We have understood that a person who decides to save 40% of their income and live on the remaining 60% should first focus on reducing their expenses to a minimum. The truth is that cutting expenses alone is generally not enough to manage this crisis effectively. One must always combine expense reduction with income increase.

Example:

Problem: Jean has a monthly income of 1,111.10 Euros. His fixed expenses currently amount to 950.00 Euros. After giving a 10% tithe to his local church, he is left with 1,000.00 Euros. Jean wants to save 40%, which is 400 Euros each month for two years to achieve a project that requires a minimum capital of 9,600.00 Euros (400 x 24 months).

Solution: Since Jean needs to save 400 Euros, he must have 600.00 Euros per month to cover all his expenses, which currently amount to 950.00 Euros.

a) Jean will scrutinize all his expenses. He will manage to eliminate 150 Euros from his expenses, reducing them from 950.00 Euros to 800.00 Euros. At this point, Jean has only partially solved his problem. He still needs to find an additional 200.00 Euros (600.00 Euros – 800.00 Euros) to balance his budget.

b) Jean will need to earn an additional 200.00 Euros each month to resolve his issue. He must find this money to avoid being troubled by his creditors.

Wanting to Earn Money is Different from Needing to Earn Money

Anyone who embarks on the path of wealth creation should, in my opinion, understand the difference between “wanting” and “needing.” The majority of people on this planet want to earn a lot of money for various reasons. Personally, I think it is very difficult to find someone who wants to earn less money.

However, what we observe is that among all those who want to earn a lot of money, only a few succeed. When we listen to the testimonies of this handful of people who have managed to earn a lot of money, we realize they felt driven by something much greater than “wanting.” This additional force that pushed them towards achieving their dreams is what I call “needing.”

I consider that a person who wants to earn a lot of money is someone who believes they have the choice between earning a lot and not earning much. This person will find it very difficult to make the sacrifices related to wealth creation. They will be tempted to make the minimum effort, which will only allow them to obtain the minimum that life has to offer in terms of finances.

A person driven by “needing” is someone who believes they have the duty to earn a lot of money. This is a person who feels they have no choice but to earn a lot of money. Unlike someone who merely wants to earn, the one who needs to earn is ready to do whatever it takes to succeed. This person just needs to be given the recipe so they can immediately get to work. These people are not afraid of the sacrifices they will have to make to succeed. What scares them is not being able to achieve it. They tell themselves that they will be in trouble if they do not earn a lot of money.

We can question the origin of this “needing” or why some people are driven by it while others are not. Personally, I think it is the circumstances or context of each individual that determine whether they are in “wanting” or “needing.” Some circumstances give us a choice (wanting) and others impose a choice on us (needing). For instance, a physically healthy person has the choice between eating fatty foods and eating less fatty foods. This same person will feel compelled to eat less fatty foods the day a doctor informs them they suffer from cardiovascular disease.

The doctor’s diagnosis will give them the strength to stop eating fatty foods. This person can say that the necessity of eating less fatty food was imposed by their illness. Anyone who walks has the choice between walking and running. The moment this same person sees a rabid dog running towards them, they will feel compelled to run. The necessity to run was imposed by the context.

In terms of wealth creation, some contexts may give us the choice between earning a lot of money or earning little, while others may compel us to earn a lot…

This text is an excerpt from the book “MASTERING THE ART OF SAVING” written by Dominique MBOG.

We invite you to read the following article “The Back Against the Wall Principle.”