Everyday I run into to new entrepreneurs who tell me about their “business venture” and how they are going to change the world. After they tell me this, I immediately ask them this one simple question:
Why are you an entrepreneur?
And you can probably guess what the most common response is…
I want to be rich!
Then, when I start digging deeper to find out why they want to make a lot of money, it’s almost always because they want to live a comfortable lifestyle so they don’t have to worry about money.
That’s usually when I always think to myself, “how much money does one really need to live comfortably”?
Don’t get me wrong, I am also an entrepreneur because I want to make money, but I quickly learned that you don’t need as much money as you would think to live comfortably.
How much money does Neil need?
I’m not going to tell you how much money I make each month, but I’ll tell you that I live a pretty comfortable lifestyle without stretching myself thin. Just for a moment, lets look at my monthly expenses:
Life insurance: $225
Mortgage (includes property tax and home owners dues): $3000
Cable TV: $186
Electricity: $15
Gym: $50
Food: $1000 (I eat out a lot)
Partying: $1000 (I work hard and play hard)
Miscellaneous: $500
Total expenses: $5976
Some of you may think that I live a lavish lifestyle and some of you may think that I live a frugal lifestyle. I personally think I am somewhere in the middle.
I’m not married, I don’t have kids, I am currently single and overall I think my expenses are pretty low compared to my income. I know if I got married and had kids my expenses would shoot through the roof. I don’t know what those expenses would entail, but I am assuming that I would need a bigger house and obviously everything else would double if not triple in order to support a family (except the partying of course).
But overall, how much money do you really need? When I was younger I quickly learned that anything above $15,000 in monthly income for me didn’t change my lifestyle. As long as I am single, I can easily live within my means and have a good amount of savings after taxes assuming my income never dips below $15,000 a month. And if it does dip, I can cut back on my expenses to $3500 a month.
How much money do you need?
By no means am I saying that it’s easy to make money, but what I am saying is that you don’t need much to live a comfortable lifestyle. And if you do, it’s because you are putting the added pressure on yourself by buying fancy cars, a really big home, and materialistic objects that you don’t need.
Making millions of dollars is never an easy thing to do. It’s a lot harder to make money than it is to save it. For this reason I am a big believer in living below your means so that you don’t have to stress out about making more and more money each month.
Heck, I even somewhat regret paying $3,000 a month for my home. I probably would have been better off paying $1,000 a month living in a 275 square foot motel room (which I did for 6 months).
Conclusion
The point I am trying to make is that you don’t need much money to live a comfortable lifestyle. If you are trying to be an entrepreneur to make millions of dollars, that’s great! But if you only need to make $10,000 or $20,000 a month to live a great lifestyle, there are much more easier ways to make that money.
If you still want to go through the entrepreneurial path, by all means do so and I’ll even help you along the way. But if you are trying to just live a chill lifestyle here are some ways you make a good living:
- Get a college education – I hate to say it, but it really does help with getting a good job. A person with a college education on average will make a million dollars more throughout their life than someone who doesn’t have one.
- Network, network, network – the people who tend to get paid the most are the ones with big networks. Go to industry conferences that are close to where you live. By doing this you’ll start to meet decision makers who are able to write big checks, and potentially hire you for a lot of money.
- Work hard – I know this point is obvious but you’ll be surprised at how many hours 9 to 5 employees really work. 63% of people work less than 6 hours a day, so if you can start working more efficiently and for 8 hours a day you’re more likely to rise to the top.
- Connect with recruiters – recruiters not only know about hot jobs, but they know about lucrative ones as well. Even if you have a job it’s good to connect with recruiters because they can lead you to a lot of future opportunities. An easy way to connect with them is through LinkedIn.
- Blog – whatever industry you are in, make sure you blog about it. By starting a blog you’ll be perceived as an industry expert. And once you are one not only can you demand higher wages, but you can also take advantage of consulting gigs on the side that will pay a nice hourly wage.
Like I mentioned above, if you want to shoot for the stars and try to become a millionaire, by all means go for it. If you just want to live a comfortable life, you don’t need to be an entrepreneur, you just need to find a high paying job. 
And if you are wondering why I still keep on working, it’s because:
- I have nothing better to do – I really don’t know how to do anything other than being an entrepreneur.
- I suck as an employee – If I were a 9 to 5 employee, I probably would be fired within a few weeks because I suck at dealing with bosses and being stuck in meetings all day.
So how much money do you really need? And why do you need it?
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$15k per month is pretty darn comfortable.
Yeah it is. You can live a very very good life with that kind of money.
But making $15K per month online takes a lot of time
For the majority, while others takeoff online really quickly.
Neil – very true about living comfortably vs. lavishly.
I remember when I met with you a few months ago, the question about why I am an entrepreneur was one of the questions you asked me and I still stand by my answer. I want to be comfortable, but first and foremost I want to work on cool web projects that touch a lot of peoples lives.
I want it to be more about playing the game than the financial results, it’s more rewarding that way anyhow.
Yeah I know what you mean, it’s just more fun
Neil, you know I love this conversation, we’ve had it before. It’s the #1 thing I hear young entrepreneurs mention when I talk to them too.
I ask them the same questions you do, and I share similar figures, it’s amazing how often times people fail to consider money making money or consistency of income.
I’ll give you an example of a friend who lives in Miami. His business isn’t extraordinary, it’s not world famous, not even locally famous. He’s told me he has taken home an average of $300k per year…. for 30 years.
IMO, that rocks!
Personally, as long as I have more than you, I’ll be set.
I agree, 300k a year rocks. Especially when it is consistent like that.
You are already set, you make a lot more than I do.
I dont have a degree! so that i feared for being rejected from interviews! can i make money by doing other thing like ( i do not know ) but is it true? and can u advise me? how to get money from any where!
$300k a year for 30 years – yeah that rocks. But why wasn’t he scaling it up? A couple more investments and he could’ve hit twice that by now.
I’m sure he has other stuff boiling in the pot.
$300k a year is ALOT of money. It wouldtake me 10 years of working to make that much money!
Hey it can happen sooner than you think. The internet provides a lot of amazing opportunities.
Its true internet provides a lot of opportunities but with out self belief it’s going to be really hard. Only few get success from online business
That’s definitely true. Hard work and confidence are major components of the puzzle.
How much money you need it directly depends on the amount of time you spend on your work. 9 to 5 has a fixed income and working full time for yourself is really a big thing and you can easily make good amount of income only you need
Consistency + dedication + perfect business model +have faith on yourself
Very true, depending on what your needs are, you can live the life of your dreams and still have plenty of time off.
a really great article Neil I have followed you off an on for quite a few years but i love your fresh authentic approach to doing business. thanks!!
Thanks Travis, good to have you back
I’m an entrepreneur because I just don’t know how to get a job done unless I’m the one calling the shots.
Money is really not it, though I love the freedom that comes with it, but… I don’t know Neil, just love the fact that I’m impacting positively…
Some people are just like that (me too) and just having the flexibility is worth it.
Personally I go for comfortable living. And on that note, being an entrepreneur to me is more about the freedom (‘be your own boss’) and not so much about the money. Of course, a surge in profits then and now is never unappreciated.
lol, yeah that’s very true. It’s definitely a good feeling not having to clock in everyday. At the same time, you must be able to hold yourself accountable of not becoming lazy.
I think for most people though their lifestyle and monthly expenses expand to consume their level of income. That is the trap of money and consumerism. If you can continue to maintain a lifestyle of $5k in expenses and make $10-20k in salary which is really $7-14k in after tax dollars, you will be successful and comfortable. Unfortunately, I can’t name too many people that can actually do that.
There are a lot of people who do that, but they unfortunately live well above their means. This makes it so it doesn’t last long.
What do you eat for $1000 a month??? I also eat a lot but I can’t spend more than $200-300 a month for food and I am also going to the gym 4-5 times a week.
A lot of restaurant food. Sometimes I pay for others as well.
Nice article Neil, love your stuff! I’m 36, i started my first business when i was 17, sold a nice web design firm when i was 30 which made me revise the whole thing. Living the life i want vs making the most money possible.
