Tag Archives: Emotional Well-being

Long-Term Investing

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“Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas.” — Paul Samuelson

Everyone is a long-term investor up to the moment the stock market correction or crash occurs. “During bull markets, everyone believes that he is committed to stocks for the long term,” opines Billionaire investor William J. Bernstein. “Unfortunately, history also tells us that during bear markets, you can hardly give stocks away. Most investors are simply not capable of withstanding the vicissitudes of an all-stock investment strategy.

Yet, successful investing is a long game. It takes “time, patience and discipline”, says Warren Buffett. When you put money to work in markets it’s best to set it and forget it. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett quipped, “Over the long term, the stock market news will be good. In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a fly epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497.”

Myopic Loss Aversion

Investors must manage the battle between fear and greed in their heads and stomachs to be successful in building wealth in the long term. Unfortunately, the fear of loss is generally a more powerful force that overwhelms many investors during periods of steep losses in stock prices.

Even though they don’t plan to liquidate the investment for decades, many investors panic during market corrections and bear markets; causing them to miss out on the often sharp recovery in prices that follows.

Being a long-term investor is more about inner attitude, about positive mindset and about behavior then the asset holding timeframe. Being a long-term investor requires a confidence based on clarity of purpose, rigorous research, and insightful analysis.

Long-term investors should invest in sustainable and growing companies – companies that are likely to be around and that are increasing their intrinsic value for the long term.

Behavior is an essential value of a long-term investor since behavior drives results. Thus, staying calm during a downturn is indeed a critical quality of any long-term investor,

For long-term investors, if you are clear about your investment principles, confident in your investment’s thesis, and genuinely believe in your investment strategy, a market downturn is the best time to invest in companies.

Overall, investing is all about focusing on your financial goals and ignoring the noise and mania of the markets and the financial media. That means buying and holding for the long term, regardless of any news that might move you to try and time the market. “There is only one way of investing, and that is long term,” says Vid Ponnapalli, a CFP and owner of Unique Financial Advisors and Tax Consultants in Holmdel, N.J.

Investor, Mohnish Pabrai, says it best, “You don’t make money when you buy stocks, and you don’t make money when you sell stocks. You make money by waiting.”

“Successful Investing takes time, discipline and patience. No matter how great the talent or effort, some things just take time: You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.” Warren Buffett

References:

  1. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/tips-for-long-term-investing/
  2. https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b18x07sykt3psy/What-Long-Term-Investor-Really-Means
  3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbes-shook/2022/05/10/an-investors-mind-6-ways-it-can-block-the-path-to-long-term-wealth/?sh=7ca749405f7c

The Great Benefits and Joy of Movement

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“Anytime you engage in regular activity, you’re becoming this version of yourself that is more hopeful, more motivated, more energized, and better able to connect with others.” ~Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D.

Knowing only great benefits and happiness will result from movement, why are Americans so resistant to making movement a priority in their day?

While our brains and bodies reward us for moving and exertion, we also are built with an instinct to avoid overexertion, conserve energy, to rest, to avoid discomfort, and avoid failure and embarrassment, says Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., a research psychologist, a lecturer at Stanford University, and an award-winning science writer and author of The Joy of Movement.

To retrain our bodies to encourage movement, we must first start with self-compassion and the practice of gratitude. We must remove the negative connotations from movement and recognize how the practice of movement can be really rewarding on its own.

“Exercise is health-enhancing and life-extending, yet many of us feel it’s a chore.” Kelly McGonigal

Research shows, according to Dr. McGonigal, there are three motivations that keep people moving:

  • Enjoyment – doing something you actually enjoy
  • The activity provides social community or sense of identity (i.e. “I’m a runner”), … positive social connection, and
  • It’s a personal challenge and meaningful to you as you’re making progress toward a goal.

If you can find an activity that gives you all three – you’re hooked for life! Exercise is health-enhancing and life-extending, yet many of us feel it’s a chore and burden.

Movement can be a source of joy and is intertwined with some of the most basic human joys, including self-expression, social connection, and mastery–and why it is a powerful antidote to the modern epidemics of depression, anxiety, and loneliness.

Basically, bliss can be found in any sustained physical activity, whether that’s hiking, swimming, cycling, dancing, or yoga. However, the runner’s high emerges only after a significant effort. It seems to be the brain’s way of rewarding you for working hard.

