Your Wealth Blueprint
So you want to be rich, well off, rolling in it, wealthy beyond belief?
Everyone knows that money doesn’t buy happiness but it certainly helps make life easier.
Okay, I’m curious. What do you mean by rich, and what does it look to you?
Think about it for a second, do you have a beautiful waterfront property? Is that your boat down there? No, not that one the big one next to it, with the cute deckhand 🙂 What kind of car do you drive? I bet it’s fabulous.
Perhaps to you being rich means financial freedom, being able to pay all your bills without a worry, having fresh organic vegetables and fruit delivered every week and sending your children to private schools without a single thought about the cost?
Do you still work now you are ‘well off’?
Alright you get the idea.
I think a lot of people want to be wealthy but what that life actually looks like is something they haven’t necessarily thought a lot about.
Take a minute and get out a piece of paper. Write out what a perfect day in your wealthy babe life looks like.
It’s really powerful to visualise your goals and to see and feel them as if they are already true.
What Does Being Wealthy Look Like for You?
Next question for you – how much is enough for you to class yourself as wealthy?
If you had $300,000 in your bank account would that be enough? What about $2m? Would that do you?
Getting clear on your amount also enables you to plan more effectively. You can reverse engineer your entire financial plan once you are crystal clear on your amount that decides you’re officially wealthy.
For example having $600,000 invested and returning 5% would give you an income of approximately $30,000 per year in today’s dollars if you don’t reinvest it and assuming you don’t touch the capital.
That’s being ultra conservative.
Assuming you have paid off your home and have an updated car at that point, could you live on that amount? You’d still be able to work part time to top it up if you need to. That’s one idea.
Thinking it through and seeing how much capital you need that will afford you the lifestyle you want is the important part.
Then you can start working towards it.
At the end of the day it is entirely up to you. You are the one in control.
Decide on your freedom figure now and start taking action today.
The following 5 steps will get your financial foundation nice and solid and set you up to succeed.
5 Steps to Building a Wealthy Empowered Life!
Now you’ve got a taste of what being rich is going to be like, so how are you going to get there?
Here are 5 things you can do right now that will dramatically move you forwards to becoming financially free.
Decide to be Wealthy and Plan for it
Like going on a road trip you can’t reach your destination if you’ve got no idea where you are heading and no plan to get there.
That’s why goal setting is so important just make sure it’s a S.M.A.R.T goal.
Specific – Get down into the details of what your goal is. Detail exactly what you are going to do.
Measurable – Can you measure your progress and success with this goal? How do you know when you’ve got there?
Achievable – Is it actually possible? It’s great to aim for the stars but is the goal achievable given your current starting point? What steps are you going to take to get there?
Realistic – Are you willing and able to put the time aside to make this happen? Is it realistic given your other commitments and available resources?
Timely – When will you know you have achieved this goal? What’s the due date?
Write down your S.M.A.R.T goals and lock in your due date.
Get Out of Debt So You Can Be Wealthy
If you have credit card/ personal debt or a car loan they have to go first so you can start saving with a clean slate.
Write all your debts out along with their interest rates.
- Start with the debt that has the highest interest rate first
- Calculate the maximum amount of money you can pay off it per pay
- Focus solely on this until it is zero and then repeat with any other outstanding debts
- Reward yourself with a treat for finally being debt free
Once you are debt free you will have already established the habit of living within your means. So the next step will be easy!
Do a Budget to Reduce Waste and Build Wealth
Now budget to me is a word I associate with being deprived – it’s kind of like a financial diet, boo to that I say! I prefer to use the term ‘spending plan’ as that’s more suited to how I operate.
I choose where to spend my money according to my priorities and don’t randomly spend money on things impulsively that I regret soon after.
In order to do this decide on how much per week you want to save and set up an auto payday transfer. Make this go to an online bank account that’s a different one to your everyday bank so the amount is whisked away before you even see it. Genius I know.
Because it’s not in your face every day you’ll almost forget about it, so you won’t be tempted to spend it.
