You Can Become RICH with $5 a day

Starting is the Hardest Part

Becoming rich is not hard.

You have been lied to.

Becoming rich is not a secret.

Wealth is not reserved for the select few with the right breeding.

You can become rich.

Let me tell you how..

Invest FIVE dollars a day

What? $5 a day?? Are you serious?

“You will NEVER become rich with $5 a day”! 

“Do the math, you will only save less than $100,000 in your working life. 50 years for a measly $1825 a year, for a grand total of 91 thousand 250 lousy dollars. Int 50 years that will be barely enough for a cinnamon dolce latte.”

Maybe..

But even if that were true (which it is not), you might be surprised at what that $5 is actually capable of doing..

Mind Control

What that $5 a day is actually accomplishing is training your brain. It is creating a habit. It is teaching you many things about life, money and yourself. That $5 a day is a mighty wind, that will take you to the farthest reaches of possibility.

When you commit to investing $5 a day you learn that becoming rich is not something that happens overnight. It takes years of patience, careful planning and habitual behaviour. None if these three things require exceptional talent, intelligence or good looks. Anyone can do these things. You just have to develop the habits. Some would argue that the key to success is self-discipline and I am a huge proponent of that trait, but if you use the power of habits to reinforce good behaviours you will not be forced to continually exercise your self-discipline muscles, you can let habits do the heavy lifting. Investing $5 a day is an easy way to develop the necessary habits that lead to wealth creation:

1. Pay yourself first

2. Invest for the long term

3. Cash flow is king

My books and courses go into great detail about how to use these three strategies to grow massive wealth. You really do not need to be a seasoned investor to read my books or implement their ideas. I am no genius, yet I have used the methods I teach to create a lifestyle that many would envy. 

Planting Seeds

If you invested $5 a day and saw your nest egg growing, I imagine you would react like most people would:

“This is too slow! I want more!”

So what would happen? I suspect you would start to invest MORE than $5 a day. You would start to push the envelope to maximize your savings rate. You would not be content at $5 a day, you would increase the amount you invest each day until it hurts just a little bit. Then you would see results that felt a lot better. I suspect this is exactly what would happen. 

But the problem with this easy to understand scenario is that most people never even begin. Most people don’t even take the simple step of investing the $5 a day. Most people never begin because of a million reasons that seem legitimate and real. 

I get it. 

I’ve been there. 

But that is the beauty of the $5 a day routine. It is not hard. It is super easy. Anyone can do it, unless you are homeless or destitute. I think that by realizing that you actually can afford $5 a day you create a new mindset that drives you towards a bigger, better future. If you don’t begin, you will never get there.

Several quotes come to mind that sum up this idea:

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step

Or 

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Use the $5 a day plan to develop your routine. Drive the new habit.

Financial Education

Another benefit of the $5 a day investment plan is that you will be craving bigger and better returns. If you can only afford $5 a day, it would serve you greatly to figure out a way to maximize your return on investment. If you are investing $5 day you will have two goals in mind:

1. Figure out how to get an above average return

2. Figure out where to invest to get that return

Learning about money, wealth, investing, finance, and investing vehicles will become a priority for you. If you are putting your hard-earned, after-tax dollars into an investment, you might as well make it count! 

Ta-DAH! You now have a vested interest in learning everything you can about how to make the most money you can. Before, when you were NOT investing, a book or course on how to get rich or investing in real estate was of little interest to you. Now, all of a sudden, it is gospel. See how that works? You now see the value in financial education that perhaps you didn’t fully appreciate before. 

All of this change for $5 a day! Who knew?

So the magic I am presenting to you today is that investing $5 a day WILL make you rich, but not in the direct way you originally thought. It is like a gateway drug. Once you enter the world of investing, wealth and especially, passive income (my favourite), you will be hooked and that $5 a day will turn into so much more. $5 a day also greases the wheels for you to actually BEGIN. That is the biggest reason for failure that ever existed, the inability to actually DO SOMETHING.

Don't worry about failures; worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try. 

--Jack Canfield

If you are wondering where to begin investing that $5 a day there are many options:

1. A savings account

2. A Mutual fund

3. A stock

4. An RRSP

5. A matched savings plan at work

6. A 401K

7. A ROTH IRA

8. A loan to a friend

9. A GIC

10. A T-Bill

11. Your mattress

As you can see there are a TON of ways to invest. All have their pros and cons. It is up to you to decide what works best for you and your goals and personality.

The best way to decide what to invest in is to do your own research. Learn as much as you can about how it all works. You can talk to an investment advisor at your bank or insurance company. Or you can self-educate by reading books or taking courses. You can find someone who is already doing what you want to do and ask if they will mentor you. You have so many options if you are willing to just begin. Make that decision and become the person you have always dreamt of being. 

You can change your whole world with $5.

What are you waiting for?

You Can Be Exceptional

You Can Achieve Anything

The media tells us stories about great achievements by people who appear to be superhuman. Great athletes, fantastic singers, super-models and actors all vying for our attention appear to be “special” or “better” than regular people. We are led to believe that they have some special gift that was bestowed upon them by almighty God that makes them superior to the rest of us. Billionaires, who live lifestyles un-dreamed of by the other 99% of people who seem to have it all. When we find ourselves star-struck by these people, try to remember that they all have one thing in common. They are only human. 

Small efforts

Statistics show us that most great achievements are the result of multiple small efforts repeated habitually over a long period of time. Small incremental steps that built upon one another until a great achievement is the end result. This is how is is done most of the time. The media tells the stories of overnight success because it is rare - that is why it is newsworthy. It leads us to believe that the sensational, once in a lifetime skyrocket to fame and fortune is the way that it is done - some random spark of serendipity from the heavens choses a certain person to bestow riches or fame upon and BAM, it happens. The reason the media focuses on overnight success is that is not normal. The media is all about sensationalism. They want to tell stories about things that are rare and exceptional because that makes headlines. The fact of the matter is, great achievements are rarely newsworthy. They are the result of hard work, persistence and preparation. Really boring stuff that would not inspire advertisers to purchase air time because no one would watch. 

But here is the good news.

The results - ie. the lifestyle or success that these people enjoy is still possible. It is there for the taking. You can have it as much as they can. You have the ability to achieve anything you set your mind to. The world is abundant and there is no shortage of information out there to help you to succeed. You just need to learn some new skills and then learn to use those new skills. This is a process that takes time, it takes effort and it requires you to fail - sometimes over and over again. But it is still possible. It is not glamourous. It is not usually newsworthy. It is mundane and sometimes painful. But it is still possible. We are led to believe that being rich or achieving greatness is a pipe dream, because we suspect that it is a matter of luck, timing, connections or genetic superiority. Sure, sometimes those things help and sometimes they don’t - there are many people who were very talented who achieved very little with their talents, because they were unwilling to persevere and do what is necessary to achieve their goals.

Don’t Give Up 

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In the book, “Grit” by Angela Duckworth, the author offers a great perspective on what actually is the key to success in life - (big surprise) grit.  The title gives it away. But one facet of this philosophy that makes it powerful is breaking down the path to success into  two distinct processes. My mind was blown by the implications of this idea. 

First, you must develop skills or “talent”, as they say. This requires effort. You may acquire skills or talent at different rates depending on your natural abilities, but they are there to be cultivated. Accept your own personal path and do it. Put in the necessary effort level that applies to YOU personally. There is no shortcut to this. 

Then step two: 

You learn how to use your skills or talent. This requires effort as well. These processes are two distinct activities, both requiring an individual amount of effort. So many naturally talented people fail because they believe that talent and skill will automatically get them where they want to go. They fail to realize that execution and the implementation of skills is a skill of its own. You can prepare all you want for life, but you have to live it in order to get good at it. 

This is why so many self help gurus belabour the idea of massive action. Action is the key activity that allows us to take what we know and figure out how to use it in the world. This is  often an exercise in trial and error. This is the reason they say if you want to succeed in life, fail faster. We have to make sure we consider both halves of this equation - work on skills/knowledge + work on execution. Both require work or effort. This is where many people’s ambitions fall apart as they think that just being prepared and knowing theory will automatically make them great. It is the illusion that if you graduate from Harvard business school you are an expert in business in the real world. 

You Can Do It!

The point of this is to let you know that you have the ability to achieve anything you want if you are willing to pay the price. As Brian Tracy says - achieving goals is a simple formula: 

Determine what you want.

Figure out what the price is.

Get busy paying that price. 

There is no additional steps suggested there like “find a shortcut” or “join the illuminati”. There is just hard work and determination and being willing to not know what you are doing for a while.

Being willing to fail.

Being willing to learn and being willing to build your skills slowly day after day by doing all the boring incremental steps towards your goal. 

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. 

You are just as likely to achieve greatness as the next guy. This is great news! You now know that success and abundance aren’t impossible or a secret that is whispered between the elite at charity auctions. It is a formula. A really boring one that takes time and effort. People don’t like to hear that part, but the good news is that it is actually possible! It is real. There is no witchcraft involved. You just need a plan.

Invest in Yourself 

Find someone who has done what you want to do and learn from them. There are so many books and programs that you can use to get there. You might be aware that you have great opportunities to do great things, yet are afraid because so few actually ever do it. Now you know why there are so few that actually do. Now you know that it is possible. And “possible” sure sounds great to me. If I am dreaming about a goal I want, believing that it is possible is a MASSIVE first step. It is actually impossible to achieve anything if we think that it is impossible because  we would never start. If we actually learn that our lofty goal is there for the taking if we just follow the steps in the right order, then that brings that dream closer to  reality. We need to accept the price that will need to be paid. That price is usually just time and effort. We need to make it a priority and be willing to learn. We might actually need to be willing to un-learn a few things and let go of a few assumptions that are holding us back. 

So great news! You can have what you wish for! The bad news, it won’t be magic or luck that gets it for you. You have to earn it. If you can accept that and become who you need to be in order to achieve it then you are on your way. Learn the skills, then learn to use the skills. Both steps take work, but it will be worth it. It is not what you achieve, but who you become in the pursuit of your achievements that really matters.

Creating Wealth

Wealth is not a secret

Peri Scott - January 20, 2020

You might think that becoming rich is a closely guarded secret that is whispered only between royalty and the illuminati. You may even think that it requires special connections or family money. You may unfortunately believe that it requires nefarious activities. I know I have spoken to a lot of people that believe that you need to be unscrupulous to create wealth. It makes me sad that people believe these things. It is a symptom of our fast food culture, that  inadvertently conspires to make you think that everything is instant, and easy. 

Becoming Rich in 2020

People believe that becoming rich is a result of luck, or manipulating people.

This is just not true. 

Most rich people acquired their money through years of hard work (22 years on average) and offering actual value to other people. As a consumer, you tend to spend your money on things that you believe are worth it. If you bought something from someone and it didn’t live up to your expectations, you would most likely not shop there again. You would rarely do repeat business with someone who you felt misrepresented what they were selling. Apple makes a lot of money because they make cool products that people like using. If you could only swindle people once, you would not make much money or at the very least, you would not be in business for long. 

If you thought that becoming rich was a result of being exceptional at something, you would also be wrong. Most rich people just persisted longer than others. They are not any smarter or more talented than others. They just persisted through challenges and difficulties that many other people might not have been willing to tolerate. They had long term perspective and didn’t try to get rich quickly. Overnight success is rare and seldom lasts. This is why so many lottery winners end up broke within a short period of time. They just don’t understand the principles of wealth and end up spending it all.

Learning about money and how it works is a skill that you can use for your whole life. As I have mentioned before, if a person who made their money through legitimate means loses it all, they don’t worry about it because they know that they can make it all back again. They understand the principles of wealth creation and they just do it again. 

Making money vs. Keeping it

If you figure out how to make a lot of money that is awesome. The key is learning how to keep it. If you are committed to long term wealth and possibly establishing a family fortune or legacy, then learning how to keep your wealth growing and producing income is imperative. You must realize that your SOURCE of income may come and go, but your long term wealth must remain intact. The wealthy families have figured this out and that is why they stay wealthy. There have been many great fortunes that have been squandered because the principles of wealth management and money management were not passed down to future generations. The most important part of wealth is knowing how it was made, how to maintain it and how to grow it. If you have billions of dollars and just spend it all, you are not really rich. The world needs money only to represent the value that is being exchanged. If you cannot offer value to the world, you will not be able to sustain a fortune. People need to exchange money for something they feel adds value to their lives. It is not important what that is, as long as people value it. People exchange time for money, as well as goods & services. If you offer the world something valuable then they are likely to give you something in exchange for that value, usually in the form of money. 

This basic principle is often overlooked. People think that money is a thing unto itself, and that it needs to be collected as it appears. Its true value is lost on them. Do not be one of those people. Learn as much as you can about how money is created and invested. Our economy depends on there being a constant exchange of value. Money is just a byproduct of value creation. Building things that improve the quality of life for our citizens is a way to create value. The representation of this will tend to be money. So creating things just to get money is a bit of a non-sustainable ploy. Building things with the intent of creating something that people need or want is the true way to wealth. Then the money will most likely come in the general proportion to the value you have created. 

People Create Value

People are what make the world go around. I often say that everything you will ever get in the world will be given to you from another person. Money doesn’t just magically appear out of nowhere. Opportunities and anything else that “happens” to you are almost always a result of an actual person making a decision to give it to you. People’s valuations of things make the world go around. Money is just the grease. If you are providing value to people, people will compensate you. If you move up in your company it is probably because a person saw your value to the company’s bottom line. If your skills are in demand it is probably because people value them. The world is not some sociological construct that exists independent of someones opinion about it. People are the ones who determine value, and they are ones who determine compensation. Whether we believe our products or services are valuable or not is irrelevant. The marketplace will determine that. So you will always be dependant upon people for your success, whether you like it or not. As much as that seems like your success is out of your control that is really not the case. You can use this information to change your life.

I read a book many years ago by Robert J Ringer entitled “Looking out for #1”. In it, he explains the “Value for Value” rule which states that people will help you to succeed in the exact proportion that you help them to succeed. Value for value is the philosophy that means every human interaction, which means every business transaction too,  is healthy insomuch as the  value traded is as close as possible to an equal exchange. Like they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. If something is valuable to you that I have and I exchange it with you for something that is valuable to me, then that is a good exchange. That is a win/win transaction. This is the ideal scenario. If you believe that you have taken advantage of the other person, or you feel taken advantage of, then that is not a healthy relationship and it will not likely continue. The company line is often “we don’t want happy customers, we just want loyal customers”. This sounds harsh, but if your customers feel like they are getting their money’s worth, then they will continue to spend money on your products or services. If they feel like it wasn’t worth the price, they will shop elsewhere. Simple economics. So always strive for a win/win transaction. This equally true in business as in interpersonal relationships. Many romantic partnerships fail because one person is giving or receiving much more value than the other. This applies if you are an employee too. 

You Need to Offer Value

I read an article that really opened my eyes on Cracked magazine’s website a few years ago. It really hit home for me as it initially sounded very harsh, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I suggest you read it (Language warning) and think about it. It suggests that people will only value you for what you can do for them. This is true. It sounds cruel, but in my experience it is actually the way it is. Even in romantic relationships - if someone makes you feel good about yourself, or treats you well, that is what they are doing for you. Then you tend to value them or the relationship based on that. If someone makes you feel rotten about yourself or makes you sad, that is not a good relationship and you will tend to look elsewhere for companionship. If you stick around in a situation like that, you might want to think hard about the value that is being exchanged. You deserve to feel good so don’t be loyal when it isn’t justified. 

