A tiny piece of paper, yet so valuable- money. We spend our whole lives to earn money in order to have a good lifestyle, a beautiful home, health insurances etc. But instead of actually earning money and making it work for ourselves, we end up working for it. We become it’s slaves. Every billionaire isn’t a billionaire because he/she is earning a lot of money. It is because they are making money work for them. This advise will help you in financial planning which can help you achieve financial freedom at an early age.

This is a conversation between two friends talking about money. Look how Adam learns about a wonderful financial advice from his friend, Tom.

“I’m wealthy! I’m making tons of money!”

“You are confusing wealthy with rich! You may feel rich right now but you ain’t wealthy” I interrupted Adam who was expressing his joy after getting a new job.

“What does that mean?” he asked with eyes wide open. “What are you working for, Adam?”

“Ugh, Tom! Obviously I’m working for money! Money is all I want! Money is all I see!

“Well, Adam, if you’re working for MONEY, if your goal is accumulating MONEY, you will NEVER be wealthy!” I said.

“WHAT? You are wrong, Tom! I’m accumulating MONEY! I work, for money, that’s why I work really really hard!”

“Adam, you are confusing money with wealth,” I answered calmly to get his emotions under control. “Let me ask you something. How much do you make per hour?”

“I got a raise from $120 dollars/hour to $200 dollars/hour! I’m making tons of money. Last week I celebrated by buying a BMW for my wife. She was so happy. I feel grateful that I can afford all her dreams.”

“You can’t afford it, Adam!”

“What do you mean I can’t afford it? I just did! I have the car at home now!”

“How much did you pay for the new car?” I asked.

“Ohh, you need to see it to believe it! It’s that SUV, with all the gadgets you could ever imagine. It’s a $90,000 beast!” Adam said proudly. It meant success to him!

“How much cash did you pay?” I asked.

“That’s the best part! The financing was unbelievable! With my new payroll, I qualified in a heartbeat! I charged my credit card with a small 10% down payment, just $9,000!”

“You couldn’t afford it, Adam! That was a bad decision!”

“I deserve this! I make $300,000 a year! I’m rich, Tom! I can buy all my gadgets. I love my boat, my motorcycle, my cars … and when you visit my media room at home, and listen to that audio, you will be shocked!”

“No, Adam, you will be shocked will drop the moment you realize that you are working for money. You are working to accumulate stuff and you will never accumulate wealth! The moment you lose your job, you will be living in hell!”

“Shut up, Tom! Don’t even mention it!” he quickly replied.

“Adam, wealth is only found in assets, not a job. People who own assets are wealthy. Assets increase their value over time or better yet, the best assets make money for you. That is what real wealth means.”

I continued.

“I invite you to see money through a different lens. Money is a tool, a medium of exchange. Money is simply a unit of measurement used in the act of giving and receiving. Money is just a source of energy.”

“I don’t get it, Tom!”

“Adam, you make $200 per hour. That’s amazing! But have you noticed you owe hundreds of hours of work to pay for your lifestyle? How much do you owe today?”

“About $500,000, including the mortgage on my house. I am not worrying about it because today I am able to make much more!”

“Do the math, Adam. Convert your debt into labor hours! You make $200/hour. Good, but take away taxes, around 30%, take away cash invested into your IRA, 401K, etc. Effectively, you have available around $130/hour.”

“Correct …” Adam said attentively, trying to find something to prove me wrong.

“Let’s divide $500,000 / $130. That’s 3,846 hours of work you owe. You don’t owe money, you owe time! You are hooked! You don’t have the assets to cover your debt. You are the only source of income. Your work, your labor, your time.”

“That can’t be right!”

“You can’t afford all those things! You must start accumulating assets!”

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To answer your question: What’s the best money advice I have ever received?

• Think of money this way: Spending more money than you earn, is consuming more value than you produce. It isn’t money owed; it’s a deficit of your TIME.
• If you don’t own any assets, your TIME is the only source of VALUE you have!

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• DEBT = PRODUCED VALUE – CONSUMED VALUE

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• Pete has a debt of $500,000. This means he has consumed $500,000 more value than he has produced. The debt that Pete has with the Mercedes is a promise of future production of value!
• This is why COLLEGE DEBT is so dangerous!

• Debt is modern slavery — young generations attached with student debt require future work to pay back — even if they can’t find work!
• Invest your hard work wisely — invest and accumulate assets, not junk!

Inspiration: Hector Quintanilla. He is an amazing writer/ entrepreneur/ investor. Check out his website and his quora is brimming with financial education. Thanks to these brilliant minds that we gain so much knowledge free of cost.

So what we learn from this story is that whatever money you’re earning, make sure to invest it in assets. Don’t own money, own assets. This financial advice will help you plan your financial freedom way more efficiently and effectively.