Friday, February 6, 2009

Do you want to be Rich?

By Samantha Asher

Whether you call it 'rich' or financially secure, if you want to live your life in comfort without having to worry about money, you need to be rich. It is the wealth of money you have that will make you financially secure.

Do you think you can be rich? What does it take to be rich? You can be rich with friends or love, but in this case, let's talk about monetary wealth. How much money do you need to have to be considered rich. There are several deciding factors in this equation.

When you were a kid, having $100 probably made you feel rich. Right now, $20,000 seems like a lot of money, but for many, this would not last entire year.

Some people will never be able to retire making retirement at age 65 with comfortable living look like riches. Many look at having $1,000,000 as being rich. You might even just look at someone driving around a Mercedes and think they're rich, even if you don't know how much money they really have.

First, how old are you? If you are 20 years old, you could start saving $5,000 a year in an IRA account, earn a conservative 8% annual return in the stock market, and in 40 years have over $1.3 million. If you are 20 and want to have that same amount but retire at 45 years old, several things need to change. Either you need to save more, get a higher return, or both if you can.

Your salary and annual savings will have a lot to do with your wealth. In fact, how much money you can put aside from your salary will have everything to do with how much wealth you can accumulate. You could make a million dollars a year, but if you spent it all and didn't save a dime, you would still not be very rich. On the other hand, even if you made only $40,000, if you invested just 10% of it every year, soon you would amass a great amount of wealth and riches.

The sad part is that many people believe they can't save. If you feel like you could never be rich because you can't afford to save, then you won't ever be rich. You need to be proactive if you want to secure your financial future. You need to make a plan.

You also have to consider where you put this money you save. If you save $4,000 a year and hide it under your mattress, yes, it will accumulate, but very slowly. After 40 years, you'll have $160,000. Aside from a lot of money not being safe, you'll be giving up a lot of money by not investing it. Invest it in an 8% yielding investment every year and you'll have about $1.1 million.

You have to invest your money. As long as you are 20 or more years away from retirement, you must invest in stocks. Bonds just won't earn you the same kind of return. At best, with bonds you can beat inflation, but you really can't expect much more.

Whether or not you believe it, you can become rich. Set goals and make a plan. It might take you years and years, but if you work hard, you can achieve the riches you may have only dreamed of. Don't give up without even trying. - 15224

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