Regardless of how negative the current financial news cycle has become, one influential entrepreneur is offering his best advice to help others steer clear and aim for future prosperity. Forget recessions, market collapses and higher debt, and keep your focus on building better days to come.
This was the approach of podcast host Brian Buffini, on the most recent episode of his popular program, It's a Good Life.
The goal of Buffini's program was to share some simple, yet profoundly impactful, advice to help listeners rise above the negativity in the financial news. And also to become a millionaire.
"This is not just something I've studied. This is not just something I've read about, which I have. This is something I've lived in my own life. I've been a millionaire since I was 26 years of age," Buffini began. "And I don't really ever talk about that. I don't know if I've ever even said that before. But a lot of you on the podcast, being new to me and what I do, and so I wanted to share with you. There's some great principles here that I want to help you."
Buffini came to America from Ireland with only a few bucks in his pocket, before suffering a major motorcycle accident that left him thousands of dollars in medical debt. He earned his real estate agent license, and eventually built a company dedicated to coaching and teaching other agents to attain higher levels of success. Over time, he repaid his loans and began to grow a substantial net worth.
"We have to understand that the culture's view toward money, the typical person's view toward money, what's promoted on TV, what's marketed, is not a formula for success financially. The culture's view is success, economic success, is the ability to buy more stuff, and then typically people have to go work much harder to go and afford the things that they bought," Buffini said. "And typically people are paying for that which they can't afford just yet. So they're paying with future earnings. They're paying with future interest expenses. And they're on the wrong side of it."
One can rely on Fox Business or CNBC for the day's macro-economic news or latest stock quotes, but Buffini believes the key to success is much more personal and habit-driven. And once you have an individual plan, your personal financial transformation will begin to happen.
"The first thing, before we get into investing and how to go build a fortune, is that you have to first go to work, you build your business, you do the things you need to do. You have to have a working budget. You have to spend less money than you make," Buffini, author of the hit book, The Emigrant Edge: How to Make it Big in America, said. "You have to control what goes out. It's the one thing you're in total control of. You have to control what goes out. And then if you will do that, then you can earn more than you are currently spending. Then you can create what's called a surplus."
Buffini says the American culture needs to look past the divisive labels some attach to millionaires. He says the goal should be to be able to invest whatever surplus we have, in order to grow it and be able to do amazing good for our families, friends and those in need.
"I know full well that the majority of people listening to this today may have some financial difficulties or challenges, but I want to paint a picture of where you can get there," Buffini said. "If the son of a house painter from the southside of Dublin can build himself a fortune 30 years ago, and build it up and create it that it becomes generational. Without being the smartest guy in his school. Without all the different advantages. I came to America, I got run over by a car. In and out of hospitals and lots of bills and had kind of a tough start. And I built a fortune, well by golly anyone listening to this can."
Buffini reviewed the economic "state of the union," and it's not pretty.
He said the average retirement age in America is 63.
The median retirement savings in the country is only $17,000.
One in three people has saved zero dollars for retirement.
The average savings for an American is only $4400.
73% of Americans have less than $1000 in savings.
The average household has $132,000 in debt.
Yet, to put it in perspective, Buffini says the poorest Americans still rank in the top 20% of earners worldwide.
So how can Americans gain control, build a fortune and become able to help others in need? Buffini lays out these tips, along with the biggest decision that he says can lead one to become a millionaire.
Invest in what you know.
He quotes Warren Buffet, who said, "Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway."
Think long-term.
"We are not long-term culture anymore," Buffini said. "Even financially, it used to be companies would analyze by the quarter. Then it became the mid-quarter, and now it's by the day. The dynamic is, if you plant three seeds in the ground and you pull them up two or three days later to see if they've grown, good luck with that."
Stay the course.
"You gotta be consistent is what that means. If compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world, the one thing you've gotta have for compounding to take place is consistency," he said.
Re-evaluate annually.
"Peter Lynch, who was really the leader of Fidelity fund management, said know what you own and know why you own it. You're re-evaluating annually, and you're saying ok, here's how it did and here's how it didn't do. Here's what I was hoping for, and here's what we got," Buffini said on the program.
"Now if you're willing to hold down your expenses and what you spend money on, you'll create more income than you have expense and you'll create the surplus," Buffini said, getting to the biggest decision that he says can make someone a millionaire. "And with that surplus I want you to then make this decision. And if you'll make this decision, you can become a millionaire, you can build a fortune. You can change your family's fortune for generations to come."
Decide what you want most - appreciation or cash flow.
"The vast majority of people shoot for both things at the same time, unintentionally, and miss both targets," Buffini said, calling on his 30-years of real estate and coaching experience. "Well of course we want both. I want to be able to eat ice cream and lose weight. I want to be able to not work out and get fitter. I want both! The truth of the matter is that when you try to have both things happen, usually neither one does."
Buffini says if we'll focus on one, oftentimes we'll naturally see some of the other. But without focus, most people can guarantee neither.
Profound advice from someone who started with nothing, fought through adversity to accomplish a great deal and has helped others walk the path toward earning that same success for themselves.
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