We are in the worst global recession in 80 years. During times like this people feel the bite of an economy that is crumbling from too much government debt, government spending and general manipulation for the sake of special interests that buy politicians of every stripe.
So what can you do?
Well, a thousand financial self-help books can be boiled down to one fundamental principle: there are only two ways for you to have more money – spend less or make more.
Spend Less: pinch pennies, cut back, do less, experience less, etc. I’m an advocate of minimalism and I truly believe that having more “stuff” in your life is no pathway to happiness and fulfillment. But trying to cut all your expenses is a finite proposition. There is only so much you can cut before the quality of your life suffers. You reach a point where no more cost savings can be had. That’s a mathematical law.
Make More: I prefer this option because, for practical purposes, it’s not finite. How much better would your life be if you had $500/month more? Or $2,000/month more? Or $10,000? That is what can be done with a part-time Internet business. I’ve done it (full time) for ten years and so have thousands of regular people all over the world.
We are living through a period of the most rapid rate of change humankind has ever seen. It’s very easy to feel the pain of that change – but can you see the opportunity in it? Can you see how the ability to earn a living is being transformed? I hope you can because that’s why I started IndividualCapitalism; to assist people in making a transition from a condition of turmoil and scarcity to a condition of stability and prosperity with maximum personal freedom.
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Excellent article.
If you live with a “Make more” attitude your thoughts are drastically different from someone with a “spend less” mentality. People think that the two thoughts patterns are the same but they are not.
Thanks Jonny. I don’t want to diminish the value of having the mental discipline to live with less, but it needs to be a choice toward more happiness rather than something that is forced unwillingly on a person. And, yes, the thought patterns necessary for ‘making more’ are different and I find them empowering and full of hope because they give one a sense of having a way to improve one’s life by dint of character and action. As my friend Henry David Thoreau said: ‘I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioned ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.’
Indeed – how many people work themselves to death to make more, but have little enjoyment from it, aside from perhaps the joy that they “made more”. It’s a matter of finding a balance between what you need to enjoy life and the trade of losing some of the joy to try to gain more. Income has a diminishing return. Yes, I could make more by spending more time trying to sell more, but I value time in hobbies and other activities with family more than simply ‘more money’. I don’t need a large home or new cars every 3 years. Thus I don’t need the debt associated with them that requires more income.