#successfui

Investing is the main key to financial freedom. However, instead of making big bucks through investing, many people lose their hard-earned money instead. The problem here isn’t investing itself, but the way they choose and settle on a decision.

One of the world’s greatest investors, Warren Buffett, who was branded as Oracle of Omaha, stated two important rules of money. First, never lose money. Secondly, never forget the first rule. Yet, losing money is pretty difficult, especially when you’re just still starting out on your journey.

If you want to reach financial freedom much faster, here are the investment mistakes you should avoid at all costs this 2022:

1. Not paying attention to your mortgage rate

Houses are expensive. For ordinary people, it takes a lifetime to buy something as costly that’s why there are 30-year-long mortgages that are being offered in the market. A house is probably the biggest investment that individuals living from paycheck to paycheck can make.

When buying a house, the mortgage rates are always taken for granted. It’s rare to see people giving importance to a one percent difference in the mortgage rate, but you should take that one percent seriously and try going for better deals if possible.

Let me give you an example of how significant one percent is.

For instance, you are buying a house worth $300,000. If you would give a 20% down payment, your mortgage rate could be lowered down to 3% instead of 4%. With a 1% mortgage rate discount, you could save $134 every month.

At first glance, a hundred bucks don’t seem to be a big money, but if you would give it a second thought, it’s actually big money when to add up together— $1607 a year or $48,240 for 30 years. This is equivalent to an entire year’s salary for most people. So, if you could get that 1% mortgage rate discount, you could save a year’s worth of salary.

The opportunity cost of the money you could’ve saved is massive if you won’t just let it sit in banks. If you invest that $1607 a year in S&P 500, you are going to end up with $293,000, almost the same amount as the house you purchase, after 30 years.  

Hence, if you are not paying attention to mortgage rates, and not making any effort to lower them down, then you’re making the mistake of throwing away a hundred thousand dollars.

2. Not paying attention to your looks

People nowadays seem to give little to no importance to appearance when it comes to wealth building, but it actually matters. Here’s the truth: Beauty pays well.

This sounds a bit horrible, but studies found that attractive people do better financially, compared to those who look a bit inferior to them. This is a bit harsh, but if I come to ask you who would you trust more—a guy with messy hair, dirty-looking clothes, and long unshaved mustache, or a neat-looking guy, wearing clean clothes? We shouldn’t just by mere appearance, but I can bet you would choose the latter.

Several studies have shown that the better a man looks, the higher the starting salaries they receive, and the faster their earnings increase in their first ten years. On the other hand, a woman’s looks have little to no impact on their starting salary. However, they received a more significant improvement in salaries in the long run.

You can’t surely change your genes to look naturally beautiful, but there are a lot of ways available to look good. Try dressing up properly, fixing your hair, exercising, and grooming. You can make yourself look more attractive than you can imagine. Invest in your appearance.

3. You always have an option

We are all chained in the cycle of going to school and looking for a job that will put food on the table. This is how our mind was molded since we were young, so we think we have no other choice but to follow what everyone else was doing. But you know what? You always have an option.

It’s up to you if you are going to find a job just for the sake of making ends meet or choose to do something that is meaningful. Something that makes your heart run wild. You are not obligated to take out a student debt and go to college. You are not obligated to find a job. If you have an idea in mind of what you badly want to do, follow it.

4. Borrowing money to launch a new business

Many aspiring entrepreneurs believe that money is all it takes to start a business. That all they need is capital to begin. But that shouldn’t be the case, especially if you have no experience in running one. You will just end up with debts.

These days, there are several ways how you can start out a business with little to no capital. Only borrow money when you have a few dollars at best and come up with a strategic plan on how to expand.

5. Timing the market

If you are planning to enter the stock market, you should know that it is impossible to time the market. Despite the talks that we are on a bubble, no one accurately knows when that bubble is going to burst. So, rather than timing the market, you should look for strategies that you can use to yield profits.

Success is often associated with an extrovert person because public speaking and networking are necessary to get to the top. This is why great speakers like Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison are the first that comes to mind whenever we hear the word ‘success.’

