The title should really be The Day You Become Wealthy. After all, there is a big difference between being rich and being wealthy. 

Being rich means you need ongoing income to pay for your lifestyle. A lot of people want to be rich. They want the bling and the excitement of a rich lifestyle. However, that exuberant lifestyle may require so much cash to finance it that you don’t really have much in the way of net worth. Once you run out of cash, guess what? You’re broke. 

So this blog is about becoming wealthy. What’s the difference? Being wealthy means you have the financial capability to maintain your independence. Being wealthy starts as a mindset that then leans into your everyday actions. Therefore you don’t have to be rich to be wealthy. 

Working in the construction industry can definitely allow you to become wealthy, provided that you set out to become so. The industry pays well. Plus you learn how to build something of value. So one road to wealth is building for yourself, such as owning income and commercial properties. If you did one of those projects a year for several years, you’d be wealthy. 

Yet, there are other avenues to becoming wealthy by being in the construction industry. While the industry can provide a good living wage, that’s not going to make you wealthy. Unless, unless you intentionally decide on a deeper strategy that requires nothing more than utilizing your two hands and what's between your ears everyday. 

So, the day you become wealthy is the day where you make the decision to invest in your future self. 

That decision is completely up to you. That’s a powerful day. That’s a day where you set some things in motion that will ultimately give you many options in life. Options are strength. Here’s what I mean…

The other day I overheard a couple of young people wondering if they would ever be able to retire. I wasn’t in a place where I could say anything, but I was thinking that possible outcome is entirely up to them. They might not think so, but with the benefit of perspective, I can say that it is.

When you’re young, you often think that retirement is a long, long way away. That saving for it is something you’ll do later in life when you can afford it more. That you’re barely getting by now, just starting out, paying for groceries, rent, gas, utilities, coffee, kids, tattoos and a night out. So you’re living paycheck to paycheck. 

Before you know it, you’re in your 30s and there’s still no personal retirement fund started. Your company may have a 401K or the union you belong to may have a pension. But what I’m talking about is your own personal investment account that is 100% yours, that’s in addition to these other sources of wealth.

Life goes on. You hit your 40s, and even though you’re making more money, your expenses have increased so that you’re still not putting much away for your personal investment account. You’re making your house payment, but with everything else on top of that, you’re always scrambling to make ends meet.

Then one day you finally realize that you’re fed up with always scrambling. You decide to change things. You open an investment account at Schwab or Fidelity or Vanguard. 

Then you talk to whoever handles the payroll in your company. You ask them to deduct 10% of your check and put it into your investment account, direct deposit, so that you don’t ever get your hands on it. 

If you happen to get bonuses or own a company that you get draws and dividends from, the same principle applies. Ten percent of whatever you make goes into your personal investment account. Those investments need to be something other than your business. While your business is an important investment, you'll want to diversify. 

So after you have that conversation with the controller of the company, you go home and announce to your significant other your decision to do this. 

You watch their face drop as they say, “What! How are we going to pay our bills?” 

And you say, “Well, we can’t pay them now, so what the hell is the difference? We’ll figure it out.”

And you do. You still manage to pay your bills. Somehow that missing 10%... well you adapt and adjust and still pay your living expenses. 

In Year 1, that investment account doesn’t add up to much. Same thing in Year 2. Keep the faith. Be determined. Wealth is a mindset. 

By Year 7, the investment account is starting to become sizeable. Before you know it, Year 25 has arrived and there’s a significant sum of money in your investment account. All because you made the decision to pay yourself first by investing in your future self.

Now, if you start doing this in your 20s, rather than your 40s, the difference in your investment account is staggering. Why? Because of compound interest. Your investments are earning interest on interest. The sooner you start earning interest, the more you compound interest as time goes by. 

With the increase in funds in your investment account, you become more interested in finances and how it’s doing. So you manage your investment account when you’re in your 50s and 60s. Then you realize one day that you are in fact wealthy. It happened over the course of a lifetime because you set it up to happen. 

You developed the mindset of being wealthy by paying your future self first. In the meantime, you still enjoyed life. You raised your family. You still managed to take vacations. Yet, you arrived at that point where you’re financially capable of maintaining your independence because of prudent planning and discipline.  Congratulations! You’re wealthy. 

It all goes back to that day you made that decision that 10% of whatever you made, whether it was one dollar or a thousand, went into your personal investment account. 

Make that decision. Invest in your future self. You’ll never regret it.

Here’s to your success!