I am suggesting that becoming wealthy is the result of offering value to the world and the world giving you money as a symbol of the perceived value you are offering. This is a universal rule that exists whether we agree with it or not. Any other way of getting money is luck, charity or stealing. If you create more value, either by improving yourself or your product/service, then you should receive more value in return (money). If you try to manipulate this it will usually not turn out well or be unsustainable. Running a scam is a terrible way to get rich and the end does not justify the means. I appreciate that some people are in unfortunate circumstances and don’t have the opportunities that many of us have, and I sympathise. But a short-term, get-rich-quick scheme will not create a long-term solution that truly solves the problem. If you are living in poverty, a long term approach can help you, your family and your future generations to lift themselves out of that life by using the true wealth principles that I teach. By educating yourself and your loved ones, you can truly build a solid foundation of abundance that will break the cycle of poverty and lack. It is a sad truth that hardship often creates a lot of secondary problems like crime, substance abuse and domestic violence. Life can be hard. The solutions to life’s problems are not going to be quick or easy. 

Educate Yourself

Learning about money and wealth creation, learning to invest, and learning how to build a fortune are topics I write about and many others do too. The information is out there. I apologize for not giving you a magic formula that will take you to riches overnight or a special “hidden secret” to wealth creation that nobody knows about. These things just don’t exist. Wealth creation is not a secret, it is actually quite mundane and boring. It just requires you to be a better version of yourself. You need to develop the the necessary self-discipline, skills and perspectives to do it. It is not witchcraft. It is just hard work, dedication and courage. Anyone can become wealthy, but it will not be quick or easy. 

But is is very doable. 

It is just matter of adopting a plan and sticking to it. It is exactly the same as losing weight. It is simple but not easy. It requires you to change your behaviours and adopt long term perspective. Your daily habits and decisions need to become a part of a long term strategy that forgoes quick fixes and short term pleasure for sacrifice, good habits and patience. 

I have a spiritual philosophy about this that may or may not be true, but helps me to put things into perspective. I believe that the universe strives for balance. That means that life will offer you equal amounts of pleasure and pain throughout your existence. No matter what, that balance needs to be maintained. If you are experiencing too much pleasure, the universe will find some way to give you pain in order to maintain that balance. I am not sure if that sounds very spiritual, but the interesting part is this - You get to decide whether that pain is voluntary or not. If you CHOOSE pain, in the form of self disciplined behaviours, such as going to the gym and working your ass off, or working long hours at your chosen profession, that is painful, but you get to choose it, and it still goes towards your pain quota. So by CHOOSING what pain you endure, you get to reap the pleasurable rewards as part of the universal balancing equation. This may or may not be the way it actually is, but it helps me to appreciate the hard work and dedication it takes to succeed.. It gives the hours of work with very little immediate reward some positive context. It helps me to believe that even though I am not seeing any rewards quite yet, that there is a good chance that the positives are coming in the future, in order to keep the balance. 

If you are not quite as “airy-fairy” as me, and believe in a very concrete type of realty, no problem. It should still make sense that having long-term perspective in mind when you make daily decisions is still scientifically been proven to be the common factor in most people’s success. Short term thinking is rarely able to create results that last. Brian Tracy, the master success teacher,  says that success is often the result of many, many small decisions and habits that you do consistently that nobody sees or appreciates until you eventually succeed. Then they say that you are “lucky”. 

Begin today

Learn all that you can about money and wealth so that you can stop struggling. Learn the rules of the game so that you and your family can have the freedom to  live the lives you were meant to live and to be the people you have the potential to be. Money is not evil. It is just a means of exchange to measure value. If you understand that, you can focus on the right things and follow through on your plans. My plan works. So do many others. Find one that suits you and your personal preferences and do it. You are living in a time in history that has never been more full of opportunities. Take advantage of that. Stop believing in overnight success and roll up your sleeves. It is not a dream. It is reality. It just means seeing it for what it is. Opportunity is often disguised as hard work. 

Don’t Wait To Invest

It is never too early to start

Time is your best friend or your worst enemy when it comes to investing. Albert Einstein said that Compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world, and I have to agree. The key component of this philosophy is time. The longer you let money compound, the richer you will be. The funny thing about this is, most people really don’t care about time until they don’t have much left. 

Youth is Wasted on the Young

When you are young, you have a skewed sense of reality - You tend to think:

1. I am going to live forever

2. I am invincible

3. I know everything

4. Everything is going to work out on its own

5. I have lots of time to figure it out

6. I have no money

These are typical thoughts of a young person. If you are not inclined to believe these things before you are thirty then good for you, you are exceptional. For the rest of us, who are a product of misspent youths and poor decisions, please take our advice and learn to invest.

Start small. It's OK. You don’t need a lot of money to get started. The key principle is to begin. Once you have made it a habit to invest a percentage of your income every month into a long term plan, you are well on your way to riches and and an easy life. It is really hard to take these kinds of things seriously when you are young, I get it, but it is the most important time to do it. If you start investing when you are young, you are building the habits that will take care of you for a lifetime. You are using TIME as your ally, because you have lots of it. If you invest in your future, you will reap the rewards. 

It has been shown that having long term perspective is the one common factor that differentiates successful people from not so successful people. If you can learn to make decisions that affect the future you in the best way you know how, you will tend to set yourself up for success. It requires self -discipline and delayed gratification, but it will pay off. If you learn how money works and start investing when you are young, you have time to make a few mistakes and take a few chances that older people might not get the chance to utilise. You are more likely to learn from your mistakes and make better decision in the future. 

Young people tend to be short sighted and live in the moment. That is wonderful, as many fun experiences would be lost if we were always being practical and mature. I understand. I had a lot fun when I was young, and I don’t regret much. I do regret not investing though. I wish I had started 20 years early than I did. My brother sat me down when I was in my early twenties and tried to explain RRSPs to me. I ignored him. I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that I would be old someday at all. 

Learn from my mistakes

I didn’t know much back then and I am inclined to ruminate on the fact that I wish I had known what I know now 20 or 30 years ago. I would be a much wealthier man. Unfortunately when I was young I didn’t want to listen. I didn’t want to hear about investing or RRSPs. That was for old boring people, not young, cool guys like me. I was too busy living the dream of being a famous musician to care about saving, investing and money management. 

I wish someone had taken me aside and slapped me in in my cocky, stupid face and explained to me how life works. As cool as you think you are now, unless you die an untimely death, you will get old. Then, where will you be? You are given this gift of time, and you squander it, when you could be using it as a tool to improve your life. You could be leveraging the most precious gift you have to make life better for the future you, and your future loved ones. Guess what? You will care about future you and your future lifestyle just as much as you care about present you. So why not care about “future you” now and learn to invest.

The information is out there. It is not difficult. There is basic math involved, and not a ton of sacrifice. You just need to make a plan and stick to it. You don’t have to be a genius. You just have to do it. 80% of success is beginning. Please listen to me. You have an unmatched opportunity to be special. If you are young and gainfully employed you have time - the most awesome leverage you can get. It is rare and valuable, and those who use it wisely will be the privileged few, indeed. 

Invest In Yourself

You can educate yourself by reading books or taking courses. You can get a mentor or go to work for someone who is doing what you want to to. There are so many options available. The world is chock-full of information. It is yours for the taking. Investing in yourself and your financial education is something that will produce returns forever. People who have made fortunes never worry about losing all of their money because they can always make it back because they themselves are the key ingredient. What they know is the secret sauce. If you figure out how to make millions, you can always do it again. It is a compounding effect. Every new piece of knowledge and wisdom you acquire and implement will build on the last and you will become unstoppable. Don't let fear of the unknown or self doubt stop you. Everyone started out knowing nothing. All the skills you need to become rich or successful are learnable. You only need to start- and start early.

Learning about money and capitalism is one of the most useful things you can do as we live in a world that runs on money. Money makes the world go around, as they say. You can resist it or you can embrace it. I am all for new and exciting ideas about ways to fix what is broken about our capitalist world, but until these things become mainstream, you might as well become proficient in the system we currently participate in. You are playing a game whether you want to or not, you might as well learn the rules. There are basic principles of wealth creation that are learnable and readily available. You just need to actually learn them and actually DO THEM. 

I would love it if you took advantage of my system to build wealth It is a great way to learn investing and wealth creation. Just read my books or you can learn the complete system with my online course. I also have recommended several books that are indispensable tools to use. Learn from people who have done it. There is so much information out there. The difference between those who succeed and those who struggle is usually just execution. Be willing to start. Be willing to learn. Be willing to make mistakes. It’s all part of the process. School tries to indoctrinate us against making mistakes. Standardised tests make it wrong to learn from failure. In truth, failure is a great teacher, and life rewards those who are willing to fail. It has been said that failing faster is the true way to success. 

I am suggesting to care about your future when you care about it the least; when you are young. The future seems a million miles away and very abstract. It is hard to take it seriously, yet it is the greatest gift you have ever been given. Take the gift of time and use it wisely. You will never regret it. Start investing when you are young. Start your financial education while you are holding the ultimate trump card - lots of time! Wisdom is only useful  if you use it. 

Share this article with all your favourite young people!

Wealth is for Everyone

I grew up in a middle class home in a small town in northern Alberta Canada. We did not go without but we definitely didn’t have a lot. I actually didn’t have a lot of exposure to “rich” people, as it appeared to me everyone in my town was basically the same. There wasn’t really any socio-economic strata to be had. We just all co-existed. I was pretty darn happy, as I didn’t  have any reason to believe I was less than or deprived in any way.

When I moved to the city as an adult I was suddenly exposed to this strange phenomenon of social classes. There were “rich” neighbourhoods and “poor” neighbourhoods and people would ask you your address when they met you to determine if you were worth knowing or not. I found this very strange. Why would people care about where I live? What difference did it make?

There were parts of the city that you didn’t want to go to at night, and parts of the city where they wouldn’t allow you access unless you lived there. I was being shown that the rich only wanted to hang out with other rich people and if you didn’t belong to the club, you were not allowed in. The word “exclusive” was a common marketing phrase to sell homes and other services. I finally understood all of those 80’s movies about the rich kids and the poor kids. They never made any sense to me until I lived in the city.

As Hannibal Lector so eloquently stated in the movie “The Silence of the Lambs” :

“How do we begin to covet? We begin by coveting what we see every day.” 

 So true. 

I thought life was just grand until I saw how the “rich” were living. They had giant houses with spectacular views, and nice clothes and fancy cars, and they ate at restaurants that I couldn’t afford. They went on exotic trips all over the world and had summer homes and country club memberships. I wanted that. I needed that. Especially because I was treated like a second class citizen that I didn’t previously know that I was. I wasn’t worth talking to or including in any of these lifestyle actives as I couldn’t possibly afford them. 

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My eyes were opened when I read one of the most incredible books I have ever read. It is called “Happy City” by Charles Montgomery. In the pages of this masterpiece were insights and scientifically proven facts that brought me back to reality. It proved that people are happier when they live in communities that include a mixed demographic. Rich and poor all living together without walls or exclusivity to divide them. This was just like my small town. We were all happy. We didn’t care who had more money or where you lived. We just all got along. 

The people in the cities that are trying to barricade themselves from the world and create a little Rich persons utopia were actually doing it wrong. This was not adding to their happiness at all. 

I devoured this book and I recommend it to everyone I meet. It is well written, interesting and mind blowing. 

Many cities around the world are incorporating the ideas in this book into their urban planning. Cities like Vancouver, Canada are starting to implement rules that require all new developments to include a certain percentage of low income housing in their plans. This has proven to be successful and created real communities that are vibrant and dynamic. Happiness seems to be dependent on inclusion, not the opposite. Imagine that. 

So in my quest to improve my socioeconomic status I am supported in my thinking that I am not trying to become “better” than anyone or remove myself from the huddled masses. I am just trying to make life easier for my family and be the best that I can be.

Many self help gurus talk about how you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. If you hang out with “roaches” then it is very likely that you will behave in a similar fashion and enjoy a very similar lifestyle than them. So they suggest finding people who are living lives that you aspire to and spend time with these new people. They will rub off on you and motivate you to be better. There is a direct correlation between your daily habits and your level of success. By having a peer group that are ambitious and goal oriented you will be motivated to try to fit in and your habits will emulate your peers, resulting in similar outcomes. This is plain fact. 

How does this relate to mixed demographics? 

Because nothing happens in a vacuum. There is a feedback loop that is in play in every society. If you are wealthy and live amongst poor people, it is equally likely that they will influence you  as you might influence them. Poverty is often perpetuated because that is all they know. The daily behaviours and habits of the poor are usually different that those of the rich. If people are exposed to alternate ways of behaving, then they will be far more aware of the possibilities that are available to them. We tend to learn how to function in the world from our parents and our peer groups. Our behaviours are learned from the world we are exposed to every day. If we come from a background of crime, substance abuse, and desperation, we will probably learn behaviours and decision making skills that will produce those same outcomes. If we don’t know any different, we can’t be any different.

The same is true if we live in an exclusive “bubble” of rich people. We might not even realize how good we have it and suffer an existential crisis because our lives are so static.

By all means, surround yourself with people who you want to be like. But remember that you can be a positive influence on others as well. Everyone deserves the opportunity to at least see the options available to them. If you choose to not pursue a life of growth and contribution, then so be it. At least it was a choice. You are free to live how you want, but if you don’t even know that there is a different or perhaps better way to live your life then you are being cheated. You are being forced into a life that you didn’t choose. It just appears to be all that there is available. That is a crime. 

This is why we need to have financial education available to everyone. Everyone, no matter what their circumstances, should be given the information they need to decide if they want to pursue a better life or not. It needs to be available to them no matter whether their parents are rich.

Poverty is a cycle. It continues because people don’t realize they have options and they tend to be surrounded by people who are in similar circumstances. If we had cities that included all kinds of people in every neighbourhood then those options would appear real and multiple life paths might seem possible.  

The funny thing is, even rich people don’t know everything. It is quite common for extremely wealthy families to lose everything within 2 generations as the principles of wealth creation are sometimes taken for granted and not reinforced. There is no exclusivity when it comes to ignorance. 

So if you are pursuing wealth, remember that the economy and money work best when money flows. Money needs to circulate in order to generate value. If you hoard money it stagnates. If you allow it to move throughout society everyone benefits. The economy is a product of people working, spending and growing. The more people we can get on board the better. We should not strive for exclusivity. That suggests that there is only so much to go around and that wealth is finite. This is just not how economics work. Money and capitalism is a product of people adding value to the world. If we educate people on how money works, they will be more productive and add value and wealth to the capitalist world at large. There is no benefit to anyone keeping wealth and knowledge to a select few. 

So if you want to learn to rise above your circumstances, it would be beneficial to you if you had access to people who are living lives that you admire and be able to speak with them and learn from them. If you are already rich, it would benefit you to share your knowledge with as many people as possible so there is more money in the world that you can use your knowledge to attain. 

The middle class are disappearing and we are becoming more and more separate. We need to start to adjust our behaviours and start to think inclusively instead of exclusively. This way, we all benefit. Studies have shown that cooperation is usually far more effective than competition. People believe that we live in a dog eat dog society and maybe we do, but we are all pat of that society, so we have the ability to make change. We all have the ability to offer a different way of living that tries to add value to our society. We can work together as a team. We can teach people how to prosper and try to bring everyone up to a level of dignity and peace. 

I believe that universal basic income would be a good thing but I also believe that we need to live in a meritocracy. People should be compensated for innovation hard work and productivity, but they should be given the opportunity to exist first and foremost. No-one should be homeless or starving. We have the technology, social constructs and means to take care of everyone. It is immoral to allow people to suffer and die just because they are too poor. This is ridiculous. If we made it a priority to house, clothe and feed everyone then people would have the opportunity to better themselves.

