It may not seem like an awful lot of money these days, a million bucks, but as small as that may seem to some, it is an unattainable sum for many. Most people across the globe will never have this amount of money pass through their hands let alone sit in their hands. Others will see this in almost the blink of an eye.
More important than earning a million, might be, holding on to it! I am no financial adviser but there is plenty out there to suggest that the sooner you get started on these life hacks the more likely you are to get to your first accumulated million.
Lifestyle changes to lower your expenses
- Sleep hygiene – go to bed at a regular hour before midnight
- Ensure you don’t have a kitchen sink full of dirty dishes, cups and glasses – wash as you go!
- Make going to bed a bit of a ritual
- Brush your teeth đ twice a day, and do try to floss!
- Start your day promptly at sunrise or shortly after, earlier if you prefer
- Make your bed when you get up
- Does your bed pass the sniff test – launder your bedclothes at least once a week, every two weeks at the minimum
- Do your laundry regularly, at least once a week
Eating
- Don’t shop when hungry.
- Buy in bulk less frequently. Sam’s Club, Hypermarkets and bulk discount clubs like Costco are good for getting in bulk but often you can get good prices at your local supermarket too.
- Buy what you need based on a plan
- Eat at home
- Learn how to cook
- Avoid takeout
- Avoid sugary drinks
- Avoid booze
- Avoid barista hot beverages – make it at home
- Don’t buy bottled water
- Stay hydrated, drink water regularly
- Reduce your red meat intake
- Look to the better proteins and natural sugars in beans and vegetables
Out and about
- Use public transport
- Take a bike where you need to go
- Rent a car for long trips and avoid personal ownership
House in order
- Sell stuff you don’t use or need, especially the spendy items like a car, a motorbike, sports equipment, electronics
- Go for the virtue and avoid the vice – if you’re a smoker – quit, avoid taking drugs (prescription or otherwise)
- Do your own taxes. Getting someone else to do your taxes for you should be your last resort unless you have some weird companies in your name or exotic filings that you need to do.
- Reevaluate your friendships – unfriend the fakers and posers and welcome the positive, resilient & optimistic genuine connections.
- Pay credit cards in full every month.
- Avoid loans and credit
- Get a good health insurance with above-average coverage.
- Get regular Exercise at least twice a week.
- Be curious about the world out there. Try to read many books (mostly non-fiction), especially in sectors out of your normal studies. Innovation comes from the ability to correlate information between different realms of knowledge.
- Dont upgrade your smartphone every year.
- Cut out social apps. remove Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and the like from your phone and only access them via a desktop computer – you will be suprised how much longer your battery lasts and how much time you have
- Second guess those purchases – do you really need that new mobile phone?
- If you like gaming, restrict play-time
- If you like watching TV, restrict TV-time
- Quit the shopaholic tendency and impulse buys, don’t use shopping as entertainment. If you’re bored, go for a walk!
Being the best at your job
- Complete your education. If you only have a GED, consoider community college, if you have an associates, consider a bachelor’s – If studying is not for you, examine how you can acquire new, useful skills (you do not need further education for many highly important and well paid skills relevant in today’s job market).
- Maintain contact with your classmates and peers through business networks like LinkedIn, Glassdoor and Xing and alumnus.
- Learn about Game Theory – as a field of study it uses mathematical model to evaluate strategic interaction among rational decision-makers. There are many applications in the social sciences, as well as work bound up in logic and science. You may have heard of the concept of the zero-sum game, in which participants gain or lose in a balance with other participants. These days, game theory is an umbrella term for the science of logical decision making among people, animals, and technology.
- Learn about Industry models and specialisms within those industries especially the most sought after ones
- If you’re working then work out where your role fits into the goals and objectives of the business
- Establish what the greatest challenges are for your role and your business area and brainstorm ways that these might be addressed
- Become the subject matter expert in your area of the business and consequently become the “go to” person that people first think of when looking to find an answer or solve a problem related to your job
- Many will do barely “enough” to hold onto their job and then go further in limiting themselves by doing a lot of complaining. Avoid being one of those people.
- The attitudinally positive problem-solver is a rare breed in many organizations and get rewarded accordingly as a desireable type of employee.
- Once you’ve earned your place as a desireable type of employee, consider how Game Theory becomes a way to encourage your supervisor, manager and employer to give you a better deal.
- Remember a better deal is made up of more than just your paycheck – it can include bonus, vacation time, opportunities
- Employers are continuously thinking about risk, and in particular the risk of employees leaving and going elsewhere.
- With the upper hand of desireability you now engage with your employer in a “dominated game” where the only possible outcome is for you to get a better deal.
- If you are an effective problem solver and still do not climb the ladder, it means that the opportunities at your current workplace are limited – but dont take too long to arrive at this conclusion.
- Do not allow this to demotivate your or result in your reducing your efforts to be the desireable employee instead start to look across the business units or outside your organization.
- With your job relatively secure, now is the time to start increasing your depth of knowledge on your employer’s dime.
- Refresh your LinkedIn or Xing profile, update your profile on Glassdoor.
- Start looking at positions and work out how well your skills align.
- Consider work abroad
- Overcome any fears you might regarding change, changing countries and changing jobs is not as risky as you might think.
Money Matters
- Reduce your number of credit cards, ideally down to one
- Use a debit card instead of a credit card
- Establish a savings plan and set aside a specific amount every paycheck for rainy days – aim to accumulate 6 months of post-tax salary (3-months if you are particularly good at avoiding emergencies).
- As cash it must be readily available for emergencies
- Consider a Stock day-trader Account with your bank and every month save 20%/30%/40%/50% of your after tax income – Invest in low commission S&P500 ETF by Vanguard (like “VOO” or “VIG”).
- Work on a ten year hold pattern
- Save aggressively, invest every month “no matter what“
- Consider the “dollar cost average” + “compound interest” to understand the benefits of saving and accummulating wealth
- Set up (both mentally and practically) a bare minimum that you must invest every month and deposit it into your stock account at the beginning of each month so you will not be able to spend it to buy useless stuff.
- As you progress in your career you will save more by earning more
- Aggressively saving avoids you spending what you earn or suffering the “increased lifestyle” trap.
- Consider that if you clear $3,000 a month before outgoings you should be saving at least $300 a month at the end of the year you will have $3,600 plus any accumulated growth
- After ten years your capital will be at least $36,000 with compound interest and dividends equivalent to your monthly contribution, and by then you should be clearingmore than $3,000 a month.
- Consider a side hussle by work at night, weekends and holidays but consider that if it all depends on the fruits of your labours then you cannot scale your service and support.
- Consider your economic viability target – If you are not making at least 1K per month, is this something you should really continue with?
- Look at “low hanging fruit” opportunities that others don’t see and become knowledgable about them
- Study quirky, even awkward and neglected market niches, that may be the proverbial goldmine for those able to satisfy them.
- Once your side business starts making 10k USD / month you can start evaluating if your current salaried job is worth the effort / time / hassle.
The first million is by far the hardest but you need to have a plan… This question with some answers originally appeared on Quora