Are you fortunate enough to be able to say yes, or is there more that you want in life, that you just can’t afford right now

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It all comes back to knowing what you really want doesn’t it.  Some people will always think they haven’t got enough money, and be wanting more than they have – just out of a general sense of wantingness – not because they have really clearly defined what they want.  Others will know for sure what position and things they want, that they currently can’t afford.  And for some, who deep down do want more, but don’t believe they will ever have it, the coping mechanism is to decide to be content with their “lot” in life.
Real contentedness is a blessing indeed, but forced contentedness is not.

If you really do want more for your lifestyle than your current earning allows, why not deliberately set out to earn, or make more money. 

Generally the first thing is to know exactly what you want, and then you need to build up your resources that you can exchange for cash.  This could mean taking a course of training to improve or change your skills, making yourself look more presentable, asking for a pay rise, changing jobs, or deliberately getting to know a whole different bunch of people.  There’s a lot you can do to improve your current income.  But you have to have a good reason, because you will have to change something.

And what about your future?

Most of us will want or need to stop working at some stage.  This is called retirement, but it doesn’t just mean old age.  There are lots of other reasons that people need to stop working – if not permanently – then for a while. 

I stopped work for a couple of years after having babies.  And then I stopped work again so I could do my own investing and capital creation projects.  Lots of people need to stop work for a while for health or grief reasons – either their own, or a family member.  I have a friend who took a year off work just to organize her home, and catch up on a whole lot of little tasks that had been building up on her things to do list over the years.  What a productive year she had!

I’m a big believer in gradually building up a capital reserve so that you are well funded, and have enough money for how you want to live if and when you want to stop working.  And this also means reducing your outgoings, such as debt interest, so that your cashflow can be sustained if and when you stop working.

So –

1.    Ask yourself when you might want to or need to stop working for a while next.
2.    What would your lifestyle “look” like during this stage?  What would your cost of living be? 
3.    Would you have enough income coming in from other sources to cover that?

You might be wanting to take time off for any of those reasons I mentioned above – or retiring for good.  Will you have enough money to live comfortably? If not – I wonder what you can do about it. . . . .

The main 2 adjustments to cash flow are to 1) earn more money and 2) spend less money.   When you are considering where your income will come from while you are not working, it is not YOU earning the money.  You have to have an alternate source of income. 

What will it be for you?  It could be:

• A partner with good earning capacity.
• A government benefit, or allowance.
• An inheritance invested into a cash generating vehicle.
• A business that runs without you working in it.
• Your own steadily kept funds, invested into a cash generating vehicle.
• Your mandatory retirement fund (if you have access to it yet).

 
If you don’t have enough money for the life you want now – why not make up the difference.  And if you don’t have enough money for the future you want when you’re not working – why not start planning on changing that.  Take a look at the calculators at www.moneysuccesssystem.com/calculators to get idea of some target numbers for your future.

I believe you have to have a clear answer to the question before you can follow any steps on how to get rich.  Or, before you can rule out ever even trying to get rich.

 I think a lot of people don’t even put in the effort to clearly define it, so it stays "out there" as some lofty elusive notion, that is beyond even being a dream.  It seems impossible.  Just this morning I met someone who has bought and sold, bought and renovated several properties – been very brave and leapt in and done a whole lot of stuff, and is now taking a well earned rest.  Yes – she made lots of mistakes along the way – because she has a bias towards action (which I’ll discuss another day) and seems not very impressed with her level of achievement.  When I asked her what her target is, she had no answer.  !!!  She has done all this activity without a clear wealth goal!  So how can she be successful, when she didnt define what success looked like in the first place.   After a bit of a rest, she’ll go again, and this time she’ll get there!

For example, a lot of people in Australia would consider themselves rich if they were a millionaire.  This means having assets that are worth 1 million dollars.  A standard and typical amount of money generated from that much net worth (asset value) is 5% (typical rental yield, or share dividends, and even interest on cash in some facilities).  So 5% of 1 million dollars is $50,000.  Would you be rich if you could do whatever you liked everyday, and have $4167 magically appearing in your bank every month?

Some of you will say yes – some will say no.  What’s your number?  Is it 2 million?  3 million?  (For every million, add $50k in income.)

Anyone can be rich.

Yes – anyone.

Even you.

If you have never read it, please download and read "The Science of Getting Rich".

Like everything, it all starts in our mind.  You must not dismiss this.  It is true.

Once we set a clear target, and an intention to reach that target, and a belief that we can and will get there, amazing things start to happen.

This is because our subconscious mind goes to work, to make it happen.  However, you must be very clear and sure that you set it up in your mind properly.

Sometimes what we say with our mouth, and our conscious brain, is not how we really feel about the subject on the inside.  And we don’t even admit to ourselves how we really feel, and what we really believe, because our judgemental self has come in and told us in our innermost being that we are WRONG. 

