Financial literacy is not taught in school. I graduated
college without anyone teaching me about budget, getting rid of debt, savings
and investing. That’s why whenever I have an opportunity to educate myself
about personal finance, I’m sure to be there. Seminars, lectures, books,
videos, even pamphlets, I’ll grab it. In fact, my first financial lesson came
from a Citibank flyer. Since then, I keep educating myself whenever I have a
chance.
One of the best books on financial literacy for me, is
Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. This is a very old book, published in 1937
but I can say it is the king of all the books on personal finance. It had sold more than 100 million copies worldwide
and is listed in John Maxwell’s a Lifetime Must Read Book List. I thought I
would share with you Napoleon Hill’s method for turning your financial desires
to financial equivalent. This will help you set your financial goals and make
it a reality. Let’s begin.
FIX YOUR MIND TO THE EXACT AMOUNT YOU WANT
Napoleon Hill says, it’s not enough to say, I want plenty of
money. You have to be exact on this. Without a definite amount, you can’t set a
definite plan. Goals should be measurable. You’ll never know if you are achieving
it or not if you don’t have a target amount. How much is rich for you? For
some, 1 million dollars is enough, to some its 20 million. Do the Math and be
clear to yourself how much is your target financial goal.
DETERMINE EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT TO DO IN RETURN
There is no such thing as something for nothing. You must
give something in return. People love thinking about having money, but not on
what he intends to do to earn it. Know what is your goose that laid the golden eggs. Do you have a product to sell? Is
it your skills or profession? Is it your talent? You have to be exact about it.
When you find it, nurture it, improve it and take care of it. If it’s a
product, keep on innovating. If it’s your skills or profession, keep on adding
value to yourself by continuing education and practice. If it’s your talent,
keep on improving.
ESTABLISH A DEFINITE DATE
It is important that your goal is time bound. When do you
plan to retire? Five, ten, fifteen years from now? You have to think about this
carefully. I remember, there was a point in my life, I said I want to retire
five years from now. Too ambitious but why not, I told myself. But the reason
behind this timeline is the article I’ve read about a lady who did it. When I
came to my senses, I realized that by then, my son is just seven years old, he’s
just starting in elementary school and who knows, since I’m praying for more children,
I may have a toddler or two by then. Lesson learned, don’t just copy other’s
goals. Take time to think through it.
Personally, one of the best ways to plan the definite date
is to create a time line. In a piece of paper, number it from 1 to 10, each
number represents a year. Next to it, write
down your age, adding 1 year as the year goes. So if you are 30 years old by
the year 1, then you are 40 years old by the year 10. If you have a partner and kids, write down their
age too. Now, write down life milestones. An example is my story above, by year
5 my son will be 7 years old and might be entering elementary school. This will
incur additional cost for our family, so I have to plan about it. Same goes
when he goes to college. With this, you can totally see your timeline and
decide your dates for retirement.
CREATE A DEFINITE PLAN
Now that you have an exact amount in mind, you know what to
give to achieve it and you have a timeline in place, it’s time to create a plan.
This will take a lot of planning, but since you have decided on the important
things, you can definitely create this one. What’s important is to begin at
once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.
WRITE OUR CLEAR AND CONCISE STATEMENT OF YOUR GOAL
Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount you
intend to gain, name the time limit to achieve it, state what you intend to
give in return and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate
it.
READ IT TWICE DAILY
Read it first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
Napoleon Hill suggested to read it aloud and as you read – see and feel and
believe yourself already in possession of the money.
These steps are
nothing without Faith. I love when he said that Faith is the starting point of
all accumulation of riches. All thoughts which have been emotionalized and mixed
with Faith, begin immediately to translate themselves into their physical
equivalent.
- 6:00:00 AM
- 0 Comments
