General Interest
The Consumer Society
By David Batchelor

How do we achieve our goals for building wealth and a secure future in an increasingly complex and high tech world? It sometimes seems impossible, an unreachable goal. But it doesn't have to be. However, we do have a problem. The consumer society.
We all want this, we all want that ..Gimmee, Gimmee, Gimmee! This is our problem. We have lost the ability to sacrifice, the ability to discipline ourselves and our money. Well, I have bad news, it's not going to get any easier. More new products every day, new fads, new places to entertain ourselves. It used to be that entertainment would be a day out on a country drive, a picnic or kick a ball around a park with the kids, Ha! Not any more.
We want computer games, wide screen TVs, DVD players, surround sound, expensive restaurants, cinema and it doesn't stop, we want all the new gadgets that come out. By the time we stop to catch our breath from all this consuming, guess what? We are broke again. We must impose balance, we should stop ourselves spending the money. I personally know people that literally earn small fortunes, but they save "zip". They spend it all on lifestyle, you know, "seize the moment" , "live for today" and "you can't take it with you". Everybody wants lifestyle. Of course the downside is we will only enjoy it while we have money. Once the money flow stops, we lose our job, our business goes through a bad patch or we retire, we could be hard up for a dollar, but who cares we did have fun didn't we? Now, you know what I'm going to say, just like all the other so-called
experts, "we must save for our future and our retirement". However, there is another way to look at it, and this is the way I view things, "Retirement? No, I want the money now" . It's all very nice being financially independent in your old age, but I want the financial independence now, I don't want to wait. That's what I teach. Money in the short to medium term, so you can enjoy the money while your still young enough to do so.
Financial independence before retirement is the goal so you can toss the job, sell the business, go and live by the sea. Be able to do what you want, when you want, that's the goal. Spending 100% of your income on expenses is clearly the best way to achieve absolutely nothing. You remain, and will remain a "wage slave". Lose that attitude now.
You must save as much as you can, but at least 10% of what you earn and that should not be put in the bank, it should be wisely invested. Eventually, those investments will provide a return that will exceed your normal income and then you will be financially independent. That's the secret that all rich people know. They use their business income to buy investments, it is the investments that make them rich and you jealous. Go for the
investments! That's the key, ignore all the other stuff. A salary or wage gives once - An investment just goes on giving year after year.


David Batchelor has 10 years of experience as a national trainer
in sales and marketing. He has written numerous articles
that have been published in a variety of industry related
publications. For more information, please contact:
Email: david_batchelor@hotmail.com
www.worklessearnmore-now.com
Phone: New Zealand 64 6 353 1465