Live Your Life For Half The Price: Without Sacrificing the Life You Love
By MARY HUNT
Introduction
Affluence is not measured by your annual income. Affluence is determined by how many of your resources you manage not to spend—the amount of income you keep.
Live Your Life for Half the Price is about how to spend less than you earn, how to make better choices with what you have so you can keep more of what you make. Who should read it? Anyone ready to achieve extraordinary results on an ordinary income.
The idea that you should live below your means is obvious, isn’t it? It’s not like this is the first time you’ve ever heard of the concept. You know that cutting spending is hard work. But living paycheck to paycheck is much harder work. So if you knew how to stop spending so much, it’s safe to say you’d be doing that by now.
Affluence is not measured by your annual income. Affluence is determined by how many of your resources you manage not to spend—the amount of income you keep.
Live Your Life for Half the Price is about how to spend less than you earn, how to make better choices with what you have so you can keep more of what you make. Who should read it? Anyone ready to achieve extraordinary results on an ordinary income.
The idea that you should live below your means is obvious, isn’t it? It’s not like this is the first time you’ve ever heard of the concept. You know that cutting spending is hard work. But living paycheck to paycheck is much harder work. So if you knew how to stop spending so much, it’s safe to say you’d be doing that by now.
Living on less than you earn takes effort. Like swimming upstream or walking up the down escalator, you have to work at going against the flow. It takes a conscious effort to spend less on everything from food to ATM fees, insurance to clothes, and the fun things in life, too.
Sadly, by the looks of climbing credit-card debt and personal bankruptcy filings in the U.S., too few people are willing to put forth the effort. It seems easier to just spend all you have and then depend on credit to cover the gap between what you need and how much you make. At the time it seems fine to have it all now and pay later. Yet we eventually learn the long-term effects of that spending error.
If you are not where you’d like to be with your money, don’t assume that’s because you make less money than you desire. Increased income does not guarantee a better life.
Think about it: Ten years ago your annual income was less than it is now. Perhaps it was a lot less. You believed then if you only made more money you’d be out of debt and on your way to building wealth and securing your future.
Then you got a raise or changed careers. Your annual income improved, but then you added new expenses and accepted new debt. Before long you got to thinking that if you only made more money you’d be out of debt, and on your way to building wealth and securing your future.
Then you got a raise or changed careers. You made more money.You took on more expenses, added more debt. I know I am repeating myself and that is my point. You’re caught in a vicious cycle that insists more money is the only way to improve one’s financial situation.
More money alone is not likely to change your life. You’ve proven that. But making the decision to stop spending all of it so you can keep more of it—that’s the solution.
It took me decades to wise up. But finally I found the key to the life I love. I hope it doesn’t take you that long. How much more time can you afford to waste? No matter your current income, you can do better with what you have without giving up the life you love. Just the fact that you are reading these words right now means you have an important resource within your grasp.
As you read this book, make it a personal challenge to see how much of your money you can manage to keep. Make it a game. Try different strategies. Some things will work better for you than others. I ask only that you be open to many options.
I know that with the right information, motivation, and encouragement you can shift your energy from treading financial water to achieving financial freedom. What makes me so sure? For fifteen years I’ve been helping people get out of debt. Their success can be directly connected to their personal decisions to live on less—to stop spending everything they make. None of these stories were overnight miracles. It takes time and hard work to right the wrongs of past mistakes and to change behaviors, habits, and attitudes. But it is so doable. The stories are amazing.
I am handing you the opportunity to change the course of your life. I am giving you a chance to take charge of your finances, to do better with what you have so you can start making the kind of progress with your money about which you’ve only dreamed.
And now you have a decision to make. I hope you will grab this opportunity to finally stop living beyond your means—regardless of your income level or current financial situation. You’re about to discover you can do more with what you have—more than you dream possible. If you’re ready to take on the challenge, so am I.
Let’s get started!
Sadly, by the looks of climbing credit-card debt and personal bankruptcy filings in the U.S., too few people are willing to put forth the effort. It seems easier to just spend all you have and then depend on credit to cover the gap between what you need and how much you make. At the time it seems fine to have it all now and pay later. Yet we eventually learn the long-term effects of that spending error.
If you are not where you’d like to be with your money, don’t assume that’s because you make less money than you desire. Increased income does not guarantee a better life.
Think about it: Ten years ago your annual income was less than it is now. Perhaps it was a lot less. You believed then if you only made more money you’d be out of debt and on your way to building wealth and securing your future.
Then you got a raise or changed careers. Your annual income improved, but then you added new expenses and accepted new debt. Before long you got to thinking that if you only made more money you’d be out of debt, and on your way to building wealth and securing your future.
Then you got a raise or changed careers. You made more money.You took on more expenses, added more debt. I know I am repeating myself and that is my point. You’re caught in a vicious cycle that insists more money is the only way to improve one’s financial situation.
More money alone is not likely to change your life. You’ve proven that. But making the decision to stop spending all of it so you can keep more of it—that’s the solution.
It took me decades to wise up. But finally I found the key to the life I love. I hope it doesn’t take you that long. How much more time can you afford to waste? No matter your current income, you can do better with what you have without giving up the life you love. Just the fact that you are reading these words right now means you have an important resource within your grasp.
As you read this book, make it a personal challenge to see how much of your money you can manage to keep. Make it a game. Try different strategies. Some things will work better for you than others. I ask only that you be open to many options.
I know that with the right information, motivation, and encouragement you can shift your energy from treading financial water to achieving financial freedom. What makes me so sure? For fifteen years I’ve been helping people get out of debt. Their success can be directly connected to their personal decisions to live on less—to stop spending everything they make. None of these stories were overnight miracles. It takes time and hard work to right the wrongs of past mistakes and to change behaviors, habits, and attitudes. But it is so doable. The stories are amazing.
I am handing you the opportunity to change the course of your life. I am giving you a chance to take charge of your finances, to do better with what you have so you can start making the kind of progress with your money about which you’ve only dreamed.
And now you have a decision to make. I hope you will grab this opportunity to finally stop living beyond your means—regardless of your income level or current financial situation. You’re about to discover you can do more with what you have—more than you dream possible. If you’re ready to take on the challenge, so am I.
Let’s get started!
