As you may or may not know, I live in Bangkok, Thailand. The minimum wage here is about THB300 a day, which is less than $10 a day. You would say that with this low salary, someone won’t be able to buy the latest iPhone right? Wrong! I see so many people working with minimum wage jobs using the latest iPhone. But.. They don’t save money!
When I teach about finance, I encourage people to save AT LEAST 10% of their income and then increase this amount quarterly.
Its funny, the response I usually get is something like this – BUT….
- I have bills to pay!
- I cannot afford to save money and I don’t have anything to save!
This annoys me a lot, because the people that say this often have the latest iPhone, a car or even expensive gadgets. So they are obviously able to find money to spend. Saving money is just not important for them to do.
You see, people always find time and money for the things they value. If you value playing games and social media more than saving money, you get in debt to buy the latest phone. If you don’t save, it simply means that money is not important enough for you or that you dont care about your financial future.
Is that bad? NO! I know where you’re coming from. I used to be a junkie, addicted to sex and drugs. Because that was important to me at the time, I was always able to find money to buy it. When I started to save money, I changed my importance from drugs towards saving money and working.
As a result I was able to quit my addiction and build an international educational organization.
It doesn’t matter how much you will save. In my junkie days I started with just $10 a month! I increased it a few months later to $25. Then I increased it to $50. And after another three months to $100. Now I save thousands of dollars a month and increase this amount by 10% every quarter. I have never missed a month!
So, today start your savings plan. It doesn’t matter how old you are or what job you have. Just get started! If I could have started it as a junkie with almost no income, you can do it as well! I have taught this to students of 12 years old. And they GOT it and set it up.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them on this page. Or simply send me an email! I love to hear from you and to be able to help/inspire you.
Love and wisdom,
Bart
