Why Your Life Is So Expensive
1. Inflation
Your purchasing power is increasingly being devalued by central bankers printing more money also known as inflation. The supposed rate is 3% but I’d bet it’s closer to 5-7%, hence why prices are continually going up and the value of your dollar going down.
2. Credit
Also known as debt or borrowing today for tomorrow. Coming out of the great depression people knew better than to live on debt. Today’s generation doesn’t know how to live without debt. Credit is how everyone is rolling around in a new car, a new condo and going out for dinner every night. The end result is an entire generation with no savings living paycheque to paycheque.
3. Feminism
This is not a knock against women, we don’t do cultural politics here at RLD, just an observation from a financial perspective.
In the 1950’s a man could buy a house and feed his family on a reasonable salary because
- Inflation was lower
- People lived on less debt and therefore houses we’re more affordable
- Women didn’t work
Since women entered the workforce the price of labor has been halved and one person can no longer afford to buy a house on their own. Two incomes has now been factored into the price making it impossible for the average man to buy a house on his own. Even with two incomes, many people end up with unreasonable levels of debt, a mediocre house in my own city of Toronto goes for $750,000.
What To Do About It
1. Cut your expenses (at least for now)
You can spend money when you’re rich. For now you have to cut your expenses, set a budget and stick to it, pay off your debt, and start stacking your cash.
2. Get Rich
The world is tough and hard and a competition for survival. To be able to be comfortable and free you need to aim to get in that top 1%. In the west that’s six figures and the more the better. In SEA where I live that’s $40k a year.
- Learn how to sell
- Find a valuable service
- Start a sales-based service business
- Go hard at putting in the numbers (ads, cold calls, emails, IM’s whatever needs to be done)
- Consider moving your business online and georarbitraging your income to a cheaper country
- Keep reinvesting your cash and leveling up
- Get new income sources with the cash you have come in (thats when you can test product based businesses)
- Minimize your taxes (being an expat and incorporating offshore helps)
