Navigating the Building Phase of Your Career: Constructing a Strong Foundation

If you do this phase of your life right, it's probably going to be one of the hardest things you do in your life. For me, this building phase was from a negative net worth, to a net worth over $500,000 in around 5 years. Do I still have more to go in this phase? Yes, I don't ever plan to go away from the fundamentals that got me there. However, now there is the added bonus of that money working alongside my earned income.

As Billionaire Charlie Munger says, "The first $100,000 is a bitch." Translated to today's dollars compared to when he got his first $100,000, that is like getting your first $1,100,000.

I think that most people actually do have the ability to do this in a relatively short period of time. It's just that their priorities are elsewhere and they value things above doing this. I don't blame them or think less of them. People start a family, want to fit it with society and buy the toys, houses and trips. I gave those things up.

Can you go through the building phase without the hardship and sacrifice? Maybe if you've got a great mindset and extreme optimism. However, I don't think you want to make it easy. Looking back some of my proudest moments were when it hurt the most and I kept going anyway. You learn a lot about life and yourself in those moments.

There isn't anything complex about this phase. The simplicity of it is that you make money, and spend much less than you earn. You take that money and either use it to improve your ability to earn money or invest it in something secure.

Do this automatically with every single pay check you get. Set a ratio that works for you and stick to it. You may need to adjust the ratios as you go, but just get started doing this system. You might find that accumulating money is more fun than spending it. I did.

I started with saving 10% of my income from age 18-22. Then I decided to make it 50% when I started earning money from age 22-27.

No matter your pace, just start making progress. It's in the process towards a worthy goal where the enjoyment and genuine pride comes from.