Becoming Wealthy at a Young Age

So you want to live the American Dream, your looking for a way of becoming wealthy at a young age, well good for you, because if your doing the research, your off to a better start than most people. Most young people would rather play video games, hang out with friends, and go to parties, than to do what it takes to become wealthy at a young age. Let’s take a quick look what this actually means.

Definition

What does “Becoming Wealthy at a Young Age” actually mean? First, we need to think about and define wealthy, because defining and setting your goal, is the first step to being able to achieve your goal.

Taking individual desires to be wealthy into account, lets begin by defining wealth, because my definition of wealth might be differently than how you define it. Wealth, being a relative term, in the mind of the individual, is what you consider it to be for you, it’s not some pre-defined dollar amount set by some government or scientific organization. Wealth, by your definition, may be defined as having a million dollar net worth, or possibly having a specific dollar amount in the bank. To me, being wealthy means having enough money to be able to live off my investments, giving me the option to live my current lifestyle without the need to earn a living but working for someone else. With that in mind, take some time, and think about how you define being wealthy, which should be the goal you want to achieve.

Mindset

Becoming wealthy at a young age, requires you to have a certain type of mindset. It takes dedication and hard work to become a self made millionaire, and let’s face it, that’s what we are really talking about, becoming wealthy on your own, not from a rich relative leaving you a small fortune in their will. If you want to become wealthy at a young age, that goal needs to be a high priority in your life, which takes dedication and discipline to continuously work to achieve your goal until you have reached it, becoming successful and wealthy, as you have defined it. If I was going to sum it up in one word, that word would be perseverance.

Work Hard

If being wealthy was easy, then everyone would be wealthy, but in actuality, it takes lots of hard work. You need to start somewhere, to know your business, and that usually means that you are going to start out working for someone else, learning a particular skill, doing what it takes to be the best, going to work early, leaving late, and collecting a pay check, all while making money for someone else, in order for them to be wealthy from your efforts.

One thing that you should consider, as long as you have the opportunity, is start working for yourself as soon as you can. Maybe you start mowing lawns at the age of 12, or walk the neighbors dogs at the age of 14, or even baby sitting at the age of 16. The purpose is to start out young, make some money, and start learning what it takes to work for yourself, and hopefully learn something about the work, the business, that you will use to build your wealth.

Save Often

The earlier you start working and saving your money the better, because you are most likely going to need the money sooner or later, for investing into your, get rich quick, business. The trick to saving money is to spend as little money as you need too, and save as much as you can, “spend little , save a lot”. Don’t give into the temptations of having all the best high tech gadgets, biggest TV, or nicest car, the latest fashions, all that stuff can come later, once you’ve created your wealth. For now, you need to start saving your money for the future venture.

Option 1: Start Your Own Business (Potential for Fast Growth / High Risk)

There are several potential ways for you to become wealthy, all which require the necessary talent, such as invent a product, become a famous writer, or even start your own business. Starting your own business, which is most peoples dream, requires the right type of person, in-depth knowledge in that particular business, and usually a good amount of capital to get started. Depending on the business, you might only need a few hundred dollars, or maybe a few hundred thousand dollars.

Owning your own business can take a lot of hard work, usually being the first one at work and the last one to leave at night, as well as putting in extra time in the evenings and weekends. Any good business person must know the operations, competition, marketing, sales, and profitability of the business they are considering to establish. As I said, you need to know your business, and be willing to take risk, as the right or wrong move, can either make or break a business even before you even get off the ground.

Option 2: Mutual Funds (Slow Growth / Low Risk)

Another option to become wealthy, which I prefer, and reduces your risk, is to become wealthy slowly. While everyone wants to get rich quick, there’s always the option to get rich slowly by properly investing the money you earn, and watch it build over time creating you with a comfortable and early retirement. You might not have that net worth of over a million dollars by the time you turn 25, however if properly managed, there is no reason you can’t have a comfortable retirement before you reach 60 years of age.