Are You Working for Money, or Is Your Money Working for You?
ANTONY ODHIAMBO
@2022
The Art of Making Money Smartly
In the words of Prof. Walker, ‘Money is as money does,’ is truly the meaning of money it it in kind or, in cash. Life has been configured since immemorial in a way that the human being has to make money if they have to use it to get goods and services that they are in need of. As such, “Money makes the world go around (Ecclesiastes 10:19).” We have to perpetually develop an art of not only making money, but also, making the money smartly and conveniently. This book will provide insights therefore on how you can make money be it you are in the first-class world economies or in the developing economies.
To make money, financial confidence and financial literate is very important to each individual. The rule of on financial confidence will help you to make a smart moves in your financial fitness provided you are dedicated all this I am giving you is free in this video but if you want to show your appreciations just hit on that subscribe button and notification bell so that all the uploaded videos you will be the fast one to get. It is really disturbing to see that all this basic financial knowledge is available from the goggle searches and many financial books but more people are financially speaking, ignorance. For instance, James get a pay check after two weeks of $1800 after tax and on weekends he decides to spend a couple dollars with friends in after hours and hires a car to New York which then take away couple dollars from his pay cheque. Worse is that James does not have any application whatsoever to track his budgetary expenses. The truth is if you truly want to create change in your wallet, there is need to change some habits and follow the budgeting rules that will guide you to a wise spending then you will for ever struggle and never get to financial freedom that is your dream.
Further, the truth be said, there is never any rich man in the world is completely ignorance about finances and the language of money. This point to a situation where if one needs to be rich, he/she ought to understand the language of money. The rule of thumb is, cut down on your expenses and costs of money and always, save, save and save and better, invest what you have saved. The cases I witness in service stations in South East DC are not the ingenious way of making money. Imagine young and energetic men and women at the gas stations in South East DC line up buying lottery tickets and playing with the hope of winning lottery, is not one of the ingenious ways of making money. Stop and imagine the amount of dollars they invest in the game of lottery and assume they invested the money in some small type of business other than playing chances with the money, the differ would be like day and night. The owners of the lottery do not have free money to dish out. They have done their so well that they know that the probability of winning is almost insignificant to remain a float in the market. It is important to note that there is no free money anywhere in the world. Other than throw up the money to rotary, safe it in a small way and invest.
Financial literacy is such an important art in the language of making money. The large population is it in the developed or third world countries are financially ignorant about the language of money. It is not surprising to see quite a number of people who are well educated-school-wise speaking- very ignorant about financial hygiene. These are guys who imagine that there is a quick fix to making money and becoming rich overnight. Far from it is that to be rich, one needs to practice certain financial hygiene practices and discipline. You must make deliberate and intentional moves to learn the literacy of the art of money making. It is not necessarily that these financial literacy skills are learnt in formal schools, rather, by interacting with those who have the insight and wisdom of money making practices or through interacting with this book.
One of the reasons why people break the chains of poverty is that they don’t shake off the poverty mindsets. Some of the people take the bible verses in 1 Timothy 6: 10 literally. The Good verse say, ‘For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows,’ ordinarily meaning money is bad. Surely, is money that evil and yet it is the very medium of exchange? If one thrives in the poor mentality, he/she will thrive in the comfort zones of ‘money is bad’ hence, perpetually remaining in a poor state of poverty. Let us parents give our children the right definition of money as they grow up and especially when they are young. Let them know that in money one has the power to buy goods and services; this is the truth about money. Give them the right interpretation of such an analogy of money is evil. Another conation is the connotation about debts being a bad thing the truth is debts is not bad but is how you use the debt and pay it off and make use of the profit to grow. Stop listening to those who have no financial education and start growing in your financial knowledge and put the knowledge in practice.
Laws of Money
Each day we are stack on earning and spending never seeing the breaking through of making money without working, as in can your money work for you. All time should be asking us, “What are hidden secret of money?” “How do we get rich?” So this section gives you the key answers to this questions and indeed, if you want to get rich by discovering the secretes of money making, keep the following laws close to where your money is.
Rule No 1 Money is found in crisis
In the words of Wallace, “The secret of getting rich on the Wall Street is to try to be greedy when others are fearful or try being fearful when others are greedy,” lays the secret of making money and becoming rich. He asserts that it is during the crises that the rich reins. True to this analogy I believe that indeed to make money one needs to take risks. For example when one sells a properties during crises no one is willing to buy it so when the owner reduced the price and the one with money buys it he will be in position to sell it when the crisis is gone because many people will be willing to buy the property after the crises. So the rule of the thump should be, buy during crises when demand is at the lowest and sale after crises when demand is high. It is in record that many smart people financially speaking become rich in disasters when the majority is living in fear. Many millionaires were created during the COVID 19 crises since they bought properties when the economy was at its knees and made a kill when the economy recovered.
