I was listening to my mentor, Jim Rohn, the other day as he was sharing the stages of making money. He had such a way of saying things so simply that you can’t help but learn and be entertained at the same time. So when he started talking about the stages of making money and what we should strive for, I was all ears. I’m hoping you are too and can learn from what he shared. Let’s look at the stages now…
Stage 1: Survival
The first stage is what we all kind of inherently learn. We have to learn to be productive enough to survive. We have to be able to produce enough money for ourselves. When you’re in high school and college, you’re parents most likely were your source of money. Some of us worked our way through high school and college, making our own money. But we still needed a place to live and a little help from our parents along the way. When you can produce enough for yourself, you have finished Stage 1.
Stage 2: Married Money
This is where you need to produce more than you need for yourself. You have to produce enough for someone else…your spouse. This is when your money becomes “married money.” Your goal is to make money to support you both. Your spouse may make money too, but what if you could make enough to support you both? Then their money is all savings and investments. Isn’t that something? Sure, you could just worry about yourself and produce enough just for yourself, but like Mr. Rohn said, “Thinking only of yourself is a very limited way to live.”
Stage 3: Family Money
This is where you make enough money for you, your spouse, and your kids. Well, why would you want to do that? You could simply survive by making money for yourself, but that can be a lonely life. Survival is okay, but it’s not the good life. You need to produce enough for yourself and your family. This kind of thinking and effort is that of the good life.
Stage 4: More Money
This is where you figure out how to make more money than you need for you, your spouse, and your family. But why would you do that? Mr. Rohn has the answer. He says, “to live the higher life.” Wouldn’t it be nice to be generous…to support worthy projects…to give back to society? Making more money will allow you to do that.
Stage 5: Much More Money
Now why would you want to make much more money? This is so you can live that really, really, high life!!! No, not for your own greed, but so you can give even more back. Let’s say you’re making tons of money, like 10 million a year, but you only “need” 3 million to live each year. That leaves you 7 million a year to make a difference in this world? Could you make a difference with 7 million dollars? I bet you could!!!
Stage 6: Far More Money
This is the crème de la crème. This is where you make so much money and wealth that you can help others create wealth for themselves. For example, starting a company where employees can build their own wealth by using what you’ve built. Wouldn’t that be something? To be able to say that you not only created wealth for yourself, but you created wealth for many, many people. You may ask why you would want to do that? Mr. Rohn asks you, “Why not?”
The Takeaway
Sure, we can all go through life selfishly, only earning what we need to survive, but what a limited way to live. If you want to live the higher life, then you have to reach the higher stages of making money. Once you finish one stage, start working on the next. Hopefully, every adult has finished Stage 1 of survival and can support themselves. There are some who cannot, and that’s okay. Stage 1 is still there to be achieved. For the rest of us, we’re obligated to do our best for our spouse, our family, and our society.
It’s my dream to reach Stage 6 one day. I am currently in Stage 3. You may ask how come, at 46 years of age, I’m still in Stage 3. That’s because I got into Stage 4 as an employee, but realized that if I want to hit Stage 5 and Stage 6, I have to have my own business and drive my own success. So, I stepped back into the struggle to build a foundation to live that higher life. I’m not sure I can get there, but I’m giving it a shot and doing my best!!!
I challenge you to think bigger than yourself and work your way through these stages of money. If you’re thinking, “Why?”, I’ll respond with Mr. Rohn’s words…”Why not?”