Darlene Davila
March 22, 2015
English 90
Essay #2
Prof. Nicole Brown
Getting Started

"The single most important factor to getting rich is getting started, not being the smartest person in the room." - Ramit Sethi Most of us want to live a financially stable life, but become too afraid to get started because we have all these negative views on money, credit cards, or anything that has to do with the financial world. I have come across many negative thoughts that have paralyzed me into starting a simple bank plan for my funds to grow. My ultimate goal is to let go of those fears that are holding me back from making my bank account become stabilized. This paper will refer to Mo Tzu's essay "Against Music;" Ramit Sethi in his book "I Will Teach You to Be Rich;" Gandhi’s essay “Economic and Moral Progress;” a Chapter of the New Testament in the Bible, Luke chapter 16; and an online article "Zen Habits" by Leo Babauta. I came to the realization once I started doing research and reading more books on finances that in order for me to come up with a plan to help my money flourish into something more, I need to cut off all the learned negative thoughts about money. A lot of these negative thoughts are created because we lack the knowledge on banks and bank accounts that can help us become more successful in our finances. Once I started my research I learned great ideas and strategies on how to grow financially. Not only will I need to carefully plan out my goals based on what I have learned to get started, but I also need to learn how to separate the needs from my wants. Once I have myself a good plan, I need to give back and help those in need. Through this process I will need to be positive and have faith to push through when it starts to get rough. With having a bit of faith I can go far like it says in Luke in chapter 16:10 of the New Testament in the Bible “He that is faithful in which is least is faithful also in much” (316). This gives me the motivation to push through because I know becoming financially stable will not happen overnight, it will take faith, discipline and patience. I have many negative thoughts instilled into my head when it comes down to money. One of the reasons may be because I do not have any knowledge in this particular area. Even though I lacked the knowledge I had failed into doing the research to help myself become more aware on how to be more prosperous with my own money. Another reason why these negative thoughts haunt me is by past experiences my parents went through, by seeing them struggle in becoming financially stable. It almost traumatizes me because I do not want to go through the same difficulties they went through, or make the same mistakes that they did and end up in bankruptcy. And again the reason why a lot of these situations happen is because of the lack of knowledge in handling our money. I finally decided for myself that first I need to reverse all the negative thoughts that I have on finances to get started. The way I managed to do that was by reading more, researching on finances and speaking to personal bankers. With the help I have received from these resources it has given me the opportunity to gain knowledge and not make the same mistakes my parents have made. One advice that stuck out to me the most and motivated me to get started was in "I will Teach You to Be Rich" Ramit Sethi, "And we don't want to have to become financial experts to get rich." (5) This will motivate me to just get started rather than over thinking the process. It may not be something drastic that will make me rich by the next day. Like Gandhi said in "Economic and Moral Progress" "With such help we march forward slowly indeed, but surely and steadily" (333). Even though getting started is always difficult because of the fear of a negative outcome, starting with baby steps is always better than not taking any steps at all. From the research I have made, I learned many strategies in which will help me start the process of creating a bank account to help my investments grow. The first thing I need to begin with is to create a savings account. This will help me separate my checking's account (money I will be using everyday) with my savings account (money I will not be using at all). Having my money into two separate accounts will make it much easier for me to manage my money and know where it goes. In "I Will Teach You to Be Rich" Ramit Sethi explains "One basic way of looking at it is that your savings account is where you deposit money, whereas your checking's is where you withdraw money" (54). This will discipline me to stay organized with my accounts. Having a savings account to invest for my future other than my savings account from my bank will be very beneficial in the long run, therefore having a 401(k) plan is a good way to start building up on my money. A 401(k) plan is provided by your employer. With this plan I get to specify how much of my money from my checks will go straight to my 401(k) account. Over time my investments will accumulate specially if I start during my 20's. Like Leo Babauta says in his article "Even if you think you can plan for retirement later do it now. The growth of your investment over time will be amazing" (Zen Habits). A lot of the times I think to myself, "well why should I start investing for my retirement now when there is still so much time left for that" but the earlier I start the better because it will grow over time and by the time I retire I will be a millionaire if I do it right, and it is definitely something worth looking forward to. Another strategy that I learned that is very important to build up, is credit. Every time I would think about credit I automatically thought "debt", but Sethi says "establishing good credit is the first step in building an infrastructure for getting rich" (14). This helped me have a more positive outlook on credit. It is said our debt payment history is the largest chunk that makes up our credit score. Therefore paying off my credit cards regularly, will improve my credit and will save me thousands of dollars throughout time. Credit cards also help keep track on your spending a lot easier than cash. Most importantly my main goal is being responsible and keeping track of my money. Ultimately I want to save up for a goal, not only will it benefit me for the long run but it will motivate me to keep going. Gandhi encourages "You are on the right track, move neither to your left nor your right, but keep to the straight and narrow way" (333). From time to time it may get difficult and I may get discouraged along the way, but as long as I keep on with my plan and dedicate myself to it I will get to where I need to be. Lastly another important point I learned is separating the needs from my wants. To help myself control my spending I need to create a "conscious spending plan" for myself says Sethi (93) . What this means, I need to divide where my money goes into four groups, fixed costs, investments, savings, and my guilt free spending. The fixed cost will be first which is the amount I pay for things like my phone bill, student loans, car payments, and utilities. This is about 50-60 percent of my check. Then the long term investments which is how much I will be putting into my 401(k) plan, this should be about 10 percent of my check. The next plan is my savings goals, for things like birthday or Christmas gifts, or a down payment for a car. Finally my guilt free money, I can use it on whatever I want, like purchasing the shoes I saw at the mall last week. This plan will help me keep track of where my money is going and will keep me organized. It will provide discipline for my priorities. A lot of us tend to spend more on the things that we want rather than what we need. Then we look at our balance and wonder where all our money went. We end up spending it all and saving nothing. Instead of wasting all that money on things that are not necessary at that moment, I can be investing it into something that will be long term and will help establish a better future for myself. Above everything else the most important thing for me is giving back to the people with need. Even though we all want to be financially successful, we should not let this goal consume us and our morals, like Gandhi says "so far we have made the modern materialistic craze our goal" ( Wealth, Poverty, and Social Class 336). A lot of us forget about giving back when we made it to where we want to be in life. We become a little selfish and keep everything for ourselves or we feel like it does not matter. Mo Tzu states "What benefits men he will carry out; what does not benefit men he will leave alone" (Against Music 309). A lot of the times we feel that giving back won't really benefit us so we do not look into it or simply do not pay any mind to it. Jesus himself always believed in giving back to the people with need.. "Jesus was centered around personal devotion and charitable action" (New Testament 315). The whole new testament describes how Jesus was so giving and selfless, if we do the same he will multiply our blessings. Becoming financially stable is essentially everyone's goal, but we have this fear of not being able to understand how to do it that it paralyses us into not getting started. So we fail to do the research because of these negative views on finances, and never get to where we want to be. From starting off with these negative views, I was finally able to break away and start my journey to a financially stable lifestyle. I learned many strategies to get started and how to help me build a better future for myself. Not only are all these plans and strategies important, but also learning from the "New Testament Luke, chapter 16" and "Wealth, Poverty, and Social Class" by Gandhi that giving back to those in need is something very important to add to our goals.

Work Cited 1) Babautas, Leo. "Zen Habits: Breathe." "Zen Habits RSS." Wednesday March 7, 2007. March 23, 2015.
2) Gandhi, Mohandas. "Economic and Moral Progress." 1916. Print.
3) Di, Mo. "Against Music." Circa 425 BCE. Print.
4) "Luke Chapter 16". New Testament. Circa 90 CE.
5) Sethi, Ramit. I Will Teach You to Be Rich. New York: Workman Pub. 2009. Print.