Category Archives: Growth Mindset

Mindset and Paradigm

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“Change your habits, change your life.” Bob Proctor

The number one thing that will stop you from achieving your financial goals and life’s purpose is the way you think…your limiting beliefs and negative thoughts, explains self help guru Bob Proctor. If you want to change your results, you must first change yourself, specifically your paradigms.

Paradigms are nothing more than a group of habits that are programmed into the subconscious mind that control your behaviors which control your results, explains Bob Proctor. Thus, it’s essential to understand that your habits and behaviors control your results.

“We think we see the world as it is, when in fact we see the world as we are.” Stephen R. Covey

Paradigms affect the way we behave and the results we achieve in life, according to Stephen R. Covey. In explaining paradigm, Covey described an event when he “was on a subway in a very large metropolitan city. It was Sunday morning, quiet, sedate. When a bunch of young kids came running into the subway car and their father followed. He sat near me and the kids went crazy on that subway, running up and down, turning people’s papers aside, just raucous and rude. I’m sitting there thinking, ‘I can’t believe this, their father does nothing!’ I look at my attitude, attitude to try to control, but look what I could see.

After a few minutes, attitude went into behavior, ‘Sir, do you think you could control your children a little? They are very upsetting to people.’

‘Oh yeah.’ He lifted his head as if to come to an awareness of what was happening. ‘Yeah, I don’t know. I just guess I should. We just left the hospital. Their mother died just about an hour ago and I guess they don’t know how to take it and frankly I don’t either.’”

Imagine the paradigm shift that took place there. Imagine now what the attitude and the behavior would be based upon that paradigm.

The mind’s default, for most people, contains a plethora of negative thoughts and self-limiting beliefs. The mind tends to default to thinking that bad things will happen, that you’re not worthy, or that you’re not likable. ”

Until you change your paradigms regarding money or your financial mindset, money and wealth will not help you realize your dreams or achieve financial freedom.

“You must begin to understand that the present state of your bank account, your sales, your health, your social life, your position at work, etc., is nothing more than the physical manifestation of your previous thinking.”  Bob Proctor

References:

  1. https://www.lifehack.org/900263/reactive-vs-proactive
  2. https://resources.franklincovey.com/blog/paradigms

Mindset Matters

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“Mindset is everything because it touches, impacts, and influences quite literally every aspect of your life.”

Your mindset is the filter through which you see the world. It is comprised of your beliefs, attitudes, emotions, and perceptions that inform your thoughts, habits* and decisions. Mindset encompasses both your conscious and unconscious thoughts as well as how you view yourself. It, your mindset, determines how you spend your time, who you spend your time with, what decisions you make, and where you invest your resources (time, talent and treasure).

Your mindset is an important part of your toolkit for success. Like glasses, they can either obscure your path or bring clarity to the road ahead. Thus, taking an active approach to understanding and crafting a positive mindset is important. Most people don’t realize that they’ve been programming their mindset through their experiences and perceptions. If you constantly feed your mindset with negative perspectives, your outlook will be negative. Garbage in, is garbage out.

On the other hand, cultivating a healthy wealth mindset will help you stick to your financial goals and you find ways to increase your earning potential. And, there are two key inputs that shape your mindset: the environment (or people) you spend time with and the media (written and verbal) you consume daily.

There’s an old saying in financial circles that you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. If you want to be fit, hang out with friends who exercise. If you want to think big and aspire to build wealth and change the world, then you must consume inspiring positive media and hang out with people who have great purpose and big audacious goals.

Just as you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, the same is true for your ideas and aspirations.

A wealth mindset is a set of beliefs, habits, and behaviors that separates the wealthy from the rest. A wealth mindset will guide you to make the most of the money you have. It is essential to effectively and successfully save for the future, invest for the long term, build wealth and achieve financial freedom. A wealth mindset means spending less than you earn, making wise investments in assets, and looking for ways to improve financial well-being with minimal risk.

A wealth mindset matter matters because 60 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, according to Dave Ramsey. And as of 2018, 175 million Americans actively use credit cards. A majority of these credit card holders engage in impulsive spending behavior, wasting money they don’t have on items they don’t need.

