Higher Learning
Lesson 6: Money, money, money
1. Quality of Life
2. How You Spend Your Life
3.Consumer Credit
4. Saving
5. Education as an Investment
6. Career Choices
7. Taking a Job
8. Excellence
9. Discipline
10. Income, Assets, Debts, and Liabilities
11. Building Wealth
12. Envisioning Your Future
13. Think For Your Self Financially
1. Quality of Life
Are you getting everything you want out of life?
What is the quality of your life?
Do you believe it is dependent upon — or proportional to — the amount of money you have?
Many people mistakenly derive their sense of self-worth from money, and all the things that money can buy. But, self-worth, and quality of life, really must come from within us. You can spend your life chasing after everything your ego wants or desires, without ever realizing or having what you really need, within you.
Did you know that the word "wealth" originally meant "well-being"? But its meaning has come to be replaced by financial factors, such as money, property, investments, and other assets. We believe in the original meaning and intent of the word wealth, which is well-being or quality of life.
Some things can be better in life with more money, and some things money does little to change. In fact, people who win huge amounts of money from the lottery often experience their lives getting a lot worse — some lives are destroyed by having all that money.
Take a look at the lives of the rich and famous, the media idols, and more often than not you will find a person who has no real sense of self, no inner peace, no true love, and little sense of worth within them — their worth comes from the approval of others. They live lives of desperation, wild highs and lows, alcohol and drug abuse, promiscuity, and egotism. Money enables this behavior.
Quality of life is not equal to quantity of money. We would define quality of life as the experience of peace, love, joy, freedom, self-determination, success, fulfillment, and goodness. None of these requires money; and more money does not mean more quality of life.
So, if you are not yet rich, be thankful that you do not have this enormous hurdle to get over, before you have any idea what really matters in life, and what does not — before you spend every moment of your life pursuing illusions about what matters.
Money doesn't make you smarter, nor does it come with an operating manual, to tell you how to best use it. A person with an addictive personality or self-destructive behavior, given a lot of money, will use that money to cater to their addictions, illusions, denial, and self-destruction — all the while imagining that they are getting more "free." While they destroy themselves. Think about that.
The proper use of money requires discernment — the ability to know what is right, good, and true for you; and the willingness to do it. This is about developing the will to do what is right, not about developing an addiction to money or what money can buy. If you plan to have more money, it is essential to learn how to deal with money in a progressive and life-supporting way.
There are people who have a lot of money, who spend their time making everything in their life exactly the way they want it to be. They have every door knob and hinge in their homes custom made to their exact specifications. They have everything custom made, in their homes, on their yachts, their clothes, everything. And, they imagine their lives are perfect. In fact, they are totally deluded. They spend their lives making every material object in their life shine — or have their servants do that for them — and never realize that the shine that comes from physical objects, no matter how bright and polished and colorful they may be, is not the Light. It is not lasting. It is not a source of happiness or goodness or peace. It doesn't make them any better. It is not real at all.
The fact is, people who have a lot of money are not any happier than those who do not. It is important to get out of poverty, debt, and lack; but being rich is not a prerequisite or guarantee of happiness. Often, the more someone may have, the more they have to lose.
You can have everything in the world, and never know who you are, never know true peace, never know true love, never have a higher purpose in living, never know God. In fact, the more money people have, the more materialistic their lives, the less likely they are to have any idea what it means to be real, to know the truth within them, or to realize what the grace of God is.
It doesn't take anything outside you for you to be free within you. And, if you do not find all that you need — and are really looking for — within you, it doesn't matter how much you chase after it in the outer world; you will never find it out there. This is the handicap that people with a lot of money have. They are fixated on everything other than simply being who they are, beneath the role they play, beyond their personality, beyond what anyone else thinks or expects of them, beyond what they want or desire or have, beyond every illusion they have cultivated about what is of value and what matters in life.
It doesn't take a penny to live life gracefully, to find peace, to know what love is, or to realize a higher purpose in living. If you are seeking quality of life, you need to realize that nothing can keep you from that, unless you insist on looking for it in all the wrong places, or equating it with what money can buy.
2. How You Spend Your Life
In our consumer society, people are driven to meet material "needs," and they do pay for them. They pay for them with their lives. What are the choices you are making in your life, today, to be free or to get free? Are "finances" and "freedom" moving in opposition in your life, or are they working together?
The basic financial transaction is: your time and energy — your life — in exchange for money. Realize, this transaction only goes one way: you can certainly spend your life to get money, but it is unlikely that you can spend money to get life.
Many people do not really question how they are spending their lives. Have you ever thought that you have a limited time on this Earth, that you will not have today to live over again, that you need to spend your time wisely — and that you spend your life on things you do each day, habitually, unthinkingly, "involuntarily," out of "necessity"?
There is a better way to live, a more creative and progressive way to spend your life. The first thing to know, is that whether or not you know anything about money or finances, you are making decisions every day of your life, at every moment, as to how you are spending your life. The question is: are you moving towards greater freedom, or not? Most people spend their lives getting deeper into obligations, debt, and limitation; few understand what it really means to be free, or experience that.
The most expensive financial transaction you can make is to sell yourself short, to sell out your hopes and dreams, to chase after illusions of what you think will make you happy — to pay for your illusions, and not have true success and financial freedom.
This is not only about financial freedom or money; it is about how to be free in all areas of your life. You can practice this in terms of work, relationships, and finances. The basis of this course is learning to find and live from that place in you which truly knows what is right, good, and true for you, at each and every moment of your life.
In America, today, thirty-seven million people live in poverty. Tens of millions more live in debt, many without seeing any chance to get out of debt, possibly for the rest of their lives. The average savings of Americans is less than zero. And, many senior citizens who expected to be able to retire are now working minimum wage jobs, to pay the bills.
There is a better way to live.
Now is when you prepare for later. For the sake of this course, think of your life as a given number of days or years, and be willing to develop a plan to deal with your entire life beginning now. The present is what you take care of, to take care of the future. The present moment is all you have to work with; spend it wisely.