I have realized some people earn money while others make money to earn money then you have to exchange time and money. For example I work and am paid according to the time I have worked but I have realized some people are sited or sleeping and money follow them especially those in the automated business. Try to achieve this level of excellence in letting money work for you.
Rule No 2–Money attracts money
Have you ever wondered why the rich only keeps rich friends? It is not because they hate the poor people but because their financial status only attracts the rich friends. Most poor people says the rich are proud but it isn’t the same is the principle of life. For example for you to be healthy you have to be around the healthy people and they will show you their ways of physical health or for you to be prayerful, it is good to be around the prayerful people that you will slowly learn the motivation behind their prayerfulness and this is the same to be wealthy be around the wealthy people and you will slowly learn how they make their wealth. You will find that the wealthy have life styles that are always surrounded by opportunities and they know how to wisely spend their money. The rule is simple, stick to those who understand the language of money.
Rule No3- Money is easy to Make but Hard to Maintain
Majority of the population go out there each day working looking for money. Why is it that they are ever looking for money and they cannot maintain? People make money but they can’t maintain it, assume you get more money in the tax refund and you can’t invest it to grow you will consume it and finished it and still live struggle life for the next 9 months. Many people get excited when a few zero appears in their bank account. Little do they realize that one dollar spent from the sum of the zeros, it will be no longer the same. So, make money, earn money and maintain it.
Rule No 4 – Money stays where it is nurtured
Allow me to use the analogy of a farmer with her kitchen garden. When summar bit and rain is hard to come by, the serious farmer does not stop growing her vegetables of flowers because there is no rain; irrigation comes in handy and the production is sustained. The point here is, just the like the farmer who tends to her crop during a dry spell, nurture your money jealously.
Rules No 5 – Money operates well in secrecy
Never disclose everything about your finances, always live in secrecy when that discussion is money. Why is this important? When people are aware of your finances status, they will always take advantage of it. Am not saying you don’t ask your friends and relatives for they will always ask for help but when you keep a secret account it can be a life saver in case of emergency or a pathway into your future financial growth.
Rule no 6–Money Hate Stagnations
Making money and keeping it in one account all the time does not make you rich. The language of money demands that money turns over. Ensure your money is rotating somewhere earning the smallest interest you can imagine of rather than stagnating in one stop shop.
The Money Making Curve
Money is a very delicate topic to talk about. One of our team members did interviews with some people about money and we asked them if they would like money to control them. Surprisingly, many people said no. but a quick question on the same sample say on whether they loved money drew a quick “yes” answer. To the contrary, when we wanted to know if they save the money they said to love so much, they told us that the beauty of getting money is spending it. This prompted our teams to talk about the money mistakes that many do make and worthy avoiding. It is our since wish to share the same with you and build your worthiness in making curve.
No-1 Do not spend all your money without saving a dime. It is a grave mistake not to save any money from your hard-earned money. Doing so will slowly lead you into debts and worse ru in problems in case of an emergency.
No-2 Do not spend more than you earn. Spending more than you make for one reason or another and especially because of peer pressure is a grave mistake. Do not go into buying a new car or house or whichever property because your friend or neighbor has bought one when you pretty well know that your income does not merge the investment. Instead, create a budget and track your pending so that you avoid spending more than you make.
No-3. Do not spend or impulse buy items you see in the online market before thoroughly doing a background check. Do not just quench your craving because your so and so friend has a similar product. If anything, take time to find out from the friend on the cost of the product which will help you compare prices before settling on the right price to procure the product. In so doing, you save money. Remember regrets do not exist in the language of money; do your market research price and quality research before spending.
No 4. The fourth rue is diversification of your income sources. Do not rely on one source of income. The risk that comes with one source of income is that in the even you lose the job (God forbid) you will yourself in a deep abyss. If you get when you are fired while you have another side-hustle you are more likely to remain afloat than the other way around. Always place yourself in the picture of a tree with several branches. In an unfortunate event of one branch cut off, the tree thrive will thrive using the other branches while sourcing for survival.
No`5. Do not rely heavily in your credit card. The credit card comes in handy with the temptations of spending impulsively. Remember, it is a credit card as the word suggests. You have not earned this money yet but you want to spend it on impulsive purchasing especially on non-essential items. If you did the risk is that at the end of the day, when payment is eventually credited to your account, you will discover that your debit side of the statement is so lengthy that you remain with nothing. The key word should be, “Do not use credit card for impulse buying.”
