The Science of Getting rich by Wallace D.Wattles is the book that triggered my interest in financial management.
Please read along, I will tell you a little of my story and how this book, and the other resources available on the website, helped me to start on the road to financial independence.
In 2001 I got married and in 2003 our first daughter was born. Everything was pretty good. I always had steady, relatively well paid, jobs in the IT industry and my wife was working as well.
Until 2003 my wife and I didn't care about our finances. We rented and we had fun. We bought things, we traveled, we went to expensive restaurants... Life was wonderful. Three years of honey moon, a fun lifestyle and no debts.
My daughter was beautiful, just like her father :). We decided that we wanted to look after our children ourselves and we would sacrifice my wife's job, and income, in favour of our children.
Things started to change and I didn't notice. We bought a new car after all the baby needed to be comfortable. We could afford it, but things started to add up because we now only had one income.
We cut a few expenses, but not many. All of a sudden I couldn't pay the whole credit card balance every month anymore. I didn't pay too much attention, I paid what I could and I assumed that it was all fine. All of a sudden the credit card was full. Oh no!
Things started to get serious. I kept on paying a little of the credit card but with the monthly interest I could never pay it off.
With the history of everything being well I didn't really care. I couple of years went by and the credit card debt was there and got a little worse.
Then the second child came. Now a boy. We were overjoyed and gave the kids the best of everything.
Finances got a bit worse with one credit card full to the limit, I started using a second credit card to pay for a few things or to buy cute outfits for the children. Then that credit card got full pretty quickly.
I started to notice how we were accumulating quite a bit of debt and I started to get worried. I couldn't understand why and how it happened. I assumed that everything was well because I had a very good income, for one person not a family.
I then started budgeting. Things did not change because I could only afford the minimum payment for the cards and as we paid a little bit of the balances we kept on using them so they were always full.
Things went on like this for a while and then I started to get really worried as most of my income was going to pay the rent, credit cards and the car. With all of the interest I was not making any progress in reducing the credit card debts.
My worries started to affect my health and mood. I was getting sick all the time for no apparent reason. I knew that it was because of the finances but didn't want to tell my wife.
I am an eternal positive person and I always believe that no matter what is thrown at me I can handle it. I started browsing the internet and I came across a few resources such as the Rich Dad Poor Dad books and a free book called The Science of Getting Rich.
I downloaded the book and read it from cover to cover in one sit down (electronic covers in this case :)). I couldn't put it down. The book not only encouraged me but also gave me concrete guidance on what to do to attract wealth. This book, combined with other books about financial management, helped me to start on my journey towards financial independence.
These resources helped me to realize that I needed to learn how to manage my finances and The Science of Getting Rich encouraged me to start a couple of endeavours, this little blog is one. I also changed my behaviour at work based on instructions from Mr Wattles.
This change of behaviour and attitude at work was noticed, I was working hard giving more value to my employers than what they were paying me. I was giving them more in use value than in cash value that they were paying me. The consequence was that in my first performance review after I read the book and implemented the suggestions I got a $12,000 pay increase. At the time that was an amazing 18% increase in my pay. Yes, thanks to the book I got an extra $12,000.
There is more, keep reading...
The advice on the book inspired me so much that I started changing not only my attitude but also how I communicate to people. I always wanted to give to my employers more in use value than in cash value that they paid me. I also wanted to help anyone else that came in contact with me. I really just wanted to help people.
The book inspired me so much that I was encouraged to look for a more senior position in the IT industry. More responsibility usually comes with a higher pay. The book gave me confidence that I could do it
I started looking and applying for those jobs. After 10 months of many interviews, headaches and heartaches I found the job that I wanted. The job was paying an amazing $30 000 more than what I was earning before. I was then earning in excess of $100,000 per year. All because of the book.
In total, I credit a whopping $42,000 every year to the book. An all it took was a very quick download.
I want to encourage anyone reading this to go ahead, download the book and join the Science of Getting Rich Community. You have got nothing to lose.
Think about it, just read the book and give it a go, you will not loose money, you can only make money from it.
After I read the book I purchased other products available that have continually helped me in my journey. This is up to you. But please do yourself a favour, download the book, be inspired and implement the advices in them.
Best of luck.
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