Three Quick Lessons That Will Change Your Life

If you want to get rich… if you want to live a better life… and if you want to do things on your own terms, please read what follows carefully.

It’s the single most important piece of advice we can offer.

Here it is…

Be accountable.

We’ve seen its power in action.

About five years ago, we became good friends with a man who took the notion to its extreme.

Before we met him, his business was failing, he was going broke, and his wife had left him and taken the kids.

He was a mess… a boozy-smelling mess.

At first, he blamed others.

It was the 2008 financial crisis that took his business, he said.

His wife just needed to change her views, he convinced himself.

The Army messed with his head.

And on and on it went.

Of course, blaming others didn’t help him. It made him feel better for small bits of time, but the misery prevailed.

Then, unable to force those around him to change, he changed himself.
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He held himself accountable.

He stopped blaming and started evolving.

The effects have been incredible. His business is booming. His wife is back. They’ve had more kids. And he’s solidly joined the seven-figure club.

It’s all because he looked in the mirror and saw the only thing he could change.

We wish more people would do it.

Maybe then they’d stop yelling in the streets… stop hating others for their beliefs… and stop electing politicians that prey on a culture that refuses to hold itself accountable.

“The System Is Rigged”

You probably didn’t see it last week, but a task force led by Joe Biden released its policy recommendations. It was a long list of laws and regulations that would be enacted if the task force got its way.

We won’t filter it. The best thing to do is read it yourself.

But there is one line we must repeat.

It’s a dangerous, no-good sentiment that sets a load of dynamite under the notion of accountability.

We’re scared to even type it.

But that’s not stopped us before.

“The U.S. economy is rigged against the American people.”

The line isn’t used just once as some sort of aside. It’s repeated three times in this manifesto against personal accountability.

It is the most mentally damaging piece of propaganda any member of a free government could publish.

It begs the people to toss up their arms and shun the notion of accountability. It tells them to take to the streets and blame anybody but themselves.

“The system is rigged,” they claim. And only they can fix it.

It’s a nasty idea.

Worst of all, these government wonks provide a painless solution – or, at least, that’s the way they paint the scene.

Just below the third use of that line, the task force details how it will fight the curse of student debt.

It talks about free college for the low and middle class.

It offers loan forgiveness for folks who hold their nose and work for the government.

And it talks of how we must forget the loans of folks who don’t get a good enough job to pay for it all.

The idea ignores the fact the borrower made the decision to enter a binding contract… at his free will.

It overlooks the idea that he borrowed somebody else’s money, and that person deserves a return on it.

And it fails to recognize the notion that if we give something away, its value plunges.

Bottom line… It shuns personal accountability – the thing that this nation needs the most.

Your Moves… Your Results

Of course, we’d be silly if we only pointed our finger at the folks touting this mess.

To be truly useful, we must use it to reflect on our own lives.

We see three simple lessons here.

We wrote about the first earlier this month. Don’t spend what you don’t have.

If you can’t afford something, save up until you can.

Simple.

Lesson two… If you must borrow, certainly don’t borrow for something that has no return.

If you borrow $100 for something that’s worth $50, it’s not the fault of a rigged economy; it’s the fault of your lousy math skills.

And lesson three… If you feel you need to buy something because everybody else is, look in the mirror. If it doesn’t work for the person looking back at you, don’t do it.

Be accountable to yourself… not the herd.

The economy, the markets and this nation are not rigged against you.

It only feels that way if you let the government make your decisions.

Like what you’re reading? Let us know your thoughts here.

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Founded in 1999, the goal of Investment U is to give you impartial, no-nonsense investment advice and investment research on how to build long-lasting wealth.