We are not defining freedom in life in terms of our finances — or outer resources — but rather in terms of what we are able to draw from within us, here, now.
How many people mistakenly spend their whole lives pursuing some financial goal, or some imagined happiness in retirement, or think that having a goal is the same as being happy, now? How many people proudly, egotistically, fixate upon their material desires, and imagine they will find spiritual reward? How many mistake being lost in the illusions of this world for "success"?
3.Consumer Credit
Consumer credit is the financial downfall of most Americans. It promotes the popular illusion that you deserve what you cannot afford. And, it is cultivated in every sector of the economy, in the banking system, in the retail market, and in government.
Millions and millions of Americans have been through bankruptcy as a result of overspending on consumer credit. Now, with the aid of the federal government, credit card companies have lobbied into law very narrow restrictions on personal bankruptcy. They are not letting people get off the hook anymore. Before you accept the worm on the hook, you need to know that you are unlikely to get that hook out of your mouth. If you've already taken the bait, you need to learn how to disengage the hook from your mouth.
The word "credit" makes it seem like something good, something in your favor, an asset; in fact, consumer credit is actually debt.
People who live enslaved to debt are not free, no matter how many of them believe they are living in a democracy and have an inalienable right to freedom. By their choices, by giving up control of their money, they give up control of their lives. And, people do this every day, in every financial transaction, in every purchase, in the belief that they are entitled to spend other people's money.
Finance is mainly about simple arithmetic. You have a certain amount of money coming in and you have a certain amount of money going out — what is coming in needs to be more than what is going out. Otherwise you are in debt. In fact, if you have any debts at all, you are in debt. This includes student loans, credit cards, charge cards, lines of credit, mortgages, liens on vehicles, leases, alimony, taxes that are due, and so on.
When you use credit cards, what you pay for something is actually a lot more than the price you think you are paying, when you buy it — if you pay interest. And, most people not only pay interest, they pay very high interest, typically almost 30% per year. What's worse, if you only make minimum payments on any account, you are paying interest only and will never pay off the actual debt (which is called the principal). The poorest segment of working society, which cannot make it from paycheck to paycheck, often pays more than ten times this much in interest on so-called "payday loans."
The first thing to realize is, it doesn't really matter how much you earn; what matters is what you do with your money, and the extent to which you incur debt. A person with a low income can live within their means, not incur a great deal of unnecessary debt, and have peace of mind; while a person with a high income, who spends more than they earn, incurs a great deal of debt, may not be able to sleep at night, due to their financial worries. They know that sooner or later their debts will come due, and they will not be able to meet them; they may, perhaps, lose everything they have.
So, whatever your income, you need to resist the urge to spend more using credit cards or getting a car loan. You have to learn to live within your means. Consumer credit labels you a "deadbeat" if you pay your bills on time, and do not accumulate interest on credit cards. Why? Because you are of no use to them; they cannot exploit your situation — you. On the other hand, they value people who ring up lots of credit card charges and do not pay them off each month, because they know they've got a live one. They can drain you year after year, in a financial trap that you cannot get out of.
Home loans which basically shift credit card debt to your mortgage, or negate the value you have accrued in your home, are a way in which you can eventually lose your home — rather than taking the path of learning to curtail your habits of consumption, and truly reducing debt.
The "credit fixing" agencies — which are private companies that front for the credit card companies — are not really a solution. They do not "repair" your credit; they charge you money to further exploit your situation, to try to ensure that you do not get free of debt. They want you to keep your credit cards. But, it is more in your interest to not use credit cards. We understand that the credit system may look down on you, or downgrade your credit rating, if you are not up to your ears in debt — making them a lot of money. But, ultimately, you need to answer to your self more than you need to answer to anyone else, especially the consumer credit system.
If you feel you need the convenience of using a plastic card, then use a debit card. It is linked to your checking account, and if you only put enough money in your checking account to cover your necessities, you will be less likely to overspend when you use your card. Resist the temptation to put your entire paycheck into your checking account and then spend till it's empty.
What we are seeking is true financial self-responsibility. We are not saying to avoid paying your credit card debts, or any debts; we are saying it is better to learn how to reduce your debts. That is true financial responsibility.
4. Saving
The simplest kind of financial responsibility is saving for the future. Even squirrels know this. Put aside some savings every time money comes to you, that you have earned (not obtained on credit). Ideally, you may wish to get to a point where you have enough money saved — in an accessible form such as a bank account — to cover six months of expenses. At the very least, you need to begin to save enough money to cover emergencies, and two months of living expenses.
Once you have enough savings to take care of your basic survival needs in this way, you have some breathing room, to be able to consider how to have more money.
Because money is worth less over time, as a result of inflation, you need to be earning interest on your savings, so that your money is not actually becoming less — in spending ability — over the years. The higher the interest, the better; the real benefit of interest is not the given rate but rather the way in which interest compounds over time. Basically, your money grows as you earn interest on your interest.
It is important to have your basic survival funds be liquid; this means, readily convertible into cash in hand. Bank accounts are usually the preferred way to have safety as well as liquidity. They tend to pay very little interest, sometimes not enough to keep up with inflation. But, at least your savings are "guaranteed" and accessible; and that's what you need for emergencies.
There are other forms of savings, besides basic deposit accounts. One of the more common is an Individual Retirement Account or IRA. You are allowed to put aside a few thousand dollars each year, without paying taxes on that money, under the conditions that you do not withdraw that money until a set retirement age. There are many terms and conditions, which we will not go into here, but it is worth learning how to save money while sheltering it from taxes in this way. There are other kinds of savings accounts, for health and education expenses, too.
What we are interested in here, is to shift your thinking from an easy come, easy go mindset, to a more conscious relationship with money in your life. Your financial situation, though it may have a lot in common with some other people's, is unique. You need to find what works best for you.
