The 10 Steps to Wealth

I don't care if you are 16 or 60; You can increase your net worth by following these 10 easy steps. Whether you have $60, $6,000 or $600,000...you can increase your net worth by following these simple steps.

Step 1: Identify what it is that you enjoy doing and/or making.

If you enjoy cooking fancy dinners for your sweetheart or making origami cranes in your spare time, consider finding a way to implement your hobbies into your gainful employment.

...but here's the trick...

DON'T do these things as your primary source of income...no no no...that won't do at all. As it stands, these things are your hobbies. In other words, these are things that you do in your offtime/sparetime. You want to keep it that way, BUT you want to make money doing it! So essentially, you take your hobby and turn it into a second job! You would be doing it anyway, so do it for additional money!

Step 2: Do not sign up for more than 2 credit cards AND only use what you can pay back.

One of the keys to amassing substantial wealth is avoiding substantial debt. Stay away from loans that exceed what you earn in a three year timespan. Planning to go to school? Go to a low cost community college or technical school where the tuition shouldn't run more than $5000. Many people can apply for a Federal Pell grant and end up not paying a dime to go to school.

Step 3: Cut down on hospital expenditures.

This one might sound a little zany to some of you, but if you don't have insurance and you've been to a doctor lately, you no doubt have a pretty good idea of how expensive it can be to receive healthcare. More often than not, people tend to go to the hospital with ailments such as bronchitis, sinusitis, etc...Simple illnesses that can be taken care of with a simple antibiotic.

...here's the zany part...

If you go to your local pet food store, in the fish section is fish antibiotics. The item Fishmox, for example, contains (you guessed it) amoxicillin. This is a prototypical antibiotic that one would receive from a doctor, only labelled for use with fish. You can save yourself a substantial amount of money using this method when you are certain that you simply need an antibiotic.

Step 4: No matter your wealth, STAY FRUGAL!

So you're doing well; Fat paychecks, bills all paid, good health...time to blow the wad on a hot new sports car? NO! WRONG! Always, always, buy used vehicles. As soon as you drive 1 mile in your brand new car the value of that car drops substantially. You're better off buying 2 or even 3 decent used cars then buying 1 new car. Every now and then you can even end up buying a lemon brand new and it can take months to be reimbursed for a newly purchased automobile that, in the end, doesn't even work!

Step 5: Whenever possible, barter!

One surefire way of maintaining a surplus of money is (not surprisingly) not spending said money. If you have an old acoustic guitar that you got tired of trying to play and it just sits around collecting dust, why not consider trading that guitar for something that you will use (preferably something you would buy anyway)? Conversely, if you can't barter it, sell it on craigslist, Ebay or even in a yardsale!

Step 6: Opt out of old age entertainment.

So you want to watch TV or go to a movie eh? Are you going to waste a ton of money on a cable/sattelite bill and/or spend $20 at the movie theatre (per person) just to be inundated by advertising that will send your self-esteem plummeting, ending with you in a psychiatrist's office complaining of depression? What's the point of that? There's nothing that your TV, stereo or a movie theatre can do for you that your computer can't. Watch tv/movies online at sites like http://www.tv-links.cc/ and listen to your favorite songs on youtube. Honestly, do you really need to buy your favorite band's CD just to look at the album art and hold it in your hands? No, you don't.

Step 7: Take up an interest in camping.

What better way to save money than by not even needing to spend it in the first place? Electric bill starting to get too high? Go camping on the weekends. This step is especially crucial for those who have little to no money to start. If you have a vehicle, then this step could really net you a major savings. Typically, any waterway with a boat docking port is perfectly legal to park your car overnight. Use this to your advantage. Why pay rent or even a mortgage if you are perfectly willing and able to sleep in your car? If for some reason you cannot park at a boat port (or even a 24 hour shopping center parking lot) buy yourself a car cover. Park your car on the side of a road where it is legal to park, cover your car, open the door and slide into your car under the car cover. More often than not, if a police officer can't see you sleeping in your car, you won't be bothered.

Step 8: Buy the value brand food items.

Often times, needless dollars are spent on food items that have a name brand. More often than not, you can purchase virtually the same product just a little further down the aisle with a different name (i.e. Mountain Dew/Mountain Lightning, etc.) Be disciplined enough to recognize that you are only paying extra for a name. The same thing applies to clothes/shoes/etc. Forget the names. It is much better to be uncool and rich than it is to be cool and broke. When you're rich, you can buy happiness. :)

Step 9: If you can live without it, don't buy it.

So you have a Magic: The Gathering trading card game addiction. You've bought hundreds of dollars of rare and foil cards to build the most impressive (and expensive) deck of cards you and any of your friends have ever seen. Here's the clincher; You look at that deck of cards and think "This deck of cards is worth a lot of money!", BUT...try selling that deck of cards to the average joe for the price you paid for it. Most ordinary people will look at that deck of cards and say, "I wouldn't give you $10 for that."

You have officially wasted your money.

So if you want to increase your worth, make sure what you buy is essential. If you want to collect something, collect items that are useful to almost everyone. These items won't lose value and will always be needed. Your cardgame on the other hand will be worthless once the newest craze hits the stores. AVOID FADS LIKE THE PLAGUE!

Lastly, but not leastly;

Step 10: Be sure that all unused funds are gaining momentum in a high yield savings or money market account.

It's very easy to get locked into the free checking account mentality and not even think twice about how much interest you could be accruing were you to just set aside an amount that you won't touch. Follow every step in this guide to cut as many corners as possible and turn what you save into...dun dun dun...MORE SAVINGS! Not rocket science is it? Before long you'll be able to buy that expensive car/boat/house...
...but...
...after all that you've learned, will you still want to?