McGonigal tells the stories of people who have found fulfillment and belonging through running, walking, dancing, swimming, weightlifting, and more, with examples that span the globe.

Along the way, Dr. McGonigal paints a portrait of human nature that highlights our capacity for hope, cooperation, and self-transcendence.

Movement is integral to both our happiness and our humanity. By harnessing the power of movement, you can create happiness, meaning, and connection in your life.

The latest theory about the runner’s high claims that: Our ability to experience exercise-induced euphoria is linked to our earliest ancestors’ lives as hunters, scavengers, and foragers.

As biologist Dennis Bramble and paleoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman write, “Today, endurance running is primarily a form of exercise and recreation, but its roots may be as ancient as the origin of the human genus.”

The neurochemical state that makes running gratifying may have originally served as a reward to keep early humans hunting and gathering. What we call the runner’s high may even have encouraged our ancestors to cooperate and share the spoils of a hunt.

In our evolutionary past, humans may have survived in part because physical activity was pleasurable. It takes about six weeks of consistent moderate movement to see structural and neurochemical changes in your brain. And, increase intensity amplifies the benefits. The harder stuff seems to payoff. Exercise gets easier and more pleasurable sooner.

The key to unlocking the runner’s high is not the physical action of running itself, but can be achieved on continuous moderate intensity exercise. And in fact scientists have documented a similar increase in endocannabinoids from cycling, walking on a treadmill at an incline, and outdoor hiking.

If you want the high, you just have to put in the time and effort. 

References:

  1. https://getmadefor.com/blogs/perspective/the-joy-of-movement-how-looking-backwards-moves-us-forward
  2. https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Movement-exercise-happiness-connection/dp/0525534105/ref=nodl

Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., is a research psychologist, a lecturer at Stanford University, and an award-winning science writer and author of The Joy of Movement.

An Attitude of Gratitude

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“Be in a state of gratitude for everything that shows up in your life. Be thankful for the storms as well as the smooth sailing. What is the lesson or gift in what you are experiencing right now? Find your joy not in what’s missing in your life but in how you can serve.” Wayne Dyer

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful. It’s a readiness to show appreciation

Gratitude is a foundational element to building wealth. Gratitude allows you to find joy in and focus on what you already have because envy is the stealer of wealth and comparison is the thief of joy.  If you are constantly comparing yourself to others you will never have enough. You will feel empty and inadequate. You will not find happiness.

As media mogul Oprah Winfrey explains, “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”

“Gratitude turns what you have into enough.” Unknown

“Mother Theresa talked about how grateful she was to the people she was helping, the sick and dying in the slums of Calcutta, because they enabled her to grow and deepen her spirituality,” explains Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., is the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude and professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis.

Like Mother Theresa’s spiritual growth, there are several important reasons that gratitude can have transformative effects on your own life, according to Dr. Emmons. Additionally, there are four effects he sites:

1. Gratitude allows you to appreciate and celebrate the present. It magnifies positive emotions.

Research on emotion shows that positive emotions wear off quickly. Our emotional system likes newness and novelty. It likes change. You adapt to positive life circumstances so that before too long, the new car, the new spouse, the new house—they don’t feel so new and exciting anymore.

But gratitude makes you focus on and appreciate the value of something, and when you appreciate the value of something, you extract more benefits from it; you’re less likely to take it for granted, states Dr. Emmons.

In effect, gratitude allows you to participate more in life. You notice the positives more, and that magnifies the pleasures you get from life. Instead of adapting to goodness, you celebrate goodness. You spend more time watching and doing things with gratitude. Effectively, you become a greater participant in your life as opposed to being a spectator.

2. Gratitude blocks toxic, negative emotions, such as envy, resentment, regret—emotions that can destroy our happiness. A 2008 study by psychologist Alex Wood in the Journal of Research in Personality, showed that gratitude can reduce the frequency and duration of episodes of depression.

You cannot feel envious and grateful at the same time. They’re incompatible feelings. If you’re grateful, you can’t resent someone for having something that you don’t.

3. Grateful people are more stress resistant. There’s a number of studies showing that in the face of serious trauma, adversity, and suffering, if people have a grateful disposition, they’ll recover more quickly. In short, gratitude gives people a perspective from which they can interpret negative life events and help them guard against post-traumatic stress and lasting anxiety.

