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The Road to Riches is indeed the road less traveled. That explains why only a small percentage of the population successfully reached their destination- that of amassing immense wealth and fortune. But for us who are willing to walk that path towards financial prosperity, which road are we going to take?
There are several routes that a person can take to become rich. Some may involve confusing roads and obstacles that would delay our travel. Some are very tempting short-cuts that could speed up our journey to riches, but at the expense of many things in our lives. However, becoming rich requires dedication and commitment. It involves a lot of factors- a mix of determination, patience, financial intellect and of course, an ounce of good luck.
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Happy Holidays
Well just wanted to drop a post and greet everyone.
This really has been a fruitful year. I always say I’ll be making this blog active, it’s not that I’m lazy making a blog post :p. It’s just I’m overwhelm with work and learning new skills. Financially everything is at plan. I kept a strict discipline on saving and not touching those savings even if the urge is too strong like this past Christmas shopping spree. I sticked to the budget and now I’m looking forward to 2010. Hopefully I can complete the downpayment I need to purchase our own house and also get my money back I invested in car buy and sell to get a new car. I’m going to keep this post short so that is it for now. Have a blessed holiday everyone.
Resisting the Urge
It’s still too early to tell but I’ve been able to to dodge some things that I wanted to buy. So far, I’ve been able to sustain spending at a minimum. For the past couple of weeks I have been trying hard to not overspend to the budget I have set for myself. I’ve resisted to buy a new watch that I really like in ebay for it would affect the savings that I’ve restarted building again. I’m targeting 20% now of what I earn every 15 days will go to our savings, it just need strict discipline not to loose focus on it.
Now family is kinda adjusting. We frequent the malls and been a habit to always buy something like shop for clothes, anything for the room or bathroom, and other non sensible stuffs that looks interesting. After that we dine all the time. Now it’s a bit different we just buy things that we really need like groceries and just dine. I realize I won’t see the affect immediately I could spend all my earnings and we may be happy for that moment but in the long run we won’t have savings to look forward to in the future.
Time to live simple
Before when we were earning less it seems we can always find ways to fit that small amount of earning to our budget. Now that we are earning more than before it seems the budget is always short. Because the more we earn the more we spend. The living lifestyle gradually changes aside from the expenses for commodities and education you have newer expenses like owning a car, getting new gadgets, appliances and developing new hobbies or sort. It’s a trade off you get convenience but at the cost of spending. All of these you need to maintain and sustain affects your overall budget. It’s not really how much you earn that is the main factor to produce more savings. It’s how much you save and what you do with your savings that will truly make the difference.
Just now I recently paid in full my credit card again almost $500 which kinda too much for just one month. That includes the new bed, groceries and two 0% plans. Those 0% on gadgets and appliances promo is truly a decoy if you don’t pay in full the monthly. If you use your card and you are still paying the 0%, if you only pay minimum you get financed charged for the whole 0% item not just the current monthly so now I always pay full. I still have 2 months left for the LCD TV appliance and 8 more months for the netbook I got for my wife.
Now zero debt again, I’m ready to start fresh and live simple to save more.
Get Rich Talks is 1 year already
Time flies really fast. Get Rich Talks is already 1 year last September since I started the blog back at 2008. I kinda lost focus on this blog and even skipped the 1 year anniversary last month. I apologize to those readers subscribed to this blog. Since starting this blog it has been a roller coaster ride with our finances and time, it was up and down. It wasn’t really what we planned and I can honestly say its difficult to be disciplined with finances. Its about the needs and wants. I have given myself too much pleasure surrendering to the wants even though I know it would affect our savings.
So it’s a whole new start again, what better way is to reflect through the years what you have accomplished and what you could do better for the coming years.
Accomplishments:
1. I’ve settled some old credit card debts but I’m still using my Credit Card albeit wisely now for I try as much as possible to pay in full instead of partial payment to avoid the finance charge.
2. Paid the car mortgage in full but sad thing is the car is not in good condition right now due to my accident last February 2009 earlier this year.
3. I invested in a small educational pre-need plan on a stable company for my youngest daughter future.
4. I got myself DTI and a business permit as a sole proprietor for my freelance development and design service.
5. I have a small savings stashed in the bank.
Could have done more but we grew a little wiser and hope to do more this time. I’m resurrecting this blog again and this time its for real. (with a straight face)
Fewer Billionaires this time around
Reportedly there are fewer billionaires this time around from last year’s 1,125 to 793 this year according to Forbes. This goes to show the effect brought about by the global crisis affecting all sectors from commodities, stocks, technology to real estate. Last year Warren Buffet was the richest man in the world, but due to his Berkshire Hathaway shares falling as much as 50% making him lose almost $25 B in 12 months. Pushing Bill Gates back to the top again even though his fortune went down as much as $18 B. Only average 17% of the billionaires gained in their wealth and 83% saw their fortunes go down but still retain billionaire status.
