When you’re measuring your financial progress, most of you may think that you could just be richer if you could make more money per month. But have you ever though whether making more money is enough to make you richer?

One of the most controversial debates that are currently going on in the world of personal finances is what constitutes rich. Most people agree that the place they live at makes a big difference in whether or not you feel that you’re rich. Standard of living is the most important thing that determines your richness. Becoming debt free in a place where the standard of living is high is much more difficult than paying off debts in a low profile place.

Making more money does not translate into having the money to spend on whatever you want.

What are the expenses that drain off your wealth?

It is worth noting that there are some particular expenses that drain away wealth, no matter how much money you make each month. Staying educated on these spheres will help you avoid such expenses so that you can maintain a wealthy life.

1. Your house or car

Most people in America turn out to be house poor. They decide to get a big house and then terribly struggle to make both ends meet. If you have not been modest while purchasing your home and you had stupidly bought a home beyond your affordability, you must have been suffering lately. Since the financial crash, it has been surveyed that most homeowner’s monthly housing costs comprise of half of their monthly income. The same theory goes for a dear car for whose insurance you cannot arrange money.

2. Your unsecured debts

Your unsecured debts are a big expense for you. What can be more unfortunate than having unsecured debt obligations and paying interest rates to someone else instead of using that money to invest for your future? There are instances of people who make more than $150,000 per year but are saddled with unsecured credit card debt and feel themselves to be nothing but poor creatures who are failing to make both ends meet.

Monetary resolutions to set your foot on a wealthy life?

After some studies have been made among the affluent, it has been derives that planning, perseverance, dedication, hard work and self-discipline is what it takes to be a wealthy man. Here are some monetary resolutions that must be taken by every individual in order to build wealth and take a plunge into the life of a millionaire.

1. Live below your means

Don’t be fooled by the average lifestyle of a millionaire. The keyword to living a life of a true millionaire in the near future is ‘frugal’. Most financial experts believe that leading a frugal life is the secret of saving for your future. The typical Americans are known for working hard, making money and then spending it well. You must change this spending habit and make sure that you stop buying unnecessary things that you can do without.

2. Evaluate the importance of saving each dollar

When you put in your efforts in saving money, you can soon understand how spending $10 and $30 dollar makes a huge difference. You must always remember that money has the ability to work in your place and therefore, the more you employ it, the faster it will grow with time. Try to save money at every step of life and enjoy leading a frugal life so that you can soon get the results you desire.

3. Become proficient as an investor

In order to boost your savings and build wealth, you can try becoming a proficient investor. Investment is one of the best ways to make money and also boost your savings by controlling them. Get to know about the investment market so that you can understand the fluctuations and take good control over your investments. Also make sure that you manage a balanced portfolio that will help you gain maximum profits with minimum risks.

As you might think that there’s nothing wrong with spending money on things that seem to be important to you, you must reconsider your decision. The actual concept of being ‘rich’ is being able to spend money for what you need now, save money for your future and spend a little in purchasing things that you like. Lead a debt free life and boost your income so that you reach one step closer to becoming a millionaire.

Australian millionaire who died last year left her 3 daughters only 1 dollar and 50 cents each. That is a whopping 4 dollars and 50 cents for all of them combined.

The 81 year old millionaire was convinced that her daughters had something to do with killing her mother and was therefore against leaving them the 3.5 million dollar fortune.

The millionaire lady Valmai Roche also left another 1 dollar and 50 cents to her ex husband John Roche. John is a respected real estate developer and the former major of the city of Adelaide where the penny-pinching millionaire used to live.

Millioanaire Valmai Roche in front of a picture of herself

The deceased millionaire stated on her will that the rest of her 3.5 million dollar fortune must go to the Catholic charity organization Knights of the Southern Cross.

The testament said that each of the daughters will get 30 pieces of silver of the lowest denomination of Australian currency – that is 30 Australian five cents. 30 pieces of silver was also the price for which Judas betrayed Jesus in the Bible.

The millionaires daughters Deborah Hamilton, Fiona Roche ja Shauna Roche say that Valmai was influenced by drugs when writing the will and have taken the matter into court.

Research shows that income rises with happiness, but being too happy can be bad for you.

University of Illinois psychology professor Ed Diener is the author of numerous studies that show the relationships between happiness and money.

Money can’t buy happiness

Ed Diener’s various studies have shown that money can’t buy happiness, but happy people tend to make more money. His studies show that happiness is not the consequence of having more money – just the opposite is true – having more money is the consequence of being happy.

