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Can you really skip these recommended steps if you want to get rich?
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There is a lot of advice out there about things you’ll need to do if you want to become financially comfortable. Some of these “must-do” tasks can be very challenging for some people, while others may not seem very desirable.
But do you actually have to adopt all of the recommended habits if you want a big bank account balance and lots of money in your brokerage account?
Finance expert Ramit Sethi doesn’t think so. In fact, he says there are five commonly recommended steps to wealth that you don’t actually have to take at all.
Ramit Sethi says you can skip these five things and still be a financial success
According to Sethi, it’s possible to be rich without doing these five things that finance experts often suggest are vital to wealth-building:
Checking account balances dailyOwning real estateStudying the marketsHiring a financial advisorBecoming obsessed with money
On Twitter, Sethi said, “You can avoid every one of those things and still live a Rich Life.”
Is Sethi right?
Reading this list might surprise you, especially if you’ve been looking for financial advice to help you become wealthier. A lot of suggestions surrounding wealth-building would require you to become obsessed with some aspect of money management. For example, if you’re making a detailed budget, allocating every dollar, and tracking spending, this could border on obsessive behavior. It may also sound so unpleasant that you decide to give up on the idea of becoming wealthy.
The good news is, Sethi is right that you don’t have to do this. You do need to make sure you are living on less than you earn — but you can approach this in a lot of ways that don’t require you to become obsessed (such as by automating your investments and bill payments and knowing you can freely spend anything that’s left over on whatever you want).
Owning real estate is also touted as one of the surest paths to wealth — and with good reason, as homeowners generally have higher net worths than renters. But Sethi is right that it is possible to become rich without getting a mortgage and buying a house. If renting is cheaper than buying, you could rent and invest the difference and still amass a fortune.
Sethi is also correct that you don’t need to hire a financial advisor or study the markets to grow wealth. You can invest in index funds with little or no investment knowledge, and you can easily figure out how to manage and invest your money without hiring a financial advisor simply by doing a little bit of reading and using a brokerage account.
As for checking account balances daily, this could actually backfire on you since you could make wrong decisions based on short-term trends if you get motivated by fear. It’s better to check in less often, especially if you’ve invested in index funds that have a solid track record of growth and present limited risk.
There are many paths to wealth
The bottom line is, Sethi is spot on. You do not have to do any of these five things if you don’t want to. You can create your own path to a rich life by taking the money management steps that actually make sense for you and feel good to you.
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