EXPLORING THE 9-STEP STRATEGIES FOR WEALTH CREATION (PART 1)
Bamidele Adewole, the CEO of PWAN Stars, in his fast-selling book, titled “The Smart Investor” shared Nine tested and trusted steps for creating lasting wealth in the 21st Century. He wrote that “One surest way to create wealth, as you must have learnt by now, is to create value. The more value you are able to offer, the wealthier you are likely to get.”
However, he argued that “Creating values through products and services is not the only sure path to wealth. Another way to create wealth, closely related to the first is through the growth of assets. “Assets acquired and built over the years often increase an individual’s wealth.”
He then shared 9 steps to build upon these strategies for wealth creation. For the next three weeks, I will share the strategies with you.
Here are the first three:
Step #1: Have a goal and a plan.
Do you want to have and grow assets? Start by writing down your goal and a clear plan to achieve it. Never acquire an asset that you ‘bumped into’, just as you must never acquire an asset on the spur of the moment. Like businesses, assets acquisition requires goal-setting and clearly defined plans. The biggest mistake you can make when trying to grow assets and wealth is to not have a written goal and plan. Without goals and a plan to support them, success will be very difficult to achieve. It is your goal and plans that give you a proper perspective to make decisions that are conducive to what you want to achieve.
Goal-setting will also greatly reduce the amount of time and effort you expend on the asset, just as it is guarantees better returns on the asset. Studies have shown that goal setting and planning are incredibly effective. So, while there are no hard and fast rules to growing your assets, your first step should always be to set financial goals and create a plan to achieve them.
Step #2: Live below your means.
In simple term, this means, spend less than you make. This is an old wisdom that continues to hold true. There is a big difference between being wealthy and appearing wealthy. When you buy things that make you look rich, when in actual fact you are not, you will never be rich. It is better to be rich and spend like a poor man than to be poor and spend like a rich man. You must decide that the freedom of being wealthy is more important than having the appearance of wealth. Cultivate a lifestyle below your income and invest your savings on assets.
Be smart with your money.
Remember, you are not impressing anybody. But you’re not most people. You can build true wealth!
Step #3: Increase your financial literacy.
Financial literacy means how well you understand your finances and how educated you are at making financial decisions, like saving money, paying bills, debt management and sound investment.
All things being equal, the more financially literate you are, the better your chances of making smart investment decisions. Your surest way of improving your investment returns is to make calculated investments, which is only possible by sound financial education. Make a conscious effort to learn how to maximally profit in any market condition.
There are many incredibly simple ways to acquire financial literacy, and some of them don’t have to take you to the classroom. They include buying, reading and digesting books on the subject, read financial magazines, attend seminars and listen to experts on the subject and take online courses.
However, it is important I state that you don’t have to wait to learn everything before you start investing! Learn enough to make some sound investment decisions and then jump in.
Some people want to become ‘experts’ before they start investing, so that they won’t make mistakes. It’s only natural to make some mistakes earlier on when there is less at stake. You can also learn a lot from these errors. Follow us on social media or contact us for more information on how to build lasting wealth.
