Will frugal living make me rich?

I don’t know about you, but I wonder sometimes if living frugally means that eventually I will become rich. After much thought on the matter, I decided that no, living frugally, in the exact sense of the word, will not make me rich.

Living frugally got me out of debt. Living frugally keeps me out of debt. Living frugally means that I have some money saved in case of emergency, some money for my retirement, but I’m not rolling in the dough.

I’ll bet that living frugally does the same for you. I keeps you in the financial black. And that means we are doing better than the majority of this country.

What frugal living also does is give us the option of becoming wealthy, slowly, steadily, through financial literacy. We don’t have debt! We don’t waste money! That means, we have money left-over to invest wisely.

So, if you are digging yourself out of debt, or you are sick of baked beans and cutting your own lettuce, hang in there. If you are in college and wondering why you are depriving yourself of the spend-happy lifestyle that your friends are enjoying, know that you are far ahead of your friends financially. Once you are out of debt, you’ll begin to find bits of money that you can use to build wealth.

What about me? I’m not rich yet, but after getting out of debt, I started saving money and investing money. I invested money in a home for myself. Within three years, I have $150,000 in equity. I have almost $20,000 in my retirement account. I have $5K in my emergency fund. I donate money every month. I’m not living the high-and-mighty lifestyle of the rich and famous, but I’m worth $175,000 three years after having nothing.

Now, I’m turning my eyes to investments that will return money that I can spend today, and not when I’m old and retired. I’m not ready to make any moves yet. I’m studying. I’m learning. I can afford to learn and be cautious with my hard-earn money because debt is not driving me. Frugal living gives me this option.

Frugal living won’t make me rich. But it gives me the choice to be wealthy.

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