One day you will become a millionaire. You can pray for the lottery. You know that piece of paper will never see a bright light.
But maybe, maybe this time will be different. Someday, you will hit this jackpot and forever leave this mundane job forever to an early retirement in the coast of Caribbean beach.
But you know deep down that will never happen.
Fantasy is fantasy. You go out on a bar for a few shots of vodka to get back to the hustle. For those who actually believe in such fantasy, the only people who come around would be scam artists.
Today is not about quick-get-rich schema. It's about the research finding that traced over lifetime income of 5820 men. Inside them, we may find a key secret to our road to wealth.
The Tough World That Surrounds Us Today
Before going any further, We need to set our reality straight. You might be looking for just a moderate success. You might be just happy with moderately better lifestyle than what your father had when he was a kid. Just a moderate success you might ask.
The reality is not that easy.
The median income in American has not moved at all since 1973. Economists have claimed the triumphs over the intellectual policies. But the statistics for individual's, not household's, have told us otherwise.
The figure indicates our financial lives have no improved at all for the past 47 years. Just to have a better life than your parents, you will need to come up with a strategy to look after your well beings.
It doesn't get easier, if you have a kid. While every parent wants to leave him/her the best opportunity in this long stagnation future, the college tuition fee has been on the rise. In fact, it's increased by 24% in just the past 10 years.
Our pessimism doesn't end there.
In the past, having a degree was enough to set us apart. Today so many young people enter universities that by the time you grow old, your degree will not set you apart from the coming new generation.
Ok, wait what about the technology?
Oxford predicted 60% of our current jobs will be impacted with the automation by 2030s. AIs revolution is on our way. No one knows what type of jobs will be availbale for us in the future. In this unpredictability, your job training will be out of fashion soon.
The financial reality comes pressing more than ever. What can we do to prepare to ride the wave of inevitable shocks?
The answer lies on books.
Research on Books and Income
In 2015, University of Padua has followed 5,820 men who were born between 1920 and 1956. The beauty of this research is the span of follow up they've done. They looked at their life time income in 2006. It is truly lifetime income of over 50 years that there's no econonmic bias such as economic boom or recession. And they asked how many books they had at home at age 10.
They tried to find a correlation between their books and their lifetime income. And if so, how many books were significant.
The results came out astonishing. Those with 10 books at home were making 21% more annually. That difference quickly amounts over years. Imagine you are making $60,000/year, which is the median household income of US in 2018 ($63,179 for the actual figure but we will simplify). Guys with books would make $72,000/year. That difference in 30 years is $378,000. That's more than enough to buy an extra fancy cottage alongside beautiful lake.
- $60,000/year vs $72,000/year
- $378,000 additional money in 30 years
What's more exciting is that an extra year of school education only increased the income by 9%. That means the effect of having books at home was worth much more than staying one extra year at school.
This difference was evident across 9 countries from Germany to Italy.
You might ask what about those rich kids with a room dedicated just for books like Indiana Jones? Surely, we can not beat those who grew up with professors.
Rest assured. The twist in this research is it did not matter if you had 10 or 1000 books at home.
I will also remind you that the question was not about how many books you had read. It was a matter of just having books at home.
You might resist that those kids with books were raised by smart parents. But there was no difference between the types of jobs parents had whether they were farmers or office clerks.
Lastly, this positive effect of books was especially larger in those who grew up in a rural area.
Impossible Power of Learning Norm
The theme here is it is not about particular books you should read. It is not about acing your science tests at school either. It is about the environment that books facilitate that matters.
What the researchers suggested as the cause of difference was the positive attitude for curiosity and ambition generated from having books around. This knowledge-seeking social environment instilled subconsciously for getting themselves ready for life-long learning.
But, maybe you weren't so lucky. Maybe you didn't grew up with books. Maybe your parents hated books. What can you do now?
Here are 5 things anyone could do to facilitate that learning behaviors:
- Go to a library
- Find a local coffeeshop
- Stop by at bookstores
- Join local book club
- Join online book club
Go to a library
A library is opened for everyone. They are filled with wide range of books from ancient Greek mythology to modern history of the 20th century. Everyone inside is ready to absorb knowledge just like you.
There are 16,568 public libraries in US. Surprisingly or not, that number is more than the total number of McDonald's. And the best part of library is they are all absolutely free to access. Why not take the advantage of such.
Find a local coffeeshop
Some coffeeshops carry an amazing collection of books. The photo below is from one of the Toronto local coffeeshops called Fika (Swedish translation of cafe). Have yourself a morning latte surrounded in these open book pages. Cant you see yourself unlocking some of the inner creativities?
Stop by at bookstores
This is the most accessible options for many. Commercial bookstores are spread across the city, whether that's in an underground pathways in your financial district or in a wide open space at an airport lounge.
Wonder around the alley between bookshelves twice as tall as you for however long you want. That is a luxury Amazon cant offer.
Join a local bookclub
Check if your local community's billboard for potential bookclubs. Wait. There's an even easier option. Look up Meetup website.
In Toronto, there are over 11 bookclubs hosted. The topics range from history to literature genres. So pick the one that fits your interest the most (I talked before about what books to choose from to be smart). All of them are run at free of cost. The best part of bookclubs is you can build a healthy social pressure to complete the book. And then, you will have a face-to-face nice conversation about it afterward over beer.
Another hack you can do is to start a book club at your company. Just ask your manager if you can host a monthly social that boosts creativity and boost ethics among your team members. No one can resist that self-motivated employee proposal.
Join an online bookclub
Don't underestimate the power of online bookclubs. You can find almost infinite amount of book clubs in the internet. One of the most active clubs are ones at Goodreads. It is a social network for book lovers. And many high profile celebrities are active in the community. Oprah's Book Club is one of them managed by Oprah herself.
Monthly Book Club from Facebook is another contender for active online bookclubs. Simply search for bookclub in the search bar. Some may require a permission to join. But there is 0 chance you get rejected as long as you are a real human being. They are all free as well.
Not Get Out There and Find a Book Environment
This is not an overnight rich success story. But in this rapidly changing age, setting yourself up with the right surrounding may be the best bet you have in a long span of time.
The good news is the correlation of books and your lifetime income is scientifically proven.
It is important to emphasize this again. The research introduced today is not about how many books you read. It is about how many books you are surrounded with. It's the learning culture that works subconsciously for your advantage in leveraging your lifetime income.
Now go out there and find yourself a favorite book spot.
Your effort will be rewarded financially some day. Some day, you may finally get that beautiful cottage you've dreamed of.