Amazon

Apple Books

 In the book, “Give People Money” they prove that Universal Basic Income  actually makes people more productive. Most people want to be productive and will be if given the chance. You can reduce hunger, crime, substance abuse and mental illness by giving people hope. Give them money, yes, but also give them education. Teach people that there are options. Show them that there are choices. Say to them:

“You can have any type of life you want, and here is the blueprint”. 

THIS WOULD BE THE IDEAL.  

I believe many of society’s problems would be eliminated if we took the initiative to educate people about what is possible. By offering people financial education as well as traditional education we could create much more prosperity in the world for everyone. This is likely to help control the population as well as prosperous countries have lower birthrates than impoverished ones do. Financial education could very well save the planet. 

So educate yourself - and pass it along. You can contribute to the great awakening of planet earth. Prosperity breeds greatness, and humanity has much to accomplish yet. 

Be a part of it. 

Include Financial Fitness in Your List of New Years Resolutions

A lot of people use the ringing in of the new year as a symbol for a new beginning. We all want to make promises to ourselves to change our lives for the better. Often times, this involves making fitness goals or removing toxic people. If we are going to make these promises to ourselves we should include our financial fitness as well.

Health

You can go to the gym and fix your diet, but unless you continue these behaviours on a consistent basis, they will not work. Habits are only good if you practice them consistently over an extended period of time. Eventually a habit becomes so ingrained in our lives that it does not require any will power to continue to do. This is the power of a habit. Good or bad, a habit is hard to break. Forming a new, healthy habit is one of the best ways to improve your life.

The same holds true for financial fitness. You can become financially free with a few small habits that, if repeated consistently for a long time, will yield results. There is no magic to losing weight just as there is no special witchcraft involved in getting rich. You just need to form good habits and be self disciplined enough to stick to it. 

By eating right and exercising you will feel better, look better, and have more energy and probably improve the quality of your life in general. The same could be said for getting your financial act together. By spending less than you earn and investing on a consistent basis, you will generally increase the quality of your life as well:

1. Less stress - You won’t be worrying about how to make ends meet every month. Stress affects our health in negative way, so removing money worries will help us live longer.

2. More free time - Time is our most precious commodity. If you had additional passive income arriving every month, you would feel like you have the option to work or not. Choosing how you spend your time is an essential component of freedom. Maybe you would have more time to go to the gym.

3. Charity - You can make the world a better pace if you have excess money. Give to people in need or support an organisation you believe in. 

4. Balance - In the same vien as time, when we have money we have the flexibility to balance our lives between working and leasuire. We can afford that tropical vacation in February or that weekly massage. 

5. Optimism - By have a goal and striving towards it, we give ourselves a sense of purpose, which has been shown to be another essential component of overall happiness and contentment. A financial freedom plan is a great way to engage our minds towards a worthy goal. Just having a plan and sticking to it makes us happy. It is the journey as much as the destination as they say.

So when you are brainstorming your list of New Years resolutions, I suggest you make your financial health a part of it too. If you are looking for a place to start, my books and online courses are a great resource to help you formulate a plan to achieve financial freedom. I also recommend these books as a way to help you get started. 

I hope you make your new years resolutions with a long term perspective in mind. Create a life that is full and prosperous by forming good habits that are a part of your everyday routine. You will be amazed how much you can achieve by taking one step at a time. 

Getting Rich in 2025

It is still possible

Timeless principles

In order to attract wealth into your life, you still need to add value to the world. This fact has not changed from the beginnings of civilisation. You cannot get something for nothing. Expecting “Something for nothing” violates the central principles of the universe. You just need to provide value in exchange for  something else of value. No relationship or business transaction ever succeeded in the long term without an exchange of equal (or perceived as equal) value to both parties involved. Even a good friendship is the result of an exchange of value. This usually comes in the form of shared experiences or conversation, but it is an exchange of value none the less. 

Playing the lottery or gambling is a violation of this principle. It is the pursuit of getting something for nothing. In exchange for 1 dollar, you can get a million. There is a belief in “luck” or even divine providence that is foolish and naive driving this behaviour and it rarely ever pays off. That is why the house always wins.

The universe is far more willing to bend your way when you intentionally set out to provide a million dollars worth of value to its inhabitants. You can do this by providing 1 dollars worth of value to a million people or a million dollars worth of value to 1 person - and every permutation in between. This is how it is done almost all of the time. Most millionaires have provided a product or service that lots of people want and are willing to pay for. They did not usually steal or swindle to get their fortunes, as is the prevailing belief among the general population. That approach is never sustainable as a business and the rare time that it does fit that narrative, it is depicted in Hollywood and TV stories about rags to riches. They usually condense a 20 year period of hard work and sacrifice into a two minute montage. Real wealth is created through hard work, perseverance and providing value.

Grow Your Money

You still need to grow your money if you want to have financial freedom - this has not changed either. 

The stock market is one way to grow your wealth. 

Real estate is another time-tested way to create a fortune. 

You can start a business or invest in one.

You can invest in peer to peer lending.

You can drive an Uber.

If you see a need, fill it. There has never been a time in human history with more opportunity to make a fortune than today. Of course, contrary to what popular opinion would have you believe,  you have to work for it; there is no free ride. The world has tricked us into believing that things should be instant and easy. This is just so not true, especially when it comes to creating wealth. It takes an average of 22 years to become a millionaire. 22 years of long hours, hard work, and sacrifice. You must believe that this is not only possible, but probable - if you are willing to do what it takes. Trying to find a shortcut or a trick to become wealthy without hard work, sacrifice, self discipline and long term thinking is foolishness. It is rare and unsustainable to become wealthy in any other way. 

The Good News

The good part about this is that getting rich is not reserved for the special few. Anyone who is willing to pay the price can become wealthy. It is not a favour bestowed upon the lucky from a benevolent deity, it is a real world thing. If you live in a free country that conforms to capitalism and fair trade, you can become wealthy. You must seize the opportunity. No-one is going to give it to you. No-one is going to hold your hand and lead you to wealth, you must take it. The information is out there. It is widely available, it is up to you to find it , consume it and implement it. 

My books, training courses and articles are just one of thousands of different plans that you can use to become wealthy. I happily endorse any that are helpful to you. I know that if you follow my strategies you can become wealthy. You don’t need any special skills or income level to apply it. My plan is a way for ANYONE to get started and grow their wealth, learn how to invest and become financially independent. I often refer to my system as a gateway drug into the world of investing, as the principles can be used to branch out into many different types of investments. “There is more than one way to skin a cat”, as they say, and my way works, but it is just one way. I believe that if you are really serious about wealth creation and financial freedom you would use as many strategies and investment vehicles as possible, since we all know that  putting all of your eggs in one basket is usually a recipe for disaster. Even the most successful entrepreneurs take the proceeds from their business and divest them into real estate and paper assets like dividend bearing stocks. They have the calm and sober perspective that any one income stream can fade or disappear due to a myriad of macro-economic factors. The principles that create wealth are universal and not usually asset-specific. This is why I am confident that my strategies work. They are transferrable to many different investment classes and sectors. 

The value of my system is that you can learn how to invest and grow your wealth without needing to use a large amount of money. It is a micro version of more traditional investment methodologies and you can scale it to any size you want. Once you have built up any significant amount of assets you have the flexibility to divest or double down in any way you see fit.  Once you have understood your options and how it can work, you have become much more powerful. You now have the option to use the strategies in the ways that make the most sense to you. You can become a sophisticated investor without having to risk a ton of money, or spending decades building up enough capital to buy into more traditional investing classes like real estate. It is all there for the taking.

Work Smarter

The economy will ebb and flow like the tides, and no one has a crystal ball. If you diversify and hedge your investments properly, you can prosper no matter what the economic circumstances. There are many people who have done equally well in boom and bust economies, and if you let them, they are actually willing to share their strategies with you. They write books, and create courses that share that information with you. Don't fall into the trap that you can learn everything you that need from free information on YouTube or blogs. There is a ton of good stuff out there but making a small investment in a training course or a seminar can save you thousands of dollars, thousands of hours, and a lot of heartache. It can also help you make a ton of money; much more that you usually will spend on the book or course. Find a person who has done what you want to do and learn from them. It is far more effective than trial and error. Why reinvent the wheel? 

Seek Out Expertise

You also may put your trust in your investment advisor at the bank or insurance company. These people will make life easy for you by handling all of your investment decisions for you. They will also charge a fee for doing so. Make sure you look at their track record. If they have consistently provided great returns and made many people wealthy then, by all means, jump on that bandwagon. But if they are offering mediocre or poor returns, yet post consistent quarterly profits for their institution you may want to reconsider their investment products and buy shares in their company instead. These people are paid salesmen. They earn a wage just like you and I do, and they don’t know much more about how to earn money than anyone else. I am in no way slandering traditional investment institutions as they do what they do well, I am just making sure you consider all of the options before you spend a lifetime pumping your hard earned money into something that may or may not give you the outcome you desire. Be informed. As there is inherent risk in all investing, you need to go into any situation with your eyes open. 

For instance, often times employers will offer a matched savings retirement plan through paycheck deductions. For every dollar you contribute to your retirement plan, they will match it. Even though these plans are offered through insurance companies that produce below average returns and charge ridiculous fees, it is still a great investment. You are getting a 100% return on your money right out of the gate. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS!  You will be hard pressed to find a better investment than that. It is easy and automatic. A recent study by Financial Engines found that 1 in 4 employees are not fully taking advantage of their employer’s matched savings plans. This amounts to an average of  $1336 per person per year  or 24 billion dollars being left on the table. What a waste! It is right there under your nose. 

So smart investing doesn’t need to be hard. You just need to be informed. I encourage you to learn as much as you can about money and investing from people that you trust. I would love it if you read my books or took one of my training courses. If you think my plan is not for you then I am happy to suggest many others. I have raved about other authors before and will continue to do so, as they have helped me immensely and I am grateful for their contributions to my life. 

May this year bring you joy and happiness. I wish success and fulfilment for all.

Be Your Own "BLANK"

Taking Charge of Your Life

Peri Scott - December 12, 2019

Why is it so hard to get ahead? How come we have to struggle everyday just to pay the bills? How is it that it gets harder and harder to make ends meet? It seems that the more we earn, the less we have left over. The system is rigged!

Its all on you

Yes it is.

Be A Good Student

You have been indoctrinated. School taught you to be a good student. Do as you are told and you will be rewarded with good grades. Get good grades and you will get into a good school . Get a good degree from a good school and you will get a good job. Be a good employee and you will prosper. Save 10% of what you earn, give it to the experts and you will be able to retire someday. Oh, by the way, when you do retire, you will give your life savings to another expert who will dole it out to you as you age. Hopefully you won’t live very long in case you run out of money.

Implied within these structures is the underlying unspoken idea that you will be taken care of. You will be given what you need if you toe the line. If you are a good student you will be sheltered from the scary world.

If you conform to the way we want you to be, we will make sure that you are OK.

We are led to believe that we will be taken care of but it is not true. “They” don’t care about you! “They” just want you to be productive. If you provide value they will compensate you. If you stop being valuable, they will replace you with someone who is. You serve no other purpose than to produce. You are not a person, you are a commodity. Make no mistake, in the world of capitalism (Which is the whole world) you are only as valuable as your contribution.

People only value you for what you can do for them. This is a harsh reality but it is true. The sooner you accept that fact, the sooner you can actually figure out a way to use that concept to your own benefit.

The most important thing you can know is that you are the master of your own destiny.

If people don’t get their Christmas bonus or get less of a raise than they think they deserve, they lament

”I was counting on that!”

“How am I going to get ahead?”

“They keep clawing back the benefits here, this is unfair!”

People even go as far as to go on strike for being treated unfairly at work.

This mindset assumes that your life is under the control of other people. Allow me to suggest a different approach.

You are the master of your life

You may want to consider:

• You are always working for yourself - Brian Tracy says to think of your job as if you are the CEO of a consulting company, specialising in your area of expertise, and your current boss is your best customer. Your job is to provide as much value as possible to your customer for a fair price. The implications of this ideas are huge. You will now be motivated to improve your skills, upgrade your efficiency and find ways to deliver more value. You are the actual boss.

• You should start a side hustle - This will teach you the benefits of entrepreneurship which really is the backbone of our capitalist system. You need to understand that a JOB is just a part of a bigger system. You are not entitled to a job. It may benefit you to see how your job is part of a business and that business needs to make money by providing value to its customers and you are here to facilitate that end. This will enable you to conform your productivity to the benefit of the business, and increase your value. This may give you leverage.

• Be proactive - Steven Covey in his amazing book, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People declares that being proactive is the first and the most important principle or habit that you can adopt. This challenges the idea that you will be taken care of and puts the responsibility for your life and your success squarely back on your shoulders. You need to take responsibility for everything that happens to you.

Take Charge of Your Life

If your boss is treating you badly - start a side hustle.

If you need more money - find a way to earn more..

I know that you are strapped for time, like everyone else, but you can learn to prioritize your time. This means deciding what is most important and making time for that. The world will demand your time for its own ends, but you have to decide what is best for you and your goals. This is the primary tenet of adulthood.

We are completely dependant on our parents when we are born and we slowly gain independence as we grow. The problem is that we stop making this our primary goal. We stagnate from "helicopter parenting” and soft, easy lives. We start to believe that everything in life that we want should be quick and easy. We live in a society that makes it very convenient to get just about anything, so we start to believe that “easy” applies to everything - including things that are NOT easy and quick to attain.

We forget that our purpose is to be self-reliant. We need to assume responsibility for everything. Absolutely everything. It is only then that we are truly adults. It has been suggested that our job as parents isn’t to protect our children, it is to teach them to protect themselves. It only when we refuse to be victims and believe that we are responsible for everything in our lives that we become fully realized human beings. This concept gets lost because of our life-long indoctrination:

Child: Be a good child and Mommy and Daddy will take care of you

School: Be a good student and teacher will take care of you

Job: Be a good worker and the boss will take care of you

Government: Be a good citizen and the government will take care of you

The central theme of my books and courses is “Be Your Own Bank” - I am trying to convince people that they might find freedom and prosperity if they learn that their money situation would be better served if they take responsibility for their own financial futures. You cannot assume the “child” role of giving it over to the experts. You cannot assume your pension or your boss will take care of you. You cannot assume that your state of financial well-being is going to be determined by your paycheck alone. You cannot assume that you are where you are because of somebody else. It is because of you. You need to realize that you are where you are in life because of you.

Because of decisions you made.

Because of the value that you provide.

Because of the contribution you make to the greater economic machine.

This is the world we live in. You might as will learn the rules.

If we all stopped thinking that “they” run things and start participating in running things, we would all be better off.

Don’t be a pawn

If you don’t like the politicians - run for office

If you don’t like how your company does business, start your own company and do it better.

If you don’t like where you are at financially - learn to make more money.

Start a side hustle, upgrade your skills, ask how you can take on more responsibility. You are the boss of you. Take charge. Responsibility is the key to being a fully realized human being.

Don’t be a victim. Be a BOSS

The middle class is disappearing. In fact, a middle class is a very unusual concept. Traditionally, there has always been a rich 1% and everyone else was poor. This was feudalism and it ruled for many millennia. The advent of the middle class was an early 20th century thing that was an anomaly of a changing world. Things are reverting back to that model. There are now a few billionaires who have 90 % of the money and the rest of us are left fighting over the scraps. The gap is growing quickly too. No one is coming to your rescue. It is up to you. These people are not about to change the status quo. They are going to keep making money. You need to protect yourself. You need to take control.

