If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting. - Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
Today, the banking and credit card industry are nothing more than predatory lenders to most people. They are masters at deception, and the average person has been manipulated to believe that borrowing is a way of life. To achieve financial independence, you must cast aside this illusion. Many people underestimate the power of the banking industry. They are completely ignorant as to what goes on behind closed doors. The banking industry much like any other industry is built to make big profits by letting you borrow money to purchase things you want and don't necessarily need. The new TV on the credit card, the new car financed over five years and the new house with a mortgage all force you to work even harder to pay the bank back.
Debt is one of the most powerful weapons in the world. In any capitalistic society, there will always be people who lend money to others. However, one thing that has remained true for thousands of years is the fact that when you borrow, you have put someone else in control of your life. When you lend out money, you're the master.
If you want to become wealthy, you must become a finance warrior. You must take all the things I've shown you in this book, and you must use them to build wealth and become free. When you borrow, you make the decision to become a serf. Globalization is real, and the middle class is suffering tremendously. If you consider yourself to be a member of the middle class, you have three choices. You can either take the stuff I've shown you in this book to move up, or you can use it to maintain your position. You also have the option of ignoring it, which will very likely cause you to get pushed into poverty. This is a decision that you will have to make. I wrote this book so that I could open the
eyes of people who are poor. There are millions of people right now in the United States who are homeless, and this book can help them rise up, if they choose to use it. In the end, you must become a master of your own mind. Don't allow your organized habits and opinions to be manipulated by the unseen hand. Learn how to think for yourself, and choose freedom. Financial freedom is one of the greatest gifts and powers you can have.
Being wealthy has nothing to do with buying a whole lot of stuff. In the end, this stuff means nothing, and you will become a slave to it. I see people all the time who have nice clothes, cars, and jewelry. I've watched the men with these things, and I've seem them and their trophy wives. I'm not jealous of them, and you shouldn't be jealous of them either. By following the philosophies in this book, you can become powerful, and you can have anything you want. Another phenomenon that I would like to close this book with is one that is called "selective luxury."
Selective Luxury
Selective luxury is a philosophy that every finance warrior should use. As you begin saving a large percentage of your income, there will naturally be things that you will want to buy and do. And you deserve it. The simple rule of selective luxury is that you don't want to "have your cake and eat it to." If you enjoy wearing nice clothes, downgrade your accommodations and live in a cheap apartment. If you enjoy driving nice cars, wear inexpensive clothes and live in a cheaper apartment. If you enjoy traveling, eat out less and make sacrifices in other areas so you can do it.
With selective luxury, you will spend a lot of money on a few things, but you will be frugal with everything else. Being frugal with everything else will give you the savings that will allow you to enjoy your personal luxury, while building wealth at the same time. So many people make the mistake of trying to have the best of everything, and society encourages this. No matter how much money you have, your resources are limited. You must accept the fact that there are some things you will have to do without. While I'm frugal with almost everything, there are things I feel I should spend good money on. However, I use the philosophy of selective luxury to only select one or two things I like paying a lot for, and being frugal with everything else. This allows me to enjoy one luxury, while still maintaining my wealth and building on it at the same time. Selective luxury is one of the most important concepts that you can learn from this book, and I decided to save the best for last. Many people fail to save lots of money because they think it requires them to act like a monk. This is not the case. The people who become masters at saving money are those who know how to use selective luxury.
They don't sacrifice the ability to save money for their happiness. Saving money and outsmarting this system is challenging, so when you do it, you deserve to reward yourself. So if you've saved up $8,000, and you want to take a trip to Europe, do it. If you've used the stuff I’ve talked about in this book, you deserve it. Make selective luxury an important part of your financial strategy. It will bring you happiness, and it will give you the strength to save even more money. When some people read this book, they may try to criticize me for urging people to become misers.
This is a complete fallacy. I have no intention of suggesting to anyone that they should become a miser. A capitalistic society cannot function if everyone holds on to their money. Some people will read this book and misinterpret the things I've said. However, one thing that you must understand is that the primary function of money is to use it for security. It should be used as security against the state, and against corporate America. To the finance warrior, this is the primary function of money. Paying for entertainment expenses is always secondary.
