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Who you partner up with/marry is important. Not in the sense of marrying into wealth (although that's a shortcut to becoming wealthy), but having a partner/spouse whose skills, attitude and outlook work well to further your mutual wealth. In my case, I was very lucky to come from a middle class family, got a great education, lucky enough to choose a double degree (law + accounting) that opened a lot of doors. So, I lucked into a great foundation to build from. What helped me greatly to take that foundation and then build wealth that exceeds my parents' was, in large part, my wife's skills and attitude. Key factors: 1. Education + intelligence + earning ability + professional drive + versatile employability. She is a smart lady with three degrees, was able to start life as a lawyer and then become a banker. This meant not only was she bringing in substantial income, but she was also very able to open doors for herself and advance her career in a parallel professional and geographic directions to my career. In particular, we were both able to get jobs that pay well and are interesting at the same time in across three different countries. We were very lucky that this meant we have always been fairly aligned in terms of where we wanted to chase opportunities, with no cases of one person wanting to change countries that offered no prospects to the other. As our careers are similar, we can also discuss work, relate to each other and learn from each other's experience in ways that improve our income generation. 2. Not materialistic. My wife and I both have fairly spartan tastes, other than buying lots of books. That means we're both well aligned when it comes to avoiding unnecessary spending on materialistic urges eg no constant need to spend money chasing bigger/better consumer goods. That saves a lot of financial wastage. It also means that neither of us pin our happiness on spending money and the amount of 0's behind the $. Money goes to building wealth. We've never bought a TV, but we do have 6 properties with no mortgages, all self-funded. 3. Keeping materialistic friends at a distance. Neither my wife nor I have close friends who are materialistic, which means we don't feel as much peer pressure to spend, don't get invited out to social events that are directly or indirectly focused on spending etc. We'll go out with friends to great restaurants, but the "greatness" of the evening is validated by how good the food actually is (which is often not tied to the price) and the quality of the company/conversation. I've met people who can only validate how good something is by how much it cost, which is a ticket to exhausting your wallet on consumerism. 4. Great cook. My family was not highly skilled at cooking and it was always a chore. My wife loves cooking and is a great cook. She taught me how to cook, how to enjoy cooking and that you can easily cook something that equals or exceeds what you'd get in a restaurant. This saves a tonne of money and also makes us happier. 5. No children. My wife has no interest in children or having them. While I was predisposed to having kids, I've come around to her way of thinking. It also means that we don't face the huge financial drain of paying for kids or the temporary loss of my wife's income generation. Those are a few of the factors. Some are great compliments making up for my shortcomings (eg 4), while others are similarities that reinforce and strengthen behaviour that improves income generation and wealth (eg 1, 2 and 3).
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Dec 25, 2016 21:25
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 09:02 |
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LogisticEarth posted:To be fair though, having and raising children is an end goal in life that is way, way more important for most people than dog ownership or hobbies. It's not really comparable. Not perpetuating your genes is a form of nirvana. Embrace total oblivion.
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Dec 27, 2016 05:29
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