The Money Under Your Mattress Is Going To Waste

We’ve all the heard the story of the man who kept his savings hidden under his mattress at home.

“Ha, ha,” we all think, right? “I’d never do that.”

The sad truth is, some of you still do this. Not literally, of course, but you keep your money under your bank's mattress – you stow away your cash in your bank for years on end...

Here’s why doing that is one of the worst financial moves you can make if you want to grow your wealth:

Now, let me say this: I understand that the sensible thing to do with money (in most of your eyes’) is to have that money somewhere safe, like a nice savings or even a money market account.

But, sad to say these days, doing that is really not much different than shoving your money under a mattress. It’s still just sitting there, doing nothing.

There your money lays, wasting away as climbing inflation turns it to dust.

Now, if that isn’t enough, consider this: in 1958, the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 28.90. By 2008, that number had risen to 215.30.

What would have cost us $28.90 half a century ago would cost $215.30 today. Generally, the CPI rises about three percent a year.

What that means is that, if your money is earning a rate of return of three percent interest a year, it is retaining its same value from year to year. Your dollar saved is still worth a dollar the next year.

So what exactly are the so-called “safe” investments offering in terms of returns?

A one year CD will get you anywhere from one to two percent. Maybe that’s why I’ve heard them called “cash disappearance” certificates.

A one-year T-bill offered 0.68 percent as of June 1!

If these are your ideas of investment, let me be straight with you: you need a new plan, a new conversation, because right now you are shoving your money under the financial equivalent of a mattress.

I urge you to reset your thinking, and starting making money rather than losing it.

It’s still a little scary, I know. Where should I look for those good rates of return? How can I turn my mattressed money into a cash machine?

1. Invest In Real Estate: This is news to most people, but the real estate market cycles. It goes up, then down, then up again: it always has, and it always will. As the population is growing, people will need land. In many places across north America, the price of land is at garage sale prices that will not be seen again for years. Buy now, sell high.

2. Buy Bankrupt Businesses: The credit crunch of a few years ago drove many businesses into bankruptcy. Not because they were necessarily bad businesses, but because the owners didn’t really understand the business conversation. Buy a business, and build yourself a cash machine better than any bank can offer.

3. Invest In Ideas: If you or someone in your family has a great idea for a new service or product, don’t shove that under the mattress with the rest of your money. Get out there and make something of it. Find a coach who can help you turn that concept into cash.

4. Spot Your Skills: What can you do that someone else would pay you to do? You have a skill, either a talent that you have developed or something that’s been trained, that can become your new cash machine. Take the money from under your bed and invest in yourself.

If it’s just sitting there, it’s quickly depreciating. Your one dollar today will not equal one dollar next year.

Move your lazy assets and get your money in motion.