Three books that changed my financial future
When I was 19 years old, I wrote out my life goals. This was a requirement by the fraternity I joined my freshman year while at Purdue University. I had no idea how significant that simple exercise would become. I had never been exposed to actually writing goals down. Something changes when you write a goal down. One of these goals was to become a millionaire by age 30. Of course at 19, this was really a dream more than a goal. I had no plan or idea how this would happen but it didn't matter to me at the time. At age 25, after working for a couple years as an engineer in the real world making about $35K at the time (1995), I realized I had to do something as my simple 401k at work was not going to make me a millionaire by 30. The internet was in its infancy at the time (basically AOL via modem). I met an entrepreneur online and shared my goals with him. He agreed he would give me guidance BUT he demanded I read a book first. I found this odd and had reluctance as I was never an avid reader. The book was called "Awaken The Giant Within" by Tony Robbins. Once I began reading the book, I couldn't put it down. That book changed the trajectory of my life on many levels, not just financial. However, to achieve our financial goals we must have our entire life in check - balance. After gaining so much from that book, I became a reader of non-fiction self-help type books. I read many books after that but two books really had major impact on my financial journey. The first was "The Millionaire Next Door". It was eye opening. It shattered all perceptions I had of real millionaires. Ordinary people. The habits they had. Their frugal lifestyles. It really created the belief I could achieve this goal. The other book that impacted me was a book that's not well known. It's called "The Five Rituals of Wealth" by Tod Barnhart. Chapter one is the first ritual. This concept is really what allowed me to reach my financial goals. It's called "Pay Yourself First". The concept is that you save/invest a portion of your income/paycheck at the beginning of the month before life takes your money. The principle is that you will adapt and figure out how to make it through the month financially when the money runs out, which happened to me often over the years. It creates a forced discipline. When people ask me for advice on achieving their financial goals, I direct them toward these 3 books. I read them in that order: Awaken the Giant Within, The Millionaire Next Door, The Five Rituals of Wealth. The first one created focus, the 2nd one created belief, and the third one showed me how. The most important key to all this is that I took ACTION. After learning about the Pay Yourself First concept, I immediatrley opened a mutual fund account online and set up so that it would automatically withdraw a set amount of dollars each month at the beginning of the month. Back then it wasn't a lot but it was a stretch and more importantly it was a start. That's the most important thing about any goal you have, be in the game. You don't achieve anything sitting on the sidelines.