Too much happiness can be a bad thing

In his latest study professor Diener and his team studied the income levels of people who had previously rated their happiness with a score from 1 to 10.

The results were somewhat surprising.

The amount of money a person made grew with their happiness but not all the way to the top level. The 10s (happiest people) made significantly less money than people who rated their happiness with an 8 or 9. The people whose “happy levels” were a bit less than 10 were also more likely to attend college and save money!

Happy people are strivers

Diener’s conclusion was that people who are happy but understand that it is possible to be even more satisfied with their life are strivers (people who rated their happiness with 8 or 9). These people understand that whatever their current situation, it is possible to be better off.

This insight seems to make people tick. They know that there is something to strive for.

Don’t be too happy

The top happy people who rated their happiness level with a 10 were money wise a lot worse off than the people who rated their happiness with an 8 or 9.

The explanation to this is also quite logical.

Tremendously happy people are always happy – whatever happens. If you work in McDonalds and you are happy with it, why look for a better job? If you get fired but you are still happy, why look for a job at all?

Overly happy people make bad decisions

According to a study done in Duke University the people who rate their happiness level with the maximum grade tend to overestimate their lifespan by more than 20 years. They also found that extreme optimists can have problems with controlling their urges – but they are happy with it.

It was found that extreme optimists tended to overspend and accumulate debt. They were happy to take a loan, because they were mistakenly positive that they could pay it back.

Once a year most of the worlds influential businessmen, politicians, investors and economists meet in Davos, Switzerland to discuss the current state of world economy. This yearly gathering is known as the World Economic Forum.

To give you an idea of how high-level Davos is, you should know that in addition to presidents and prime ministers, it is visited by all of the worlds major banking institutions – starting with the banks bailed out last year and finishing with the leaders of the central banks of USA, Europe and China.
Among this years attendees were more than 70 world leaders and over a hundred of the worlds most influential companies (the likes of ExxonMobil and Coca-Cola).

Main topic in the World Economic Forum

You don’t have to be a genius to figure out what they talked about this year – the economic crisis.

It was revealed by private equity giant Blackstone that the current economic downturn has destroyed over 40% of the world’s wealth during the last 5 quarters and that things are not getting better – they are only getting worse! The world will lose even more of its wealth!

Here are some of the things said during this years summit:

“Worrying about inflation now is like worrying about the measles when you might get the plague.”

Kenneth Rogoff  – Harvard professor and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund

“The outlook is pretty grim. Things are not good and business surveys are coming out showing they’re getting even worse.”

Sir Howard Davies – London School of Economics

“Confidence grows as slowly as a coconut tree, and falls as fast as a coconut.”

Indian economist, Montek Singh Ahluwalia

“The free enterprise system has not failed; the financial system has failed.”

Tony Blair -Former British Prime Minister

“We cannot underestimate the challenges and the dangers that we face in 2009. We are in a global recession the likes of which we have never seen. But there is no quick fix.“

Stephen S. Roach, Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia

“The crisis is getting worse. It’s going to take drastic action to turn it around, if it can be turned around, quickly. I believe it will take a long time.”

Rupert Murdoch – Chairman of News Corp

And from a more positive side:

“In times of recession there are massive opportunities and fortunes to be made, so for new up and coming entrepreneurs, this is the time to go and start a business.”

Richard Branson – Founder of The Virgin Group

I agree that things are indeed bad and they will probably get worse before getting better but among all these quotes I especially love the last one from Richard Branson.

The positivity of this serial entrepreneur and billionaire is what keeps the world running – a true businessman always looks to the future and thinks how he can use the mistakes done in the past to build a better business for tomorrow! As long as there are people like Richard Branson – we will be just fine!

For more advice on what is going on in the financial world – sign up to our  full feed RSS or subscribe via email.

This is INSIGHT 6 from a set of rules about how to get rich

Myths about money

Everyone is raised up with some kind of beliefs about money. While some of them might be true, they are mostly wrong. A lot of these myths come from our parents and the ways they raised us.

There is probably an infinite amount of beliefs about money that are wrong. I’ll try to list at least some of them here.

Money myths

• Money is the root of all evil
• Money is dirty
• I don’t deserve to be rich
• Money is always made by people who are greedy and dishonest
• You should never boast with money
• Always keep to yourself how much money you are worth or how much you are paid
• You can’t have money and a pure soul at the same time
• If you get rich you will lose your friends
• You can’t have money and happiness together
• The more money you have the more you want
• Its better to be poor
• I am not meant to be rich – If I was I would already be rich
• I am not the type of a person to be rich.

Think about this list a little.

Do you have any beliefs about money that are wrong?