Some people do not know how to balance their checkbook each month. The mathematics isn't all that hard, but it takes a bit of time and effort; some people are afraid, they don't want to face the harsh reality of what is happening with their money. But, if you want to gain control of your finances, you have to do the math. You have to know what is coming in and what is going out each month.
Those who earn enough to have a surplus each month may find it easier to save. Those who spend everything that comes in will have a harder time. The goal is to save ten percent of the money you earn, at a minimum. Given that most people spend what comes in, the first need is to cut back expenses. Later, you can consider ways to increase your income, but first you have to work with what you have.
There is a difference between necessities and discretionary spending. Look at your checkbook, look at your credit card bills, and examine your cash sales receipts. Look at what you earn and how much you spend each month. If you do not have ten percent of what you earn to pay yourself first — to put into savings — then begin to make different choices so that you do. Anything that is not absolutely necessary is discretionary spending. That includes new clothes or fashions, expensive travel and vacations, a new car, a large-screen television, expensive monthly cable or satellite TV, new furnishings and furniture, restaurant meals, alcohol and tobacco, and so on.
Make believe your life depended upon having the money you need for necessities: food, shelter, and safety. If you suddenly didn't have income, would you be able to provide for your basic necessities, or those of your family? To get to the point of being able to do so, you may need to not spend nine-hundred dollars on Christmas gifts every year (that's how much many people spend). You may need to not go out for restaurant meals. Sure, it isn't a lot of fun to cut back on expenses, but neither is being homeless. It happens every day to people who imagine that just because they have money today they'll have money tomorrow.
Many people live from paycheck to paycheck. A sudden change in the economy or your workplace; a natural disaster such as an earthquake, hurricane, or tornado; a health crisis that isn't fully covered by insurance; an unexpected divorce (and, after all, who expects divorce when they marry?); or anything else that impacts your financial situation — and things could change for you in the blink of an eye. It is good to learn to be prepared, financially. And it begins with saving — which gives you options, choices, and greater freedom.
5. Education as an Investment
Learning how to deal with life is a wise investment; learning academic subjects for the sake of knowing something that other people do not, is not necessarily a very wise investment. Still, people who place their bets with the university system tend to make more money in their professions if they have a more advanced degree.
The problem is, too many people know too much about too little. Their scope of understanding of life — the whole of life — tends to be the inverse of how much they learn in some narrow academic field.
Of course, not all education needs to be formal or institutional; that's just a start. Much more is learned by experience. Still, the way our society is set up, those who do not have a high school diploma are paid a lot less than those who do; those who don't have a college degree are paid less than those who do; and those who have post-graduate degrees may be paid even more.
Countless millions of students go to college or university without having any idea how what they are studying relates to the "real world." Even those who study something that has some relevance to the life and work they will pursue, are not freed by the experience of learning as much as they are trapped by the enormous financial burden they assume. Pursuing the typical bachelor's degree can cause a young person to go into debt for a hundred thousand dollars. The cost of a higher degree, such as law or medicine, is twice that and more.
It is difficult to climb out of the financial hole of student loans and credit card debts. They can work for a decade without making much progress on getting out of debt. This is one of the reasons why many young people do not see any future in finishing school, high school or college, because they don't want to be so financially burdened. They do not see it as a worthwhile investment of their time, their life, or their money — money which they don't have or expect to have.
It is a tough choice these days, and a gamble. Is the high cost of a college education worth it? Is it the best way to ensure one's financial future, today?
With the accelerating rate of change in our modern society, what we know today is obsolete tomorrow. Students in college face the prospect that what they learn their first year will be obsolete by the time they are in their third year, especially if they are in a rapidly changing field such as technology. This doesn't cause us to doubt the value of an education, as much as it causes us to value the process of lifelong learning. People need to realize that what they learn is school is not the be all and end all of their "education." It is just the start. And, they need to be prepared to learn — and taught to learn on their own — for the rest of their lives.
In our society, plumbers make a lot more money than typical college graduates. Specialized trades, such as auto technicians, electricians, and so on tend to be highly paid. The person is paid for their real world ability, not the amount of college education they have obtained. Actually, the job market in general tends to be like this, even for college graduates. A degree in French Literature or Art History may be an enjoyable learning experience, but the possibility of having a career that makes use of it — other than teaching other people the same thing — is limited. This "reality" has set in to the pursuit of higher education: young people are choosing courses of study that may help them get a job and pay their bills, rather than seeking a philosophy of life in their university studies.
Take charge of your education — beyond the inherent limitations of formal education, and its consequent debt — and learn what you need in order to do well in life. Not everything is about making money. There are many very highly paid and many very highly educated people who have no idea how to relate to another person, how to have a relationship that works, how to raise children, how to deal with their finances, or how to look at life from a larger — spiritual — perspective. They may imagine they have so much, but they may have in fact given up, or failed to learn, so much.
For many young people, it may be a better financial decision to attend a less expensive community college, and then pursue a bachelor's degree where and when they can get the most for their money. Some employers pay for tuition expenses. And some schools that at first might seem to charge a higher tuition may really cost less after you consider the financial assistance they provide. For most people, a college degree leads to a higher income throughout their life.
Finally, resist the temptation to use those commercial student loans advertised so seductively on TV — offering up to forty thousand dollars a year for a student to spend however you wish. They will only ensure that you enter the workforce enslaved to debt for many, many years to come.
6. Career Choices
People now change careers on the average of five times during their lives.
Often, they haven't found what they really want to be doing in their life, or what they are doing isn't sufficiently rewarding. Rarely does a person move from strength to strength, mastering one field and then going on to another career that utilizes all that they have learned.
Which raises the question: wouldn't it be better to know what you actually wanted to do, from the start? Take some time to inventory your skills and interests. Ask yourself and other people what your strengths and talents seem to be. Consider whether you feel it is most satisfying or rewarding to be doing something that is physical, intellectual, spiritual, creative, scientific, artistic, or otherwise. But, don't just base this assessment on what you have already done in your life; be open to the possibility that you may be interested in and find greater fulfillment in something different.
