Breaking
the Financial Trap; Part II
A
Bold Solution
Sooner
or later we're all going to find ourselves face-to-face with the
consequences of the financial trap that is being spun around
us every day. Like it or not, there are those who will, if they
can, keep us in debt for the duration of our lifetimes - and beyond.
The sooner we accept this fact, the sooner we can focus on creating
the extra income necessary to successfully fight back. So if you're
ready, let's roll up our sleeves and get to it.
In
order to understand the Millennium System™ concept, we must
first understand how people generate income. There are basically
4 ways to legally earn money in a capitalism-based economy
(not including inheritance or gambling):
-
1) as an employee,
- 2)
through self-employment,
- 3)
by owning a business, and
- 4)
by investing capital.
Let's
take a quick look at each of these.
1)
Employee - If you think that working harder for a promotion,
or taking on another job, is the solution to your financial worries,
then let this be your wakeup call. Unless you are at the very top
of the entertainment, athletic, or corporate pyramids, the fact
is you will never be able to trade enough hours for dollars
to make a real difference in your wealth.
There
are two unavoidable negative realities working against every job
holder: taxes and the nature of business. As with
gravity, you can fight against them for a while, but they will always
win out in the end.
Capitalism
is a system designed to reward those with capital, and consequently
punish those without it. That's why your bank charges you an extra
fee for a bounced check; you're punishment for not having enough
money is to have more money taken from you.
As
an employee, because you don't have much capital, your punishment
is you get to pay the highest taxes taxes
of anyone in the economy. And there are virtually no tax shelters
available for your income. It's like being the rabbit at a wolf
hunt; the game is simply not designed for you to win.
The
very nature of business works against you for the same reason. For
example, even though studies show most Americans would prefer to
telecommute
at least part of the time, productivity demands and management's
need for control will prevent the vast majority from ever discovering
the joys of working
from home.
Businesses
turn a profit by keeping costs lower than revenues - and labor is
far and away the largest cost center for most businesses. Therefore,
if your primary income is from a job, understand this basic fact
of life: a company's ownership will never pay an employee more
money than it costs to replace them.
For
example: ever heard of age discrimmination? The reason so many employers
get away with it is because it's easy to legally justify
replacing older, expensive labor with younger, better trained, hungry
workers willing to work for less.
(And
as for the value of experience, it's actually overrated. Most 10-year
employees don't have 10 years of real experience; often what they
really have is one year of experience repeated 10 times.)
It's
the same with automation
- if a computer or robot can learn to do your job faster, better,
and cheaper than you do, you'd better face the fact that your days
on that job are numbered. It's simple economic wisdom - and it's
good business sense if the company wants to stay competitive.
It
turns out that your economic progress and your family's security
is determined much more by how well you use your mind to creatively
add value to the marketplace, than by how long and
how faithfully you're able to follow other people's directions.
So
the moral of the story is this; a job is meant to sustain
you while you prepare yourself to become a business owner. It was
never designed to make you financially independent, and it never
will. The solution? Don't fight against the system; get creditworthy,
get financially educated, and get on the winning
side.
But
what if your job isn't even paying enough to sustain you? Again,
the answer is to get creative and add value. Here's a great place
to start.
 Next:
Is Self-Employment the Answer?
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