Episode 144: The True Foundation of Wealth & Financial Freedom with Joel Salomon – Transcript
Rennie Gabriel 00:09
Hi folks, welcome to Episode 144 of the Wealth On Any Income Podcast. This is where we talk about money tips, techniques, attitudes, information, and provide inspiration around your business and your money. I'm your host, Rennie Gabriel. In past episodes, we spoke about how to understand the numbers from your business, how to measure the level of pleasure based on where you spend your money, how to track your money in 5 to 10 seconds, what determines how close you are to Complete Financial Choice®, and how to run your business without being in your business. And last week, we had Katrina Sawa, who has been helping entrepreneurs create consistent money making businesses for the last 23 years. Today we have as our guest, Joel Salomon. As the manager of a $700 million portfolio and the creator of his own successful hedge fund, he is also the author of three best-selling books on money. Joel is now a finance and mindful money expert and master prosperity coach who helps others overcome the obstacles standing in the way of their financial freedom. He's an award-winning TEDx speaker, workshop facilitator, and frequent television and podcast guest who has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal and other media. Just as he teaches in his books and seminars, the true foundation of wealth and financial freedom is a mindset of abundance, self-worth, gratitude, love, and service. Joel, welcome to the Wealth On Any Income Podcast.
Joel Salomon 01:54
Thank you so much for having me, Rennie. It's a great pleasure to be here, truly an honor. Thank you.
Rennie Gabriel 02:00
You're welcome. And I got an idea from the bio and other people do from what you're doing, but tell me why you're doing what you're doing.
Joel Salomon 02:10
Yes, great question. So a lot of people asked me that, because my dream in 1993 was to be a hedge fund manager, to be a money manager. I actually was doing it in the evenings and weekends - picking stocks. And I achieved my dream. And then three years later, I shut it down. And the reason was, because I went to a personal development course and two things happened there that completely changed my life. First, we had a guest speaker speaking about stocks and stock options. And when he spoke about options in particular, he made it sound easy. He said, 'You don't need much time, you don't need much money. This is how the rich people get rich, and options are essentially risk-free'. And I was sick to my stomach. This was day two of the conference, so I had people tapping me on the shoulder, whispering in my ear, 'Joel, does this make sense? Are options really risk-free?' So we went out of the auditorium. I told them, 'Please don't do this. He doesn't know any of you individually. And most importantly, he doesn't know your belief that you can become rich using options. And of course options are not risk-free'. So the second thing that happened at the course was we were given a wooden board two inches thick and we were told we were going to break it with our bare hands. I don't know if you've done that, Rennie, but there was a lot of fear in the room. The exercise was called, Obstacles are Illusions. On one side of the board we had to write our biggest goal and on the other side our biggest challenge. And so the goal stumped me for a while. And then it hit me. Make everyone in this room financially free. Make everyone in this room financially free. And I broke that board like everyone else did in the room. I went home that night and I couldn't sleep. It was 3, 3:30, 4 in the morning. First the guy was in my head.
Rennie Gabriel 04:10
Yeah.
Joel Salomon 04:10
And I realized if I ever get up the courage to speak on a stage - see my biggest fear in life that day was public speaking - I could actually be authentic, tell people the truth about money and be of service. And then the second thing going on in my head at 4-4:30 in the morning was that wooden board staring back at me, make everyone in this room financially free. I think it hit me at 4:30. I jumped out of bed. I quickly got dressed. I was in Manhattan before the sun rose. And I sent an email to my investors telling them I'm giving them their money back. I'm shutting down my fund. I figured out my true purpose on this earth. Took me 50 years, but I got there.
Rennie Gabriel 04:51
That's a big, big step. And it's funny too because we do covered call option writing on our portfolio to generate income, and it's done by our money manager, and doesn't take a little time. He's only spending four to six hours every single day on the computer doing the trading, you know, making $300 here $500 there, $47. I mean, it adds up to tens of thousands a month. But the point is, it is not . . . It does take time. And he's also got 30 years of experience. So, you know, it's not risk-free, sometimes the stock is taken away from us. But the point is, you know, we are generating a solid income each and every month, but I'm not doing it.