Many people make career choices by completely disregarding the simplest things, like what makes you happy, what feels in harmony with your self, and what will allow you to grow, to express your creative intelligence, to unfold your greater potential. A career must suit you — you can not fit into a career.
School does not prepare many people for life, or for a career they are willing to commit to. In the past, jobs, relationships, geographical areas, and careers were a basis for commitment, over the long term. Now, people more often desire change, something new and different. For some, nothing holds their interest for very long. Life is becoming a lot more like TV, with short runs, special engagements, and always something new and seemingly more fulfilling.
But, the idea is not to act as someone you are not; rather, find the best way to express who you truly are. That is ultimately the only thing that you will find fulfilling.
Instead of thinking of a career in terms of what the position is, begin to think in terms of what creative abilities, talents, and interests you have which you wish to express in what you do. Take inventory of your talents and abilities — what you have to offer. We all have gifts to offer. If you do not have intellectual sophistication, perhaps you have simplicity. If you do not have skill with technology perhaps you have people skills. One is not "better" than the other. They are simply different aspects of ourselves, different talents and abilities we each bring with us. Maybe you prefer to be outdoors in nature, rather than in an office. Maybe you prefer working with animals rather than people. There are endless possibilities. Look around.
One person can be a lawyer and spend most of their time doing financial calculations; another may do investigation and research; another may spend most of their time arguing cases in court; another may spend their time helping indigent people; still another may teach. It might be the same profession or job title, but it is a totally different work experience for each of them.
Find what is right for you. You could be a very successful doctor, but if your heart is in music, that may be a better choice for you. The final determinant should not be income level, but what you will be happiest at. People often spend years — or a lifetime — doing something other than what truly speaks to who they are, and only realize that later on.
7. Taking a Job
A job is an opportunity to see how well your skills and abilities, your knowledge and experience, are valued by others. But, don't limit your perspective to the specific job you may be doing, or how you are perceived by others, there. You need to keep a larger perspective on your self, your goals, and the talents and abilities you need to develop or unfold. See yourself as you want to be, and work towards that.
Sometimes you may not have much choice as to what kind of job you take. You may simply need to pay the bills. And, regardless of your education, training, or experience, you just need to do what you need to do to get by. This is especially the case when you have accumulated debt in student loans, when career choices meet the "real world" and you find what jobs you can actually get hired for.
Some people who are barely getting by may take a second or even a third job, often at low wages. If you live in any reasonably populated area, you will notice that there are always jobs available for minimum wages. They may not be what you consider to be a great job, and it may be a blow to your ego, but if you can manage to limit or cut expenses, you may be able to get by in that way.
Use whatever job you take as a base from which to move forward. That doesn't mean you will necessarily be promoted or get a better job at the same place, but it is a possibility. The idea is to do what you do, well. In fact, do everything you do with excellence. On some level, it matters to you, that you do what you do well, that you draw upon your resources, your intelligence, foresight, creativity, innovation, perseverance, awareness, and ability to apply yourself to the task at hand.
Take the opportunity to develop your people skills, how you deal with everyone: co-workers, customers, managers. These basic relationship skills, in which you practice acting with integrity, honesty, helpfulness, lightheartedness, and grace, will serve you well in every other work you may do in the future. And, they can be practiced or learned wherever you are.
Don't be negative and complain about your situation, your job, your co-workers, or your boss. There may be a time for some feedback, but you need to see your job as an opportunity for you to learn how to work in a variety of situations, with various pressures, stresses, demands, and expectations. Rather than being ego-emotionally reactive, learn what it means to be calm, clear, and centered. Practice a centering exercise daily, to release stress and learn to deal with everything outside you from a place of peace and power within you.
Take responsibility. This begins with learning how to be a good employee. You would be surprised at the number of young people who show up for work without having any idea how to act in a responsible way; they come to work drunk, hung over, or high. Many people, even those in well-paying jobs, try to do the least amount of work, or the least quality work, that they can get away with. They do not have a true work ethic. Do not resent your employer, what you are being paid, or what is expected of you. Otherwise, you defeat yourself by habitually asking less of your self, and getting used to forsaking responsibility, initiative, follow-through, or simple helpfulness.
If you do more than is expected of you, even if you leave that job, you will get a good recommendation. But, again, this is more about your own commitment to developing your own capacity to work hard, focus, and make a difference. Those are skills you will need throughout your life, especially if you wish to make more money.
If you really want to be doing something else, you can prepare yourself for a transition to a new career. You can get some necessary training or education while you are employed. You may find that it is easier to get another job when you already have one. If you don't have a job, that may be the first thing a potential employer notices when they interview you; and they may interpret your not having a job as a reasonable probability that you may choose to leave their employ, too. And, they may not be as inclined to offer you a job.
These days, people change jobs frequently, especially young people. They may have a variety of careers in their lives. So, be flexible in your outlook; it is good to commit to the job at hand, but keep your eyes open for something that may better suit you at a given stage of your life. Look at every job as a learning experience, even if you learn that it isn't what you want to do for the rest of your life.
8. Excellence
There are so many myths about money. One says that you have to look like a millionaire to become a millionaire; another says that there is a millionaire inside everyone, waiting to come out. These popular ideas are simply untrue. Substance matters more than appearances.
It matters how you see yourself and your role in the world; it matters how you present yourself; and it matters how true you are to your self. It matters what you find within you to give. Beyond that, it matters that you do what you do with excellence.
The vast majority of people are just getting by, in terms of their work, their relationships, their health, their financial situation, and their life. Very few people have the commitment to what they are doing, to do it as well as they can.
If you are willing to do that, you will find that you far exceed the ordinary, and live an extraordinary life, with extraordinary rewards.
Everyone does things differently. There is not necessarily a best way to do anything, except what is right for you, what expresses your unique abilities, and what is true to your own self. It is important to do whatever you do with excellence — anything that is worth doing is worth doing right, always.
