What About This…? 10.3.2013

By Wayne William Cipriano

It’s almost unimaginable to realize how lucky I’ve been throughout my life. One might recall Thomas Jefferson’s observation that how lucky he was during his life had a lot to do with how hard he worked. I wouldn’t know about that, I’ve not worked that hard.

I have noticed how lessons that were taught to me by my parents, relatives, environment – taught but not necessarily learned at the time – have come back to me later in life. How often have you heard someone say, “the older I got, the smarter my parents became”? That sure happened to me.

One of the most valuable lessons I heard and later learned was the secret to everlasting financial success, and I now present it to you, in just five words.

Is a secret still a secret if everyone knows the secret just because very few do the secret? Maybe not, but sounds good as a dramatic run-up to what comes next.

The Secret To Everlasting Financial Success: Spend Less Than You Make.    That’s It.

Once we do that, what comes next, what to do with what we don’t spend, how long, where, when, who, all are details much, much less important than the secret itself.

Why this simple, incalculably valuable secret is not drilled into each of us the moment we understand language is the economic result of so many competing interests, each of which desires what we make for them leaving little or none for us. Sure, it is often taught. But why, once we understand the almost immeasurable power of money, do we have such difficulty applying the secret? We see how so many of life’s really serious problems disappear in the face of a solid financial foundation, why do we ignore this simple tactic?

We could talk abut irresponsible parents and relatives, failing school systems, masked business forces, even go so far as blaming the Internet-induced destruction of attention spans or, and this is an important one, the prevalence of the need for immediate gratification in our culture. But, all these aren’t reasons, they are excuses and explanations, because we are ALL exposed to the secret regardless of how poor our training and experience have been.

It really is a mystery, isn’t it, when you think about it like that? Such a simple strategy to achieve such an important goal.

So, since it is so simple, and so well known, how can The Secret To Everlasting Financial Success be a secret at all?

It’s not.