How can someone reach a high level of prosperity? What the hell is prosperity? These are questions I attempted to answer in my fifth book, The Path to Prosperity. This newsletter distills it down into bite size pieces so you can digest the information, consider it, and then act on it when the time is right. Prosperity is there waiting for us all. The question is, who will have the courage to follow the path?
Yes, I said courage. It takes courage to walk a path most people are not willing to walk. Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck, deep in debt, stressed out, and barely able to pay their bills. The Path to Prosperity rejects that way of thinking and living, and provides a different way to live. It comes down to taking the blue bill or the red pill. Which one will you choose and where will it take you?
You can follow the herd off the cliff (drowning in debt and the stress that goes with it) or take the red pill and see a different reality. The red pill provides the truth, painful as it may be. You end up leaving one world and entering another. Prosperity can be found in that other world. BIG POINT: Do not allow others to think for you and define their version of prosperity. YOU must do the thinking as YOU define prosperity.
Here is my version of prosperity. You have given yourself the freedom to live life on your own terms, allowing yourself to live out YOUR dreams instead of what others want for you. It goes further. You see how money is nothing more than a platform that helps you build a better, more prosperous life. That better life involves much more than acquiring more stuff and money. It evolves toward purpose and meaning.
I pose the question at the beginning of the book, what would happen, if on Day 1, the day you're born, you made all the right financial decisions with your life? Where would that take you? What opportunities would open up? What could you do with Financial Freedom at a relatively young age? What kind of an effect would you have on the world around you? The possibilities are endless.
How does that work? First, the guardians of that child must learn about creating Financial Freedom from the right sources (teachers, not salespeople) and then little by little, they teach that child the right lessons growing up so they not only accumulate wealth, but know how to grow it over time as they reach adulthood. They are given the keys to a better life, opening the door to prosperity!
The path includes being mindful of what money can do for us and what it cannot. We think for ourselves and surround ourselves with the right people in and outside of books. It includes living well below our means, rejecting materialism, reducing/eliminating debt, saving consistently, investing in index funds, persistence when difficulties arise, hard work, patience, giving, and circling back to share our story.
This requires evolving as we become a life long learner, adding to our toolbox of knowledge throughout our life. In this great country of ours, we have the opportunities to go from having minimal money, little to no knowledge on finances, and limited freedom, to having more than enough money and the knowledge on how to grow it over time in ways that benefits us and others. It leads to Financial Freedom.
Without a doubt, it requires an understanding of the Rule of 72 and how compounding can change our lives in a negative way (debt) or a positive way (low fee stock index funds). As of this writing, if you would have invested $10,000 in the total U.S. stock market 53 years ago, you would have over $2,607,000 today. What if that same amount would have gone into Small Cap Value? It would be over $8,768,000!!!
What happens when tragedy occurs? We hang in there with some help from those we trust. Slowly, the darkness recedes. A sense of hope shows itself and that is our opportunity to grow through the experience. We can become stronger and more resilient with every difficulty we are able to overcome. The book, Man's Search for Meaning, provides answers that go far beyond courage.
As we enter a new world beyond tragedy, we become reborn into a new version of ourselves. We see ourselves in a different light. We come to realize life is something to be cherished. We see abundance, not scarcity. We let go of accumulating material possessions, redirecting our time, energy and money toward helping others with the talents we have developed. We become the hero of our own journey.
Joseph Campbell summed it up quite well. He said, "A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself." Financial Freedom allows us the independence to stop enriching ourselves, and start enriching others. This point cannot be overstated. Financial Freedom becomes the launching point toward uplifting others, and in so doing, we uplift ourselves in a very deep way.
It takes us to that next level. Here is Joseph Campbell again. "We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us." There is something far bigger waiting for us once we let go of chasing after things others have told us to chase. We can give unconditionally to help others. This does require a leap of faith. This video can provide a visual on what it might feel like.
When we take that leap of faith to help others unconditionally, it reaches the soul and it changes us and others. This is the value of starting early, working hard and smart, overcoming tragedy, reaching Financial Freedom, followed by unconditional giving, leading to The Path to Prosperity. It is a journey worth taking. It takes us farther than one can possibly imagine. It provides peace in a world of chaos.
Death comes to us all. The question is not, will we die? The question is, how will we live? On our deathbed no one is going to ask how much we made in our lifetime. They will not remember us by our net worth. They will remember what we did and the impact we had on others. In a sense, we truly can live forever. We do that through the lives of others and the impact we made while we were alive.
The Path to Prosperity is not a place, but a journey. Think of a train taking people to a wonderful place called Financial Freedom. It makes periodic stops along the way of life to pick up people who want to board. It's a momentary stop because the train keeps moving. It's up to each and every one of us to decide when or if we get on that train. I hopped on board many years ago. It was a decision that changed my life.
Getting on the train is the beginning of a new future life. Yes, you can change the direction of your life, but more importantly, you can do that for others. The ultimate gift is unconditional giving. We save ourselves by saving others. What we learn on that train is the trip is the destination and we may never want to get off! The best time to get on that train is on day one. The second best time is NOW. Let's give.
