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The reason people read personal finance blogs varies from those looking for support as they dig out of debt, to those looking for ideas and education as they begin investing, to those looking to learn the secrets to getting rich. It's that last group that I have in mind as I write this.
This post on Single Ma's Fabulous Finances asks where are the successful, millionaire, bloggers? Well here I am. But so what? Miguel, the person who asked that question said that most of the bloggers out there are in the same boat as the readers, they're trying to figure out how to get ahead. This got Mrs. Obscure and I talking about whether there's any one strategy to getting rich and who has the right answer. Miguel, a successful millionaire, has gone on to write several posts of his own saying that choosing a career that pays based on performance is the key to getting rich but is that true? And even if it is, can everyone do that? Of course not. Saying that a job that pays based on performance (either commission or bonus) is the key to wealth is like saying that becoming a brain surgeon is the best way to get rich. Well not everyone can be a brain surgeon and not every job pays based on performance.
What you do with your current situation, no matter what it is, makes the difference, not the situation itself. In the Pursuit of Happyness Chris Gardner turns a seemingly impossible situation into extraordinary success (and yes I'm aware he did it with a job that paid on commission). Of course I don't have a commission job nor does Mrs. Obscure but we've made it into millionaire status anyway.
Miguel's second post titled Accumulating Wealth, says the same thing those non-millionaire bloggers out there are saying: live below your means, save more than you spend. There are no secrets to getting rich and this isn't something only those of us who have "made it" know.
But this lead Mrs. Obscure and I to change the topic of our discussion a bit from how to get rich to what is rich? To many people looking at the Obscures from the outside we're rich but it's relative. The loss of our income would affect us. The fact that it wouldn't be devastating isn't because we have high incomes, it's because we save and invest a large portion of our income. If someone making only $50,000 a year saved the same percentage we do they could similarly weather an emergency such as a job loss.
Now here's the hard part. Most people aren't going to be rich, not in the sense of the word we all want to be. There can be a thousand Miguels out there telling them what to do but it might not work for them. Their life might travel different roads with diffent needs and wants.
But what if there was another definition of rich that wasn't solely based on money? If you work at a job you enjoy, making money you consider fair, save enough so that when you retire you can maintain your lifestyle then I'd say you're rich. You have a life many people would envy. I'm not saying that you should strive to do better but I am saying that dreaming of impossible riches is a waste of time. Besides, once you reach a goal you'll set the bar higher and begin working for the next level. That's a similar problem as this post I called moving targets in a post from my early days.
Miguel’s posts are worth reading and Single Ma’s blog as a whole is a good source of information too. One is rich, the other working on it but both of them offer hope, inspiration and advice. All of us bloggers, the rich and hoping to be rich, are doing a good job. I hope more people find us - all of us.
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