To be successful, it is important that you can speak with a conviction that people would want to trust, follow, and work under you. These people are so good at communication that they instantly turn a stranger into a friend. They can easily build a relationship.

However, speaking has two edges. While it can build a good relationship, it can also do more damage than good depending on the situation. Sometimes it is better to stay silent and listen, but some people don’t usually appreciate the value of silence.

Although silence can never be a skill you can boast of, it is a great habit that you can develop to lead you to success. According to studies, most successful people are listeners, which is the fruit of mastering the art of silence.

Some people are pushing that it is necessary for a person to be extroverted to be successful. However, some of the most influential and successful people today are actually introverts. There’s Mark Zuckerberg, Albert Einstein, and Bill Gates, to name a few.

Silence can be the best response in some situations. Here are the reasons why:

Your words will appear more valuable when you say less

There will always be someone around you who talks a lot. It can be your classmate, colleague at work, or a friend. Most often than not, other people rarely take these extra talkative people seriously because they talk all the time, and others get so used to hearing them.

Keep this in mind: Whatever is too common isn’t valued in a society.

Let’s take iron and gold as an example. These two aren’t that much different at all since they are both metals, yet the gap in their societal value is immense. Iron can easily be found anywhere, while gold is rare. This is the reason why we value one over another.

The concept of supply and demand is also applicable in terms of speaking. So if you talk so much (high supply), people won’t take seriously everything that comes out of your mouth (low demand).

Be careful about how much you talk. You don’t always need to speak out every idea that creeps into your mind. Try to create an aura of mystery around you by keeping your words open-ended. The less you speak, the more profound you will look.

Silence makes you unpredictable

When you meet someone new, it’s given that you’ll know nothing about them aside from the things they will say about themselves. It may be true when people say that “first impression lasts,” but don’t believe them when they say that “first impression tells so much of the real person.”

The truth is… the first impression seldom teaches a deep understanding of another person. It rarely talks about others’ real intentions, weaknesses, strengths, likes, dislikes, etc. This is why it’s pretty hard to joke around since you can’t predict how they will react.

On the other hand, when you know a person, you can freely and comfortably tell jokes at their expense without worrying about consequences because you can predict how they will react based on your past engagements.

The more you get to know a person, the more predictable they become. We are not telling you to stop befriending anybody just to be unpredictable, but you need to create the ‘unpredictable’ aura around you.

Think of it this way, if you seem too unpredictable, people around you won’t be able to joke and mess around you so quickly because they worry about how you might react.

You’re more likely to say foolish things when you talk too much

Admit it or not, you have experienced saying something that you have regretted later. This naturally happens, especially when you talk at the heat of emotion, perhaps, extreme anger or happiness.

Once you speak out a word, no matter how much you do, you won’t be able to take it back. You can try asking for forgiveness, utter your excuses, or try to make up for your mistake. But the moment you say a word, there is no delete nor rewind button. The things you say can never be erased.

Thinking twice before uttering any word is the best strategy to not make a fool out of yourself. By making an effort to practice silencing yourself, you can minimize the ruining of your relationship with someone else and the likeness of saying something that you will regret later on in life.

One of the things you should not speak out to others is your goals. Have you noticed that the more we tell others of our goals, the less likely we are to achieve them? It’s also a bit frustrating to say that you aim for something and not achieve them.

We all have the tendency to share our goals with other people. But you should also be aware that your friends might congratulate you on your goals, but no one will really care about them except for yourself. Why not let your goals speak for themselves?

According to research, it is better not to publicize your goals because you are more likely to lose the fire to achieve them. This might seem a bit strange, but this statement is backed by data.

In a study conducted by Peter Covitz, 166 people were asked to write down their goals. About half of the participants publicly announced their goal, and the other half remained silent.

People who have spoken out their goals to the public stated that they feel very closed to achieving them. Soon after, they were given a task that would lead them directly to their goal. In the task given, the only rule was they could stop anytime they wanted.

Surprisingly, those who were silent about their goals worked the entire 45 minutes with the thoughts that they still had a long way to go. On the other hand, those who have publicized their goal only worked 33 minutes on average and stopped.

