Your Financial Fortress

I’ve said it before and it’s worth repeating: When it comes to investing, it’s not about how much you make. It’s about how you create the life you want to lead using what you make. Controlling your financial flow is a huge part of becoming a successful investor.

However, it’s also far from being the only part. As well as controlling the flow of your money, you also need to find out how to protect it. Building sustainable wealth is all about keeping as much of what you generate along the way.

Now… I’m going to have to be the bearer of a little bad news here. Your journey to financial freedom will not be all unicorns and roses. You’re not going to have a perfectly smooth ride from where you are right now to where you want to be. Simply put, you’re going to face a whole bunch of challenges along the way.

I’ve experienced this myself.

I have the outrageous privilege of losing everything that I had when I was in my twenties. I’ve had to work hard to get back into a position where I have wealth. And now, I’m super sensitive about this concept of protecting what you have.

There are several things that you can do to protect yourself.

Having a buffer in place is one of them. Sometimes, life gives you a little sideswipe that you’re not expecting. Your buffer will help you to absorb the impact without getting knocked off course. As importantly, you have to understand that your personal life is a business when it comes to building wealth. The same goes for your property portfolio. These two businesses that you have need to stay completely separate.

As soon as you mix the personal in with the property, you’re opening yourself up to risk. That goes for almost any other asset type, by the way.

The point I’m making is that it’s not enough to put money towards investing. You’ve also got to protect yourself every step of the way to build sustainable wealth.

— Todd Polke