My investing strategies are cool and everything, but the most important part of what I teach is the concept of “Be Your Own” - You taking charge of your life. I cannot stress this enough. I really believe that we have been lulled into a false sense of security as the rug is being pulled out from underneath us. We have been trained to be good minions and then they treat us as such. There is no job security anymore. There is no safety net like there used to be. There are fewer companies that offer pensions. Even your retirement savings are at risk of another economic downturn. You need to take back your power. You need to “Be Your Own - ANYTHING”.

I urge you to truly be the master of you own life. You are smarter than you think you can be. You are more resourceful and creative than you imagined. You have the ability to feel powerful and in control. You can make your life the way you want it if you assume responsibility for it. It may not be easy, in fact, it probably will be very hard. Especially the part where you learn to think differently. You have been given free will. If you have been given the privilege to be born or live in a free country, you have the opportunity to become anything you can dream of. Start from where you are at and make the decision right now to be responsible for everything in your life. Now you have true freedom.

There is a Way

The best part about choosing to take responsibility for your life is that there is no shortage of information out there to help you on your journey. There are many great books, courses, videos, seminars and mentors available to show you the way. There are a hundred strategies that you can implement to achieve anything you desire. The hard part of all of this is deciding to do it. Making the decision that you will prioritize your goals. Choosing to spend your time on your most valuable tasks. Choosing to work on your side hustle instead of watching TV. Choosing to learn new information. These are actions that reinforce your commitment to taking responsibility for your future. You may need to live a life that differs from your peers. You may need to make different decisions than you have in the past. You have been programmed to follow the herd. Choose to break free.

You have the ability to achieve almost anything you decide is important enough. It is just not going to happen by accident. It will require deliberate actions and perserverance by YOU. You boss isn’t interested in your success. He is interested in his own success. You are just a tool for him to use. If you want success, you will have to take it. You will have to “Be Your Own ..Boss” or Be Your Own ANYTHING.

I believe that by assuming responsibility for every aspect of your life you are choosing a healthy mental framework in which to view the world. The idea that you are in control is the foundation of mental health and self -esteem. Being in control doesn’t guarantee that you will not fail or stumble. It just means that you are no longer a victim. If you are in control, then you always have a choice. You always can choose how to respond to outcomes. You can pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start again. You can change your strategy. You can learn from your mistakes, and try again. This is life. It is so easy to forget we have choices when we passively put our destinies in the control of others.

So Be Your Own Bank.. Or Not.

It is up to you because it’s your life..

Books Mentioned in this Article

How to Use Credit Cards Effectively

Reward Yourself

I never have any money. 

Not because I am broke - I just don’t carry cash anymore. I heard of an interesting concept a few years back where you use your credit card to pay for everything in order to collect reward points. It sounded intriguing so we thought we would give it a try.

It works!

The concept is simple.

Pay for absolutely EVERYTHING with your credit card. 

Then, when you get paid your regular paycheck, you pay off the credit card balance in full every month. By paying it off every month you accomplish a few things:

1. You don’t pay any interest

2. You earn reward points.

3. You don’t accumulate consumer debt.

Interest

Saving money on interest is awesome. Credit cards tend to charge REALLY high interest rates on unpaid balances, on average, around 19% and even higher on cash advances. Most credit card companies will not charge you interest if you pay off the balance owing before the due date. 

Rewards

Make sure you use a credit card that has an awesome rewards program. There are many out there, so it pays to shop around.  

Some have a cash-back program that offer up to 2% cash back on everything you spend. 

Some offer points that can be redeemed for travel, shopping or even brokerage fees. These points usually amount to about 1% of the amount you spend, but some are more.

Debt

I also encourage you to not overspend. This cannot be emphasised enough. No financial plan in the world  will work if you are spending more than you earn. It is mathematically impossible. I wrote an article about this and I talk about this concept in my books and courses constantly because it is so powerful. Credit cards are a wonderful tool that you can use to make your life simpler or they can pave the road to ruin, if used foolishly. It is always your choice.

Rewards

Easy

The key concept here is that by using your credit card to fund your life, you are not spending any more than you usually do yet you are adding a reward for normal everyday living. Your life doesn’t change one bit, yet you still get a free vacation every couple of years. That is awesome. In fact, using the credit card for everything is actually more convenient because you never have to worry about having cash on you or which account you are taking money from. You also enjoy the benefit of one financial statement tracking all of your spending in the form of your credit card bill every month. If you are keeping track of your spending and trying to get ahead financially, knowing where you are spending your money is imperative. 

Buffer

You also have some leeway as to how much you have available at any time as it creates a nice buffer between the ebbs and flows of monthly expenses and income. Stuff happens. You can use the credit card to pay for it without missing a beat and keep up your repayment plan. As long as you are spending less than you earn, you will never run into trouble. 

Go Hard or Go Home

When I say pay for everything I am not exaggerating - you can pay for just about anything with a credit card. In addition to your daily spending out in the world, many traditional vendors now accept payment by credit card, like utilities and cable. Make sure you ask every company you deal with about their payment options. You never know. 

There are also cool services like Plastiq that will pay almost any bill on your behalf and charge your credit card. This is amazing as you can even pay your mortgage or taxes this way. If you are going to do this plan, you might as well go all in. Collect those points! 

One thing to keep in mind; services like Plastiq charge a transaction fee that may or may not exceed what you are getting back in rewards points, so it may not be worth it. Make sure you find out what the cost is, and do the math. There are many benefits that factor in as well.

As much as I like the convenience of just having to carry around my credit card, I also love services like Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Google Pay. Now you don’t even need to carry a credit card around with you, you can just use your smartphone to pay! Craziness! We are living in the future! Not every place accepts these payment methods yet, so you may want to hang on to the plastic a little longer, but there are more and more that do everyday.  

One really cool thing about using your credit card for everything is that it also opens up some interesting possibilities when it comes to investing. In my books and courses I explain some unique ways to use credit, and credit cards to pay off your mortgage quickly and accelerate your investing strategy. The rich know that using other peoples money is the smartest and fastest way to grow your wealth. You have that option too. Credit cards can play an important part of your plan for financial freedom. 

Taking control of your money takes many forms and using credit cards to improve your life instead of digging your own financial grave is a great way to begin.  

You Can Be Financially Free

Is it just a dream?

So many of us feel like we are stuck. We feel like we are on the proverbial treadmill, running as fast as we can, yet staying in the same place, or maybe even falling behind.

There is so much to do everyday. We are trying to meet the demands of our boss, our spouse, our kids, and society at large. We are in the rat-race. 

We say to ourselves “If only I had more time”

I know exactly how that feels. Our busy lives don’t leave us much time to think about the big picture or what more we could do to ease the pressure. We fantasise about winning the lottery or receiving a large inheritance from a long lost uncle we never knew about. Then, we think, if we had money we would then have the freedom to think about our actual dreams and goals. We think that if we had no money worries, we could sit on a beach somewhere, sipping piña coladas and think about the existential ideals that are the luxury of the privileged few.    

It can be different

If you are one of the blessed few who are contented and happy with your life and really don’t know what I am talking about, then bully for you. You are living the dream. I am sincerely happy for you and I am glad we have met. Now go away.

If you are reading this and saying to yourself,

“Yes! That’s me! I am glad I’m not the only one who feels that way!” , then we can have a chat. I want to plant a few seeds in your mind that just might grow into full blown ideas. These ideas can be the difference between a life of “quiet desperation” and a life where you feel powerful and in control of your own destiny. I want to convince you that there is a way forward, that you can choose, that will give you back the feeling that you are really the master of your life. 

Imagine choosing whether you want to work or not. Imagine living where you really want to live, what to do with your day, and whom you spend your time with. This is actually a reality for many people and it is something that is possible for everyone, if they are given the right tools.

I always say,

“Every job is easy if you have the right tools”

This is so true. I have spent many long hours underneath my vehicles trying to fix things that should have only required 20 minutes to repair, only I didn’t have the specialised tools that a real mechanic would have. I wasted time. I even submit that if I had money at the time, that would have been a useful tool as well, since I could have paid a trained mechanic to repair it quickly and properly. 

Knowledge is Power

I am always drawn to the idea that knowledge is power. It sounds cliché but it is really true. Ignorance is the genesis of so many issues on this planet, and I believe a commitment to educating people would empower everyone to think critically about things, and ask the right questions. 

“You never know what you don’t know, you know?”

We struggle in life due to circumstances, but also because we create our own problems. We don’t do it intentionally. We feel like we are making the right decision at the time, until it comes back to bite us and we wonder how we ended up in this situation. If we had a different intellectual framework to evaluate those decisions against, we might make different decisions, leading to different (and hopefully better) outcomes. Sometimes we don’t think very much at all, and just default to our subconscious conditioning. We just do what we witnessed others doing in our lives because that is all we had access to at the time. 

“Just because that is the way it has always been done, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.”

 Our parents and peer group are a valuable reference only to the extent that we observe positive results from their behaviours. If our role models are successful, then they are worth emulating. If the people we look up to are struggling in any area of their life, it may serve us better to find different people to model those particular behaviours after.

Assume Responsibility

To truly be effective in life, we need to develop a very formidable sense of responsibility. We need to take ownership of our decisions, actions and outcomes. Even when crappy things happen “to” us, we need to choose our own reactions. We can always choose how we respond to life’s ups and downs. We need to assume that we are responsible for EVERYTHING that happens in our existence and behave in accordance with that idea. If we want our circumstances to change, we need to be the ones to take ownership and initiate change.

It is a very poor strategy to wait for the universe to take care of us. Waiting to win the lottery or have opportunity strike are bad ways to move forward. If we are wallowing in our despair, assuming “bad luck” put us there and “good luck” will lift us out is just assuming the role of victim. You are only a victim if you choose to be. You always have another choice.

You can choose to assume responsibility for your life and take action. So many people underestimate just how freeing it is to make that one decision. Deciding to be responsible for everything in your life is the first, and most powerful idea you can ever make. If you operate from this mindset, there is a whole world of possibilities available to you. Suddenly life becomes an adventure and things start to happen that you never expected.

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.”

― William Hutchison Murray

Moving forward in your life feels great! The difference between moving backwards or stagnation and moving forward is massive and you will feel the positive effects in your mind, body and spirit. It actually doesn’t even matter how fast you are moving forward, as long as that is the direction you are going. My wife has a mantra that is simple, yet unbelievably empowering that she changed my life with:

“What CAN I do?”

No matter what is going on in your journey forward, and no matter what obstacle life has chosen to put in your way, you always have something that you can do. You are never powerless, if you choose not to be. At the very least, you can choose your thoughts about your circumstances. This is the root of existentialism as exemplified in Victor Frankl’s timeless work, “Man’s search for meaning”. Even a prisoner of war in a nazi concentration camp can choose how to think. This speaks to our inherent human need to have purpose or meaning. We need something to strive for in order to be happy. If you can do anything, even if it is just a positive thought, towards your purpose or goal, you are moving forward. 

So what is my first step?

Learning what you don’t know

Ask yourself:

1. What are my current circumstances? - Be honest. Everyone starts from somewhere. Don’t sugar coat it. Don’t over dramatise it either. Just observe. You are where you are at and that is OK. We can move forward from there.

2. What do I NOT know? - Figure out what you think you need to learn in order to have the information that is required to move forward. If you want to be fit and healthy, you might need to learn about diet and exercise. If you want to be a veterinarian, you need to look into how to go to vet school.

3. What resources to I have now? - If you are breathing and can survive in the world you have something. You can appreciate that and use it as a foundation to build upon.

4. What can I do? - The most important question. Even small victories add up over time. You can seek out information and assistance in a myriad of places. Advancement doesn’t have to cost money. Sometimes it just takes time. Using time a little more efficiently is always a good place to start with. You are busy, I get it. But if you really want to move forward and change your circumstances, then re-prioritizing is going to be nessessary. You have options - you just might have to think outside the box.

The information you need is out there

We live in the information age. Information has never been more ubiquitous or easily accesible. Just about any topic you want to learn about is available in massive quantities on the internet, or if you are old-school, in the library. If you are interested in any subject you can become a “dinner-party expert” in no time at all from watching YouTube videos or reading blogs. There is so much out there. The beauty of this online world is that it can get you started on any quest for basically free and take you to a place where you now know what you need to know. If you are starting from scratch, it is often hard to know what you need to learn as you have no context. Once you seed your mind with all of the free information there is available, you can be better-equipped to make sound decisions when it comes time to invest in more information.

There are many people out there who have taken the opportunity to succeed at their chosen vocation. The old saying goes that if someone out there has done it before, then you just need to do what they did to achieve the same results. This is a pretty straightforward and perhaps simplistic notion, yet it is so true. If we follow in the footsteps of those who have already scaled the mountain and are able to warn us of any potential obstacles or pitfalls, then we are much more likely to reach the summit unscathed. 

Therefore, it would serve us well to seek out those people who are successfully doing the thing we want to achieve and learn from them. Not all successful people are accessible or willing to share their secrets, but a huge portion if them are. Contrary to popular belief, not all successful people are ruthless predators. Many derive a great sense of satisfaction from mentoring ambitious beginners. Many feel that is is their Karmic responsibility to give something back and guide the next generation. 

The other amazing thing about potential mentors is that you don’t necessarily have to book an appointment with these people or bang on their front door at 3 am. You can gain full access to their minds and strategies through their works. It is quite common for people who have achieved cool things to write a book or develop a training course to teach their strategies and knowledge to others. This is a win/win for everybody. The “already successful" gain the satisfaction of sharing their knowledge with those whom it can help, which is deeply gratifying, and also earns them some additional income, which, the last time I checked, is not inherently evil or subversive. They are often offering far more value than the price of the book or seminar and are usually genuinely invested in the success of their followers. 

For the person who invests in this knowledge and implements it, it is often amazing how quickly and easily they gain similar success due to the fact they don’t have to learn it as they go, like their teacher did. They follow the same path on a compressed timeframe, with a lot fewer mistakes and pitfalls to deal with. It is like having a blueprint or map to success. Your destination is always easier to get to if you are shown the way. 

Of course, to stick with the metaphor, you have to know where you are going  before you embark on the journey. A goal is like a carrot on a stick. You need to strive for something in order to get out of bed in the morning. Sometimes you end up somewhere different than you had planned. Sometimes you fall a little short of your ultimate destination. 

This is life. 

But if you were able to at least move away from circumstances that you don’t prefer to got closer to ones you do, then you have realized the purpose of the quest. I like to use hockey as a metaphor due the fact I am Canadian and my armchair philosophising is usually reserved for my hockey-playing sons. I always suggest that in life, like in hockey, if you don’t have a play or any good options, you need to move. When you move, you inevitably gain a different perspective. You can see things from a different angle and new options open up. You will rarely gain good opportunities if you are standing still. If you take the initiative to move forward, you are now the master of your life. You are in the drivers seat and are no longer a victim. You have done what you could. 

There is no greater philosophical or practical endeavour than realizing your full potential as a human being. The value is in expressing your individual potential. Don’t compare your results to others, compare them to your own. Ask yourself:

 Did you improve? 

Did you learn something? 

Are you far better equipped now to be more effective in the world? It is not what you achieve in life, but who you become in the achieving of it that makes all the difference. The journey (struggle) is the destination. 

So believe that there is hope. Believe that you have choices. 

Because you do. 

You can move forward. 

A recent study investigated the effects of exercise on health. They asked the question: “What is the minimum amount of exercise you need to do to achieve the maximum benefits”. The results were fascinating and supported the Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule. They found that you will achieve 80% of the results by just doing anything. The fitness study showed that the difference between doing nothing and doing something made 80% of the difference!  2 minutes of exercise achieved 80% of the results that a full 30 minutes could achieve. So the difference between doing NOTHING and doing SOMETHING was 80%. This is profound and awe-inspiring to me. You can make a massive impact on your life just by doing SOMETHING rather than NOTHING. 

