They sound real loud, but they aren’t going anywhere
Irecently had a pretty cool wealth analogy fall in my lap that I would like to share with you.
It happened while I was out for a long run with my buddy Cody Johns. And when I say long, it was 10 miles.
Now, you should know that I don’t consider myself a runner. I can run, but I don’t feel like I was designed for it. That being said, I run at least one 10k a week, which is 6.2 miles, and I feel very comfortable at that distance. My friend Cody, on the other hand, is a runner and has completed multiple ultramarathons at distances of 35 miles or more.
This was only the third time I had ever gone a 10mile distance. Cody was going with me for fun (yes, 10 miles is fun to him) but also to help me with my pace. You see, Cody is not only my friend, but he’s also my trainer. And he was there to help me stay at the average speed we had set for the run.
On the day of the run, we decided to take a route that Cody frequents in downtown Calhoun. The plan was to depart from the rec department on the tennis court side and travel down River Street toward the high school. Once there, we would turn and go toward the courthouse and then make another right onto 41 South. We would travel all the way until we reached the big intersection at 41 and 53 where we would head north, making a down-and-back detour on Peter Street, all the way back through downtown, through the high school and down the new rec trail that ends at the tennis courts where we started.
It was a beautiful day to be outside with temperatures nearing 70F. Cody and I made it all the way to the 41/ 53 intersection, talking and having a good time. But as we turned to head back north on 41, suddenly one of those cars with really loud exhaust “zoomed” past us and startled me. You’ll understand in a second why I put zoomed in quotes.
It was really a sight to behold. You see, the vehicle was not a car you would associate with racing. It was an older model Nissan Xterra, which is an SUV that caters to kayakers, mountain-bikers and other adventurers. And it was so loud that Cody and I had to stop our conversation until it passed us — which took much longer than the sound suggested.
When it finally did pass, we had a good laugh about it. I told Cody that people will put loud exhaust on just about anything trying to look good. And then said, “Yeah, they sound real loud. But they aren’t going anywhere.”
When he said that, I looked up at him and said, “Dude, that’s a great column title.”
You see, when it comes to money there tends to be two categories of people: the ones who look like they’re wealthy, and the ones who really are.
The people who “look” wealthy often have flashy things, expensive cars and bigger houses than they can afford. But the problem is they are spending all their time, and their money, trying to look wealthy and never have anything left over to buy assets — which is what makes you wealthy.
In other words, they’re trying to sound real loud financially, but they aren’t going anywhere. Well, that’s only partly true. They often go backwards.
Author an Entrepreneur Robert Kiyosaki said that it’s not what you make, it’s what you keep that matters. And wealthy people know that you have to keep as much of what you earn as possible and then invest it into capital assets to gain wealth.
Do you know what the number one maker of millionaires in our country has been? You guessed it — real estate. And most of the wealthy investors I know aren’t flashy. They want to keep their money and use it to make more — not show off to others.
So, as you are running your own financial race, you have two choices: You can either be loud, trying to look wealthy, but going nowhere. Or you can be like all the millionaires that Dr. Thomas Stanley interviewed in his book “The Millionaire Next Door” and look like an average Joe while quietly amassing wealth and obtaining financial freedom at the same time.
Personally, I’m quietly going with option number two.