What is the role of wealth in your life?
The role of wealth in one’s life is a complex and multifaceted aspect that varies from person to person. Not everyone wants to become wealthy.
For some, wealth is a means to an end, a tool that facilitates the pursuit of their passions and goals; arts, leisure, family time . Others prioritize different aspects of life, such as love, beauty, sports, or creative expressions like dance and fashion. These individuals might view wealth as a secondary consideration, simply needed to sustain their chosen paths.
There are those who lack clear goals, accepting live as it comes without a distinct sense of direction, merely following societal trends.
On the other hand, some individuals place great importance on wealth, believing that it simplifies and enhances all other aspects of life.
The two tracks to wealth
The pursuit of wealth can be approached through two distinct tracks: the slow track and the fast track. Which track you take depends on your priorities, your ambitions, your self-confidence, and your willingness to put in the work.
What is the slow track to wealth?
The slow track involves accumulating wealth over time through consistent savings, often achieved through a regular job and disciplined investment strategies. This method, while reliable, requires patience and decades of dedicated effort. It’s a route that many can take, but societal conditioning to spend rather than save often hinders its widespread adoption. If you work a regular job, save every month and invest in low-cost index funds or ETFs, it is almost guaranteed that you will become wealthy.
Let’s do a quick example. For this example, let’s ignore the effects of inflation.
Let’s imagine that a person saves $5,000 per year and he/she gets an average return from the market of 8%. How long will it take this person to become a millionaire?
It will take 36 years to accumulate $1,000,000.
To save $5,000 per year is not that difficult, practically anyone can do it, but most people are conditioned to spend, not to save, therefore very few people will become wealthy even though it is within their reach.
With one million dollars, a person can spend about $80,000 per year for the rest of their lives without running out of money. The slow track is not bad at all.
What is the fast track to wealth?
Most people who become millionaires, they do so by creating businesses. They take risks and responsibilities that others are not willing to take. They have a vision of where they want to go, they eliminate all the excuses and work relentlessly towards their goals. A fast track business should make you wealthy in 20 years or less.
Two fast track scenarios
- English as a second language
My friend Cheryl is starting a new business. Teaching English as a Second Language. This business, with a bit of training, could be done by anyone who mother tongue is English and who is willing to put the effort to learn how to teach English.
At this moment, She charges $30/hour and she needs 20 classes per week in order to pay for her bills. Assuming she gets two extra students per month, she can achieve her goal in 10 months.
At that rate, in 5 years, she will have 60 hours per week. She has enough business to hire four extra people to help her out.
After five year her business is generating revenues of $7,200 month or 86,400 per year. She can continue growing the business or start looking for buyers.
2. Organizing networking events
Me too, I am starting a new venture. It’s called Solopreneurs Montreal. It’s a monthly networking event where people will gather once a month to network and to grow.
If we start with the premise that:
- each guest will pay $20 per event,
- we start with 20 people for the first event and that every consecutive event we will pick up five extra people, these are the revenue projections.
January 2024 = $400
January 2025 = $1,600
January 2029 = $6,400
Of course, no business grows in a straight line, and I only mentioning revenues, not expenses, but at the same time, none of these ideas are crazy. For Cheryl to find two extra students per month seems doable. For me, to find five extra guests to my event per month, it also sounds reasonable.
These are just two simple example of how to fast track into wealth. It requires taking responsibility and having a vision. The ideas are simple, the execution could be more complicated.
We are masters of our destiny
We are not helpless. We can take control of our destiny at any time we want. If we wish wealth, wealth is there at our feet. The only obstacles in becoming wealthy are self-imposed. Financial success is only limited by our lack of imagination and our stamina to stay the course.
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