“Wealth is a mindset!”, writes Shynna Key, author of “Wealth Is a Mindset”. She encourages you to “keeping it real” with your current financial position, identifying challenges, and taking responsibility for changing the way you view wealth. She opines that you must begin by examining “…what we have been taught as it relates to money and wealth. Though finances are a very private area for most to discuss, it is a crucial topic that will help us to understand the root of our financial ‘woes’ as well as the fruit of our financial ‘favor’; which is essential to our overall growth of wealth.”

“If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.” – Lao Tzu

To accumulate wealth and achieve financial freedom, you must first be and think like the wealthy. By doing so, you will develop the habits and take the necessary actions to attract the resources to you. You must be someone first; someone who has what he or she needs in order to take the inspired action. To become a wealthy, you must be an individual who thinks and manages money like the wealthy. For example, “the average wealthy person spends 10 times more time planning their finances than the average middle-class individual”, explains Thomas J. Stanley, author of “The Millionaire Next Door”.

Money and wealth can buy freedom…financial freedom. Very few wealthy people became wealthy overnight. Building wealth is a deliberate process that requires patience and planning.

If you want to be wealthy, you’ll need to develop a wealth mindset. Start by defining your financial goals: how much money do you want to have in a year’s time? Five year’s time?

To realize your financial goals, you’ll need to develop a wealth mindset, create and follow a plan, and continue to learn and grow. And remember, the road to wealth is bumpy and filled with detours and misconceptions.

In many ways, the health of your finances, as well as your physical health, depends on your mindset and emotional well-being. Thus, it’s important to make it a priority and to take time for you. When you focus on purpose, potential, curiosity and collaboration, you will experience increased energy and well-being. Because, what you focus on…expands!

“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.” – Unknown

References:

  1. https://wealthfit.com/articles/wealth-mindset/
  2. https://wealthconnecters.com/wealth-mindset
  3. https://www.audible.com/pd/Wealth-Is-a-Mindset-Audiobook/B07MWHKS46
  4. Draper, Taylor, “Mind Matters”, Costco Connection, May 2021, pg. 17.
  5. https://bydeze.com/why-mindset-is-everything/
  6. https://nevadapartners.org/2021/05/21/12-real-differences-between-a-wealthy-mindset-vs-a-poor-mindset/

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Socrates

* Habits are consistent, unconscious patterns. They constantly express our character and result in our effectiveness or ineffectiveness. Habits are deeply ingrained and we are constantly pulled in their direction.

Building Resilience

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“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Reinhold Niebuhr

The author of “Healthy Brain, Happy Life” and “Good Anxiety” explains how to harness the power of anxiety into unexpected gifts.

We are living in the age of anxiety. There are about 40 million Americans— or 18% of the population—suffering from clinical anxiety disorders today.

Anxiety is a situation that often makes you feel as if you are locked into an endless cycle of stress, uncertainty, and worry. But, there are ways to leverage your anxiety to help you solve problems and fortify your wellbeing, explains Dr. Wendy Suzuki, PhD, a neuroscientist and professor of Neural Science and Psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University. Thus, instead of seeing anxiety strictly as a problem or curse to dread, you recognize it as the unique gift that it is.

Dr. Suzuki has discovered a paradigm-shifting truth about anxiety: yes, it is uncomfortable, but it is also essential for your survival. In fact, anxiety is a key component of your ability to live optimally. Every emotion you experience has an evolutionary purpose, and anxiety is designed to draw your attention to vulnerability. If you simply approach it as something to avoid, get rid of, or dampen, you actually miss an opportunity to improve your life. Listening to your anxieties from a place of curiosity, and without fear or worry, can actually guide you onto a path that leads to inner peace and joy.

Drawing on her own struggles and based on cutting-edge research, Dr. Suzuki has developed strategies for managing unwarranted anxiety and exercises you can do to build your resiliency and mental strength. The exercises include:

Visualize positive outcomes

At the beginning or at the end of each day, think through all those uncertain situations currently in your life — both big and small. Now take each of those and visualize the most optimistic and amazing outcome to the situation. Not just the “okay” outcome, but the best possible one you could imagine.

This process of visualizing “the most optimistic and amazing outcome” should build the muscle of expecting the positive outcome and might even open up ideas for what more you might do to create that outcome of your dreams.

Turn anxiety into progress

Our brain’s plasticity is what enables us to be resilient during challenging times — to learn how to calm down, reassess situations, reframe our thoughts and make smarter decisions.

