Building Wealth by Paying Yourself First
By: Ryan McKenzie
When I look around at all of my friends, and a lot of my family, I see a lot of people living from pay check to pay check, under monetary stress. These same people watch the Calendar for payday like a hawk. Pay their bills, and then open up the spending flood gates, before they know it, they are itching for their next pay check. These same people are the people who don't think they make enough money to build future wealth. They are wrong.
The way I save money, is by paying myself first. I have automatic deductions come out of my bank account on the 15th and 30th of every month, which I put directly into a mutual fund for safe keeping. I take a small portion of my pay check, roughly 10% and put it away. This may not seem like much, but over time it adds up. In addition, with mutual funds you will have the benefit of compound interest on your side. You should EASILY be able to achieve 8% interest on average in a good a mutual fund, often times more. Thats $800 a year on $10000!
Once you start, you will be addicted. Watching your funds grow is incredibly addictive and will inspire you to invest a larger percentage as your income rises. If you have debt, put a portion of this percentage towards the debt and a portion into your mutual fund, so you have something positive to reinforce your automatic deductions.
The bottom line is this, if you have the money deducted in advance (and pay yourself first), you won't miss it and you can go ahead and spend whats left of your pay check week in and week out. You will be investing in your future wealth, and your mind will be at ease that you aren't wasting your life in the rat race and never progressing.
This article was posted on October 11, 2004
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