Are You Surfing a Poverty Wave?

WTF is a poverty wave you ask?

It's when you can't seem to get ahead financially, where you can't seem to be much further ahead than just paying your bills.

The worst part about this is that if you're like me, you may be in this situation without even realizing that you're surfing this wave and no matter what you try to do to get ahead you just can't seem to make progress.

For a long time... like 5 years I was surfing the poverty wave making about $1,500 per month. That's $18,000 per year. Fortunately, I was already good at playing the game of living cheaply because I'd learned the first part of Keep Yourself Poor to Make Yourself Rich but unfortunately, I had not yet learned the second part.

What Does a Poverty Wave Look Like?

It's a lot like a thermostat or air conditioner in your home. You set it to a certain temperature and then it works to keep that temperature. If it's too hot, it kicks in to cool things off and when too cool it starts pumping out heat.

My brain was wired to have about $2,000 in my bank account. If I had more, then I was comfortable spending. If I had less, then I started to be more frugal.

How to Get Off the Wave and Onto a Wave of Exponential Growth

It wasn't until someone pointed this out to me that I realized what was going on and that if I wanted to have more money I would need to increase my internal financial temperature by changing who I am.

We all have a different financial comfort zone, so this number is very individual, but the important thing to take note of is where that zone is, so you can increase it.

So, instead of being someone comfortable with $2,000, I mentally shifted my financial comfort zone to $3,000 and then once $3,000 was comfortable, I shifted it to $5,000, then $10,000 and beyond.

Eventually, the number just kept growing higher and higher, and once I put that saved money to work, the saved money started making money which fed into investing in more things which made even more money, creating exponential growth.