It Sucks, But It’ll Skyrocket Your Net Worth

Hey there, real quick, before we jump into the episode, listen, if your earnings treadmill hasn't set you free yet, running faster won't either. Listen, hustle without principles just going to burn you out. So here's what I want for you. I want you to join me for my money machine experience. Live it is three free trainings. Deep dive into how to escape the treadmill and build a money machine that actually works for you. All right, grab your spot here by going to moneymachinelive.com and I'll see you in the free training. You're saving, investing, doing all the right things, and it still feels like nothing's working right. See, you look at your account and think, that's it. Yeah. That frustration that you feel isn't failure. It's what's what I call the wealth flatline. It's part of where most people will quit. It's exactly why most people never build real wealth. See, today I'm going to show you how to survive that flatline, how to push through the boring, the invisible years, the years until compounding flips the switch and your money starts working harder for you than you did for it. I spent three decades helping people build wealth and watched thousands bail right before the breakthrough. You're not one of them because you're here. Let's change that. Let's dive in.

Let's be real. I mean, building wealth kind of sucks at first. I mean, you're saving while your buddies are out flexing in their new cars. You're eating tacos at home while they're posting about their steak dinners. And you're thinking, wait, am I the boring one here? No, you're not. You're the one that's about to lap them really quietly. Okay, see, what sucks right now is the discipline, the patience, the no thanks, the I got a pass on this shiny thing that. But that is exactly what skyrockets your net worth and your wealth later. Okay, I get it. It's not fun and it's certainly not sexy, but it's how you go from working for your money to having your money work for you. And so it's. It's this concept that I talk about in my book, building your money machine of the wealth creation curve. See, often when we first start this wealth journey, we think it's linear. We think that we're going to start and we're going to incrementally, like we're going upstairs and just. And grow. But the truth is that that's not the case. Wealth goes in a Curve. It looks like this, okay?

And it goes in a curve just like that. Now, at first, right here, it's flat, okay?

And then all of a sudden, it starts to. It starts to bend here. But here. Here's the interesting. What happens is, as time compresses, I'm going to show this all to you. I'm going to put some math to this. But. But what happens is that most people quit before they get through the flat zone, which I actually call the, well, flatline, okay? And what happens is that they're quitting in here, and they never get to the curve, which means that they never get to the acceleration. And most people will quit before they ever hit $100,000. And it's the $100,000. And I did a separate video on. This is one of the most critical tipping points on your journey to financial freedom. And I'm going to tell you, do not tap out before the magic shows up, because the magic's about to show up, okay? But let's talk about why it actually sucks, okay? And I don't want to pretend that it's easy, okay? Because the first thing that happens during this time is that you actually have to have delayed gratification. You're learning to trade now for later instead of trading what you want most for what you want now. Okay? You're focused on what you want most. This delayed gratification forces you to skip the dopamine drip that really drives a lot of folks instant spending, that. That spontaneous, impulsive spending. And it feels, frankly unfair because you don't. You feel like you're left out. I know I did in. In that watching my friends do the things that they were doing, and there was times that I didn't do it. But what you're really doing is you're buying your freedom instead of some fleeting fun for the moment. The second thing I think happens is this. You got to get real about money management, okay? Things like spreadsheets, budgets, saying no, okay? You know, when you start talking about budget spreadsheets and saying no, that's not thrilling. No one ever said that maybe an accountant, I don't know. But it's. But that tedium that, that, that perspective is the training camp for your financial peace, okay? I think the third thing that happens is that you have to be consistently investing, and that's a difficult thing, especially as the markets drop, headlines are screaming, the media, social media panic is setting in. They're. They're sitting back saying, oh, my gosh, and you're doing traditional investing. You're doing the things that have been proven over the decades. And then you have your friends that are chasing the crypto rockets and you just keep investing, you just keep moving. It's that the tortoise and hare, okay, that's, you know, it