How I learned that a ‘secure job’ and savings won’t save you
How many of us have been taught to study hard, get a good secure job and save for a rainy day by well-meaning parents? We can not blame them, they want what is best for us. And their strategy was certainly the right one when their parents taught them the same. The problem is that this may not actually be true today, where job security is a thing that belongs in a museum. And your savings won’t be worth pennies in your old age when you need them. So what can you do?
Let me tell you the story of how I discovered how the strategy of working hard, climb the corporate ladder and savings was a flawed concept for me.
If you read my blog ‘How I went from overworked Manager to Entrepreneur’ you will know that over-working was the wake-up call I needed to stop and think about my future. Having collapsed at work due to stress certainly made me consider if my current situation was indeed sustainable. Sure, I had a great salary but I spent my life working and nothing else.
‘Just get a work-life balance’ you might say. And of course you are right about that, but there was more to it than that. I became acutely aware of the fact that I had not created any significant savings nor bought a house like we are supposed to. I also had not started a pension plan and I was approaching middle age already.
Savings wont work
One day someone showed me something that made me do a double-take at my situation even more. It was a simple calculation of what you need to save to retire well. It goes like this:
- Decide when you want to retire and how long you would like to live. This may seem morbid (and of course we don’t know when it is our time to go). But for the sake of the exercise, humor me.
- Decide how much money you will need per month to be as comfortable as you want to be when you retire.
- Then multiply the amount with 12 (months) and then again with the years you have allocated for your retirement (from retirement to end of life). This is how much you have to save in the time between now and your retirement. Plus, what you need today to live comfortably.
Mine looked like this: $5,000 (including my cost of living today) X 12 (months) =$60,000 pa. Times 30 years= $1,800,000. I was being conservative AND I forgot to take into account taxes and inflation so I was probably looking at double that amount. I was 41 years old at the time and wanted to retire at 50 so I had 9 years! No chance.
So, I started thinking about the future and how I had no way of taking care of myself when I was too old or unable to work. This terrified me! One of my greatest fears is to be helpless and unable to care for myself. I even hate to be sick in bed and have others take care of me, I just want to be left alone till I feel better. Also, my greatest desire is freedom and I wanted to travel and do more in my life before it was over. All of these thoughts where new to me and they mad me feel really anxious about the future.
Coming from a Christian background I had learned that focusing on money was something not to be desired, we should not be greedy. But now I realized that this philosophy was going to be the cause of poverty unless I did something about it! So, I decided to learn about money (in fact it was my New Year’s resolution that year).
The Epiphany
That quickly led me to Robert Kiyosaki and his book ‘The Cash-flow quadrant’ (which I believe everyone should read. In his book Robert writes that trading your time for money is not the route to wealth. Instead finding a way to make money work for you and building an asset is the only way to secure your future (and your family’s if you have one).
He writes that there are two ways to build this asset; investment or building a business large enough that it runs without you actually doing most of the work. It is like growing a money tree. That does absolutely not mean you should not be an employee (this is usually the way you earn money to build your asset) , but you can find ways to create your asset at the same time. And perhaps this will in time serve to be your main source of income — Then you will be truly financially free! That was music to my ears. So, I set out on my path to find my path to freedom.
The plan
As the prospect of investment for me seemed complicated and frankly like gambling as you can lose your money if you get it wrong, I opted to look for a business I could grow without too much of a starting capital. The fact that I also like people and wanted something that would have me in constant contact with people, I chose Network Marketing. I found a great company that was in the DSA (Direct selling Association) who regulates MLM and direct sales companies. I wanted to be in something that was legitimate so I did my due diligence first. The company was great and the products even better, but as it was a health based company I found it hard work to talk to people about health as most people think they know best. I did make some money but in the end i ran out of steam and got tired of the rejections.
Then I got fascinated with the leverage of the internet. And Affiliate marketing seemed a good option. I enrolled in a course that set me back $3,000 when everything was said and done. The learning curve was massive with websites,WordPress, blogging, and SEO etc.. In the end fatigue, life and lack of time got the better of me and I stopped paying the monthly ‘membership fee’. This was an expensive lesson indeed. I started freelancing also but found that the time for money ratio was not really a fair trade either. Fast forward a few years, several courses later and approximately $5,000 in course fees, I finally found the course that actually worked. And the irony is that it cost me only $100. I am now slowly on my way to earn a living on this space. I have spent almost five years searching, studying and trying various things, kissed many frogs so to say. But in the end it was worth it!
The real transformation
The real transformation though is what I have learned in the process, and that includes all my mistakes. I never gave up on my goal, I could not, it owned me. My true goal is to help others find their freedom and secure their financial path for when they meet their ‘golden years’ too. I also trained to become an NLP (neuro linguistics programming) coach, for the purpose of helping others realize and grow their own dreams.
In the end, entrepreneurship is really more about what you become than what you get financially. I am now looking forward to grow my business and focus more on coaching and teaching others, which is really where my joy is more.
If you have a dream, go after it! Life wont wait for you..