I’m with you on how much money do we need. Not a lot! I also live the life i want for about 6k/month (mortgage paid). I also thought i needed 20k per month, turns out i could spend it (of course) but don’t need it! After you’ve made a decent amount of money, you realize that it’s just money, and it’s pretty easy to get your hands on plenty! Easy to lose yourself in the process.
About why do we want to be entrepreneurs, 10 years ago i would have definitely answered money, but now i have to say for the lifestyle!
Keep up the good stuff!
Frank
Thanks Frank. It’s interesting when you actually have that type of liquidity, you realize it’s not as necessary as you imagined to begin with.
Everyone thinks they are in the middle. Even the richest people 1% in the US will call themselves middle-class. And by the way, that’s you! If we’re talking the world, your income (I’m using 200k/yr. based on your minimum numbers) is 182 times that of the average person. Whether you believe it or not, you are SUPER rich and so is anyone else who earns your seemingly meager $15k/month.
I can see what you mean and at the same time it’s really all about perception. In no way I’m saying that I’m better than anyone or make more than X people, I just view rich as a different level.
As first I am glad you spend money and time for enjoy the life!
All you said it is right. In my opinion, why you will need a billions of dollars (what you even cannot spend) and live miserable life, when you can have it both!
We just need to find what we want in our life and make it!
“Good career make your life just more interesting” It is about your personal growing.
Personally, I do not need a lot of money to be happy and satisfied. It is about whom you have around and possibility for a personal growing up in your work and life.
Thanks for sharing this
You bring up some very good points. Having disposable income is great, but if you have no one to share your time with (friends/family) then it’s not as enriching.
Neil,
You do make a good point about how much do we really need. What you do not mention is what happens when we have more than we need. Most people start giving it away – charities, libraries, university wings, etc. It is hard to be charitable when you are unsure if you will be able to feed your kids tomorrow. Comfortable lifestyle comes with the ability to help people.
It is also important to save for a rainy day. Too many people live in the “now” and find themselves helpless when they get hit by a bus or their house burns down.
We want to make more than we need to be able to plan for the future and be in a position to help less fortunate.
You make very good points there. I’m with you on saving money for a rainy day and also the charities. I donate monthly, but it’s not something I wanted to list out publicly.
When people decide they have enough and they want to help others it is a good thing. It would be great if more people would do this because there are a lot of people in this world that don’t have what to eat. We can’t help them all, but we can help some of them at least.
Yea, I wish more people would help out as well…
When you get hit by a bus?
Insurance isn’t that expensive. And you should come to England where healthcare is FREE for everyone.
I was born in England.
Wow. I should list down the level of expenses that I need so I could understand better how much I really need monthly.
With that said, I would like to say that I am an entrepreneur because I want to change the world while living a comfortable life at the same time.
Yeah, it’s definitely a great idea to shoot for a specific goal and go after it while at the same time, making a difference. An awesome spot to be in.
$15k a month is hardly middle class anymore. Middle class for a single individual is probably closer to $3k-$5k a month, at least for most parts of the US and Canada.
That maybe politically correct, but I just view it differently than others.
Maybe I’m missing something here, but how do you have a house that requires a $3000 a month mortgage and only $15 a month for electricity?
Subsidized?
Was wondering the same thing. Typo? Anyway I’m 24, single, my mortgage is roughly $1k but I have a roomie subsidizing half of that
I also live by the work hard/play hard philosophy and live on $4k a month comfortably for now… A few more schekles wouldn’t hurt though!
Great article neil, appreciate the insight.
Lol, I like that (schekles). Yeah a few more would put you in a pretty nice place indeed.
It’s a very very energy efficient building. It’s a small 1 bedroom condo in Seattle.
No phone? 15/month on electricity? No travel related expenses… car, taxi, bus? You ride your bike everywhere?
How much life insurance do you carry that you pay $225 month? Thats alot of insurance with no kids or wife!!!
I love your blog, but to be honest, the numbers presented here just seem to not add up.
Phone and travel get charged to my company (I mainly use my phone for work and I only travel for work). As for transportation I take the train a lot and sometimes taxis, which goes under misc expenses.
As for the life insurance policy amount, no comment.
Hi, I really feel good to read your post, even my childhood days i was always become an entrepreneur, and in my college days i started blogging, but i failed to achieve what i meant for , and i loss my confidence. Now I am again ready to perceive my dream.
You know what, it happens. There have been plenty of times when I’ve been in the dumps. In the interent world, you just got to be persistent .
You have certainly got me thinking. This is a nice insightful article.. but I think entrepreneurship is much more than making money.. its about having control over your life and the perception of having achieved things no matter how immaterial.
Well yeah, control is what people go in for only to realize that they have very little. Instead of your boss being your boss, now you have your clients as your boss or your investors as your boss. It’s not as easy as people make it out to be.
I just need about $30MM depending on the price of this castle:
http://www.makemoneyontheinternet.com/my-20-year-goal-buy-the-guthrie-castle/
Why do I even want to buy a castle? Same reason you listed – nothing better to do. I just think it’d be cool to own a castle named after my family.
The whole money thing is really pointless if you look hard at it. When you die you can’t take it with you.
No point in being the richest man in the graveyard. I agree with you on that one.
Funny – you mention “When you die you can’t take it with you.” in fact neither can you take your life, family, independence (presumably) or anything else. No one pretends that money can go with you, but till that day, it sure makes things easy (or as complex if you want to make it so).
Very true, the point I think people are trying to drive at is to enjoy your time. Chasing money is enjoyable, but it can lose it’s luster if abused.
Neil, you rock man, i love to copy you but today i understand that never copy anyone and do what ever you want but work hard and unique , i want to become a millionaire because i have a dream and i must say if you work in right direction you will achieve your goal in right time…its great man.
Thanks Snap, yeah I feel you on that. It’s not really about copying what I do, is following in someone’s foot steps and mimicking their tenacity and persistency. Get what I mean?
Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you. If you don’t have the passion or drive to keep going when times get rough or when theres no money, then you’re not truly following your passion.
I recently wrote about Mark Boyle, an economics graduate and former businessman, who decided to do an experiment and completely give up money. It was fascinating because he realized that when he completely gave up money, he was more happier and content with his life. While I know this is pretty hard for average people like you and I to do, it really does open up your eyes to wonder “what are we really working so hard towards?” Is it to have Mark Zuckerberg’s bank acc’t? And then what? buy a few lambos? go to the hottest parties?..then what?…
ULTIMATELY the secret to happiness is GIVING. That’s the only thing that’ll truly make you happy and content.
That’s just my two cents..
Frank
Frank I agree with you 100%. People go trying to chase happiness only to realize it’s not there. Happiness is a choice that you can choose to feel right now, regardless of any money situation.
I’m a firm believer that money doesn’t make you happy, but the lack of money can make you miserable. There exists a “happiness ceiling” of sorts with money. Once you make enough that you aren’t worried about being able to pay the bills each month, saving your change so you can afford the subway ride to work, or whether your electricity will be disconnected then more money will not make you any happier.
Some people think it will, but they usually end up miserable because they can never have enough money.
Yeah like I was telling Frank, people go chasing after it expecting to find something that really isn’t there.
$250 seems kind of steep for life insurance. $1M policy?
Groneg,
I was surprised to see 225 a month for Life Insurance since Neil mentioned he is not married and has no children. It just depends on the amount of coverage and the type of policy Neil was comfortable with selecting.
It’s probably life and health combined. I’m 27 and health is like 160 and life is another $50/month for $250K.
Health is separate. Not sure how much I pay for health.
Yea, I decided to get a decent policy.
I don’t want to comment on the size of my policy. Hope you understand.
I’ve been living below my means for many years now while also living very comfortably. Doing so helped me to quit my awesome job to follow one of my other dreams and travel around the world for a year. In fact I’m on the road in Europe right now and will be in Cape Town next week.
IMHO living below your means will enable you to follow your dreams much more easily.
And BTW: another great article Neil and one that actually made me come over to your site to write a comment!
Wow, that sounds amazing! It’s a lot better being able to do something like that when you can do it comfortably rather than doing it when you really shouldn’t.
