Personal finance? It’s complicated. Achieving wealth? Seems difficult to, partly because being wealth is a state, a condition of living – it’s not a destination.
Dr. John Demartini knows and understands this well. He travels the world delivering the real truths behind achieving prosperity in one’s life, and for many of us, it’s a difficult message to hear. However, it can be achieved, if you understand what drives and motivates you.
Demartini argues that “we bring about into our lives what we most value,” and he’s right about this.
Whatever you most value, most care about, he argues, you find ways to have in your life, without exception. When I first heard this, I didn’t believe it, but as I took stock at what I had attracted into my life, I saw the truth in what he was saying.
Today, it’s popular for people to go on and on about finding one’s passion. Having passion in one’s life is important for sure, but knowing what one really believes, thinks and holds to be true and of value to themselves is more important. Around the web (on YouTube) you can search on “Demartini, wealth multiplier.” A number of videos should come up, many of them in the hour range. If this is important to you, and you have an hour, it would be well spent. And for everyone else, what follows is my summary notes of his key ideas…
Lecture Notes: Wealth Multiplier
Wealth’s original meaning: “well-being, whole-being”
Most people desire financial independence, yet only 1% of the World’s population achieves it. Why only 1%?
Distinctions between the 99% and 1% ers:
Every individual is making decisions about their finances, according to the priorities that they live by. And those priorities dictate their financial destiny their Hierarchy of Values, in every area of their lives.
Unless you make wealth building a priority – it’s not going to happen
“When I ask a 99 percenter what they would do if I were to hand them $10,000,000 – they consume – they purchase, raise their lifestyle (standard of living); the 1 percenter would say: “I would turn that $10M into $20M…$40M…$100M”
You must have some type of long-term vision for wealth building; most people negate accumulation of money (due to: guilt, shame, upbringing, or beliefs)
Myth: “When I have money, I’ll be happy.”
Truth: “When you have money, you’ll be sad but in style…” – “…you be the best dressed, most broke individual in the restaurant.”
Two Key Forces Preventing Creating Personal Wealth
#1 – Guilt, shame (or worthiness issues) around money; around having money
“We sometimes undermine our ability to receive become we have some kind of guilt or shame (for many it’s the key underlining issue); so we consume…99% of people live with the delusions that they should live within this guilt and shame. This can manifest itself through the act of “one-sided giving” without receiving (you’re great at giving, but have difficulty receiving; i.e. inheritance, lottery winners, etc). They have difficulty receiving because they didn’t feel worthy of it or feel they did anything to deserve to receive it.# 2 – Money isn’t high on one’s list of values (not in top 5 of hierarchy of values)
Billionaire mindset: “There’s a distinct difference in their value system; they’re often equally comfortable giving and receiving.”
Happiness = congruence between your values and your aspirations (vision) for your life
Six Ways to raise wealth building in your hierarchy of values:
o 1 – Write 200 benefits to yourself of building a business that serves an ever greater numbers of people. When the why is big enough the how’s take care of themselves…“There are 18 billionaires that live on the ship I live on. Not one of these billionaires had a business that didn’t serve a great number of people.” These billionaires control assets that affect millions of people. If you’re not committed enough to do this, care enough about humanity to do this, it’s a fantasy to think that you’re going to generate this level wealth unless you impact a great number of people (something that serves a great number of people).
o 2 – Write 200 reasons to build a business that serves an ever greater number of people (Burning desire – unless you have a magnificent obsession with your vision/dream you aren’t likely to achieve it; it’s got to be something you can’t wait to do…)
o 3 – Write 200 benefits of refining, polishing, making it more effective and efficient – so you can maximize profits.
