Forget Government Grants? Useless? Just Go and Make More Money?

I was reading a comment posted to my last article. In it the writer professed a significant preference for making money rather than applying for a grant. That the route to pursue is more simple and more effective. Put briefly: just go and make more money.

“JUST MAKE MORE MONEY”
The comment made the point, “if you make more money, the income is more reliable, because you are the one “granting” yourself these funds, not some governmental body.” True. “You do not have to draw a business plan to get it.” Also true. “It can’t be taken away next year.” Not always true, but I see what the reader means. If you have made a new stream of income, barring disaster, you should be able to duplicate it year after year. Maybe even improve on it. True. “It takes too long to apply for , qualify and get your grant.”

If you are looking for an effective “pay increase” starting next week, you mostly are right reader, grants are not what the person is looking for. Here , it must be added that funds have at times come through far more quickly than you might think from government grants.

Let it also be said: I agree and cannot argue making more money is a good plan. It is rarely a bad plan. Yes. Making more money is great. I agree. Having said that, it still does not take the place of grants, nor should it be seen as an either / or proposition.

Question is ..
If you could use your hard-earned money, no matter if you made a ton or very little, or if you could use government funds to: install more energy efficient windows, a solar panel, energy efficient appliances, what would you choose to do? If you could expand your business using your money, or use the government’s money, even accounting for the length of time it takes to get the grant, which would you do? If you could pay for your education out of pocket or get some/all paid by government funds, which would you choose? If you could get art displayed and shared or use your own funds to support art projects, which would you choose?

What about making your own money work for you, as much of it as you can get, and letting government funds pay to further your education? For your art project? for your replacement windows? For your solar panel? To clean up your neighborhood? To help care for under-insured young parents? For day care for local poor families?

Seems you are thinking of grants as just money. Not unlike income. No. It’s funds to aid in the accomplishing of a goal – one the nation requires, or it is the funds to get more of what needs to be done – done – and you don’t have to pay for either.

Your Money Working For You
I remember hearing an interesting set of figures: if a college freshman put away $2000/yr for 4 years and never added another penny, nor took anything from it and let it compound until they were 65 years old, she/he would have more than the person who started just even right after college if they added $2000/yr EVERY YEAR until she/he was 65. ASTONISHING, isn’t it?

If you could make more money AND! still get the government to take on your education costs, that would leave that much more of your money for you. Enough said.

Timing
There are many if not the majority of people out there who are NOT ready for the money right now. These people are those who plan ahead carefully as to what they plan to do and do not require the funds for the change for quite some time.

Many are researchers who require the funds next year. More are students who know it will be next fall they need the funds. Art organizations require start up funds which come as well after the gallery/photo series/ dance troupe had to be well on its way to needing it before they apply. Businesses who want to expand often cannot make these changes overnight. Nor by your argument could they necessarily just make more money. The time it takes to get these grants often works just fine for many.

Need help looking into grants? Click here. Need help with scheduling your grant app process? Click here. There’s going to be more re: grant writing posted soon.
All the best.

For more info on setting aside cash and letting it your money work for you…

I remember this guy who gave a talk to a group of college students, asking if anyone had recently made any significant purchases. A girl raised her hand and revealed she had just gotten a great deal on a new car The payments amounted to very little every month and she was thrilled with having talked down the price, deeming it a savvy purchase. He asked her to divulge the terms. She agreed.

As we can all imagine, she had the longest term loan possible for cars, and was paying the most anyone could legally be charged for that car (there’s a legal limit to how much you can charge in interest on any goods, and the car industry knows exactly where that line is… and they make no bones about taking it there. ) He proceeded to show her how much in total she had agreed to pay, how much higher than the low price she got the salesman to accept. in fact she was over the life of the loan going to be paying the cost of the car plus another third, almost half!

Not pleased, she left the lecture hall.

Why has no one ever explains this to us, especially when ew are young? Well the lecturer was a man named John Cummuta, and I used his package to pay off my house in 7 years and start building wealth. I don’t make a dime on recommending him, he’s just plain effective and does a great job of educating young and old alike on how to pay off debt, change your ways, and start accumulating wealth.

What grabbed me was what he said that one day in his lecture: what you do not own outright determines just how low you can sink. If you are out of a job, AND you own your house , you at least you have a roof over your head, and plenty of equity in case you have to sell. But if you owe even the smallest bit, that house can be taken in a flash and you can be out on the streets. Only you determine how low you can sink when things hit the fan. And, he emphasizes, things will at some point, indeed hit the fan.

His website, full of info and his prod offers: http://www.mydebtfreeplan.com/. Check it out.
Keep your money for your wealth building objectives, and let government grants do what they are there to do: fund you to get your education, your research done, your business expanded, your amazing idea funded, your art project circulated, your community service idea off the ground.

Need help looking into grants? Click here. Need help with scheduling your grant app process? Click here. There’s going to be more re: grant writing posted soon.
All the best to you, now and always.