How to obtain a financial black belt

I work with some badass people-a former green beret who was among the first into Afghanistan to hunt for Bin Laden after 9/11; combat marines and undercover detectives who’ve placed their lives on the line every day as a job requirement.

Some of them hold multiple black belts and are nationally and internationally ranked practitioners of their arts.

They can put you on the ground and submit you in the blink of an eye, seemingly without effort.

I know. I’ve trained with them and wrestled them. I’ve trained in martial arts for many years and they tossed me around like an orca tosses a baby seal.

How did they get to be so good? Training, every single day, for years and years and decades, from the time they were young.

There is no magic pill you can take to obtain that kind of mastery. Only lots of hard work, dedication, sacrifice, and the willingness to learn something new about their craft everyday. And now, they make everything they do look easy.

How do you get a financial black belt? How do you get to the point where your investments make more money for you than you working a full time job?
Lots of hard work, dedication, and the willingness to learn something new every day.

It’s saving and investing, and being frugal for years and years and possibly decades.

You may not be able to retire at 41, but you can surely hasten your retirement by years and even decades by practicing good financial moves every single day.

There is no magic pill you can take to reach financial freedom.

It takes discipline and effort on a daily basis to make decisions to not spend frivolously, and instead direct those monies toward growing your retirement portfolio.

For example, buying breakfast and lunch every day may not seem like much. But, at $5 per breakfast and $10 per lunch, it adds up to hundreds of dollars a month, and thousands per year.

Invest thousands of dollars in the market every year instead and you’ll easily have tens of thousands after compounding for 10 years, a decent retirement portfolio for the average American.

Imagine 20 or 30 years of compounding. We’re talking potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In addition, you’ll likely eat better and be healthier by bringing your own food every day, using a reusable water bottle, etc.

Now, imagine where else you could save a couple hundred dollars every month.

Or, perhaps you could learn something new that adds a few hundred or a few thousand dollars every month. Sometimes, it’s something totally contrary to your way of thinking that makes you grow the fastest.

(Don’t be afraid to consider a totally different perspective. Sometimes, it was a different perspective that got us to where we are today. It was scary at first, but turned out to be empowering and liberating. I’ll write more about perspectives in another article.)

Little insignificant decisions can add up to a lot over time. Keep the good habits up for 10, 20, 30 years and your portfolio will make making money look easy.

It’s best to start young, but it’s never too late to start working toward your financial black belt.

And oh, I’ve been told by all my black belts and masters over the years that the real learning comes after getting the black belt. So, I guess it’s just starting to get interesting.