Yes, $5K is enough for the middle class lifestyle. People run behind money, they will loose their life also and time also
Yes! I agree with you! Don’t chase money.
I almost feel like you should have the converse-conversation. How much are you worth, what can you do to increase your worth?
Working hard and getting a good education makes sense but there are plenty of CEO’s out there that make more than their worth, much more than Presidents even and 100′s of times more than their employees. The truth is once you reach a certain level of wealth making money is either easier or less risky. In essence you get paid just being rich.
Good point. I think there is a certain point where you work less for your money, and have your money work for you. Investing and saving are always encouraged.
Same Here Niel… i just dont know what to do except being an entrepreneur.
I have been in a job, but i soon realized it was not for me. Now i am training myself to be an entrepreneur, learning all the tips and tricks of internet.
I would agree with you on the point people tend to choose entrepreneurship to lead a comfortable life in fact i went for it with the same aim. but by the time it definitely changes when you feel it wasn’t money that brought you here, it was your passion to make difference and to be your own Boss !!
Yeah in the end you have to love what you do. The hard work and passion paying off are the incentive.
Agree !!
I make roughly 1200 dollars a month and that is enough for me to lead a comfortable lifestyle. I don’t party though, don’t have a car and don’t have a mortgage. I can not deal with responsibility and it comes with having copious amounts of money. Every person definition of a comfortable lifestyle is different but it is a mistake to think that having loads of money is the way.
Good points, to each his own. Some people need a car to get to work and have to pay the rent to get by. I think having enough disposable income to do what makes you happy is what is essential. Some people need more, while others need less.
Excellent post! I know a couple of entrepreneurial guys who are totally focused on how much $$$ they make. The walk all over people, and I won’t do business with them. Personally, I’d rather make less and have the folks who work for me as friends and partners, which they are. Sometimes, the business relationship doesn’t work, but I keep them as friends, because I haven’t pulled any fast ones on them.
I agree, a great way to ensure long term success is to empower those you trust most. In my experience it has been friends and family.
Neil,
Excellent “food-for-thought”. I have to agree with your point about getting a college education. If you decide not not to or cannot afford it, you need to find ways to educate yourself. Whether you work for yourself or someone else, you will always benefit by learning more.
Actually, as I read your post again, all your 5 suggestions to make a good living are solid advice for everyone . You’re speaking like someone who might of had a “little” experience here : ).
Thank again – Theresa
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. I get by
Having wife and kids requires more money, but there are still ways to live comfortably on a middle-class income. The goal for me is happiness, and money is only part of the equation. “Time to do what I want” is the ultimate payoff.
I agree, I couldn’t have said it better.
Neil,
Great post!
I wrote about this a few years ago:
http://affiliatebully.com/2007-2008/the-battleplan/
… but with a twist.
Like you’ve done – people need to become clear as to what their “expenses” are (then work out the DAILY number for those expenses). Really important.
That gives great perspective and a very clear goal to then go create automated income streams to “pay for” the various expenses.
Down the line – from the momentum of the positive results – this can result in a very real business online.
Andre
Great points. I couldn’t agree more. Realizes what your expenses are allows for a consistent payment regimen. You know how much you will be in the hole every month, allowing you to plan accordingly.
“I think for most people though their lifestyle and monthly expenses expand to consume their level of income. That is the trap of money and consumerism.”
That statement is the key to becoming wealthy,
IF we can avoid the consumerism trap.
By living below your means and investing the difference,
it is easy to become wealthy.
Especially when you are young and have the advantage of time for your investments to grow.
Great article and topic.
Great points. I agree, investing and making your money work for you is something that should be encouraged more.
If you are trying to just live a “chill lifestyle” geting a college education is very important.
I have also writen a blog post with 4 little tips for students who want to become entrepreneurs (http://goo.gl/E2GpD).
Also networking with people and being a hard worker can help you on the path of living a goof life!
A goof life lol ?
Hmm..
$6K is Neil’s monthly expense = One Year’s pay of an Average Software Engineer [India]
Entrepreneurship looks better to me.
I have a question.
Q: Does rising salary cheques also lead to rise in expenses per month? (not so for me)
Do people who pay you more also expect you to wear branded formal cloths, accessories etc?
Is it really because of their(entrepreneur) expectations that employees spend more or is it internal desire of employee?
I don’t think i will buy expensive cars, homes etc… with expanding business. Can such a person succeed as an entrepreneur in today’s world?
Oops! I asked a lot of questions.
haha yes you did. I can answer all of these with one answer: it depends. It depends on your personality type, and how inclined you are to invest…rather than spend. Good points you brought up though!
How do you spend $2000 a month on eating out and partying? To me, that’s extremely lavish and wasteful. I mean that’d be like eating a $200 steak dinner more than once a week.
My expenses are about $3.5k/month. I’m 25 with a girlfriend and live in the nicest luxury apartments in Charlotte. My rent is $1.5k and credit card (all other expenses) about $2k. I live pretty comfortably, it just blows my mind you spend $3k on eating out and partying.
I go to a lot of business lunches and dinners so it adds up quickly.
if you are in big business then business lunches are very common..so i think $3.5K is not that big amount
Yeah, it’s very normal…
You hit the nail on the head with this post Neil…
I am also single but I own my condo and my car so my expenses are really low. With my condo, all my bills are included in my association fees so again, my expenses are low. But to live comfortably which would include being able to travel and even not work a week or so out of the month, I’d be in heaven if I could earn $10K a month. I’d be dancing on the ceiling and you wouldn’t be able to get me down. But to live comfortably, $2K a month is all I really need. I know, kind of sad but great at the same time.
Enjoyed the post. We are spilling it all in this one.
Adrienne
Well that’s great. As long as you’re perfectly fine with where you’re at, anything more would be a great bonus.
Neil, I was on the same boat before i got married.
Before 9 year i was in to business because i like to do programming and developing different software, but now everything is changes. I run IT Company; develop software and websites because I do business.
Before 5 year I was not able to spend time with my family, because I was on struggling period, but after good success everything is change, saving, policies, good lifestyle, spending time with family. I never thought about steps you mention to follow but, somehow I followed all steps.
About entrepreneurship, I never thought for that even I didn’t know before one of my friends told me that Mitul you are entrepreneur, I said woohh, really!!!.
After you get married, everything changes
Yeah it’s definitely tough to have an entrepreneurial life and a family life at the same time. That’s why I always tell people who aren’t married to take bigger risks.
Yo Neil, I accidentally enabled “Notify me of followup comments via email” and got hit with like 50+ email notifications while sitting in court lol….Is there anyway I can disable it without deleting my comment?
Frank
There should be a message on the bottom of your email that will unsubscribe you.
At first when I saw Life insurance: $225 / month, I thought it was an error and you meant Medical insurance. Dang man, you must be loaded up with life insurance, feel free to add me as a beneficiary.
Will do.
Thanks for this post. The timing is great. I just went over our budget to see where we can cut back. I am preparing to go out on my own and I want to get an idea of how long I could survive without a steady income.
I’m married with 3 kids and I think we can cut back to $4,500/month. That isn’t very comfortable though. We are frugal. I want to be an entrepreneur for the freedom to pursue the projects that interest me most and to build assets that will bring passive income for ultimate financial freedom. I think being an employee holds me back. I want to be more productive and creative. I hate that I can work really hard at work and get great reviews at work and still not get promoted. I want to create my own ladder and climb it at my own pace.
Sometimes you need to step away and take a look at yourself from a different perspective. Then figure out the direction you want to take.
Majority ( if not all problems ) in our life is a result of bad decisions or not really valuing things in life. Everyone wants money but it is good to know what for you need the money and not just to say ” i have money ” , have a goal to do something with the money you earn. And most importantly, never listen or never process in your brain when people say that money solves problems. Brain solves problems.
I agree with you… it’s not money that solves problems, it’s you choosing to be a certain way. Money simply gives you options.
$6k a month? wow, that’s already a good money to spend even when you’re a family man.. really!
It all depends on how you live. You can live with $1000/month for example but if you will earn more I am sure that you will raise your expenses because having money it changes you way of living.