feels boring, but it's not boring. That's actually baller behavior, okay? I think the fourth thing that comes into play is avoiding debt. You skip the buy now, cry later payment plans. And that also means that you skip buying things that most people are buying on payment plans because they can't afford it. It also means that you look behind when, from when people look at you, they go, they're driving a five year old car or something like that. But then all of a sudden you jump way ahead. So stay with me on this, okay? But these are the reasons that this suck. Why it's difficult. The last one, I think is really patience and discipline, okay? I mean, we're in an instant gratification society, so having patience, discipline, I mean, it's not even taught anymore. I mean, it's like yolo. You live. You only live once and just get after it. But here's the thing. You do the right things for years before you ever get a payoff. This is like that wealth building gym, and you don't see muscle that first week, okay? So yes, it sucks, but it's a productive pain. It's the soreness that tells you you're getting stronger, okay? And here's why this, this works. The wealth flatline reminds me of going to the gym for the first six months. You know, you're showing up, you're sweating, you're skipping dessert. You say no to the junk food. You step on the scale, dang it, it barely moves, okay? The needle. And you're thinking, that's it. I mean, I've been grinding for all of this. And the needle barely moved, okay? That's what building wealth feels like at the start, though, because you're saving, you're investing, you're paying off debt, you're doing all the right things, okay? But it seems like your net worth is exactly the same. It's not working, okay? And it does suck. But just like the gym, okay? Progress hides before it shows up. See, the financial muscle is building under the surface. It's just not visible yet. Now, the other side of it is that you are developing the habits, you are developing the skills, you are developing the literacy to take this two heights unknown, okay? Compounding takes time to flex. Here's. Here's the math, okay? Let's just Take a Look at this. $10,000 a year at 8%, it's going to take you $10,000 a year, 8%, it's going to take YOU 7.6 years to hit that first $100,000. To hit that first $00,000. That feels like a lot. And the reality is, is that it is, okay, so 70 to 80% of the building of that hundred thousand dollars is coming from your efforts, from your contributions. And that's why it feels like you're not getting ahead. But watch what happens around year 20.5. So 20 and a half years in, you hit $500,000, okay? Now you're sitting back saying, wait a second. So it took me 20 and a half years to hit the half a million dollar mark. But if I'm trying to hit a million, oh, my gosh, this is hard because now do I have another 20 and a half years? No. See, remember, don't tap out before the magic shows up in that this compresses time. You have gone. You have gone from the well flatline into what I call you've gotten through the curve, but into what I call the acceleration zone. And by doing that, this million dollars, $1.0 million only takes you an additional 7.5 years. That's all it does now. Now all of a sudden you look at and go, wait a second. Same habits, same effort. That's compound compounding. It hides before it hits. And so now you sit back and you look at it and go, you let that, look that, look that in the eye and say, well, let's just put some real numbers to it and see what it looks like in real life. Let's assume you have two people, okay? And they start the same $10,000 a year at age 30, okay? And we'll use Bobby. Bobby gets frustrated and he literally quits after five years. In other words, he puts 50,000 in $10,000 a year over five years. And he's in the middle of the flatline. And Bobby says, I'm done. This is stupid. It's not working. And he gets off the train. And then Jane, she's sitting back and saying, okay, $10,000 a year, age 30. And she keeps saving the $10,000 a year for 25 years. So from age 30 to 55, okay, so she puts in a total of $250,000, okay, so she put in a lot more than Bobby. But here's the thing. Bobby at the end of that time frame is only going to have $62,000. His 50,000 plus 12, about $12,000 in growth. So $62,000 is what he ends up with. Jane, on the other hand, she put in 250,000. But now, with compounding, it grew to almost $800,000, $789,000, literally. Look at this. That's. That's more than half a million dollars of growth. Not savings growth. So literally, the growth was. Was 200%. Two times what she put in. Same income, same plan. The difference. One quit in the flatline, the other didn't. Now, trust me, I've been there, okay? I started investing. I got scared, I got out. I also was investing early on. And then when I quit my job to move to Japan, I cashed out my 401k both times I was in the flatline, and I got out. The problem is that when you. When you get out of the game, you actually have to go to the start