How I Got RICH When I Stopped Doing These Bad Habits

Bernard Okoth
10 min readOct 12, 2022

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This coming recession is your opportunity to get rich. Well, that’s what most people online seem to be saying. You need to get rich and you need to get rich quick.

habits that create wealth

So let’s talk about how you can win while others are losing. The opportunity that is at our feet is absolutely insane. So by being aware of the following eight traps, you’ll be able to make much better choices with your money.

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Taking Risks

Money trap one is being scared to take risks. Being scared of risky opportunities is understandable in such uncertain times. As an investor and a businessman, my job is always to minimize risk.

Risk might sound sexy but taking too much on is not a smart move. I say this, but even when you’ve done everything in your power to minimize risk, there is still going to be some in every opportunity.

Otherwise, everyone would be doing it. And we all know the cliché saying
that when something is too good to be true, it probably is. If you are lucky enough to be between the ages of 20 and 50, then you’re at huge tipping point in your life.

The decisions you make in this 30 year window will cause huge ripples that affect your loved ones, like your parents, grandparents, partner, and kids, be that positively or negatively.

To put it simply, this time period could make or break your financial future. So when an opportunity that could completely change your life present itself, will you be paralyzed due to the recession or you objectively analyze the risk and act not out of fear, but ambition.

Many millionaires say one of their five biggest life regrets was not being bolder. The thought of what could have been eats away at you
if you don’t take that small leap of faith.

Investing

Money trap two is investing in things you don’t understand. This is the number one rule of investing. It is extremely true but every time a crisis happens, people totally ignore it.

bad investment advice

It’s great there’s so much information being shared online now. The rich are finally giving out their secrets and people are listening. However, it is important to be careful about what advice you act on.

If you don’t completely understand an investing opportunity, stay away from it until you do. I get lots of messages asking me my advice about stocks, cryptocurrency, and real estate.

It’s obvious that some of these people have just read something on the subject and are ready to put all their hard earned money into something that they don’t fully understand.

Like I said before, risk is good but it’s your job to minimize that risk
by doing as much research as possible. You should never just take advice
from one person on the internet.

As everyone has different opinions on investment opportunities. It’s best to pull lots of opinions together so you’re able to make a more informed decision.

Many years ago, when I was in my early twenties, I nearly put a big chunk of money into an investment group. Everything they touched seemed to turn to gold and I didn’t really understand how they were doing it.

So I passed on the opportunity. Had I invested $50,000 a year later, I would’ve lost over $300,000 because they were leveraging every investment by six times.

It’s a good lesson to learn though because I would’ve previously thought the amount I invested would’ve been the maximum I could lose. I had yet to discover the perils of margin trade in and I’m glad it didn’t cost me $300K to learn that lesson.

Frugal

Money trap three is not spending enough. This may sound a bit strange, not spending enough. I thought you were meant to spend less and invest more. Isn’t that the idea?

spending

Well, you would’ve thought so. Well, the thing is, if you don’t spend enough money on good quality products, then it could actually end up costing you more money.

Being frugal with your money, in some situations, isn’t a bad thing. Like, not spending too much on takeaways or shopping around for the best grocery deals.

However, if people start trying to cut costs on everything, then it could be pretty dangerous. Let’s say you have to take your car in for a repair. If you go to the cheapest car repair shop then you might be lucky enough to get a good service.

However, it’s more likely that you aren’t going to get a quality job done. As they can’t afford to take the time to look after your car carefully. They may cut corners and miss something or even lie about fixing the issue.

This means it’s not going to be long before your car has problems again
and you’ll have to go back and get it repaired properly. You might as well have spent the extra money now which will save you money in the future.

And of course, that’s the best case scenario. What if the car is still dangerous and it causes you to have an accident? There are many things like a car repair that is best to pay a little bit more for to be on the safe side.

Buying quality products and services also helps support the people that are offering them. If no one buys these quality services then they won’t be there when we need them.

Day Job

Money trap four is taking your job for granted. With more people than ever losing their jobs and businesses going bankrupt, it’s really not the time for people to take their job for granted.

day job

If you have a steady job, then you are in a better position than a lot of people at the moment. And you should do everything in your power to keep it that way.

If you want the ability to invest and having a strong income source,
such as a job, is imperative. Not everything is under our control.
However, when a business is in trouble, they often have to make some tough choices about who to fire first.

