I just found a new statistic regarding money that my own financial planner/retirement specialist sent me. A stat that shocked even me! The average savings of a 50 year old in the United States is only $2500.
Okay, you 50 year old idiot, let’s say you started to work at the very late age of 25 (I picked that number because the math is easier.) From the age of 25 to the age of 50, you were only able to put away one hundred dollars per year. Aren’t you proud? Somehow you were able to set aside $1.92 a week. I am SO impressed.
Are you kidding me? How does that happen? There are lots of ways. You spend more than you earn - that’s certainly the biggest way. You don’t have a plan. You have screwed up priorities. You don’t pay attention. You indulge yourself. You indulge your kids.
I got an email today from a woman who explained that she and her husband filed bankruptcy in 1999. Now, eight years later, their debt is right where it was then. First let me say this: Bankruptcy gave you a second chance and you blew that too!!! She said that she and her husband don’t buy anything for themselves but do have three daughters that in her words, “don’t want for anything.” Her question was how does she explain to her daughters that they have financial problems and need to “cut back” without “failing her daughters?” I wrote her back. You can imagine how nice I was. First, her statement about how her daughters “don’t want for anything” is a lie. They want for responsible parents who are smart enough to learn from their mistakes - who know how to provide for their family’s future - who have put away for college for their three kids - who have their priorities straight - who can teach them about financial planning and budgeting - who know how to live a lifestyle they can afford - who aren’t idiots!!!!!!! Failing her daughters? One more time: are you kidding me? She and her husband have already failed her daughters. She said that her daughters all have cell phones that run more than $200 a month but that they are barely scraping by. She told me that she doesn’t think it is fair that her daughters “suffer” because of her mistakes. Holy crap!!!!! Since when is a young teenager doing without a cell phone called suffering?
I could really get off on a rant here but you get the point already I believe. Sadly, I get lots of emails like this. People just can’t figure out how they got into their mess. It’s like those bills sneaked into their house at night along with the plasma TV and the closet full of cheaply made crap they can’t get their fat butts into anyway. Then they wake up in the morning and SURPRISE!!!! they are in debt up to their eyeballs and have no money to pay for all that stuff they don’t need and probably don’t even want.
Pay attention people!!!! SAVE SOME MONEY. Get a wealth strategy! Wishful thinking is NOT a wealth strategy. Hope is a not a plan for success! Get a grip. Anyone can save money. I don’t care how bad your situation is, it can be done. How? By just doing it! Stop writing me and asking me how to save money. Really. I am sick of your stupid emails begging me to tell you the secret to saving money. There is no frigging secret! Put some of your money into a savings account. Period. Just do it. Before you do ANYTHING else - do it! It’s as simple as that.
Here is another stat for you: Only 1 out of 100 of the people who start working at age 25 will be wealthy by the age of 65. Only a total of five out of a hundred will have enough money to retire at 65. Get a plan! The first step is to spend less than you earn. I get accused of being simple and people have trashed my book, You’re Broke Because You Want To Be, because there is nothing earth shattering in it, yet 40% of our society spend more than they earn and live paycheck to paycheck. Seems to me like “spend less than you earn” is earth shattering news for 40% of society so I’ll stick with my simple approach. That simple approach has served me well. I spend less than I earn and save some and invest some and give some away. That simple approach has made me a millionaire. It’s worked for lots of my millionaire friends too.
There are as many ways to be rich as there are rich people. I am not going to tell you how to do it. That is not my area of expertise. In fact, I pay people who are richer than me to show me what to do when it comes time to invest my money. I can, however, tell you how to end up broke and heartbroken and disappointed with your life: spend more than you earn. That’s all it takes.
Larry Winget - Award Winning Speaker, Best Selling Author & TV Personality.