A few years ago I began to ask myself some valuable questions. The first question being, Why is it that most people do not make it After all, the World Bank once considered Australia to be the wealthiest nation on the planet. Unfortunately, now the standard of living for many Australians is dropping rapidly, despite our politicians trying to convince us otherwise. With all the wealth that still exists, why is it that so few Australians get to share in it What is going on that limits us to sharing in only a fraction of this countries wealth, and what can we do about it

The other thing I was very curious about was why there are some people that start with nothing and become millionaires, some people even in their early 20s, and there are a lot of examples of that in Australia right now. Some people in their 30s, 40s or 50s there is no age limit for financial success. But there are other people who seem much more intelligent, often with a higher education, that in terms of achieving financial success, fail and their lives are filled with hard work and struggle. What is the difference between the two Is it luck that has some people acquire wealth, perhaps they buy more lotto tickets Do they marry into money, or inherit it Or is there a bit more to it

Let us then look at the success formula that most people have been following. That of going to school, getting a good education and then working long and hard until retirement. It is interesting to note the people following this formula, which is nearly 96% of the population, are the ones who generally by the age of 65 end up dead, dead broke, on a pension or need the family to support them. I have been dead broke before and at one stage I thought that dead would have been better and I am glad I did not take that option, but some people do.

4% of the population become what we call "Financially Independent" which means that at age 65 they are able to stop working and continue to live a comfortable lifestyle. It does not mean they are rich. It just means they have enough money coming in to support them, usually around $42,000 per annum. 1% of the population at age 65 will become what we call "Rich". The Australian Bureau of Statistics classifies "rich" as having a net worth in excess of $1 million dollars. A million dollars used to be a lot of money years ago, but by todays standards, it is not that much. In the future, most people will become millionaires just by paying their house off over 20 or 30 years. There are about 200,000 millionaires in Australia, but even then, do these people necessarily have lifestyle Remember, what we are trying to learn is how to achieve lifestyle, and lifestyle = time + money.

There are many people that become millionaires but still lack time and money. In other words, they need to keep on working. They become what we call asset rich and cashflow poor. You probably know some people like that maybe even intimately. Becoming asset rich and cashflow poor is really not the idea. Having money stuck away that can not be used is pointless. There are many people who die with it and there is not a lot of lifestyle in that. Sadly, the percentage of people that actually have the quality of life they would really like is very small.

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