The notion that wealth is reserved for those born into affluence or with influential connections is a myth. In fact, a significant portion of the world’s ultra-wealthy population is self-made, and this class of individuals is growing rapidly. This data underscores two crucial points: it is possible to build wealth from scratch, and those who are achieving this feat are doing so with increasing frequency.
The Importance of Financial Education
The journey to financial freedom begins with education. Understanding financial terms and concepts is the foundation of wealth creation. Terms like income, expenses, net worth, return on investment, passive income, and financial independence should be part of your vocabulary.
Continuous learning is key. Read books, listen to podcasts, take courses, and follow reputable financial education blogs. However, be cautious. The democratization of financial information means there’s a lot of inaccurate information out there. Stick to trusted sources for genuine information.
The Power of Regular Income and Budgeting
Building wealth from nothing is challenging without a regular income source. A stable income allows you to save and invest, two critical steps in wealth creation.
Creating and adhering to a budget is equally important. A budget helps you control your spending and prioritize your financial goals. A popular budgeting technique is the 50:30:20 rule, where 50% of income goes to essential expenses, 30% to non-essentials, and 20% to savings and investments.
Insurance: A Safety Net for Your Wealth
Insurance is an important part of any financial plan. It serves as a safety net, protecting you from massive losses in case of unfortunate events. At a minimum, consider health insurance, homeowner’s insurance, auto insurance, and term life insurance. However, avoid over-insuring. Stick to the essentials unless there’s a compelling reason to get more.
The Art of Saving: From Basic to Extreme
Saving is a fundamental step in wealth building. While the 50:30:20 rule is a good starting point, you can save more with effort. The Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement promotes “extreme” savings strategies, encouraging individuals to save a significant portion of their income.
The Role of an Emergency Fund in Wealth Building
An emergency fund is a financial buffer for unexpected expenses or circumstances. It should hold between three to six months of your monthly expenses. An emergency fund won’t make you wealthy, but it will prevent you from selling your investments or incurring debt during emergencies.
Increasing Income through Skill Improvement
Increasing your income is another way to boost your savings and investments. If you’re an employee, improve your skills to earn promotions or get better job offers. If you’re a business owner, understand your market better, innovate, and provide more value to your customers.
Passive Income: Earning While You Sleep
Passive income is income that doesn’t require your continuous effort. It’s a crucial component of wealth building. Some reliable passive income ideas include selling digital products, blogging, affiliate marketing, and dropshipping.
Investing for Wealth: From Stocks to REITs
Investing is a powerful tool for wealth creation. Instead of leaving your money in a savings account, invest it in profitable ventures that offer good returns while minimizing risk. Consider stock ETFs, bond ETFs, and REIT ETFs. This is one of the ways the ultra wealthy work.
For the rest of us, a good choice could be to embrace passive investing, which is cheaper, less risky, more transparent, and often more profitable in the long run.
The Rise of Robo-Advisors in Investment Management
Robo-advisors simplify the process of creating and managing an investment portfolio. They use algorithms to create a diversified portfolio that matches your risk tolerance. Robo-advisors like Sarwa use the Modern Portfolio Theory to create a diversified portfolio that contains stock ETFs, bond ETFs, and REITs ETFs.
Every investor gets a customized portfolio that matches their risk tolerance. Thanks to new financial technology, Sarwa’s platform also allows you to automatically deposit more money, reinvest your dividends, and periodically rebalance your portfolio.
Below is a sample portfolio that Sarwa creates for investors. This portfolio contains stock ETFs diversified across markets (US, developed, and emerging), bond ETFs diversified across markets (US, global), and REITs ETF.
Each portfolio also has an allocation formula (in this case, 88.3% in stocks, 6% in bonds, and 4.8% in REITs) which reflects the risk tolerance level of the investor (in this case, a growth investor).
Importantly, Robo-advisors help investors practice passive investing while overcoming the temptation to time the market, thus avoiding emotional investing.
With Robo-advisors, you’ll have ready access to a structured portfolio that maximizes your return and minimizes your risk.
All you need is to keep adding more money into that portfolio and watch your money grow within your chosen ETF allocation. This is how to build wealth from nothing.
The Cashout
Building wealth from nothing is not a far-fetched dream but a feasible reality. By educating yourself about money, securing a stable income, minimizing expenses, protecting your wealth with insurance, an emergency fund, and investing wisely, you can unlock financial freedom.
Remember, the journey to wealth is a marathon, not a sprint. Start today, stay consistent, and watch your wealth grow over time.
If you found this article useful and like our style then check out this article covering how to calculate return on investment.