To call yourself a finance warrior, you must be capable of saving at least 30% of your annual income. At this level of savings, you will be much wealthier than anyone in your income bracket. For example, if you make $24,000 a year, and you save 30 percent, you will have $7,200. Statistically, most people who make $24,000 a year don't have anywhere near $7,200 in the bank. If you make $100,000 per year, you should be able to save a minimum of $30,000. Only then can your call yourself a finance warrior.
I should also note that certain segments of the population will have a harder time saving 30% of their income than others. For example, if you're a family of four, and you only bring in $30,000 per year, saving 30 percent will be challenging. However, nothing is impossible, and sacrifices must be made. Nothing truly valuable is ever easy. I would also like to give a piece of advice for those who have a "gift" for making money. There are some of you reading this that is good with making money. For you, selling products and services comes natural, and you've never had to go to school for it. If you fall under this category, you will find that making money is a lot easier than saving it. It is very important for you to follow the advice in this book, for if you don't, you run the risk of becoming a "six figure person," someone who makes a lot of money per year, but who has so much debt and overhead that they can't save much. I know many people in this situation personally. One has told me that he is so good at making sales that he can "sale ice to an Eskimo." For him, selling stuff comes naturally.
Unfortunately, he was not that good at saving money. He told me that at his height, his business was bringing in $100,000 per year. However, he didn't save much of it, and now that he is over the age of fifty, he doesn't have a great deal of wealth when compared of other people in his age group. I urge those of you who read this book to avoid falling victim to this. People have a tendency to spend more when they earn more. If you have a gift for making money, you must resist this temptation. Doing so will mean the difference between great wealth and moderate, if any wealth.
The advice in this book will be beneficial to you. It gives you a roadmap which will allow you to put away your money and build wealth. Once you've acquired substantial amounts of money, you can use it as a launch pad to start businesses or increase your education, which will then increase your income.
Great time and care was taken in creating this book on saving and finance because there are very few books that provide this advice. I consider many financial authors to not be very practical to the who read their works. They gloss over financial topics, and they don't get to the bottom of what’s wrong. They preach about investment strategies that are not beneficial to people who don't have excessive amounts of money. How can most of us become real estate and business investors when we make $33,000/per year, have no savings and are carrying $12,000 in debt? We can't.
Because many finance books are written by millionaires, multi-millionaires, and billionaires, many of these books are written from the perspective of someone who lives in an "ivory tower." They talk about concepts and ideas that are unrealistic to those of us who have to deal with reality. Finance Wars is a book written by a man who understands the working poor and middle class, because he has lived in both these categories. I can see things from the perspective of someone who is struggling to make ends meet. While I have much more money than most people in my income bracket, I'm not so rich that I
can't see things from the same perspective as someone who falls under the category of the working poor.
By writing this book, I wish to financially educate people from the perspective of someone who can see their point of view. I give clear ideas as to why people are poor, who is behind it, and what they can do about it. All the tips that I give you are things I do on a daily basis, and this is why I've been able
to save and build wealth. If you follow the rules, you will become successful as well. You will be able to enjoy many things in life and have extra income to invest. Many people will read this book and scoff at the advice I give. They will continue to believe that having a college degree will make you superior, or they will refuse to buy generic foods or used cars. One thing that is certain is that these people cannot blame the book. The only person they have to blame is themselves. There is no easy way to wealth, and this is why most people will never obtain it. Many people want to do things the "easy way." Instead of working hard, they try to take shortcuts. I own my own business, and I sometimes hire people who do this. In the end, I always fire them, because trying to take the easy way out always causes them to shoot themselves in the foot. This is also why financial scams work so well. The con artist understands human nature, and they know most people want lots of money with very little effort. The con artist then offers them a financial solution that will allow them to build wealth with little effort or no risk, and so many people take the bait. If you want to become successful, stop trying to take the easy way out. Get tough, and do what it takes to get what you want. It is this that separates the winners from the losers. To become a master at saving money, you must learn how to become a master of your own destiny, and you must start doing it today. It will be challenging, but you must stay focused and work hard every day.