A shrinking middle class, greater levels of wealth inequality than ever before, and a consumer-driven marketplace that places a high value on gadgets, goods, and lifestyle experiences…sound familiar? It should because these are all the trappings of our Millennial existence and while we love the access technology gives us, the freedom to travel, and the ability to generate income from a diversity of sources, there are a few things we don’t necessarily like too much as well.

So, we’re going to look at ways that you can operate within your network to create wealth and preserve it.

According to a report by CNBC:

“Millennials have been dubbed “the lost generation” because of how far behind they are on building wealth compared to older generations at this stage of their lives. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis reported that millennials (especially those born in the 1980s) would accumulate less wealth during their lives overall.

These predictions come at the heels of the collective experience of unfavorable macroeconomic trends and economic instability that the generation has faced. It’s safe to say that millennials, who fall between the ages of 26 and 40, have had far from smooth sailing when it comes to building wealth.”

But, even for Millenials that received a bit of a raw deal as the generation that’s “in-between” everything, we still have many things going for us. We are the generation that had access to those that came before us which to generation Z, may as well be dinosaurs, but we are also players in the technological revolution and that means we have a unique and diverse set of skills to draw from.

First, understand how money works.

Far too many of us have no idea how money works or even how to access money markets and investing. So creating wealth seems like the great insurmountable goal of our age because who even knows what financial planners are talking about half the time? And it’s there where the biggest problem lies because it’s not as complicated as they’d like us to think and this is evidenced by the rise in people investing in stocks and trading bonds from home using online platforms instead of costly money managers. Invest in yourself, learn.

Think outside property (but don’t write property investing off)

Sure, you might not be able to afford the house on the hill, but your thinking should be – I can’t afford the house on the hill, yet! Starting property investing only has to begin with one, small, affordable property that you may not even be living in. Within a few years, you’ll have enough equity to buy your next property and so your property game starts. Find a decent realtor as a partner and make sure they’re a company that evaluates all elements of the property market as well as the homes they’re dealing with.

You don’t need college to be successful

You can be a wealth generator without having gone to college, and it starts with changing the way you think. We’ve all been conditioned to think that without a college degree we might as well get that job at JollyBee and stay there forever, but this doesn’t have to be true for you. Remember that wealth creation doesn’t start with how much money you make, but how much money you save and what you do with those savings in turn. If you really want to take this mission seriously, then start by reading this book. You can thank me later.

The new year is upon us and with that dawn, comes a whole new day, so get busy.

Happy New Year!