Building wealth is a part of the American Dream. We’re told that through hard work and seizing opportunities we can lead successful, healthy, and wealthy lives. But building wealth isn’t important just for the sake of having money. In fact, it’s almost a requirement these days if you want to fully retire at some point. Social Security won’t provide much of a retirement. Your kids may not be able to afford college on their own, and there’s a good chance that health care costs can wipe out even a decent nest egg during your golden years.
积累财富是每一个人的梦想。我们可以说，通过努力工作，我们可以抓住成功的机会，过上健康富裕的生活。但是金钱本身并不重要，那只是钱。事实呢，在某种程度上退休后社会保障并不会提供多少退休金。你的孩子也可能无法自己负担大学学费，也许健康保险在你年轻力壮的时候，也不会有太大的作用。
Since building wealth is so important for our future why is it that most people still find themselves under a mountain of debt or end up retiring broke and unhappy? It isn’t just luck. Sure, in the game of life luck does play a part, but most of the outcomes in life are directly attributable to the choices you make and financial decisions are no different. If you make smart decisions with your money your odds of success lean in your favor. Make poor decisions and you put yourself behind the 8-ball. Here are seven of the biggest money problems and mistakes most people make and if you can avoid making these mistakes you’re on the fast track toward building wealth.
金钱对我们每一个人都是重要的，为什么有些人在退休后仍然发现自己有堆积如山的债务，而感到不开心。那不是运气的原因。当然，每一个人在生活中都扮演一定的角色，大部分原因是由于你做出的选择还有理财决策等不同。如果你能做出明智的决定，你就会离成功更进一步。如果做错了决定，你就会遇到麻烦。下面这七个对于金钱的错误理解可能是多数人遇到的，如果你可以避免这些错误，你就会进入积累财富的快车道。
This is the granddaddy of them all. For generations we’ve been told that owning a home is how you build wealth. The reasoning was simple: you buy a house, live in it for a few decades, and sell it for a large profit since it appreciated in value. For the Baby Boomers and their parents this was a reasonable expectation. People did not move around as much, had steady employment with a company, and they held on to their homes long enough that it was almost unheard of to not make money when selling your home. For our generation, things are different.
这是错误的认识，也许我们被告知，如果更快地积累财富呢？很简单，就是买房子，然后住上几十年，再卖掉它，就会赚一大笔钱，因为房子会增值。对于刚刚出生的宝宝，这是父母们的期望。人们想法不一样，也有人想着在一家公司里稳定工作，然后长时间来支付购买房子的费用。当你卖掉房子的时候，也不会赚到钱，对于我们这一代，情况是不同的。
Generation X and Y are mobile creatures. Gone are the days of company loyalty and staying with the same employer for 30 years so you can retire with a big pension and a gold watch. No, today people are on their own and have to do what’s best for themselves and their families. This often means frequently changing jobs, moving, or even losing a job and being forced to look elsewhere. This means people aren’t staying in their homes nearly as long as they used to. And guess what that means? The less time you live in your home the less equity you build. The less equity you have the more likely that when you sell you’re going to be put into a position where there is little or no money to be made and it could even cost you significantly as we’ve seen in recent years.
当然X类型和Y类型的人做事也会不同。如果一个公司雇主雇用了你30年，这样你可以领到退休养老金并且不断升职。而现在，我们必须做好对于置业的计划，比如考虑是否经常更换工作地点，甚至是丢掉了工作，被迫换了住处等。这就是说，是否选择工作单位与家近。这是什么意思呢？是说当你支付不起按揭费用了，你卖掉房子，也显示了近几年你的置业是否有意义。
If you’re like most Americans you probably spend a good deal of your time driving to and from work. Thanks to the way our country and cities were built this is how most of us have to live and that means having a car (or two or three). The downside is that owning a vehicle is an expensive proposition. First, you have to buy a car, but the expenses don’t stop there. Even after putting out thousands of dollars for the vehicle itself you’re left with filling it with gas. Then you have to get regular oil changes and perform routine maintenance. And let’s not forget about insurance. Oh, and those flat tires and unexpected repairs can be costly as well. All said and done, the average person will spend over $500, 000 on vehicle expenses over their lifetime. No, seriously. Most people end up spending more on their cars than they have in their retirement account by the time they are 65. Think about it.