It will and that’s okay. You must still try to live below your means because you never know what will happen in the future.
Yeah it’s not too bad, but it also depends where you’re living.
I think it’s not just that entrepreneur wants to live a comfortable life with the money but it’s mostly about working independently to solve some challenging problem of the world.
The reason why most people dislike 9-5 job is not their pay, but being not able to get a direct recognition from the consumers of their product/service.
I think that’s true to some extent, but I think it’s more of a “grass is greener on the other side” type of scenario.
I could live very comfortably on 3,000 a month. Having been through 4 corporate downsizes in 25 years, with the latest being a month ago, and two of them being with in the past 18 months, I think I’m through with corporate America. My goal is to get myself optimized on the web. I’m a better artisan and writer than I am anything else, even though I’ve worked in IT or Telecom for most of my adult life.
After this last layoff, I decided I was going to do everything I needed to do so that I never work in corporate America again. Right now, I’m a one-woman show. I have enough to get me through about a year, financially, so I don’t have a lot of financial worries – at least for a year.
I’m working from lists and dividing my day (which is usually 12-16 hours, but at home, so not stressful or exhausting) into 2-4 hour times slots. The mornings are used for research and study on web marketing, SEO, brush up on HTML & XML and everything else regarding making a living in the online world.
Afternoons are spent fulfilling orders, answering customer emails, checking inventory levels, re-stocking online where necessary, and meeting with my IRL distribution points -which are all small boutique stores and gift shops that specialize in selling only local artisan items.
Evenings, after 5 pm, are spent being the artisan I am and creating product to sell in my local shops while watching (listening to – lol) a movie, or listening to a book on cd.
Then I go to bed, get up and do it all over again. It’s working – slowly, but it’s working. I’m not out of the red yet, but with the progress I’ve seen in the past month, I should be in the black within 3 months, particularly once I get my sites optimized for traffic. Adsense is a good thing, and so are advertiser affiliate programs.
It’s not easy, and being a one-woman show, I do it all. It’s a LOT of work, but I’m never bored, I can take time off whenever I want to, and I can rearrange my schedule to suit me. If I wake up one morning and just don’t feel like working, I can take the day off if I want and no one tries to pour the corporate guilt trip on me. I’m the only one affected (usually) if I choose not to work. It’s rare when I’m not working right now, though. In around 6 months, I figure I’ll have more time for socializing and non-work-related things.
The key to all this is that I’m passionate about what I do. When people would ask me what I did for work, I used to reply “I’m an IT person.” I had to change that thinking. I’m NOT an IT person anymore and I don’t want to BE one. So now I reply: “I’m a professional artisan.” That interests people. It’s an icebreaker and I’ve turned two people at my local convenience store into repeat customers simply by talking to them.
Networking is important. For an artisan, spending the money to join local guilds is worth every penny. Right now, my studio is my home. At some point it will be in a highly-visible artisan community. I’ve also found that if people can watch me work, they suddenly understand what goes into each piece of hand-made silver jewelry I make; or what is truly required to hand-color the decorative tiles they want for their bathroom, or the series they really want for their dining room, but think is priced too highly.
I’ve heard so many say: “Oh, that’s way too much – I could do that myself.” My internal response is “great honey, then go do it yourself.” My external response is: “would you like to watch how I do it so we can compare techniques? I’m always open to new techniques.” Out comes the wallet.
Right now, I’m poor but happy. I was not poor in my corporate job, but I was extremely unhappy and always mentally exhausted.
I’m an entrepreneur not to get rich, but because it’s time to feed my soul, to be ME, not a corporate drone, and allowing my ability to focus and work smart AND hard benefit ME. I’m the only person who can put a cap on my income. I like that freedom.
Maureen, what are you working on right now.. I’m curious…
Wow Maureen.
I pray for your success !
Neil, this is a great topic — that’s for bringing it up. First of all, I think I would need about $5,000 a month after taxes to be pretty comfortable… I read somewhere that our happiness levels only go up (as it relates to income) until our incomes are at around $60,000 per year. In other words, you’ll definitely be happier if you make $60,000 instead of $36,000 — but your happiness level will stay the same if you’re making $60,000 or $120,000.
Financial freedom is one of the biggest reasons I’m an entrepreneur, but I don’t think it’s the biggest reason. I think that I’m driven by the challenge to do something truly great and live the best life that I possibly can, and I don’t think I can achieve these goals by being an employee at a big corporation.
That’s really interesting… I’d really like to know more about that study. Can you share the link?
Well, here’s the thing for me. I work in sales and easily put in 50-60 hours per week, even more if I am working on a large project or a little short of budget. I enjoy working and my co-workers, people and my customers. But I know how much the company is making and think, Hey, if I enjoy this so much and do well at it maybe I should have my own business and make more money for myself. I’m at a spot now in my life where I am ready for this challenge and really want my own thing. Still searching for the “perfect fit”.
It takes time, sometimes you’ll find yourself discovering what you want without actually looking for it.
Neil,
Suggestion: Earn an extra $1000 a month after taxes so you can start saving. To make it easy, spilt it up in thirds: 1) develop a prudent reserve of 1 year of expenses 2) save for a downpayment for a condo / house 3) stash the rest for retirement (at your age, and with compound interest, you’ll do great!) Just my 2 cents! Joanna
Thanks Joanna, definitely a great idea.
I want to get online Business marketing services.like marketing services like lead generation, market research and analysis, search engine optimization, product launch, product promotion- through print and digital medium, development of website, internet marketing services, e-commerce solution. Can any body give helpful suggestions to me.
Attend conferences and you’ll come across opportunities like this frequently.
i live on exactly $1,00 a month and i live happier than all of you slobs
lol.. I think that’s amazing! If you’re happy then more power to you
Hey Neil, nice post. Been reading through your blog lately — lots of good stuff…I’m starting a new venture and have been looking around the internet for things that might help our group get off the ground.
I’m a musician by trade, and this is something that’s been on my mind lately. “Don’t do it for the money” is a mantra you get taught all the way through school and most of your training if you’re in any type of field in the humanities. The fact that I’m switching towards a business-oriented probably doesn’t sit too well with a lot of people I know, but I’m kind of at a point in my life where I can’t really let such things bother me anymore.
I think it largely has to do with how you phrase it, though. There’s a blog post that you wrote a while ago about how you should hang around rich people if you want to be rich, which probably provoked a lot of criticism, I’m guessing. I think it’s probably more accurate to say that if you want to be successful, you have to be around people who have achieved success. This is true in the arts as well — if you want to get better at your craft, you have to hang around and learn from people who are better than you.
So I think that people should strive to be successful, not rich. Success implies a degree of comfort, but it also implies that there is a level of validation and respect that comes with having produced something of value into the world. For some people, more money just means that they have a greater potential to be bigger consumers — that sort of thing doesn’t give you the feeling of much control, if you ask me.
Think of the quote, ” You lay down with dogs, you come up with fleas” Success really is subjective so however you view it, go for it. It doesn’t have to be “Rich” like mentioned, but be with people who you consider successful
Yeah, I think it’s important to define what “success” means, since it can give you a realistic roadmap of how to get there.
I’m trying to avoid, like you’ve said a number of times, trying to become rich for its own sake because the vast majority of wealthy people I know are pretty unhappy and it’s obvious in the way that they carry themselves in their day to day lives. I suspect that a lot it comes from not having worked for it — most of them have a lot of materialistic goods and are fairly well-traveled, but there’s really no replacing the feeling that you get when you know you’ve produced, as opposed to consumed, something.
I’ve lived pretty close to the poverty level for a while now (being in higher education doesn’t help), but the good thing is that those experiences allowed me get used to living with very little. So anything more I get at this point is only gravy.
Neil,
I like the live on 5k make 15k model. I saw the discussion around life insurance but no mention of disability insurance. Protecting 5-10k of income monthly in event of disability seems like a good idea for most entrepreneurs to secure. What are you thoughts around risk management ?
You could be right. To be honest I have never looked into disability insurance and I don’t know much about it.
I guess I’ll add that to my to-do list.
Neil,
When I didn’t make a lot of money I spent a lot, lived “lavishly”, saved little. Then I started working hard. Real hard. Now that I make good money, I spend less and save more. Earning it makes it all that much more precious.
