If you spend any time at all watching TV, listening to the radio, surfing Facebook, or skimming through magazines, then you are familiar with the “get-rich-quick” mentality that pervades modern culture. We have been trained to view high-figure incomes as the ultimate ingredient to financial success. “More money equals happiness, while less money equals unhappiness” is implied, if not said explicitly.
While a high income will HELP build wealth more quickly, it is far from a guarantee of financial success. The pop culture and athletic worlds are littered with cautionary tales of those who made huge incomes, only to lose it all on lavish spending and poor financial decisions.
Our culture of “borrow and spend” materialism has created a new acronym to describe many of today’s high-income earners. “HENRY” stands for High-Earner-Not-Yet-Rich, and their ranks are increasing at an alarming rate. With marketing messages flying at us at record speeds, trying to convince us we simply can NOT live without a specific item, it’s easy to fall into the trap of spending on THINGS rather than investing in assets.
A generation ago, it would be almost inconceivable that someone could earn over $100k per year and yet end up broke in retirement, and yet many of our middle-aged are staring down the barrel of that scenario today. The key to avoiding this tragic situation is to begin making wise decisions NOW…not tomorrow. Read books, attend seminars, get a mentor, and surround yourself with like-minded individuals who are pursuing the common goal of making wise financial decisions and building wealth and cash flow.
What are your thoughts? Share below…and remember, be nice!