We’ve all been driven to grow our household wealth. It seems like from the beginning of our existence, we were raised to prepare for this task. We are sent to school to increase our skills so we can earn enough cash to grow our personal wealth. We buy our own home to increase our net worth. We all work 9-5 every day for 5-6 days a week just so we can earn the money that will help us spend for all our needs.
Modern society is built in such a way that we cannot survive without money. It’s a cliche that finances are given so much importance in our lives but even the most un-materialistic person will have to agree that you cannot live without money. We have corrupted too much of our natural resources that most of us cannot be sustained by what mother nature can provide. It all has to be improved and commercialized to fit all of our needs and that requires money.
The US household wealth in 2013
Thankfully, the US household wealth is continually improving to meet all our purchasing demands. In the most latest release of the Federal Reserve.gov, the total wealth of all the households and nonprofit organizations have steadily increased for the past 7 quarters. The release last December 9, 2013 showed the following:
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Q1, 2012: $80.85 trillion, net worth of $67.32 trillion
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Q2, 2012: $80.92 trillion, net worth of $67.38 trillion
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Q3, 2012: $83.08 trillion, net worth of $69.60 trillion
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Q4, 2012: $84.52 trillion, net worth of $70.92 trillion
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Q1, 2013: $87.51 trillion, net worth of $73.97 trillion
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Q2, 2013: $88.90 trillion, net worth of $75.33 trillion
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Q3, 2013: $90.93 trillion, net worth of $77.25 trillion
There hasn’t been a decline since 2008 and this shows that we are making good progress. Although the consumer credit is also increasing, we have learned how to control it enough to keep it from ruining our household wealth.
But even as the improvements are there, the quest to increase one’s net worth is still evident. We still go to work, aspire for a higher paying job and so much more. But what exactly drives us to grow our household wealth?
Growing your personal net worth is the same as just about everyone else. However, we are all driven by different motivators. Before we discuss them, let us understand why this is important.
The most important source of our wealth is our job or business. This is something that we do everyday. If you really want to grow your household wealth, you need to make sure that you are productive enough to earn as much profit as your limited time can produce. This means you need to choose the right job that will give you the satisfaction that you need.
StatisticBrain.com shows that although money is an important factor, people value the feeling of accomplishment more than a higher income. In fact, based on the study from the University of California Berkeley last April 2012, 48.8% prioritize the sense of accomplishment. Only 21.3% look at a high income as the priority.
5 ways you are motivated to increase your personal net worth
Identifying what will motivate you the most to earn money will help encourage you to overcome any obstacle that will come your way. Work is not easy and motivation will help you plow through all the difficulties.
Given that thought, let us define the 5 different money motivators that can increase your chances of growing your household wealth.
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Need to survive. The most important yet surprisingly not the most common is the need to survive. As we explained earlier, you need to have the money to meet your daily needs. That is just how society is built. We used to trade products but since not everyone has access to natural resources, we are given a symbolic trading tool that we now call money. If you want to eat, you need money – even if it is to provide the materials you need to cook. If you want to clothe yourself, you need to purchase that and that requires cash.
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Need to improve your status symbol. The most popular motivator that is oftentimes unnecessary is to improve your status. We strive to increase our household wealth because we want to be at par with the beautiful homes of our neighbors. We want to be able to turn heads when we drive past pedestrians in our luxury cars. We want to be able to send our kids to good schools. This is caused by the consumerist mentality that we grew up in and although it is not as important as the need to survive, it is still a strong motivator for most of us.
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Need to improve our quality of life. This is almost similar to the previous but it is more focus on what you perceive you and your family wants. Improving your status is something that depends on the people outside of your home. The difference is, the need to improve the quality of your life depends on what will make the people inside you home happy. For instance, you want to earn more to help your family afford a bigger house because the kids are getting bigger or there is another one on the way. It is not because everyone in the neighborhood are expanding their homes.
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Need to be financially stable. Another motivator that people have to earn more money is to be financially stable. This is probably the wisest of all the money motivators. If you had been through a bad crisis in the past, you want to make sure that you set up your future right to be financially stable. Some people simply want to have less monetary stress so they can enjoy their lives. This can only be done by improving your savings and making sure that you have the money stashed away before a crisis strikes.
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Need to have fun. This is probably the most aspired yet unrealistic for a lot of us. It is a rare feat for anyone to have a career or financial decision that is motivated by fun. Most of the time, it is motivated by practical reasons. But some people have the personality that can only be motivated by their need to have fun. This feels more uplifting than the others but it may not always be the most rewarding.
Identifying your motivation to grow your household wealth will help you understand the instinct decisions that you make. With this comprehension, you are able to set up your financial opportunities to suit your personality best. The reason why you want to boost your motivation is because your happiness and sense of fulfillment will push you to go through boundaries you never thought of surpassing.
It may or may not be a good thing but society wants us to keep on improving our household wealth – even beyond what we really need. It may be excessive but you can actually use that to set up your life right. It is always okay to build up your wealth but make sure that you do it for the right reasons. Otherwise, you might end up pushing yourself towards a path that you cannot live up to. That can end up failing.