again, because you will always, no matter where you are, you have to get through that flat line. And it sucks, but it's what's gonna rocket your net worth. All that effort for this. You sit back and I go, ugh. Okay, so if you're in the flat line right now, don't make the mistake, okay? Don't make the mistake that. That a lot of people make. This is the time that you're just charging up. Your money machine's charging up, and when it releases, that's when your. Your net worth explodes. It just goes crazy. So let's just talk about the phases of the flat line, the flat line, and. Or the curve, if. If you will. The flat line portion, I call that the grind. That. That's really it. You're building muscle. Okay? That's years zero through maybe eight years, okay? You don't have momentum. Your contributions are putting more in than the returns. Remember that. That first hundred thousand, almost 80% of it was from contributions. The money you invested versus 30, you know, 20% was from. From the earnings. Okay? This is about discipline versus dopamine. You're not going to get this good form, warm, fuzzy feeling during the flatline, but you have to stay the course. If we don't stay the course, we have to go back to the start. And if we ever intend to be financially free to build that money machine, we're going to have to get through the flatline. So we might as well do it once instead of multiple times, okay? Then once you get beyond year eight, all of a sudden you start to turn the curve. And this is the acceleration zone. This is where momentum is going to build. And this is probably from years 8 to 20 or so compounding starts to wake up. It's like you jacked it up on a bunch of espressos, okay? And your turns start to match your contributions. Meaning if I put 10,000 in, I'm making 10,000 also on the invested funds or more, okay? And they start to match. And finally, all of a sudden, you start to go, wait a second. This guy Mel isn't such an idiot. He's. He's getting. This is. This is starting to work. The proof is that boring works. And then you get into that curve, the upper part of it. This is the explosion zone. This is after, you know, 20 years or so, maybe 15 years, depending on how much you're putting. This is the money machine. Now all of a sudden, your returns are outrunning your effort. Like. Like you're putting $100,000 in, but the portfolio is generating 500,000. Okay? This. Now I get it. People. People will look at this and, well, it must be nice. And you smile because you remember that the flat line wasn't nice. It sucked, okay? But you actually built something that is meaningful, and now you have a money machine that has your money working harder for you than you did for it. That's the subtitle of my book. That's the very purpose of being on this journey. Because when your money is working harder for you than you did for it, and you have the ability to have it pay for your lifestyle, you live a life of choice, okay? You get to choose what you do each, each and every day. Because you are not driven by the demands of bills, expenses, or the days. You get to choose. So how do you survive that suck, okay? Because we have to get through it. The first thing is this. I think you one automate discipline instead of using willpower, okay? Because if you rely on willpower, Amazon's going to win you, okay? Instagram is going to win. It's why I got a $900 coffee maker, okay? Make your savings automatic. That flatline the money you're putting away. Make it automatic. Get yourself on a plan where automatically when. When money hits your bank account, it automatically gets transferred out of sight, out of mind, and starts doing the work it's supposed to do. Number two, focus on the process, not the pace. Wealth creation is a lifelong journey. It's a marathon. It's not some TikTok trend. It's not some fast meme. Track it yearly, not daily. If you do it daily, it's going to freak you out. You're going to go this is useless. Okay? Look at it yearly. Think about this. This year alone, in April, the stock market was down 19%. Now we're up almost that. Okay, so here's the thing. You can't look at the up peaks and valleys in every single day, especially in that flat line, because it's going to drive you batty. It's going to disappoint you, it's going to depress you. Look at it yearly. Focus on the process, not the pace. Number three, increase the fuel. Okay? Listen, the bigger the shovel of income you have to put towards this, the faster you're going to get through the flatline. You know, as your income grows, you're going to raise your savings rate. You're going to raise your investment. Even if you put an extra 1% in, it shortens the flat line. More fuel, faster liftoff. So find a way, skill up. Find a way to increase your income. But not only increase your income, because if you increase your income and increase your lifestyle at the same time, it doesn't do you any good. If you're increasing your income, increase the amount you're putting in, the percentage you're putting in to accelerate