Excellence is a choice you make to be true to your own self. What you do is a reflection of, but not a measure of, who you are. Your performance is a product of your self-knowledge, self-worth, consciousness, choice, past programming, conditioning, and habit. Excellence expresses your true creative intelligence.
Excellence is not being driven by the ego, by perfectionism, by a fear of making mistakes, or a fear of disapproval or rejection; it is not the "perfect" acting out of your conditioning or programming. It is not ego, pride, or ambition.
Excellence is a commitment to your own self. No one has the same abilities or development in all areas of life; you can unfold your own abilities. Ultimately you cannot be pressured into being "good" or "excellent"; you have to choose it.
Excellence is a quality of your own consciousness, perception, and attitude. It comes from being more aware; and is expressed via thinking, feeling, willing and doing — by always choosing what is most true to your self. You can practice excellence so that it becomes a natural part of your life/work, as follows:
1. Give up excuses. There are no real excuses.
2. Keep your word. Keep agreements, whether formal or informal. Everyone, including you, will know and learn that you are responsible and can be depended upon further. If you keep your agreements, you will find that you gain completion in life/work. This is the basis of progress and growth.
3. Be on time. On time means on time, always. Be early in order to keep your time agreements. It doesn't matter what the occasion, who you are meeting, where or why, important or not — it is important to demonstrate, at least to yourself, that you are responsible and reliable, always. Give up lateness.
4. Look your best, all of the time. This makes a definite statement, to yourself and others, that you are aware of the quality of your influence upon others, and that you care. It demonstrates your self-confidence, your desire to accept responsibility, and your self-esteem. Give up shoddy appearances.
5. Don't talk negatively about another person, ever. No matter who you are with, they will get the very real message that you are someone who judges other people. This will undermine people's confidence and trust in you.
You cannot judge or resent others and expect to have a positive influence. It doesn't matter if you think you are "right," or who you can find to agree with you — negativity doesn't help anybody, including you. Give up negativity.
6. Express appreciation. Whenever you are appreciative, acknowledge it. This is the way to gain a greater appreciation of the quality of excellence, and to support excellence in others. Look for the real value in people and all things. Give up the ego habit of criticizing, complaining, and condemning.
7. Take the initiative. If you are aware of something that needs to be done, do it. Claim the task as your own, and claim the power to do it. You will find that this increases your power and self-confidence. Give up laziness.
8. Complete whatever you do. Start it, finish it — not out of insecurity, or to get approval, but to satisfy your own self, to feel complete within your self. Your life/work will become more complete, more whole. Even if something isn't perfect, finish it and be finished with it. Give up incompleteness.
9. Produce excellent work, in terms of substance and appearance. Accept responsibility, and do not allow any mistakes or errors to go uncorrected. Take enough time to verify the accuracy, clarity, and quality of what you produce.
For example, if you produce written material, do not allow typographical mistakes or errors in spelling. This demonstrates that what you have written is worth being communicated accurately. Make an investment in excellence as part of your work, whatever you do. Give up inferior, sloppy work.
10. Don't curse. Curse words (and expletives with four letters) are not necessarily bad, but they are a gross and poor substitute for acknowledging and clearing your anger, resentment, frustration, jealousy, sadness, fear, and guilt. Cursing is ego-emotional conditioning, and is not true to your self.
Curse words seldom correspond in meaning to anything that needs to be communicated by anyone. They are judgments and affirmations of lack and valuelessness. Accentuate the positive, not the negative. Give up cursing.
11. Recognize and support quality. Be aware that quality and excellence are not found just in appearances. Look for real quality and excellence before you choose, or accept, anything in life/work. Make conscious (not ego-emotional) choices for excellence in everything you do. Give up your support of mediocrity.
12. Excellence is voluntary. If it is worth doing, do it in the most life supporting way possible. Be aware of the negative influences of your choices and actions, too. Eliminate any destructive, or self-destructive, influences from life and work, including the obsessions you have, or what drives you.
You invariably lose balance and centeredness in your self, and perspective, when you become obsessed with anything — even what you consider to be "perfection." Excellence is not obsession with details. Obsession with details arises from fear, pride, ego control, a compulsion to perform to get the approval of others.
Excellence is not compulsive. If something is worth doing, it is worth doing right — that is simply the better choice, one which is true to the self.
13. Realize that excellence is not of the ego. It is not prideful ego-serving judgment by which you feel superior to others. Excellence isn't doing things in such a way as to appeal to your ego, or to get approval from others, or to feel superior to others. It is practicing being true to your self.
Have a commitment to excellence in your self, such that you actually do something about it, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. This means taking care of your self, your relationships, your life and your work — with care, patience, trust, love, joy, and faith. Let, don't make, life work.
14. Be willing to see the best in people, and inspire excellence in them, too. The key to being able to bring out the best in people, and in your own self, is to be willing to see the best in everyone and everything. Discriminate; see what is good and what is not. Support what you see is good, just because it is good.
Different people are in a position to do different things with different levels of aptitude and skill — but anyone can make a commitment to doing what they do, well. Everyone has the choice, at every moment of their life, in every area of life, work, and relationships, to accept and express the highest good in them.
Pause for a moment and realize that excellence is a quality within you that can be expressed in all areas of your life — by being true to your self. Always.
9. Discipline
It takes discipline to get out of debt and to build wealth. We live in a very permissive society, and that acts against us when we wish to control our finances and build wealth. It is easy to get into debt; it is a lot harder to get out of debt. Because Americans are thoroughly programmed to do what feels good, they take the easy way — they spend with little or any thought of the hardship it will bring.
Are you disciplined in other areas of your life? Those may be an indication of how disciplined you are with respect to your money. Do you eat anything you want; do you overeat; are you overweight or obese? Would you rather hear the "experts" tell you that it has nothing to do with what you eat, it is all a genetic predisposition? Are you willing to accept responsibility for your choices and your behavior? Do you realize that you make choices all the time as to what is acceptable to you and what is not? Do you have it in you to do what is right, even if it means depriving yourself of something you believe you should have — just because you want it? Are you noticing how you may be telling yourself lies, and believing them, rather than doing what you truly know to be right, good, and true for you?
