Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you were earning six-figures a year? I bet the thought of making this kind of money has you imagining yourself driving an expensive car and owning your dream home and while making more money can offer you these opportunities, the harsh truth is that most people will never elevate to this level of income. What’s worse is that not only do most people have the potential to become six-figure earners, making this kind of money is no longer negotiable. As you know, the cost of living is rising by the day and as such, a six-figure income has gone from being a “nice to have” to a literal necessity.
The good news is that making six-figures is more common than you think. In fact, in the United States, 10% of income earners make at least $100,000 a month so if 30 million people can make this kind of money then so can you! As such, let me break down what stops 90% of people from achieving a six-digit income so that you can avoid this critical mistake and start making the money you truly deserve.
I hate to say it but most people are their own worst enemies when it comes to their finances. You’ve probably come to notice that people will literally blame everyone and everything for their financial issues before ever placing the blame on themselves. I swear, if I had a dollar for every time someone told me their financial issues are because of their boss, their parents or the government I would be right up there with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos on the Forbes list of richest people.
The Problem: Part 1
The reality is that 99% of the financial problems people face these days are self-inflicted or at the very least can be rectified through conscious effort. For example, many people these days make the horrible mistake of pursuing a degree that puts them tens of thousands of dollars in debt only to find themselves flipping burgers after graduation. In this situation, most people would blame their school for not helping them get a job or their parents for making them go to college in the first place but at the end of the day, you only have yourself to blame for picking a degree with little career prospects.
The same can be said with saving. Recent reports show that the average single millennial with no kids has around $2,700 socked away. This means that most people are one broken appliance or car repair away from being back at zero and while this is a sad reality most people face, the worst part is that many people think being in this situation is of no fault of their own. They will say that they have no savings because things these days are so expensive or because spending money is the only way they can deal with the stress of their day to day life.
However, debt and savings aside, the biggest financial obstacle people face relates to their income. As of 2021, the average American income was just over $63,000 a year and I bet if I asked someone making this amount of money what their strategy is to earn more, they would default to the common response of working towards a raise or promotion. However, if you currently employ this approach to getting ahead financially then let me share with you how futile it really is.
Presently, the average salary increase in the United States is between 3–5%. This means that if you make $60,000 a year, it would take you 11 raises of 5% to finally eclipse the six-figure mark. Given that many people don’t receive raises of 5% or don’t receive raises at all, you can see how this path to more money is a less than ideal approach to employ.
Unfortunately, while futile, this is still the approach most people rely upon to get ahead financially and the reason for this is because they simply never learned what other options they had. Most people grow up with little to no financial guidance from their parents and as you know school is too busy teaching you how to calculate the slope of a line, a skill I still have never used as an adult, rather than teaching you how not to end up on the street by learning how to make more money. In short, if you’re not making six-figures right now, it’s probably not your fault. However, what will be your fault is consuming the advice I’m about to share with you and not acting on it.
In a minute, I am going to share with you the biggest mistake people make when it comes to their income and what you can do to avoid it. But first, you need to understand the importance of making a six-figure income because without a proper appreciation, getting to this level of income will be significantly more challenging.
Why Even Make More?
There are about a million reasons why you would want to make more money but if I had to choose the five that I believe are the most important, the first would come down to progression. I truly believe that in life if you aren’t growing, you’re dying and part of the growth you should be experiencing over time must be in your bank account. I can tell you from first hand experience that getting up and going to work only to have nothing left to show for your efforts at the end of the month is no way to live and fortunately once you start making more money that problem will soon disappear.
Next, let’s talk about bad habits because we all have them. One of my bad habits is forgetting to take out the trash on garbage day. Even after living in my home for a year, I still find myself chasing after the garbage truck from time to time and while this bad habit stinks (pun intended), fortunately it doesn’t cost me money unlike some of the bad habits others possess.
We all know people who are chronic spenders and have no problem testing the limits of their credit cards and while I shouldn’t be saying this, making more money tends to resolve a lot of the bad money habits people have. For instance, if you have the bad habit of never tracking your spending, chances are if you exponentially raise your income, you will still find yourself saving money every month.
