I realize that most of the population are debtors and not asset builders. The first thing we need to do is describe the difference between both kinds of money handlers. In economics a debtor (or a borrower) owes money to a creditor. An Investor thinks investing is a term with several closely-related meanings in business management, finance and economics, related to saving or deferring consumption. I really like how Wikipedia defines an investor specifically “deferring consumption.”Now that we have the definitions down, how can you turn yourself from being a debtor to an investor?

Think outside the box. You must train yourself to think of an investment as a tangible item. Buying stock should be considered consumption. When you purchase more “food/stock” to feed your investment portfolio, he grows and gets stronger every day.

Food and shelter are extremely important parts of life, but the same is true for your investment portfolio. You need to care and feed your portfolio till he gets big and strong. After many years of providing “food and shelter” to your portfolio he will be self sustainable. And in the future, he will be taking really good care of you.

Think of ways to turn every dollar spent to a profit generating system. The first thing that comes to mind is purchasing stock into companies that already have your business. Instead of always being a customer, be an owner. Whenever I purchase a cheeseburger at Wendy’s¹, I always think that I am reinvesting myself in a company that I share profits with.

Now let’s look at the “think of an investment as tangible item” topic again from a different angle. Everyone usually has an imaginary budget in their heads before they start spending. For example: If you make less money one month, you spend less. Add investing to your imaginary budget every single month. Whether investing is purchasing stock, adding money to your online savings account, or paying down extra debt, it needs to have special place in your budget. Always add at least 35% of what you spend into your investment account. If you spend $400 a month on food and entertainment, you need to stash away $140. If you can’t invest that much money, cut your spending habits.

*eFIPO’s Rule* Investing and saving is just looking at debt from a different angle. If you think of investing as purchasing an actual product, you will be a very wealthy person later on.

*Do you need a concrete budgeting system? Check it out here!*

¹ Because I own stock in the company