A penny saved is a penny earned – Benjamin Franklin
Nearly every gas station has a little cup which patrons place pennies into when their change turns out to be a few pennies or even more. I have seen individuals place all of their change into these cups for someone else to use at a later date or for the gas station to add to its coffers at the end of the day. Americans place their change for someone else to use when, 71% of Americans live pay check to pay check, 43% of American families spend more than they earn each year, the average household carries over $10,000 in credit card debt and personal bankruptcies have doubled in the past decade. Why are we giving away our money! How can we build true wealth if we are giving away our money. A penny saved is a penny earned! What starts as giving away pennies because they are perceived to be inconvenient and not worth much continues with overspending on unnecessary personal items leading to financial turmoil and eventual bankruptcy. If we conditioned ourselves to save our pennies and made key lifestyle changes, we could save our money to invest in a myriad of opportunities and attain financial security for our families while building true long term wealth. We all have the ability to achieve financial freedom, however most of us lack the discipline.
America as a whole is the land of abundant opportunity, however you must understand the intricacies of this complex and great nation in order to not become trapped in the quicksand of debt. Merriam Webster defines a slave as one that is completely subservient to a dominating influence. We are conditioned by many influences to believe we are following an American Dream, however the particulars of that dream in many cases only serve to enslave us. We are taught to go to school, get good grades, go to college, get a good job, buy a house, get married, have a family and live the good life. The main problem with this line of thinking however is where is the financial preparation and teaching to ensure that we do not become inundated in debt and forced to work a dead end job just to pay off our creditors and our ever increasing bills. When we apply for college, we are immediately hit with offers for student loans, when we turn 18 years old every company shoves a credit card into our hands, when we buy a home, we place a small down payment and take out a large mortgage that we must pay for the next 30 years. Each one of those actions is designed to make the bank, credit card company or mortgage company rich and keep you paying them for for 30 years or more. How is this the American dream?
This book will teach you how to liberate yourself from the financial shackles of debt and show you how to save your money in order to invest it. You have the power to make decisions in your life that will lead to your financial freedom and this book will get you there. You cannot depend on others for help. The very politicians in office do not understand your struggle as most have come from well to do families. It is no coincidence that there are relatively few books on the market that teach you how to save your money or we are never taught basic personal finance courses as a mandatory subject in high school and college. This is because the system is designed to keep you enslaved to it, paying your high interest rates on your mortgage, student loans, credit cards and car payments. What does an 18 year old need a credit card for anyway?! He doesn't have a job, how's he going to pay back the $10,000 in credit card debt he is about to rack up. The mass media continues to brain wash us constantly showing us the new cribs, cars and expensive luxuries of celebrities. These payments will always keep you living paycheck to paycheck with no way of getting out. This book will get you out of that cycle.
Rule #1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No.1 – Warren Buffet
How to save money in order to invest and build true wealth is a book that focuses on the importance of saving money. Though the media portrays frequent extravagant spending by the rich, often times that is far from the truth. As a perfect example, Warren Buffett the second richest man in the world with a current value of 37 billion dollars still lives in the same house in the central Dundee neighborhood of Omaha that he bought in 1958 for $31,500, today, the home is valued at around $700,000. As I looked at the publishing market, I couldn't help but notice that there were few, if any, books written exclusively on saving money. There are literally hundreds of thousands of books on how to make money, and you can also find thousands of books giving you "secrets" on how to make money from the stock market. Unfortunately, many of these so called financial experts often forget the most important factor in building wealth, and that is the importance of saving. While saving money may sound like common sense, as the saying goes, "common sense isn't so common."
The studies I've done on Americans and their financial habits indicate that saving money is far from being common sense. While this may not have been the case during the 1950s, things have greatly changed since then. Back then, you could buy a house for well under $70,000, and automobiles were a fraction of what they cost today. Unfortunately, the impact of inflation and a number of other factors have caused the prices on almost every thing to go up. If you pay attention to the markets, you may have noticed that it is becoming harder and harder for most Americans to get by. The price of housing, food, and education has increased at a rapid pace, and while one man could work to support his family fifty years ago, the entire family has to pitch in today just to survive.
It is not uncommon to hear of many Americans working two or more jobs just to pay their individual bills or take care of their families. What is very sad is that many of them see this as being normal. This is far from normal, and in this book, not only will I show you how to fight back and improve the quality of your life, I will also help you identify many of the causes of this problem. Many of us are going through extremely hard times, but these times can and will change. One of the greatest enemies you will face as you improve your life is the one you will see when you look in the mirror. While there are indeed external forces that are causing economic problems in the world, you are your own worst enemy. If you fail to apply the things in this book, you have no one else to blame but yourself. The strategies that I will teach you in this book are not easy. However, it is important for you to realize that no one ever achieved a great deal of success without great sacrifice, and you must make the decision of whether or not you can handle the information that is put before you.
Great achievement is born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness – Napolean Hill
This book is composed of thirteen chapters that will meticulously teach you how to save money on various expenses. Many chapters will have its own distinct rule (or rules), and you must follow every rule in this book if you wish to truly succeed. While following these rules won't be easy and will involve great sacrifice, doing so will allow you to build up wealth for investment purposes leading to great achievement. No matter how much money you earn throughout the course your lifetime, it will be practically impossible for you to reach the highest levels of wealth if you do not follow the rules in this book.