Millionaire Wealth Building Is Not Rocket Science
I’ve always been intrigued by wealth in our North American society. I would like to share some of my core findings and get you on the way to becoming wealthy and fulfilled. First, a few questions.
Are your core values in line with most millionaires?
Are you setting wealth goals and tracking them honestly in order to substantially increase your net worth?
Who are you? Is wealth part of your life equation?
What does it mean to be a fulfilled millionaire?
Pick up any newspaper and you’ll see there is plenty of news about millionaires. Let’s be crystal clear, being a millionaire means having a net worth of a million dollars. In accountant geek talk, this means having more assets then liabilities. Just because you live in a big house and drive a flashy car (with that pretty scarf around your neck) doesn’t necessarily mean you are a millionaire. Underneath all that chutzpah may be huge loans and the ever-mounting credit card debt. And don’t get me going about credit card debt – there’s another subject that has seen plenty of news coverage lately.
One of my favourite books is the well-researched “The Millionaire Next Door” by Thomas J. Stanley, PhD. He writes that most millionaires are normal folk, who don’t look, dress or eat or act like our North American perception of millionaires.
Here are a few research statistics quoted from “The Millionaire Next Door.”
· “We live well below our means. We wear inexpensive suits and drive American-made cars. Only a minority of us drive the current-model-year automobile. Only a minority ever lease our motor vehicles.”
· “Most of our wives are planners and meticulous budgeters. In fact, only 18 percent of us disagreed with the statement, ‘Charity begins at home.’ Most of us will tell you that our wives are a lot more conservative with money than we are.”
· “We have more than six and one-half times the level of wealth of our nonmillionaire neighbours, but, in our neighbourhood, these nonmillionaires outnumber us better than three to one. Could it be that they have chosen to trade wealth for acquiring high-status material possessions?”
See the point? It isn’t about putting your high consumption lifestyle on display. It isn’t about trying to be Tiger Woods, Brad Pitt, Donald Trump or any other highflying celebrity. It’s about being thrifty, having more appreciable assets then debt, keeping a budget, investing, elbow grease and most importantly clearly understanding who you are, your core values, and instituting clear goals and habits.
What are a few core values most millionaires might have?
· Freedom: Freedom might mean worrying less about credit card debt — or any debt, for that matter.
· Control: Control may mean understanding your financial situation and creating a budget.
· Wealth: Having a core value of wealth will continuously strengthen your millionaire thinking.
· Thrift: Thriftiness is staying away from buying that feeds your insecurities or dissatisfaction. Thrift means buying a used car instead of leasing that brand new fantasy car.
· Appreciation: A foundation for millionaire thinking. Appreciation isn’t about always buying what you love. It’s about loving what you have, including family and friends.
What are a few millionaire-thinking goals that you can begin implement right now to get you on your way?
· Create a household budget.
· Track debts and pay them down by consolidating loans.
· Track expenses using software, such as an Excel spreadsheet or throw all your receipts in a shoe box and add them up each month.
· Every time you are tempted buy something, honestly ask yourself whether you really need it or want it. You’ll be surprised how many times you only want it.
· Quit buying the latest gadget. Maybe you don’t really need a video Ipod.
If you’re already taking good care of your money, then it’s time to step it up to the next level.
· Contact a financial planner and look at investments.
· Start planning your own business.
· Investigate how you can save on taxes.
· Teach your children about accumulating wealth early, so they don’t beg for money later.
As you can see we all have different values, goals, habits, choices or needs.
It’s not rocket science, people. Is there anything stopping you now? Let’s get going.
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Survey Research Project
Participants Wanted
I am doing a research project for my book, Camping and Beyond: Behavioral Understanding of Life Changing Experiences. This project is long time in coming. I have almost completed seven out of ten chapters. What I need now, is some volunteers to tell me about an influential experience that happened in their lives and guided their journey from then on. For this, I am having people fill out a survey and it is either one of two forms depending on the experience you would like to talk about.
Because the book is mainly about organized child and youth/young adult camping programs, this is the focus for one form. I would like go beyond that, however, and include other types of influential experiences in life and then compare the two groups. The second form allows me to study people who have no or little camping experience when they were young and choose to discuss another type of influence in life. The experience could be anything you want it to be: some event, a special relationship, a career, an idea you had, where you went to school, or some other aspect of life you can point to and say “I am the person I am today because ________” (fill in the blank). It also could be a positive or negative. The type of experience outside of camping does not matter with the other form.
I am a mental health clinician at a habilitation center in Amesbury, MA for people who have developmental disabilities. I have my Masters plus in mental health counseling and have quadriplegic cerebral palsy myself. This research is independent of any university or other research institution. I am doing this as an author trying to understand what people go through because of certain influential experiences in their lives.
I invite you to become participants in this project and may be have your story published in Camping and Beyond. It also could turn into some type of research journal article. What I am trying to do is give people an idea of how we change through life’s experiences and the hope is if we know that, people could live more happier and productive lives. Psychology and a number of other behavioral sciences have been studying that issue for a long time, but what science lacks in my mind, are the principles by which human beings change over time due to one influential experience. I unfortunately, have no reward for people to participate. If people do participate, it will be done out of the goodness of their hearts and with the knowledge that they will be helping other people, society and science understand life’s experience.
Lastly, I ask whoever to pass this message on because I really would like a national sample and it would be great if people could pass this from person to person all the way across the nation. Perhaps, that will not happen for whatever reason, but I ask kindly if people would please help me reach that goal. Family members, friends, co-workers, and whoever else you know is invited to participate. This could turn out to be an important project for many reasons I do not know right now. So, it would be appreciated if this message could be passed on and I hope those who receive this will participate and have fun doing it. The flyer is attached, which will tell you about this project. If you do not get it, please let me know and I will gladly send it by mail. Thank you all and let us make a difference in the lives of others.
Kevin Wreghitt, M.Ed., C.A.G.S.
surveyoflifechanges@verizon.net
P.S. This seems like a good online community that would be interested in my work in life change. I hope some readers will participate in this unique project. Hope to speak to you soon. KW