"Strategy to Retain Wealth" by Quantum Warrior
"Strategy to Retain Wealth" by Quantum Warrior
Emailed to Recaps 11/19/2013 From Archives
(Dinar Recaps Note: This post is for informational purposes only. It is not legal, tax or investment advice. Dinar Recaps advises that everyone do their own due diligence and seek local Professional tax, legal and/or investment advisers.)
Strategy to Retain Wealth by Quantum Warrior
The "recipe" below is my personal one- if it does not suit you, don't do it. If you don't like the ideas, fair enough, we all have that right, but please don't complain to Recaps or me, just read something else. The usual disclaimers apply- do your own due diligence, every situation is different.
Like all of you, I am not wealthy now (except possibly spguru :-) ). However, I have spent considerable time working on my strategy to retain the wealth, there are lots of comments in many posts (including my earlier one) about not behaving like a lottery winner. What does that mean? Simply spending like the money will never run out. It will.
To retain my wealth, I plan to do the following- your figure out your own plan, but these ideas are presented in case they will help clarify the thinking process for those who need the help.
There are some simple rules:
Work on yourself FIRST, then work on your money
Personal Crash Course in the Value of Money
Generate Cash flow from Capital (i.e. Protect Your Capital)
Do NOT ever get into debt, for any reason
When to buy the toys
Legacy - Meaning & Fulfilment
As you'll see you can't really do one of these without the others. But the effort it takes to follow this "recipe" is far less than the pain and consequences of losing all that wealth after having waited for so long, when many others have given up already.
Work on yourself FIRST
(Just to avoid the obvious comments- do your exchange first, especially if there is a 30 day window, then start here, OK? :-) )
The obvious question here is "Why?" Well the answer is simple, "Who's going to manage your wealth then?" If you seriously think some Financial Planner has more interest in your long term financial health than you, think again. Or just simply give them all your money and save yourself the future heartache.
No disrespect intended there are many good financial planners out there, but it really is your wealth, so you ought to be more aware than anyone else, for them it is a job, for you it is your future.
Wealth Magnifies Who We Are: If you are a kind considerate person now, chances are you still will be when you have more money than you've ever had. Unless you have some hidden aspects of your character that will come out and sabotage you. Which they will. How much you work on you will determine how much self-sabotage you engage in.
Having lived in the US (the country most infected by this problem in my experience), there is a "disease" if I can put that way, I've observed and not just from when I lived there, but from comments in many posts in Dinarland over the years.
The disease: The Happiness Pill = Either take a pill to solve the problem or hire someone to do it for you. To put this somewhat graphically, no one can go to the toilet for you. Only you can do what you've got to do.
There are no short cuts, no free lunches. If you want the benefits of your wealth, you're going to have to change something about your beliefs or what has happened to you with money in the past will only happen again. Only bigger, with more zeros.
You are capable of solving and learning all these things, else you would not be here with this potential wealth in your hands. It is time to believe in you.
You can't buy a pill to fix the issues you may have, you can't hire an expert to fix you. Only you can empower you. It is no one else's responsibility but your own. This applies to your health and your wealth. Your beliefs create your reality. 100% of the time. You may disagree, but this is like gravity, it is still there, even if you disagree with it.
It has been shown again, and again, that most illnesses start with emotional upsets that eventually become physical. Medication by and large only suppresses symptoms, it rarely cures. Doctors are great if you've broken your leg or something like that. Modern medicine is now beginning to recognise many illnesses (back pain, stomach issues, etc.) are "psychosomatic" in origin.
In other words, based on our belief system. Change that and the physical symptoms disappear. Please, do your own research on this one. Don't take my word for it.
Long term medical care is not the strong point of western medicine. Look at the "Food Matters" video and form your own opinion. Again, I am not disrespecting doctors, they do an amazing job with what they know. They key is there is more to us than medicine understands. Emotional health is vital to physical and mental well-being, that will never come out of a bottle.
Correct diet and exercise can fix almost anything, food for thought as it were. After all, you want to be healthy to enjoy your wealth right?
If you think this is just hokum, how many people have posted they have become ill, or even people have died over the stress of waiting for the RV to solve their problems? Stress is directly linked to hugely suppressing our immune system, which then means areas where we are physically weak are more at risk.