Just want to add that when you do make money beyond your means definitely look into making the extra cash work for you. Think long term – save for kids, retirement, etc. You’ll probably not want to be working hard at 65…
Thanks for that comment Ravi, I know what you mean. It’s best to get your life set while you’re young and able to rather than frantically trying to figure it out later.
“I am also an entrepreneur because I want to make money, but I quickly learned that you don’t need as much money as you would think to live comfortably.”
I totally agree with you here Neil. We want to make money all our life but we never ask ourselves how much do we really need. We forget to live our lives the proper way because we are concentrating on just making money end we end up being 60 years old and realizing that we didn’t do anything except working all of our life…
Yeah and I’m sure you, like me, don’t want that to be the case, ever. You got to live below your means and then enjoy at the same time.
There is no point in making money if you are not able to enjoy your life. Make money but spend some of them in order to fill your needs and desires and don’t forget that time never stops.
Yep, money definitely gives you the options you need to live a better life.
Great article. I still don’t think I would need as much as you but there is a certain amount of convenience involved so i can understand the large sum it amounts to. I will be there someday I know it.
I’m sure you will be there too, you just got to push yourself to the limits.
thnx for sharing Neil! i truly agree with you on the 5 ways to make a good living. particulary, point #5. especially now, i believe it is absolutely essential for people to start their own blogs to talk about the things they are passionate about.
once again, thx a lot for the awesome content you keep sharing with the community.
It’s all my pleasure Giber, glad you find it useful
Thanks for such an enlightening post. I seldom find write ups on topics like these presented the way you’ve presented it. Living clean is the best thing to go. Keep it up.
Thanks Andrew, glad you found it useful.
I find one of the best ways to get spending under control is to always use my credit cards and download the transactions to Quicken. That way I know exactly what goes where. It can be quite enlightening. And sometimes a bit painful.
It’s a great way to keep yourself organize and like you said, under control.
Hey Neil,
$225/month on life insurance, is that just for you? If so, maybe I can find you a better rate?
Yes, but I am happy with my policy. It may sound like a lot, but I have really good coverage.
You were right neil, my only suggestion is whatever money you are earning make sure you kept aside something for your future which may help you to deal in any emergency.
Yeah that’s why it’s always best to live below your means.
You can’t live spending all of you money. You have to secure something for the future too because you can never know when things will not go the way you want anymore. The thing in life is that we never know what the future holds for us. This is why we have to try to make a better living every day.
There will always be downs so it’s best to stay ahead by preparing yourself.
I live in a country with small wages, so making 2000 bucks/month really helps having a pretty decent lifestyle. I don’t party, I don’t spend money as I used to, so , just getting this money/month is pretty comfortable, since I maybe spend 1000. I don’t need to pay for a house (will inherit my folks apartment), my car will be paid off next year, I don’t go to shopping sprees too much either.
I do like to travel though, so this will surely spike my costs in the future. When we’ll have a family, this money will be enough to grow a kid. Maybe earn 1000 more and it will be just fine.
Have never wished for great riches. I cannot understand how people can live alone in huge mansions, spend insane money on clothing or jewelry. Well, i assume I am not a Hollywood star so I can’t understand this. Still, in many cases, it would be just wasted money.
The dream is to keep on earning enough to be able to work from home (as I am now) and develop my small venture and have a decent life and travel. Don’t need a castle or a 1 million car. My Corsa is enough
Sounds like you are comfortable and happy living a lifestyle that is catered to you. I think what is important here is to budget accordingly so each of us can live a life we enjoy.
Hi Neil,
Thanks for the great post, a quick question – where does you medical insurance fall under? Under Misc?
Having a family, I find that Medical insurance is one of biggest expense ares for me.
Thanks,
Pavel
Yes it does. Depending on where you are from Medical expenses can pile up.
Hmmm, So do you drive at all? Do you take taxis? Does that go in your misc category? I drive a simple Honda and I pay $450 every month plus the insurance plus gas and regular auto expenses ie: tolls, oil changes, tires, parking. Totals me about $800 per month. I work in Manhattan so meeting further than 4 blocks away run me a taxi trip, usually totals me about $200 monthly.
You mention life insurance?? Whats with Health insurance??? I cough up $8500 a year on that. Please enlighten me on how you escape that expense?
Next, what about clothing? You like to party, dont you dress up for the occasion? Is that also in your $500 misc category?? I would easily say that I spend close to $10,000 a year on clothing. No, I dont buy designer wear or very expensive clothing. But I do wear a suit every day so I do need to pick up 2 or 3 every year, shirts, ties, shoes. I have my summer clothes, lounge clothes, ETC. $10,000 for clothing is really not a large number when you calculate specifics.
Do you use dry cleaners? That can run you an easy $150 a month, also misc? What about haircuts, appliances, furniture, any large item. The average person will need to purchase at least a couple large items every year. Is that also Misc?
Cell Phone? Home Phone? Internet? Barber? Vacations?
Im finding your numbers complicated.
Good points. I provided a list of my major expenses. I didn’t provide a line item budget as it would be too complicated and too personal
Money is important in this world
yes money is so important but we have to work for it
Hi Neil!… I´m getting married this year, so I was thinking for a start, maybe 4K monthly woud be enough, so… please i need someone who can tell me what to considerate to make my own budget??…. I´m not living in the U.S. but me and my wife will the next year… Please if someone can help me
You may want to meet with a financial planner. Try to envision what your major expenses will be once you make the move and set up a budget accordingly. You are on the right track!
7.5 million is what i need to stop working and retire. I should be 120 years old when i reach my goal.
How do you know that?
You counted all the buildings, yachts and jets you need to buy? 
I think that 500.000 $ would be enough for me to arrange myself for all my life, but of course, I am sure this will change if I will be able to make more money 
The thing is that we can’t get enough no matter how much do we have. It is in human nature to want more all the time. Sometimes this is good, but sometimes it is bad.
Haha, that’s very true. Everyone always want’s more. Being happy with what you have is easier said than done.
Yeah grat points Neil. I think over 10,000$ a month starts being too much because 10k a month will give you an opportunity to live a good life! House or rent paid, food paid and etc… What else do you need? Well, if you want to travel all year long then 10k a month isn’t enough!
Yeah, travel can eat up your budget.
Hi Neil,
I am looking for a quick advice. If you own a company and you are the sole owner. Then you must blog on the company website or your personal website.
Like if i own “abc.com” and my own name is “xyz.com”. Should i be blogging on abc.com or xyz.com?
You should be blogging on both really. But your company blog will obviously be different from your personal blog. You can definitely reference your company blog in your personal too.
15k a month? Average is less than $2000 a month. I’d say you well off fella.
It’s okay in my eyes
Whatever amount you earn but one thing i would like to mention here about money that divide your extra income in 5 parts (5*20=100) then distribute 1st part(20%) your money to social welfare, 2nd for relatives, friends etc. progress . 3rd for company progress, 4th for your fame and 5th saving for future.
That’s a good formula!
Thanks, I’ll take a look at that.
I don’t need a lot of money to spend on a routine basis. Not much of a spender. But whenever I earn I always worry about a rainy day and tend to save more. So I might be considered stingy by some but I like to see myself as careful! Also, I get bored easily so I quit real soon… so saving always works for me!
Smart idea. It’s always a great idea to save for a rainy day. As the saying goes “shit happens”.
Smart ideas at right time which can help you
Well neil if you ask me there are only two ways for being successful the first one is creativity or business planning andthe other oneis HARD WORK no else shortcut than implying these two…..
what say?
I agree with you
Hard work is what it all comes down to. Most people are unfortunately too lazy.
Without hard there will be no results. “No pain, no gain”. This is a motto I always keep in mind. And with good results success will also come, and after that money also
Definitely. “Nothing worth having comes easy.” With that mentality the sky is the limit. Good luck.
Sky is the limit if you are able to see that and pass all the obstacles in your way. If you are set on something nothing can stop you. Dare to make your dreams come true and they will come true eventually.
