Yet at the same time there are more millionaires being made per year than existed before this century. There are all kinds of factors that help poor and middle-income people stay there. It is not the lack of income that is the cause of most financial hardships. I have known several people that managed to retire very comfortable but only earned a modest salary their whole working careers. I know people now in there 30s that retired on $300,000 and live a comfortable life. Now how did a thirty year old get $300K and what are they doing to live on that is a topic for a future article. A hint is they do whats in this article. Lets agree for the moment that the amount of money we make is not the biggest factor to our future wealth. Then what is, race, color, creed? Nope, the number one thing you will need to do if you want to be wealthy is, control how advertising affects you. Thats it! You only have to master your emotions and feelings and grow immune to your buddys teasing you about not having the latest gizmo. You see, advertising works. If you say it does not then go look around your basement. Do you have any workout equipment you havent used in a couple of years? Or how about in the kitchen, do you have the ultra nonstick pot guaranteed to never burn your food, have you used it in a year? Go to your garage and see what things you got on sale at the hardware store, it seemed like such a good idea at the time. Trust me advertising works. What can advertising get us to do? There is more money spent today on keeping a child entertained than was spent educating the parents. Hmmm, it is something I have noticed, most teens seem to be a walking electronics store. I saw a commercial for back to school and it was for parents to learn all the hi-tech gizmos the kids had to have. What does this have to do with wealth accumulation, everything. Most of you are up to your eyeballs in debt, where did you get that debt? The shopping mall, getting your kid a cell phone, Ipod, laptop, blue tooth, and a thumb drive. Because they really need that, are you kidding me? Did Einstein, Bell, Edison, Mozart, Gandhi have that stuff. The advertising executives will say, imagine what they could have done if they did have that stuff. Most school children could not do math without a calculator and without that basic understanding of how numbers work you are not going to go far compared to an Einstein. Life is better now and these modern conveniences are nice to have if you can afford them. Here is a way to get those things and retire wealthy. It is the simple savings plan, when I was a kid if I wanted something I just had to have my mom would set up a sheet of paper and I would earn points towards the purchase of the item. After I got enough points we all went down to the store and I got to purchase my new gizmo. Then we would go out for supper to celebrate my accomplishment. Another way is you take a percentage of your paycheck each month and when there is enough money in it to buy whatever, you go get it. The temptation to buy now is huge, there is so much pressure from TV, radio, friends, heck it is everywhere you look. I could write several books on the evils of most advertising and what it does to the financial destruction of many families financial stability. If you watch any kind of media you are being subjected to advertisements and their sole purpose is to get you to give them something, likely money. Be on guard of your emotions to go and buy something. Think about it, do you really need it. If not leave it in the store and know you are one step closer to financial freedom. Be smart, be wealthy.