I reckon it’s the ambition of many people to accumulate a million. And you could make 2020 the year you start out on your path to six-figure wealth by taking some steps in the right direction.
Here are five things you could do immediately.
1) work-life balance
There’s no doubt that for most people their biggest source of money will likely be income earned from work. And it’s a good idea to throw yourself wholeheartedly into your career because the more we put into anything in life, the more we tend to get out of it.
Attacking work with enthusiasm and a positive attitude could take you a long way, and you may even gain promotion, bonuses or other compensation, which could help you in your quest to accumulate a million.
But it’s also important not to work too hard. I reckon we are at our most effective when we are well-rested, with frequently re-charged batteries. So it’s a good idea to aim for a good balance between your work activities and those in the rest of your life.
I’d guard against falling into the trap of working all the time because an obsessive approach to work could end up detracting from your ability to accumulate a million.
2) Planning
Accumulating a million probably won’t happen for you unless you plan for it. Most successful people in all walks of life are big on planning. Being organised with goals and strategies in mind is an essential ingredient when it comes to achieving success.
3) Saving
Earning money from your career is good, but in order to accumulate a million, you need to save. And the best way is to divert some of your money into savings every month. I’d make that monthly payment sacrosanct and prioritise it before all other expenditure.
That way you’ll be living below your means and the process of wealth-creation will have begun.
4) Invest
It’s no good allowing your savings to languish in a low-interest cash account. In order to accumulate a million, your saved money needs to be working hard for you and earning a decent annualised return.
Over the long haul, studies have shown that shares, in general, have out-performed all other major classes of assets such as cash savings, bonds and property. So I’d put my regular monthly savings into shares or share-backed investments. There are many options available, such as managed funds, passive, low-cost tracker funds or the shares of individual companies.
And to really get your investments motoring, it’s a good idea to plough your returns from dividends and maturing investments back into the stock market so that the process of compounding can accelerate your gains over time.
5) Avoid risky situations
Get-rich-quick schemes rarely work out well in general life, and the highly speculative shares of often profitless companies with an enticing story rarely work out well for their shareholders. So I’d avoid them and stick to investments backed by good-quality underlying businesses.
I reckon following these five steps could get you off to a good start in 2020 on your path to a million. Good luck!
