Myles of Investments

Read about my successes and failures. Learn from my experiences and gain insight without losing any cash!!!

Lesson: Catching a Falling Knife
Lesson: Currency Exchange
Lesson: Mutual Fund
Lesson: Paid to Wait
Lesson: Pricing in a Downturn

This is where you’ll find find my Blog. I will comment on the latest news relating to investing, real estate, and the financial markets.

Get a Big Raise, and Do Nothing!

A huge tip I have for all you starting investors is to continue to work hard at your job, and try and get a big raise. But here is the kicker – get a big raise and do nothing! Why is this an important investing principle? The theory is to keep your standard of living, and your expenses the same, leaving you with extra money.

What most people do when they get a big raise, is they go out and celebrate by buying a liability or spending the extra money on expenses. They get a more expensive car, or a bigger house, and in turn take on higher monthly costs, in effect eliminating the extra money, and turning it into necessary money.

It’s not as sexy to keep everything the same when you work so hard. It can be a bit of a hit to the ego, as you can’t show off the results of your higher paycheck. After all, no one can see your retirement savings, and even if they could, it really isn’t very sexy! The celebration for getting a big raise should be the cashflow it creates for investing! Do you always say that if you had an extra hundred bucks a month you could be putting money into investments or retirement savings? Well, your next big raise is the opportunity you always wanted staring you in the face.

Just think, if after your next raise, you can continue with the same lifestyle you had, you are well on your way to wealth. So, the next time you get a big raise, stash away the proceeds, and you will start to build wealth, and after a few raises you will be well on your way to affording the future you were trying to buy in the first place.