Something different. 

Something better.

 Something that moves you in the direction of your dreams and goals, no matter how small that something is or how slowly you implement it. You can achieve great things by just making a different choice and by pointing your gaze in the direction you want to go. 

Financial Freedom

Most people believe that if they had a ton of money they would be free. It think that this is only partially true. Most people who win the lottery are broke within a couple of years because they don’t understand money. I wrote about this in one of my articles. Another fact is that when polled, lottery winners are not any happier than they were before, and many were less happy. Some even stated that money ruined their lives. So it really isn’t money itself that brings happiness, but the freedom it brings. And freedom means something different to everyone. 

I think what people are really striving for  when they pursue freedom is time. Ask a 95 year old which they would prefer: 10 million dollars or 100 years more of life and they will typically choose the 100 years. Why? Because time is far more precious than money. With enough time, you can make more money. With enough time, you can learn to prioritise your life properly. You can learn and grow and develop yourself into the person you always dreamed of becoming. You can spend quality time the people you love. You can do most of the things that make life worth living. Time is the true currency and financial freedom is an effective way to purchase time. 

Instead of spending your time trying to make ends meet, financial freedom gives you time to spend. You are now free to decide how to spend your time. You are now free to choose your own voluntary struggles instead of the challenges that life chooses for you. 

So the difference between spending time and investing time is using the time you have to learn, grow and move forward or continue running on the life treadmill. Reading a book that teaches you how to become financially free is an investment of time. Watching “Friends” from the beginning on Netflix is spending time. There is very little return on investment in the latter. So the first step you can do, if you want to figure out “What can I do?” is learn to invest your time. Work on your knowledge. Learn what you need to know to achieve your goals.

I can offer you a Plan 

This website and my products are all dedicated to financial freedom. The information I write about and talk about are there for you to use to create a plan that will get you there. If you need a plan to move you forward, my books and classes are a useful tool. There are many great plans out there and I am perfectly happy to recommend other people’s information (see my top 5 personal finance books). My purpose is to help people realize that there is a way out. There is hope. You CAN rise above your circumstances.

My plan works.

So do others. It is a matter of putting that information in your hands and letting you know that is is really possible. I can’t stand to see people live in dispair. I want you to know that there is a way out. You have the ability to become much more than you realize. You have the ability to lift yourself out of strife and become all that you are capable of becoming. I am happy to be your guide and I will be your most enthusiastic cheerleader as you make your journey towards the financial freedom that you desire. 

You can do it.

If you have dreamed of something better or if you have ever thought that you deserve more than you are now experiencing then let me help you. Let me show you how you can live better. Financial freedom is a real possibility for you. You just need to choose it.

The Key to Wealth

Peri Scott - November 18, 2019

I have been a professional musician for over thirty years. At my best, I was able to play just about anything without really trying very hard. It seemed magical to those who didn’t play an instrument or were less proficient than me. I could hear a song just once and I was able to play it perfectly. I didn’t need to practice very much because I was playing so often I had no need to do scales or figure out fingerings, it just happened. This level of proficiency took many, many years of practice and performing to attain and I was very respected for my level of ability.   

Humbled

I thought I was a “pretty big deal” until I decided I would supplement my income by teaching piano lessons to kids. 

There is no more eye-opening exercise than to explain concepts to a complete beginner that you have taken for granted for decades. Trying to explain it in terms that they will understand is very hard and I often had to use metaphors and stories to get my point across. I had to really take a step back and re-examine the super simple, basic fundamental building blocks of music and try to explain them. 

In doing this, I realized that:

1. I didn’t even realize that some of the concepts I took for granted are NOT common sense.

2. In trying to deconstruct the roots of music theory I actually had to rebuild my own foundation

3. I discovered I had some gaps in my own understanding of the fundamentals that I discovered by being asked mundane questions about them.

This was amazing! My musical ability actually went to a whole new level after I went back to the basics because I had never truly appreciated the depth and breadth of the simple mathematics of rhythm and harmony and how to put it all together. My mind was blown and I understood that all the most advanced and complicated musical ideas and themes were built upon a solid foundation and could not exist without it. 

I thought this blog was about money?

I mention this because I recently developed a training course that explains in a step-by-step format my investing strategies and I realized while creating it that everything I was talking about depended upon ONE very simple, fundamental concept. It is so simple, yet so powerful and profound that I dedicated a whole lesson to it.

This concept is similar to the explanation of golf:

“Hit the ball into the hole.” 

This is very simple, yet is extremely hard to do. 

Spend Less Than You Earn

The basic concept has been talked about and written about and pounded into our heads since they invented barter yet it seems to be an extremely difficult thing to do for most people.

I think I am going to make this my financial mantra. It is so basic and easy to understand that people disregard it and want to move on to the cool stuff. 

Yet it is so difficult to do. Most people don’t even do this one, simple step and they somehow believe that magically things are going to work out in the end. They believe that through some kind of witchcraft that they can beat the system and do some fancy investing strategy and become financially free without paying much attention to this “ basic” stuff. 

This basic stuff is truly the foundation of ALL wealth. I can’t seem to find the appropriate words to emphasise just how fundamental and necessary and all important this concept it. It is likened to a cornerstone of a building. All buildings need a solid foundation upon which to rest, or else they will eventually bend, crack and fall over. I don’t care how cool of a design they are, they cannot stand on nothing.  The very cool and effective investing ideas and strategies I explain in my books and courses can ONLY work if you follow this basic rule. There is no other way. 

I have read thousands of books in my lifetime and hundreds on personal finance, investing and wealth creations (read my top 5 here). They all have amazing ideas and if you follow the plan, you can achieve great things. Without exception, all the strategies require you to spend less than you earn. 

This is lesson 1. 

This is day one. 

This is the golden rule. Do not pass “Go”, do not collect $200. You cannot move forward unless you embrace this concept and live by it. You must adhere to this principle with all of your might. It will get you through just about anything.

“Pay yourself first.”

“Spend less than you earn, then invest the difference. “

These phrases have been beaten to death in personal finance circles for decades. Why?

BECAUSE THEY ARE POWERFUL. 

Why am I belabouring this?

Credit Card debt in the US alone is over 1.2 TRILLION dollars. I am not convinced people are embracing the concept of “spend less than you earn” in their everyday lives.

We live in a society that encourages you to “Spend! Spend! Spend!” Keep up with the Jones’s! Get that latest smartphone! Visit this tropical paradise! Buy this massive house! We will approve you! You can “look” like you have arrived..or are on your way.

We are bombarded by consumerism and we believe that “things” will make us happy. Studies have shown that the opposite is true. We get a quick “high” when we buy something but that initial happiness we feel quickly fades. There is a diminishing return. In contrast, experiences actually go “up” in value over time. Those same studies demonstrate that we tend to idealise and positively distort our perceptions and memories of events over time, giving them more “value” over time. The interesting thing about “events” that we remember positively is that there is no correlation between the happiness it brought us and how much it cost. We are far better off having good times with the people we care about than buying a new big screen TV.

Delayed Gratification

We are addicted to instant gratification. Our brains are wired to seek out anything that will make us feel good. We are either seeking pleasure or avoiding pain. Our ancient ancestors were experts in the “avoiding pain” category as they lived in a much more dangerous world and pretty much getting through the day without being eaten or starving to death was a good day. Seeking pleasure was a relatively infrequent activity so our brains have evolved to be vigilant to any threats to our relative safety. 

Dopamine is the “Feel Good” chemical in our brain that is released whenever we experience pleasurable activities. It had played an important part in our evolutionary progress as it most likely was part of our motivation to propagate the species - among other things. This mechanism is useful, but like any bodily function it can become impaired from overuse. IF we get “too much of a good thing”, we  can severely desensitise our dopamine receptors. It takes more and more stimulation to create a feeling of joy and pleasure. 

Social media propagates this problem. Every time we get a “like” or someone comments on our bathroom selfie we get a little “hit” of dopamine, like a drug addict. We need everything “right now!” We don’t have to wait for food. We don’t have to wait for information. We can get most of our needs and desires met almost instantly these days. The problem here is that it tricks us into believing that EVERYTHING we want or desire should be instant. We make the mistake of believing that even the big, important or worthwhile achievements that we are pursuing in life shouldn’t take very long. The truth is, most worthwhile achievements take time.

We want to live the lifestyles that we see on TV and Snapchat. We believe that being rich or famous is the only way that we can be worthwhile. The media never make a big deal out of people that work hard for twenty or thirty years to create a business or invest over a long period of time to achieve their wealthy lifestyle. They never mention the people that live in a modest house and drive a modest car and wear modest clothes, choosing instead to invest their time in friends, family and commit time to self improvement. They take no notice of people who appear average in everyday life, yet are millionaires. Sorry, that is just not good TV, so they focus on the overnight success, the lottery winner, the 20 year old internet billionaire or the celebrity. They celebrate professional athletes and rappers. This is entertainment, not reality. 

I have no problem with entertainment, as long a people realize that it is on TV for a reason - it is not real. It is larger than life so it is TV worthy, but it is NOT reality. People forget that real life happens all around us and that TV does not necessarily reflect the real world that the rest of us live in. 

I wrote an article about how most rich people achieved their wealth through very mundane ways. The underlying theme common to most of these boring stories is a tag line of “spend less than you earn”

These people created wealth through principles such as hard work, delayed gratification, Self-disciple, and long term perspective. There is not much TV worthy material there, yet is really the most realistic way a regular person will ever get wealthy. 

Real wealth is possible to just about anybody who lives in a free country and has access to opportunities. It requires a huge, steaming helping of BORING to get there. You need to forgo the new smartphone. You need to pay special attention to your housing costs, your transportation costs and your budget. You need to have the self-discipline to NOT try to impress your friends and bring that bagged lunch to work. It requires waiting until you can afford it. It requires you to look at the long term.

Long Term Perspective 

There was a study done many years ago that tracked Harvard students over many years after their graduation to see what factors would influence their relative success in life. They looked at intelligence, work ethic, connections, family background, attractiveness, and a myriad of other tangible and psychological factors. In the end, they could only find one commonality amongst the highest achievers. You guessed it - Long Term Perspective. These people tended to make decisions that had an impact on their long term goals. They focused their daily activities on their future plans and developed habits that would benefit them over time. Daily habits are the key to success. Small incremental improvements, building on the day before eventually lead to success. Big, grandiose gestures will rarely lead to long term anything. Success is boring. At least, the path to success is dull. It requires you to invest your time, not spend it. It requires you to make choices that will benefit “future” you, not “present” you. 

People tend to be a little disappointed when they figure out that becoming wealthy tends to be a long process. It isn’t as exciting as winning the lottery or inventing Facebook. Some even feel that making something that is a fantasy into something actually doable and real kind of takes the fun out of it. Maybe. Being wealthy isn’t for everybody and it certainly doesn’t guarantee that you will be happy. Money doesn’t solve every problem but it sure makes navigating our capitalist society a bit easier. Life costs money, and it seems like it would be a lot easier to be the best version of yourself if you had time and freedom to pay attention to other things than paying the bills. 

---

Self Discipline

The primary attribute you need to develop within yourself in order to spend less than you earn on a consistent basis is self discipline. You will never be able to stick to the prime directive if you are always giving in to your immediate desires. Self discipline allows you to delay gratification and to do the tough mental work of figuring out what makes the most sense for you from a long term perspective. Spending less than you earn becomes a habit and a lifestyle, but also a key factor in your decision making criteria. As you flex your self discipline muscles you will get better at automatically making decisions that benefit you in the long term. You will start to learn ways of making your money go farther. You will start to seek out new opportunities to learn and grow. 

You will realize that investing in yourself is necessary if you want to really be successful. Instead of watching TV and spending hours mindlessly scrolling through social media feeds for a short-term dopamine hit, you will read books, take courses, and seek out people and mentors who can teach you new things. 

You will use self discipline to take care of your body so that you have the energy and vitality to pursue your goals. A clear mind and a healthy body will improve your mood, sustain your work ethic and perhaps make you more attractive, which never seems to hurt in your interaction with other people. 

Some philosophies suggest that the universe is always striving for balance. It will always try to dole out pleasure and pain in equal measure to its participants. If you have too much of one or the other, something usually happens to bring things back to balance. I am not sure that this is true or not, but it seems interesting to me that people who choose their own pain ie. stressing their muscles at the gym, tend to experience less involuntary pain. As I mentioned before, most things that are important and worthwhile take time and are hard to do. That “hard” is painful. It requires effort and self discipline which in considered suffering to the universe, albeit voluntary, therefore it goes into the pain side of the ledger - prompting something pleasurable or good to “happen” in order to keep the balance. 

Really, most self discipline is just choosing to pay the price for the things you want. Nothing worthwhile is free, everything has a price. If you are willing to pay the price you can have anything you want. This is a simple rule, like our mantra - Spend less than you earn. 

The deceptive thing about a simple concept like “Spend less than your earn” is just how powerful it really is. Even following this rule and never doing anything else, you will end up wealthy. It is basic math. You cannot avoid it. I find that amazing. Yet, most people are so enticed into breaking this rule by a world full of distractions and pleasure-seeking that they never get the chance to feel the immense impact this can have on their lives and their true long term happiness. 

A journey of a thousand miles beings with one step. - Old Chinese Saying

Take the step. It is a simple step, but not an easy one. It has the potential to change your whole life. You might open up a whole world of new and exciting possibilities by beginning your journey with a commitment to yourself and to the new golden rule. Make this the foundation of your financial life:

Spend less than you earn. 

Teach Your Kids About Money

We have all heard the common complaint that financial education is not taught in schools. I agree that this is a travesty and we should lobby those in power to include basic money management skills as part of a normal school curriculum. After all, the world is based on capitalism and it is a necessary skill to function in our society along with reading, writing, and arithmetic.

    It is Up to Us

Since the system is basically ignoring financial education, it is incumbent upon us, as parents, to give our kids the basic knowledge about money that they will require to, at least, have a fighting chance out there in the world. We need to prepare them for real life and the basic workings of money and value need to be in their toolbox as they spread their wings and leave the nest. 

First - Educate Yourself

You cannot help others if you don’t know what you are doing yourself. It’s like when you are getting the safety demonstration before a flight and they tell you, please put on your own oxygen mask before you assist anyone else. This makes sense and you are no use to anyone if you are unconscious. The same applies to financial matters.

If you don’t know how money and wealth works then you can’t teach it to your kids. If you are like me, I want to give my kids every advantage I can so they don’t have to struggle like I did to make make their way in the world.  Having money and good judgement are key to a life of adventure and enlightenment vs. struggle and despair. 

Don't believe me?

Go to your local “poor” neighbourhood and see how much happiness and joy abound. You will tend to see crime. You will tend to see decay. You will tend to see alcohol and drug abuse. You will see broken homes and single parents struggling to food on the table. When your whole day is spent trying to survive, you tend not to have time to aspire to higher ideals. It is just a sad fact of life. 

In contrast, in affluent neighbourhoods people feel safe, they tend to stay married and they pursue higher education. This is not a chicken and egg thing, this is the result of money. Money makes life easier - PLAIN AND SIMPLE. We can argue over the semantics of good and bad and morals etc. but in our society, nobody gets a free ride. Everything you need to live your life requires payment in some form, and it seems we are happy to let you suffer if you are a have-not. So my point is simple - money is important.

