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The Art of Sacrifice
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Why You Are Not Winning
The Art of Sacrifice
A Money Question
My Latest
This week, I'm teaching you everything you need to know about refinancing your mortgage.
In it, I will show you:
The key numbers in relation to a refinance
How to determine your break-even number
Why it is so confusing (and there are so many voices) out there
You can check it out here ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Why You Are Not Winning
Probably the most common question I get about my baseball career is this:
“If you could do it all over again, what (if anything) would you do differently?”
Now, before I answer, let me give you a little context about me.
I like to think I am a pretty driven person.
I mean, middle school me was waking up before school to workout every week for this baseball dream of mine.
High school me was willing to skip literally anything that didn’t get me closer to my athletic goals.
Sure, there was probably someone out there who was “working harder”, but I like to think I was putting my best foot forward.
Yet, my second full offseason in pro ball, my mindset started to shift.
You see, I had just made it to the big leagues (as a 20-year-old).
I was convinced that now all I needed was time to do its thing, and I would be a multi time all star.
So that offseason, I put in the work (that I wanted to do).
I didn’t put in the work that was required (big difference).
So when people ask me what I would do differently…Well, I would have put in the work required that offseason (not just the baseline).
You see, the guy or gal having the success you want isn’t doing two times the work you are doing.
They are doing 100x the work you are doing.
Trust me, I have lived half my life performing against the elite of the elite.
Success at that level ain’t no accident.
It is why I was so confident in Moment working from day one.
I know the level of work required, and I know I am willing to put that work in.
Truth be told, success (in any area of life) is a pretty basic formula.
Determine the work needed to succeed.
Determine if you are willing to do what is required.
Do those two things, and you will win.
You see, success in our financial lives functions the same way, and that is what I want to talk about today.
Let’s dive in…
The Art of Sacrifice
Most Americans aren’t getting ahead financially.
Not because they don’t want to, but because they’re not willing to do what it takes.
We’ve developed a culture of “I should have” instead of “I will make it happen.”
You see, one passes the responsibility and one takes responsibility.
We want the nice house, but not the budget.
We want the dream lifestyle but not the discipline.
We want financial peace but not the pain that precedes it.
Here’s the truth ~ The foundation of long-term financial success is built on short-term sacrifice.
The reason so many Americans feel stuck is because…well they are.
They're stuck in a cycle of consumerism. Buying things to feel better today without any plan for tomorrow.
The stressing (and complaining) about how they are not getting ahead.
Sorry, getting on my soapbox here for a second…
More money doesn’t solve the sacrifice problem. If anything, it magnifies it.
Whether you're making $80,000 a year or $8 million, it still requires you to say no more than you say yes.
That “no” might be to different things, but trust me, you are still saying no…all the time.
The people you see who have won financially did not get lucky (outside of about 10 lottery winners).
They simply did what was required.
The truth is, most people never make the sacrifices required to win.
A Look at the Numbers
Let’s look at the reality.
The median household income in the U.S. is about $74,000.
The average household spends nearly $72,000 per year.
And the average savings rate in America today is around 3 to 5 percent.
That means most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, saving little, and banking on hope instead of a plan.
But it doesn’t stop there.
The average household credit card debt is over $7,000.
Total consumer debt in America has passed $17 trillion.
And on Black Friday this year, Americans spent a record $9.8 billion in one day.
We’re not sacrificing. We’re spending.
We’re not saving. We’re swiping.
Here’s the disconnect. People say they want to win with money, but behavior tells the real story.
Dave Ramsey did a study on millionaires.
One of the top 5 professions of millionaires is teachers.
The average teacher made ~$63,000 in 2024.
So don’t sit there are tell me it is an income problem.
No, it is a sacrifice problem.
We are willing to do what we want.
We are not willing to do what is required.
How You Can Win
Winning with money doesn’t require you to give up everything.
But it does require you to give up something.
Here’s some practical ways to start winning with your money:
1. Drive the 5-year-old car even when you can afford the new one.
My wife and I haven’t bought a new car in more than 15 years. We both drive nice cars, but we bought them used.
2. Skip the $200 dinners and cook the meal at home.
The steak lasts two hours. The Costco steak is basically the same (some might say even better).
3. Delay the dream home and build your life.
I signed for $7,000,000 at age 18. I didn’t buy a house until nearly a decade later. I didn’t buy my dream house until nearly two decades later.
4. Stop chasing status; no one cares.
No one cares as much as you think about your car, house, clothes, or watch. So ask yourself, would you buy that thing if no one knew you had it?
5. Create a margin and build momentum.
Cut $500 of monthly waste, and you’ve just freed up $6,000 a year. Stack that over a decade with compound growth, and the sacrifice pays off.
I have been blessed to have jobs and businesses that provide a high income.
Yet that income is only a small portion of why my wife and I have won the money game.
The real reason…We have simply done what is required to build wealth.
We have lived below our means.
We have said no far more than yes.
We have invested first and spent second.
Said another way ~ We have done what is required.
Trust me, you can too.
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The reality is you have two choices (with everything in life).
You either do what is required.
You do what you are willing to do.
One is hard.
One is easy.
The hard one leads to you winning.
The easy one leads to you losing (and often complaining about it).
The beautiful part about all of this, it is your choice.
Until next time my friends!
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A Money Question
Who in your life is the most financially successful?
Now consider if they are successful based on doing what they want or what is required.
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3 Ways I Can Help You
💰 Schedule an introductory call with Moment. We help athletes, entrepreneurs, and key employees build and protect wealth.
📹 Check out my YouTube channel. A safe place to get smarter with your money.
📷 Interact with me on Instagram. I provide bite-sized daily content to level up your money game.
Moment Private Wealth, LLC is a Registered Investment Advisor, located in the State of Missouri. Moment Private Wealth provides investment advisory and related services for clients nationally. Moment Private Wealth will maintain all applicable registrations and licenses as required by the various states in which Moment Private Wealth conducts business, as applicable. Moment Private Wealth renders individualized responses to persons in a particular state only after complying with all regulatory requirements, or under an applicable state exemption or exclusion. Nothing in this content is intended to be, and you should not consider anything in this content to be, investment, accounting, tax, or legal advice.