and it was this experience that got him started down the entrepreneurial path.  He was skeptical at first and leery of investing what little he had into this opportunity but he knew he had to do something or his family would suffer. Desperate times call for desperate measures and so he pushed himself to make it work because he didn’t have a choice.  

Sure, there are some people that are born into wealth, marry into it or are just lucky and win the lottery.  But the truth is there is probably a much larger percentage of wealthy people who started with very little or nothing at all and built their wealth up over a period of time.  Just like the gentleman I just described earlier.  

Creating wealth isn’t rocket science but it does take patience, discipline and commitment.  If it was easy everyone would be wealthy so realize that if you want to begin to build significant wealth you’re going to have to be focused, dedicated and willing to work hard for it.

You may be sitting there thinking well, money isn’t everything, creating wealth is for greedy people, I don’t need money to make me happy or some other limiting belief about it.  But do you actually believe that nonsense? Or do these thoughts come from limiting beliefs that you’ve carried with you throughout your lifetime. When goals seem too hard it can be easy to find reasons not to pursue them.  

Wealth can be a wonderful thing.  It can provide financial freedom, allow you to provide amazing experiences and things for you and your loved ones, be used to support causes that are important to you and so much more.  It’s not about the money itself but what that money can do for you, your family, your community.

10 Helpful Tips for Creating Wealth

1. Ditch your limiting beliefs about wealth – Begin to focus on all the positive things wealth can provide for you and your family.  Shift your mindset and you’ll be surprised by the opportunities and experiences that begin to appear.
2. Write your goals down and create a vision board – A Forbes article written by Mark Murphy shares that “Vividly describing your goals in written form is strongly associated with goal success, and people who very vividly describe or picture their goals are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to successfully accomplish their goals.” (Neuroscience Explains Why You Need to Write Down Your Goals If You Actually Want to Achieve Them by Mark Murphy.  Forbes. April 15, 2018)
3. Spend less than you earn – This is easier said than done especially when we have access to credit.  Take a look at your most recent bank and credit card statements to see if you’ve spent more than you earn this month.  You will often find that it’s the little things you spend on every day that begin to add up (like your daily coffee/tea).  If you cut those things out, save the money and invest it wisely you’ll be surprised at how much wealth you can create over time.  Little things make a big difference. I recommend reading “The Latte Factor” by David Bach.  
4. Pay yourself first – Make it a habit to save 10% of your paycheck before spending on anything else.  Make it automatic and have the funds automatically transferred to a savings or investment account each time you get paid.  If you can live on 90% of your paycheck you can begin building up your savings and then eventually get that money to work for you. 
5. Find ways to boost your income – These days many people have a side gig or some additional streams of income.  Think about other things you could do that could increase your income. Having multiple streams of income also ensures that if one stream dries up the other can keep you going for awhile.  
6. Create and stick to a schedule to pay off any high-interest debt – Focus on paying off high-interest debt such as credit cards as soon as possible.  It’s helpful to create a schedule or automatic payment so you don’t have to think to much about it.  And then be mindful not to continue racking up that debt. Be wise with your credit usage and mindful of your credit score.  
7. Get your money working for you – Invest wisely.  You don’t need to do anything fancy to get started but pick an investment that you actually understand.  As you grow, educate yourself, and begin to build up some capital you can begin to invest in assets that appreciate and provide multiple profit centres such as real estate.
8. Build a team – Begin to network and build a team of people who can support you in achieving your financial goals.  This may include finding a mentor, networking with others who have achieved the type of success you would like to achieve, aligning with the technical experts that will be able to guide you in areas of accounting and law, etc.
9. Invest in yourself – Knowledge is power.  Educate yourself on personal finances and investing – read, attend courses, meet with people who already do what you want to do.  You are your greatest asset so if you want to achieve any type of lasting success you must invest in yourself first. Highly successful people are always learning, reading, growing.  It’s part of the game.
10. Begin with the end in mind – Build aspects of estate and succession planning right into your goals.  You’re not going to live forever so make sure you have plans for how your wealth will transition to the next generation.