The Myths that Keep You Broke – 11 & 12

This is the sixth article in a series of articles revealing the Myths that Keep Your Broke. In these articles, I will uncover the many myths that too many people believe. These myths can prevent you from creating wealth and complete financial choice™. Let’s start destroying them.

Myth #11: I Need to Earn More Money

As I mentioned in earlier myths, I was broke at age 50, and had to start over from scratch. Today the combined net worth of my wife and I puts us in the top 1% of Americans and this wealth was not achieved by getting a raise or landing a job with the biggest paycheck.

The point is, I did not earn a lot of money working, but that did not prevent me from creating a large net worth. To earn a living (i.e. paycheck) I provided business coaching primarily to accounting and financial planning firms because this was my professional background.

In 1998, when I was 50, I was earning about $5000 per month. My highest income earning year ever was $102,000, back in the early 1990s. Yet even this income did not add up to the hundreds of thousands of dollars that most people think is necessary to become a millionaire.

However, by paying myself first, just like I coach my clients to do, in just a few years, I had saved up about $18,000, which I invested in several stocks selected from the Dow Jones index. Then around 2001, an opportunity came along to buy a tri-plex (three unit apartment building) in a nice part of Los Angeles for about $360,000. The down payment needed was $72,000, but I only had $18,000.

However, I say that wealth is a team sport, not a solo sport , so I asked my wife to partner with me and contribute $18,000. The Realtor we worked with wanted to be an owner too. He invested $36,000, becoming a half owner. We cleaned it up, and as people moved out we re-rented the units for higher market rents. Six years later we sold it for a $520,000 profit.

That means my $18,000 investment grew to $130,000 in just six years, approximately a 39% compounded annual rate of return. That was far better than what I was earning when I had my money in the stock market. And even though I was working seven days a week, I was very pleased.

During that six-year period, I borrowed more money to make the down-payments on more apartment buildings with my wife and the Realtor. By about year eight we had 50 apartment units we owned, and I handled the management. We bought when prices were about $120,000 per unit and cleaned them up. By the time we were selling and doing tax-deferred exchanges, we were getting over $250,000 per unit.

While my income from coaching other business owners was never more than about $5000 per month, I was making millions of dollars from real estate investments. My net worth grew from my investments, NOT from earning more money. This is why I titled my book and our signature program, Wealth On Any Income.

Myth #12: I Read Plenty

What does it mean to be an avid reader?

Maybe you subscribe to two or three industry publications that you flip through while drinking your morning coffee. Or maybe you check your social media feed or read the Tweet or Facebook post of the day.

Polls show that the average American thinks they read “plenty” of things.

However, for many of us, thinking that we read a great deal is a myth. The most wealthy and successful people in the world, whether in business, politics, or life are not just avid readers, they are addicted to learning.

Reading and being a life-long learner go together and they are the foundation of building wealth.

Beyond financial success, one thing people like Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and Elon Musk have in common is that they read on average a book a week. In fact, Warren Buffet takes this to the extreme. He once pointed to a stack of books during an interview and said; “Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest.” He has even said that he devotes up to 80% of his time to reading.

Reading is a way to discover new things. It also helps us develop an attitude that if we don’t know the answer we can open a book or read an article from an expert to figure it out.

The ability to find answers and inspiration through reading is an essential skill in today’s society. If you want to be wealthy, reading helps you expand your mind and improve your vision of what is possible. And reading isn’t just a tool for building wealth; it can also make you healthier and happier. Reading can help prevent stress and depression, help you build compassion, give you clearer skills in leadership and decision-making, as well as affirm you are on the right path for your life.

If reading and learning about a subject feels like a chore, then maybe your passions are directed in the wrong area. If you enjoy learning more about something, whether it is knitting, horses, cars or finance, you may very well be moving in the right direction.

Although lots of reading is essential, learning is not limited to books. You can take classes, attend seminars, listen to podcasts, participate in workshops, or work with a coach or mentor.

Investing in yourself – through reading and learning – will not just lead to wealth, but it will ultimately lead to a life well lived.

What is the next thing you want to read?

Check out my book, Wealth On Any Income, and our comprehensive, practical and hands on program with the same title, Wealth On Any Income - Complete Financial Choice™ at https://wealthonanyincome.com.

To Your Prosperity,

Rennie