your path to financial freedom. Pass that flatline. Okay? Number four, protect the machine. Okay? Protect the machine. In other words, avoid consumer debt, destructive debt, that's lifestyle debt. That's your cars that you have to finance for seven, eight years. Ridiculous. Don't ever do it. Protect yourself from consumables that are on debt. If you have to put something on a credit card, it means that you probably can't afford it on payments. Okay? I look at it and say if the payment plan is longer than the enjoyment, then it's probably not affordable. Okay? Get right insurance to make sure that you've protected what you're building. And then be vigilant at the doors of your life. In other words, avoid lifestyle creep. Okay? This is the sneaky villain that comes in wearing Gucci shoes and starts to steal your wealth. Okay? I'm all for living good. I'm all for celebrating. But I'm not all for expanding my lifestyle to such a degree that it is eroding my financial future. So be aware of lifestyle creep. And then number five, remember the compression when it feels pointless. Picture this spring coiling tighter because that's what you're doing. And every choice adds pressure to to the spring. Every choice is compressing it more and more. And this is getting it ready for that future wealth explosion. And stay the course because once you get past that curve, it explodes. Okay? And the reward. Here's the deal, okay? In the end, one day you wake up and your money's hustling harder than you ever did. You're working by choice, not by necessity. You sleep better, you breathe easier, and you realize that the discipline just bought you this piece. See, wealth stops being about the numbers, and it becomes about the freedom of choice. Who you work with, what you do, and how you live. That's the payoff for surviving the suck. And so when we start to understand that, we'll get through the suck because we're driven by the payoffs. So, yeah, I get it. Wealth building at the beginning sucks early on. It really does, because you got to learn things, you got to do things. There's discipline and all that stuff. But I promise you, this suck is temporary, but freedom is forever. If you're grinding through the flatline right now, just, you know what? Drop me a comment. Let me know we're all in this together. We're going to make it through it. And if you're not sure where you are on this financial freedom journey, go get my Financial Freedom Zone Quiz, YourFinancialFreedomZone.com it's totally free. It takes, I don't know, a minute or two to do the quiz. It'll give you a full report of where you are on the journey, what you need to focus on, and what your next steps are, okay? It'll help you on this journey. Okay? But here's the deal. Bottom line is this. Get on the. On the wealth creation curve. Get yourself through that flat line, because on the other side of it, your wealth will explode. It will skyrocket. Okay? It's just the math of compounding at work, but it will not compound with you without you participating and the discipline to stay the course. So I hope that this helps. I hope that you are now sitting back going, all right, I just got to get through this. And you know where the. The phases and the stages of. Of the curve are, okay? If you have questions or. Or comments or something about it, let me know where you're at. Let me know so we can have this dialogue. You don't have to do this siloed. You don't have to do it isolated. That's why I'm creating the content. That's why I do the things that I do, is I want to guide you on the way. I want to support you on the way. I want to help you on the way. All right? I hope that this was valuable, and if you haven't done so already, make sure you subscribe. And while you're at it, why don't you share it out with a friend? It's always more fun building wealth with with a friend. Let's do it with people we care about. All right. Until I get a chance to see you on the road out there when I'm speaking, or maybe on your path to financial freedom. As I always say, always, always strive to live a life without lose you. See you in the next one. Thank you for listening to the affluent entrepreneurship with me, your host, Mel Abraham. If you want to achieve financial liberation to create an affluent lifestyle, join me in the affluent entrepreneur Facebook group now by going to melabraham.com group and I'll see you.

And that's it for this episode of Building your Money Machine where we help you learn how to master your money, eliminate financial stress, and live a life of choice. If you found this valuable or helpful to you, here's what I'd love for you to do. If you do me a favor, go to Apple, Apple Podcast, or wherever you're listening to this podcast and rate and review the show. It helps us tremendously to keep us the top of the list so we can continue to get this information and this message out to people. Because I truly believe that financial freedom is your birthright and I want to help each and every one of you claim it. Thanks so much.