How I Reprogrammed My Mind and Changed My Financial Life at the Age of 23
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food” (Genesis 3:19).
Making good financial decisions is quite simple.
First, you think about where you want to go. Then you define the path. And then autopilot kicks in. And that’s how it works.
We live in 2024. In a world that is constantly changing. Old things are being replaced by new things faster and faster. In many cases — fortunately — through better things. This applies at least to investments.
Afraid of losing something? If so, you’re like most people.
When it comes to growing your money, you should prioritize. It’s more important to get rid of bad qualities than to acquire good ones.
Ambitious people always find the same two-step solution:
I need to become better informed.
I need to develop new skills.
This is usually a sensible and promising approach. However, only for most subject areas.
Money is different
Because money is an important exception, to proceed as effectively as possible, it’s best to ask yourself the following questions:
How can I act less stupidly?
How can I be less greedy?
How can I contain my impatience?
The most important thing for each of us is to overcome a specific bad financial trait and banish it from our personality. The “fear of losing something”.
Strengthening the financial immune system
Nothing promotes your own dissatisfaction better than other people’s success. Immunize yourself “against the siren song of other people’s success”.
Especially when that success has been sudden, extreme, and caused by factors beyond the control of the lucky ones.
Former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower used to quote Napoleon all the time about strategic issues. He once said that a military genius is someone “who can do ordinary things when everyone around him is going crazy”.
And it’s the same with money.
Be careful. Activate camouflage mode!
When you see someone getting rich (quickly), you tend to think: “If he (or she) can do it, then so can I”. A positive and constructive thought that proves you’re full of self-efficacy. There’s just one problem:
You give yourself the illusion that you can learn (get rich quickly) through observation and later follow a path to success supposedly based on data.
Anyone who has only invested because the price has gone up will immediately panic if it falls again. And that’s exactly what will inevitably happen at some point.
Financial capital sins
Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s great partner, once said:
Someone will always get rich faster than you. That’s not a tragedy… But worrying about someone making money faster than you is one of the deadly sins.
The fear of missing out must be avoided at all costs. But we also know that it’s not easy.
But what if we do?
You only care about your own goals.
You avoid being drawn into bubbles.
People tend to think in the long term.
You don’t need much more to achieve financial success over time.