Since time is money, and a lot of us trade time for money, it stands to reason that we could save a lot of time if we could make money quickly. And there are ways to do that.
One way is by hopping from one company to the next to move up to positions with more responsibility and higher pay.
Within a company, it’s often difficult to climb the company ladder. We have to serve our time in lower-level positions, prove ourselves, be willing to kiss up to our boss in some cases, and then maybe we can get a promotion. Then we have to start the process again.
Sometimes it’s easier to climb the rungs if we hop from one ladder to another. Once we reach one level in the corporate hierarchy, we can interview for the next higher position at another company. Then do it again – rinse and repeat. Oftentimes, you can get to the top much more quickly if you’re willing to move on to the next opportunity.
Climbing the corporate ladder is difficult and time-consuming to do it at a single company, but it’s often easier to job hop from one company to another, always moving up a level rather than making a lateral move.
A second way to take a shortcut and make money quickly is by “trading up” in real estate. I have an in-law who has done that to perfection. He and his wife purchased a house about five years ago, their first home together, and quickly had a son. So they made some improvements to the house – they added a nursery, put a massive roof over the back patio, and put in a pool.
They were still paying off the loans for the improvements when they got the itch to move. Actually, the husband got the itch; his wife had to be talked into it.
They did a little shopping but settled on having a new house built, which they did. They found a new community in a growing part of town, met with the developer, and a few months later had a new house. They sold their first home for a profit, receiving an offer that was more than what their original purchase price plus the cost of the improvements.
Now, less than two years after moving into their new home, which cost $100k more than their first home, the new home has more than doubled in price. They could literally sell that home and use the profit to go back and purchase their first home outright. In just a five-year span, they could own the original house with all the improvements and have no more payments. That’s a lot better than a 30-year mortgage.
That doesn’t mean they have plans to re-purchase the original house, but they are talking about downgrading and using the profit from the sale to fully pay for their next home. If they do, they will be well on their way to financial independence.