The other day I was reading a magazine on styles of the rich and famous, I was startled that today millionaires are so young they are in their early twenty’s and yet they have already attained the status of having 8 digits in their bank accounts. It appears that becoming rich has become so common that it likens to merely playing the game of monopoly where before the start of the game each player is given capital to play the dice laid on a cardboard and there rolls the game of buying hotels, paying rents and being penalized if the dice draws to unlucky place. So with the game of monopoly here are my beliefs on how to become a millionaire:
1. UNDERSTAND WHAT FIXED EXPENSES ARE AND CONTROL THE VARIABLE ONES. Fixed expenses are expenses needed to meet our basic needs - food, shelter, clothing and education. We cannnot do much with the fixed expenses as they are meeting out basic necessities in life. However, in order for us to save much we must control our variable expenses - these are expenses needed to meet our wants rather our needs and they are usually controllable. Examples of variable expenses are heat, light and water because with proper control and discipline we can minimize the use of these overheads to save much money. Other variable expenses are public relations expenses, travelling and vacation expenses which can be minimized. This is similar to the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs- First level is the need for food, shelter, clothing and education, second level is the need for recognition and third level is the need for self actualization. The first level refers to the fixed expenses because they are meeting our needs. The second and third levels refer to the variable expenses because they are meeting our wants. The need for recognition for example might cause the buying of mansion and costly car when we can simply buy simple car and plain house.
2. WE MUST LEARN HOW TO DELAY INSTANT GRATIFICATION. This means that we must sacrifice instant pleasures for a bigger price by savings for the present and invest later on so the money can be turned into asset producing income whether interest, cash or dividend earnings. This is what most internet writers are advocating for “pay yourself first.” We must be able to delay present spendtrifts for savings and future investment activities. We have to follow the ways of the ants, saving grains during summer for the rainy days. Remember the book of the Rich Man in Babylon when it says:”Part of what you earn is yours to keep.”
3. FIND A BUSINESS NICHE AND JOB THAT YOU LOVE AND IT WILL BECOME A PLEASURE. If you can love your job and the business that you have, work becomes pleasure so money will just pour in. Great master pieces are produced because of the lavor of love. If you love your business it will then transmit to your customers and they too will feel the energy of love, hence they will stick with you.
4. PRACTICE INTEGRITY, FRIENDSHIP, HEALTHY BODY AND SOUND SPIRIT. Integrity is the cornerstone of business when in fact it is the backbone of every relationship. As they say honesty is the best policy. Friendship is very important as in the case of Creosus and Creasus the two brothers who became the first ever recorded millionaires in history simply because they befriended the Governor of Rome and because of their friendship the Governor endowed them with tracks and tracks of land for them to teal and own. Remember how Plato defined wealth when he said: ” I am the friend of Julius Ceasar and his food is also my food, his wardroves, women, gold and silver are also mine. This is my definition of wealth.” What good does it do to a man even if he owns the whole world but looses his soul as the Bible says so we have to nourish our spirit and adulate God. Adding icing to the cake, I would suggest hard work will also contribute to making us rich and millionaire. Reiterating the passages in the Bible:”Show me a man who is hard working and he shall sit before kings and noblemen.”
5. TAX AVOIDANCE IS ALLOWABLE BUT TAX EVASION IS ILLEGAL. See a CPA, accountant or financial planner so that he will give you advice on how to avoid tax like contributions to charitable institutions are overheads that can be deducted in your incomes or representation expenses in the western world could be used as deductions in ones income. Tax avoidance is illegal, the Internal Revenue Service will expropriate properties or assets of those who refuse to pay their taxes.
6. SPECIALIZATION IS THE SUREST WAY TO BECOME RICH. Rich and millionaires have specialized their skills whether it is lawyering with specialized field in criminal or inheritance laws, physicians whether they have specialty in psychiatry or hypertension, doctorate degrees wether the special field is in management or public administration. The vocation goes on and on and competion will always favor the man who specialized his skill.
7. PRESENTLY WE HAVE TO BE TECHNOLOGY LETIRERATE - WHETHER IT IS THE USE OF COMPUTERS, ATMS, DEBIT/CREDIT CARDS, INTER AND INTRANETS AND CELL PHONES. Businessmen who are technology literate could transact business faster than the rest. Millions and billions of dollars are transacted every minute via ATMs, cellphones and internets and businessmen who have access to these technology will have a better edge in doing their business. Informations could be sent world wide, barriers of friendship could be broken because of computers and internets. The world has becomre so minute because of the internet boom and explosions. Remember they declared as early as 1800 that there was nothing which the USA has not invented and there will no longer be a need for invention as they have already invented everything. In the third millenium billions of inventions have made and one day possibly going to mars will only need a days ride.
8. REMEMBER THAT WHATEVER WEALTH IS GIVEN TO US WE MUST PAY GRATITUTE TO GOD AND RETURN A PORTION TO HIM.
Everything belongs to God and so we must show our gartitude
by providing tithe to him possibly 10% of our incomes. Remember whatever amount is given to charity specially to God it will return back to us a hundredfold. At last, millionaires would say:”The only objective after producing millions and billions of dollars is to help our unfornate brothers in terms of job, services or products.” Foremost, I really like what Dr. Albert Scweitzer once said:” No ray of sunlight is ever lost but the green which it awakens into existence needs time to sprout and it is not always granted to the sower to see the narvest, he must plant in faith.” So we must invest time just like the farmer and we must have faith in God before all of us can become a millionaire.