- Law – Parkinson’s Principal – if you don’t fill your day with high-priority actions, it will automatically fill with low-priority actions; if you don’t use your money, time, and resources on high-priority activities it will be consumed with low-quality activities
- Law – Pareto’s Principal – You want to focus on the 20% of activities that generate 80% results
- Law – Ricardo’s Principal – You want to delegate the lower-priority actions to people that are inspired to do that
o 4 – Write 200 benefits to saving an ever-progressive proportion of profits
- Lots of models – (1) reinvestment into business (with an eye on exit)
- The most stable companies have liquidity built into their strategy
- As you accumulate profits, you stabilize the business; increase the quality of (and wealth-level of) clients (selectivity); valuation goes up; opportunities and associations increase; better referrals; “Money automatically circulates through the economy to whoever values it most and whoever manages it best.”
- “When you pay yourself first, you attract people who pay you first. When you pay money into your businesses and store it, you attract people that have stored money that pay it to you.”Why “progressive?” – “People that pay bills first, lifestyle second, taxes third and savings last – get broke. But the people that take the savings off the top first, set aside money for taxes, have a budgeted lifestyle that you live by – and then they pay their bills by priority (according to which one penalizes them first to the least) and they pay them electronically vs. writing a check so that there is as little emotion involved as possible – get wealthy and get ahead…
o 5. –Write down 200 reasons for investing with ever progressive levels of risk and leveraging. That means you stair step leveraging systems to ever increasing levels of risk. 10% is the maximum increment. Earn the right to risk. Build cushion after cushion.
o 6. – Write down 200 benefits of building and amassing a great fortune. Write down 200 benefits of building a legacy. You will do more if your reason for wealth building is bigger than yourself. What do you want to set up that will outlast your own life? If you do the above 6 steps you will walk into a mall and you will see a different mall. Your values will have started to change.
DEBT
In America a decade ago the average retiree had $180,000 in assets and $180,000 in savings. Right before the crash it was -$1. The average person has 10% of their yearly income in credit card debt. Because that’s a level that people are comfortable with. Anything more than this and people react with emotions. A master is able to manage emotional response. Money is an instrument of fair exchange. Remove all moral attachment to it.
REFRAMING DEBT
Think of anyone you owe money to as an Investor – someone who has invested in your dreams. If I resent the debt it makes it harder to pay. So make your debt an investment that you are grateful for. Then take the debt, take the amount and break it down into smaller time frames (i.e. what does this amount to per hour). Then convert it to units of service. Then the debt disappears. If you’re focusing on the service and how you are serving people, you will get more service.
Have a habit of saving as well as paying off your debt, EVEN if the cost of the debt is greater than the saving. Why? Because you are creating a new habit, and the energy will move toward what you are focusing on. And you can “run the numbers” on your savings and investments as they grow.
“Everyone has a billion dollars of unrealized value within their possession; it’s in a form that they haven’t honored.”
The World reflects the World inside you
“Selective bias attention” – we notice what we value. Money is a measure of motive and motives are an expression of values. Having financial independence requires a certain set of values where wealth building is high on your value list. Your wealth is in the expressed of what you value (maybe it’s in your social connections, or intellectual knowledge, physical, mental talents, etc.)
RAISING YOUR FEES
- Write down the benefits of what you do and find 30 things that are advantages over the competition.
- You have a current price and you want to raise it. Find 100 benefits of the new price and 100 disadvantages to the customer of the old price. It’s a “frame of mind” thing. We all deserve to be in the financial position to do what we love.
Know what your values are and Build strategies to achieve them
3 Insights that the wealthiest people and institutions know:
- The person that becomes vastly fortunate knows that they are destined to serve vast numbers of people across the planet. I am born to fulfill my destiny. I do not need outside motivation to do it. I am inspired from within. My destiny will happen – trust it.
- They feel that they are born to live as royalty in the world. They think in terms of global reach. “The average person sits in subordination of all the authorities around them. Leaders think from a celestial sphere, not a terrestrial one. Bill Gates spins a globe on his hand and queries which part of the world he can help today.”
- They do not attach morals or ethics to money. It is just a means of exchange. The greater the fair exchange, the greater the wealth potential.
Put together a gratitude diary. Make note of what has happened on each and every day. Take note of who you have met that has put you one step further to your business, financial and personal goals.
Do what you love.
