How To Stop Saying "I Want To Make 10k/Month"
Why is '10k/month' the prized income of hustlers and entrepreneurs?
Thousands of videos mention this number, yet, there is a problem.
It's very general, and not specific.
For a young man with no direction, the phrase adds unnecessary ambiguity during a time he's figuring out his financial goals.
Even myself, found having the same thoughts of wanting to make"10k/month."
As a solution, I developed a rough framework to work out how much I wanted to make:
Per hour, per month and per year.
So, get your notepad and pens.
For the following exercises, write everything down on paper.
I find it easier to write down your immediate thoughts rather than leaving for memory.
(You can use your laptop or phone, but I like pen and paper's ability to draw and write whatever the hell you want without the limitation of software or technology.)
What Is A Priority?
Taking a note from Ramit Sethi when he was on The Diary Of A CEO, ask,
What is the main priority for you, financially?
You cannot have it all.
(Well... at the moment.)
However, there are categories of spending that will bring more joy and prosperity to your life than others.
Is it travelling overseas? Is it that dream car you've always wanted? A down payment for a house? Starting a family? Going to lavish restaurants every other week? Investing in yourself?
Just ask, "what provides me the most value?", and see if it can be the main priority.
Personally, my priority is my work, investing in self-education, supporting my family and travelling a few times a year.
I think I can speak for most young men, the place we live doesn't have to be lavish. The car we drive only has to take us from point A to point B.
I'd rather spend my money on books, courses, mentorships and travelling overseas, than modding out my car, or going to town.
(Again, each to their own. As long as I have a laptop, internet connection, a place to workout, we good.)
So, take a moment to think by writing a reflection of what you want out of your lifestyle.
And, this financial priority doesn't have to be set in stone, either.
As we grow, we will change. What we value at 18 years old will not be the same at 35.
Figure out what season you're in.
Don't think you can stretch yourself thin by dividing your limited attention and resources to different domains.
I mentioned this in my video Your Goals Require Sacrifices, if you prioritise one thing, consider what you must sacrifice to achieve it.
For example, the priority of being healthy and the action of eating junk food cancels each other out; they are not congruent with each other intention or outcomes.
In terms of allocating resources (your money), you reduce the effectiveness of a priority by having too many in the first place.
Just remember, if one thing is a priority, something else isn't.
Listing It All Out
Now, we don't want an arbitrary number, because it's not tangible.
Like Jimmy Carr said on Steven Bartlett's podcast, you're not going on this wealth journey just to have your mouth frothing with cash sitting in the bank.
It's going to be spent, saved or invested on something.
Now, think of what items to spend.
Clothing; Accessories; Health; Food; Travel; Transport; Education; Gifts; Family; Charity; etc.
Then, literally look up the items' prices on the internet and write it down.
The reason we want to list it out is to call it out: making the intangible tangible.
Say, if I stacked 100k (AUD) in 100 dollar bundles, it wouldn't give us an idea compared to pulling out a Tesla.
My point is to stop dreaming of a fog or mist. Something that cannot be grasped, or be touched in the physical sense.
The issue can be thanks to money becoming a number on a screen.
I cannot physically see the number $1000. But, I can see the Apple iPhone.
The other common trap I allude to is young men thinking of, "I want to do what I want, when I want, whenever I want."
That is the ultimate end (or means), to have enough wealth that your self-development becomes your full time job, and choosing what to work on.
However, it doesn't help as a goal. It's just a concept, not a clear checkpoint in your self-development journey.
Because, you can achieve the same idea with 5k, 10k, 20k per month.
You name it.
A common topic that falls under this 'freedom' category is travelling around the world.
"I want to travel around the world."
Where? For how long? With whom? How much?
The real issue, that Sethi mentions before, is people have not taken the extra step to think.
I'd rather hear, "I'm thinking of going to Japan for a few weeks a year, and it would roughly cost me X (amount 0f) dollars."
Just knowing a place and a rough amount is enough to have a goal to work towards.
You will soon figure out that: the ability to do whatever you want is not the goal, it's actually what you want do with that freedom.
And the main reason people don't take the extra step of naming and pricing is it naturally forces them to prioritise and make sacrifices.
(I'm all for spontaneity. Doing whatever you want when you feel like it. But, don't say something so general and ambiguous that it isn't a goal.)
50/30/20 Rule
Now, with all our written down items and numbers, this section will discuss calculating the rough 'dream income'.
For the following calculations, I shall use a general rule of thumb for finances: 50/30/20 rule.
If you don't know, 50% of your take home income (after tax) in needs, 30% in wants, 20% in savings/and or investments.
Believe me, during our previous listing exercise, you will have listed out mostly wants. With this assumption, it will become a major part of the our final equation.
Dream (Monthly) Income = (Total Cost Of Wants ÷ 30) × 100 ÷ 12[1]
That, my friend, a describable number (a goal!) that far differs from the "10k/month"
(Of course, if you're final result is 10k/month, very good.)
The only caviat of this number is it's theoretical as it uses a general rule.
You may be in the case where your living costs are not 50% of your income.
Or, you save more of your take home pay often than you spend.
Purely theory, not practice.
(I'll talk about this more in my conclusion)
Technical note with how I created the equation. We divide the total wants by 30 because it makes up 30% from our 50/30/20 rule. Thus, we are left with 1% of our total dream income. But, of course, we want 100%, so we multiply by 100 to get our final total.
Finally, dividing by 12 to get monthly dream income rather than yearly. Again, the large assumption that you listed out mostly wants in the previous exercise is what determines why we use 30 instead of 50 or 20 when we divide. ↩︎
What To Do With This Number
Now you have this number, make it feel intuitive.
Make it feel make sense for the goals or lifestyle you want.
Then, it's just working backwards from there to achieve it.
It might be adopting a high income job.
Side hustles.
Learning a high income skill.
Creating a business.
Owning assets that yield monthly cash flow.
(I will write an article about how this is stuff for you to figure out!)
But, do take it with a grain of salt.
There might be some purchases that are not yearly, only one time or such.
So, your 'dream income' may be lower as well.
(I've worked out my 'dream' income: being about 17k/month. However, minus the one time purchases, and halving the travel budget I've allocated myself, the formula spits out about 11k/month.)
Like goals, be flexible with your 'dream number'.
By applying the theory into practice, by living the lifestyle with your allocated budget and growing income, you might find what you thought you wanted might not be what you want or prioritise.
Or, (in fact) you're happy earning less.
Again, I've only given one way of discovering your dream income.
The best method is continually recalibrating your goals and adjust course of your financial journey.