Is it Bad to Be Rich? Don't we all want to achieve the American Dream?
By Tom Wheelwright Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
What is the American Dream? To most, it means that through hard work and sacrifice anyone can achieve success. Many envision success as financial independence, where you can live comfortably for the rest of your life without having to work. However, why is it that those who achieve and protect their financial independence are now viewed as bad people? It's possible that if we all had proper financial education that we could all reach our American Dream.
How to reach your dream
The challenge is that the top 1% in the U.S. own half of the wealth. What that means is that if you're not already in the top 1% chances are, unless you have a very small dream, you will never reach that dream. And many who are in the top 1% now will require being in the top 0.1% to reach their dream because they've got a really big dream. How are you going to get from the bottom 99% to the top 0.1%? Typically, people consider two solutions: earn more money or spend less money. But there is a third solution that's much more attainable: spend more and work less.
Related: 5 Habits of the Wealthy That Helped Them Get Rich
Spend more and work less
How do you increase your standard of living while working less and at the same time investing to reach your dream? There's only one possible solution and that is to work smarter not harder. The average person invests at a 3% rate of return, only doubling their money once every 24 years. At 3% return on investment, would turn $100,000 into $200,000 after 24 years. If you have goals of being financially independent, that rate is too slow to help you reach your big goals in your lifetime. One way to increase the percent you're investing and reduce the 24-year timeline is by legally and permanently reducing your taxes. By creating permanent savings, you're freeing up money that can be invested and used toward building your wealth.
True financial education creates wealth
You might be thinking, "If anyone can create wealth by reducing their taxes, why doesn't everyone do it?" The answer is many aren't receiving the right education to do so. True financial education will teach you how to increase your returns and lower your taxes, which in turn gives you more control. You must have more control over your life, money and future in order to achieve returns and lower taxes. Additionally, true financial education reduces your risk while it increases your returns. Wall Street tells you that you have to increase your risk to increase your return, but that is not true when you have the right education. When you have the right education, your risk will always come down while your return's going up because you're going to be in control, and you're going to pay lower taxes.
Related: How to Get Rich: 8 Success Habits Wielded by Multimillionaires
The truth is that the government wants you to be rich. They want you to invest in ways that return much higher returns at much lower risk and contribute much more to society. By doing what the government wants to be done, you increase your rate of return, while increasing your control, reducing your risk and, above all, reducing your taxes so you have more to invest.
If anyone can reach their American Dream with proper financial education, why is this so frowned upon by others? We all want to live comfortably and legally reducing your taxes by doing what the government wants done is the quickest and surest path to financial freedom. The tax law is filled with incentives and always will be, so rather than questioning the process, find ways to create your own tax-free wealth. In doing so, you'll reach your dreams faster than you ever thought possible.
Related: You'll Never Get Rich Playing Defense With Your Money