After all the hustle and bustle, the life of your dreams is just right in front of you. This write-up was made to confirm the signs that there are a lot of good things in store for you and that you’ll make a lot of money in the future!

In all of the history of America, the boomers’ generation (1946 – 1964) was recorded to be the richest compared to the previous and present generation.

As the world recovers from the damages brought by World War II, the United States was engaged with exports to help other countries recuperate— which made them fortunes in return. This historical event was the reason why the British dollar got outpaced by the U.S. dollar as the world currency reserve. They had this advantage because the setting of the deadliest war didn’t take place in their country.

As obvious as it seems, the generation following them enjoyed a pretty high standard of living thanks to the inheritance they got from their predecessor. However, the abundance Generation X lavished themselves with didn’t get to reach the millennials.

Although millennials are getting to acquire higher earnings, they, unfortunately, acquire less wealth than the previous generations did back in their time. Millennials only own about 5% of America’s wealth compared to the 21% ownership of boomers before.

According to reports, about 600,000+ millennials are millionaires, having about $1 to $2.49 net worth in the United States. However, even though a million dollars seems to be a big thing, the amount doesn’t actually have significant value in New York and California.

If you are yet to be among the millennial millionaire, no worries, we all have different timelines. Making a lot of money isn’t all about following a step-by-step process that everyone talks about. Such an academic-oriented strategy won’t work that much in making money.

Now, how do we distinguish whether we are taking the right path? How do we know if the strategy we are following would actually make us money in the future?

The truth is…wealth and success are unpredictable.

According to statistics, 9 out of 10 startups fail. This only shows that there’s more likely a chance that you will fail than succeed when you open up a business. Success is beyond your control, but you can take measures that will increase your chances of getting to where you want to be.

Here are the signs that you will make a tremendous amount of money in the future:

You know how to tell stories

If you would take time to study the most successful companies today, you would probably notice that all of them are good at telling stories. No matter how great the product you come up with, if you have no idea how to market it, every sweat you pour in making that product will all be in vain.

One example of a great storyteller is Steve Jobs.

On his first-ever presentation of the iPhone, he began his presentation to anticipate what kind of product he would actually launch. He left people with the question, “Would it be an internet communicator? An iPod? A phone?”

Job did a good job in creating suspense through storytelling that the anticipation he created lingered and lasted long before the actual reveal, even though a lot of people started to catch on to what the launch will be about.

If you would browse through YouTube, it’s also quite noticeable that the most successful influencers are those who are able to convey a story that catches the interest of the audience.

You are always inquisitive

Today’s billionaires have one thing in common— curiosity. When you have a solution, you can do business. Curiosity is a driver of success since it is what leads to solutions to certain problems that are badly needed by the masses.

Before the internet reaches its maturity, people are required to search the exact website or idea they are looking for. There isn’t a thing called “keywords,” which would make things easier. Not until curiosity overtakes Larry Page and Sergei Brin, who got inquisitive, why finding things online is pretty hard. This led them to the creation of a multi-trillion company famously known as Google.

You admire successful people

Have you ever been jealous of someone because they have been reaching a series of milestones while you are so busy making ends meet every single day? Admit it or not, it’s truly frustrating to be in such a situation.

It’s easy to send hate and point fingers to people who are doing pretty well compared to you. Some successful people really did shady things just to get to where they are right now, but that is the cruel reality of life.

When you enter the business world, you enter a war zone, and war zones don’t follow any rules. It’s just a matter of crushing others or being crushed. There’s no other option in-between.

Imagine unexpectedly being the person in charge of a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate company overnight. Do you think you will have what it takes to run it and make it more successful in the years to come, or will you lead it to failure?

Although successful people indeed have great minds, a bigger picture is yet to be painted.

What do you think the new Tesla auto model would look like if you were to be the company’s CEO tomorrow? Or do you even have a single idea how what it should look like? I mean, is there even a chance you’ll be at the same level as someone who built a multi-billion-dollar asset?

The questions might have put you in an awkward spot, and it must have crossed your mind that success might not be meant for you. However, here’s the truth: There is no association between being successful and being smart.