选择购买房子的关键是，银行的按揭负担是否超出了你的能力范围。拥有属于自己的房子，如果房子价格上涨，则可以增加你的资产净值，但是，很多的人购买房子应当不超出你的月供为准。确保你购买的房子产权，也可以避免房地产泡沫，否则可能对你来说，是错误的金融投资。大多数美国人花费大量时间开车上下班，那是因为大多数人都拥有一辆车（甚或两辆或三辆），其实，拥有一辆车是高消费的。首先，你得购买一辆车，接下来的费用永不停止。即使你有成千上万的美元，车辆本身需要充气、定期添加油料、进行日常维护，还要缴纳保险。除了这些轮胎以及想不到的维修费用相比，还有，一般会花费超过50万美元的车辆费用。毫不夸张，支付要到退休后的65岁。想一想吧。
So, don’t make the same mistake many vehicle owners are. Most of the people you see driving around $70, 000 luxury SUVs are not as wealthy as their vehicle leads you to believe. Their car is likely making them poor and they probably have little more than a bunch of monthly payments that still has them living paycheck to paycheck. Buying new vs. used can be one mistake, but it goes beyond that. Spending more money on a nice vehicle leads to more interest being paid when financing, costly maintenance, and higher car insurance premiums. To make matters worse, these are all costs associated with a depreciating asset! You will continue to throw money at something that becomes worth less every single day. I may not be a mathematician, but even I know that isn’t how you build wealth. Let fools be easily parted from their money as they sink it into hunks of plastic and steel. You can find a better use for your hard-earned money, can’t you?
所以，别再犯同样的错误，你看到大多数人驾驶着大约7万美元的豪华SUV，你要相信，这个不会让你更富有，很可能使你变得更贫穷。多了每月的汽车费用，还有更多的保险费用、维修费等，这些都是成本。你为这些支付更多，很可能浪费了金钱。我不是数学家，但我清楚，不是你应该如何创造财富，而是离开浪费金钱的地方，可以吗？我们都知道，购买大的物件花费很高，但是细水长流的小物件也会有很多浪费。如果超出了你的预算，你就要堵住每一个小的浪费。考虑储蓄、投资、或是还清债务，比如电影频道支付了费用又没有看，短信开通又没有使用，购买了杂志没有看，经常看不必要看的电影。所有这些可能只有10美元一个月，或是更少。但是每一个小的花费，几个月积累下来，就会变成几百美元的浪费。
It’s like the leaky faucet in the bathroom. You may only see a single drip every few seconds and it’s hard to imagine those add up to much, but a single leaky faucet can waste over 1, 000 gallons of water a year! The same thing goes for your money. A dollar here, five dollars there, and you hardly notice it on a weekly basis. But over a year and beyond you’re literally wasting thousands of dollars. Think about what it could mean if you were saving a few extra thousand dollars a year instead. It could mean an early retirement.
这就好比浴室里的漏水的水龙头，你看到几秒钟才流出的几滴水，但是没有想到漏水的水龙头在一年内竟浪费超过了1000加仑。对于金钱也是如此，这里只有一美元、五美元，但是每周都是这样浪费，一年后会发现浪费了上千美元。如果你每年节省了几万元，可能就可以提前退休啦。还有一件事，就是退休账户，很多人都会面对潜在的资金问题。但是，没有人早晨起来会说，“嘿，我想去兑换我的退休金。”事实上，我认为存在这样的人，但不是大多数人。相反，也许是遇到了个人金融危机，才导致了这个决定。也许你失业了，或遇到重大的医疗费用，或什么困难，你不得不兑现退休基金。这样做是弊大于利。
When you’re in high school all you keep hearing about is preparing for college. After all, these days it’s pretty much expected if you want a good job you have to get a degree. For many career paths this is true. And in some professions you need to go beyond and get a graduate degree or more. While there’s not much you can do about the fact that some professions require degrees, for the large majority of students there are steps they can take to minimize the burden of a college education.
这就像拆东墙补西墙，这是你的账户，你把钱从一个账户支付了别的事情，其实没有真正解决问题。使得，你解决了燃眉之急，但是又出现了一个更长期的危机。最终，当你退休的时候，你可能需要工作更长的时间，或出售财产。现实是，你早点儿为这些做储备，这样是有益的。如果你为了解决燃煤之急，兑现了退休账户，你可能将付出更沉重的代价，使得问题更加复杂。这些基金会在你需要的时候，帮助到你，所以你应该堵塞这些做法。当你在上高中时，听到大家都在准备上大学，毕竟，如果你想要得到一份更好的工作，你需要获得学位。有许多的职业都是这样，在一些行业甚至需要研究生或更高，绝大多数的学生，可以采取一些措施来减少大学教育的负担。
For one, you don’t have to go to a private school to get a superb education. While some schools are going to be better than others, picking a school because of their name is like buying a $200 pair of designer jeans over a $50 pair of tried and true Levis. Both will accomplish the same thing, but one costs a lot more and it may or may not pay off in the future. And don’t neglect community colleges or state schools for the first year or two before transferring to the school of your choice. Knocking out many of the basic courses in the first two years could literally mean a savings of $100, 000 on your total education bill.
第一，你不必去一家私立学校，虽然有些私立学校很不错，但是费用很高，就像购买200美元的名牌牛仔裤，超过了本来50美元就可以购买到的牛仔裤。获得的学位一样，但是需要花费更多，对于未来偿还增加了成本。不要忽视社区学院或公立大学，许多第一年的课程就可以节省10万美元。
Ask any 20-something what their plans are for retirement and you’ll probably get a confused look or outright laughter. When we’re young we feel as if our whole life is still ahead of us. And for the most part that’s true, but that doesn’t mean we have time to wait before starting to save. You see, there’s this little thing called compound interest that’s willing to put your money to work, but it requires one crucial element in order to do its job. Time. Without time the value of interest is virtually eliminated.