Reach out

Asking for help, staying connected to friends and family, and actively nurturing supportive, encouraging relationships not only enables you to keep anxiety at bay, but also shores up the sense that you’re not alone.

The belief and feeling that you are surrounded by people who care about you is crucial during times of enormous stress — when you need to fall back on your own resilience in order to persevere and maintain your well-being.

When we are suffering from loss or other forms of distress, it’s natural to withdraw. Yet you also have the power to push yourself into the loving embrace of those who can help take care of you.

Practice positive self-tweeting

Lin-Manual Miranda sends out tweets at the beginning and end of each day. The tweets are essentially upbeat little messages that are funny, singsongy and generally delightful.

If you watch him, you’ll see an inherently resilient, mentally strong and optimistic person.

For you to be that resilient, productive and creative, it’s essential to come up with positive reminders. You don’t necessarily need to share them. The idea is to boost yourself up at the beginning and at the end of the day.

This can be difficult for those who automatically beat themselves up. Instead, think about what your biggest supporter in life — a spouse, partner, sibling, friend, mentor or parent — would tell you, and then tweet, remind or say it to yourself.

Although popular science continues to suggests that persistent, low-level anxiety is detrimental to your health, performance, and wellbeing, but if you could learn how to harness the brain activation underlying your anxiety and make it work for you, you could turn anxiety into superpower, says Dr. Suzuki.

Her research and her own experience demonstrate that this paradigm shift from bad to good anxiety can accelerate focus and productivity, boosts performance, lead to happiness, create compassion, and foster more creativity.

Twenty-five positive quotes and reminders to build resilience:

  1. You’re awesome, Bro.
  2. You can do all things through Christ which strengthens you!
  3. Believe in yourself; have faith in your abilities!
  4. Everyday, in every way, you’re getting better and better, dude!
  5. “Great minds discuss ideas.” Eleanor Roosevelt
  6. “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” Robert Collier
  7. “Be patient with yourself.” Stephen Covey
  8. “People will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou
  9. “Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the world belongs to you.” Lao Tzu
  10. “If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.” Andrew Carnegie
  11. “Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” Denis Waitley
  12. “Happiness never decreases by being shared.” Buddha
  13. “The secret of health for both mind and body…is to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” Buddha
  14. “Happiness…is appreciating what you have.”
  15. “We make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill
  16. “Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty.” Charles Dickens
  17. “He is a wise man who rejoices for the things which he has.” Epictetus
  18. “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more.” Oprah Winfrey
  19. “Open your eyes and your heart to a truly precious gift–today.” Steve Maraboli
  20. “This is the day the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad in it.”
  21. “Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.” Brené Brown
  22. “Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.” T. Harv Eker
  23. “Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” Christopher Robin
  24. “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal.” Thomas Jefferson
  25. “Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.” Theodore Roosevelt

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs–even though checkered by failure–than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt

References:

  1. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/31/do-these-exercises-every-day-to-build-resilience-and-mental-strength-says-neuroscientist.html
  2. https://www.wendysuzuki.com
  3. https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/top-350-inspiring-motivational-quotes-to-tweet-and-share.html

Believe in Yourself and Know What You Want

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“If you don’t know what you want, it’s difficult—often impossible—to create or to get what you want in life.” Paul J. Meyers

People generally think they know what they want, but in practice, they do not. Generally, they don’t know what they really want in life or want to do. Additionally, they don’t know where to start, don’t have a plan, and don’t where to look for help to change that.

American author Mark Twain said he could teach anyone how to get what they want; he just couldn’t find anyone who truly knew what they wanted. Being unclear on what you want is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to getting what you want and success. Paul Meyer, founder of Success Motivation Institute, says if you’re not achieving the success you desire, it’s simply because your objectives are not clearly defined. Your goals need to be written, specific and measurable.

Hundred of thousands of people live there lives without purpose or goals. If you don’t want to spend your life wandering aimlessly, you should dedicate your waking hours determining exactly what you want in life and making plans to achieve those goals.

“Crystallize your goals. Make a plan for achieving them and set yourself a deadline. Then, with supreme confidence, determination and disregard for obstacles and other people’s criticisms, carry out your plan.” Paul J. Meyer

Knowing what you want.