Hey that’s a great blog and i don’t feel whatever money we get these days will be enough but its all in our mind. I feel $15k to 20k will be enough.
I agree!
Neil,
How do you manage to have much free time if you work this hard and earn so much? Can you post an article about time managment? I would really like it.
I will try to post something along those lines soon.
thnxxxxx
I like where you went with this post. A lot of people just magically create a huge number when it comes to setting income goals. I can see where making it realistic and applicable to your expenses would really help. Right now my goal is set at just trying to pay for just a few bills.
I agree. Setting realistic goals allows you to plan ahead and pay the bills. Glad I could help.
Hi Neil,
Perfect translation for my thoughts, I’m in the same parallel with you on your approach to earning money.. I will start blogging and want to share this writing of yours, is it possible that I place it on my blog with reference on you?
Thanks for the inspiration
Yusuf
Yeah, that is completely okay. Thanks for the kind thoughts. Good luck!
Thanks Neil for the inspiration.
I would be happy with $10,000 per month. I also agree with setting goals. One of my famous quotes is: “It is better to aim for the starts and fall on a mountain than aim for nothing and fall on the ground”.
I also believe that the goal has to be written down. A goal not written is only a wish. Writing goals down on paper crystallises our thought patterns to focus on our mission.
Thanks Neil
I agree with
I agree. Setting goals is a great organizational tool for the mind.
I think one major area of cost for me is the investment back into the business. I probably spend more money back into the business than rent and food combined.
That being said, i am starting to think maybe its not so bad to ask for investments and try to actually save some money for the rainy days. Mainly because no matter how much I believe in my business idea I will need outside help sooner or later.
Definitely. Asking for outside help and investment will provide long term security for you and your business. As your business grows your financial needs will as well.
Neil,
I’m at a situation right now where I dont know how much equity in our business to give to my (soon to be) partners. I dont want to be greedy and not give enough. I also don’t want to give too much as I’ve put all of my own money and time so far into the business.
Once again this is a judgment call you will have to make using a cost-benefit analysis. It could go either way depending on the value you have placed on these partners, and the value you have placed on the money you have invested into your business.
yeah Neil, you are right probably but it depends if u can live with that
It’s all based on personal preference.
The main reason I want to become an Entrepreneur is just like Neil said, I’m no good at working for someone else!
That’s the spirit!
Hi Neil,
Once, i heard that the entrepreneurs start their business ventures since they want to keep on their passion & make their passion bigger.
And i really love your blog ^_^
Thanks for reading. Good points, you have to love what you do as an entrepreneur.
Greetings
My name is Norman Puplikovs I’m 24 years unemployed. I watch your broadcast Every Time With great enthusiasm. me very Difficult to get a job and Earn Money. I live with my girlfriend and WE DO NOT Have money to survive on let alone by himself to buy.
Why do I write to you? answer is that.
Doctors found cancer in me and told me that survived for 1 year. I’m looking for “some people in this world Who Could help me With money so That I can fulfill my dream and my girlfriend. WE want to get married but THEN face of their money.
Total What we need is $ 2579 at the moment WE HAVE Already gathered a collection of $ 371
If You CAN help.
With Respect. Norman
p.s. sorry for bad writing
my e-mail: sk8_normis@inbox.lv
I am very sorry to hear that. Go ahead and shoot me an email. neil@neilpatel.com . Hope everything works out.
yes, what you said is right, but the effort that we are taking is really much important, then only we can get, what we have expected.
Definitely. Effort, determination, and hard work are always more rewarding than the end product. The money is a great cherry on top though
I would be content with making low 6 figures yearly. This would give me enough money to save a little and to help others too.
Definitely. It would allow you to possibly relax a little as well.
Hi neil
this is really good artical”how much money do you really need”.
when i graduated from my college.i faced a pressure in finding job.
finding a good and higher salary job seems not be easy.because there are many people in China have ablity and high education background.if you have no high education background firstly,you wont find a good job.
so because financial status of my family.
i am eager to offer a good and comfortable lifestyle for my parents sisiters and brothers,i think working for a company cannot let me rich,so being entrepreneur is my goal.
but how much money will you satisfy ??
it is a considerable question.
best wishes
It’s honest a question that doesn’t have one answer. It depends on the person, and their needs. To each their own. I wish you the best as an entrepreneur.
You have to work hard to archieve success.
Definitely. Plain, simple & true.
I am living healthy and good lifestyle with new generation and i want to go for walking some of part of the world. I want money for it.
That’s a good start. Work hard and you will be successful, I am sure
Earning $15k per month must be very comfortable
Currently i am working on my finance blog to reach that.
Good luck
Nice blog post, came across you on Twitter and thought the bio deserved a quick look at your website… Keep up the cool work!
Thanks for the read. Glad you enjoyed the post
You should be really glad with that amount of money!
I need 2500$ a month. I love to cook myself and i hate to eat food made by the hands of other people. Im always partying with the wrong people which ends in very disturbing house parties. My flat is so cheap, nobody will believe it and.. well. As i dont have a car i spend all my money on – Darn i will never tell ya
I am definitely thankful for my resources and situation. As I said in my post, however, everyone has that magic number they want to achieve. To each his own
Gosh im loving this site more and more with every post i read. I have found in my own experience that most of the people hate to talk about money, think it’s impossible to become millionaire and most of all they don’t understand the difference between being rich and having lots of money.
i smile everyday and enjoy all the priceless wonders in this universe
I think that i can’t force people to think like i do, but i can find people that thinks like i do.
I have been and employee and now i know, i’ll never work for money again in my life. I would work for fun but then it wouldn’t be a job !
I’m 23 and i know what i want in my life, i know how i will reach it and i put my goals high up in the sky.
Thanks Neil
Thanks for the kind words. It’s a touchy subject, but one that we must all approach. Keep up the good works
I will make a check list on your tips; hnmm I think I’ve done those 5 ways in making a good living but maybe not really that hard. Am I on the right direction? So far so good. Thanks Neil. Impressive content again.
Thanks for the kind words. Checklists always help :0)
Find your blog very interesting. I’m from the UK and this really highlights how different costs and lifestyles are between the UK and USA. For comparison, I consider myself middle-class and here’s how much I spend on the ‘essentials’ in USD:
Life insurance: $0
Mortgage: $1500 (large one bedroom apartment London)
Cable TV: $60
Electricity: $120
Gym: $50 (same)
Food: $800
Partying: $800 (I work hard and play hard)
Travel: $800 (public transport – most expensive in world)
Total: $4130
The cost of living in large cosmopolitan cities like London and NYC is definitely higher. Much of my family is from London, they spend an arm and a leg on certain things. However, they save tons on others like health insurance, car insurance, etc. Thanks for sharing!
So, this is more than a little after the fact. I typed in “how much do you really need” and your blog came up. My husband and I live comfortably and happily on something like 600 a month. My husband makes a little more than that, and I’m a student so my earning potential is limited. But frankly we have more than we need. We’re very happy. Next year we’ll be moving up the cost bracket a little as we’ll be renting a two bedroom in order to accommodate my little sewing business. My husband got an assistantship at his grad school for about 9ooo dollars. That covers all but about 75 dollars of our expenses a month, and we could cut out that 75 dollars by not getting a dog. I’ll get a part time job so we can save, and that should bring our yearly income up to about 15,000. We live on what you make a month. We don’t feel poor, use food stamps, and are definitely not homeless. How you live is your business, I’m not saying you’re extravagant, it’s your money, whatever. I’m just supporting your point, enough is probably less than you think it is.
I love hearing other people’s stories. I think what is most essential to this story is keeping the concept of saving on your mind. I was trying to highlight how to budget your money. Most people, irregardless of income, spend their money recklessly without realizing where it goes. Budgeting and saving is something I value. You and your husband seem to be doing a great job. Enough is a state of mind, to each his own.
Neil, I’m very interested in what you have said about you expenses. I’ll give you some advice on what to do with your money, because you could have a lot more fun if you do. After all, what’s the point of having money that you don’t know what to do with, so you waste it all?
Travel the world -exotic locations (no, not Vegas big city casinos), places like New Zealand, and the South of France.
