“If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”
– Warren Buffett”
You can afford anything, but you can’t afford everything.
Life is a series of trade-offs.
There’s no way you can get everything you want all the time.
A lot of the time, one decision will impact every other decision we have to make.
For example, I lost $70,000 in an options trading strategy.
That was money I could have invested in other things, and yet, that experience still really shaped my life.
It allowed me to think about doing things differently.
From there, I started looking at more sustainable deals like real estate or other passive investments.
Today, we’re talking about the most powerful ways you can think about money.
Let’s jump into it!
1. Freedom Starts With Intentionality
If you don’t know what you want, then you’ll never figure out how to get it.
I know a lot of people in my life who aren’t clear about what they want out of life.
In all fairness, it can be really hard!
It takes work to clarify your values and figure out what is important to you.
Once you become clear on those things, then you can create goals.
You don’t start with wanting to become a billionaire.
Wanting money for money’s sake isn’t a sustainable goal.
What’s the compelling reason you want that amount of money?
If you need help figuring that out, read Simon Sinek’s Start With Why.
Another great read is The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz.
They talk about intention and finding purpose in your goals.
Doing that pushes you to think about money differently.
You should start with intentionality.
Money is really just stored energy, right?
How can we use that energy to make the most out of our lives?
2. Use the Passive Income Framework
Think about your relationship to money as a tree.
The roots of that tree are values that anchor everything together.
Then, you have the trunk.
That is the life philosophy where you add things to your mission and purpose.
Finally, you have the branches and the leaves, which are the goals and tactics respectively.
Every part of the tree is important, but you need to start at the roots.
Without your values, the entire tree is just a pile of wood.
There’s no structure and no way to grow.
Sure, you can still get things that you want, but those victories will be empty.
What’s your “why”?
What are you actually trying to accomplish?
In my book, Fire Yourself, I talk about the passive income framework.
You need to really get clear on what you want.
According to the Journal of Experimental Psychology, setting specific goals improves cognitive effort, self-efficacy, and sustained attention.1
You can use that to increase your wealth!
Clarify your purpose and take every step forward with that in mind.
You then scale your passive income to match those goals.
Another great book that talks about this is Stephen Covey’s The 8th Habit.
Covey says effectiveness begins with principle-centered living.
When I got clear on what mattered, I made a plan.
I decided to leave my job within three years.
At the time, I didn’t really know how I was gonna do it.
But I committed to it, and in less than three years, I left my job!
That only happened because I was clear about my goals.
3. Build the Gap, Invest the Gap, Repeat
As you look at money, you should build the gap, invest the gap, and repeat.
There should be a gap between how much you make and how much you spend.
Most people spend more than what they make.
That’s a huge problem!
You want to be in a place where you are actually saving money.
When you’re saving money, you’re building the gap.
You’re spending less.
You’re earning more.
Saving money also has other benefits.
According to EDIS, both saving and investing can reduce your risk of financial problems and improve your financial situation.2
The Millionaire Mind by Thomas Stanley talks about how a lot of millionaires live way below their means.
They’re not fancy people.
They drive ordinary cars and live in regular houses.
This is obviously not true of all millionaires.
For example, sometimes the millionaire could be married and their spouse spends more than they make.
That’s why it’s so important to be communicative in your goals as well.
In partnerships, it’s not just on one person to save.
You both need the desire to save and the desire to invest.
In the book The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy talks about how doing the same thing over time has an exponential effect.
That’s why I encourage you to take time to invest in yourself.
Invest in what you want.
Give yourself space.
I take two nights away every quarter to reflect on if I’m getting the results out of my life that I want.
That’s the biggest thing that’s enabled me to 20x my net worth over four years.
I got clear on what I wanted and I’ve never faltered.
Of course there’s been challenges, but there have also been a lot of positive opportunities.
Now I want to hear from you!
How do you think about money?
Let us know in the comments.
Before you leave, make sure to check out our special report about inflation investing. It shares the best choices to invest during an inflationary environment.
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Disclaimer: I am not your investment advisor. This is for educational purposes only. I am not giving specific advice on what you can do. I am simply giving my opinions.
Works Cited
1. Lauren D Garner, Rija Mohammed and Matthew K Robison. “Setting specific goals improves cognitive effort, self-efficacy, and sustained attention.” Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance (2025). https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0001331.
2. Nayda I. Torres, Vervil Mitchell, Josephine Turner, Lisa M. Leslie and M. Gutter. “Money and Marriage: Saving for Future Use.” EDIS (2011). https://doi.org/10.32473/edis-he158-2011.