Do you have any addictions, small or large? Do you have dependencies upon things outside you to get you going or keep you going, to motivate you? Are you driven by things outside you? Are you emotionally reactive, egotistical, arrogant? Do you see yourself and the world around you realistically? Do you have any behaviors which are self-defeating, self-limiting, self-destructive? If so, what would be the point of getting more resources to drive self-destructive behavior? You have to learn how to release yourself from these things before you gather more resources; otherwise, predictably, your money will go down the drain.
Discipline is not hardship. It is making a better choice, a choice that is more workable both now and in the long term. It is being wise in your actions, your behavior, your spending, and your investing.
The bottom line about being financially secure is: first you need to get out of debt; then you need to have savings; and then you need to have investments. When you put any money into investments, you need to leave it there. You need to let it grow. If you have any tendency to play with your money, to put it into investments, then sell the investments and buy stuff, your investments have been for naught. You need to let your investments grow, and leave them to grow.
That doesn't mean you ignore your investments after you make them, but you do not take money out of your investments once it goes in. If you need to, you can shift the money from one investment to another, to minimize risk or to take advantage of opportunity. But once money is set aside for investment it is not to be taken out and spent on consumer items, vacations, or anything else. This takes both an understanding of how wealth only grows when you leave it in your investment assets, and the discipline to live within your means and not draw upon your investment assets.
There are some investments that you may set aside for a specific purpose, such as to help with college education (for yourself or your children). Those will need to be investment funds, put into something that produces growth and interest, for a long period of time. It is the compounding of interest — the interest earned on interest — that builds wealth. It is the historic rise of stocks that builds wealth — over the long term, not necessarily the short term. It is the appreciation of real estate over a period of time that builds wealth, along with the income derived from investment property.
Self-discipline is the acceptance of responsibility, the power of choice, the ability to make a difference in your life (or in the lives of others), the willingness to do what you know is right, good and true for you, and a way to experience greater success in your life — regardless of your financial situation.
This is a better way to live today, as well as for the future. Think about how much better it will be to have money for retirement, than not. Most people do not adequately provide for this later part of their lives; they lack the foresight and the discipline. They buy whatever makes them feel good, now. If you wish to build wealth, you cannot afford to do that. You have to be more wise and make better decisions, right here, right now.
10. Income, Assets, Debts, and Liabilities
It is important to understand a few basic financial terms, and how they impact you. For example, most people assume that their income determines their financial health. That is a fallacy. It is possible to have a large salary and equal — or even greater — expenses. This, in itself, does not produce a positive cash flow or net worth. In fact, many people with high salaries have a negative cash flow or negative net worth. And, they do not realize they are in poor financial health.
Income is simply money you have coming in. It's what you do with it that matters.
Assets are anything you own that has value. But, assets alone do not give you financial freedom. You need to have income-producing assets, such as a business interest or investment income, which can continue to produce income when you are not working at it. In other words, the best income for retirement is income-producing assets, because they keep on making money for you. Income, especially that produced by assets, is also referred to as "cash flow." If you have more money coming in than you have going out, you have a positive cash flow.
Balancing a checkbook is hard for many people, but even when you do, it is not enough to create a secure financial future. All a balanced checkbook means, is that the expenses which you have paid by check are likely less than or equal to the amount of money you deposited in that account, that month. Since you likely have other expenses which you pay for by cash, this does not give an accurate picture of your cash flow or net worth.
So, a checkbook, no matter how well you balance it, does not tally all of your income, assets, debts, and liabilities. It is just a convenient way of paying some of your expenses; it is not a gauge of financial health.
Many people keep a minimum amount of money in their checkbook, just enough to cover the expenses that come up during the month. They leave any left over in their savings account, where it may earn some small interest. The next thing to realize about your future financial security, is that even if your savings are "secure" today, because they are held in a government-insured savings account, that is not the same as financial security. And, it certainly does not guarantee future financial security, either.
Financial security comes from first having a positive cash flow — more income than expenses — and a positive net worth — more assets than liabilities. But, that is only the start. Security is about having what you need in the future if or when you do not have the income you now have, or you have expenses that you do not have now. You need to have a financial plan which ensures a secure financial future for you and your loved ones.
Some debts are not bad, in the sense that the money is spent on something that is necessary for you to have an income, or may directly produce income. For example, if you have debt on your home (a mortgage loan), and the interest rate is low, you can use money that you earn during the life of your mortgage to invest at a much higher rate of return. That works for some people. Others take out home loans, secured by the equity in their home, to purchase various consumer items or to take a vacation. This is generally a bad use of that money, and debt.
Anything you pay for which leaves you nothing tangible to show (such as a vacation) — and which does not produce income — does not contribute toward your net worth. It diminishes your net worth. Any "asset" you have which does not grow in value, or which decreases in value (such as a big screen TV), similarly does not add to your net worth, but diminishes it.
Finally, your home may or may not be a real asset. There are homes that are worth less over time than what was paid for them; there are homes which fail to appreciate in value as rapidly as the cost of living and inflation; and there are homes which can be a real liability if you find that they need a great deal of work to fix a bad foundation, rot, damage from a natural disaster, and so on. Countless people just abandoned their homes after hurricane Katrina, because of the damage, the unlikelihood of the neighborhood being rebuilt, and the amount of money it would take to do all the work — far in excess of what the property was even worth.
Although many people consider their home their main asset, you need to realize that this is not always the way to have a secure financial future. People say they "own their own home" even when all they have done is made a deposit of five or ten percent. They don't own it until there is no longer a penny of debt on the property. Even then, if they fail to pay property taxes every year, they can lose their home. Oftentimes, it is possible to have investments that return a lot more money than the investment in a home — and they continue to produce income after you retire. Being able to cover your monthly expenses by the income produced by your investments, is a smart way to retire, especially when you have a positive net worth, as well.
