How You're Programmed To Be Poor
You probably won’t get rich quickly, and here’s why:
Some people in finance say you can invest and make lots of money fast.
They promise you'll make ten times your money.
But most of that isn’t true.
It’s very rare to get rich overnight, and thinking this way can make you lose money quickly.
Some people do become millionaires fast, but many can’t keep their money.
Did you know 80% of NFL players who make millions of dollars end up broke after they stop playing?
This happens because they’re missing something important to build and keep wealth.
Without it, staying rich is really tough.
So, let’s talk about what this essential thing is and how you can get it, so you can start enjoying financial freedom.
Before we begin, I’m Ivan from the Vanilla Investor, a former investment analyst with over $100k in the markets.
My goal is to bring you simple finance at your fingertips.
You Are Brainwashed By Society
Society tells us that getting rich is all about doing things, like buying the next big stock everyone talks about.
But that’s not all true.
Having the right mindset is just as important as doing things.
At Stanford, psychologist Carol Dweck studied 12,000 ninth graders.
She gave some a class on having a 'growth mindset' and others a different class.
The kids with the growth mindset got much better grades.
This shows that how you think can help you succeed.
Buddha once said, 'Your mind is everything. What you think, you become.'
That’s partly true, but just thinking right isn’t enough.
You also need to do the right things to reach your goals.
So, mindset matters, but you also need to take action, which we’ll talk about more later.
Why You’ll Never Be Rich
Many people don’t become rich because, from the time we're born, we learn to think in a way that stops us from getting rich.
I’m not talking about being very poor.
If you live in the United States, you’re not as poor as people in many other parts of the world.
But it’s about having a 'poverty mindset.'
This means always feeling like you don’t have enough and thinking things will never get better.
This makes it hard to make and keep money.
The poverty mindset makes you scared you’ll never have enough money and makes you believe things can’t get better.
This keeps you stuck.
It’s not just about having little money, but about how you think about your money.
When you were a kid, how often did your parents say, 'We can’t afford that' or 'We can’t do this'?
Sometimes it was true, but other times it was just an easy answer to avoid finding a solution.
This made you think there were no other choices.
You probably learned this way of thinking from your parents.
But it’s not just about home.
It’s also about school.
Our schools were made a long time ago, during the Industrial Revolution, to make workers who follow rules.
This school system hasn’t changed in over 200 years.
It still teaches people to:
- think inside the box,
- avoid mistakes,
- and get jobs to work up the corporate ladder.
This way of thinking keeps us from breaking out and becoming really rich.
Just Add This One Word
But there’s a way to change this.
Here are some steps that can help a lot.
But first, if you like this and want to learn more about money and investing, join my free newsletter here.
So, did you learn about money in school?
Probably not.
If you did, let me know where you're from because I'd love to know!
Most of us learned about money from our parents.
If they weren’t good with money, we might not be good with it either.
This is where the 'we can’t afford it' thinking comes from.
It stops us from thinking of other ways.
But here’s a simple trick to change that.
Instead of saying, 'I can’t afford it,' ask yourself, 'How can I afford it?'
It’s a small change but makes a big difference.
This question helps you think of new ideas and ways to find solutions.
The goal isn’t to get rich overnight.
It’s to change how you think about problems.
By asking 'how,' you start looking for ways to solve them, even if it takes time.
The Wrong Way To Think About Earning Money
Now, think about when you were a kid.
How did you decide what job you wanted when you grew up?
You probably thought about what you were good at and what people would pay you to do.
- If you were good at science, you might want to be a doctor.
- Good at math? Maybe an engineer.
- Good at English? Maybe a lawyer.
Our parents and teachers often tell us to pick something we’re good at, get better at it, and then make money from it.
This is how most people choose their jobs.
But this way of thinking can hold us back.
First, if you’re doing the work yourself, there are only so many hours you can work in a day.
You can’t work all the time without eating or sleeping.
Second, there’s a limit to how much someone will pay you for your skills.
Even if you’re a top doctor and make a lot of money per hour, you can’t keep charging more forever.
For most people, this is okay.
But if you want to get rich faster, think differently.
Instead of just doing a job really well and getting paid for it, think about what many people need.
Ask yourself, 'What can I make that people need?'
This way, you’re not just trading your time for money.
You’re making something that can help many people at once.
This lets you reach more people and make more money.
Should You Work Hard?
This next idea might surprise you because it’s different from what you’ve always heard:
Stop working hard just to stay busy.
When you work hard just to keep busy, you’re not always doing more.
You’re like a small part in a machine, just helping things run but not showing your real value.
A small part can be replaced, but if you think and work smart, you can be the whole machine.
People with a 'poverty mindset' follow the rules very strictly.
- They do their job,
- try not to make mistakes,
- and hope to stand out.
They think if they work hard enough, they’ll get paid what they deserve.
But this doesn’t always happen.
Do you think CEOs who make 351 times more money than the average worker really work 351 times harder?
Probably not.
To be really successful, you need to be special and not just follow the rules.
Make your own path.
If you have a great idea, try it!
Don’t listen to people who say your goals are too big.
They’re probably still thinking like small parts in a machine.
Aim to be the whole machine, doing something unique and valuable.
Life Isn’t Always Fair, But…
We all start life in different places.
Some of us have more help, like living in a nice neighborhood or having rich parents.
Others have more problems, like growing up in a poor area or not having the best chances.
It’s not fair, and we should try to make the world better for kids in the future.
But making the world fair takes a long time, maybe longer than our lives.
While we work to make things fairer, the best thing you can do now is to improve your own life.
Learn new things, change how you think about money, and teach your kids so they have a better start.
I don’t know everything or have all the answers about getting rich.
I’m still learning every day.
These are just some ideas that have helped me think better about money, and I’m happy to share more with you here.
Remember, it’s not just about thinking differently—you have to do something with those thoughts.
If you don’t act on your new ideas, nothing will change.
You need to understand the basics of money and personal finance, and this article is a good place to start.
It will teach you some important tips that very rich people use to grow their money, things you might not know yet.
Thank you for reading, cheers!
- Ivan