When the people in my team go the extra mile in a time like this, it doesn’t go unnoticed. If someone makes themselves indispensable to a business then they’re gonna be the ones holding onto their jobs longer than anyone else.

I’ve noticed a trend going around on TikTok called, “Silently Quitting.”
The basic idea is to do just the bare minimum at your job. I couldn’t disagree more with this mentality.

It’s important to remember that everyone is in the same boat. And ideally, an employer would love to save everyone’s jobs. In order for this to happen, then the business needs to be performing to the best of its ability.

One of my past members of staff would moan and complain about everything. It brought the whole team down. Then he decided to leave because he was offered a job with a higher salary and more perks.

As he left, I remember him saying, “You’ll be begging for me to come back.” He lasted less than a month at his new job as he couldn’t hit the targets.

He also hated the traveling and the long hours. I’m not saying he begged for his job back, but he did ask. And as you can imagine, there was no position for someone that just does the bare minimum.

There’s an old saying that the grass is always greener on the other side, this is rarely the case.

Debt

Money trap five is payday loans. Payday loan companies are like predators during these times. They see people who are struggling and they advertise to them nonstop.

Every time they open Facebook, every time they look at a billboard,
every time they read a newspaper, “Get paid now, quick and easy. Pay us back later.”

Although a lot of people have become aware of this money trap, there are still lots that will consider taking out a payday loan and paying it back later.

This is one of the worst things someone can do as it has the potential
to totally destroy your credit score. Which could mean that buying a house or a car in the future could be a big challenge.

The interest rates on loans like these are sky high. So you end up paying back way more than you actually borrowed. By simply tracking your spending, you can avoid being in a situation where these predatory companies can take advantage of you.

Side hustle

Money trap six is not having a side hustle. Although you shouldn’t be taking your job for granted, it also shouldn’t be your only way of generating income.

side hustle ideas

Think of a job as the foundation of your life. If you’re balancing everything on one foundation, when an earthquake hits, such as a recession, your whole life is gonna crumble away.

By having a side hustle, you create another stream of income that strengthens the foundations of your life. Now, if you lose your main job, you still have a source of income to pay your bills and it can prevent you from falling into bad debt.

My early jobs only just paid enough to keep my head above water. So I always had a few side jobs. One that was great was teaching people to fly model helicopters.

I developed a skill that many struggled to master and I charged to pass on this skill. The extra money I earned covered all my normal expenses. So then, I had the ability to invest all of my salary into starting my own business.

It might seem impossible to start a side hustle when we’re going into a recession. But if you look hard enough, there are online industries that are booming such as selling digital products and affiliate marketing.

People have the tendency to turn to entertainment in hard times like Netflix, for example, and therefore don’t bother putting in the extra effort after they finish their day’s work. But this is the time to double down and hustle as much as possible.

Overspending

Money trap seven is not living within your means. People have got used to the good times. So many are spending more money than they actually have.

You’ve seen the people buying expensive cars that you know they could never afford with their income alone. People are racking up the credit card bills like there is no tomorrow.

This isn’t a good idea in the best of times but it’s especially important to live within your means or even below them when the economy is slowing.

By creating a budget and cutting out all the unnecessary spending, you’re able to invest more and focus on what really matters to you. After all, is getting the next car, the latest clothes, and the most fancy house really worth it if you end up having to give up your future hopes and dreams?

Scams

Money trap eight is get rich quick schemes. This is something I had to mention as I’m seeing it more and more. Clever marketers are selling online courses that promise big things.

More often than not, the only people getting rich are the ones running the scheme.

There is usually nothing wrong with what they’re teaching. Amazon FBA, Drop shipping, and Affiliate Marketing, they’re all real businesses that have the potential to make you some money but they market towards people without any experience.

They sell a dream that anyone can become rich if they follow their simple formula. You have to ask yourself, if it was that easy, why aren’t they doing it themselves?

They basically package a legitimate business idea in a way that looks attractive to the everyday person but fail to mention that their success rate is near rock bottom.

So whenever you see an ad from some guy standing in front of a Lamborghini promising you the world on a silver platter, it’s probably a good idea to be a bit skeptical and do your own research.

If you want to start investing, the opportunity to get rich is here. With the entire world on the brink of a deep recession, become a member of the Insider Newsletter to get professional investment ideas from around the world! https://sendfox.com/insider

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