Chinese Food Courtesy of Wall Street

Out of pocket? Really?

It is not, of course, a concept that is entirely foreign to me. At the same time one of the things I talk often about is to be empowered to find creative ways to pay for things other than simply handing someone the money directly from funds you already have.

In other words, what's the point to just going to work every day, busting your tail to earn a paycheck, if all you accomplish in the end is the need to keep going back to earn more just to break even? Isn't the point, or shouldn't the point be to get ahead of things?

To enjoy life?

Don't take me the wrong way. I am not suggesting that work is a waste of time and effort. We have to work. That's part of the game of life, right? But, come on, our paychecks should do more for us than simply put food on the table and pay bills.

Don't just work for a paycheck. Work for a future. I have said this many times as well.

Getting ahead begins with starting to think about money and earning and paying for things in a different way than you are used to.

Money makes money, right? We have all heard that. We are all aware of why that is true. So why do we keep fighting against that?

One other thing I have said often is that I'd rather spend money my money makes than money my ass makes. Of course I am talking about creating new money out of old money. That's really what we are doing isn't it?

The best part? Creating new money out of old money can actually allow us to spend on other things we want or need without having to take money directly out of pocket.

One of the best ways I have found to do this is through the stock market. Because of course many stocks offer a dividend, and all a dividend is, is a piece of the profits the company makes. As a shareholder, which is essentially a partial owner of the company itself, we get to enjoy the profits—and that is accomplished in part through a dividend.

This past Saturday I wanted to order in for some Chinese food. I usually spend about $60 when all is said and done between the food and the tip I give to the driver. Sure, I can just yank $60 out of my pocket to pay for the food.

But why? If I don't have to. Why? If there is another way to get the money to pay for my food, why would I not do that instead?

Granted, getting the money is not immediate. So, in a sense what is happening is actually recouping the money spent. But what I decided to do was to buy 10 shares of Sabine Royalty Trust that pays a monthly dividend currently of 73 cents per share, or roughly $8.76 on an annual basis. The 10 shares will yield me $87.60 which more than covers the cost of my Chinese food dinner.

Now, I can already hear people shouting with their hands raised high in the air, "But sir. Those shares were not free. You had to pay something to get them."

Yes. That is correct. I invested $627.30 to make it possible to earn my $87.60 dividends. But that's part of the point, isn't it? Having money is about well, having money.

What I was talking about earlier was not living paycheck to paycheck. Not just working to pay bills and pay expenses. But working for a future. Working for having an opportunity to let your money earn for you instead of the other way around.

That means, if you have that mindset, and you are doing these things, you should be able to have the money you need to put it into places where it grows, earns you more, gets you ahead and also allows you to recoup money for certain things like having a Chinese dinner.

It sounds ridiculous, I realize. But I can tell you from experience it works.

The Chinese dinner is of course just an illustration, even if I actually did this. It is part of getting the mind wrapped around those creative ways to pay for things that I mentioned earlier in this article. To think of money not just in terms of what your boss pays you each week. But what you can do with what he pays you so that the paycheck has more lasting value to you overall.

Moreover, if you are doing these kinds of things there is one thing you can bet on. If you need that extra $627.30 to do this sort of thing, it will always be there, ready to go to work for you at a moment's notice.

I guess in a way what I am saying is that you can have your Chinese food and eat it too—and nothing tastes better than what is essentially free.

It is something to think about.

Lead image courtesy of Pixabay, user Pexels. Cooking Wok Chinese - Free photo on Pixabay