3 Things That Keep You Broke And 3 Assets That Will Make You Rich
It’s so easy to stay broke because it was by design
You can break the loop.
Making money and trying to stay above or near the poverty level is a real thing.
Take me, for example, I live in NYC. The average household income is around $80,000 to $90,000 per year.
I make just below $70,000 per year. After tax, that is less than $50K.
That’s about $4,166 a month.
Everyone has fixed and non-fixed expenses.
The rent is $1,550, gas/electricity is about $130, internet/wireless phone is $120, car insurance is about $500, laundry is about $75, and groceries can range, but let’s call it $500.
$2,875 is what we need to stay alive.
If we include the other expenses of shopping and buying other stuff.
We probably don’t have much left to invest or save for anything.
Writing online for me is more than writing online, not to build a business yet, but in case one day I need to get another job due to financial reasons.
Writing can help me with the transition, as writing and explaining things in writing are important.
We do have a bit of savings and invest in some assets, so it’s not all that bad.
Now, you know that I’m broke, so I hope you stay to read the rest.
1 — Buying every new gadget and upgrading devices
Although the cost of an iPhone has not gone up that much, the number of options for devices has gone through the roof.
If you have kids, you know you need more than one iPad or related device, or else the house will not function.
I have stopped buying new phones around the iPhone 6s or 7.
I have an iPhone SE2, and my wife has an iPhone 11, bought a few years ago. We try not to buy the latest one, as we can get an older version as new for nearly half the price.
I know it’s also fun to deal with new bugs. Unless you use it for business purposes, which you can also deduct from your expenses, but that also cuts into your profits.
The difference in features and upgrades is not that visible.
2 — Impulse online shopping can cost you a fortune
I’ve been an online retailer on Amazon for over 10 years. To me, every time I see a product, it means profit.
I can rarely buy impulsively without calculating how much profit they are making and what other similar versions are selling for.
E-commerce is still in my bloodstream, like sports, even when you don’t play it anymore, you never stop watching where the tide is turning.
You should do the same when it comes to money and the things that you buy for whatever reason.
I always ask like 5 times if I really need this?
You should at least ask why you’re really buying this.
My rule of thumb is if I can buy 6 of them and not stress about how much it costs, then you can afford it.
Whenever things go on sale, I’ll take a look, but still don’t buy because it’s on sale, or how many percent off.
If you don’t buy, you save 100%.
3 — Subscribing to too much stuff that you don’t need
Whether it’s products or services, if you are a subscription-based company, then the revenue model is always making money off the user who never really uses it.
It’s pretty much like an all-you-can-eat buffet; you either spend a little to spend a lot of time and effort or give some spare change away for free.
These can add up fairly quickly, every week, I do my laundry, or the supermarket to buy something. There are quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies that can really add up, real quick.
By the end of the month, you get a sandwich bag of change.
Here are a few you should relook at:
Video Streaming Service
Meal & Food Kits
Clothing Subscription Box
Food Delivery Service
Gym or Spa Membership
Not like you can’t have any at all, but it’s always good to reassess what you need and don’t.
Sometimes, it’s not about the price, but more of how it takes up your time right then and then you lose that time to do something else.
The time you spend on something useless can always be used somewhere to make an impact in your life.
There are a ton of things that can keep you broken for a very long time, which is why you need to also invest that unused cash somewhere else.
What assets are out there for beginners?
The most well-known and safe way to put your money would be in U.S. Treasury bonds (I-Bonds, T-Bills), yet they are not going to make you rich, but to protect your money against inflation, hopefully.
Or you can go the high route of risk and reward like Crypto, DeFi, or Web3 projects. Or you’re an investing newbie, a low-cost Index fund, or some blue-chip stocks.
The investment that bears little to no risk is insurance.
The 3 assets that can make you rich over time are not what the mainstream media is telling you.
1 — Treat yourself as an asset
You are the biggest money maker in your life.
Within your thoughts, there is something valuable, but first, you need to get your health straightened out.
Without health, your wealth will not even be enough to watch yourself being treated with medication and doctor's visits.
I know everyone tries their best to stay ahead, which requires a lot of time, being burned out, or stressful situations that can be stuck in for a very long time.
From my experience, making real or good money only requires you to hit something at the right time; it could be a discipline that you have practiced for the past couple of years.
The opportunities are always there if you are ready and never stop searching for them.
2 — Digital present for the future digital economy
This is not any kind of online present, but the kind that everyone knows who you are or what you do when they reach your page or community.
It doesn’t have to be big or anything, but being present to what you care about.
Practicing a sellable skill is the best way to self-promote while self-improving.
Writing happens to fit this skillet.
Once you have developed an online identity, you can start to share and possibly earn from your knowledge, service, or product that you create.
Knowledge is nothing when you can’t use it yet; people pay for making things easier or to help them get the result faster.
This is also what the nature of the market respects.
These two are intangible assets that you can have growth in over time.
3 — Gold and Silver, the poor man’s gold
I first met this asset around 2015. The year before that, I heard of Bitcoin.
Basically, I was watching news and articles about how the world is going to fall, and everything was either going to zero or hyperinflation.
If I didn’t watch or buy anything from that time, I would just say, I wish I had bought XYZ at that time.
When you buy any kind of stocks, the number gets diluted, and there’s really no way of comparing a company’s stock price from a decade ago.
Since gold and silver are priced in whatever currency it is being bought and sold, the price record or spot price is there.
We know large bullion banks buy them to hedge their investment or what they think is going to happen.
Let’s go back in time a little bit, back to 1971, the year that the official Gold window was closed for exchange dollars for Gold. In Chinese, the US dollar is called 美金, or beautiful gold. It was backed by gold then.
Although it doesn’t have a direct impact on the average person because nobody owns gold or silver nowadays, maybe a few pieces of jewelry or your grandparents.
Among gold and silver, there is a mathematical question that bothers all those that has been watching the precious metal market.
Why haven’t the silver prices made any all-time highs?
If you say everything went on an inflation route, but silver just sits there like it doesn’t want to move.
The use case for this asset is there with the most patents, and is also both an investment and a commodity.
We can talk about the actual thing, in case you were wondering, when the market crashes, everything priced in paper will go down.
But that doesn’t mean you can buy the thing with the inflated fiat currency at that time for the price on the screen.
I would rather buy this than life insurance. If you can live for the next 30–50 years, I’m sure you’ll be rich if you understand what it’s all about.
Disclaimer: This article is for educational and entertainment purposes only, not financial advice. All investment has risk; if you don’t know what you are doing, consult a financial advisor as needed.
Thanks for Reading
This story was originally published on [Medium] and is cross-posted here for a wider audience.
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Excellent article, Bing.