4. Grateful people have a higher sense of self-worth. When you’re grateful, you have the sense that someone else is looking out for you—someone else has provided for your well-being, or you notice a network of relationships, past and present, of people who are responsible for helping you get to where you are right now.

Once you start to recognize the contributions that other people have made to your life—once you realize that other people have seen the value in you—you can transform the way you see yourself.

Thus, it’s imperative for you to cultivate gratitude and to overcome the challenges to gratitude. You must put conscious and deliberate effort into practicing gratitude.

“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” Zig Ziglar

First is to keep a gratitude journal as a way to cultivate gratitude, says Dr. Emmons. This can mean listing just five things for which you’re grateful every week. This practice works because it consciously, intentionally focuses your attention on developing more grateful thinking and on eliminating ungrateful thoughts. It helps guard against taking things for granted; instead, you will see gifts in life as new and exciting. People who live a life of pervasive thankfulness really do experience life differently than people who cheat themselves out of life by not feeling grateful.

Another gratitude exercise is to practice counting your blessings on a regular basis, maybe first thing in the morning, maybe in the evening. What are you grateful for today? You don’t have to write them down on paper.

Additionally, you can use concrete reminders to practice gratitude, says Dr. Emmons. For example, a Vancouver family developed a practice of putting money in “gratitude jars.” At the end of the day, they put spare change into those gratitude jars. They had a regular reminder, a habit, to get them to focus on gratitude. When the jar became full, they gave away the money to a good cause within their community.

Gratitude journals and other gratitude practices seem simple and basic, but studies have shown that people who keep gratitude journals for just three weeks realize results that have been overwhelmingly beneficial in their lives, according to Dr. Emmons.

The bottomline is that having an ‘attitude of gratitude’ is the key ingredient to living your best and most rewarding life. It’s a practice and habit that we must all embrace.

“The ultimate path to enlightment is the cultivation of gratitude. When you’re grateful, fear disappears. When you’re grateful lack disapears. You feel a sense that life is uniquely blessed, but at the same time, you feel like you’re a part of everything that exists and you know that you are not the source of it.” Tony Robbins

References:

  1. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_gratitude_is_good
  2. https://thestrive.co/gratitude-quotes/
  3. https://blog.gratefulness.me/gratitude-quotes/

Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., is the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude. He is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and the founding editor-in-chief of The Journal of Positive Psychology. He is the author of the books Gratitude Works!: A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity and Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier.

The Optimist

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“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Winston Churchill

Research shows that optimists enjoy many health and lifestyle benefits, including greater achievement, greater health, a sense of persistence toward goals, greater emotional health, increased longevity, and lower reactivity to stress.

Promise Yourself

To be SO STRONG that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the GREATER ACHIEVEMENTS of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance AT ALL TIMES and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have NO TIME to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now wrote, “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the now the primary focus of your life. Whereas before you dwelt in time and paid brief visits to the now, have your dwelling place in the now and pay brief visits to the past and future when required to deal with the practical aspects of your life situation.”

Optimism is about seeing potential and working creatively with—but not being limited by— the challenges. Optimism combines having a positive outlook of what’s happening now and having a positive vision of the future.

The key to optimism is understanding how you are narrating the story of the events and experiences of your life. A story has many angles. But all the angles of the story don’t matter. What only matters is how you perceive the story, how you accept it and how you react to it. While we don’t have control over what’s occurring on Wall Street or Main Street, we do have control over how we interpret the events playing out in our own lives.

Optimism is about being positive and confident regarding our work and effort, something each of us is capable of doing in our own way. Research in Positive Psychology tells us that those who adopt an optimistic mindset are healthier, less prone to depression, live longer, and lead happier more satisfying lives.

Optimists look for opportunities for growth and positive change, but more importantly, they stay tethered to the present reality. It’s not about pretending that all is well or about avoiding challenging situations. It’s about thinking accurately, acting with confidence, making calculated risks, and when things go wrong, perceiving those setbacks as temporary, and using innovation, flexibility and resilience to learn from the fall and move forward.

“Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution.” – David J. Schwartz

References:

  1. https://www.verywellmind.com/become-more-of-an-optimist-3144818
  2. https://tamarchansky.com/tools/safe-optimism/
  3. https://www.optimist.org/Documents/creed_poster.pdf

 

Health, Wealth, Emotional Well-Being, Purpose and Success

Visualization: Your Life In Focus

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“The key to effective visualization is to create the most detailed, clear, and vivid a picture to focus on.”

