You are on Downtown Money because you do not want to be the 9-5er forever.

 

You want to be in Japan on a Tuesday evening eating fried dumplings while your business is generating an income without you present.

 

You want to own a stunning condo in the downtown core and drive to your office in that beautiful Audi R8 when required.

 

You also went to school hoping all this will come true for you.

 

If it did, wonderful, you can move on to the next post: can I afford a Porsche?

 

If it didn’t, than welcome to after school…school.

 

3 Lessons They Didn’t Teach You in School

 

Lesson 1: You won’t get rich working a salaried job. 

 

We have all been trained to believe that getting good grades and going to a prestigious university is the path to riches.

 

Wrong.

 

The only way you can get financially rich through salary is by becoming a doctor, lawyer or another typical very high paying career.

 

The issue is that these positions are becoming extremely saturated thus making the competition very high.

 

The cost to attain degrees in these fields are also extremely expensive and students usually carry their debts for many years after getting a job.

 

Finally, it requires much more time to get a degree in law or medicine which carries a large opportunity cost.

 

Once you finally become a doctor, lawyer, etc. you can now expect to work long hours for the first few years at minimum which is the opposite of the lifestyle most of us are looking for.

 

So what do you do?

 

The #1 way to get rich is to create your own business. 

 

You do not have to create the next light bulb or reinvent the wheel to become rich. You simply need to follow the path that has been paved for us. If you start now, you will be thanking yourself in 5 years.

 

Lesson 2: Saving will not make you rich.

 

If you are already rich and close to retirement, by all means, save all you want.

 

But if you are a millennial like myself…you cannot afford to save.

 

If you have a lump sum of money and are able to qualify for a mortgage, I highly recommend purchasing real estate in a good area.

 

You do not need to buy a house in order to make money.

 

A condominium in a good location can appreciate.

 

I bought my condo in February 2017 and as of Sept 2018, it has appreciated about 23%.

 

This means that my original down payment on the place has given me a potential 120% return if I were to sell today.

 

If you cannot purchase property, there are still much better alternatives to simply saving.

 

Look into investing into some blue chip stocks. They are very liquid and much more stable. Many of them also offer healthy dividends.

 

From personal experience, most millennial do not invest into the stock market for two reasons: 1. They do not understand it. 2. They are scared.

 

If you know nothing about stocks and investing in general, that’s okay!

 

But you need to start learning.

 

I started my finance journey by reading Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki when I was about 9 years old.

 

It’s simple to read and will teach you some difference in how the “poor dad” thinks compared to the “rich dad”.

 

If you let fear dictate your life, do not expect to get rich.

 

 

Lesson 3: Sales

 

This is by far the most important lesson they did not teach in school:

 

Sales is the blood of every business out there. Without sales teams, we wouldn’t live the life we do today.

 

Sales is explaining the benefits of a product/service and how it can help you.

 

Every one should know basic sales skills. Whether you are looking for a job and need to sell yourself or creating your own business…you need to sell. Heck, in order to get a girlfriend/boyfriend you need to sell your self!

 

Why wasn’t this valuable skill taught in school? Perhaps sales skills are something people are simply born with? Incorrect.

 

Sales skills are developed.

 

This is the skill that makes billionaires. I think that is why they didn’t teach it to us.

 

 

Final Thoughts:

 

Go to school.

 

This article isn’t created to justify skipping class.

 

Everyone needs an education.

 

What you do need to understand is that learning does not stop once school is done.

 

Every entrepreneur out there will tell you that the learning never stops.

 

What finance lessons do you wish you were taught in school?

 

Class dismissed.