Did you find any myths from the list above, that you believe to be true?  Or maybe you believe in a myth that wasn’t listed?

In either way you should take some time and think about these “money beliefs”.

Where did they come from? When was the first time you heard this myth? Who told it to you? How is the person who first introduced you to that myth getting along in life? Can you think of any reasons why this myth is wrong? (if you can’t, ask me in the comments – seriously)

Going over your money beliefs is a MUST DO things if you are planning to get successful. If you believe in the wrong thing it is inevitable that you achieve the wrong thing as well. If you believe that you don’t deserve to have money, you will unconsciously undermine everything you are doing and never become rich. That’s life!

Get rid of stupid beliefs

Question all your beliefs and try to understand if they are true or not. Get rid of the beliefs that are stupid and irrational. These beliefs are holding you back and keep you from making money!

Good beliefs about money

There are some beliefs about money that are extremely helpful to have in your journey to become rich. Here are some of them:

1. Money is OK
2. To want more money is OK
3. I will get rich
4. I am willing to work hard in order to get rich.

Rich people don’t have the wrong beliefs about money that the poor do. Therefore in order to become rich we have to think as rich people. This can be more difficult than you think!

Things to keep

Here is a short poem that I once found from a postcard

Keep your thoughts positive, because your thoughts become your words.

Keep your words positive, because your words become your actions.

Keep your actions positive, because your actions become your habits.

Keep your habits positive, because your habits become your lifestyle.

Keep your lifestyle positive, because your lifestyle becomes your destiny.

This was insight 6 from a set of rules about how to get rich. You can see the rest of the insights here. In order to get more insights as soon as they become available on FinancialJesus.com, sign up to my full feed RSS or subscribe via email.

This is an overview page to a series of insights about money and how to get rich, that I have posted on FinancialJesus.com

It is important to know these rules for everyone interested in getting rich. The list is in reverse order – that way when I add a new insight it will appear on the top. Expect this list to grow over 100+ posts.

6. Understand your beliefs about money

Challenge yourself and the way you think and get rid of the money beliefs that are holding you back on achieving what you are truly capable of.

5. Most people are too lazy to be rich

Everyone can become rich but most people are too lazy. Becoming rich requires hard work and discipline. You might win the lottery but you should always work as if becoming rich is up to you. Statistically speaking – getting hit by lightning is more likely than winning the lottery

4. Share your goals

Sharing your goals with people you trust can be one of the most powerful ways to ensure that you get what you are out to achieve. Depending on your personality it can be a good idea to share your goals with positive or negative people.

3. Set goals

Setting and working relentlessly to achieve your goals is what separates the people who will become rich from the people who will stay poor. This post has some great tips on how to achieve what you want. For example people who write down their goals are in general 10 times wealthier than the people who don’t write down their goals.

2. What does being rich mean for you?

Being rich means different things for different people. Some people consider them rich when they can take care of themselves and their families. Some, when they have 1 million dollars. Defining the meaning of “I am rich” should be one of the first things everybody interested in becoming wealthy should do. After all, how will you know you have reached the destination when you don’t know what the destination is.

My personal definition of being rich is

“I am rich when I can do whatever I want to do whenever I want it!”

1. Anyone can make money

It is possible for everyone to make money. Money doesn’t care about the color of your skin or whether you are smart or stupid. Money has no feelings.

“If you think you can make money – you can. If you think you can’t – you can’t”

To get the latest insights about money and how to get rich as soon as they are available sign up to my full feed RSS or subscribe via email.

Here is an interesting 4 minute interview with Warren Buffett – currently the worlds richest person with a whopping Net Worth of 62 billion dollars. He made $10 billion within the last year pushing Bill Gates from his throne of being the words richest man for 13 years straight.

In the video below Warren Buffett makes a little survey amongst his staff and finds out that among 15 people working for him, he is the one paying the lowest percentage taxes. And it’s pretty obvious that he makes a lot more money than his workers combined. Buffett argues that rich people and himself among them have so much money that they should pay more taxes. It seems to me that Warren Buffett is amongst the most honest rich people out there. I wouldn’t mind giving him my last 5 dollars! If I had that much that is

Warren Buffett also offered 1 million dollars to any of the Forbes 400 richest people who can show that on average they pay more taxes than their secretaries pay. So far no one has come forward to claim the million.

To tell you the truth I wasn’t sure whether to post this video under “How to get rich”. It seems that paying more taxes is a rather good way to say good bye to your money

To get more interesting videos and tips on making money and getting rich, sign up for our full feed RSS or subscribe via email.