Research shows that the more you focus on the things you desire, the better chance you have at getting them. Thus, knowing what you want and focusing on what you want are essential for success and achieving your best life.

As you might ascertain, having a clear direction of where you’re headed or where you want to go is essential. Without a clear purpose and goals, it can be very easy to get caught up in things that aren’t actually moving you forward in your life’s journey.

For example, struggling comedian and actor, Jim Carrey used to picture himself being the greatest actor in the world. When Carey was still a “wannabe” during one of his appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, he spoke about his early days trying to make it in the entertainment business. He was broke and had no future. But he took a blank check and wrote out $10 million dollars to himself for acting services rendered and dated it five year in the future.

Subsequently, he carried that check in his wallet at all times and looked at it every morning, visualizing receiving $10 million. Five years after he wrote the check to himself, he found out that he was going to earn $10 million from the movie “Dumb and Dumber.”

“Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe.” Oprah Winfrey

Vision boarding is an excellent way to get clear on your goals. Creating a vision board is a powerful way of getting to know yourself and what it is you truly want in your life.

A vision board is essentially a physical (or digital) manifestation of your goals. Vision boarding involves collecting images or objects that speak to the future you want to create and arranging them on a board for a tangible and aesthetically pleasing reminder of where you’re heading.

References:

  1. https://seatgeek.com/tba/articles/oprah-winfrey-2020-vision-tour-dates-tickets/
  2. https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-20630/8-successful-people-who-use-the-power-of-visualization.html
  3. https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/how-to-make-a-vision-board

 

“Success = Knowing, Growing, Acting and Serving.”

The Power of Visualization

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“Successful people, such as professional athletes and other top performers, have used visualization techniques to visualize their desired outcomes for ages.”

Visualization is one of the most powerful tools you can use to accomplish any goal you set for yourself. Visualization can be applied to help you improve your performance and be successful in all aspects of your life.

Visualization works because when you visualize, your mind and body don’t really know the difference between what you visualize and reality. When you visualize your goal, you create the thoughts, focus and energy that will help to pull that goal towards you.

The Power of Visualization.When you visualize, your body and mind react as if they were true. Many people believe that when you believe something to be true, you attract it to you – you make it true.

However, believing something to be true doesn’t necessarily make it happen. For many people taking action is challenging due to lack of confidence or a lack of belief in their goal. Visualization, because it taps directly into these emotions, can strengthen your belief in yourself, in your abilities and in your goals.

Additionally, visualization helps paint the scene so you can better plan and prepare for success. When you visualize your success as reality you can also visualize your path to get there.

Before taking the stage to speak to a large audience, Matt Mayberry, Maximum Performance Strategist and a former NFL linebacker, always picture himself giving the “perfect” speech. He would begin weeks in advance by picturing the audience and the positive reaction from the crowd. 

Top performers, among many others, have mastered the technique of positive visualization and openly credit it as a success tactic. Practice makes improvement. Practicing visualization isn’t just a fun exercise – the better you become at visualization the faster you will achieve the success you desire.

When you think of a big goal or dream that you want to achieve, it’s natural to think of all of the obstacles that will come your way. 

All top performers, regardless of profession, know well the importance of and consistently practice of picturing themselves succeeding in their minds before they actually do in reality. It is extremely effective when harnessed and used correctly.

“The key to effective visualization is to create the most detailed, clear, and vivid a picture to focus on.”

Research shows that the more you focus on the things you desire, the better chance you have at getting them. For example, struggling comedian and actor, Jim Carrey used to picture himself being the greatest actor in the world. When Carey was still a “wannabe” during one of his appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, he spoke about his early days trying to make it in the entertainment business. He was broke and had no future. But he took a blank check and wrote out $10 million dollars to himself for acting services rendered and dated it five year in the future.

Subsequently, he carried that check in his wallet at all times and looked at it every morning, visualizing receiving $10 million. Five years after he wrote the check to himself, he found out that he was going to earn $10 million from the movie “Dumb and Dumber.”

Consider two other examples:

  • Boxing champion and legend Muhammad Ali was always stressing the importance of seeing himself victorious long before the actual fight. 
  • Michael Jordan always took the last shot in his mind before he ever took one in real life.