How is this relevant to getting rich?  Well if you think about your desire to be rich, whatever that looks like for you, why aren’t you there now?  Ask yourself this question and write down all the answers that come to your mind and heart.  Apart from, I’m not old enough, I don’t know enough, I haven’t had the opportunity, I can’t even get a job – which are mind responses, there will be some of the following that are more emotional, heart responses if you really admit it:

• It’s too much work
• It’s too much stress – rich people have problems.
• Someone like me couldn’t ever be rich – I don’t fit the image.
• I’m not smart enough.
• I don’t really deserve it because. . . . .
• It’s wrong to want a lot of money – shallow, greedy, evil. . . . .
• What would my friends think of me?
• I’d lose my friends
• I’d be above my family, and they wouldn’t cope. . .
• etc, etc, etc. 

Can you feel this kind of chatter going on for you?

Even when you think you’ve got your head in the right place – Yes you really want $3 million dollars worth of assets in 20 years time, and you believe it can and will happen, there is a sense, a feeling somewhere in your body – of hesitancy.

It’s like interference, or static on the radio wire. 

It has to be gotten rid of, for your subconscious mind to deliver the goods for you.

The mindset steps of how to get rich are:

1.    Define a clear definition of how rich you want to be, and by when.
2.    Decide that you DO believe that this can happen for you, even though you don’t know how yet.
3.    Practise being grateful for your future wealth, and well as your current position.
4.    If you can feel anything that pulls at your belief, and makes it less clear, go on a mission to discover what that belief, constraint, dependency is.  Once it is defined, you need to reframe it to get rid of it.
5.    Be patient, and let God/the universe deliver your heart’s desire.
6.    Be open to opportunities.  Keep your radar out for opportunities to learn, and to get involved.
7.  Model the characteristics of successful, wealthy people.  If you don’t know anyone in this category, try this.

Now of course, there are strategies you need to learn and execute after this.  But if you do not set your intention clearly, and remove obstacles, you will be wasting your time, energy, and money.   My suggestion is that you follow these steps while you learn what strategies are possible for you.   Take a look at the courses I recommend, and my tuition offers here on the right sidebar .

The strategies just need to be followed.  They are the simple bit.  The first and most important bit that you have to tailor for yourself  is getting a rich fit mind.
 

Many people use a personal trainer to get physically fit these days.  How many use a personal financial trainer to get financially fit?
Most of us don’t learn good eating and exercise habits when we are children, and need some help with that later.
It’s the same with money issues.  Most of us need help with that too, but don’t realize it.

All we learn is that we need to work to earn money.  Then we spend it on things we want, and a few things we need.  Our employer puts some of our salary into superannuation (mandatory retirement plan in Australia), so we’ll have something to live on when we retire.

That is the full extent of the money knowledge of most people in Australia.

Here are 3 main levels of physical fitness, and my associated descriptions of levels of financial fitness.

*  To determine your BMI divide your weight in kilograms by your height in metres squared. The normal acceptable range of this measurement is 20.1 to 25.0 for men and 18.7 to 23.8 for women. 

+  Recovery Rate = difference in heart beat 1 minute after exercise is ceased.  (A recovery rate of greater than 35 BPM indicates almost no risk of sudden death from heart disease!   12 or less increases the risk dramatically.)

Why do people engage personal trainers?  Usually it is to help them move up from one category to the next.  It might be to go from poor to OK, or from OK to superior.

This is the same reason financial coaching is beneficial.  Financial coaching can help a person move from a poor financial fitness to an OK level, which is where most people aspire to.  It can also help the motivated few to move from OK to superior.

You don’t get change by continuing to do the same thing you have been doing.  You have to change something you are doing, to move forward from where you are.  Some people can do this themselves.  They seek the information, then put it into action.  Others really need the input, encouragement, and information from a qualified coach.

John Paul Getty in his book “How to Be Rich” says to find someone who is where you want to be, and do what they have done and are doing. This is what you need to look for in a coach. This applies to fitness coaching and financial coaching.

If you know that you want to move from Poor to OK, or OK to Superior (and this will be because you recognize the benefits of this), find a coach who has done that and can (and will) show you exactly what to do.  And just like personal training – you must be prepared to do what they tell you!

Got me an average salary (can’t believe I didn’t check that before swotting like crazy for 4 years at uni) and a mortgage.
It was only after I’d paid off the mortgage and wondered what to do next with my extra cash that I got enlightened, after going on a number of wealth creation courses.

Do YOU wonder how to become wealthy?

Here is what I’ve found – as usual with me – there are 2 things:

1.    It is by owning assets that grow in value over time. 
2.    These assets need to be in demand and saleable at the point that you decide to convert them into cash.

