(ThyBlackMan.com) Before I was a successful business owner, I worked a regular job like everybody else. I lived paycheck to paycheck, struggling to pay my rent and my car note—even though I was making $40,000 a year in the early part of this century. I got those standard 3 to 8 percent raises every year, and yet I still found myself falling short. Like so many others, I played the lottery religiously, hoping one lucky win would finally set me free financially.
But here’s what I didn’t realize at the time: winning the lottery would’ve probably brought more financial stress, not less. More money just adds to your problems if you haven’t fixed your mindset or habits. If you’re reckless with a small income, you’ll be even more reckless with a large one. You’ll spend more, borrow more, and before you know it—you’re deeper in debt than you were before. Ever wonder why so many celebrities are buried under mountains of debt? You might see that they earned $2 million, but they often owe $3 million or more.
Statistics back this up. Lottery winners are more likely to go bankrupt than everyday people. And athletes? Most NFL players file for bankruptcy within two years of retirement. I personally know an NFL retiree who signed a $1 million contract at just 20 years old—only to blow through the entire sum in under two years.
It wasn’t until I made a conscious decision to educate myself—to really understand how money works and how the wealthy maintain wealth—that things began to shift. That learning process inspired me to create a space dedicated to helping everyday people break free from the cycle of financial instability. I share real-world strategies, mindset tips, and investing principles that can lead anyone—regardless of income level—toward lasting financial freedom.
Take Shaquille O’Neal for example. He famously blew through $1 million in just 30 minutes after getting drafted. It took a wake-up call from his banker to make him realize he needed to shift his approach. Then you’ve got stars like Allen Iverson and Antoine Walker, who earned over $100 million in their careers—only to find themselves broke just a few years into retirement.
So, if simply making more money often leads to more problems, what’s the real solution to financial security and prosperity?
The answer is that it doesn’t matter how much money you make, it matters how much you keep. That’s been my mantra for more than three years and I dedicated an entire chapter to that ideology in my second book, Mom’s Money Lessons. But Shaq made those words famous when he said it doesn’t matter how much you make, but it’s important that you educate yourself in order to keep it during a speech for his doctor in education last May.
So the key to financially security is holding onto your money not spending it all to look good. So I always say, take a little of every paycheck and put it into a savings account.
If you don’t think you can save any money, start with $5 per pay period for the next 90 days and then double the amount until you are saving at least 20% of your income. Evaluate whether you are wasting money on adding a soda to your fast food meal because that $1.99 can add up to $7,000 in 10 years, $22,000 in 20 years and $56,000 in 30 years. You should have a rainy day fund of 3-6 months of living expenses to avoid liquid asset poverty, which means not having at least 3 months worth of bills stashed away to handle an unforeseen financial emergency.
Your tax refund check is the biggest lump sum of money you will likely get in a year, so use it wisely by saving half of it. You should consider investing into a Roth IRA, fixed rate Universal Life insurance policy or an indexed annuity because your money will grow tax-free, be protected from creditors and lawsuits and be passed onto beneficiaries tax-free.
You can venture into riskier investments, such as mutual funds and stocks, for bigger returns once you have a year worth of living expenses saved.
You also should consider a business to build residual income, which is money that flows in regularly from previous work. I have four businesses that bring in residual income.
By the time you’re making much more money, you will have created a habit of saving and investing so that the more money you make, the more money you will hold onto in your investments for true financial security and prosperity that will impact generations in your family.
Written by Teneshia LaFaye
Official website; http://www.MyTenSense.com