11. Building Wealth
In any given society, wealth may be considered the means to be, do, and have what you want in your life. In our society, it represents financial freedom. But, it isn't necessary to be wealthy to be financially free. And, people who have a lot of money and assets are not necessarily wealthy.
How can that be so?
Wealth is a relative term, and in many ways it is entirely arbitrary. In the US, there are hundreds of billionaires, and about a million millionaires. And there are tens of millions of people who live in poverty, and millions more who earn minimum wages. The greatest wealth comes from business and investment, though business far exceeds investment as the means to wealth. To a person on minimum wages, someone who owns a home or who makes a hundred-thousand dollars a year might be considered wealthy. To that person who earns a hundred-thousand dollars a year, and who spends as much as they earn, or is saving for their children's college education, they may not consider themselves wealthy at all. And a billionaire does not think of a millionaire as being wealthy — well off, perhaps, but certainly not wealthy.
To a person in a Third World country, who earns a hundred dollars a month, or who owns one shirt and one pair of pants and one pair of shoes, nearly anyone living in the US might appear wealthy. In Saudi Arabia, the per capita income is 70 million dollars — that's the average income per person per year, due to oil sales, although the vast majority of the money goes to the royal elite rather than the common person.
Wealth is access to, ownership of, or the ability to use and profit from various resources: money, real property, business, investments, natural resources, goods, and services. A wealthy person does not necessarily have a greater appreciation for what they have — often they do not — but they have the means to have what they want. And they generally hold income-producing assets, including investments, property, and business interests.
The building blocks of society are the building blocks of business and wealth. But, most of us do not have ownership of natural resources, such as oil, gas, timber, coal, and so on. Additional resources which produce wealth include information, investment, and business — we can own a stake in some resource that does have value or generate income. In fact, nearly all wealth today relies heavily upon information, and information relies upon understanding in order to be of any value. The basic elements you have to work with, to gain wealth, are information, understanding, knowledge, education, experience, awareness, and inner knowingness.
People sometimes inherit money that makes them wealthy, but do not necessarily know how to create wealth themselves, or even how to manage the money they get from others. Creating wealth — and managing properly — always come down to you, your own awareness, your ability to draw upon your inner resources of creativity and intelligence. Without that, wealth can dissipate. Every day people lose fortunes, intelligent people, people who make decisions that don't work out for them. Some people make and lose fortunes a number of times in their lives. Realize, wealth is not something which, once created, always stays around — at least, not with the person or entity which created it. Wealth, like money, goes around and comes around.
Still, the system is set up to keep wealth in the hands of those who have it — the haves — and to keep it out of the hands of those who don't, the have nots. There are tax advantages that accrue to the rich, and to business and investment, which protect the wealth of the rich.
If you wish to create more wealth, you need to learn to use your awareness, your ability to think for your self, your creativity, your inner-directedness, and your ability to make decisions. You don't even have to own something, or own it for very long, to profit from it. A great deal of wealth is created by middlemen, who do not produce anything of any real value, but who arrange for the sale of things between those who produce them and those who want them. They merely arrange for deals to be made, and take a part of the profits. Often, however, if you wish to create wealth, you will need to make some sort of real contribution to society — or at least some segment of society which will pay for what you offer. And, you'll have to come up with that product or service that you have to offer.
Wealth is the result of taking something intangible — an idea, information, or other resource — and making it real in the world. It all begins with an idea. This is the main approach to wealth creation which we will pursue here; for most people, this is a lot more practical and freeing than going out and gathering natural resources in the environment. You need to use your own creative ideas.
12. Envisioning Your Future
There is what you know, and then there is what you do about it. For many people, these are two different things. They may "know" a lot, but unless they successfully act on what they know — and actually do it in the "real world" — then they don't really know it. The proof is in the doing. Nowhere is this more so, than in their own financial situation.
It takes courage to see the world as it is, rather than through the filters of popular programming, sentiment, apathy, enculturation, indoctrination, propaganda, or social conditioning. It takes even more courage to choose to live your own life in accordance with your own true awareness, your conscience, your sense of what is right and wrong, and your refusal to go along with the herd.
That is a choice you make, based upon your level of awareness, and the extent to which you try to be honest with yourself. If you can see the way the world is, if you can see how it is going, if you have some idea of how things are changing in many areas of society, then don't you owe it to yourself to act on what you know? Don't you owe it to yourself to live your life in alignment with the highest truth, goodness, purpose, and value that you find in life?
The benefit of envisioning your future — seeing where you are, and where you may wind up as you continue along your path — is that it gives you the power to change, now. You realize the power to choose your future. And, you realize that the power to change your future is in the present moment, right here, right now.
One financial decision — one choice — can change your entire financial future.
Can you see what that choice might be, in your own life?
It could be changing jobs, starting a business, getting investment advice, ...
For many people, envisioning their future includes considering what their legacy will be when they leave this world. What will be the difference that their life has made? Who have they helped, and in what way? This extends to financial concerns, too. What is the point of getting really rich, and having a ton of money, and then dying? Wouldn't it be nice to take some time while you are still living, to see how to help others?
We do not agree with the hedonistic, materialistic, egotistical philosophy that life is about "winning" and the way you win is to die with the most toys or having spent all your money, just because you can't take it with you. How absurd and irresponsible.
A popular success technique is to visualize what you want. Taken to an extreme, this is a fixation upon worldly desires. Unfortunately, a person can become so fixated upon a certain goal that they exclude nearly everything else from their vision. Billionaires are great at this. They can be the most incredibly narrow, narrow-minded, unbalanced people in the rest of their life, but they are fixated upon money as if it were life itself. They often have no sense of the spiritual wholeness of life.
When we speak of envisioning your future, this is not what we mean. We mean having a sense of how to have true balance in your life — not how to have every last materialistic or financial detail the way you want it. That is merely a form of spiritual blindness.