If you would notice, millions of smart people are simple employees living average lives. At the same time, some highly successful people aren’t smart at all.

Co-founder of the restaurant reservation software company Resy and Empathy, Gary Vaynerchuk, even stated that he could sit around for about 6 years and talk about the things he is very bad at.

So, how do people become so successful without having a sharp wit?

They are not smarter than you, they just focus on being smart once.

Determining how smart you are by what you did in the past is so trivial.

Olivia was always one of the most intelligent kids in her class. He has always been good at doing her work, but upon checking his social media account, it seems like the people she outperformed at school have achieved a lot more than her.

Likewise, her colleagues who started their career behind time have now leapfrogged her. She came to a point where she wondered if he was really smart or not.

Does it sound familiar? You might relate to Olivia yourself or have a friend or relative who struggles with similar sentiments.

Some people sabotage themselves with unhealthy descriptions of what being smart means. Thoughts like, “I was never smart to venture in such kind of investment,” or “I was not enough to pull off that work” often creeps in because they tend to look in retrospect.

The missed opportunities often lead smart people to make dumb decisions to make up for their lost chances. This is why they are apt to venture into investments with insane leverage and ruin their finances.

Bear in mind that your previous doltish performance won’t determine your overall future success.

For instance, people who had invested in Twitter early when the platform was in its infancy made a lot of money are now called successful. Some didn’t invest in the mentioned company but made good profits in their investment.

However, this doesn’t mean that they are smarter than you. You are getting this all wrong if you think so.

Successful people aren’t actually smart in all areas of their life all the time. They surely make the right calls and are well-versed in what they should do. But all it takes is for you to be successful is to be smart once.

You can be dumb as much as you like, but you need to be smart at one thing to outweigh everything else you’re dumb at.

They are not smarter than you, they just know how to apply their knowledge.

One of the things you might be getting wrong is being smart is all about having broad knowledge. But technically, being smart actually have two components: (1) acquired knowledge (2) and application of acquired knowledge.

The problem here is that people tend to overlook the second part.

There are walking many walking encyclopedias out there that have nothing to offer aside from their non-tangible intelligence. It is important to understand that application is way more significant.

You can think about it this way. To learn how to ride a bike, there are two ways you can follow:

You read the manuals on the internet and watch others how they do it; or

You just hop immediately on it with helmets on, hoping for the best

Your first ride might not be perfect in any way, but as long as you’re not heading to a flight of stairs, you’ll probably do just fine. Doing it right the second time around is what actually makes you smart.

Putting things simply, your first smart call can is what sets you up whether to stop or pursue your new venture. And the second time is what you can consider a successful endeavor.

Now, how do you confirm a smart move? The answer lies in the future. Even Bill Gates didn’t know if he was making a smart call while starting Microsoft. He even has no single idea if he was doing everything right.

Successful people are those who make a knowledge-oriented bet with the intention of adding value to it while letting the game just play itself out. The game will play itself out as long as you know what you are doing.

They are not smarter than you, they only know how to network.

Networking is one of the secrets of successful people. You present yourself and make connections to establish relationships and rapport. However, there is an overlooked misunderstanding about networking.

The truth is that networking isn’t about knowing many people in different industries. Research has shown that you only need to reach out to about six people on earth—the concept of six degrees of separation.

Six degrees of separation revolves around the idea of knowing about six or fewer social connections. It is also referred to as the six handshakes rule, where a “friend of a friend” can be connected to two people is a max of six steps.

The concept of six degrees of separation originally emerged back in 1929, when a group of people played a game intending to connect any person in the world through the chain of five others. The idea, however, was only popularized in 1990 through John Guare’s play.

Going back to the main point, it’s not about ‘how many people you know, but ‘who’ you know. This boils down to the fact that being in the right room is even more important than the reason why you went there in the first place.

Have you heard of the story behind Nike’s logo?

The logo designer of Nike was a student at Portland State University back in 1971 named Carolyn Davidson. She doesn’t have enough money to purchase her painting supply needs in school. Hence, her professor came to her rescue by giving her a little side project to design a logo for his running shoes business for only $35.