Joel Salomon 05:42
Right, right. And what I teach is that out of the 200 people in the room, there might have been a few people that would get rich doing stock options, but everyone has their own passion and interest. And if that's not an interest, or passion of yours, I would recommend focusing on where your interest and passion lies. It could be real estate, it could be crypto, it could be your business. But what I teach is you can be prosperous and become prosperous and abundant in many different ways. And just because someone's up there teaching you that's the way they became rich doesn't mean that's the way you're going to become rich.
Rennie Gabriel 06:20
That is the best advice anyone can listen to. Let me get to the next question. As you're aware, I donate 100% of the profits from the work I do teaching other people to handle money powerfully. I donate to animal and veteran causes. Tell me what causes you support. And I happen to know you've set up a foundation. So that's really, you know, that means you're really into it. So tell us about that.
Joel Salomon 06:48
Yeah, so I did last year. It has been a dream of mine since a long time ago. And actually, I started teaching kids under 18, the truth about money, teaching them about how to become an entrepreneur, teaching them about financial literacy. Basically everything you teach is what I am teaching to children under 18. And I started because I spoke at the Stanford Rotary Club, and there was a guy there who loved my presentation and said, Would you be interested in speaking to kids? He is the executive director of the Boy Scouts of America in Connecticut. And I said, like this was a synchronicity. I'm like, This is what I've been thinking about for many years. And so we connected and I started teaching at the Boys and Girls Club in Connecticut and Stanford. And I've spoken at the Girl Scouts, because I figured why should the Boy Scouts have all the fun?
Rennie Gabriel 07:51
Oh, yeah.
Joel Salomon 07:53
So I reached out to a friend of mine who lives in Connecticut, her daughter was in the girl scouts, got connected, and so I gave a presentation to the Girl Scouts conference in November of 2019. And I went again, last year, hopefully get asked back again. And so I set up this foundation, this charity, in order to teach financial literacy to children under 18, starting out in the United States, and then eventually globally. So that, you know, I think the main reason why, you know, we have a financial crisis here in the US and around the globe, is because people aren't taught the truth about money. And if they can be taught early on about the techniques that you know, and, you know, your attitudes, you know, the what is the AFI, right, the, Attitudes, the Forms and Investing. If they can be taught that early on, then I think the crisis can be eliminated. And so, but the kids have to learn the truth about money early on. And they have to understand that it's good to be rich.
Rennie Gabriel 09:02
Yeah. And it's funny, I don't know if you saw my TED talk, but it's actually based on the idea that we are indoctrinated to believe it's better to be poor than to be wealthy. When you look at movies and TV shows and books, and the scripture that people selectively hear. Yeah, so it's really crucial. And so far, 11, 39 states in the United States, offer nothing in the way of any financial education for someone to graduate high school. Nothing, not how to write a check, not how to balance their checkbook, not how to do a cash flow statement, or income and expense. None of that. I mean, it's the basic foundations, and it's missing from thirty . . . and actually, the other 11 states, I don't know what's in that course curriculum. It's just that they require something to graduate. So, I applaud you for what you're doing. Thank you.
Joel Salomon 10:04
Thank you.
Rennie Gabriel 10:05
So well, let me ask you this, who is, or are your target markets?
Joel Salomon 10:11
Well, my target market really is entrepreneurs who are not yet making a significant amount of income. And I've been able to help those people. And I, what I mean by significant is at least 20,000 US dollars a month, 250,000 year. And I have this new Fast Track Prosperity coaching program I started this year. And I'm really excited about it because I really didn't have any system. I know you've had a system for a while. I just put out my shingle, as you heard. I just shut it down my hedge fund and just said, 'Okay I'm going to help people. And I know I can do better than than that guy'. And so I would coach people for an hour, a week or a month, somebody wanted me for a long period of time. But now I have a 90-day program. And it's based on the proven techniques that have worked for others the last six years. And what I found also over the last six years is the entrepreneurs who are just starting out or maybe have been in business 3, 5, 7 years, but not yet there, in generating significant income, those are the ones I've been able to help the most. So focus on the ones that I believe will help the most, and actually help them generate significant income. I'm most grateful is that I had one person go through this beta program the last few months, and she has tripled her monthly revenues, compared to last year. But what was even better and more heartwarming from that experience was that she's now able to talk to her former husband without having stress about the money situation because their daughter is still in college, and there's been some arguing and anger and upset. And so she actually put in a testimonial. And that was most heartwarming to me because I'm a divorced dad. And I had this, went to similar stuff, you know, 12-15 years ago. So easing that worry and that fear and that anxiety of having to have a conversation with your former spouse is most gratifying.
