What Does It Mean to Be Rich?

FIRE MOVEMENT

Do you know what being rich is really about?  I don’t mean fake, flashy, name brand rich.  I mean true wealth.  

It's about time.  I'm not a rich man because of the possessions I have.  I am a rich man because of the time I control — no meetings on my schedule, no boss to report to, no debt that has to be paid back.  I own free, open, one of a kind time.  

Warren Buffett said that if you never learn how to make money in your sleep, you’ll work until you die.  All it takes is a quote like this to realize that we are really doing this work-life balance thing completely wrong.  

I’ve always had a child-like curiosity about life.  I’ve always asked the question why.  I remember that when I was in college, I was looking for the best internship in town.  That internship happened to be at an insurance brokerage who sold trucking insurance.  My friends always told me that this company was the best place to get a job.  Why?  Why was it the best?  They said that it was the best place to make the most money compared to any other businesses.  So, I applied for the internship and got it.  

In my first weeks, I got to job shadow a trucking insurance salesman.  My curious mind wondered how much money he made.  Instead of asking him flat out, I instead asked if he could retire with his current income.  He responded by saying that he wouldn't even need his 401K.  Wow, I thought.  He must make a lot of money!  

After my internship was over, I applied to get a job in sales and was rejected.  Here I was with one foot already in the door as an intern and I still couldn't land a job.  This really made me ponder the status quo of what a great job is.  What's the point of working?  We essentially only work now so that we don't have to work later, right?  Isn't that the goal?  Work the most formidable years of your life so that one day you can retire.  

Damn.  I don't want to wait until I'm 65 to retire!  How can I turn the golden years of retirement to the golden years of my life?  Is that possible?  How do I learn to make money work for me during my formidable years?  How do I make the maximum income doing something I love instead of selling trucking insurance?  Is it really possible to make as much as a big-time CEO while doing something you love?

Hell yes!  But, there is a catch.  In fact, it's a big price.  I had to make sacrifices that other people wouldn't even consider.  I had to stay in when others went out.  I had to binge books instead of Netflix.  I didn't party and let loose in my 20’s.  I hustled.

Today I’m 32 years old and I live in a van.  You may think I failed at life but I actually think that I’m winning.  I save 95% of my monthly income.  I make 7 figures a year doing something that I love; it doesn't even feel like I work at all.  I feel like I cheated at life because I didn't have to sell trucking insurance to get here.  What I did have to do though was make daily sacrifices and harder decisions.  Easy choices, hard life.  Hard choices, easy life.  

I don't want this post to be all pep talk and motivation.  I’m going to give you the exact formula of how I got here.  

Your first step is to set up a Roth IRA and max it out.  $5,000 (which is around the max) will grow to 1.4 million dollars over 35 years at a 10% interest rate.  Now, maybe $5,000 a year seems out of reach.  Stay with me.  $5 a day at the same margins will grow to $888,000.  Like I said, it's as simple as a math equation.  The earlier you start and the more you contribute, the closer you can get to financial freedom.  The moment you start working on this equation is the moment that you will change your family tree and your financial destiny.  It’s the moment that you start taking back your time.  It’s the moment that you start extending your golden years from something that you don't have to wait until you're old to enjoy.  

Some people think that saving 10% of every dollar they make is enough.  It’s not.  You need to go big or go home.  Save 20%, 30%, or even 60%!  How bad do you want this?  Go extreme!  Don't eat out for a year.  Go back and live with a roommate.  You have to commit.

As someone who's on the other side of a decade of sacrifice, let me tell you that it's worth it.  

Peace.  

I make new content every single week, so be sure to subscribe to my Youtube and follow my Instagram @brambilabong and TikTok at @AdrianBrambila. I also have tons of resources and courses on my website that you won’t want to miss. Head over to www.adrianbrambila.com to learn more about what I do and how I live a financially free life.