Managing your emotions, health and mental state will be an essential component in managing your future wealth. If you make clear decisions, make sure you manage risks well, then you'll be more than comfortable, if you are unsure of yourself, you'll end up with even more stress after the RV than you were before because you don't know how to handle the wealth properly and with the fear of losing it all.
This means looking within and being ruthlessly honest about your strengths and weaknesses, and allowing for them in your plans. Some people have a weakness for fame, others for sex, others for drink or drugs, others for the good opinion of others, others for greed. You get the picture. Clear the obsessions or the obsessions will clear you out.
Sadly for many, religion today is infected with the idea that "money is the root of all evil". Not just Christianity, but Buddhism & Hinduism have his issue, to name a few.
There is nothing wrong with money. It is neutral- it only reflects the nature of the person using it.
This is the most important step and probably the hardest. I could list loads of resources on this topic, but it makes more sense for you to do that work on your own, since what works for me, may not work for you. Also, if you take this point seriously, you'll do something, if not, you won't. Your action or inaction on this point will simply reflect your beliefs back to you about where you're at in terms of introspection, or looking within.
For the record, with due respect to psychologists, I am absolutely 100% not suggesting you get a shrink. My personal experience is most psychologists are at least as screwed up as their patients, not all but many. The other problem, again, in my opinion and no disrespect intended, is psychology has way too many theories and attempts to shoehorn all human experience into one or another theory.
We are all much, much bigger than just our minds, emotions or our bodies. There are lots of good psychologists out there doing great work, but there is a lot of noise out there too, finding the right one, is kind of like being a princess kissing frogs to see if one turns into a prince.
If you are really stuck, the SEDONA process works very well. it is astonishingly simple:
Feel whatever the emotion is you want to deal with (this includes resistance, blockages, negative and positive emotions). Feel it as strongly as you can
Ask yourself "Could I release this? - The only answer is Yes or No, either is fine, just be honest with yourself
Next, ask "Would I release this?" Again, only answer Yes or No. If in doubt, the answer is always a No.
Lastly, ask "When would I release this?" Again, be honest.
Repeat until the feeling is released, this may take a number of "loops"
If you find resistance, release the resistance using the same process
If the resistance is another emotion, release that with the same process
As you can see, the process is controlled 100% by you, and you can tell when it works, since you will feel lighter and more at ease. Clear ALL the emotion, even only a small "amount" is left. A good clue you've let go of it is if you sigh deeply. The body, mind and emotions are deeply connected.
Just remember some emotions run deeper and are more tangled than others, so may require much more spadework.
The two most important emotional attitudes to consciously develop are forgiveness and gratitude. This especially includes forgiving yourself. If something bad happens to you, ask: "What can I learn from this?" or "What buried assumptions do I have that attracted this to me?"
If you still have an emotional blockage, come back and work through it again. The process is simple, no said it would be easy. But then the things worth doing are never easy.
This is not an instant "magic pill", it will take work, in some cases a lot of work, to clear emotional blockages. It took however many years you've been alive to get the way you are now, it is natural and normal to take a little time to clear this up. The effort is worth it, you'll feel better much faster as you clear the habit of feeling the way you currently do. Because it is just a habit, and habits can be changed.
This is really all you need- we are already in our true nature, amazing, we just deeply, passionately believe we are not. You and only you are in 100% responsible for your life, no one else, not God, not your mother in law, not your boss, YOU. God set up the rules for you to win at this game, but you must play the game to win.
That is scary at first, until you realize that with that responsibility comes control, you can change what you like. This means YOU are in full control of your life. Sure, things may happen that you don't like, but they are reflections of you back to you, of you. Change your patterns, change your world. Sometimes stuff just happens and it's not about us at all, "Suck it up, Princess" and deal with it in an emotionally healthy way.
Personal Crash Course in Managing the Value of Money
Set aside 10% of your capital (after allowing for taxes)- and then spend it as completely stupidly and recklessly as you can. 10% may be quite a lot of money. By doing this, it will clear the "addiction" of spending like a lottery winner, and hopefully you'll see how fast 10% of your wealth can disappear.
Especially, if you are the quiet, careful type, do this- there may well be a suppressed spendaholic in there. If you are a spendaholic, then this may cause you to sober up a bit.
I once read that Anthony Robbins cured someone of smoking in half an hour, by getting him to smoke 20 packets of cigarettes in that time. Same idea but without the cigarettes.
