Debtermined

Wealth Busters

As there are no shortcuts to long-term financial success and stability, the opposite is true to wealth busters. There are several ways to lose everything in a flash or a short cut to instant failure:

1. Falling for Scams

Money that was stolen through scams in the Philippines is estimated to have reached P80 billion. It is ridiculous that people fall for a 3-5% interest per day earnings for their investment. Unbelievable! The bank can only give 1% minus taxes in their time deposits for one year.

People fall for scams for two reasons: Ignorance and Greed. Ignorance, if the scam is believed to be legit, or greed, if the scam is knowingly questionable yet the individual is blinded with money.
When entering a one-way street, a driver may be ignorant that he is going in the wrong direction or may be deliberately disobeying the traffic sign. No matter what the reason is, both are breaking the law and will be fined accordingly.

Falling for a scam carries a huge price tag – it may wipe out everything that you worked for. I too have fallen for scams in the past when I was still young. I have learned my lesson since then. Nowadays, I can smell a scam from a mile away. Many of them are now on the Internet. Be careful.

“If it sounds too good to be true, then it is too good to be true.”

Here are things to watch out for:
If earnings are 100% guaranteed.
If the interest rate you earn is too high or above the norm.
If you are being pressured to invest.
If the advertising says you can earn big money even without working.
If there is no real product or the product is overpriced.

Do not believe the hype. Do not believe the stories. Do not believe your emotions. You will earn interest from your investment but lose your principal. The earnings you will initially earn is bait, and you are fish that will be skinned to the bone.

Proverbs 13:11 says, Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.

2. Hocus Focus

“Hocus pocus” are words used by magicians who pretend to do real magic when they are doing a magic trick. Hocus Focus similarly plays a trick on one’s mind that you can get anything in life if you work harder. Successful people know this is not true.

Hocus focus is about living the mantra: “You can do anything but you can’t do everything.”
Many people have suffered not because of a lack of opportunities, but simply having, or pursuing, too many opportunities that they can handle.

Billionaire Mark Cuban of the Famous TV show Shark Tank and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, received an email from a young entrepreneur. He said, I’m a big fan and I have 6 projects right now. What is your advice to me? Cuban answered, drop the 5, focus on 1.

If you are doing a lot of things and expect to earn huge thinking all of them will add up, think again. You will only earn little from all of them combined instead of focusing all your time and resources on one thing.

When you have established a business, then that is the time you can decide to grow it even further or start another business. When you have a glass of orange juice (your business), you can decide to squeeze another orange for another glass (make it bigger) or get another fruit like mango to fill a different glass with mango juice (a different business).

3. Lack of Abilities

Opportunity comes to those who are prepared.
You want to earn? Learn.
No money? Study.
No opportunities? Grow your abilities.
Lack resilience? Get experience.
You can learn anything if you put your heart into it.

Abilities come from knowledge, wisdom, and experience. I mean, a typical graduate goes through 16 years of school and earns zero. After graduating, most will work for minimum pay.
Real education starts when you are working to make a living so continue studying and learning the ropes as much as you can. The best investment is investing in yourself. Invest in learning like books, seminars, find mentors and coaches, etc.

As the old saying goes, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

4. The Sandwich Generation

I shared this in a previous chapter. The sandwich generation is the cycle of poverty that is happening in our nation. The children are expected to provide for their parents when they start making money, and when the children become parents, they repeat the cycle, thus a sandwich generation. A never-ending cycle of poverty.

If you’re the ultimate breadwinner in the family, and your dependents include your parents, siblings, uncles, aunties, cousins, etc… then there is no way you can be financially free.

Money is relative right? The more money you have, the more relatives you have. No money, no relatives. If you ask for their help, they’ll answer, “who you?”

Every time your loved ones need something, they will ask you for money. Do it often enough and it becomes an obligation. What if an emergency happens and you lose the capacity to earn, who will take care of you and your family then? Will someone else take care of your spouse and children? I doubt it. If your loved ones really love you, they won’t put this heavy burden on your shoulders. Lastly, if you tolerate this, you will put this heavy burden on your children too.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying we should not help or support our parents, we definitely should. What I’m saying is that it should not be an obligation. It should be volitional. It is the responsibility of the parents to provide for their children and not the other way around. This is the biblical approach.

Proverbs 13:22a NIV A good man leaves an inheritance for their children’s children
It doesn’t say, good children, leave an inheritance for their parents’ parents.

5. Fear

Fear is not only mental, it is spiritual. Do not do anything out of fear. Do things out of faith. Faith is believing before seeing. The world‘s way is, to see is to believe.

You Only Live Once – YOLO – means you have to live life with reckless abandon because you only get to live once. This phrase is completely backwards. It is one of the biggest lies there is. YODO is more accurate – You Only Die Once! You don’t only live once, you live every single day of your life, and every single day should be lived to the fullest. Every day is precious and each morning you wake up is a blessing. The grace of God is new every waking moment.

Live life my friend,
Jayson Lo