If you don’t know what you really want in life, you’re not alone. While most people may think they know what they want, they’re often wrong.

Positive mindset, attitude and focus are vitally important attributes. The attributes are required to reach your goals and to realize your dreams. Thus, you should have a real understanding that you are responsible and capable of creating your reality regardless of the various obstacles you might encounter along the way. According to Inc. Magazine, here are six steps to help you achieve what you want:

1. Make a decision to have what you want, even if you don’t know how to get it. Most people are tentative when it comes to being specific. Instead, be confident in declaring what you want and be comfortable with the fact that you don’t yet have a plan, but you do know what you want.

2. Be clear about the details of the outcome. You should focus on what you do want, not what you don’t want. Practice visualizing yourself in the situation you want to create. You must be clear about what you want, like financial freedom, finding the perfect partner or a happy life. You must imagine the look, feel and sound of the perfect situation for you in your life.

3. Detach from the process. Not knowing “how” to do something holds many people back. The “how to do it,” instructions will appear after you have clearly defined what you want.

4. Believe in yourself and expect that it will happen. You need to believe in yourself and in the creative process. Winners expect to win. A shortage of belief causes many people to give up or never begin in the first place. Believe and set an expectation that what you want will, in fact, appear. It may not appear in the way you thought or at the precise time. You may even experience frustration, anxiety or impatience trying to control the outcome.

“When you believe in yourself, others tend to believe in you.” Paul J. Meyers

5. Be open to possibility when things don’t go your way. The path to the outcome may show up in ways you never imagined before. Suspend judgment of how things should be done and consider that the very thing you think is a deterrent may be the very thing you need to get what you want. Many times, people, circumstances and resources will show up, but you’ll miss the connection. This is where not knowing how, while keeping your eye on the goal, is important.

6. Practice gratitude. Be thankful for the things you have in your life right now. Look at your challenges as opportunities to grow. When you practice being thankful for specific events in your life, even when you don’t understand why they appear in your life, your ability to manifest accelerates almost to the speed of thought.

Getting what you want is not always simple and easy. Challenges, emotions, other people’s negative views and comments can set you back. But in the end, it all comes back down to your choice, commitment, effort and most of all…attitude. It’s essential to choose what you want, believe in your abilities, trust the process, have faith that it will happen and embrace the right attitude.

That is why “attitude is everything”.

“Attitude is everything,” according to Meyers. “It doesn’t matter where you are or what you’re doing, it all has to do with attitude. And then I have an I will-not-be denied attitude. And that’s an incredible thing to have. I don’t look to my weakness; I look to my strength. I don’t look to my problems; I look to my power. It’s all about attitude.”

“When winners choose a goal, their commitment to achieving it is firm and steadfast,” says Meyers. “When winners are confronted with hurdles or run into stumbling blocks, they go over them or turn them into stepping stones. Winners pursue their goals persistently until they succeed.”

Every day, you should strive for increased clarity around your goals and knowing what you really want. Having clarity about what you want keeps you moving toward it.

References:

  1. https://ninaamir.com/the-importance-of-knowing-what-you-want/
  2. https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/7-ways-find-out-what-you-really-want-life.html
  3. http://successnet.org/cms/goals/top-ten-reasons-people-dont-achieve-their-goals
  4. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-second-noble-truth/201711/you-dont-know-what-you-want
  5. https://www.inc.com/stephanie-frank/6-steps-to-get-anything-you-want-even-if-you-dont-know-how.html
  6. https://www.success.com/paul-j-meyer-what-it-takes-to-be-a-winner/

Wealthy Mindset

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“Training and managing your own mind is the most important skill you could ever own, in terms of both happiness and success.” – T. Harv Eker

The right mindset can help you on the road to wealth. And, your mind–which refers to your subconscious thoughts and beliefs–represents the biggest obstacle to your financial success and freedom.

The human mind has evolved over the centuries as a self-survival mechanism. It’s not designed to make you happy, or to help you build wealth and achieve financial freedom, it’s designed to protect you and look for and respond to things that are perceived to be wrong or life threatening.

Develop a wealthy mindset

If you want to be wealthy and achieve financial freedom, you have to stop thinking (and acting) like a broke person! It’s that simple.

A starting point in this process is to observe each thought as it comes into your mind and determine if it is supportive or non-supportive thought.

