Don’t get depressed over lack of wealth mobility

Something that seems to be sweeping the newspapers and blogs is how bad the economy is. The articles seem to point out how pay has been flat for several few years and that there is little income mobility.

What may not be clear is that there are two different results. One set of results is found when you average large groups of people and then compare different time periods like now vs twenty years ago. An entirely different set of results is found when you pick individual flesh-and-blood people, track their wealth mobility over twenty years and then average THAT. The results are much more pleasing.
Why is that? Well, the people in a given group today aren’t the same people that were in that same group twenty years ago. Which makes the first result set inherently flawed. But the fate of your retirement wealth shouldn’t be tied to such metrics.

Instead, you should focus on how you can become an owner, not just an employee. The wealthy members of society don’t settle for being simple employees. Instead they go out and own things including real estate, cash yielding stocks, cash value life insurance, and business equity. When you become an owner, the weight of income mobility, whether a valid concern or not, eventually fades in importance.

It may seem beyond your reach to build a million dollar business. But setting aside $100-500 every month and buying blocks of VNR, KO, WMT, GD, or any other blue chip stock that has paid increasing dividends for 25+ years is very realizable. 
These stocks become cash generators. By becoming business owners you can partake a piece of the profits. $500/month over 30 years would turn into $180,000 of pure investment capital, growing at 9% a year, would turn into $817,000.  Collecting 4% dividends would be tantamount to receiving over $32,000 a year just for being alive.
This is just one strategy but should illustrate that instead of worrying whether or not your salary is going up or not, people like Dividend Mantra are showing that your future is very much in your control. You’re the boss. Don’t let politicians and newspapers deter you from building your retirement wealth. 

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