Rennie Gabriel 12:12
Oh, absolutely. And I used to own a book publishing company. We had about 80 titles in the bookstores. And the first book we published was called, Couples and Money, which is the number one cause of divorce or arguments over money. So I get it, and what you just covered leads into my next question, which I think it does, and it's a two part question. It's when you look back, what would you say was your biggest failure, whether personal or business, and what insight did you gain from it? What are you're doing with it?
Joel Salomon 12:46
Yeah, so my biggest failure, but I don't, what I tell my clients is that there are no failures, there are only lessons learned. So I would say this is a big lesson learned was my second divorce. It was 15 years ago, as I just mentioned. And you know, I will tell, I've said this before in public, my former wife is my greatest teacher. She's taught me about rejection and I've learned to let go. I've learned that again, everything is a lesson to be learned. And there's a reason why you connect with people in order to, you know, I believe, improve your soul get to the next level of soul consciousness. And so that's what she's done for me. And also understand that I create my emotions.
Rennie Gabriel 13:40
Yes.
Joel Salomon 13:41
Yeah, I thought 15 years ago that she was creating them. And I now understand that I was creating them then and I create them now and I will create them forever. And so I get to choose how to respond in every situation. I don't have to respond in anger. I can respond, being calm with grace and ease.
Rennie Gabriel 14:03
And that's fabulous for anyone, whether they're in business, they're an employee and employer, or, that's valuable advice for absolutely everyone. We can hear things, and we can make up what it means. And since we can, we can make up any meaning we choose.
Joel Salomon 14:22
Correct. Yep.
Rennie Gabriel 14:23
So, now I believe people are going to want to get a hold of you and get and learn more from you like the program you spoke about. Tell me if there's a valuable free resource that you can direct people to that will further their movement in making more money or learning what you do.
Joel Salomon 14:41
We talked about this already, and I mentioned in the testimonial, a lot of people that have some worries about money or that there's this conflict. So I have this video, free video, called How to Ease Your Money Worries, ease your money worries. So there's two ways to get it. You can just go to my website, you see it over my shoulder here, s a l a u r m o r dot com that salaurmor, named after my daughters, Lauren, laur for Lauren, mor for Morgan. So, sa for my personalism, my last name... so -sa laur mor. But the other ways, you can text to the number 66866. That's 6866 Prosperity, and it'll ask for your email, and you'll automatically get emailed that video, How to Ease Your Money Worries.
Rennie Gabriel 15:29
Oh, terrific. Well, I didn't have the information about the text. I'm going to add that to our show notes. So when people see the video, and they go to the show notes, they can text you as well. That's terrific. This has been a great interview, a very valuable interview for my listeners. And so, Joel, I want to thank you for being on the Wealth On Any Income Podcast.
Joel Salomon 15:53
Thank you for having me, Rennie. This has been a really extreme pleasure. It's a big honor. And I'm so grateful for you to have me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Rennie Gabriel 16:02
Oh, you're welcome, Joel. And to all of those who are listening. If you'd like to know how books, movies, and Society programs you to be poor, and what the cure is, then log on to, wealthonanyincome.com/TEDx. You'll hear my TEDx talk and can request a free 9-Step Roadmap to Complete Financial Choice® and Philanthropy, and receive a weekly email with tips, techniques, or inspiration around your business or your money. And if you'd like to see how you can increase your wealth, and donate to the causes that touch your heart, please check out our affordable program, Wealth with Purpose - also on the Wealth On Any Income Website. To my listeners, thank you for tuning in. You can listen to the Wealth On Any Income Podcast on your favorite platform. And please rate, review and subscribe. Until next week, be prosperous. Bye bye for now.