As the examples demonstrate, you to can visualize and create an image of what you most desire. You create a detailed mental scene of what it looks like as you achieve your goal. Visualize it happening now, and the scene that is playing out.

There is a big difference in imaging your goals and making them feel so real your mind believes it has already happened. The more you surround yourself with imagery or words related to your goal, the more real it will become to you.

To make any habit stick, you need to continue to do that habit. The same goes for visualization, the more you practice the quicker you will be in the frame of mind that helps pave the way to success.

Visualization is extremely powerful in helping you achieve success and realize your goals. However, you will still need to put in the hard work and dedication. Don’t forget to repeat, repeat, repeat!

  • Picture yourself victorious – If you can’t see it, then it’s not going to happen. In order to achieve your biggest goals and dreams, you have to picture yourself victorious. You have to look beyond your current circumstances and past failures. While visualizing, it’s necessary to visualize as many details as you can. Re-create any feelings that are in alignment with your dreams. Make it part of your daily routine. You will be amazed at the improvement in your life and astounded when your dream is realized.
  • Create a vision board. – A vision board gives you the opportunity to actually see your goals. This vision board can be a poster board, a piece of paper, the back of a cardboard box, or anything. On the vision board, put pictures that illustrate what you desire in your life. On your vision board, you can also post quotes that embodied what you want and read them every single day.
  • Utilize the power of a trigger card – Your biggest goal and dream can be placed on a note card to serve as your trigger card. From your 3×5 index cards, read daily the goal you desire most. Get in the habit of doing this every day. Each morning and each night, read those index cards, close your eyes, and imagine yourself accomplishing and following through on that major goal of yours.

Get in the habit of putting together a positive vision into your everyday life. Visualize yourself succeeding, achieving every goal, accomplishing every task. The key is to make your positive vision stronger than anything that can set you back. The more vivid you can get, the better it will work for you. Start thinking of your personal goals in life. Spend about 10 to 15 minutes picturing yourself achieving each one.

Get as detailed as possible. Picture what you will do once your goal is reached. How amazing does it feel? How will this change the course of your life? Remember, the little details increase the likelihood of the big picture.

It’s important to understand that visualization alone isn’t enough. But, it is an integral part of the process of you becoming the best version of yourself. That’s the power of visualizing your dreams. That’s the power of dreaming. That’s the power of relentlessly believing and working toward your vision every single day.

If you can’t visualize yourself being extremely successful, dominating your profession, and running a phenomenal business, then chances are you never will.

References:

  1. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242373
  2. https://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/How_Visualization_Creates_Wealth_and_Success.html
  3. https://www.mbswithcalie.com/visualization-for-success/
  4. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/283241
  5. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242373

Albert Einstein Best Quotes

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“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein, a German-born physicist, has been widely regarded as one of the greatest minds and physicists of all time. In December 1932, he emigrated to the United States, renouncing his German citizenship after Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany.

In 1921, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to theoretical physics and discovery of the photoelectric effect.

Einstein was best known for developing the theory of relativity and the mass-energy equivalence formula E = mc2, often dubbed “the world’s most famous equation”.

During his life, he made many sayings about science, education, religion and life that continue to resonate today:

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

“Logic will get you from A to Z, imagination will get you everywhere.”

“Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.”

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

“Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”

Einstein’s words have inspired generations around the world to live life fully, and in a more positive, self aware and rewarding manner.

References:

  1. https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/remembering-albert-einstein-inspirational-quotes-of-the-nobel-laureate-on-143rd-birth-anniversary/ar-AAV19qr
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

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

Building Black Wealth Insights Study – U.S. Bank

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The racial wealth gap constrains the U.S. economy as a whole, resulting in $1-1.5 trillion in lost economic output and a 4-6% drag on America’s GDP.

The racial wealth gap in America is not just a ‘Black problem.’ It’s a problem that effects all Americans and is an ‘all of us’ challenge to remedy, according to U.S. Bank. “Extreme disparities and their persistent harm reach into every American’s future. We can all be energized by the opportunity to provide the tools of financial prosperity for Black families and other historically disadvantaged members of the American fabric because those benefits will be felt throughout our entire country. By working to close the racial wealth gap, we’re creating economic prosperity – more jobs, economic vitality – it’s better for business, for families and for communities. The racial wealth gap must be closed if we are to achieve our full potential as a nation,” says Greg Cunningham, SEVP, Chief Diversity Officer U.S. Bank

Building wealth and achieving financial security is a primary aspiration for most, but many communities, especially the African American community, face distinct systematic challenges in reaching these goals. And, the financial industry has an important role to play in eliminating the barriers and closing the racial wealth gap.

