Many of these hardworking professionals appear successful on the surface – living in nice communities, and putting their children through higher education. But they’re only focused on the here and now – the short game.

What’s not looked at as often is what I call “future bank”: Your future income based on wealth accumulated over the years. 

Most professional practice owners have had millions of dollars flow through their hands. Money comes into the practice, and many people have their hands out to take it – vendors, landlords, utility and insurance companies, and of course the tax man. After you’ve paid for licensing, staff, payroll, and overhead, you get what’s left.

After that, paying for your own lifestyle takes a pretty good chunk for most people. Then you’re supposed to take what’s left over (if any) and start making it work for you, building up retirement income and accumulating. However, that is not going to produce the lifestyle most of these people have become accustomed to.

The problem is never having a real plan for building wealth that turns into cash flow. 

True wealth (freedom) isn’t created through having a high income – it’s created through having assets that produce income even when you’re not working.

I’m not a big fan of 401(k)s, cash balance plans, etc. – all those tax deferral schemes that save you money today, but produce no “future bank” on the back end. It’s an unpredictable accumulation game, and very few ever reach that accumulation number.

For most hardworking people still trading time for dollars, alternative investments such as Real Estate have the ability to take the capital one has, leverage it up, and multiply it over the years. The compounding effect can turn it into serious money.

But many people wait too long, and when they’re ready to “retire”, they’re looking for answers that just aren’t there. The lesson here is to start acquiring those capital investments as soon as possible, so you can get your investments working as hard for you as you do for them.