Cut all unnecessary costs. (Cable TV, food, partying, DOWNSIZE YOUR HOUSE!)
Do EXTREME SPORTS. Kite surfing, Scuba diving, game fishing, snow boarding and roller-coaster-marathons!
Be generous with your money. Help out friends and family financially, and take them on adventures with you!
Be smart with your money, and your life will change in a very positive way.
Sid,
Thanks for the advice. All of these ideas are in the works, and some like helping friends and family are already part of my day to day. I honestly don’t have time to travel the world, and do extreme sports at this time as I am busy pursuing other ventures. Once I retire I am going to have a lot of fun. But for now I am going to work extremely hard because I am 26 years old.
I would like to earn a lot to settle in my life
With hard work and determination you will.
I’m an entrepreneur because I can’t handle to much pressure with bosses or maybe I just want to leave a comfortable life… but really guess I love being an entrepreneur it’s in my blood the pressure is different than working on a company it feel good…
is 100K $ ok?
Definitely. It all depends on your wants. But according to human needs, that is more than plenty.
Money is important to me when I become an entrepreneur. Its not because I am a money minded person. But what I have in mind is to make as much as I can when i am young and energetic and retire before I get too old. Well that’s the plan I get bored with the things I do. So eventually I will get bored making money too. So plan to spend my retirement travelling the world.
That’s a great plan. Work when you are young so you can enjoy your later years
Yes, that is a question I often asked myself about, if I really want to be an entrepreneur and of course why? I have realized that I must become one to change the course of the present world, which is much better if I am an Entrepreneur, rather than an employee. Thank you for your valuable insight.
And, of course, most of the money that I make when i become an Entrepreneur is going to go for the welfare of the poor and the destitute.
That’s awesome that you feel an obligation to give back. It is very important to know where you come from and give to those less fortunate than yourself.
So I wanted to ask what kind of business do you do? I am learning about being an entrepreneur not for the money but so I can help out my family since 1 mom can’t always make 7 kids feel happy all the time working $9.00 an hour with a step dad that hides money. Just need some ideas on how to start aiming for the right direction.
Thanks,
-Jeff P
You should get involved in some SEO communities and read more blogs involving search engine marketing.
It’s always been told to me that money is nothing more than a tool. You will always have the poor that scream your greedy if you make more than them and you’ll always have the mega rich that scoff at the penniless. However, if you look closer, you will also find the millionaire living next door that drives a 1994 Honda or the family of 7 that just barely puts the food on the table but are content and happy.
Money isn’t some much about morals, no, that has much more to do with personal choice and character. Rather, money is a tool that allows you to accomplish something and hopefully improve the world around you.
Like you say Neil, at some point your lifestyle doesn’t change after your income increases above a certain point and money is just money. It’s how you live your life that is important. I think your lifestyle and story encompass this virtue well my friend.
Cheers,
Kristian
Thanks for the kind words, and the perspective once again. If everyone lived within man’s required means the world would be great.
In Brunei, we don’t pay taxes. So earning $4,000 per month is enough for me to live a comfortable life. Even people who earn $300 per month can still live. But I don’t like those kinds of living.
It’s understandable, everyone has different priorities and wants in life.
I get blasted quite often for my lack of ambition because my mentor wants to be a millionaire, meanwhile I repeatedly state that I am interested in providing for my family and being comfortable while I do it so I’m not working around the clock and hardly spending time with them. I just find that a lot of people get caught up in this chase for money and it consumes them, robbing them of the happiness of all the simple things in life. Hopefully I can maintain the balance in the future as well. Great article as per usual by the way. I’m quickly becoming a big fan
It’s definitely important to evaluate where you stand, and what you want in life.
Hi Neil,
Read with interest your column, particularly the part about starting a blog. I’m thinking of doing this. What application or interface do you use? I really like the clean look of this blog. and What’s Quick Sprout?
cheers,
Natalie
I use a wordpress theme. Quicksprout is just the name I gave to my blog
Good luck!
Oh, okay. Thanks. Like your blog BTW.
Thanks, glad you like it
That’s true Neil, live life comfortably. Of course it’s fascinating to experience the rich and famous lifestyle but if you’re completely satisfied with how you manage your finances right now then live love and laugh. Unfortunately, every penny seems not enough for all the needs, most specially for our wants. So it’s always better to find ways how to get that extra income, that’s the only time we can say we have a comfortable life.
Definitely, great points Posh!
i want to earn something which is best for my life
That’s something you will have to ultimately determine.
Yes u are right Neil
Nice article Neil.. As a person who worked at the same place for 8 1/2 years and being let go since the company closed down and my other half being let go from his job because he made too much money, I will be looking into some of this that you have posted. Just hoping a miracle comes this way soon or it will be a major crisis for use. I’m working right now as a contractor, but that is very limited work (May work only a week out of a month).
So sorry to hear about your situation. Keep applying and putting yourself out there and I am sure something will work out. Good luck!
$10k to $20k a month is already big right? That’s truly comfortable unless you have dozens of kids.
I know someone from a poor country that even they finish college and work hard they are still not living a comfortable life, it also depends on where you are from/living. But the chances of being rich or living a good life with finishing college, working hard are higher than those who don’t. But in my point is what is good for that person. Because there are people out there who are not satisfied and demands for more. I think money isn’t the problem anymore. I just love your blog.
Thanks for the kind points. Great points I agree, people always yearn for more.
I think it depend on our monthly budget.
Definitely, to each their own
I need half from that is described in this article.
To each their own
I spend money as per income. If I earn less this month then I will cut my savings and if I earn more than I will increase my savings.
That is a very smart strategy
l come to the usa,from east europe and never work here.my wife is a dentist and make good money.l am spennding money .l spend this summer 87 days im my country,visit greece and croatia.my father left me store for rent in capital city of my country( l rent for 2200 monthly,but is big money there).life is beautiful.
Glad you are enjoying life, make sure you save
Hello Neil, my names is James Pegausch and am 21 years old. I don’t have much experience when it comes to business and I am currently studying computer and video game technology in college. Although it seems like a good career path for me I also am terrible at working for an hourly wage. To me $15k a month is a lot of money. I mean A LOT! I was just wondering if you had any tips when it comes to starting a business. Thank You.
I say find something you are passionate about, disregard the money, and work as hard as you possibly can to reach your goals. In the end the only metric you are chasing is that happiness metric
How about because you want to live a comfortable lifestyle but DON’T want to work a job, or do anything outside of that which you love?
Definitely, we should always strive to do things we absolutely love and enjoy doing.
I have ben in the financial services industry for 30 years and have seen poeple that are poor but make a lot of money nad wealthy people that never made over $100,000 in a year. here are so tips I would like to offer to younger people. I feel its not so much how much excess income you generate by what you do with the excess you have. DEBT MANAGEMENT IS EXTREMELY CRITICAL AS WELL.
When you marry enjoy yur new fredom for a few years before having kids. it is your only chance for several decades if you have a family. During this period get rid of your debt and build up a nest egg so that when you buy a house it will be the one you want to raise youe family in. forget the starter home stuff.
Fund your 401-K to the max. It is the years during your 20s and 30s that will get you across the goal line at 62 with a comfortable retireemnt. All assets should be quality stocks, most of which should pay dividends that should be reinvested.
When you buy your family house NEVER get anything longer than a 15 year mortgage. Think about it when your kids start college the house will be owned free and clear and the mortgage money freed up for college.
Buy only term life insurance as whole life is a rip off.
Don’t get sold on the gotta have a new car every three to four years. A good car should be maintained and last at least 200,000 miles. point is you will not have atwo car notes to go along with the mortgage.
When your kids start college you can plan to have no car payments OR mortgage with the above debt structure.
be willing to sacrifice a few things like nice vacations every year. Don’t forget you are paying for cars and vacations with after tax dollars which require yor you to earn about $1.35 per 1.00 of the associated costs.
Don’t think retirement is something to worry about when you turn 40. By then you have lost the best compounding years of you life.
Nobody ever got rich lending a bank money. It is always the stockholders that make the money. As a banker i called Cds certificates of depreciation as by the time you pay taxes on the interest earned and factor in inflation you most likely have less buying power when the Cd matures than when you bought it.
