Artificially feeling poor may help you grow rich one day

What if one of the best ways to get rich is to deceive yourself into thinking you are bankrupt?

It sounds counterintuitive and even ridiculous. But after decades of saving, investing, and observing how people behave around money, I realized one thing: Rich people often breed complacency.

When you feel flush, you spend more, reduce your work and become sloppy. When you feel broken (even if artificially), you work harder, spend carefully and increase your wealth faster. As we all know, the path to financial freedom boils down to one formula: invest and invest as aggressively as possible. The problem is sustainability.

A national savings rate of 5% is simply not enough. The goal is at least 20%, and if you can push yourself to 50% of your 10 years, your future self will thank you many times.

Feeling lazy and unmotivated after summer vacation

I’ve been lazier than usual since I returned to San Francisco in Honolulu. I started wondering why everyone doesn’t live in a place like Hawaii where the weather is always great and the atmosphere is always friendly. Such hard grinding in San Francisco seems meaningless, it is a way to burn out.

You don’t have to be rich in Honolulu, as beaches, hiking and sunshine are free and accessible to everyone. If you are a local, you can Kamana Golf and other attractions rates to save you more money. Even though I spent three and a half weeks helping to revamp my parents’ in-laws unit, I felt I was doing better with ease.

The problem with going back to San Francisco is that the vast majority of people are liars. Most people are trying to climb the company ladder or build a company to gain higher status and money. These actions run counter to the fire lifestyle that abandons money and free status.

But given that I’m going to be stuck in San Francisco for at least the next four years, I need to be careful not to act also Lazy. Because if I do that, I will start to feel FOMO from the ongoing AI/Tech Boom. Feeling forgetting is one of the worst feelings you can have.

The solution to getting rich is to feel poor

When I found myself waking up later, I realized I needed a way to motivate myself again. Given that I’m no longer a full-time father, I need to be more productive.

Then one day, while checking my banking app, I noticed that my checking account was selling for $100 in red. ! I automatically paid my annual life insurance premium and forgot to leave enough insurance in my checking account.

I have been deliberately keeping my checking account lights to avoid wasted spending ever since my life insurance policy made a horrible two-year mistake. With a free $5,000 overdraft line of credit, it doesn’t matter to drop $100. I received funds from our joint account.

But this is important: Seeing red on my account cheers me up and pays attention.

Frankly, I feel very poor. How can I have multiple passive income streams and not even enough money to pay for life insurance? However, this temporary feeling didn’t have enough attitude and a new sense of urgency began to keep my finances in and grind it again.

Living on the edge of finance keeps you focused

A few weeks later, rental income and dividend income complemented my checking account. But this lesson has been bothering me.

In fact, having a checking account with a cash income of 0.1% is actually exciting. It took me back to the laziness I fell into after returning from Honolulu.

So I decided to transfer almost all my excess check funds to my wealthy brokerage account. so:

1. My idle cash can earn about 4% in money market funds.
2. I can use USD costs for stocks or bonds during market pullbacks.
3. I can assign more alternatives Risk funds The AI ​​revolution that hedged my child’s future.

Now, whenever I log into the banking app, I can hardly see any money. Do you know? This scarcity forces me to think twice, because I don’t have enough funds to pay with my debit card. If the purchase is not “Yes!”this is one.

Instead of ordering takeout, I cook at home or live on my heart and fast. I finally put on those people who collect dust in the closet instead of buying new sneakers. This artificially imposed scarcity reactivated my discipline.

Recreate hunger that has nothing at any time

The whole idea of ​​staying financially is to recreate early hunger, and you hardly have it. If you want to fire, you have to make a sacrifice.

Back in 1999, I just set out for William & Mary and I shared a studio apartment with a friend to save on rent. I will arrive at the office at 5:30 AM and contact my Asian colleagues before 7 PM before going home. Also happy to get a free dinner buffet restaurant.

I wore 15-20 pounds, developed TMJ, and dealt with plantar fasciitis, which are all busy stress from Wall Street. But these sacrifices laid the foundation for everything that followed.

Even after promotion, I can live frugal, I can actively make the difference and invest actively. Over the decades, this discipline has become more complex and makes life easier today.

But as I move towards a new passive income goal by December 31, 2027, I see the wisdom to return to this mentality. If we want to stop trading time in one day, we have to find ways to save and invest.

A bull market will make you weak

The bull market is intoxicating. When your investments are complicated faster than your positive income, it feels like your life in cheat mode. You begin to believe that you won’t lose.

But complacency is dangerous. I looked at it happened in 2007. People leveraged, bought multiple properties with no currency loans and thought the party would never end. By 2009, many people had lost everything and had to rebuild from scratch. I’m one of these guys who foolishly bought a vacation property I certainly didn’t need in 2007. The final value fell by 50%.

I don’t want to relive the trauma of seeing my net worth 35-40% in six months. I don’t want you either.

This is why artificial feeling of poverty (even in a bull market) is more than just an inspirational technique. This is a guarantee to prevent excessive self-confidence and reckless behavior.

The practical way to “feel poor” without actually becoming poor

If you want to try this strategy yourself, here are some ideas:

1. Keep your checking account lean. The check fee is only maintained for 1 month. Transfer the rest to a higher yield account in the broker.
2. Automatically transfer your surplus. Each payday, sweep additional funds into brokers, high-yield savings or investments. Can’t see, mind.
3. Challenge yourself in weeks without a livelihood. Choose two weeks a month to avoid purchasing as you please. You will realize how much you can cut.
4. Simulate living salary and payment. Revenue from monthly expenses accounts for only a small part of the revenue, and then redirect the rest to the investment.
5. Revisit your “bankrupt college” habits. Cook cheap meals, take public transportation, share resources and embrace minimalism, or even temporarily.
6. Review your subscription. Cancel things you don’t need. Every forgotten $10/month service adds lifestyle creep. Am I just seeing Apple boost their Apple TV+ by $4 to $14/month?
7. Practice gratitude every day. Remind yourself how far you have gone, able Survive less.

Artificial scarcity does not mean living in fear, but rather means using small doses of discomfort as a tool to keep your acumen, discipline and motivation. It’s about staying authentic and modesty, and you build more wealth.

The paradox of embracing wealth

So if you want to be rich, take a broken mind. Live salary reaches the box office for a while. Conditions track each dollar by yourself and question each fee. If you can tolerate this self-imposed discipline, you will almost certainly end up being richer than the average person who spends money unintentionally.

Finally, wealth is not just about the numbers in your account. It’s about keeping disciplined mindset for decades. Sometimes the most effective mindset is to remember the feeling of having nothing and make sure you never go back.

Reader, are you becoming rich artificially to make yourself feel poor? In a rich and rich country, how can we do better to combat laziness so that we can continue to build wealth passed down from generation to generation?

Empower’s free financial analysis offers

One of the best ways to “feel poor” is to be honest and honest about where your money really goes. If you have over $100,000 of investable assets (whether it’s savings, taxable accounts, 401(k)s or IRAS), you can get Free financial inspections From authorized financial professionals Register here.

Think of it as holding up a mirror: An experienced expert who builds and analyzes a portfolio that makes a living can find hidden expenses exhaust your wealth, inefficient allocations slow your growth, or ignores the opportunity to put your money into working harder. Sometimes, the outside view is exactly what you need to cut discipline and stay hungry.

This statement is provided to you by Financial Samurai (“Initiator”), who has entered into a written recommendation agreement with Empower Advisory Group, LLC (“EAG”). Click here to learn more.

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