When you change the way you think about money, success, wealth, and financial freedom, you can create the life you’ve always wanted.

“Understanding your past attitudes towards money and changing them if need be”, according to T. Harv Eker. “The only way to permanently change the temperature in the room is to reset the thermostat. In the same way, the only way to change your level of financial success “permanently” is to reset your financial thermostat. But it is your choice whether you choose to change.”

At the end of the day, becoming successful in business is more about your mindset, passion, and determination than it is about your product or service. Mindset is what separates those who are truly successful from the people who are struggling to get by.

It is important that you discover what you’ve been conditioned or taught to believe about money that keeps you from having more of it, according to T. Harv Eker. By assessing your subconscious beliefs about money, you can finally break through the barriers to your financial success and freedom.

Anyone can create financial freedom if they have the right money mindset.

A true measure of your wealth is not your income, but your net worth. Your net worth grows with your selfworth. There is no time better than now to open yourself to receive massive amounts of financial success in your life.

It’s no secret that the wealthy tend to be frugal with their money. While they excel at saving and spending wisely, they also know that one of the best ways to grow their money and accumulate wealth is to invest some of what they earn in buying assets. 

If you aren’t doing what you want to do and you’re not where you want to be, there’s something you don’t know.

Three things involved to create wealth:

  • The right vehicle
  • The right knowledge (generalized knowledge, specific knowledge)
  • The right you (mindset, attitude, belief, habits & character)

Determine how good you are at what you do and get paid for the results your produce instead of your time.

Financial freedom

“It’s been proven time and time again that long-term investing can produce significantly more wealth than short term trading, yet many Americans fail to make the most of their best long-term investment vehicle: their workplace retirement plan,” writes Todd Campbell, author of Your Guide to Better Stock Picks, in a piece for The Motley Fool.

Top advice for developing a wealthy mindset, explains T. Harv Eker:

  • Do not to listen to the negatives in your life and believe in your own convictions.
  • Training and managing your own mind is the most important skill you could ever own, in terms of happiness and financial success.
  • If you aren’t doing what you want to do and you’re not where you want to be, there’s something you don’t know.
  • Enjoy every aspect of what you do: how you do anything is how you do everything in life.

References:

  1. https://www.harveker.com/blog/6-steps-for-wealth-in-business/
  2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2012/02/06/how-to-master-the-inner-game-of-wealth/
  3. https://www.shortform.com/pdf/secrets-of-the-millionaire-mind-pdf-t-harv-eker
  4. https://www.millionairemindworld.com

Life on the Edge

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“As you get older, the days go by quicker and you need to make the time count.” Mary Peachin, Octogenarian

As you age, it becomes more important to “live each day right to the limit”, states octogenarian Mary Peachin, in Costco Connection magazine, September 2021, Members Connection. Peachin has “walk the talk” and lived her life as a self proclaim world-traveling, deep sea diving adrenaline junkie. “If your body aches, you ignore it and keep on trucking”, she preaches.

When it comes to going after what you love in life, do not take no for an answer. You should expect and intend to live a life well lived and always believe the best is yet to come

“Life is too short not to enjoy it.”

Make your life happen and take action today. Be amongst the few who dared to live their dreams. Live your life in such a way that there is no regret.

Time is short; live every day for a higher purpose. Let’s invest the limited time we have on your life’s purpose and mission. Do not focus on your problems and challenges; instead focus on purpose and destination.

Life is brief and it passes quickly. The average American male lives to be 70 years 4 months. The average American female lives 70 years 4 months. To live life to its fullest, it is not the quantity of your life, but the quality.

Time is running out for all of us.

“Your job will not take care of you when your elderly and sick, your friends and family will.”

  1. Select a few friends to be close to in your life and communicate and strengthen your relationship with them
  2. Get over those who disappoint you and refuse to let those people steal your joy
  3. Lift up and encourage those who are recovering from failure. Treat people with Grace.
  4. Ignore your critics. Decide to see the good in the experience and growth, the lessons you learned and the relationships you made.
  5. Stay fully focused on your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Believe the best! Christ teaches us to believe the best…faith, hope and love. Remember to rejoice and be glad. If God is for us, who can be against us!

