You Can Have Tomorrow What Most People Can't

 If you do without today

what most people won't

You can have tomorrow

what most people can't

Sounds pretty basic, and yet it is!  We lay a strong financial

foundation for ourselves when we are willing to focus on our needs and 'pay ourselves through saving and investing rather than having an 'I want it all now' mentality.  We've all seen that person or family who seems to have no worries and has all of the amenities life has to offer, only to have it come crashing down on them within a few years, leaving them struggling through their forties, fifties, and sixties when they should be enjoying the fruits of their life's work.  Too many people live in a house of cards that is just waiting to collapse.

Years ago, friends from my yoga class invited me to their home.  My first thought was, "Wow!  I didn't know I knew people like this!"  The house was huge, gorgeous and in a very nice, new development where houses started at a quarter of a million (and that was when this was a lot of money) - and theirs wasn't a starter.  Over time, they began to struggle and two years later, they lost the home, moving into a very small $59k house that they had to rent-to-own and fix it up as they went.  They still reside there after 25+ years.

Another woman managed to purchase a home using her grown kids as consignors since she, herself didn't qualify.  She had a high-income job but was running up credit cards and not making payments.  It was an $89k house and her payments was relatively low - under $800 per month with taxes and insurance - for her income level.  Once she got the loan, she continued with her previous spending habits, running up more debt and spending whatever she made on everything but her mortgage.  Flash forward two years.  After both kids made several payments to keep their own credit from tanking, eventually they stopped and the house was ready to go into foreclosure and she still was not ready to step up and take responsibility.  Having not seen her since, her fate is unknown but it's likely the house foreclosed.

The key to reaching our life goals and passions is this:  if we do not spend on what we do not need, our money will be there in the future for what we want!  The same holds true in every key-life area.  Every moment of time and ounce of energy we spend on the wrong things, people, foods, etc., is energy taken away from the right things and getting to where we want to go.  It's like paddling upstream in a strong current.  

When we are willing to stop spending every penny we make on things that won't enhance our future and invest it wisely, we put ourselves on a faster path to achieve our dreams.

If you are serious about actuating your life passions and goals, then don't be afraid to step out of the norm and 'do without today what most people won't so tomorrow you can have what most people can't.'