A person is not wealthy just because they have a grand house and a flash car or 2 or 3.
A person is not wealthy just because they are on a huge income.
A person IS wealthy because they own assets of significant value that can be sold for cash at any time.

That’s it. 

Consider the big names – Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Gina Reinhart, Rupert Murdoch, the Packer family.  They all own (and have often created) vast empires of businesses and property. 

How are YOU going to become wealthy?  How are YOU going to acquire assets that will grow and be convertible into cash?

1.    You start by keeping some of the cash you earn.
2.    Then you use that cash, and often other people’s cash (borrowed money) to buy or create assets that grow faster than your cash will. 

What kind of assets do you buy? 
     Growth property, Growth Shares, Businesses/Company’s with growth potential.
What kind of assets do you create?
     You can build or renovate property.  You can create, or renovate a business.  You can invent something that is of value to the world. 

How do you know how to do this?
     You have to seek education and mentoring from people who have done it.  Very few people can set out and do this well, without making costly mistakes, without this investment.

So in summary, all you have to do, to become wealthy is to

1.    Want a certain level of wealth
2.    Determine the best types of assets to invest in or create – depending on your identity and operating style
3.    Get help from an experienced source.

I have a load of resources for you to do these 3 things.  Check out the sidebar of my blog, or the products on my website.

How to become wealthy is no longer a mystery for you.  Now you have to decide whether to take that first step.  

My system (the Money Success System) involves designing your life as step 1.  In order to want a certain level of wealth, you need to have a good think about what you really want for your life.  Once you know that any level of wealth is achievable, you have the freedom to design your life first.  This then gives you your money target, and you’re ready to move to step 2 and beyond, to make the money happen.
 

My personal story is that after I realized how to do it, I went and bought growth property, growth shares, and created businesses.  I reached my 25 year target in 10 years.  It wasn’t difficult or complicated.  I just followed the instructions I learned. And now I’m teaching them to people who know what they want out of life.

(More information soon on my Mentoring Program. . . .)

To your Money Success,

Glenda 

That night I learned that I could use equity in my home to invest in shares.  I didn’t know that before.  I also learned about the tax effectiveness of negative gearing. This lead to investing in a managed fund, using no cash – just equity in our home and borrowed money.

This doubled in value over 10 years, after losing value for the first 2 years. (This was during the early nineties recession)

I then got educated in how to invest in property and shares myself, and took the money out of that fund, to do my own investing.

I have been my own financial planner ever since.  And I reached my target net worth 10 years early.
 

Why did I bother to do it myself?  Why didn’t I just keep using our financial planner?    There are 2 reasons:

1.    I am a control FAN.  I like being the captain of my own ship.  I am confident I can steer well, once I’ve got the required knowledge.   I am generally more confident about running my own show, than having other people run it for me.

2.    During the period when we held the managed fund, our financial planner suggested a number of investments to me that I couldn’t see merit in.   Some friends that I had referred to him took his advice – without any discussion between us at the time – and lost quite badly. This reduced my confidence in him.

A lot has changed in the financial services industry in Australia in the last 10 years or so.   These days, financial planners, or advisors, are considered by the industry to be financial PRODUCT advisors.   Their role is to help you choose which financial product you will invest your money into, once they have helped you with a financial strategy.

When you know your best overall strategy, you can then use a financial PRODUCT advisor to help you with particular investments that will be part of that strategy, such as superannuation, managed funds, shares, or property trusts.  You will also need a financial planner to help you decide on the best products for risk management.  That is – insurances to protect your wealth.
 

So. . . getting back to the question of why would you visit a financial planner. . . . here are the 2 main reasons:

1.    Because you have a strategy that you want to execute, and it involves investing into some financial products (eg: managed funds, property trusts, bonds, etc.), or taking out some insurances.

2.    Because you don’t have a strategy and want some help creating one.

A  WORD OF WARNING

I think you will do yourself a huge favor by getting educated about how to determine your own strategy first, before seeing a financial planner.   It is YOU who knows what is best for YOU.

In fact, that is my mission.  To help you understand what wealth really is, how much you are targeting, who you really are, and what the best strategy is, for who you really are.

So if your reason for considering a financial planner is reason number 2 above, why not get some education, put on your thinking cap for a bit, and turn reason number 2, into reason number 1!

(By the way, I will be authorized as a financial planner Brisbane soon, because I require this status in order to teach my students about certain strategies.)

(If you have found this article by using financial planner Brisbane as your search term, you are welcome to contact me to discuss your needs.)

Do you want to be rich?  Really?

Do you know how to be rich?

If I was running a survey and asked you "How do you think people get to be rich?" what would your answer be?

Well there are actually lots of answers.  In fact there are so many answers that it becomes a bit confusing if you’re trying to work out what it means for you, and which method you should follow.