The most effective way to live life on the edge is to “find an edge and Live there”, states Peachin. And, you can start to “find an edge” by writing down your dreams and priorities in life, and then focusing on fulfilling those written dreams and priorities. It starts with knowing what you want, and it ends with getting what you wanted. It’s often that simple.

Save for and invest in the things that matter most!

In every positive or negative situation, there are always options. Remember you are the one pulling the strings, and when things look hopeless, it’s because you’re choosing not look at the things that truly matter. You’re choosing to see the the bad stuff, and they have little to do with your ability to change your circumstances. The trick is that you have to see the ocean of opportunity, not that little bucket of water (problems) that you tripped over.

We must decide to see the good and not dwell on the failure, but instead focus on the positives from the experience. Limits do not exist. You have weaknesses of course and we all do, but focus on your strengths. Remember if you’re feeling scared and fearful, it means you’re trying something new.

People don’t run marathons because it feels good.

When you feel bad about your situation, you’re thinking about the mistakes of yesterday, and not the opportunity of right now and the hope for tomorrow. You’re thinking about what has and what can go wrong, and not what can go right.

When you’re feeling defeated and discouraged, ascertain what you’re really focusing on. It important to focus on how far you’ve come, the opportunities that lie ahead, and the resources available you have to go forward.

“What you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it.” Oprah Winfrey

Always think bigger and focus on your purpose. Build the world as you want it to be.

References:

  1. Costco Connection, September 2021, Vol. 36, No. 9, pg. 119
  2. https://personalexcellence.co/blog/101-ways-to-live-your-life-to-the-fullest/

“Those who are the happiest are not necessarily those for whom life has been easiest. Emotional stability results from an attitude. It is refusing to yield to depression and fear, even when black clouds float overhead. It is improving that which can be improved and accepting that which is inevitable.” ― James C. Dobson, Life on the Edge: The Next Generation’s Guide to a Meaningful Future

Difficult Financial Conversations

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The financial realities of being a woman — 4 out of 10 people—men and women alike—do not realize that women need to save more for retirement. Life expectancy, the pay gap, health care costs, and career interruptions due to caregiving are all contributing factors, according to Fidelity Investments Women Talk Money.

Video: 5 Investing Conversations to Have Now with guest: Anna Sale, host of the podcast “Death, Sex and Money” and author of “How to Talk About Hard Things”
Hosted by Lorna Kapusta, Head of Women Investors at Fidelity Investments

“Money is like oxygen. It’s all around us. We can pretend it’s not but we need it to breathe. When you don’t have enough you really feel it.” Anna Sale, host of the podcast “Death, Sex and Money” and author of the book “How to Talk About Hard Things”

“Money is at once a tool which is the choices we make around money, what we spend it on, how we save it”‘ says Anna Sale. “And money is also a symbol which brings up all these questions about am I enough, am I worthy enough, am I living up to all these expectations for myself. When we talk about money as a tool, sometimes the symbolic ways that money kind of makes us feel lots of big feelings can distort those conversations about money being a tool.”

References:

  1. https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/personal-finance/women-talk-money/investing

Quote: Freedom Involves Risk

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“To laugh is to risk appearing the fool,

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental,

To reach out for another is to risk involvement,

To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self,

To place ideas and dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss,

To love is to risk not being loved in return,

To live is to risk dying,

To hope is to risk despair,

To try is to risk failure,

But risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love and live. Chained by certitudes, he is a slave, he has forfeited freedom.

Only a person who risks is free.”

Author Unknown

“Freedom is never free. It requires risk taking.” Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Things to Consider When Saving, Investing and Building Wealth

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Saving for the future, investing to grow your money and building wealth has little to do with the economic cycle, the stock market valuation or even how much money you earn.

It’s your mindset that can hinder your financial outcome and keep you trapped at an unsatisfying level of financial success. And, unless you can embrace a positive financial mindset, your ability to save, invest and build wealth will be hindered for the rest of your financial life.

The process of investing and wealth-building can be improved by a adhering to the following tips to set yourself up for potential financial success and freedom:

1. Start Early

It’s important to invest a percentage of your salary each month. And, starting early could be a way to dramatically increase your savings over time. The good thing about starting early is you can get the benefits of compound interest!

2. Set Investment Goals

Are you saving up to buy a house? Or putting money away for retirement? Investing with a purpose will help you determine the right strategy and keep you on track to pursue your financial goals. Determine your financial freedom number.