No 6. The golden saying goes like, “No risk, No reward.” This saying on paper sounds good but caution in taking risks. In order to make money you have to take risks but, the risk you take need to be calculated. Putting your money in an index fund is high risk than putting your money in a saving account your money will grow with only 0.09%. But, if you put your money in a fund, it will grow at a rate of 7% annually of which is worth risk to take.
No 7. Always make money and save it. Saving and investing money should be your weakness. Always invest wisely and do not let your money lie idle in the account invest it whenever account grow.
Money and Self-Discipline
The art of making money comes with strict self-discipline and adherence to other rules. This section will endeavour to answer the questions. Is self-discipline in your finance import? Why is important to have self-discipline? Why is it important to develop self-disciple? To gain traction into financial discipline, the following financial tips:
#Tip No.1-Remove Temptations
The first thing to do is to remove anything that is hindering you not to do what you want to do. Like for example, if you want to start budgeting and saving 20% of your money and yet you have a life style with creep habits that you have to get rid of that may be come as a result of impulse buying. Always go to shopping store when you have exact amount and the target thing to buy in your mind. If you are online shopper then remove any App that can tempt you to buy things online.
#Tip No.2- Set Achievable Goals
-Set achievable goal in your finances, be realistic ambitious before you think of any idea or project to engage in. In entrepreneurship, if you know the steps to your goals the goals look small. A good goal is achievable goal that isn’t too small otherwise it seems as you’re wasting your potential and should have a deadline; make yourself specific.
#Tip No.3-Think Long Term
Thinking long time always makes the substantial difference between successful and unsuccessful people. They always take action and hardly complain over anything but, they work to towards change. For you to fit into the competitive world of making money always ask yourself the following questions: What are you doing to change your life right now? What does your future look like 5- 10 years from now? What re included in your daily activities? As soon you answer these questions correctly, you will understand that your actions today have a consequence to your life 5-10 years from now.
#TipNo.4- Progressively build a Productive Routine
A few years ago, I started having issues with my unwise spending culture because I could always spend with having any productive routine. I discovered that I was perpetually broke from January to December. A turning point came calling after sharing with a friend who advised me to have a progressive spending plan to guide me in what spending vote head I had to incur. Steadily, I began budgeting for every cent I earned, promising myself that every dollar counts, and slowly but surely started making saving. Positive activities are things that make you closer to achieving your goals, go for them. Negative energy are only meant to derail you from success, keep off!
Workable Ways into Financial Discipline
Here are the best simple ways that you can implements and are the tips that we use:
#Do it yourself
Have you noticed that doing something by yourself can help save you some money? For instance, instead of ordering food from a hotel, cook it yourself. Instead of going to Berber shop shave yourself in bathroom. Look at this scenario, I wanted to get someone to paint our house and when I googled to get the nearby company doing painting, they gave me an out of the roof quotation. I have to look for a fix solution via learning some painting skills from YouTube and do the painting alone. I went to home depo bought paint and now am painting my house and I have saved $1000. From this scenario, you can realize that it saves a lot money using people to fix things we can fix ourselves. Instead of buying vegetables, plant some in the backyard kitchen garden.
#Prioritization
Spend only on things that are important not because of the sells person or online marketing, but because you dearly need the product. If you understand about sells you will realize that many companies will create sells to attract customers and when you go there you find yourself spending more than you expected. Things are always on sells it is a marketing psychological way to drive you to buy the products even the ones that you already have.
#Buying New Vs Used
When you must buy, do not to buy new, if possible just for example buying new car vs buying the new car with a zero mileage. According to me if you are to use the car to make money then go with new but if you are buying the care for your daily personal use within then go used. What is the essence of buying new and you keep paying out of your budget? In simple ways, I can see you engaging in liabilities instead of investing in the assets. Above all, pay a lot of interest that you could be saving. Most of my friends buy cars instead of leasing which is safe.
#Banking Discipline
Open a bank account and don’t ask for a debit card on it. That will help you to keep-off withdrawing money from that account. It is always prudent to set it up with your employer(s) and every month the money is deducted automatically from that account to your saving account.
Big Goals, A Little Budget
Setting a goal can be the best way to keep you on track about your money. Maybe you want to pay off credit card debt or to start saving for your children college. You have to think of your goals in your mind as a map. You have to think of it as a road trip just to make it simple assume you are travelling to New York to Maryland, once you know your destination and you have to navigate to your destination by using a map. Let’s look at simple ways of what you have to do to navigate to your goal: How much will it cost to reach the goal? When do you hope to reach the goal? How much do you need to save per month to reach the goal in that time period? How much money is available to put toward your goal each month? Is it enough for your monthly goal? If not, what can you cut to acquire that amount of money? How can you make the extra money?
