“My father’s generation gave to my generation a land of wealth and purpose and world economic dominance.” – Paul Tsongas

If you have heard the statement “the rich get richer while the poor get poorer”, I’m about to tell you how that statement can become obsolete.

Unless you haven’t realized, there are many families and individuals around the world who are worth millions and billions of dollars. We know about the self-made billionaires like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, and Mark Zuckerberg. But what about the families who have created billions of dollars of wealth through generation-building? Families like the Waltons (Wal-Mart), the Johnson family (Johnson & Johnson), and the Mars family (Mars chocolate)? If you look up when these fortunes were founded, some will start back in the 1800s. Clearly, generational wealth is possible.

What about you? Some of you who read these posts come from affluent families and therefore will understand the power of compounding through generational wealth. The remainder of you will not. To make this is as straight-forward as possible, generational wealth is a great accomplishment because it ensures that your great-great-great-great grandchildren are better off than you were. You will have to sacrifice short-term satisfaction for the betterment of your last name. This means that you don’t spend thousands of dollars on adult toys (cars and boats), nor do you spend the exact amount of money that you earn to look like you make more (GOING BROKE TRYING TO LOOK RICH).

Think about this: If your great-great-grandparents somehow had a business or got lucky enough to win a million dollars, and instead of blowing it on the finest things at that time instead invested it in land and equities and businesses, you would be a multi-millionaire or billionaire by now (if the adults who carried the wealth from then until now understood the power of compounding). Through all the wars, economic downturns, and business failures, thousands of families are amongst the one percent because their past family members ensured that the wealth that they had would not just end when they pass away. Instead, they built a castle around their wealth that would allow that money to grow, exponentially.

Your current family’s duties are not just to clothe and feed you. It is also to help you build the family up and take it to your kids, and so on, and so on. They are supposed to be the ones teaching you about their economic and financial mistakes and how you can dodge those and become even more financially independent than they were. Unfortunately, for some of the middle-class and for certain, the working-class, there is no time to teach economic skills because the parents either do not have significant experience with wealth or they are busy working to put food on the table. This is why YOU need to start generational wealth for your family. You are born in an era of infinite opportunity. There kids in their teens making hundreds of thousands of dollars just doing what they love and monetizing it. The internet is a wealth-creating asset that should be used as such. With so many books to buy and YouTube videos to watch, there should be no reason as to why you haven’t found something that interests you.

One common way of building wealth is through business ownership. Businesses are popping up everywhere nowadays. Us millennials are finding problems and suggesting ways in which to solve them. Another way is through the stock market. I am not referring to the day trading that your neighbor and co-workers wish they could do in order to become millionaires overnight and quit their jobs. I am referring to stock market investing – investing in companies for years (and getting paid during that time through dividends). Another way is through real estate. Donald Trump isn’t the only one who can buy properties. You can too. I can assume 100% that there is someone who lives on your street who is either renting from a landlord or rents out a condo or house somewhere. This world is run on needs and wants, owners and buyers. You just have to choose which one you would rather be. I’d hope you would choose to be an owner.

Aside from that, generational wealth building is more than just trying to be the next Walton family. It is about allowing your kids and your grandkids to be able to achieve whatever they desire in life. Money isn’t everything, but not having money makes you capable of doing nothing. Starting to build generational wealth from now is the difference between your kids living life with not a single worry and your kids having to work to help YOU pay the bills. Think about your last name and think about your legacy.

Until next time, Live Long and Prosperous.

J.M.

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Investing Millennial Jahnome McEwan provides FIFTY tips for Young Adults looking to build wealth from now. If working a 9-5 until retirement twists your stomach, Jahnome has a way to get you out of it!
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