3. Know Your Time Horizon

If you think you’ll need the money within the next five years, you might consider less volatile investments, like fixed income securities. Investing for the long-term (think: 15 or more years)?  You might think about adopting a less conservative strategy.

4. Assess Your Risk Level

Knowing how much risk you’re willing to take on will help you narrow down your investment choices and keep you from letting your emotions guide your investing during periods of high market volatility.

5. Analyze Your Budget

Take your monthly income and take a list of your monthly expenses and create a budget (for instance, the popular 50/30/20 budget). By looking at your spending, you may discover extra money to invest each month.

6. Know Your Investment Choices

Familiarize yourself with different investment types to see what makes sense for you. Are you interested in international stocks and ETFs (exchange-traded funds)? Maybe bonds and mutual funds?

7. Go It Alone or Use an Advisor

If you’re the independent type, you may be drawn to Self-Directed Trading. Or if you prefer an advisor or to automate your investments with a Robo Portfolio.

8. Consider Avoiding Individual Stocks and Bonds; Invest in Market Index Funds

If you’re still learning the ropes, you might be more comfortable sticking to broader based investments like index funds and ETFs. These types of investments require less of your time and are less risky since they invest in numerous companies. As an alternative, an market index fund is an investment that tracks a market index, typically made up of stocks, like the S&P 500, or bonds. Index funds typically invest in all the components that are included in the index they track,

9. Diversify Your Portfolio

If all your investments are your company’s stock, and they go out of business, you’ll wish you had a diversified portfolio. You may reduce your risk by holding a variety of securities that react differently to market changes.

10. Think Long-term

History shows whenever the market takes a dip due to volatility, it eventually bounces back. Be patient and disciplined: Give your money time, make consistent contributions and wait out inevitable market downturns.

11. Don’t Forget High Interest Debt

School loans or credit card debt can make allocating money to investments a tough choice. It’s possible to reduce your debt and invest, and we can help you accomplish both.

12. Get Your Match

Many employers offer a 401(k) match, which can be a great incentive to invest for retirement, helping you to potentially build tax deferred savings.

13. Save and Invest for Retirement

When you’re young, retirement seems like eons away — but for many, regardless of age, now is the best time to start saving for your golden years. You may consider looking into Traditional and Roth IRAs to get started. The typical retirement strategy is built on the pillars of your pension, 401(k) plan, your Traditional IRA, and taxable savings.

14. Automate Your Contributions and Pay Yourself First

Pay yourself first instead of saving what remains after monthly expenses. Set up recurring investments to take advantage of dollar cost averaging. With this strategy, instead of trying to time the market, you invest the same amount each month — sometimes you might buy high, but other times, you’ll purchase low.

15. Beware of Fads

Just because everyone is jumping on the latest meme stock or investing app doesn’t mean you should. Fad stocks are often unpredictable, so if this doesn’t align with your investment strategy, feel confident to sit them out.

16. Be Informed

A prospectus sheet details the performance of a company to help you understand its stock performance. And digital tools can help you track your investments, too. If you cannot dedicate time to read and research, invest in a market index fund which is one of the easiest and most effective ways for investors to build wealth.

17. Don’t Neglect Your Emergency (or Peace of Mind) Fund

Investing grows your money and helps build long-term financial freedom, but you need to be prepared for short-term unexpected expenses. So when setting out on your own, don’t forget to start setting aside funds in an emergency (or peace of mind) fund. This money should be liquid (not invested in securities), so you can access it for unexpected expenses.

18. Watch Out for Fees

Some brokers will charge a commission fee whenever you buy or sell stocks, which add up and make a dent in your overall returns. Trade U.S. stocks and ETFs commission-free with our Self-Directed Trading.

19. Ask for Help

Investing can get complicated. Don’t be afraid to reach out to a financial advisor for advice and support.

20. Adjust as You Go

As life circumstances change, it might make sense to move your money into different types of investment accounts or change up how much you contribute. Any time your financial circumstances change, remember to reassess your financial goals, plan and investments.

21. Create and Follow a Financial Plan

Every living adult needs to financially plan. A financial plan is a comprehensive overview of your financial goals, net worth, cash flow, debt, taxes, risk tolerance, time horizon and it provides the steps you need to take to achieve and manage them.

