Investing for retirement is a long journey, and in most cases, those who are looking to see immediate, easy results, will likely end up disappointed. But, with a realistic and positive attitude, you can improve your own financial situation and happily retire!
Overwhelming negativity
CNBC has been running a regular column called Make It. Here, CNBC highlights the stories of people who have achieved outstanding financial feats. Whether it be the 52-year-old who retired in Portugal, or the 39-year-old who makes $160k a month in passive income, they cover it all. Having read several of these pieces, I find the
So, what is the problem? Well, in response to these articles, nearly every Facebook comment consists of negativity. Questions surrounding every piece of the story arise, and a cesspool of “I can’t” attitudes rise to the top. Granted, this is Facebook and we all know that the negativity tends to hide the positivity. With that said, I couldn’t find much positivity.
Negativity leads to the status quo
In life, it’s very easy to just do nothing. The responses to these articles make it even easier, as you continue to read cult-like responses that will certainly kill any positive thoughts you had remaining. But at the end of the day, you need to focus on having a positive attitude toward personal finance.
In one of my favorite TV shows, The Office, the character Jan Levinson surprisingly said, “There are always a million reasons not to do something”, while trying to motivate Pam Halpert. While Jan was mostly unstable and honestly, crazy, this was a great quote. If I tell you that it’s possible to save $1M by retirement, you can come up with dozens of reasons why it won’t work. Examples are:
- I have too many bills
- I don’t make enough money
- My car broke down
- I don’t have an education
- I didn’t grow up with a rich family
- I had a kid at 17
- I got laid off from my job
- I’m not smart enough
You get the point. It’s easy to fall into the trap of negativity. Don’t get down on yourself, we’ve all done this at some point. But today, it’s time to change this attitude!
Steps to be more positive
We’re not psychologists here at the Wealthy Idiots, and we won’t ever profess to be. With that said, the Mayo Clinic has plenty of them, and they give some great steps to help be more positive.
We do, however, want to touch on the most important aspect in being financially positive: surround yourself with successful people. If you continue to hang out with broke people who don’t mind living near the poverty line, it will continue to be very difficult to escape this. Successful people are very positive, and offer great inspiration for changing your own situation. Find them, now.
Ignore people; follow Wealthy Idiots
People will always talk. Think about the stock market. No matter what level the stock market is at, a huge portion of people will give you the unsubstantiated advice of “don’t invest in the stock market, it’s really risky and you’ll lose all your money”. What kind of statement is this? This is so negative, and honestly, so wrong. The stock market has returned approximately 10.5% over its lifetime. I suppose you can stay away if 10.5% doesn’t satisfy you.
If you ask super-rich people how they became wealthy, it’s highly likely you’ll receive one of the following answers:
- Real Estate
- Stock Market
- Family Money
- Started a business
Yup. If you want to be wealthy, you should definitely be touching at least one of these areas. So, maybe your family has millions of dollars and this doesn’t apply to you. But if not, you need to do some reading and harness that positive attitude!
Baby steps for the win
A friend of mine recently asked me a question. He wanted to know why we don’t talk about more advanced investing principles here at Wealthy Idiots. Truthfully, we don’t think it’s necessary. We want to give you the basic information required to tackle your own investments and retirement. You shouldn’t need a high-paid financial advisor, or a “tax person”, or a day-trading friend who gives you tips. All you need is an easy-to-follow roadmap, which we’re hopefully providing.
