Growing Up Middle Class

To some extent, understanding how money works and making good investments forms part of financial independence. How you think about wealth, about spending and saving, how you define wants over needs, and how you view accumulating wealth all form part of having a financial mindset. The ingredients needed to achieve this are readily available and open to anyone who seeks it, as long as you are disciplined over time. Call it financial literacy, money mindset or wealth oriented - you have to think differently about money if you're not where you want to be in your personal finances.

I was brought up with great values, by wonderful parents, who did everything they could to give us a good life - we never went without the essentials. To this day, my mom still believes some people are born with average wealth and should seek happiness with what little they have. I questioned often: are you just born into financial independence? Are only those in the financial industry (and their heirs) able to access secrets to become wealthy? A great mentor in the mind-shift space, Ed Mylett, said:

The middle class is the toughest to get out of. You don't hurt enough to want to get out, even if you wish for better.

The middle class is where I come from; I had hopes to be an independent entrepreneur, but my parents always said:

...why do you want to own the business - work for the business owner let him have all the headaches, while you earn your pay.

I struggled with that for a long time, I wonder how much of it hijacked my success throughout the years?

My experience shows that foundational to a financial mindset is asking questions. Be prepared to learn "how to think", rather than "what to think". How to think involves critical thinking and asking yourself why you make those decisions. Then, find  a different perspective, all the while keeping your eye on the goal. Goal setting is important, but understanding how to approach the goal requires critical thinking - developed through practice.

Being financially literate affects your mindset, their effect multiply on each other. Building wealth happens over time, it's not about getting rich quick, even though lucky breaks can happen - I feel they're few and far between.