A part of all you earn is yours to keep, and if you cannot save money, the seeds of greatness are not in you.

A part of all you earn is yours to keep, and if you cannot save money, the seeds of greatness are not in you.

—W. CLEMENT STONE

RESOLVE TODAY THAT you are going to save and invest at least 10 percent of your income throughout your working life. Take 10 percent of your income off the top of your paycheck each time you receive one and put it into a special account for financial accumula- tion. The fact is that if you save just $100 per month throughout your working lifetime and you invest that money in an average mutual fund that grows at 10 per- cent per annum, you will be worth more than one mil- lion dollars by the time you retire. This means that anyone, even a person earning minimum wage, if he or she starts early enough and saves long enough, can become a millionaire over the course of his or her working lifetime.

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Developing the lifelong habit of saving and invest- ing your money is not easy. It requires tremendous determination and willpower. You have to set it as a goal, write it down, make a plan, and work on it all the time. But once this practice locks in and becomes au- tomatic, your financial success is virtually assured.

Practice frugality, frugality, frugality in all things. Be very careful with every penny. Question every ex- penditure. Delay or defer every important buying de- cision for at least a week, if not a month. The longer you put off making a buying decision, the better your decision will be and the better price you will get at that time.

A major reason that people retire poor is because of impulse buying. They see something they like and they buy it with very little thought. They become vic- tims of what is called “Parkinson’s Law,” which says that “expenses rise to meet income.” This means that no matter how much you earn, you tend to spend that much and a little bit more besides. You never get ahead and you never get out of debt.

But you don’t have to be a victim of Parkinson’s Law. If you cannot save 10 percent of your income, start today by saving 1 percent of your income in a special savings and investment account. Put it away at the beginning of each month, even before you begin paying down your debts. Live on the other 99 percent of your income. As you become comfortable living on

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99 percent, raise your savings level to 2 percent of your income, then 3 percent and 4 percent, and so on. Within one year, you will be saving 10 percent and maybe even 15 percent or 20 percent of your income and living comfortably on the balance. At the same time, your savings and investment account will start to grow. You will become more careful about your ex- penditures, and your debts will begin to be paid off. Within a year or two, your entire financial life will be under your control and you will be on your way to be- coming a self-made millionaire. This process has worked for everyone who has ever tried it. Try it and see for yourself.

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ACTION EXERCISE

Open a special account for financial accumulation today. Make a deposit in this account, no matter how small. Then, look for every opportunity to add to this account. Begin to study money so that you understand how to make it grow. Read books and maga- zines by experts on the subject. Never stop saving, learning, and growing until you become financially inde- pendent. 

Dream big dreams; only big dreams have the power to move men’s souls. —MARCUS AURELIUS

Dream big dreams; only big dreams have the power to move men’s souls.

—MARCUS AURELIUS

THE FIRST SECRET of self-made millionaires is simple: Dream Big Dreams! Allow yourself to dream. Allow yourself to imagine and fantasize about the kind of life you would like to live. Think about the amount of money you would like to earn and have in your bank account.

All great men and women begin with a dream of something wonderful and different from what they have today. You know the song that says “You have to have a dream if you want to make a dream come true.” It’s true for you and for everyone else, as well.

Imagine that you have no limitations on what you can be, have, or do in life. Just for the moment,

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imagine that you have all the time, all the money, all the education, all the experience, all the friends, all the contacts, all the resources, and everything else you need to achieve anything you want in life. If your potential were completely unlimited, what kind of a life would you want to create for yourself and your family?

Practice “back from the future” thinking. This is a powerful technique practiced continually by high- performing men and women. This way of thinking has an amazing effect on your mind and on your be- havior. Here is how it works: Project yourself forward five years. Imagine that five years have passed and that your life is now perfect in every respect. What does it look like? What are you doing? Where are you working? How much money are you earning? How much do you have in the bank? What kind of a lifestyle do you have?

Create a vision for yourself for the long-term fu- ture. The more clear your vision of health, happiness, and prosperity, the faster you move toward it and the faster it moves toward you. When you create a clear mental picture of where you are going in life, you be- come more positive, more motivated, and more deter- mined to make it a reality. You trigger your natural creativity and come up with idea after idea to help make your vision come true.

You always tend to move in the direction of your dominant dreams, images, and visions. The very act of

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allowing yourself to dream big dreams actually raises your self-esteem and causes you to like and respect yourself more. It improves your self-concept and in- creases your level of self-confidence. It increases your personal level of self-respect and happiness. There is something about dreams and visions that is exciting and that stimulates you to do and be better than you ever have before.

Here is a great question for you to ask and answer, over and over again: What one thing would I dare to dream if I knew I could not fail?

If you were absolutely guaranteed of success in any one goal in life, large or small, short-term or long- term, what would it be? What one great goal would you dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?

Whatever it is, write it down and begin imagining that you have achieved this one great goal already. Then, look back to where you are today. What would you have done to get where you want to go? What steps would you have taken? What would you have changed in your life? What would you have started up or abandoned? Who would you be with? Who would you no longer be with? If your life were perfect in every respect, what would it look like? Whatever it is that you would do differently, take the first step today.

Dreaming big dreams is the starting point of achieving your goal of financial independence. The number one reason that people never succeed finan- cially is because it never occurs to them that they can

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do it. As a result, they never try. They never get started. They continue to go around in financial cir- cles, spending everything they earn and a little bit more besides. But when you begin to dream big dreams about financial success, you begin to change the way you see yourself and your life. You begin to do different things, bit by bit, gradually, until the whole direction of your life changes for the better. Dreaming big dreams is the starting point of financial success and of becoming a self-made millionaire.

ACTION EXERCISE

Make a list of everything you would do or attempt if you were absolutely guaranteed of success. Then decide upon one specific action and do it im- mediately.