The amount you want to save each week depends on how fiercely you want to achieve financial freedom.
I’d say minimum 10% of your take home pay to start off with and then adjust from there, it’s more about the system than the amount. The habit of saving, paying yourself first and keeping it out of sight will make the biggest difference to your future wealth.
If you are anything like me the easier the system and the less you need to be involved the higher the chance is it will work for you.
I like my savings on autopilot it’s just how I roll.
Boost Your Savings and Grow Wealth
There’s only so much you can save on your current income and if you’re anything like me you’re not very patient when it comes to wanting to be rich.
Therefore there are two choices for you lovely:
- Earn more
- Save more
Earn More
Earning more can be taking extra overtime, getting a casual job or even starting a side gig.
It’s pretty full on but so very rewarding to be able to smash your debt or to really put a rocket under that savings account.
When I was young I had a full time job and a part time job at the same time, yeah yuk! I lived on my part time income (I was in a share house) and had enough money for a second hand car in only a few months.
How I juggled two jobs with no car is beyond me but I wanted wheels! Bad.
You can really achieve anything when you put your mind to it.
Save More
In order to save more the cutting of expenses is required sadly.
This is where you decide if you’re going to cut lattes and take your lunch to work.
if you don’t want to do that you’ve got options, you just have to get creative!
A few ideas to get you started…
Extend the time between haircuts
If you can stand going 8 weeks instead of your usual 6 weeks means you save just under 3 haircuts per year.
If you colour your hair then a half head of foils and a cut is about $200 a time. This means you’d save nearly $600 a year.
If you’re hardcore you can go the extra step and DIY if you’re game. I’ve tried DIY colour and it cheap but for the hassle and the amount of greys I’ve got, I need a professional these days!
Another option is your local hairdressing school. While the students are learning they are very carefully supervised and you usually only pay for the products. You can get beauty treatments too!
Review your grocery shopping
Food spending is the quickest and easiest place to cut the budget.
If you’re in a pinch you can go a few weeks with basic meals to save some big money. Think fried rice, chicken and salad, sausages and veggies etc.
Being organised by meal planning and not eating out has a really big impact on your savings and you can save loads.
Use the 24hr rule
If an item costs over $100 give it 24 hrs to see if you want it enough to go back for it.
Generally when the time comes you’ll find you’ve changed your mind and your willpower has kicked in.
If you haven’t changed your mind in 24 hrs, then just get it. You must really want it!
Only carry cash
Handing over cold hard cash is harder than just tapping your card. Merchants know this, which is why they offer it to make it easy for them to get their hands on your money.
Only carry enough cash for what you need.
If you have to go home to get your card it gives you time to think about it and give your willpower time to kick in again.
Make Building Wealth Fun
I’m very competitive so making it a game with myself to see how much I can save works really well for me.
Sad aren’t I haha! But it works!
I set my goals every month to check in and see how I’m going.
I try and put extra in so I can get to my goal even sooner and I love calculating how much time I’ve saved and setting my new ‘retirement’ date.
Each year I calculate my Net Wealth and celebrate how far I’ve come in the past 12 months.
Net Wealth is your total amount of all your Assets less any Debts at a certain point in time. I add mine up on the 31st December.
As long as this is moving forward each year I’m a happy camper. It’s very encouraging to see how far you can come in only 12 months.
When you have been tracking your numbers for a few years in a row is where it gets really exciting.
I made a handy Net Wealth Calculation Sheet for you to use. You can download your copy
So there you have it 5 ways to get you set up to live a wealthy abundant life!
Here they are again:
- Decide and Plan for Wealth
- Pay off Debts
- Prepare a Budget to Build Wealth
- Boost your Savings
- Track your progress
Saving the best one for last of all celebrate your success! Once you’ve reached your goal make sure you enjoy it.
After all you’ve worked so very hard for it. You deserve it.
Ps Don’t forget to send me a photo of you on the new boat with your deckhand 🙂 .
Did you find this helpful? What does your ultimate wealthy life look like?
Let us know in the comments below.