If you haven’t noticed of recently the gas prices has increased. Lately, I want to believe it is not only here in the United States, but it is a, global thing. A talk with my relative back in Kenya shows a similar stalemate. Fuel is one of the things we just have to meet our daily needs. The fuel prices literally affect anything that is to be transported. If you have your own vehicle then here some tips of how to save your gas and you continue saving for your budget:
#1. Figure out your area’s cheapest gas station
Always figure out where to fuel your car. Do some research on the difference in prices from one petrol station to another before settling on which one to fuel at. However, take caution on the balance between prices and quantity. Some petrol stations have adulterated fuel which may affect your engine negatively. If you stay in America then you can use the App known as Gas-Buddy that can help you find the price of your local price station without driving to them.
#2. Fill up the gas in the morning, morning is coolant during this time the gasoline is denser, later when it is hotter gasoline expand.
#3. Know what uses up more fuel- Running your air conditioner and accelerating uses more fuel. Avoid running air conditioners if it you have to. Accelerate smoothly avoiding pressing the gas pedal.
#4. Walk to places or things that are clos
er- Most of us drive our cars even ton places that we can just walk as we also do exercise
#5. Consider getting more fuel-efficient vehicle or an economical car
#6. Enroll in the gas station loyalty programme
#7. Don’t just sit in the car and run the engine
#8. Group your activities
Debt Management that saves a buck
Did you know snow ball method that can help you pay off your debt? If you did not, here are the guidelines for you.
#1. Write down every penny you owe
I know it is a difficult task to do on the daily basis but, endeavour to take your time write down your bills and write down your total. I know you will be shocked some time that your bills might be higher than what you expected. I prefer you use the credit report for it will tell you exactly what you owe for instance credit card, mortgages and auto loan.
#2. Organize your bills from the smallest to largest amount-This will make you more comfortable because you will know what to do and strategize how you will make the payment(s).
#3. Write another list of the minimum payment for each bill
#4. Now figure out the rest of the bills -mortgage, buy groceries and pay the utility bills
#5. Start putting all your extra money in the lowest bills each month
#6. The following month the minimum payments from the bills you paid off, the minimum from the next smallest bills and the extra money to help pay off the second smallest debt entirely
#7. Combine all your previous minimum payment with your extra 100 dollars plus the minimum of your now smallest bills.
My Smartphone my Bank
Now many people have smart-phones, there is a lot of ways you can use it to save money. This is the reason it is smart-phone. Long time you were supposed to use the computer mostly but now that we have the smart-phone and it is mobile you can walk with it anywhere. So, this is the ways you can use the smart-phone smartly:
#1. Check for coupons-when you are shopping log in to the store website to see if there are online coupon and see if there is any that can apply to you.
#2. Do your research before making the purchase-It is easy to do your due diligence when all you have to do is just use your smart-phone gadget. To see what you are buying isn’t fake
#3. Quick comparison shop- Fins dot what the normal prices of the staffs you want to purchase and compare with other store you will be shocked to find out that you can save some’s bucks of dollars
#4. Sign up for local savings- Group coupon.com you will get several deals locally and this can help save some money
Golden-Money-Tips
#1. Open a savings account and make sure you save 20% of your income every month and as I said yesterday if you are a dual citizen then you can consider having a savings account with a bank in your second country.
#2. Don’t get comfortable with your current income for if you do you might not work extra harder to earn more.
#3. Spend less than you earn, always remember that your spending should not be more than your current earnings, this is the reason why I insist you learn using budgeting. And this will help you get rid of impulse buying that can mess up your spending.
#4. Avoid piling up credit card debt. If you know you have more credit card and even struggling to pay it off don’t add but work on paying what you have …
#5. Avoid piling up credit card debt. If you know you have more credit card and even struggling to pay it off don’t add but work on paying what you have.
#6. Track your expenses with a money management tool if you are not old schools like my dad then you can use different money management tools like accounting software, Expensify (Expense tracking or plan guru ( budgeting)
#7. Prepare for the unexpected always have a rainy-day funds that when caught up with unexpected like car breakdowns or lose of job you can use.
#8. Financial education is education that allows you to make informed and wise decision with your finances. With this informed financial know how then you will be seeking for financial freedom and financial independence. Most of us wants to reach appoint in our life that we no longer have to depend on the bi-weekly wages or monthly salary or even family.
Many people think that getting money or rather hard to find or scarce. The truth is that only those with the skills to get money will get it. Those who are smart and make the smart moves will get it in a very easy way. Getting money is like a game that has rules and only those who master the rules will be able to get.
