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How to Get Ahead In America (5th of a 12-Part Series)

By Logan Flatt, CFA

NOTE: This article is Part 5 of a 12-part series detailing the “12 Refusals That Helped Me Pull Ahead in America.” To start at the beginning of the series, click here.

5. Refuse to let America's media and entertainment industry own your reality.

   If you live in the United States of America, one reason you may feel challenged to pull ahead financially is that America’s culture is heavily focused on the consumption of goods and services by individuals and families. While consumption may help grow America's mammoth $13.1 trillion economy, it can also hurt the long-term wealth of the average American family. Why doesn't America's culture focus on more fiscally responsible behavior like saving and investing? Because America's powerful media and entertainment industry keeps American culture centered on the consumption of products and services by offering and providing advertising and other marketing solutions to America's best and brightest marketers. It is the combined power of the industry and the marketers that keeps you and your family focused on spending your money on goods and services in the here and now instead of doing what is best for you and your family in the long run – building wealth by saving and investing.

How to Get Ahead In America (4th of a 12-Part Series)

By Logan Flatt, CFA

NOTE: This article is Part 4 of a 12-part series detailing the “12 Refusals That Helped Me Pull Ahead in America.” To start at the beginning of the series, click here.

4. Refuse to live a lifestyle you cannot afford on the income you bring home each month.

    Many Americans today run out of cash each month after paying the bills that enable them to live their chosen lifestyle. Their lifestyle leaves them no cash left over to set aside and save for their future. Without savings, these Americans have little to no chance of achieving financial security and freedom in their lifetime.

How to Get Ahead In America (3rd of a 12-Part Series)

By Logan Flatt, CFA

NOTE: This article is Part 3 of a 12-part series detailing the “12 Refusals That Helped Me Pull Ahead in America.” To start at the beginning of the series, click here.

3. Refuse to be a victim.

    Throughout history, many of us have been adversely affected when somebody or something oppressed, injured, tricked, mistreated, or otherwise afflicted us with emotional hurt, physical pain, or psychological damage. Due to no fault of our own – whether by cruel fate, happenstance, or divine intervention – we involuntarily suffered something unexpected and unfavorable that, by definition, reclassified our human condition to that of “victim”.

How to Get Ahead In America (2nd of a 12-Part Series)

By Logan Flatt, CFA

NOTE: This article is Part 2 of a 12-part series detailing the “12 Refusals That Helped Me Pull Ahead in America.” To start at the beginning of the series, click here.

2. Refuse to allow anyone else to take responsibility for creating your life.

    If there is one refusal that has been central to my financial success in America, I would say this is it. Simply put, I believe that I control my own destiny. Therefore, my life is my own creation. I’ve found that most people are ready to take credit for the good things in their lives, but are quick to blame others for the bad things. Not me. I take credit for both the good and the bad in my life.

How to Get Ahead In America (1st of a 12-Part Series)

By Logan Flatt, CFA

    The United States of America is a country where an individual wanting to improve his social or economic status, or simply get ahead one way or another, can make the choice to do so and then, through personal conviction and effort, create a new and better life around that choice. For centuries, poor, hungry, and courageous immigrants from around the world have come to America intent on transforming themselves into living, breathing examples of this fact. And they continue to come: in 2006 alone, the United States of America accepted 1,266,264 legal immigrants as permanent residents – more than the rest of the world combined.