What’s one financial goal that just about everyone has in common? You guessed it, we all want to make more money! Now, some of us want to make more money to buy an expensive car while others want to have the money to travel more. While technically there is no wrong reason to make more money, I believe some reasons are more important than others which is why I want to share the top 5 reasons you need to make more money now!
Reason #1: Making More Money Forces You To Level Up
One of my favorite quotes of all time is “what got you here, won’t get you there” and this is a saying I regularly think about in my day to day life. I think about it in my career when I’m striving to get that next promotion, when I’m working out to improve my body but most importantly when I am devising a game plan to increase my overall income year after year. You see, given that your income is directly tied to the value you provide, it makes sense that if you continue to offer the same value, which is what got you here, then continuing to offer the same value, won’t get you where you want to go.
This is an incredibly important concept to understand for two main reasons. First, most people can wrap their heads around many of the financial responsibilities they have to maintain good financial health. For instance, we can all understand that using a budget and spending less than we earn will have us saving money. However, what I’ve noticed is that when people think about making more money, they often struggle to figure it out. As such, they fall into what I call “income purgatory” and continue to earn the same income year after year after year.
The second reason you need to understand how value plays into making more money is because it will guide you to how you can actually go about doing so. So, how do you make more money? Easy, you level up. Leveling up can come in many forms such as increasing your work capacity by working more hours, developing your current skills in the role you have or developing new skills and leveraging them to make more money.
Once I understood how value played into making money, cashing bigger checks became easy. Every time I wanted to make more money, I would find ways to offer more value. For instance, at my job I would acquire new designations or training and low and behold raises came my way every year. Moreover, by cultivating animation and copywriting skills, I was able to build a profitable online side hustle that allows me to further pad my income every month. The fact of the matter is that more money lies just outside of your current range of abilities. If you want to make more money, you need to level up.
Reason #2: Making More Money Increases Your Financial Confidence
When was the last time you felt extremely confident? Maybe it was when you were giving a sales pitch about a product you just created or when you approached that cute girl in class you’ve had your eye on for months. At some point in our lives, we’ve all felt the power of confidence coursing through our veins but sadly, many of us have never felt what it’s like to have this sentiment in relation to money.
Now, for some, the concept of financial confidence is abstract so let me give you an idea of what I mean when I throw around this term. To me, being financially confident is having the financial knowledge and resources to take on any situation that presents itself. For example, financial confidence is knowing that if an expected bill arises, you can cover it with your ample emergency fund. Alternatively, being financially confident presents itself when you are able to handle market downturns during tough economic times. Simply put, being financially confident is derived from knowing that you have a solid financial base beneath you. So, how does making more money impact your financial confidence? Great question.
Making more money will lead to an increase in financial confidence in two ways. The first is that as you set out to make more money, as we just talked about, you will need to level up. Once you level up, you will start to acquire skills that you can use to make money at will.
Sadly, many people get stuck in situations where they are 100% reliant on a raise or promotion to make more money. But, not you. You know that building valuable skills will allow you to make more money at your job, but also outside of it and when you can easily turn your knowledge and skills into money, you will elevate to a new level of financial confidence.
Secondly, once you do start making more money, as long as your savings habits aren’t trash, you should also have more money to your name. Often overlooked, this is one of the biggest financial flexes you can have. When you have ample funds set aside, most of life’s financial events cease to phase you. For example, if the market goes into the toilet and you lose your investment it’s not a big deal because you were investing with money you could afford to lose anyways. Or, if you lose your job, it’s not a problem because you have a few years worth of savings already in the bank.
Financial confidence comes from knowing you can weather any storm and is another amazing by-product you will enjoy when you start to make more money!
Reason #3: Making More Money Increases Your Financial Security
Every night before I go to bed, I put on my alarm. I turn on my alarm because, for one, it makes me sleep easier at night, but second, it acts as a potential deterrent to those who want to break into my house and steal my coveted Pokémon card collection or who want to use my fridge as a takeout restaurant. Well, believe it or not, making more money, in a way, is kind of like having an alarm, but instead of protecting your 1st edition Charizard, you’re protecting your financial and mental health instead.
