Beginner's beginners guide #2- Personal finance.

[Account Closed]

1. If you are like me... You do not have a high paying job. You earn just enough, barely or not even close to "making ends meet." 

You spend 1/3 of your life or more wasting at a job you dislike for pay that struggles to keep you afloat while the higher ups never appreciate all you do and become seldomnly seen around holidays/ New Years as to avoid employee paid time off, bonuses and raises. You miss time for life, family and friends. You feel lost, hopeless and have no idea how you're going to survive this let alone how to even begin breaking yourself free to engage your dream of real estate.

There is a way.

Even if you are a minimum wage janitor you can position yourself to be better able to save money on the side for investing and to improve your income.

First things first. Make two lists. On one list label all the necessaries, utilities, rent, fuel, food, phone bill etc. And on the other any non essential expenditures like take out, booze, movies, nic-nacks, etc.

Now add up all your necessaries for a month and subtract your actual take home pay for a month from the necessities. What's left ( if any ) you should put into savings.

It won't be easy due to the bad habits you may have developed money wise over the years, so don't get discourage when you relapse and spend it all at the bar one night. Try again and again and again. Make your savings a holy relic that cannot be touched.

The best way is to open a bank account. That way you don't have instant easy access to the funds when you get a persuasive impulse to spend it.

It's not gonna be fun at first as you'll have to sacrifice some, but as you notice the number increasing you will begin to experience hope and joy and a renewed sense of drive that will push you to better position yourself.

Rent too high? Try to find a smaller more affordable place. 

Utilities too high? Do you really need that supra hd flux capacitor light speed internet?

Cell phone too high? Honestly you can get by just as fine with a 30-40$ a month prepaid plan. I pay 1/10 of what my peers do and yet have the same services.

Food too costly? Keep an eye out on specials, bogos, and discount. Plan meals around those.

Position yourself below your means to better increase your savings potential, strategize, maybe even try to find a higher paying job, even slightly increases your savings potential.

 Don't be trapped into paralysis by your current financial affairs. Instead free yourself from yourself.

A great read to help you with this is "The Richest man in Babylon." - George S. Clason. 

It's a short read but very powerful in opening your eyes into focusing on the financial situation that you are in and how to begin the journey to the situation you wish best to be in.

[P.J. Bremner]

@Account Closed

Great post, I couldn't agree more!  If you can manage your life like a business (watching every penny) then you will do well once you actually have a business and much larger cash flows.

I also would like to inject my 2-cents on something.  One of the easiest areas to target is expenses because they are all IMMEDIATELY in our control.  What I mean by that is, we can, in an instant, stop spending money on most things (assuming you have not been financially reckless and racked up tons of debt).  If you can manage your cash with a $1,500 / month salary (I lived in the bay area on this salary for about 8 months and was still able to save a couple hundred per month) then you will be well suited when you start making six figures.

To that note, you can only learn so much by cutting your expenses and learning delayed gratification.  My personal advice for anyone looking to get into business, regardless of what sector but ESPECIALLY real estate, GO GET A JOB IN SALES!!!!!  You may hate life, you might struggle, you could even make less money in the beginning, but hear me out on this.  Sales has 0 cap to income potential and the transition from a sales job to a business owner working for yourself is THE EASIEST TRANSITION you could have.  Commissioned jobs are rarely stable when it comes to income and teach you how to manage your cash much more wisely.  Sales skill is hands-down the most important business skill you can be proficient in because they transfer to ANY business, ANY industry, etc.  If you can get into sales management, even better!

My first year out of college, I sold cars and made just over $100k.  The next year I made management and made even more, learned everything I could about business, advertising, sales, management, etc. and built my own real estate business on the side.  More important than the money was the skills I learned.  Go get a job in sales, but make sure you commit to learning it and commit to the grind!