Why You Should Be Proud of Your 9-5

Check out what this dude tweeted me (and like 47 other people) yesterday.

@CodyBWheeler Anyone is 3-5 years away from retirement, at ANY age. We are in a new evolved economy. No need for conventional jobs or 401K.

— Chris Kilber (@ChrisKilber)

This was in response to a contest I was running at the time for access to one of my courses.

I won’t lie. At first I was pissed. It felt like this was a personal attack in response to something I was trying to help.

But then I realized this dude was just voicing what he believes in and what is right for his audience, and that’s totally cool.

Some people are born entrepreneurs. In fact, I know quite a few.

That said, I do have to respectfully disagree with the statement that there is “no need for conventional jobs or 401ks”, (and other types of retirement plans).

In defense of you, this was my reply.

@ChrisKilber Maybe for some, but not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur brother. — Cody Wheeler (@CodyBWheeler)

Not really one of my most articulate posts on social media, but you get the picture 🙂

Don’t get me wrong. Making extra money on the side is awesome.

In fact, I have done this pretty much my entire life in one way or another, but not everyone wants to start the next Google or be a full-time entrepreneur. It’s not all glitter and glamour.

It’s definitely true that a percentage people have the drive, skills, means, intelligence, and desire to create businesses of their own that allow them to retire from working for other people, but just because you’re not working for someone else, doesn’t mean you’re retired.

You still have to earn a living, and you’re probably going to be working a lot longer than 9-5 to do so.

Being Employed Can Make You Rich Too

A ridiculously large number of people, just about 90%, and likely yourself if you’re reading this post, live their lives with stable and safe employment that provides a nice lifestyle for them and their family, and the opportunity to retire at a fairly vital age with a nice bank account balance.

I just watched my dad do this about a year ago as I write this, and he’s loving every minute of it.

But one of the problems and horror stories that freaks a lot of people out, and puts a negative connotation on the “9-5” job, is that a lot of people in that 90% also completely fail at that last step of creating enough wealth to retire rich.

Why? Well there are plenty of reasons. Emotion, a key contributor to human behavior, is a huge contributor.

• They get freaked out by the nonsense hype of short term stock market slides
• They get all twinkley-eyed over $500 million dollar lottery jackpots, game shows, get rich quick schemes, risky real-estate ploys, business in a box deals, and every other distraction that gets thrown at them on a weekly basis promising a life of freedom.
• They fall victim to the slew of advertisements that are being thrown at them every minute of every day

These kinds of things are easy to get caught up in, but a lot of them just prey on your emotions and give you false hope.

And because all of this noise, people just think everything is going to be OK, that everything is just going to work itself out, and they fail to plan.

They fail to make their money work for them. And they end up in their 60s (or even 70s), still working, without enough money to retire, and wondering what the heck they’re going to do now…

Don’t Get Me Wrong Here…

I’m all about encouraging you to create the lifestyle you want to live. I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer.

In fact, I firmly believe that there is an unrealized dream in all of us to always be something better in our lives, but the fact is, until you figure out what that dream is and execute your plan to get there, stable employment with a 401k that can create large amounts of wealth for you is a pretty damn good way to go.

I don’t want to get in the way of your dreams of owning your own business and creating your own lifestyle. In fact, I often encourage you to do so in posts like this one.

But I also want to be totally realistic with you.

I’m not here to pump you up with false hope. I’m here to help you change your behavior and actions to make sure you’re being as productive as you can be on a daily basis, and to make sure you’re in a great long-term financial situation.

We’re in this thing together.

So keep working on that grand idea to change the world in your spare time.

But while you do that, rock that stable employment badge that you have proudly, and make sure you’re following these three principles that will keep you in a great financial situation along the way, and keep you moving towards your financial goals.