This week our fundamental question to Prosperity is: Could you please share with us some tips on how to create and sustain wealth?
Dear readers, let’s explore this fundamental question, to the Art of Prosperity. We would start by looking at Nine Key Building Blocks to Wealth and Prosperity, that we will explore in more depth over the next weeks.
Your attitude towards Prosperity
How you think and relate to my friend, Money will determine your actions. The language you use will create your future action to grow and sustain Prosperity and, your mood, how you feel will enable you to take action. Your attitude will determine if you will create a life of Prosperity or Suffering.
When you have an attitude towards Prosperity, you will have an abundance mentality and a sense of gratitude.
The following quote by, Paul Zaiter, is worth pondering on; “There is a natural law of abundance which pervades the entire universe, but it will not flow through a doorway of belief in lack and limitation.”
Have a living Financial Plan
If you want to embark on growing and sustaining Prosperity you need, to have a plan. Stephan Covey referred to it as have the end in mind. He also said if we have an end destination and if life pushes us off track, we know where we are going, and we can correct and keep focusing on working towards our end goal.
When crafting a plan that will enable us to live a life of Prosperity, Meaning and Purpose with the resources (Money) we have, it is essential to integrate the following:
- Your Values, as your values, determine what is vital for you,
- What activities spark meaning in your life’s?
- What do you want to achieve in each of the different domains of your life? Which of these need Money to enable it?
- How do you allocate resources to achieve these goals?
- Your detail cashflow,
- Risk Plan, which addresses what you will do if a life-changing event take place in your life,
- An action plan addressing:
- What do you want to change in terms of your attitude and behaviour?
- What do you want to achieve in terms of building and sustaining Prosperity?
To enable you to live the best possible life, with the resources you have!
Thinking Income
How you describe and think about Money, how you receive is an essential part of building Prosperity. Do you think of it as a salary that you receive? You could also see it, as you receiving remuneration for your skills, that you offer your employer or clients! In the second scenario, you are offering a gift to the universe, that adds value, and the universe let Money flow back to you in return. You have a resource (your skills and labour) of value to offer the world.
Having a Prosperity mindset, you will think about what resources do I have, that you can utilise optimally to create a sustainable source of income. Broadly you will be able to categorise these into Labour, Capital (Investments and Business) and Property.
You will also continuously be exploring, options on how to grow your source, which bring us to the next point of building Prosperity, how we allocate the income from the source.
Allocating Income
How you will allocate the income you derive from your source, will determine if you will be growing your Net-Worth, which is a crucial driver toward building and sustaining Prosperity. I have a friend Frugality, and he over the years visited households that cracked the code towards Prosperity. Frugality found that these households have built the following competencies to support them in growing their Prosperity:
- Spending less than they earn,
- Having confidence in making money-related decisions,
- Control to make short-term decisions that will have long-term benefits,
- Have a plan (Cashflow) and monitor it,
- Focus, have the discipline to stay with their decisions, and
- Social In deference, not to be sidetracked by what others do.
The excellent news is that my friend, Frugality found that when we are aware of the above, we can build these skills, to master the Art of Prosperity. Frugality base the conclusions on the research in The Next Millionaire Next door.
Frugality also observed an interesting point that these people always saved a portion of their income to grow their source. Some prefer first to allocate a percentage of the income from the source towards saving and investing and then allocate the rest towards giving and living, others take an integrated approach of allocation, however in all instances they save and invest with discipline.
Interest the blessing and the evil
My friend Money, have an exciting story to share regarding interest. He is always willing to add interest; however, this could either be an asset to you or liability. If you invest, Money will respond and pay you interest. When re-investing this interest, Money will reward you with compound interest by adding interest to the interest. Einstein referred to compound interest as the most powerful force in the universe. Saving regularly, leaving your capital to grow with compound interest is one of the golden rules of building Prosperity.
Money on the other side will make itself available for you, to borrow it. When borrowing or lending Money, will require you to pay interest for utilising it, as you are using it, with-out owning it. It is vital to think about what you want to do with Money carefully. Using a loan, where you, will be paying more interest, than the income you earn on the asset or venture is a liability, and is an expense.
Opportunity Fund
I love instead to call an Emergency Fund an Opportunity Fund. As having an Emergency Fund, refer to the fact that we would use these funds in an emergency. On the other side of the coin, if you have an opportunity fund, and live happens to you, you do not have to take forced decisions. Rule of thumb is to have an Opportunity Fund with a balance equal to at least six months of income.
An opportunity fund is essential to protect your journey to Prosperity.
Plan and Protect yourself, for when life happens
Dear Reader, over the years, I have seen many people setting out to search for Prosperity, and doing everything right, and then life happens. They lose their job, get disabled, get divorced, need to support extended family, and they did not consider these curveballs. All of a sudden, all their plans come to an end. There is a saying that life will not yield to a plan; a plan will yield to a plan.
Locus of Control is one of the biggest drivers for people to achieve Financial Wellness, find Prosperity. Locus of Control in this context is the ability to preempt possible changes in their financial situation and proactively plan for it.
Knowledge
On the topic of Financial Knowledge, there will most probably be as many views as there are people. Basic knowledge of the critical concepts of finances is essential on the journey to Prosperity. However, as you do not need to know the exact process, and technical jargon, that electricity goes through from the source, up to the point you put on the light. You also do not need to know this when dealing with finances.
My suggestion will be to acquire just in time knowledge when dealing with finances. Understand and have a working knowledge of the building blocks. When then confronted with a more advanced topic, you can either engage a reputable specialist, source or your Financial Coach to help you build the competency deal with the matter.
Have a Financial Coach
My friend Money informs me that most people experience making decisions around Money, usually is emotional, which in most cases lead to making not that wise Money decisions. Having a Money Coach will give you somebody to use as a thinking partner, not only to be your thinking partner when you need to make crucial decisions regarding Money. The Financial Coach will also be your thinking partner to use the building blocks to help you on your journey to achieve and sustain Prosperity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, to master, the Art of Prosperity, (1) Have a plan, (2) Spend less, than you earn, (3) Save diligently in a diversified portfolio, (4) Plan, proactively for when life happens, (5) Have a Financial Coach. That can act as a thinking partner, help you build the competencies and skills to grow and sustain Prosperity and to guide you through life’s ups and downs.
Would be great to hear, from you what you see as the primary building blocks to Prosperity? What questions do you have? What would you like to read about in the Blog?
Regards,
Prosperity
