Your income can grow only to the extent that you do.
T. HARV EKER
There are two things I noticed in life. The first were people who made very little money from their jobs, but they would eventually increase their earnings to a satisfactory level. The second were people who made a lot of money from their jobs until they were laid off or terminated unexpectedly. These things happened on such a regular basis that I had to learn why things were like this. This is when I discovered the magic of the median income.
The median income is essentially the average that people earn for a given geographic area. Some make below while others make above that median. Employers pay as close as possible to the median income to attract or retain employees. Those employers who pay above the median income are under pressure to cut that expense to something close to the median income for the sake of profits. Those making less can expect to make more while those who make more can expect to make less.
It is important to keep the median income in mind because it will inform your strategy for making money and saving money. If you make less than the median income, know that you will find it easy to make more money if you keep at it. Conversely, if you make above the median income, it behooves you to bank that windfall instead of loading up on car and boat payments. I've seen so many blue collar workers adjust their lifestyle to the new and unsustainable income thinking that it was permanent. Eventually, there will be a reversion to the mean.
The best way to go is to adjust your lifestyle to a place far below the median income and keep it there. This generates savings no matter the situation. You can't lose with this strategy. Some people will never be able to do this because of character defects and stupidity. This is why so many are there to offer you things you want with same day financing. This provides steady work for the repo man.
The wrong strategy is to think that you just need to make a little more money. In the long term, this is a losing strategy. The pull of the median income is like trying to push a marble up the side of a bowl. That marble wants to roll back down to the bottom of the bowl, and it takes energy to try and keep it towards the top. It is best to let it settle to where it wants to be and adjust your spending downwards. That bottom of the bowl is the median income. Don't fight it. Embrace it and make it your friend.