还有，不要错误地认为，你可以通过贷款来解决学费，你参加工作以后，还款将更加不容易。任何一个普通学士学位，如果得到了资助贷款的话，可能未来的债务超过了10万美元，如果你年薪是5万美元，那么，未来若干年就是在按揭还款，对于退休账户、应急储蓄、或买房子，都是不利的。不要不钱过多地投资在教育上，如果你想帮助你的孩子，你可以做一些计划，让孩子们了解这些。确保你的退休储蓄和孩子教育储蓄。如果你问一个20岁的年轻人，退休计划是什么，你会看到困惑的眼神，或是听到笑声。当我们年轻时，也许会觉得生活还很长，对于大多数人，是这样，但是不意味着你有时间可以等待。你看，有一个事情叫复利，你需要早做打算，不要浪费时间。
The problem is that compound interest is not linear. If you’re investing $5, 000 a year you can’t just say that if you wait two years to get started you can figure your account will only be roughly $10, 000 less. No. Instead, waiting just two years to start saving $5, 000 could end up costing you over $50, 000 by retirement. And that’s just two years. When you make the mistake that many people make by waiting five years, ten years, or even longer until the “time is right” to start saving you’re literally throwing a few hundred thousand dollars out the window.
复利这个概念不是直线的。如果你每年投资5000美元，两年账户里至少会有10000美元。两年节省5000美元，可能退休金花费了50000美元。很多人在的等待，在浪费青春，五年、十年以后才开始储蓄，这是错误的。
The previous six money problems dealt with fairly specific financial decisions gone wrong, but the seventh bad decision isn’t as exact. Instead, it has to do with setting goals. This is a pretty broad topic and really, everyone’s goals will be different. But the problem is that most people don’t take the time to outline specific financial goals. Sure, people tell themselves that they want to save more, invest more, spend less, get out of debt, and all of that, but being that generic is not helpful.
有人说在找到更好的工作之前，要节约。然后他们就开始等待了，先是得到父母的支持，然后有了孩子，购买大房子。生活要准备就绪，我们要面对生活，总有一些事情会来到你的生活，不要找借口等待，现在开始，时间就是你最大的资产，也或许会成为你的敌人。由你来决定如何利用时间。前六个的问题如果说是属理财错误，那么第七个就是设定目标，这是一个涵义广泛的话题，每个人的目标都不同。但问题是，大多数人不会花时间来做具体的理财目标。当然，他们也会告诉自己，想要存更多的钱，增加投资，减少浪费，远离债务。但是，这是没有帮助的。
You need to be specific and set concrete goals so that you can put a plan together to reach them and then have something to track your progress. Instead of just saying you’re going to start building an emergency fund, be specific and say you’re going to set aside $10, 000 in 12 months. Ok, now that you have a specific goal set you can start putting a plan in place to reach that goal. You know exactly how much you need to set aside each month to reach that goal ($833) so every month you can track your progress. If you fall short, you’ll know and can then think about ways to make up the difference.
你需要设定具体的目标，这样你就有一个一个的计划需要实现。然后跟踪你的进展。而不是说你要建立一个应急基金，而是说你每十二个月，要留出1万美元。好吧，现在你有一个具体目标，你可以把每一项目标写下来。你完成了多少，需要如何继续，每个月进行跟踪。如果你没有完成，就要想办法来弥补。
If you aren’t setting specific financial goals you have no real way of knowing how you’re doing. You want to retire at 60? Who doesn’t? But the real question is how are you going to get there? Just telling yourself that you need to put money into an IRA, how to allocate your investments so that you can reach that goal, and then hold yourself accountable over the years. Without goals you’re basically adrift in the sea and going wherever the current takes you.
如果你没有设定具体的理财目标，你可能就不知道该怎么做。你想想60岁退休，你会怎么样，会去哪里。我只是告诉你，你需要把钱投入到每一个年中，只有一个储蓄账户是不够的，你应该计划需要多少钱退休，如何分配投资，这样你就会对这些目标负责，没有目标如同在海上漂泊，而失去了现在。
Don’t Make the Same Mistakes
不要犯同样的错误
Hopefully you can avoid falling into these traps and make better decisions with your money, but don’t get discouraged if one or more of these apply to you. We’ve all been there, myself included. I bought a house for the wrong reasons, spent too much on a car, got a late start in saving for retirement, borrowed a ton of money to try and get a worthless graduate degree, cashed out an IRA in a time of need, and wasted thousands of dollars on useless little things. But if you can identify the problems and admit that you’ve made some mistakes you can learn from them and turn things around.
希望你避免陷阱，做出更好的决策，不要气馁，不要犯同样的错误。由于错误的原因，我买了一处房子，花了太多的钱在小汽车上，今后，很晚才开始为退休攒钱，借了很多债务，得到了一个没用的研究生学位，在无用的小事情上浪费了成千上万的美元。如果你认识到并承认犯了这些错误，立即改变并且扭转一切。
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