Moving on, making more money presents two powerful intangible benefits that the majority of people lack these days which is financial peace and confidence. As of 2021, 73% of Americans stated that their finances was the number one stressor in their lives and caused more stress than both work and family matters. Well, once again making more money can help resolve that issue.
Now, don’t get me wrong there are a ton of people who make a lot of money and still manage to blow it all but if you have at least some level of financial control then making five figures a month should dramatically reduce the financial worries you carry around.
Not to mention, when you start making more money, something strange happens. The best way I can describe it is that you start to move differently. You start to calm down and relax. You start to feel a sense of power within you that you lacked when money was a major pain point in your life. I know I felt this change when I started to see more financial success and I think it comes from the fact that when you make more and ultimately have more money to your name, you have more control over your life which I refer to as financial confidence.
Knowing you can quit your job at any time or meet any immediate financial demand is a great feeling which you will come to possess when you elevate to a six-figure income.
However, above all the benefits of making more money that I just shared, the most important reason to level up your money game is to have the ability to help others. If you ask me, making more money is one of the most selfless things you can do because naturally over the course of your life you will have people that rely upon you and the more you have, the more you can help.
While I’ll be the first to admit that I like making money because of the satisfaction it provides, I know that the real reason I want to make as much money as I can is to support my parents, and my future wife and kids and as the saying goes “you can’t pour from an empty cup”.
So, it’s for all these reasons that you should see making $100,000 a year as not only a goal or a nice to have but a literal necessity.
The Problem: Part 2
Now, here’s the problem — most people fail in their quest for a six-figure salary. I don’t mean to crush the dreams of those striving to make more money but it’s simply the truth and it’s not for the reason you would expect. In fact, the reason most people will never achieve five figure months isn’t because of their upbringing, their level of intelligence or the degree they chose to pursue. The reason most people will never make the money they want is because deep down they don’t truly believe they can and as a result set very small and easily achievable goals for themselves.
I know this sounds like some law of attraction nonsense but your mindset is truly what dictates how much money you make and let me prove it to you right now. Chances are during college you set an expectation of how much you’d be making after graduating. Let’s say this amount was $50,000 a year because that’s what most entry level jobs were paying.
Well, if that was your expectation then you would likely have sought out positions that paid you this amount. Then, once you obtained this level of income, you would have then risen to your level of expectations and could check off that your income goal was met. This is where most people go wrong.
Most people set financial goals that are way too small and as such never achieve any significant financial progression. I know this to be true because I too fell into this trap in my earlier 20s. I told myself that my goal was to make $80,000 a year which as a CPA is a very attainable income. After some raises, a promotion and a job change, I soon found myself making exactly $80,000 a year and could check the box that my income goal had been met.
Fortunately, once I wisened up and realized that $80,000 didn’t offer me the lifestyle I desired, I knew that I had to adjust my income approach and think bigger — much bigger! I told myself that if I was able to reach my goal of $80,000 a year then what’s stopping me from earning twice that amount? If you’ve ever set a stretch goal for yourself then you’ll know that you naturally adjust your actions to rise to the level of your goals which is why setting lofty goals is so important. When you set bigger goals, all of a sudden you start seeking out opportunities that will bring you closer to the results you want to achieve.
For me, my goal of doubling my income prompted me to start looking into ways to make money outside of my 9–5 income because as I shared earlier, raises and promotions are a rather inefficient means of raising your income.
As such, I started connecting with people making the kind of money I wanted to be making, learning the strategies and tactics they used to achieve my goal income figure and started to get to work. This resulted in me starting multiple online businesses and doubling my income in a few years time.
What’s crazy for me to think about now is that all it took for me to elevate to this heightened level of income was simply setting higher expectations for myself then pursuing them relentlessly. Now, I don’t want to minimize all the hard work it took to get to where I am today or the work you’ll have to put in to become a six-figure earner yourself but as I always say “you need to see the money in your mind before you see it in your wallet” and one of the worst things you can do to yourself is allow yourself to think too small.
The best part is that even if you set astronomical goals that you fail to achieve, I can guarantee you will still be further ahead than you would be if you were to set small goals that you know full well won’t take much effort to meet.
Therefore, set bigger goals because when you do, you may just find yourself making more money than you ever thought you would!