While everyone has a unique definition of financial security, it’s often defined as having peace of mind that their income is enough to cover both expected and unforeseen expenses.

U.S. Bank’s Building Black Wealth Insights Study attempts to understanding the needs, goals and challenges of the Black community. This research highlights many steps the financial industry must pursue to better serve the Black community, according to Gunjan Kedia, Vice Chairman, U.S. Bank Wealth Management and Investment Services.

In the United States, Black households hold significantly less wealth than white households, and over the last several decades, that gap continued to grow.2 While there has been some improvement, the net wealth of the average Black family today is less than 15 percent of that of a white family.1

The overall conclusion is that more work needs to be done to narrow the wealth gap; in fact, a 2018 analysis published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis posited, “no progress has been made in reducing income and wealth inequalities between Black and white households over the past 70 years.”3

Also, according to the Q2 2021 Bureau of Labor Statistics report, the median weekly earnings for Black men were $877, or 78.7 percent of the median for white men ($1,115).4

It may come as no surprise, then, that our survey found Black affluent respondents feel they are at a disadvantage compared to rest of the population. Nearly twice as many Black affluent individuals as Hispanic individuals in the survey stated they had been treated differently by the financial services industry due to their race – and nearly four times as many compared to Asian and white individuals.

Despite these barriers, we found that Black affluent individuals are more likely than non-Black (white, Hispanic and Asian) affluent respondents to:

  • Have clearly defined financial goals.
  • Have a strong financial plan that helps guide their decisions.
  • Believe they are better at managing their finances than their parents.
  • Be more comfortable discussing money matters freely with friends and family.

U.S. financial institutions must acknowledge that they played a historical role in creating and sustaining present and persistent gaps in wealth by race and ethnicity. According to the Federal Reserve’s 2019 report, there is an 8:1 gap in wealth between white and Black families, and a 5:1 gap in wealth between white and Hispanic families.1 Financial institutions must not only acknowledges this history, but be willing to leverage the unique skills and expertise of its they possess to build wealth in African American communities and help close those gaps.

U.S. financial institutions must make a commitment to address this persistent racial wealth gap.

To help build wealth, banks and financial institutions must reduce actual and perceived barriers to their services, and redefine how they intend to serve the special needs of racially diverse communities. They must make a commitment to support businesses owned by people of color, help individuals and communities of color advance economically, and enhance career opportunities for employees and prospective employees

It must start by banks and financial institutions listening to and learning from their diverse customers and communities. “We are starting with the Black community, because that is where the wealth gap is greatest. We’ll continue to listen and learn in order to take steps to support lasting change,” explains Mark Jordahl, President U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

Despite the historical and current barriers faced by Black individuals, there are abundant opportunities by banks and financial institutions to cl,ose the wealth gap. And,
there is still much that industry leaders can do to support Black affluent individuals – and Black individuals at all economic levels. A few thought starters, according to U.S. Bank, are:

  • Advisor training – Ensure employees at all levels are trained to recognize their own individual biases and to treat all individuals with fairness – whether they’re greeting someone at a bank counter or considering approval for a loan product.
  • Advisor awareness – Acknowledge that working with a financial advisor may be uncomfortable for someone doing it for the first time or someone who has had a prior negative encounter. Consider how words and actions can impact an experience and commit to training client-facing advisors to enhance the client experience, especially for those from different backgrounds.
  • Diverse advisors – Know that representation matters. Expand hiring and retention efforts to ensure diversity doesn’t just occur at entry-level positions, but through all levels of client-facing roles and leadership.
  • Tailored advice – As with any customer, avoid making assumptions about financial goals and ensure financial planning advice takes into consideration the priorities of the individual or family. Examples may include ensuring current lifestyle needs are met, helping the next generation and leaving a legacy. Make real estatepart of the conversation and ensure fair mortgage lending.

https://www.usbank.com/dam/documents/pdf/wealth-management/perspectives/building-black-wealth.pdf

References:

  1. https://www.usbank.com/dam/documents/pdf/wealth-management/perspectives/building-black-wealth.pdf

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“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

Melodie Beattie, Author of ‘Co-dependant No More’