If Making Money 101 could be drastically over-simplified as ‘saving’; then Making Money 201 is equally over-simplified as being about building your income.
If you were serious about getting your financial house in order quickly, then you probably already did some income building to help you pay debt off quickly while you were working your way through Making Money 101.
Unless you’re a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or a top professional doctor / dentist / attorney / accountant, then you will need to think about starting a business.
And, to accelerate your business or professional income you may also decide to get into the business of active investing (renovating/flipping real estate, trading stocks and options, etc.).
This is the stage that you get to take RISKS (that’s why you need a solid foundation and plenty of runway … you WILL fail at least once, twice, three times …) because that is the only way to get the big financial REWARDS.
This stage is hard work!
But, it is where you actually sow the seeds that will eventually make you rich …
There are plenty of books and a few blogs around, but most of them are specific to just ONE WAY of making money … the author’s way; some are good and some are lousy.
By the end of this stage you will be earning more than 90% of the US population and will be accelerating rapidly down the runway to financial health … but, spending will also increase dramatically and you will struggle to hang on UNLESS you ALWAYS remember your Making Money 101 lessons about saving!
Paradoxically, you will be the ‘richest’ that you will ever be in your life during this stage IF to you, being ‘rich’ means being able to spend lots of money …
… the problem is that your ‘wealth’ is only based upon your income, therefore only lasts as long as your business or job does.
Also, many of the Making Money 101 rules now need to change, as do almost all of the tools ….
For example, dollar cost averaging and index funds are replaced with sensible investment and savings rules and strategies.
You are still far from ‘rich’ …
In fact, you are still Just Over Broke … but, starting to break free!