So make the investment in yourself and learn as much as you can about money, wealth and finance. Read books, take courses, watch YouTube, talk to successful people. It doesn’t have to be expensive. If you learn about money and practice what you learn, you can lift yourself out of despair and have the freedom to become the person you were meant to be. The additional benefit of this is you can now:

Take better care of your kids

Set a great example for them

Set them up for success

Change your family circumstances for ever. Break the cycle!

Once you have developed your own financial acumen now you can pass it on. At the very least, here are 4 things I believe every kid should know when they leave the nest:

1. Spent less than you earn

2. Maintain good credit. Pay your bills.

3. Invest in your self

4. Invest in Assets

Spent less than you earn.

This is probably the most important thing anyone can learn. No financial plan or investment strategy or monthly budget ever worked when there was more money going out than in. It is simple math, but its simpleness understates its importance. I suggest repeating this mantra to your kids a thousand times until it becomes ingrained in their brains. You need them to have this philosophy embedded deep in their subconscious minds so that they can’t ever do the opposite under the threat of mental torment. 

It is far too common in our society for people to spend more than they earn to pretend that they enjoy a lifestyle that they really aren’t ready for yet. Credit card debt is at $1.07 TRILLION in the US alone. This averages out to about $8398 per household. It is madness to not understand that if you buy something on credit, all of the hours you work in the future are going to something you enjoyed in the past. You are facing backwards as you go through life. Overspending is the equivalent to voluntary slavery. Please discourage this. 

Maintain Good Credit

Good credit is how you are going to get ahead in the world. Unless you enjoy an extremely high salary, it is unlikely that you will ever be affluent without using OPM (Other People’s Money). Good debt is money that is borrowed to invest in something that makes you money. Bad debt is money that you borrow for things or experiences that depreciate in value. If your children understand that they will most likely need to borrow money someday in order to finance their aspirations they will require good credit. This means to always pay your bills and learn the important character trait of trustworthiness. We want are kids to be people whom others can count on. It is never a bad thing to promote character building behaviours in our offspring. 

Invest in Yourself

Encouraging your kids to better themselves teaches them that they are the masters of their own destiny. There is probably nothing more destructive and disempowering that someone moving through life with a victim mentality, always believing that life happens “to” them and that they are at the whim of circumstances. Promoting self reliance, accountability and a sense of control over their own circumstances is a healthy and powerful way to view the world. 

Teaching your children to take care of their health and feed their minds will help them feel much more capable of dealing with the inevitable curveballs that life will throw at them. If they develop a healthy respect for education they will hopefully take with them a passion for learning. If you reinforce the importance on continuous education and life long self improvement they will always be ready for a changing world. Teach them to always be feeding their minds. Knowledge is power. Especially in the world of money ( which is really, the whole world). There is so much information out there about how to manage money, create wealth, and live a happy life. Inspire your children to take initiative and actively seek out this information. No one is going to do it for them. 

Invest in Assets

As I eluded to earlier, Good debt vs Bad debt is really the difference between spending your money on Assets vs liabilities. If you teach your kids the difference between these two things, they will at least have the foundation they need to make better decisions in the future. They may not always choose to make the right decision, but at least they will have had the correct information. An asset is anything that you buy that makes you money. It could be a rental property, or a dividend bearing stock, or a GIC. If they understand how money can be made to work for you, then a whole world of possibilities open up. Learning how to use leverage and OPM to create exponentially more wealth will ensure they have the options available to them to enjoy any kind of life they choose. 

Although some people choose to live a simple life, even as far as going full stoic and living in extremely humble circumstances, this is a choice. They are living a frugal existence on purpose. This is very different than being born into poverty and not having those choices. The purpose of having this knowledge is to have choices. You are free to live however you choose. Choice is the operative word here. True freedom is having the choice to live as you please. Being rich or affluent isn’t for everybody and I totally respect that. But I hate the idea that people live in squalor or are struggling everyday to make ends meet because they don’t have a choice. I believe that education is the way out of struggle. If you give a person who has no financial education a million dollars, most likely, they will be broke within a short period of time. Why? Because they don’t understand money. It’s not a character defect or a lack of morals. It is pure ignorance of how money works. 

So if you want to give your children the best opportunity to succeed in the world, send them off into the fray armed with knowledge. How to be a good person, how to cook Kraft dinner, and how money actually works. 

I wrote an article about my Top 5 personal finance books of all time. These resources are an amazing foundation upon which to start to build your and your kids financial journey. I believe they will give you the required knowledge you need to at least begin. If you want additional ideas and strategies, my books offer a distinct plan to grow your wealth starting with what you already have. 

You can become wealthy. You deserve the right to choose to live as you please. 

Give your kids the choice. Teach them well. 

Charity

You must give in order to get

If you are serious about becoming wealthy then you must give serious thought to how you are going to start giving to charity. 

All wealth gurus suggest giving 10% of your wealth to charity as part of your journey to prosperity. Many suggest it for spiritual reasons and they are not wrong to do so. There are a myriad of reasons to give to charity and no one can tell you which reasons might be meaningful to you. There is a belief that rich people are greedy and corrupt or evil, but most rich people are extremely generous in their charitable giving. You might believe it is for the tax implications or to be seen at the charitable events, but in my experience, most rich people are truly thankful for their wealth and feel contribution to those less fortunate is a necessity. I believe it is our duty to give to the less fortunate even as we are growing our fortune. Don’t wait until you are already rich to include charitable giving in your plans. It has benefits right now.

Charitable giving or tithing sends a message to the universe that you have enough and reinforces the idea of abundance in your mind. Tithing tells your subconscious mind that you have enough that you can afford to give some away. This creates a wealth mindset that will compel you to make different decisions about money and perhaps create a type of “rich” vibration that will attract wealth into your life.

 The law of attraction suggests that you attract to you things that resonate with your primary vibration. If you believe that you have abundance, you will magically attract more abundance to yourself. Giving to those in need sends a very clear message to your mind that you have abundance and are able to give back. It sometimes is a little unclear whether this is a selfish act or not as you are helping yourself to the degree that you help others. But this just reinforces the law of value for value. You must provide value to the world and they will compensate you for it. If you give to charity, you are providing value. It is only fair that you receive value in return via a good feeling, or a sense of happiness. This gives you an inherent sense of self worth and makes you feel like you are part of something bigger - The Human Race. 

No Conditions

The secret to giving is to be unattached to the outcome. If you give a beggar on the streets a couple of dollars and they spend it on crack, that is not your concern. All that matters is that you give with no expectations. The act of giving demands that you are now empowering that person to make their own decisions. Right or wrong. Giving needs to be a pure act. There can be no strings attached to a gift of charity. You can choose to not give to the same place again if you feel like it was not  truly helpful but you need to let it go. Once the money leaves your hand it is no longer yours and you must become unattached to it. It belongs to some else. 

Also, charitable giving doesn’t need to be money -  it can be given in the form of your time. Most people trade their time for money, so it makes sense that what is really valuable is your time or expertise. Giving your time generously to a charitable cause that needs it is often just as helpful, if not more helpful, than giving them money. Most charitable organisations require volunteers to run things and aways are grateful for more help. Many hands make light work. You don’t need money to feel rich. You don’t need money to add value to the world. You are adding value to the world and that is all that matters. Your rewards for doing so will come, maybe not how you think, but they will come. 

You don’t want anyone else telling you how to spend your money, so it is incumbent upon you to respect the same boundaries when giving. If you were in need, would you want someone to place conditions upon the gift they might be giving to you? NO! That could make you feel like you are beneath them or indebted to them in some way. Everyone needs to feel like they are a sovereign being and are trusted to make decisions for themselves as an individual. It is demeaning to judge how they use your gift. A charitable gift really means that once it is exchanged, it belongs to the other person. It is no different than any other transaction. If I give you an item that I made with my time and expertise, and you give me money for it in return, the item belongs to YOU now and the money belongs to ME. What we each do with the item or money is nobody’s business. A charitable transaction must have the same agreement. That is the true spirit of giving. 

“The unfortunate need people who will be kind to them; the prosperous need people to be kind to.”

— Aristotle

Value

You give because you believe the universe is abundant. You give because you see yourself in every other soul on this earth. You give because money needs to flow and value needs to be created. A healthy economy is stagnate when money is hoarded. Money is a means of exchange of value, and the key word here is exchange, which is a noun or a verb, with the verb iteration causes the most benefit. We need money to pass from one person to another because that means the TRUE essence, value, is being passed. We need to provide value to people. Everyone values something different. Some people value a second vacation home in the Virgin Islands, while others would find the same value in a hot meal and a warm bed. You cannot underestimate the impact your charity will have on someone who has different circumstances that you. A few bucks might mean a latté to you, it might be the difference between life and death for another. 

As your wealth grows, please allow your charitable giving to grow in kind. It is truly an act that produces more energy than gets put into it. 

Getting Rich vs. Being Rich

I recently read a great book by MJ DeMarco entitled “Unscripted” (you can read my review HERE). In this amazing book, Mr. DeMarco explains his money philosophy and how he manages his business and his wealth. He makes some pretty good arguments, and I would like to explore one of his concepts.

Making Money

MJ DeMarco is an entrepreneur at heart and he made his money from his business. He did very well and we all could learn from his advice. But I am not sure everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur so his money philosophy might not be one size fits all. 

His theory is:

1. Make money from a business - This can be any business, and he offers an amazing blueprint to do so in his first book, The Millionaire Fastlane. I count this book as one of my top 5 personal finance books of all time. He believes this is the fastest and most sound way to achieve financial independence. I can’t disagree.

2. Once you have money, then you should put it into passive investments. He suggests buying dividend earning stocks and enjoying the monthly distributions. This is similar to what I suggest in my first book BYOB: Be Your Own Bank.

Although he suggests passive income as a way to preserve your wealth and enjoy the spoils of your hard work, it can also be part of the “making money” phase as well. 

I offer strategies to grow your wealth while you are working at your business or your full time job. You can do this while you are earning. It helps to be able to see progress and to be able to calculate your retirement date. 

The beauty of my system is that you can start small and invest like the rich do before you are rich. You will have a way to help yourself be financially independent eventually, while learning the rules that the ultra-wealthy live by now. 

Another fantastic way to preserve your wealth is through real estate investing. Buying a rental property is a great way to protect your money and earn income. Most rich people have real estate as a significant portion of their portfolio. However, real estate is expensive to get into, as coming up with a down payment can be difficult for many people who are just trying to make ends meet every month.

In my BYOB system, you can use the same investing strategies that real estate investors do, but without the need to start with a lot of money, and it also eliminates many of the headaches that come with being a landlord. 

Once you have acquired a significant amount of wealth, then your options are many for ways to invest and generate passive income. To be fair, having large sums of money opens up options for just about everything, so it really does make things easier for life in general. It is getting to that point that is a little more difficult. I believe my BYOB system is a way that is accessible to everyone, no matter their financial circumstances. 

Often times people just need a little nudge in the right direction to start an investing plan, to do anything to improve their circumstances. Whether you need to adopt a healthier lifestyle though diet and exercise, or leave a dead end job, you sometimes need more than just the “how”; you need a significant “Why” in order to find the motivation to begin. That is why I wrote my second book “Invest in Yourself” It offers you the “why” part that is missing from “how to” books on investing and wealth creation. 

If you are struggling financially and are feeling like you are on a never ending treadmill, my books may offer hope. They extend a helping hand to lift you up from your situation and guide you into a new life of self empowerment and financial acumen. You can also get a step by step guide to creating a fortune by taking my online course.

Financial education is the key to freedom. You have to know what is possible before you can begin.

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”

— Ancient Proverb

This is so powerful in that it feels great to help someone become all that they can be. It makes so much more sense to help people grow than to just bail them out. It also feels so much better for the recipient to rise to new heights through their own self improvement vs. being given a handout. You can accomplish much more than you think. Nothing feels better than becoming more than you were before. 

So don’t wait until you “have” money to invest money.  

Begin now. 

Educate yourself, and follow through. 

You don’t have to wait to be rich. You can be rich while getting rich.

Buying a Car: Should I Buy New or Used?

Car Depreciation Graph for Several Models

It’s always nice to look at the actual math when considering things like should I buy a used car or a new one. 

Real Cost

We all have heard that it is far more economical to buy a used car than a used one, and I agree. But let’s look at exactly why.

Estimates are that the average American car depreciates 20% in its first year and 15% per year after that until after 10 years it is worth about 10% of its original value. That is crazy. We tend to pay too much for many years for something that depreciates so quickly. I feel we need to sober up and look at this rationally. I have read many times that the sweet spot in affordability tends to be about three years.

Lets look at the math:

If a car therefore is worth about 57% of its value after three years a $35,000 car will be worth $20230. 

---

Now if you finance this car when it is new:

Price: $35000

Interest Rate: 6%

Term: 60 months

Payment Every Month

$676.65

Total of 60 Payments

$40,598.88

Total Interest

$5,598.88

Vehicle Depreciation Table

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So by the time you are finished paying for the car you have paid over $40,000 for it. And it is now worth $14616.18.

This seems like a no-brainer. Why on earth would you buy a new car?

I know, I know, you buy it for the warranty. But there is very rarely anything that goes wrong with a car in the first three years anyways:

Popular Mechanics did a study where they tabulated the average maintenance costs for various vehicles over the life of the car.

Interestingly, the first 25,000 miles typically costs $1400 in maintenance. Since Americans now drive an average of 13,476 miles per year, that is only $1400 for the first two years of ownership. Is that worth the price of a new car vs. a used car?

The study continues to sate that costs rise a little each year up to 100,000 miles, with the last 25000 costing on average $3900. After that, they found the costs go up very little for the next 100,000 miles. From 175,000-200,000 miles the average maintenance costs are only $5000. 

Most Americans drive a car up to around 100,000 miles then get rid of it. The statistics show that we could probably very safely drive a car twice that long before it gave us any significant problems. Cars are expensive. Why buy a new one if you don’t need to?

From this we can assume that paying an extra $20,000 for a warranty that might cover an average of maybe $2000 worth of repairs/maintenance is not a good deal.

Often times, new cars come with a 5-year warranty so you might still enjoy two years of the original warranty when you choose to get the three year old model anyways.

Prestige? 

OK, if looking like a big shot is worth an extra $20,000 to you, then I say, “go for it”. If buying a car is a small percentage of your net worth then ignore this advice and spring for the Ferrari. 

But if you are like me and a car is still considered a significant purchase, then maybe a little math goes a long way. Putting myself in extra debt I don't need is something I would like to avoid if I can.

Financing

If you save up that $676 a month for 2 1/2 years you can buy a three year old vehicle for CASH and still enjoy a decade  or more of a pretty decent vehicle. Financing a used car usually results in a higher interest rate from the banks. If you need car right now, then I guess you have no choice, but if you can, use a line of credit as you will get a much better interest rate than from the bank. 

So the best scenario I can see is to buy a three year old used car for cash and invest the extra money you would have spent.

The financial gurus were right!

Money While You Sleep

How To Leverage Time

When the average person thinks to themselves,

“I need money”

They typically think about earning some money. They think,

 “I’ll get a job”. 

This means that they intend to trade their time for money. Most jobs offer a set wage in exchange for a certain amount of hours. This has been the way it is since the industrial revolution. However, this creates a few problems:   

We all want more time

Only So Many Hours in a Day

We all enjoy the same number of hours in a day. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and all of the super-rich elite have exactly the same amount of hours in a day as you or I do. So how do they make so much more money than me?

I assume you would think they make more per hour than me because they are doing super-important stuff. But that is only partially true. They have learned how to leverage time.

Valuable tasks

You may also believe that they are spending their time doing far more valuable tasks than are humanly possible. Maybe, but there is only so many tasks in the world that are worth billions of dollars. I can’t seem to think of any right now, but I’m sure there are some. 

