Fear can motivate you to do extraordinary things. For me, the fear of being broke motivated me to invest in the stock market.
Many times, our fears come from limiting beliefs—thoughts that form through a series of experiences, concepts, and feelings.
For example, if everyone around you is poor, you may form a limiting belief that you will always be poor. Limiting beliefs can be powerful deterrents to obtaining our dreams; however, when we shatter limiting beliefs, that event can be ten times more impactful.
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Overcoming limiting beliefs. The first step to overcoming a limiting belief is accepting that it is there in the first place. We all carry limiting beliefs from our adolescent years.
We may feel that the beautiful girl or sexy guy may never want us. Perhaps we will follow our parents’ careers, whether we want to or not. As I said, limiting beliefs are everywhere.
You first encounter a limiting belief when you seek to change something drastic in your life. I remember the days before I decided to ask my wife to marry me. I was in a crisis of sorts.
My limiting belief is that I didn’t want a marriage resembling my parents. I had great parents but wanted to be more fun and spontaneous. However, I didn’t have a model marriage to refer to before I proposed.
Ultimately, my friend said something very powerful to me: “Which man do you respect more? The one who slept with 20 women, or the one who was married 20 years?” I’ve been married 19 years.
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Living your dream life. But, enough about me; let’s talk about money. I was married for 13 years before I opened a brokerage account and started dividend investing.
I had a few limiting beliefs about investing in the stock market: 1) only rich people invest, 2) it’s gambling, 3) and you will lose all of your money.
I formed some severe doubts in childhood because my parents weren’t investors. In fact, money was always scarce, so I grew up with a scarcity mindset. A scarcity mindset tells you that you will never have enough money to spare for the markets.
I had to overcome my fears because what I was doing was not working. Although I earned over $100,000 per year, my family of four was struggling financially.
Going to work daily, receiving a paycheck, and paying bills did not allow me to save or invest anything. Even worse, credit card debt was eating my family alive.
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One day, after a car maintenance issue left me with a maxed-out $25,000 credit card, I said enough was enough. This entire financial charade was ridiculous. I vowed to figure out how the rich lived and breathed—I would break my limiting beliefs.
Breaking my limiting beliefs. I never knew how the rich lived. All I knew was money was scarce, and you couldn’t do anything to change that.
In the summer of 2019, I started to think about life after the military. I wanted to retire after 30 years and not have to work again. We wanted to retire to Turkey and live comfortably.
The critical component to living this life was that I couldn’t get a job in Turkey; I would need to provide my own resources.
My military pension would be nice; however, it would disappear quickly if we traveled between the United States and Turkey to see our two kids. We needed to make much more money than my military pension.
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How does a person make money when they don’t work? The answer is a term called “passive income.” These words would forever change my life and help me shatter my limiting beliefs.
Investing for income. You see, the stock market is scary when you are looking to find a hot stock. It’s much more different when you purchase a stock that will pay you a dividend.
By reading about dividend investing and passive income, I learned that I could invest in stable, reliable companies that pay me a portion of their profits in the form of dividends.
Some of my early stocks were McDonald’s (MCD), CVS (CVS), Abbvie (ABBV), and Altria (MO). I absolutely adore these stocks because they helped me overcome my limiting beliefs.
I used to work at McDonald’s, so investing in their stock was like coming home. I trusted McDonald’s, so it was easy for me to purchase their stocks.
Retirement & Dividends
This particular form of dividend investing is called dividend growth investing (DGI). Dividend growth investing is a perfect entry into the stock market because you can purchase stocks you know and love.
Other exceptional DGI stocks include Home Depot (HD), Lowe’s (LOW), AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), Google (GOOG), and Facebook (META). The list goes on.
Opening your brokerage account. Opening your first brokerage account can cause a lot of fear because you are venturing into the unknown. The kid gloves are coming off.
It’s one thing to say you will start investing, but it’s another to open a brokerage account, fund it, and pick your first stocks.
Let’s return to your limiting beliefs for a second. Why are you investing in the stock market? What are you trying to change? Why?
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I wanted to set my family free. I was tired of being broke, behind, and bullied. I hated going to work, knowing that I wasn’t getting ahead.
This fear of the future forced me to open my Wells Fargo account in June 2019. Today (October 2024), I have $58,000 in it. More importantly, this account pays me $450 per month in dividends.
The first few steps will be the most difficult. After you get the hang of it, you simply rinse and repeat the investing process until you are rich.
Help is on the way. The best way to alleviate your limiting beliefs is to read books. Reading is the key to changing your life. If you don’t like to read, I recommend that you change that immediately.
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Over the last four years, I have read 150 financial books, which have helped me pinpoint my limiting beliefs. If I do encounter some fear, I face it head-on.
For example, I am enrolled in full-time college even though I am retired. I didn’t need to attend school, but wanted to overcome my limiting beliefs.
One book that truly helped me was “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. This book tells you the “magic” of getting everything you want in life.
The true magic of the book is teaching you how to focus on your dreams by writing them down and reading them every day—this way, you never lose track of them.
Conclusion. Dividend investing is just one of many limiting beliefs people face every day. If they can overcome these fears, they could change their lives in short order.
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However, limiting beliefs come from a deep internal thought process. They are not “jump scares” like in the movies. They are serious fears that originate and grow over the years.
Overcoming limiting beliefs is about the future, not the past. “Think and Grow Rich” is such a powerful book because it inspires you to create a dream.
Then, you work toward your dream as you overcome limiting beliefs that have prevented you from growing over the years.
It’s important to remember that you can divide your investing career into different phases. You can start with a high-yield savings account and then a TreasuryDirect.gov account.
You can jump into the stock market after you get comfortable with those accounts. The one thing that you can’t do is sit still. Everyone is counting on you to be strong and overcome your limiting beliefs. They need you. Good Luck!
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. All Right Reserved Military Family Investing
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