Redefining Success: The Path to Financial Stability and Prudent Spending

Recently, I was thinking how do you define success? Our website, LivingYourSuccess.com and our podcast Living Your Success 24/7 both use it. But what does that actually mean? What is success to you? How do you define it?

We don’t all agree on the same definition of success. We all have a point of view and that’s alright. The point is to be true to yourself as long as you are headed in the right direction. That is self-sufficient.

You know, unfortunately, a lot of people, especially young people, now define it as oh, you got a lot of bling, bling, you got this gold chain, you got this expensive thing or that you're advertising your wealth. You're showing off the new car, the new BMW or Mercedes Benz. You’re flashing the big diamond rings, five rings on one hand, whatever it is, to each his own.

But my primary focus is the folks that don't actually have that money, that are going into big debt or crazy debt. If you don't have the money to pay for all this, you get a credit card and buy all this stuff on a credit card. Now you're paying 28 percent interest. I've seen credit cards nearly 30% interest, 30% double-wow! If you don't pay that sucker off in 30 days, then it's going to add another $42, $50, $60, $80 to it.

Can you imagine the exorbitant fees? Wallet crushing. Dreams busting. What if you don't pay the credit card off in six months or eight months or even years? Now you've got $300, $400 or thousands more to pay off on top of the original amount. And let me give my testimonial. I went bankrupt and foreclosed on many years ago living beyond my means. I didn't have the money, just bought stuff, didn't need to buy it, it wasn't a necessity, didn't even really want to, very wrong headed.

A lot of people, a lot of entertainers, professional athletes, boxers, NBA, NFL, and other sports are going bankrupt because they're buying these big houses, several big houses, airplanes and restaurants and all this stuff that is out of their expertise and affordability. Many of them end up with nothing. After their careers are over it doesn’t end well, many have to start over with regular jobs. Some end up homeless.

What about regular people or the average person? They are not immune to excessive unnecessary spending either. Eating out at lunch with co-workers every day in the amount of $10, $15 or more instead of brown bagging it some days will take its toll. There are opportunity costs as well. For example, you could have saved or invested that money; building your retirement fund or make a necessary purchase like braces for your child.

You may have heard of the Latte Factor by David Bach. In his book the Automatic Millionaire he talks about spending money every day on coffee wasting your money rather than saving it, robbing your future. Notable mentions to Dave Ramsey and Suzie Orman who preach wise personal financial management. The point is to avoid lack of overall peace, no financial peace, no emotional peace, and no physical peace.

Stress can kill you; it can lead to strokes, heart attacks cancer or other serious ailments. It's important that you live within your means. So how do you define success? You need to do that. That's your homework assignment. How do you define success? Being comfortable is okay, not to have a million dollars a month, but your goal should be lofty and ambitious in the realm of possibility.

But you need to take action steps to first get your financial house in order. To find success you may need to tweak your perception of what that looks like. To me success is being comfortable, not necessarily rich. I recommend buying the Millionaire Next Door. Get it. That's a good book. it goes in depth about how the average millionaire lives an ordinary life. According to its study and research you can't even tell they are a millionaire. They have a regular car, home, regular clothes and no focus on expensive gadgets. People that have real wealth don't flaunt it. The people that are living paycheck to paycheck even at high incomes, making over $200,000 a year are essentially broke. Why? Feeding their Money sucking beast. If they lost their job tomorrow, they couldn't pay for their expensive life for six months.

Let me reiterate, even high incomes do not guarantee wealth or riches. You could just be a higher-level earner but broke is broke. It's important that you have a stable income. A periodic increasing income. That's fine. But the biggest problem is people’s spending not the earning. Many people have a spending problem, not an earning problem. It is important that you reduce or avoid spending on items that you just don’t need. Do you need the latest cellphone or designer jeans or whatever? You don’t have to follow the footsteps of friends or others. You need to do you and take care of your financial situation. Also, it’s about being financially responsible when purchasing necessary items. Instead of buying $150 pants, how about $50 pants, uh?

Another life shattering, soul vaporizing, financially life destroying circumstance is being romantically connected to the very wrong person. This beast of burden can take years off the time you have left on this planet. It’s highly important to be compatible with your significant other. Compatibility regarding money is up there with other important compatibility factors. Discount this advice at your own peril. You must be in harmony with your “other”.

Many divorces and break ups are dealing with what topic? You guessed it that thing called money. You must be on the same path or in agreement as to how you will save, invest and spend money. If one of you goes left while the other goes right; then impending disaster is coming your way. It’s not about if but when. The thing about it is insidious, secretive and slow in coming and eating its way into the forefront of your consciousness. You want to avoid bankruptcy, foreclosure and never-ending arguments.

Do you want someone else to take you down? Really? The goal is to be a team, working together for the good of both people. Counseling can work if both parties are serious and non-defensive. On a side note, if you are not married it is not wise to co-mingle your accounts and assets. Things can be messier when you are not legally obligated to the other person.

Periodically, my lovely wife, Sandra and I cover relationship and money topics on our show Love and Money in the Living Your Success 24/7 podcast. We recorded a couple of episodes already, we are planning to record a few more episodes. I hope you subscribe on Apple, IHeart Radio, Spotify, Amazon Music and more. You can also visit our website at livingyoursuccess.com to listen to the podcasts, sign up for Katalyst self-improvement newsletter and our YouTube channel. as well.

In your quest to secure what success means to you, there are a few basic actions you should take. For instance, you should have an emergency fund. Save your money and invest some. Use your company’s, 401k, as it will serve as a launchpad for your quest to build your wealth, especially if you have a company match. Opening a Roth IRA is a good idea where it's tax-free when you retire, and so educate yourself. Invest in yourself. These should be all separate podcasts and I'll probably will do that.

There is a plethora of books on the subject of money and investing. But you know what? If you start early enough to save a little, invest in stocks a little every month, in 20, 30 years you can have you a nice sum of money set aside where you won’t have to work until you're 70 or 80. alternatively, there are other potential investments that can propel your financial picture. I will name a few examples. As appropriate, you can invest in real estate, crowd funded investments covering investing in various types of businesses from food, fintech, crypto, toys, real estate, IT developers, home builders, films, media and many more categories.

After the Jobs Act, signed by President Obama, regular investors, not just accredited can invests in venture capital and private equity investments. Non-accredited means you don't have to have a net worth of a million dollars or make $200 or $300,000 a year. Disclaimer, these types of investments are high-risk. There's some element of risk in every investment. There's no absolute guarantee. But do your homework and research and consult with a professional if you have to, okay, and don't consult with someone that's broker than you. Please do not invest money you cannot afford to lose. That wouldn't help you.

Therefore, whichever definition you adopt for success keep dreaming, planning and working your plan. Success will find you!