Some do it with super high professional incomes.  Others do it by running successful businesses.  And of course there are many people who own parts of businesses (shares or stocks) and when the business value grows, so does their personal wealth.  There are those who do it with property strategies.  A lucky proportion start with an inheritance, or gifted money.  A few are born with natural talents such as sporting ability or natural beauty that propel them to stardom and the wealth that brings. A creative and persistent proportion invent something new that enough of the world wants, to generate their riches.

One thing is for sure: school education does not teach us how to be rich!   It teaches us how to be ready for employment.  Because this is what our societies need to run effectively.  Lots of good, skilled, capable employees. That is useful of course, but a lot of us don’t realize there is a deficit in our financial education.  We just muddle on and follow our parents, or make it up as we go.

But let’s go back a step.  What does it mean to be rich anyway?

What is YOUR definition of being rich?

If you want to know how to be rich, then the first step is to define what you really mean by being rich.  I encourage you to stop reading this right now, and grab a sheet of paper – or open a new page on your computer and write down what YOU being rich actually really means.  Take your time and write what is truth for you – because this is your starting point.

Does it mean owning multiple homes and elite vehicles, and travelling around the world all the time.  Or does it mean owning a home, and a couple of cars, in the location of your choice, and being able to do whatever you choose with your time.  A common definition (of financial independence) is "being able to do what I want, where I want, with whom I want, when I want."

You know what?  I was going to go on here, but I think I’ll save that for next time.

I would love you to share your answer here, and we’ll see what you and others think.  Will there be lots of different answers?  Will they have a common thread?

To share your answer, click on the title of this article. When it shows as a separate page, with just this article on it, there will be a reply box right at the bottom.  That’s where you leave your answer.

It will be worth it to you I know, to take a couple of minutes to think about your answer to this question, and worth even more to take the extra couple of minutes to leave us your answer.  When you write an idea down, it is the beginning of it becoming real.

instead of letting things "just happen" to you.

Instead of "I’d love to go to Egypt one day and see the pyramids"……. work out WHEN you’d like to go, WHAT you’d like to do while you’re there, and then – HOW MUCH it will cost.

So HOW LONG will it take you to save up for that trip?  Of course, that will affect the WHEN.

And that’s how you do it.   Really simple.

There is never the need for "I can’t afford".

If you do some of that planning kind of thinking, and then have little motivation to save, then that really means you don’t want it that much – so it’s really an issue of priority.  (It’s good to get clear on the REAL REASON sometimes.)

I reckon that for the relatively short space of time that we’re here on this planet, we might as well have the BEST LIFE we possibly can. It’s just a matter of being motivated to be a conscious LIFE DESIGNER. 

Yes there is a catch!  (If there wasn’t, everyone would be doing it)

You have to take the time and energy to do the dreaming, defining, and planning.   Just a few days a year really – and it is soooooooo worth it!

Click below to see one handy tool – and it’s FREE!

There is so much wonderful stuff to buy out there!

The more stuff there is that we want, but can’t afford, the poorer we feel.

So as the world produces more and more beautiful clothes, shoes, homewares, educational courses, recreational products, etc, the more we can’t buy!  I think this is why we often feel a sense of lack.  We go shopping and see all the stuff that we would love, and we can’t buy it all, no matter what our level of income is.   I suspect that a lot of us feel poorer today, than our parents did yesterday, because we look at what we can’t have, instead of what we can and do have.

Because of this I think it’s never been more important than now, to create shopper focus in our discretionary spending.  (Oops – what was that big word Glenda?  "Discretionary Spending" means the money we spend on things we don’t have to have.  It is the money we spend on things we think are fun, or luxurious, but our lives will go on fairly well if we don’t buy).

Shopper Focus means we will purchase those wanted (but not needed) items only that REALLY match who we are.

Shopper Focus means we will know what our personal style is; what our favorite colours and "looks" are;  what the important factors to us are about the car we drive (safety, power, speed, manouvreability, cuteness, status); and what the important features of our home will be.

Once we gain a higher level of self awareness, and improve our Shopper Focus capability we know what does and doesn’t suit us, it is easier to see most of that stuff as "beautiful for someone – but not for me".   

So why not build your Shopper Focus capability!

And when you find just the right thing that you REALLY REALLY want, it’s more likely you WILL be able to afford it! You’re only as wealthy as you feel!  

If you ask 10 different people, they will all give a unique answer!

Since I’m all about helping you to become wealthy I’ll define MY meaning of the term.

Wealth = Assets

There.  That was simple wasn’t it.

But what are Assets?  These are things that have a monetary value (that means someone will gladly give you money to purchase them).

The best assets to help you become wealthy are ones that continually grow in value.

 Click here to see the answer 

How did you go?

Now click here to see which of these are actually GROWTH assets. . . .

What is the difference?  What makes something a growth asset?  This is the topic of the next wealth creation post.  Stay tuned.