Parallel Processing

The secret here is to have multiple streams of income. Wealthy people spend their time creating a business or asset that generates income. Then they move on to the next thing. While they are spending their time working on the next project, the old one still earns income. Eventually, you could have multiple income streams from several assets that work in parallel with your current efforts. This way, it is like cloning your efforts. You are putting in 8 hours of work, but the past version of you is also putting in 8 hours. Actually, the “past you” is putting in 24 hours a day, because when you create an income producing asset, it never stops working (unless you neglect it completely). You may need to spend a little time maintaining this asset, but it works without you most of the time. 

Example

You save up money to purchase a piece of rental property. You have spent time earning the down payment, searching for the right property, and vetting prospective tenants. You work hard to get the mortgage, fix the place up, and sign the lease documents. Once you have a suitable tenant in place, who hopefully is paying you enough rent to cover your expenses, you now do not have to invest much more time in that asset. Yes, you will still have to collect the rent, fix the odd toilet, and pay property taxes. Eventually you may need to find a new tenant if this one moves out, but it is not going to be a full time job. 

It is at this point you move on to the next asset. You find a new property to rent, and invest the time and effort up front for the down payment, etc. 

You can keep repeating this. The income stream keeps multiplying every time you buy a new property to rent out. The time you spent in the past is still paying dividends. The time you are investing now is generating some income, but the time you spent in the past is too. You are now receiving money for time that you invested in the past and the time you are investing now. 

If you decide to stop putting in time, you will still receive income. This is the difference between spending time and investing time. This is the difference between earned income and passive income. Of course, many types of income producing assets require time to keep running, but that is very dependent on the type of asset you invest in. If your income producing asset is a business that requires you to function, then it is just a job. You are still trading your time for money. A good example would be a massage therapist or a consultant. The secret to creating passive income is to acquire assets that produce income on their own, without you needing to contribute your time everday. 

Real estate is a great way to create income and leverage your time and money. Many types of businesses are able to generate income without much intervention, once the initial setup is complete. 

In my books, I talk about using dividend bearing stocks to create passive income. This is the ultimate in passivity as they really require almost ZERO time once you own them. You are investing in someone else's business and you are leveraging their time. They pay you a percentage of the profits from their business and it is taxed favorably. 

Peer to Peer lending is another way to create passive income without having to put in time once you own the asset. If you look around, you will find many great ways to create passive income that don’t require your time after the initial investment.

The investment of time on your part is earning the money to invest in the first place. If you are currently working for a wage, think about this job as your upfront time investment. Once you have enough income coming from passive income sources, re-investing that money back into more assets creates a compounding effect. Now the up front time investment becomes smaller and smaller, as you now have your money working for you. You are no longer trading time for money, you are having your money put in time for you. 

This is how you leverage time. You invest time up front to create an income stream and then you move on. The downfall of most people’s mindset is that they think in terms of linear time. They assume they can only earn money for every hour they are putting in right now. If they stop putting in time, they stop earning money. This sounds a little like slavery. You are beholden to a job because if you don’t show up you don’t have any money. There is another way. Leverage time.

Time is Money, Money is TIME

I believe, as many people do, that the primary benefit of wealth is time freedom. Having passive income gives you back your time, which is truly our most precious asset. Ask someone who is 90 years old if they could choose between 10 million dollars or to be 20 years old again, they will choose the time option every time. So always treat time like an asset. If you spend it, you will eventually run out. If you invest it, you will receive more. 

If you are looking for ideas on how to earn passive income, please have a look at my Top 5 Personal Finance books article. In these books are the secrets to real wealth. I also recommend you read Financial Freedom and Unscripted. These two books will rock your world. 

Of course, I would love it if you read my books to learn how to create passive income by using a combination of techniques I have learned over the years. I have distilled 30 years of investing trial and error into a workable plan that anyone can use to start building real wealth. I also have created an online course that gives you a step-by-step blueprint for building your fortune with the money you already have.

Invest your time wisely.  I wish you success.

Winning the Lottery: What to Do with a Windfall

Lottery Winners

Many statistics about lottery winners are published citing that 70% of lottery winners end up in bankruptcy within 5 years. This is an exaggeration but the truth is that nearly 30% actually do go broke. Another troubling consequence of a huge windfall is often depression, alcohol and drug abuse. Winners report feeling isolated and alone as friends and relatives hate them because of their new found status. 

    What it means to be rich

I would love to have someone do a study of rich people who earned their money over many years through hard work and self discipline and see whether they have the same problems as lottery winners. I have a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t be the case. 

I think that having a solid financial education would seriously change these troubling statistics.

I used to fantasise about winning the lottery and the mind game would go like this:

“OK, I’ve won a million dollars. Now let’s see, how am I gonna spend this…

-I’ll pay off my debts

-I’ll buy a huge house

-I’ll give X amount to my family

-I’ll go on a sweet vacation

-I’ll buy a fancy new car 

-I’ll get that new big screen TV

-I’ll take what left over and put it in a savings account or maybe invest it by giving to the guy at the bank. 

This is probably similar to how most people think when confronted with a windfall. Whether it’s the lottery or an inheritance  it often sounds the same. Even the last point gets neglected as there is usually nothing or very little left over to invest after we bought a bunch of cool stuff and gave away large sums to destitute relatives. We are trained to think that if we get money, then we need to figure out how to spend the money.

Common things that people with newfound money think: 

“Money is for spending. I don’t understand what else to do with it”? 

“I am rich now so I can spend lots of money”. 

“I am a millionaire so I am going to now live the millionaire lifestyle! Yay!”

The REAL Millionaire Lifestyle

OK let's observe how REAL rich people approach money and spending. 

Like I have written about before, most rich people are business owners who built up their fortune over a long time. They didn’t come by it easily or quickly. Getting rich slowly is the norm, not the exception. 

Once you wrap your head around that then you start to  ask a few questions.

1. If you owned a million dollar business, what would the cash flow look like?

2. If you owned a million dollar business, what would the business do?

If you owned a million dollar business, you would generally be, first of all, offering something of value to people. People would come to your business and see that you offer a product or service that they want. Then, after they have considered your value proposition, they would give you money in exchange for the value you provide. This is simple commerce. You would then pay your business expenses, your employees, and your taxes and then the profits would be what’s left over. Then you would decide how much to put back into your business to keep it healthy and perhaps grow it. After all of that, you would pay yourself something. This is what you live on. This is your spending money. You would use this for your life. This money represents how rich you actually are.

If you want the millionaire lifestyle, you need to grow and scale your business so that the money left over after everything else equals your desired spending quota. This is usually a percentage of the value of your asset or business. 

So if you want to spend a million dollars a year, then your business had better produce enough to pay its operating expenses, and then, still have a million dollars left over to give to you. Then you need to pay your personal taxes. So your business must do very well. 

Now, If we were to approach having this “business” from the perspective of a lottery winner then it becomes a greek tragedy. We have a million dollar windfall (business). So now we start to sell off pieces of the “business” in order to buy stuff (This is spending your windfall). Eventually we sell (spend) the whole thing and we have lost the million dollars, and now we have no business. Seems ridiculous doesn’t it? Yet this is how most people think about a windfall. It is to be spent. 

Treat money like an Asset

If you suddenly win the lottery or come into a huge sum of money somehow, you might consider your new rich lifestyle in the same way that a traditional rich person does. Don’t ever touch the principle. Take the whole sum of money and create income from it. This is usually done by investing it. You can invest in a myriad of ways, and most are not that complicated. 

Please be careful as there will be many con men who come out of the woodwork to try to “help” you invest your new money. I am not a fan of giving my money to other people to take care of - as I have to ask who are they most concerned about benefitting? Probably not me. 

Once again, financial education comes to the rescue. If you have taken the time to educate yourself on the workings of money and wealth, you would see the windfall as an opportunity. You would know exactly what to do with it, and would have experience in most forms. 

If you have read one of my books, you would see that you can invest like the rich with small amounts of money. This not only grows your wealth and gives you a solid plan to become financially free, it also would prepare you in the event that you ever came into huge sums of money. All you would have to do is scale the system you already have in place. It’s a no-brainer. Then you would have income forever and not have to suddenly figure out how to be rich. You already know how, because you were doing what rich people do already. 

You wouldn’t have the psychological game to play either, as your mindset would already be aligned with wealth and cash flow principles. You would simply be further along the path you had already laid out before you. Your dreams are that much closer to reality. 

Our weird ideas about wealth have been perpetuated by Movies and TV shows that depict rich people as eccentric white people who wear top hats and monocles and do nothing all day. This is a stereotype that just isn’t true anymore. The rich aristocracy of old are actually very rare, and even they understood the power of income over capital. In your typical Jane Austen novel they will gossip about the young eligible bachelor gentleman and declare that he is “worth 700 pounds a year”. This is referring to his income from his estate. Even over a hundred years ago they understood that it would be just plain foolishness to spend your estate. You need your estate to generate income. This is your true wealth. This is the measure of how rich you actually are. It is defined by how much to you EARN from your assets. How much you receive in passive income from the business or investments you own is your rank in society.

You should take your windfall and use that money to buy assets that generate income.

Real Estate

You could buy properties that you rent out to tenants. They will pay you rent each month and after you pay property taxes, expenses etc, you can keep the rest as income. Pretty sweet. This is a time-tested wealth creation strategy and there is a gigantic amount of information available out there to help you learn this world. Most rich people keep a significant portion of their wealth in real estate holdings. 

Business

You could buy an existing business or start one of your own. This would be a great way to not only put your money to work for you, but to add value to the world. Businesses create valuable products and/or services for people. This hopefully solves people’s problems in some way and adds value to their lives. This also can provide jobs for other people and stimulate the economy.  Our capitalist society is driven by businesses. There are millions of different businesses that you can start. Look for a need.

Stocks

As I suggest in my book, BYOB: Be Your Own Bank, you could invest in dividend bearing stocks and live off of truly passive income. This would be a wonderful way to live the millionaire lifestyle and have it be sustainable for the rest of your life and for your heirs. Family wealth is a matter of ownership. Liquidating assts is a last resort. Always build your “rich”  lifestyle based upon the income you receive from your assts.

It’s all about the Benjamins 

This perspective would be well suited to rock stars, professional athletes and other types of highly paid people. Often times, a person making millions of dollars from a special skill or ability spends everything they earn and more, just like us regular folks, and then when the gravy train ends, they are destitute. 

Theoren Fleury, the professional hockey player claimed in his book, Playing with Fire, that he earned over 50 million dollars in his career in the NHL, and spent every last dime. He wasted the money on gambling, girls and drugs. Did he think that it would last forever? No, he never thought about it at all. He didn’t have the financial education to allow him to make better choices. It breaks my heart to hear about things like this. I hear that the vast majority of NFL players are flat broke within a few years of their careers ending. We have all heard about MC Hammer and his financial problems.

I know what it is like to be broke. I’ve been there. It SUCKS. Life is really hard when you have no money. 

I also know how tempting it is to spend money when you have it. The finer things in life are designed to make us feel good about ourselves, make life easier and to give us the illusion that we are on top. Emotions often come into play when money is concerned. But if we educate ourselves about wealth, money and cash flow, we will always have a realistic perspective as to our own net worth, our actual level of richness, and how much we REALLY have to spend.

If you make a million dollars a year, you make a lot of money. If you spend that million dollars year, then you are actually poor. If you invest that million dollars and live off of the profits, you may live a slightly more conservative lifestyle in the beginning. If you continue to invest a million dollars a year and grow your assts, in a short period of time you will earn a million dollars a year from your assets and your original source of income becomes gravy. You don’t need it. If you earned that million dollars a year from being an athlete, you don’t need to worry about getting injured or getting old, your income will continue forever. Your lifestyle doesn’t need to suffer when you retire. The same holds true for everyone. If you invest your money, you will eventually be free to quit your job and keep your lifestyle. Freedom comes from controlling the source of your income, and keeping that source growing and healthy. 

You Can Be Rich NOW

Being rich is actually possible for anybody. Most rich people don’t play the lottery as it tends to reinforce a mindset of “something for nothing” Gambling is similar. Real wealth is created by providing value to the world and exchanging that value for something else of value, usually in the form of cash. A lot of us exchange our time and experience for money.

So even though windfalls like the lottery are rare, you can still be prepared for it by learning about money and investing. Financial education is imperative to being prepared for more common windfalls like inheritances, work bonuses and tax returns. The principles of wealth are relevant to your life no matter how much money you make. You can apply these principles right now. My books and courses explain how, as well as many others.

They say luck is when opportunity meets preparedness. By treating money like the rich do, and developing your cash flow plan, you are prepared for “luck” when it comes. 

Unscripted

Unscripted - MJ DeMarco

Like most people, my ideas usually don’t come out of the ether like a lightning bolt. They usually are the sum of things I have previously read or learned or experienced and they take time to percolate. I receive inspiration from many sources and I like to usually add a twist to previously existing information. 

I have read hundreds, if not thousands of books in my lifetime and I usually stick to non-fiction where I can learn something. If a book is good enough, I will read it more than once. If I really love a book. I recommend it to my friends. Having read so many books, it has become a fairly rare occurrence where a new book really blows my mind.

My Top 5 Personal Finance Books

In my previous article My Top 5 Personal Finance Books, I included MJ DeMarco’s “Millionaire Fastlane” as I believe this book is a must-read for any aspiring entrepreneurs, or anyone interested in how money and wealth works. 

I usually describe this book as the blueprint for financial success. I wasn’t sure how Mr. DeMarco could ever top it, nor could I imagine what else he could write that would add more value to the world. Holy jumping cracky, was I wrong.

Unscripted

MJ Demarco’s new book, Unscripted is mind blowing. He takes every concept I ever learned about wealth and money and rolls it all into ONE GIANT EPIC treatise on what everyone should know about money, wealth, and the value of time. 

He first spends some time waking you up. By waking you up, I mean punching you in the face with a cold-hard reality check akin to a bucket of ice water. If you didn’t know that you were living a life of indentured servitude, you surly will after reading part I, II, and III. He makes it painfully clear that we really are slaves. This is done artfully and tastefully as to not scare us off. This diatribe just lures us into part IV.

In Part IV and V he gives us the payoff. He masterfully paints a picture of what it could be like if we can truly wrap our heads around some new information about how the world actually works. The entrepreneur is the backbone of our capitalist society and he virtually BEGS us to join the club. By the end of the book, you are ready to quit your job and go running to the bank for a small business loan.

Unscripted - MJ DeMarco

Even though his bias is towards entrepreneurship, his message is an important and necessary paradigm that I believe EVERYONE should know. He explains the inner workings of money, wealth and most importantly, the exchange of VALUE. We are all living in this capitalist system, whether we know it or not, and to flourish there is certain information that we really need to know. MJ DeMarco gives us that information with certitude, humour and a dash of sarcasm. 

I absolutely loved this book. It is the book I wish I had available to me thirty years ago. It would have saved me vast amounts of time, money and emotional energy. I recommend you not only read it. I recommend you study it, like a textbook. Savour each idea. Talk about it with a buddy. Go back and re-read the key concepts. Maybe write an essay…

This is a really long book and rightly so. Mr. DeMarco has condensed a lifetime of entrepreneurial experience into its pages. It took me a few weeks to finish it and I am a fast reader. I hung on every word and I was never bored. It continued to offer me great ideas and fresh perspectives every chapter. The key concepts are clearly explained and I believe should be taught to everyone. I strongly suggested his first book to my sons and I will do the same for this masterpiece. 