Kind of like financial confidence, financial security is a rather obscure term. As such, let me break down what I believe financial security is. To me, being financially secure means you have two things in place. First, you have ample funds set aside to deal with emergency situations. Second, you have enough income coming in every month that you are easily able to handle your bills. Yes, this sounds a lot like financial confidence and the two are very closely related. However, when it comes to security, this financial benefit revolves more around the inner peace you will enjoy when you know you’ve got your financial situation on lock.
For example, who do you think would be more financially secure? Someone who lives paycheck to paycheck and has a ton of credit card debt or someone who makes six-figures, saves 50% of their pay and is debt-free. The answer is obvious and I can tell you that not having financial stress in your life is something that is well worth striving to make more money to achieve. Most of us have had nights where we couldn’t sleep because we were worried about our bills, our jobs or the debt that hangs over our heads and it’s not a fun situation to be in. Fortunately, making more money, and ultimately saving it is a path to greater financial security and this is just another reason why you need to start making more money now!
Reason #4: Making More Money Speeds Up Your Retirement Timeline
While it’s sad to say, there is roughly a 1 in 2 chance that you are not completely satisfied with your job. How do I know this? Beyond my experience working with people in my own career, there have been numerous studies done to assess employees satisfaction with their jobs like the one performed in 2021 by Gallup. Their poll showed that only 48% of employees surveyed were completely satisfied with their jobs. Working for 40 years only being somewhat satisfied with your job seems kind of depressing don’t you think? It’s for this reason that most people have the dream of retiring early and fortunately, when you start earning more money, this dream can become a reality much sooner than you think!
Most people understand that any good retirement plan has three core components: your retirement amount, your retirement contribution and your retirement timeline. When you know how much you need to retire and when you want to down your work tools, the one factor that’s left to calculate is how much you need to contribute monthly to make it happen. For instance, if you want to retire with $1 million in 30 years, you would need to invest roughly $800 a month assuming a 7% return.
Now, if you’re in that group of dissatisfied people, then to you, the idea of working for 30 years probably seems downright terrible. Well, fortunately there are two fixes. The first is to get a job you actually like and the second is to speed up your timeline to retirement. For instance, if you instead were making $2,000 contributions every month, you could reach your $1 million target in just 20 years instead.
Now, I know making this large of contributions is easier said than done but this amount is definitely feasible if you set your sights on continuously increasing your income. I know for myself personally, by starting my YouTube channel and freelancing, I have been able to exponentially increase my income and cut down my own time to retirement and I’m probably no smarter than you are. The only difference is that I focus my attention on income to speed up my retirement timeline whereas most people try to save to increase their contributions.
Both approaches can work but you can only save so much whereas your potential for earning is nearly limitless!
Reason #5: Making More Money Frees Up Your Time
As I’ve gotten a bit older, I’ve experienced a noticeable shift in where my priorities lie. For example, when I was younger, I was 100% focused on money. I wanted to know how to make it, save it and multiply it. However, as my age counter has ticked up, I now place significantly more importance on my time. Maybe this is because I am noticing my parents aging more rapidly in front of me or because spending time with my friends is becoming far and few between given how busy our lives have become. Regardless, in the last few years, I have really come to realize why everyone says that time is our most valuable resource and because of this I think that everyone should strive to make more money.
Now, I know that striving to make more money may sound counterintuitive to having more time because most people trade time for money. It’s pretty hard to have free time when you’re working overtime at the office every night, right? Well, yes, in the short term, making more money will lead to you having less free time but if you do things right, more money and more time should be the result. Here are three examples of how money and time should co-exist.
The first comes in the form of an online business. At first, any business will take a ton of your time to get off the ground. However, as you start to gain traction, most businesses can be handed off to a competent manager, freeing up your time while you continue to make more money.
Second, as we already talked about, you can retire. However, you can only retire if you have the funds to do so but if you can reach this significant milestone in your life then undoubtedly you will have more free time to enjoy.
Finally, when you do have ample cash, as a result of continuously striving to make more money, you can start to buy back even more free time. For example, if you have the money to do so, you can outsource most low-value activities in your life like cleaning your house, doing groceries and the like.
Again, in the short-term, amassing the money to enjoy all of these things will take more hours than they will give but this is a small price to pay to have more control of your time later on. As such, this is just another important reason as to why you need to make more money now!