A lot of people have trouble saving money.

In a world where we are constantly surrounded by advertising, and images of beautiful people living lives of conspicuous consumption, it can be difficult to get out of the trance of spending everything you have, and living pay check to pay check. Most people don't.

In fact most people are not only not saving money, but are actually in debt. The money they make at their job never seems to be enough to "keep up with the Joneses." Meanwhile wealth is getting concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people in the world, and the rich keep getting richer.

But how do each of us break out of this vicious cycle? How do we stop spending, start saving money, and get on a path to building wealth?

Don't Be Materialistic

The first and most important step is to shift your value system away from material things. This might seem counter-intuitive, because we all associate money with all the material luxuries that it can buy, expensive houses, cars, clothes, watches, jewellery and so on. We tend to think that anyone who has money must be motivated by these things, and that's why they work hard to become rich. But in reality, if that's what motivates you then you will spend all the money you have buying luxuries, and even if you earn a lot you'll never have any left over. A lot of people become rich overnight and go on to lose it all, and this is why.

You have to learn to be someone who is happy with what they have right now—to have simple hobbies that cost nothing, to not really care about material things, and to be someone who could basically go on living the same lifestyle whether they had $1,000, $100,000 or $1 million in the bank.

Saving money is a slow and steady process, you've got to find something other than spending it to do in the meantime!

Find An Investment You Love

It's one thing to just work hard and save money, whether it's at a job, or on your own business, but to truly build wealth you have to start making money with money. Investing is also a powerful way to motivate yourself to save money, because as you see your investments grow, it gives you that much more motivation to save more and watch your money grow even more.

To be successful in investing you have to find an investment you love. You know you've really made it when instead of a bucket list of things you want to buy, you have a bucket list of investments you want to own. And when every pay check comes in, instead of buying a new pair of shoes, or jeans, and whatever else, or going online to browse your favourite stores to see what's on sale; you're looking at charts, researching companies, teams, products, and the latest technologies, advancements and news in your field, and planning where to park all the money you've got to make even more.

If you love what you're investing in, and believe it can really change the world, you'll also be passionate enough to ride the ups and downs, and you'll treat your investments as if they were companies you owned yourself.

If you keep at it, don't give up, don't panic, believe in your investments, and hold strong during the rough times success will follow.

Visualise Your Dream Life

Saving money and investing is one thing, but you've also got to have a very powerful vision of where you want to be to keep you motivated. It's got to be a vision that's more powerful than the temptations that come your way every day.

You have to keep that vision in your mind all the time, and be very clear about every detail. I must emphasise that this is not simply a wishlist of your dream house, dream car, dream holidays, dream partner, and all the luxuries you want to buy yourself. It can be that as well, but most importantly it's the kind of person you want to be, how you want your life to feel.

Many people can have all of those things but still feel empty. In fact it can weigh them down and become a curse that they wish they could get away from. The most precious thing that money can give us is time. With time comes the freedom to spend that time how we want. Visualising how to spend that time doing something truly meaningful is the most powerful motivation we can have to achieve financial independence.

Be A Minimalist

Once you've overcome your bad shopping habits, found an investment you love, and have a clear vision for your dream life, it's time to start cutting the fat and becoming a lean, fit machine.

Sell everything you have. Reduce, declutter, cut down every part of your life. Keep as few things as you can, and anything you do have, make sure it's good quality and built to last. Sell the clothes you don't wear, the music you don't listen to, the books you don't read, the furniture that's just taking up space, everything in the attic. And if your house seems really empty without all the stuff, downsize.

This doesn't just mean possessions. You can simplify your diet by learning to cook light, simple, healthy meals at home, with as few ingredients as possible. Go vegan. You can even be a raw foodist, drink juices and smoothies, or just eat raw mono fruit meals and salads.

This is all about cutting away everything in your life in exchange for the one thing that's most precious of all, which is time. You need a lot of free time to really make it. You need time to think, time to plan, time to dream, time to visualise, time to spend inventing and crafting your life and your work.

Think of yourself like an athlete. Every ounce of fat is just one more thing weighing you down, and can be the difference between being the 1%, or the 0.1%, and being everybody else.

Develop Passive Income Streams

Once you're cut yourself down to the absolute bare bones, the next step is to start earning passive income. This will supplement your main income, and create a cashflow loop that feeds straight back into your investments.

You can make passive income in any number of ways. If you have a spare room in your house, rent it out. If you've got a hobby, start a YouTube channel. Start an eBay business. Start a blog on Steemit! Get creative, use your imagination, and make the most of all your knowledge and talents.

This does not mean taking a second job, however. This is money that you don't work for. Even if you only start small, it doesn't matter how small, the goal is to grow your passive income so that it becomes a greater and greater percentage of your living expenses, up to the point where your passive income > living expenses, and the difference gets reinvested to further compound.

Then you are truly financially free, and if you've followed all the other steps you will have the self-discipline to stay that way.

...And Enjoy Yourself Too!

There's nothing wrong with rewarding yourself with luxuries along the way. Who doesn't like luxuries? The key is knowing the difference between what is an asset, and what is a luxury, or a liability. As Robert Kiyosaki writes in his bestselling book Rich Dad, Poor Dad:

“An asset puts money in your pocket. A liability takes money from your pocket ... Rich people acquire assets. The poor and middle class acquire liabilities they think are assets.”

Financial freedom is the reward for a lifetime spent acquiring income producing assets, and while you're doing this it's OK to splash out once in a while. If you like expensive restaurants, save up and go for a nice dinner at a top restaurant. If there's a house you wish you could live in, rent an expensive AirBnB just like it for a weekend, or stay in a top hotel. If you like luxury cars, rent one for a day.

Buy assets, rent liabilities.

Do that a few times and you'll soon get bored and realise that there are more important and fulfilling things you can do with your life anyway, and it'll motivate you even more to focus on what is most precious of all, time and freedom.