Invest in yourself more than you invest in designer accessories
Some millionaires and billionaires send home workers just to save a nickel. If you were to apply this mentality to the way you invest and spend money, you just might be able to retire at 30. You would also realize that the 9-to-5 way of living is not all that secure. Therefore you would choose to move away from the traditional office work jobs and start your own business. But, entrepreneurship is only the tip of the iceberg when trying to avoid the hamster wheel, modern day slave lifestyle. Aside from, not chasing your dreams there is one other thing that is just as fast in making you a modern day slave.
Your Beliefs
The Car
You may still hold dear the ideologies of the car and the house. The first thing wrong with this ideology is the order – the car before the house. You can’t live comfortably in your car. When planning your finances never make the mistake of considering a car as an asset. A car in its truest sense is a liability to your budget. The value of a car not only depreciates as soon as you drive out of the car sales mart, but it requires gas and maintenance more so than a house.
The House
Many times, the mortgage is better than the option of renting. At the end of all those loan payments, you will own the house, that’s not the case with renting. This, however, is a very touchy area as the reasons why persons prefer renting vary greatly. Whether you rent or mortgage, choose a place that is comfortable and suitable for living but is not too pricey. You do not want to be spending money unnecessarily when you could be saving it.
The Joneses
The idea of having something because everyone else has it. This most of all will ensure that you stay a modern day slave to the workforce and the bank. Living like this will cause your budget not to add up, but also cause you to run up your credit card bill. Debt affects your credit score and your ability to save for retirement. You, therefore, should always choose to live within your means.
Your smartphone is a prime example of this phenomenon. Often, you hear persons say they worked overtime to buy a gadget or a pair of sneakers or something. But, how often do you hear someone say they worked overtime to pay off their student loan or their credit card debt. The part that is hardest to understand is that sometimes they have a fully functional, unscratched-year-old model but opt for a $600 new phone or a $150 phone upgrade. When you do things like this, you end up at the end of the month asking “where did all the money in my account go?”. The other famous question is “what do I have to show for all the money I just spent” when you see your friends owning their own car, house or business.
Be a Slave no more…..
Many biographies and autobiographies of people who escaped modern slavery and went on to earn millions all have one thing in common. They all said they had to change their mindset and develop qualities such as determination, positivity, dedication, focus, drive and passion to seeing their way out of the 9-to-5 and off the hamster wheel of just working to pay bills to owning their businesses and several cars and homes.
Source: The Fastest Way to be a Modern Day Slave: Not Chasing Your Dreams