Generate Cash flow from Capital (i.e. Protect Your Capital)
After you have cleared all (and I mean all your debts, credit cards, money from friends, etc) the next rule is: Never Spend the Capital- only use it to buy assets that generate cash flow. Your homework is to figure out which assets are right for you.
If you are going to start a business, you'd better really be prepared to know what you're doing and a successful business is almost never about the product, it is an important ingredient but not the most important.
Work ON the business NOT in the business. My preferred approach is to buy into existing, viable businesses for long term cash flow growth. There are other assets you can buy into, but the ones that really make money with lower risk are almost never sold by financial planners, in my opinion. You do your own due diligence.
For financial products, e.g. stocks and shares, again, clear, unemotional thought and a system that you follow 100% of the time (that is proven to work) are key. There are great buys out there, but you need to clear your mind, manage your emotions and find a winning strategy.
To be good at this, you'll need to learn to read a balance sheet. You'll also need to get your emotions, opinions and other biases out of the way. Your goals an and certainly should include the spiritual dimension, but the application of those goals should be clear sighted and meeting your objective of generating cash flow, cleanly, legally and ethically.
Do NOT Ever Get into Debt for ANY Reason
This is really simple: If you can't afford it, don't buy it, save until you can. We've all suffered at the hands of the banks. They are in business for them, not us. Just because you have more money, doesn't mean you can't lose it.
As a safety net, to avoid ever being back where you are now, don't borrow money period. Make sure your cash flow "engine" can at least get you financially free, even if not rich. By staying out of debt, you never put at risk your cash flow assets, which you would otherwise use as collateral for loans.
By avoiding the temptation of "free" money (it's never free, always got strings attached), you avoid the risk of losing your assets that support your cash flow. After all, there many people in Dinarland who were doing really well 10 years ago and are now really struggling. The world changes unpredictably. Debt is a great way to lose it all real fast.
When to buy the Toys
Well, you've probably picked up by now, that my suggestion is "never". The thing about the toys is we want to buy the "lifestyle" not the toy as such. So rent them when you need them, based on your on-going cash flow. If you absolutely must have one, than have a business that supports owning them by the profit from it's cash flow, the operating costs of owning the asset.
Toys follow a well known progression:
More Toys - the usual suspects: cars, planes, boats, men, women, parties etc.
Bigger Toys - bigger versions of what you already have
Better Toys - e.g. owning a sports team
The problem is toys do not fill the void we are trying to fill. What fills that void, is meaning and fulfilment See Legacy below.
Also, if you really must own the toy, see Rule #1 - Work on Yourself FIRST. Why must you own it? Is it show off? To say "I've arrived?" What is your motivation? As long as you are clear about what your motivation is and why want to do it, and you are willing to accept the consequences of that choice, then go ahead, Enjoy!
Remember, very few boats, planes or fancy cars actually appreciate in value over time. See rule #3 - Protect your Capital
By all means use the cash flow you generate from your capital to get the lifestyle you want, just in my view, spending your RV capital to get it, is the slippery road to losing it.
Yes, generating the cash flow will take time. Allow for that in your planning. Include in your thinking that inflation is usually double what the official figures are- so your cash flow must grow by that, plus some extra to keep money in motion.
Money stored in banks dies. Money needs motion to grow. Our job is to be smart, caring gardeners, who will continue to harvest abundance for decades to come.
Legacy - Meaning & Fulfilment
Do you remember your great-grand parents names? Chances are not. Maybe not even all your grand-parents either. Why? Whilst they may have been great people, they did not leave a legacy.
Contrast that with George Washington, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Confucius and many more besides. We still speak their names hundreds or even thousands of years after their death. Why? Because they inspired ideas and change that outlasted their lifetimes and still affect us today.
They did not do thinking "In 2013 kids in schools will know my name! Yay!" they did it because they passionately believed in something that helped either a section of humanity, or humanity as a whole to grow and see itself in a new, better light.
Religions come and go, civilizations come and go, but the magic, the best of us, the human race, endures. If we commit ourselves to do the best we can, without expecting anything in return, for all the life on our planet, in whatever form we can, then we create a legacy that is worth having.
Conclusion
As you can see, all the points are connected. Each one supports and strengthens the others. But the first one, is the crucial starting point.
Hopefully you will find something useful in here, to help you grow and keep your wealth, have a fantastic lifestyle (you deserve it), one based on sustainable wealth, not greed that will allow you to give the best of you to helping others grow into the best they can be.