Attitude, Goals, and Perception

Only you can control your attitude. In order to beat debt, you need to have a positive attitude about it. Think of anything you have ever wanted to accomplish before in the past. You had a positive attitude and outlook on it. It is the same way when handling your money. If you do not have a goal to reach for and things set in place to reach those goals, then you will most likely not see the end result of being debt free.

I was listening to Tom Stanley's "The Millionaire Next Door" and he said that 80% of millionaires today are first generation wealthy. 80%...that's A LOT! These people knew where they wanted to go and had goals. All of these people were frugal with their money. They were not wearing the newest and most expensive clothing. The way Tom Stanley described them as dull normal. They were not driving the newest model of luxury car. In fact, most of them were driving American made cars that were a few model years old. They owned the cars outright.

In America, the media has done a great job of showing off people who are not wealthy, but are wearing Armani Suits, driving around $100,000 cars and have multi-million dollar homes. These are normally your celebrities and athletes. Want to hear something scary? Most of these people go bankrupt or run out of money shortly after they retire from movies or their sport. YIKES! You wonder how someone can run through a "modest" 110 Million Dollars??? They do what I just said, consuming all the "good stuff" They were able to sustain that lifestyle while they were earning a paycheck, but they did not SAVE any of their money to be able to sustain it after they were retired.

Am I saying you can't have nice things? NO. Absolutely not. What I am saying though is most millionaires live in modest neighborhoods where their neighbors are mechanics, salesmen and the likes. Their neighbors aren't Michael Jordan or the CEO of JP Morgan. They drive around nice cars, but not luxury cars. They wear clothing more than once and do not really care what people think about what they look like or even care if they know they are millionaire's. They do not feel the need to flaunt money and "rub it in" to anyone. They are normally very good givers and do not have a problem giving money away.

Last thought. If you were to win a million dollars tomorrow, how would you spend it? I know I would pay off my student loans, my car and probably purchase a modest little house for my wife and I, give some of it away and then invest the rest. The reason I know what I would do with it is because I have goals. I know exactly what I am doing with each and every paycheck and dollar that comes into my household. I have sat down and INVESTED time into my financial well being. My wife and I have goals set for our household. What about you? Do YOU have Goals set for your household?

Feeling greater than I deserve,

Your Financial Health Moment