What is net worth? A simple answer is that it’s the combination of what you own (your assets) and what you owe (your liabilities). Subtract your liabilities from your assets, and you have your net worth.
When it comes to building net worth, changing behavior, and taking control of your money, it’s not as black and white as a simple equation. The winners in life are those amongst us who are content with who they are and the path they are on throughout life. To win at life, a person needs to enjoy their life, living within their means and responsibly preparing for the future by doing things like learning delayed gratification, saving for a rainy day, and saving for retirement
{ The winner doesn’t necessarily have the most assets at the end. Net worth is more important than assets. }
Taking control of your money and building your net worth allows you to have freedom of choice so that you can choose to:
- work part-time
- change jobs to something you have always wanted to do
- travel more
- retire early
- spend time with children and grandchildren
- focus on a hobby
- volunteer doing something meaningful
- spend more time with friends.
In today’s world, we are continually working and expected to be on or near our phones 24/7; it’s easy to get stuck in the grind and go through the motions instead of taking on each day with purposes and intent.
Building net worth starts with how you think about your life and how you think about your finances. It’s about building resiliency. Most of the time, we feel like the things we want are out of reach because we have bills to pay, too many competing responsibilities, or the odds aren’t in our favor. The first step is believing in yourself and deciding you are going to make a change.
Building a Mindset for Success
A growth mindset consists of positive thoughts, such as:
- I can learn whatever I want to
- My effort and attitude determine everything
- I want to challenge myself
- I want to be the best version of myself
Once you have the right mindset, you will be able to tackle the necessary milestones to building net worth — tasks like paying down debt, building an emergency reserve, and investing all become more actionable tasks.