Zero out credit cards every month as capital One and the likes are vailed loan sharks.
Lastly remeber the rule of 72. It is as follows. 72 divideded by the rate of return per annum tells you how often it takes to double your money in a tax sheltered mplan like a IRA or 401-K. The market with dividends reinvested has averaged 10.0% p.a. over the last 60 years. It is low now but it will improve. Even in a stagnent market a company like verizion that pays a 5.6% dividend will double your money in 11 years. Wait 7 years to start your retirment and the amount of money you have accomulated with be 50% of what it would be if you start know.
When you are 40-45 and own your housr, have a fewhundred thousand dollars in your retirement account and are debt free your arte on a great glide path toward retirement. When I was 43 I had $500,000 in my retirement accounts, no mortgage and owned two old but paid off cars. My wify stayed home with the kids until they started school full time. We did not vacation every year but visited grandparents and made an occasional trip to Colorado. i would not trade the memories of those family vacations for anything as all the great grandparents are gone and some of the grandparents. hawaii and eurpoe are still there and my wif eand i will see what we what as soon as she finishes her last few years of teaching.
Good luck to all.
Scott
I would be happy if my family were able to make $1000.00 per month, we make less than that now, and we have to consistently figure out a way to feed 4 people everyday, me, my wife, and our two kids. I could give you a real sob story, send you real pictures, talk to any of you over the phone, heck, feel free to come visit me and you will see. I have a Digital Design Degree from the Art Institute, went to school thinking that it would help, now, all I have is a ton of skill, no direction, and a huge debt to loans. If you check out my website, I created it for $13.00, PER YEAR! Like I said, I have all of the skills in the world, but no direction. I have even been turned down from flipping burgers at Wendys because I am over qualified. I would love for someone to buy my knowledge and put it into a book, I would, but don’t exactly know how, no direction. Any suggestions would help.
i just want to be rich so i can look after my mother, the only soul i need to put a smile on it every day…if u have a plan please include me in your plan…
That is very kind of you, I am sure if you stay focused and be creative you will find a way to get what you want.
imagine a 20 year old gets 10,000 / month (which increases 1000 every year )without doing anything and might get paid for rest of life and has no mortgages etc to pay. so my question is should that person spend his time on making more money or on travelling around the world until he gets very old.
College is a waste of time and money unless you get a specific degree for a specific field. Also that 1 million dollar statistic is a lie. The numbers used for that are not scientific or sociological at all.
This article is very very good!
I think it is just a perception of life that people have that makes them decide how much money they want. For a person getting $100 per month, $200 would be a very big achievement and for a person earning $20K per month, $25K might not be satisfying.
hello sir i am belong from so poor family and i have so many loan for pay but i don’t have money for paying my loan so i want some money to do any work any paying my loan and for living a happy please please help me
I have found the amount of money I “need” expands as my income grows. If you were to strip my outgoing to absolute basics I could survive on $4000 a month but certain things which I once deemed luxuries have mysteriously become basics as my income has increased
hi
i am surfing internet from many days in fact months but didn’t find any opportunity to earn real money if anyone have any suggestion for me that i can earn 1000 dollars a month then please do tell me i will be very thankful to him/ her . it will be great favor for me , but i want to clear one thing first that i don’t have a single penny to invest or for any kind of purchase for start working
Mr. kefelegn amtataw, I am writing you to ask for your assistance. I have Plan to start preschool for the poor child. I am ateacher but Ihaven’t enough money tostart the program. My employment benefits are about to expire, and I’m not sure how I’m going to support my family.
I have been trying to find work but with the state of the economy, it has become nearly impossible. Over the course of the last year, I’ve had to liquidate many of my assets. I don’t mind doing this, so my family can maintain the necessities they need to survive, but I’m running out of items to sell.
I understand that you probably receive many letters asking for assistance, so I truly understand if you decline my request for help.Mycell+251913200516 email-fikrmulu@gmail.com.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Mr.kefelegn Amtataw
Hi Sir! would you mind is I ask you?
do you think If you have money, you can succeed as an entrepreneur.why?
hi neil can you tell me aplan to do or internet work to make 3000 dollar amonth because my sister want to join faculth of medicine in poland and the fees per year is 10000 not including housing and other thing my target is to enter my sister the university plz answer soon?
Mora, there are 2 answers to your question
1. Everything
2. Nothing
This is because if you are good at marketing you can sell your product or service on the internet and if you are bad then #2 is the answer. I’m not trying to scare you but spelling out facts. You see if you search work from home in Google you get About 563,000,000 results (0.30 seconds) there is someone at #1 spot and someone at #563,000,000. It all depends where you stand and what you are doing.
Neil, how do you spend a mere $15 on electricity? We use around $550 each month.
I live in Asia and need USD 1000/ or living while making much more through my non-web business but Neil I am fed up of doing this job and hectic busy life. I dream to start blogging or other web business. But still thinking and not finding right point to start…
I Have just made, £1.5m with my business on the internet as a commodity broker. I am 23 years old I still live with my parents as I haven’t had time to look for a property. I am now a little worried for my future I dont know why but I think its a lot of money for someone my age & I I want to stay driven!!
I have a lot more money than my friends which makes me feel bad also.
Please let me know your thoughts
Carl
I just need around 1000.00 extra a month in order to pay off my bills then the income I already make would be good enough for me. I have looked all other the internet trying to find ways to make money but most are scams, want money up front I don’t have. I already work full time plus have a family at home so a part time job away from home just would not get it I want something to do on line. I have tried a blog at blog.spot but that is going no where fast. Any help/ideals would be great I am running out of options and want off of this Hamster wheel. oh and lol if I made 15k a month I would have all my bill’s plus my house paid off in a year or less. I would be happy with just getting my bills paid off (credit cards) and just making the $4k I already make.
You are correct on the ‘chill’ lifestyle, but you won’t have a great or fantastic lifestyle. Entrepreneurs strive to be wealthy, not rich. Rich is easy, wealthy isn’t. Most people work 40-60+ hours a week for incomes from 10k/year – 500k/year and it caps at around that. Problem is not the money, problem is the time. Doesn’t matter how much you make if you have to keep working and trading time for money. First off you are too dependent to make money, if you get hurt, you’re out. Second how can you tour the world? How can you stay at home 20hrs a day with your family if you want to? How can you write that next top sellers novel? Or go volunteer your time to multiple organizations? How can you go fishing or boating whenever you want? What about nice cars? vacations every month or two? You can’t do that with a job because you have to be there to make it work. You can make money by trading your time for it or give up the money for more time. A job won’t give you a lot of both time and money. So if you can give all that up and live life on the minimum that’s fine. But others have dreams that they won’t surrender. Also, most of the jobs you have are created by entrepreneurs anyway… so you are dependent on them. Excluding some self owned businesses. I know this because my family makes 450k/year and we aren’t living a happy lifestyle because we work soo much. It’s not money, it’s both time and money together.
$15K/month is ok.. I make over $30K a month after tax and spend over $15K just on going out, partying, and traveling. I save a few $Thousand a month, and pay my bills.. I used to make the usual $4-5K before tax and lived a great lifestyle.. Nice luxury apt.. Partying, eating out.. The usual.. Now making over 6 times the amount of $$ and I live a more lavish lifestyle, travel more.. BUT I want to make even more $$$! Point being… The more u make, the more u spend, the more u Want! Who Cares What U NEED!
Niel….., i am in last semester of my B.tech ….. somebody leaved me just because i’m a zero….. i lied her about my family status & my caste…. i know i cheated her because everybody wants a comfortable life…. but i have a big truth to say…. I LOVE HER a lot…. i want to get her back…. i want to earn…. i want to earn billions…. & want to show her that she can count the Coins but not my Love…. its uncountable !
i have almost Zero money to start anything…. but i have a hunger to grow…. mr. Patel, i’ m so much impressed by your article. Can u suggest me some ways??
…… otherwise, i’ ll try your one..
my name is Natan i have no money please please help me….i want 10.000$ please help?
The more you make the more the tax man takes! Personally Id be happy with around 20k a month, and a home already paid for.