I am not sure if it is necessary to read his first book, Millionaire Fastlane, before you read Unscripted, but it does provide a little context for who MJ DeMarco is, why he is qualified to rock your world, and makes you familiar with the author’s gruff style. Either way, you will have a wealth of wisdom to take with you into the fray of western capitalism.

My new book, Invest in Yourself offers similar perspectives, but in a much more condensed format. I offer distinct strategies that will get your wealth creation plan started, without you having to be an entrepreneur. It is a quick read and offers practical advice for everyone. 

How to Get Rich

The Rich Are Lucky

Lifestyles of the rich and famous are often celebrated in movies and on TV. We are fascinated by wealth and its privileges. We are led to believe that the rich and powerful got that way by luck, or because they are talented or good looking. We are told that this is a state of being reserved for those who are already rich or have the right connections. Many are even convinced that to become rich you must be dishonest and/or ruthless. 

I hate to burst your bubble, but statistics on the affluent show a different story. It’s not very sexy. It’s actually kind of boring. 

Get Rich Quick

Overnight riches are advertised constantly in courses and books. Movies and TV shows are always telling a story about someone who made it big by overcoming impossible odds. This sounds alluring, but the reality is much different.

On average, it took most millionaires about 32 years to accumulate their first million. This is the average. Half took longer than that. This is 32 years from the time they started to earn money and invest it. Ouch. 

This information may not light the fire in your belly but this is the honest truth. However, I like the message that this information sends. It is not a “pie in the sky” fantasy to become rich, but a real world possibility if you work hard enough and are disciplined. If you truly want to be a millionaire, you can be. Just gather the right information, work your plan and have patience.

Internet Billionaires

Another “trend” we see is the internet billionaire syndrome. Society thinks that you need to be a young, cool trendsetter who comes up with the next “killer app” to become wealthy. We are bombarded with stories about young startup entrepreneurs making it big and buying huge mansions and wasting money on e-sports franchises. This is, yet again, very rare and not the real world. 

Fully 80% of millionaires didn’t become so until they were at least 50 years old. 

Now being over 50 myself I look at that as a positive. In my 50’s I still feel great and I have perspective on things. I could really enjoy a million dollars without wasting it on silly things that entertain 20-somethings. I don’t need a yacht and scantily clad girls. I can turn that million into passive income for life. The idea of providing for my family and making sure our family wealth continues to grow and take care of us is very compelling. In hindsight, a million dollars in my twenties may have been “poorly allocated”.

The Next Big Idea

Coming up with a brilliant idea and turning it into an empire is also featured in numerous stories of overnight sensations. As cool as that would be, most millionaires try many ideas before they become successful. The average millionaire goes bankrupt 3.5 times before they eventually succeed. Most people quit before they begin, and a large percentage of those who do begin, quit after one attempt. Millionaires usually try and try again. They adjust to the market, and listen carefully to the feedback they receive about their product or service and make changes that increase their appeal. They are focused on providing value to the world, not stroking their own ego. 

A second part of this is that 65% of millionaires have at least three streams of income. Having multiple streams of income protects you from any one stream failing or flaming out. It also is very hard to have one idea be so successful that it takes care of your every need. It is easier, and more likely, to have each stream of income be moderately successful and the combined output of each is where you enjoy larger returns. 

The reality is, millionaire status is fairly mundane in its architecture. It is not an earth shattering breakthrough or a global phenomenon, it is just plain good sense, hard work and the right information.

The media tends to focus on the spectacular and uncommon. This is on purpose as it makes for great entertainment. However, do not mistake this for reality. 

People tend to think that the way to riches is to be a celebrity or a professional athlete or a rapper. There is also the people who have won the lottery or those who inherited their money. All of these examples are a very small minority of affluent people. The vast majority of millionaires are self made, who earned their money over many years, by trying and failing, and by investing in themselves.

Financial Education

88% of self-made millionaires read at least 30 minutes every single day, mostly about things that will improve themselves. They are obsessed with learning about their field. They understand that the more they know, the more powerful they become. They realize that they are the bottleneck in the path to success and work very hard at becoming better versions of themselves everyday. 

Since 53% of self-made millionaires were obsessed with becoming rich before they were rich, it naturally makes sense that reading books that will educate you about wealth is something that you should start now. You need to being your journey to financial freedom by learning as much as you can about wealth and money. 

I have written some books to hep you on your way. These books have helped many people realize that wealth is available to normal, everyday people. The only thing they were needing is information.

I also recommend these 5 books on personal finance. I believe they are required reading for anyone who want to become financially free. 

My message is that becoming wealthy is not some magical secret that is reserved for the privileged few. It is a real, attainable state of being that is accessible to anyone who wants it badly enough. It is not a fairy tale, it is the result of taking the right information, actually using it, and staying disciplined in the execution of your plan. It takes time, and is usually not a straight line. But it is real. You just need to stop believing the “Get Rich Quick” myths and learn the boring, real-world methods that have worked for generations. 

Is Money the Root of All Evil?

“10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

— 1 Timothy 6:10 King James Version (KJV)

This quote has been used for centuries in an attempt to vilify money. It is often times aimed at the people who have accumulated wealth or as a justification for being poor. 

First of all, I believe most people are mis-reading or mis-interpreting this quote.

It is the LOVE of money that is the root of all evil, not money ITSELF. It is the attitude that is the problem. This speaks to values, not actually money. 

Money is neither good, nor evil. It is just a means of exchange.

Where we tend to go wrong is when our values become misaligned. Let’s not blame money, money is an innocent bystander in all of this. 

Capitalism is Neutral

Capitalism is just a system whereby people exchange something of value for something else of value. This system has been around for millennia, and is not likely to disappear anytime soon. So if we learn how capitalism works, we can thrive. 

Capitalism is the best way I can think of to have a fair means of exchange between people for goods, services, and labour. Not everyone is equal. This is not a matter of rights, or liberties, nor is it a measure of your worth as a human being. It is a measure of your contribution to the world. If you contribute huge value, you should receive huge compensation in return. Not everyone is super ambitious, and that is OK, but if you are a super hard worker and are doing things that create huge value to many people you should get your fair share. If you take the risks  that no one else is willing to take, you should be compensated. If you simply do a chore that no one else is willing to do, you should be compensated. A true meritocracy is the only way to go.

Everything that could be exchanged between human beings has a perceived value. There should be some means of exchange for the value you create in the world, and a method to measure this. Money is a great way to quantify value. A free market dictates that the value (price) of something is set by what people are willing to pay for it. Each person has their own perception of value, so the marketplace will differ depending on your value proposition. Sometimes, people’s perceptions of value are a little askew when it comes to what the true cost of something is, based on marketing or popularity. I have mentioned this before (here) that is seems ridiculous that people will pay $10 for a coffee and bagel at the local coffee shop without much thought, but will hum and haw over shelling out $10 for book full of information that could change their lives. The perceived value of a book, vs the perceived value of a latté are a little off. Still, it makes sense that people are only willing to exchange what they consider a “fair price” for any good or service they require. This is a fair and equitable philosophy. No evil doing here..

Time Value of money

As many people have spoken about before, time is our most valuable asset. We are really trading our time for goods and services, not our money. If we have a regular 9-5 job, that is exactly what is happening. So when you consider spending money on anything, calculate how many hours of your life you will have to spend to pay for it. You then will have a better perspective on its relative value. If you calculate the time value of debt, it will really open your eyes. Calculate how many hours you need to work to pay off your car or your new purse and you may reconsider that credit card purchase. If you add up all the hours you will need to pay off your debt, plus pay all of your bills, it starts to chip away at that time bank account that has an upper limit. You can only work so many hours in a day and you will only live so long. Spend it wisely.

 I love the move “In Time” with Justin Timberlake where the whole of society is based on time as the currency. Everyone lives until age 25 when they suddenly have a bank of  365 days to live, unless they earn (or steal) more time. I have watched it several times and every time I am left contemplating what a powerful message it is sending. We all have limited time. We really need to consider how we are spending it. By investing your money, you are actually leveraging time, As passive income happens in parallel to your life and allows you to earn more money than there is time. This suggests that if we love (value) our life, then we should love (value) our time, and thus, love money (which represents our life).

Get it on iTunes

If you value your time, then you need to value your money. Money is the currency, but it really does represent time. So treat it lovingly. Fold is nicely into your wallet. Make sure the bills are all facing the same way. This is a way to remind yourself that you are caring and nurturing your life. Because money is your life. It represents time, freedom and survival. If you have lots of money you have all three. Money for moneys sake is not the goal. Freedom over your life is. Take back he freedom and treat money like it is your life. Pursuing freedom doesn’t seem very evil to me. 

Money is LIFE

In our capitalist society, it is easy to put money on a pedestal as it represents life. We need money to live. It costs money for food, clothing shelter, healthcare, education. Without it, our quality of life suffers. We have made it so that money is necessary for our survival so we instinctually give it great power over us. What money really represents is freedom. It represents control over our lives. It represents health and vitality. In the context of our capitalist society we are only as free as the amount of money we have. 

Is it any wonder that, in areas of our world where poverty is prevalent, crime and suffering are also widespread. Look at any slum, and you will see higher crime rates, higher alcohol and drug abuse, and lower moral standards? Why? This is out of necessity. When you are desperate, you do not have the luxury of a strict moral code. Living on the straight and narrow might mean hunger, homelessness, sickness or even death when you are destitute. How can money be evil, when lack of money seems to create these types of problems? 

 Values

If I were to re-word the Bible quote above, it would be “Lack of values is the root of all evil”. There is nothing inherently evil about money or capitalism. It is when people lose sight of their values that things go wrong. If people take capitalism too far by putting profit before people, then it becomes a monster.

The problem with “monster” capitalism is when people stop understanding the basic tenets of good old fashioned capitalism and start to believe that money and wealth are entities unto themselves. Believing that money is the end goal becomes and endless pursuit. How much is enough? What lines am I willing to cross to obtain it? 

The old saying, “We could save the planet, but there’s no money in it” sums up the problem. Capitalism is great and is a wonderful way to exchange value, but it should not be at the top of the food chain. People need to be at the top. Because people are immersed in capitalism they don’t realise that they are separate from it. They think that is the way it is. Its like a fish doesn’t know its in water. Capitalism is so pervasive that we can’t see it objectively. It is quite easy to put profit before people because we feel like if we don’t we might lose something. We might lose our place in line. We might lose to the competition, then we will have nothing and die. These are the instinctual feelings that come up, because we are so engrossed in our capitalist fish tank. 

Play the Game

In my new book, Invest in Yourself, I talk about how we can become more aware of the fact we are living in a capitalist system, and how we can take that awareness and use it to our advantage.  Play the game, then change the game. 

As we are living in a world that is ruled by money, let’s learn the rules and play the game to our advantage. If we educate ourselves about how money works, we can become prosperous enough to help others. We can find the time to change the system for the better. We need to know the rules, before we can break them If we try to change the system to benefit humanity without being in a powerful position, we will have less efficacy and people may wonder if our motives are just a product of our circumstances. Take from the rich to give to the poor is a terrible plan. There are better systems. 

If the rich are spearheading positive changes in the capitalist system then it has a lot more impact. Sure, people will question their motives as well, but I would rather be comfortable while fighting the good fight, then struggling. 

New Ideas

We need to start thinking in terms of capitalism with limits. There needs to be a philosophical limit to capitalism. We need to put people first. 

Putting people before profits comes in many different forms. It can be demonstrated by charity, social programs and by law.

Charity is karmic response to wealth. If you look at most wealthy people, they are also the most generous and charitable people you will find. If you have lots of money, you’re able to make a bigger impact on the lives of others who are less fortunate. Most respectable self help gurus teach that charitable giving (usually 10% of your income) is an integral part of any wealth creation plan. It is widely thought of as a moral imperative to give back to the greater good when you have been blessed so abundantly. This doesn’t sound like evil to me.

Socialism is a continuum that every country sits upon at one place or another. Depending on where you live in the world, your country may have more or less socialist policies. The good thing is, as we have the world wide web, and information is abundant, we can study the different ideologies and see how well they are working. It would be very narrow minded to think that your country’s way of doing things is the best and only way. Most free countries have some sort of social programs in order to benefit the greater good, and assist the populace where they can. 

For instance, here in Canada where I live, we have universal health care. That means we go see the doctor or have a hospital stay, it costs us nothing. We actually do pay for it in the form of really high taxes, but it is nice to know that in the event that I need medical care, it is available. Contrast this to some other countries where health care is a business, like an auto shop, where you have to pay for everything. If you get sick, but can’t afford to pay the medical bills, you are going to continue to suffer, perhaps even die. From a certain point of view, this is immoral. What set of values lets people suffer just because they have no money?

Is it immoral to let people suffer in the form of hunger or homelessness just because they find themselves with no money?

Some interesting philosophies that try to address these issues are out there. I have come across a few ideas that have been proposed to try to find solutions to some of capitalism’s failings and I think they are very worth contemplating and having discussions about. 

Universal Basic income

There is a social program that has been experimented with in various places in the world that has attempted to alleviate suffering in the form of Universal Basic Income or UBI. It is a monthly distribution of cash to every person living in an area that is enough to cover basic living expenses (food, shelter, clothing). This is done with no strings attached as to how they spend it. It has been shown to be very effective and trials are continuing to this day. 

A great book on on UBI and its efficacy is “Give Them Money”. It is a captivating read and really opened my eyes to a new way of thinking including how a lot of our initial criticisms of this idea are unfounded. I love the idea and I hope that society will continue to explore these ideas and bring this new kind of thinking into our collective consciousness. 

Ubuntu Contributionism

There is a movement out there that takes things even farther that UBI. It is called “Ubuntu Contributionism” and it suggests removing money from society altogether. It is based on ancient African principles of community and contributing to society. This is an idealistic proposal, but it is not without merit. In his book, UBUNTU Contributionism, author Michael Tellinger offers a very sound argument for this theory and how it might work in realty. He tries to cover all the angles and addresses the most frequent arguments against it. It is worth reading just to open your mind to new ideas and how we might think differently about old paradigms. It is a little repetitive and  conspiracy laden, but still offers a refreshing perspective. 

Star Trek

This is the ultimate ideal. Star Trek proposes a world without money at all, as everything we could ever want is immediately available via technology. Food can be created with food replicators that turn raw energy into matter. Food, clothing, shelter are all free. Your only challenge in life is to find fulfilment. I know this is science fiction, but if we really think about it, what would we do if money wasn’t an incentive? Isn’t growing as a human being, and challenging yourself to be the best version of you as great goal? Isn’t contributing your gifts and furthering the advancement of humankind a much more noble pursuit than “making ends meet”?  I know this is fantasy, but in the end maybe we need to keep this in mind as the ultimate end goal. 

I offer these ideas in order to awaken you from the dream. The dream of living in a capitalist system while being unaware of it. I want you encourage you to become “self-aware” and realise the nature of your world. By understanding the game you are playing, you will be far more equipped to succeed. 

Reality

As cool as dreaming about a better world is, we still need to live in the here and now. The world is the way it is and, as much as we can aspire to make positive changes, we need to deal with it as it is now. 

Let’s learn as much as we can about our capitalist system. Let’s educate ourselves about money and how we can create a life of freedom and abundance. Let’s use the capitalist system to create social change, give to charity and spark innovation so that all of humanity can enjoy a better life. This is only going to happen if we stop thinking that money is evil. This is only going to happen if we truly understand that our values are the driving force that should motivate us, not money.

I suggest learning as much as you can about wealth and money so you are able to live your highest values. 

I wrote an article about my top 5 personal since books. These are a great place to start your financial education.

Also, I believe my books will assist you on your journey to financial freedom. 

Money is not evil. It is just a tool.

Learn to use this tool and you can truly live your highest values.