22. Investing has risks.

No one knows exactly what will happen in the future and investments could lose money, so be aware of how much you are able to invest and be comfortable leaving it there for a period of time since it may have ups and downs.

23. A Wealthy (or Positive Financial) Mindset

It’s imperative that you refocus your mindset and change how you think about yourself, your finances, and the world around you. If you keep thinking about things the same way, you’re going to get the same results. Change in the world around you doesn’t happen until you change yourself. Embrace and grow your positive financial mindset about money, wealth and financial freedom.

Getting Started

Getting started is often the hardest step for most new investor to take, but starting to invest today is advice worth implementing! “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago; the second best time is today.” And, what’s true for a tree is also true for growing your money.

References:

  1. https://www.ally.com/do-it-right/investing/things-to-know-when-investing-in-your-20s/
  2. https://www.harveker.com/blog/11-principles-infographic-financial-freedom/

Financial Paradigm

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“We think we see the world as it is, when in fact we see the world as we are.” Stephen R. Covey

Paradigms [pronounced para-dimes], like mindset, represent your views of the world, your explanations for what you observe in and think about the world around you. 

You think that you see the world as it is. In fact, you really see the world as you are, Stephen Covey wrote in his seminal book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. “We project onto the outside world, our environment, the people we associate with, including how we see ourselves. We project out of our own conditioning experiences, our own background, a certain representation, a certain model, a certain set of expectations, a certain assumption on that reality out there. We think that’s the way it is.”

As a metaphor, compare your paradigms to the lenses in your glasses.  What you see isn’t a completely accurate reflection of reality, it is shaped by your beliefs, thoughts, feelings, attitudes, behaviors and perceptions. Yet, “We are not our feelings. We are not our moods. We are not even our thoughts… self-awareness enables us to stand apart and examine even the way we ‘see’ ourselves,” according to Stephen R. Covey.

Your paradigms shape how you interpret the world, and your interpretation governs how you behave; thus, changing the lens we use in deciding how to change your behavior. Each person’s experiences and biology creates different paradigms, so two people with different paradigms can look at the same facts, interpret them completely differently, and both be right.

Covey referred to paradigm as a map; it is a map of your perceptions, your frame of reference, your worldview, your value-system, your autobiography that you’re projecting upon the outside world.

Paradigms are natural and inevitable, and they are useful to you in many ways.  However, sometimes your paradigms can become so far removed from reality that they become dysfunctional. 

A “paradigm shift” occurs when your paradigms change, allowing you to see the world in a new and different perspective.  Sometimes this can happen suddenly, and sometimes very gradually. 

“Paradigms are powerful because they create the lens through which we see the world. If you want small changes in your life, work on your attitude. But if you want big changes, work on your paradigm.” Stephen R. Covey

Any true happiness or fulfillment or success will have to come from the inside-out, and be based upon a sound character, Covey repeatedly stated. His message was a simple one: “for true success and meaning in life, we must be principle-centered in all areas [purpose, health, emotional well-being and financial] of life”. A teacher at heart, he often taught, “There are three constants in life: change, choice and principles.”

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Albert Einstein

Most behavioral financial experts focus on an investor’s behavior and on emotions. Without a doubt, both of those concepts are very important regarding investing, but far more fundamental than either behavior or emotion, is a positive paradigm and a financial mindset. 

When you understand what’s guiding your emotions, thoughts and behavior, you can make a conscious effort to refrain from acting out of those paradigms and actually choose how you respond to a person or situation. 

Dr. Stephen R. Covey often proclaimed that, “the quickest way to change your paradigm is to change your role.” Become a successful investor. A parent. A leader. A business owner. It will alter your perspective overnight. You’ll see everything from a different point of view and mindset. 

Be Grateful. Be Kind. Be Generous. Be at Peace.

And, Have a Positive Financial Mindset: When People are Genuinely Happy at the Financial Successes of Others, the Wealth Pie Gets Larger.

References:

  1. https://resources.franklincovey.com/blog/paradigms
  2. http://people.tamu.edu/~v-buenger/658/Steven_Covey.html
  3. https://resources.franklincovey.com/mkt-7hv1/paradigms-src
  4. https://www.shortform.com/blog/change-your-paradigm-change-your-behavior-7-habits/