Money! It's one of the most psychologically charged issues of our lives. Most people will give up much more valuable things than money in order to earn more of it; such as, giving up time spent with their families and friends, putting themselves and their financial assets at risk or even destroy their health. Money is a powerful source connected with both pain and pleasure within our society.

Wealth and riches for thousands of years have been the source of conflict where even nations invade other nations seeking to expand their wealth. Revolutions have been fought due to wealth. It is the source of desire, power, pride, enmity, envy and even contempt. So what is it really, the creator of dreams or the root of all evil?

Intellectually though, we know that money is a medium of exchange. The lack of having enough money has led to emotions such as fear, anxiety, frustration, worry, insecurity and humiliation just to name a few. So how do we take immediate control over our financial life? As I have mentioned earlier it is best to start early.

Let's start with principle number one;
You have to come up with a way to add value to people's lives. We live in a fast paced, low carb, 25 hour day where people are looking for new and innovative ways to make life easier, less complicated and quicker. If you can look deep within yourself to find what your greatest strengths are or what talents that you may possess which would provide you with a platform as to what careers to pursue. For an example, if you have a caring personality you may want to look at a career in counseling or a career as a caregiver or even as a teacher at primary or secondary level education etc, if you have great people skills and fantastic communication skills you may have a great future in any field such as a career in lecturing, politics, business development, customer service, sales etc. you may possess writing talents, singing talents, dancing, painting, photography etc. so first you need to recognize your strengths and see how you can add value to people's lives through your talents.

You may need to take a while and jot down some of the skills and talents you may have right now and then formulate a plan of how you could add value to people's lives.

Principle number two;
You need to have a financial goal. When youngsters (or even mature or older people for that matter) are questioned on how much money they would want to earn or how much of a wealth they would aspire for, they usually have no clue. How could you earn an abundance of wealth without even knowing how much you want? The brain loves specifics. This is why it is always advised to write down a list of the things you wish to buy at the supermarket than simply entering a supermarket without it. For most often than not you always end up spending more than what you intended if you did not have a specific spending plan. Therefore write down on a piece of paper how much you would hope to earn monthly and how much you would want to save at the end of the year.

Principle number three;
This one is probably the least sexy principle of all. It is quite simple yet many people fail to do this. The principle is "spend less than you earn and invest the difference". So many people as soon as they get their hands on their salary spend it immediately without thinking about the long term repercussions they may lead to. On a lighter note, some of my very good friends and colleagues frequent the pubs and nightclubs on the very night of their salary being debited into their accounts. This is okay if you don't have a financial goal for your future, however I assume that whoever reading this is willing to take some short term sacrifices in order to reach long term financial abundance.

Principle number four;
It is also very important that you save a minimum of 10% of your salary every month even before you get to see or even touch your salary. Speak to your banking service provider and request them to debit 10% of your salary or more into a savings account that you will never touch till you may turn 40 years of age. Trust me by that time you would have saved close to or more than 1 million rupees (i.e. assuming you are 18-20 years of age today and your salary is LKR. 15,000 a month and you managed to save 10% of it and the interest rate on savings accounts are 15% per annum). Therefore imagine if you earned RS. 20,000, Rs. 25,000 or Rs. 30,000 and you saved more than 10% of it, you could earn well over the above figures mentioned. Therefore never underestimate the power of saving.

Another way to manage unnecessary expenses is through the correct and intelligent use of credit cards (if you are using one). The fifth principle that I am about to share with you is probably the most important of all;
This principle is to stress the importance of tithing; So many people have found a way to earn wealth by adding value to people's lives, they have maintained it by spending less than they earn, they have mastered the art of investing and they have protected their assets. However they are still not happy. What they have not realized is that money is not an end but a means to an end.

Remember that true wealth is only an emotion it's a sense of absolute abundance. I wish you all the very best for a life of abundant wealth and joy.