As you envision your future, think about what really means something in life, what really matters, what is essential. And discriminate clearly as to what is not. If there is anything you want to experience in life, which is not reducible to the simple experience of love, peace, truth, joy, and goodness within you, then you need to question what it is all about. If there is anything you want, which you imagine will give you the experience of peace, love, or enlightenment, reconsider what it is outside you that you believe can give you what you want — or need to find — within you.
What if you lost everything? It happens. An earthquake, a flood, a hurricane, a wildfire, a tornado, something unexpected — and people lose everything. Meditate deeply upon what it is that you have in life — what is really of value — which cannot be lost. What is it within you that goes on?
Expect the unexpected. Plan for it. Do not live in denial, or imagine that nothing bad can happen. It does, all the time. Be prepared. Take preventative measures. Protect yourself and your loved ones and your security. You will have a lot more peace of mind, here, now, as well as in the future. Take care of today, and it will help take care of tomorrow. Neglect today, and you risk a very uncertain tomorrow.
See yourself, where you are, and where you believe you will be in five years, in ten years, in twenty five years, when you retire. Not "where" in terms of a geographical location, but in terms of your quality of life, what you will be doing, your satisfaction in all areas of life, your well-being and health, your financial health, your security. That is having true vision and perspective, rather than a blind fixation on satisfying desires or goals.
And, if you do not see that you have taken appropriate steps to be where you want and need to be, then make a different choice now. You change the future in the present, not the future.
Begin where you are, but begin with the end in sight.
The only good investment for you, is one that takes your individual circumstances into consideration, including your willingness — and appropriate rationale — to take risks. It isn't enough to merely choose to risk the money you have with the hope of making more in your investments; you have to understand your investments, your approach, your expected outcome, the time span of the investment, and how reasonable the risk is in your situation.
It is generally observed that a young person may have more leeway to risk in investing, that is, to seek higher risk investments which may have a higher rate of return. And an older person may wish to be more conservative in their investment strategy, especially when they are moving closer to retirement. But, there is no absolute rule about this. A young person may be risk averse, and simply put money into their retirement plan each month throughout their working career, and have the money compound to a point that allows them a comfortable retirement — without taking on any big risks. And an older person may have a lot of financial savvy accumulated over the years, and be able to pick higher risk investments with much less chance of losing money. So, it is all relative. There are few absolutes in investing.
This is one of the reasons why we encourage anyone who is serious about their financial situation to learn to find a place within them where they know what is right, good, and true for them. We are all different, and yet we have that place within us which tells us if we are being wise or foolish, insightful or impulsive, rational or caught up in popular emotion and expectations. That place, where we choose what we feel is right for us — with greater awareness, self-reflection, self-directedness, and inner wisdom — is, ultimately, the one thing we need to learn to depend upon, in all areas of life, including our financial future.
That being said, there are external cycles and patterns and trends — and unexpected changes — that can dramatically change the value or expectation of return on our investments. We need to check within us for what we feel is right, in a rather intuitive way, and be aware of what is happening in the world around us — especially as it may impact our financial well-being and future.
13. Think For Your Self Financially
Are you aware of the ways in which your thinking may be supporting or inhibiting you, or your greater success? Are you willing to think differently from the herd?
The one thing that separates self-made millionaires from the ordinary person is a willingness to think for themselves. They do not go along with the herd. They think differently and see things differently. What people do when they invest or start a business is to put their money into something that they see as an opportunity, which others may not.
In fact, the fewer people who recognize the opportunity, the greater the possible return on investment or business success. An investor is counting on people to catch up to their way of thinking and seeing things, sooner or later, so that what they value comes to be more greatly valued by others. That is how they make a lot of money. They know something that others do not, or that others are not acting on, and take advantage of that.
It is possible to make money being mindless. People do it all the time, especially those who already have money. They just let their money sit in long-term investments, and may not touch a stock they own for many decades. They may even forget that they have it. Yet, it can keep making money. Tax-free municipal bonds are a way to be mindless and yet make money in investing.
But, this is about learning how to think in a way that improves your ability to make money and experience greater success. If you are content where you are, fine; if you are content doing what everyone else does, fine. You don't have to change what you are doing. But, consider the possibility that you could do better in life by relying upon your own thinking and initiative. There is always a risk in thinking for your self; you lose the (real or imagined) security of going along with the herd. Your financial position may rise or fall based upon your own individual choices, and you have to accept that responsibility.
Opportunity exists not only in a "sure thing" but in uncertainty as well. In fact, there is often a lot more opportunity in what is not certain, and what other people do not yet realize.
Some examples of things that people invest in, because they are "sure" of where they are headed in the future, include oil and other energy stocks including uranium. And precious metals such as gold, platinum, and silver. The idea is that there is a limited supply of these resources, they are in great demand and demand will only increase in the future, hence the price can be expected to go up. Yet, commodities, natural resources, and precious metals can be very risky investments.
Other things that people invest in are a function of the society in which we live, for example Coca Cola. Coca Cola, the beverage, has no essential function in human life on this planet. But, the demand for it, all over the world, has kept rising at a rapid rate for decades. People bank on this, and make money as the stock price keeps rising over the years. Now there are new drinks that are appealing to the younger generation, so-called "energy drinks" that have large amounts of caffeine and other substances that make a person feel charged up.
The questions you need to ask yourself are: what "opportunity" do I see, and what do I believe ? It isn't just a matter of whether a product will do well in the marketplace, and the stock price will go up, but what do you wish to promote and support in your society. Sure, there is a lot of money to be made in things that are ultimately not all that good for people. But, is that something you wish to do?
Society has its own trends and movement, fashions and addictions. The person who truly thinks for his or her self, does so in their personal life — in their own choices and behavior — and in their financial life as well. Why make a distinction between what you feel is right, good, and true for you as a person, and what you promote by in your world?
Always come back to the question: what are you spending your life on?