Episode 8: Three More Money Myths – Transcript
Hi, Folks. Welcome to Episode Eight of the Wealth On Any Income Podcast. I'm your host, Rennie Gabriel. In this podcast we talk about money, tips, techniques, attitudes, information, and provide inspiration.
In the previous episode, I covered three money myths that keep you broke. One - don't focus on paying off credit cards before you begin to invest. Two - the more money you earn, the more money or more wealth you create. And three - it takes money to make money. All of which are false.
In this episode, we're going to talk about three more money myths, or beliefs about money that keep people or keep you broke. It's about nine minutes long.
One - you can create wealth by yourself like the self-made millionaire. False. Wasting small amounts of money is not important to creating wealth. Again, false. Three - thoughts are powerful - not really.
When I hear someone labeled as as a self-made millionaire or someone says that about themselves, I cringe. They obviously didn't do that, even if they think they did. It takes a team effort to create wealth. Either they don't understand that or they're just full of themselves. The only possible way it could be done alone might be someone who spends hours on the computer trading stocks and interacting with no one. Otherwise, a general contractor has a crew, surgeons have an anesthesiologist and nurses to help, a real estate investor has brokers and accountant, a handyman, a contractor, painters, a cleaning crew and of course tenants.
Every huge successful corporation had at least two people to get it started. It could have been Mr. Hewlett and Mr. Packard or Elon Musk with Peter Thiel and Max Levchin at PayPal, or maybe Elon Musk and Gwynne Shotwell at SpaceX, or Warren Buffett with Charlie Munger at Berkshire Hathaway - maybe Steve Jobs with Steve Wozniak at Apple, you get the picture, I hope. Famous and successful athletes and actors have business managers, accountants and coaches. I heard Academy Award winning actor Anthony Hopkins say he had seven coaches. Well, maybe there are self-made millionaires like the lonely person at the computer trading stocks. But that really does not sound like an attractive life.
The point is that wealth creation is a team sport, not a solo sport. And if you want to maximize your potential, you ought to partner with someone you trust. It could be your accountant, business manager, or a banker, at minimum at least have a coach.
Myth number two is a dangerous one. You might think it's okay to waste small amounts of money when you're working on becoming wealthy. I didn't have that luxury when I was only earning $5,000 per month when I started over. And I was investing $500 a month.
It took me years to understand that making more money is not the key. The key is to create a budget or spending plan that works to create wealth, focus on controlling expenses first, and growing your income second. For many people, and maybe even you, if you lost $10 while walking down the street, it would not cause great distress. I'm not talking about the last $10 you have to your name. If you lost $10 today, could you still buy groceries, pay your rent or mortgage or send in the payment on your car, loan or lease? Losing that $10 could prevent you from being able to get a fancy cup of coffee and some treats - like a muffin. It's really not that much money, right?
Here's a fun calculation to become a millionaire. $10 per day, or $300 per month, invested at 12% earnings would create a portfolio worth more than $1 million in 30 years. And the deposits that created that portfolio only amount to $108,000. That's 10% of the portfolio. The other 90% comes from the earnings that were generated. So instead of wasting small amounts of money, if you invested it wisely, that alone could make you a millionaire.
When it comes to Myth number three, too many people believe that thoughts are powerful. Only action taken on those thoughts will produce the results that can lead to wealth.
I often use the example of someone who wants to lose weight and has this thought it would be a good idea to start jogging. That person might even take another step and set their alarm clock for an hour earlier than they usually get up so they could go jogging. I've done that. Unfortunately, when the alarm goes off, there are feelings that come up that are stronger than the thought from the evening before. The feelings that might be that they're tired, they need more sleep, they could do this tomorrow, it's cold, it's dark, whatever. Like I said, I know the feelings could be stopping people.
Feelings are going to block your good thoughts 90% of the time. The feelings could be fear, insecurity not feeling prepared, it doesn't matter. So here's the question. If feelings are more powerful than thoughts, what do you need to do to overcome the feelings and get into action? Again, this is where team support creates a winner. You need to determine your values, your values that will push you to move forward and take action when you don't feel like it. And that usually involves another person.
In my case, I had the thought that I should go jogging, and I didn't feel like it. So I went to the house of a neighbor, Ron. And I knew he went jogging in the morning, and I asked if I could go jogging with him. He said, "Yes". And to meet him in his house at six o'clock the next day. Since one of my values is integrity. If I gave my word to someone, I honor it. So I said, "Thank you, Ron, I'll see you tomorrow morning at 6am." The next morning when that alarm clock went off, and I didn't feel like getting up. I got up anyway. Why? Because I gave someone my word I'd show up. I leaned on my values to create a structure where I would win - I didn't do it alone.
If you want to read about more attitudes, the wealthy operate by that ordinary people don't, you can get a free PDF version of my newest book, Attitudes of the Wealthy, just go to https://weathonanyincome.com/gift and fill out the form and a copy will be emailed to you. You'll also see this link in the show notes.
Hopefully, you're able to see how many of the myths I spoke about in these two episodes overlap, and often require a team to succeed. The team can start with just two people.
Like I say over and over again - wealth creation is a team sport, not a solo sport. It's not about willpower, it's about creating a structure of support.
And talking about support, based on the book 'Change Anything', the strongest support structures based on six areas - personal motivation, personal ability, social motivation, social ability, structural motivation, and structural ability. In the next episode, I'll go into detail describing each of these six areas and how you can use them in your life to create the transformation you seek, without relying on willpower. This structure is so strong, you can end smoking, overeating, get a job promotion, and even create wealth - again without relying on willpower. Until next time, I'll see you later. Bye bye.
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