If you Google the phrase “The secret to getting rich quick,” you’ll get over two billion results. That should tell you something about how many people would like to have you believe they have developed the perfect formula to making lots of money faster than anyone else. The secret might involve flipping homes, a secret method for picking stocks or becoming a salesperson for some herbal supplement that “practically sells itself!”

That being said, we at First Alliance Credit Union have uncovered the secret to getting rich quick. Not only that, we are going to share that secret with you for free!

The Ultimate Secret to Getting Rich Quick

There isn’t one.

Seriously.

Yes, you could buy a lottery ticket and win the jackpot, but there’s no “secret” to winning the lottery. All you have to do is be lucky enough to beat the 292,201,338 to 1 odds and then deal with the ensuing complications from winning the lottery that leave most winners destitute or deceased.

Any other secret method of getting rich quick is at best misleading. At worst, it’s a predatory scam designed to separate you from your money, like a Ponzi scheme or pyramid scheme.

The Problem With Wanting to Get Rich

When most people realize there’s no secret to getting rich quick, they feel defeated. They feel that unless they stumble onto some secret way to make money, getting rich is simply beyond them and that they’re stuck at their current financial level.

The truth is this—wanting to be rich is nothing more than setting a financial goal, and as far as financial goals go it’s not great.

To start with, it’s vague. There’s no dollar amount attached to “getting rich”. Since the goal is so vague, you also won’t be able to tell how close you’re getting to achieving it.

Worse, since there’s no set finish line and no way to tell how much progress you’re making, there’s also no way to figure out how much time it will take to reach the goal and no way to figure out if the goal is even achievable.

What to do Instead

Instead of fixating on getting rich, think about what you’d like to do if you had the money. You might want to buy a nice house or a sports car, or you might want to have enough money to vacation in Hawaii each year. Maybe you’d just be happy if you could get all-new appliances for your house.

Once you have a list of those financial goals, prioritize them. Then choose the highest priority goal and make it a SMART goal. In other words, the goal should be:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Time-Bound

You can get more information on setting SMART goals when you download the free SMART goals worksheet in our Resource Center.

Once you’ve made your goal SMART, you can start working toward it. Create a budget so you can see how much money you can reasonably set aside each month, start looking for the best time to start shopping for your goal, and even look into investing your money in order to take advantage of compound interest if you’re looking at a financial goal that might take a few years to achieve, like buying a house.

Once you’ve achieved your financial goal, you can move onto the next one, and the one after that and the one after that. You can even work toward multiple financial goals concurrently.

While this approach may not make you a billionaire, the odds are good you’ll be able to achieve the financial goals that are most important to you, which is the whole point of having money in the first place.

Achieve Your Financial Goals With First Alliance Credit Union

While being rich is nice, there’s no secret method that will let you get rich quick. Instead, set SMART financial goals, choose the ones that are most important toward you, and work towards them.

While you’re saving money for your financial goals, make sure that money is also working for you. Become a First Alliance Credit Union member today and take advantage of the great rates on our traditional savings accounts. You can also get a higher interest rate when you invest in a money market account or a certificate of deposit. You can even start a WINcentive savings account and be eligible to win money by saving money!

Want more information about setting financial goals? Listen to Episode 25 of our Good Money Moves podcast that talks about how to set financial goals.