Quiero compartir con mis lectores un articulo que leí y pienso que debe ser fundamental el conocer y entender para encaminarnos realmente a la independencia financiera.
Esto a mi opinión es lo que se debe enseñar en las escuelas y universidades de alrededor del mundo. ¿Porqué nos mantienen ignorantes sobre algo tan importante como esto? Los medios sabemos son complices tambien de mantenernos envueltos en un mundo de espejismos, irreal, "mucho brillo y poco contenido real"
El autor de este articulo es Adam Khoo autor de bestsellers, conferenciante, inversionista,dueño de varios negocios. El articulo esta tan claro que lo dejamos en ingles tal y como aparecio.
Before you can be truly wealthy, you must first know what wealth
really means. Again, many people think that a person's wealth is
defined by how much he earns, by the clothes he wears, by the house
he lives in and by the way he lives. We now know that this is not
at all true.
A person's wealth is actually defined by how long a period of time
he/she can sustain their lifestyle if they stop working. The longer
you can go on living your life without working another day, the
richer you actually are.
Your wealth is therefore defined by three things: 1) your monthly
expenses, 2) your liquid assets and 3) your passive income.
Your liquid assets refer to how much cash or cash equivalents (like
stocks, bonds & fixed deposits) you have to pay for your monthly
expenses.
Your passive income refers to income that you will continue to
receive even after you stop working. This could include interest,
dividends, royalties and profits from a business.
Let's look at an example. Steve is a director in a multi-national
company and earns a $20,000 monthly salary. He lives a lavish
lifestyle that results in personal and household expenses a month
of $18,000.
He hasn't really saved much over the years as he has spent any
surplus upgrading his house and car. His liquid assets are just
under $18,000. Besides his full time job, he has no other sources
of income.
What is Steve's level of wealth? Well, if he stops working today,
his $18,000 will last him for just a month. So his wealth is one
month's salary. As you can see, wealth is defined not by the
absolute amount of dollars, but by time.
On the other hand, Susan, a marketing manager in a retail store
earns a monthly salary of $5,000 a month but she is much wealthier
than Steve. How is this so?
Well, over the last 20 years, Susan has diligently saved 20% of her
income and invested it in the right stocks and mutual funds that
have given her returns of 15% per year.
Over the years, Susan's liquid assets have grown to $1.32 million
(you can verify this with a financial calculator). In addition, she
has spent her free time building up a home--based business that
sells unique collectibles over the Internet.
Her small business earns her an additional in-come of $1300 a month.
She may not drive a fancy car or wear a Cartier watch, but let's
see what her wealth is.
If Susan were to stop working today, she would still retain the
$1,300 monthly passive income that her home--based business earns
her. Since her monthly expenses total $4,000 a month (80% of her
income), she would have a net outflow of $3,700 a month.
With her $1.32 million in accumulated savings, she would be able to
survive for 30 years! (This is assuming that she does not invest
the $1.32 million she has prudently saved up!).
If Susan were to put her $1.32 million into a risk-fre.e fixed
deposit account earning interest of 4%, it would bring her an
additional interest of $52,800 per annum.
This means another source of passive income that rakes in $4,400 a
month. So you can see how Susan can very comfortably go on forever
without working another day in her life!
Can you now see that your wealth (i.e net worth) is not determined
by how much you earn, rather, it is determined by how much you save
and wisely invest.
Even with just a middle class income, you could become a
millionaire if you have enough financial intelligence, discipline
and patience.
To Your Success,
Adam Khoo
www.Adam-Khoo.com
