Magic Numbers

What does it takes to become a millionaire? What is your magic number?

“It doesn't matter whether you earn ten thousand dollars a year or a million dollars a year as long as you've done the best you can. The essence of life is growth. It is doing the best you possibly can. Here's what is interesting: humans are the only life form that will do less than they possibly can. Humans are the only life form that will settle for less. All other life forms except human beings strive to their maximum capacity.” Jim Rohn, the world's leading motivational speaker, philosopher and entrepreneur.

In November 2005, MSN Money published a poll about how much it took to consider yourself rich, and 11,459 people responded. Here are the results:

3% $100,000
8% $500,000
19% $1,000,000
19% $2,000,000
25% $5,000,000
26% more than $5,000,000

More than half of the respondents thought it takes at least $5,000,000 to be rich. Some one ever said that if you ever get $5,000 in the bank you would be rich.

Jim Rohn says we should earn all we can (and give away all we can). How much are you going for, and what are you doing to get it? And, the big question, why?

It’s Not Really “How Much?” But “What For?”

A book on my “must read” list is “The Number: A Completely Different Way To Think About The Rest Of Your Life” by Lee Eisenberg. I came across it at www.corecharacter.com. It has many great philosophy and interesting articles.

The idea behind the book is that our financial planning should produce a magic number – a dollar amount that would make us “feel financially secure and not worry about running out of money.” But, Eisenberg says, that’s “only half of the story.” Before determining a dollar amount, we need to know why we want it.

“It’s not really ‘how much?’ but ‘what for?’" Eisenberg says. “And if you can’t ask the two questions at the same time, first ask ‘what for?’ Then worry about finding how you need to get there.”

Perhaps that principle applies equally to all aspects of what we do, every goal we have, and not just money. “What do I need and what do I need it for?”