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What’s Your Financial Blueprint?
| November 9, 2007 | Posted by Roshawn Watson under Uncategorized |
By: Roshawn Watson
Some people are dismissive when anyone starts talking or writing about inner ways to increase wealth. So often we want to focus on external (or mechanical) ways to increase net worth, such as budgeting, paying of debt, investing, saving, etc. Obviously, these are very important. Honestly, I too have been sorely disappointed when I review material that focuses exclusively on intangible ways to increase wealth. Nonetheless, unless someone is prosperous inwardly, their financial blueprint will direct them towards poverty and lack.
Create Inner Wealth Too.
Someone recently asked me whether or not I was aware of all of the lotto winners who eventually end up poor and degenerate. My response was, you bet. Sadly, it also occurs with many pro athletes, actors, and music artist as well. What’s more interesting to me is why this happens time and time again. I firmly believe that this is a direct result of prospering materially while being inwardly bankrupt. They are essentially poor people with money. Thus, they continually act just as they did before they came into sudden wealth and consequently lose their money. Fortunately, this same principle works in reverse. Consider the recent story in Kiplinger of the lotto winner who won $125 million and has decided to turn it into $2 billion over the next ~20 years. Already, he has an additional $15 million. Although the lottery is definitely NOT a good way to get rich, the point is that prior to his win, he already had good money habits, so he knew what to do with his lump sum.
Your inward blueprint can guide you towards profitable ventures. Consider the following example of the different ways to use 10 pounds of iron. You could use it to make: (1) horse shoes (worth $30), (2) needles (worth $300), (3) watch springs (worth $3000). Your productivity and income depends on financial goals and discipline. If your inward blueprint is set to find profitable investments, you will find them. If your blueprint is set to use your time to generate huge profits, you will do that.
Who are your role models? There are several influences to our financial blueprints, but by far one of the most critical is our financial role models. Changing our models often represents one of the biggest challenges for us financially, yet it is critical in many cases because the majority our financial decisions are made subconsciously and often are not in our best interest. For example, if someone were to give you $20,000 dollars, in two years time would you be in more debt (i.e. you bought a new BMW or Benz) or would you turn that $20,000 into $50,000. Although we may all have good intentions, many of us would essentially be on autopilot and blow the money. Autopilot may be fine if we are “programmed” to excel financially. For example, if you naturally save, invest, budget, and avoid consumer debt and excessive spending, your financial autopilot is likely set for increase. However, many barely have enough income to cover their expenses from month to month.
For example, someone recently told me that she earned $80,000 last year but had no idea where her money went. She had very little to show for it and was behind on some of her bills. I wasn’t surprised because she is not alone. Often, the more money we earn, the more things we want and buy. Without the appropriate attitude about money, the rat race trap is inevitable. Hopefully, she never loses her job.
We often model what we see. For example, my friend was the first person in her family to earn a decent income, and as a result, she had no idea how to manage it. Her friends couldn’t help her either, for they were wasting their money too. . Did you know that your income will often mirror that of your five closest friends? That’s largely because we often model our behavior on our environment (past and present). After we have done something repeatedly, it becomes internalized. Unfortunately, we sometimes internalize the wrong habits. Simply put, our models can be the keys or extraordinary wealth or profound poverty.
Personal story. I recall when I began changing my personal finance blueprint. Years ago, I was on an airplane. I had just graduated and was just beginning to realize that I had big financial problems; at this time, I had car debt, a credit cards balance, and other debt. I was a mess financially and remember thinking that I needed some help but didn’t know where to go. Still, I was in some sort of denial because I felt like I was not doing that bad. Someone nearby saw the book that I was reading (A Millionaire’s Notebook by Steven Scott) and began to ask me all sorts of money questions. I only had a few answers. We eventually got on the topic of credit cards, and I said at least I don’t carry much of a balance. The person then told me that even if I was paying off my credit cards at the end of each month (I wasn’t), I would still be spending 14% more on purchases than individuals who used cash. I was floored and silent because 14% seemed a lot better than the 5% cash back I was receiving on selected purchases. I had no idea what I was spending, really. I didn’t budget. I might have been current on everything, but big whoop. I was not making much traction at all.
From that moment, I began to follow more positive role models, and my life has never been the same. The transformation has been remarkable and occurred rapidly. I encourage you to change your financial blueprint today because no matter what you learn or what you do, if your financial blueprint is wrong, lasting success will be elusive.
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Copyright 2012, Roshawn Watson, Pharm.D., Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.
You said you did your blueprint on the airplane.Is it not funny how inspiration for our future comes to us at unexpected times. Great article! Thanks.
Thanks so much for the feedback. To this day, I wonder what my life would be like if my thinking had not been challenged.
I really liked the "10 pounds of iron" analogy. Thanks for the great read.
I appreciate your web site. I found it very informative.
Hi Shawn! Awesome article man, I really appreciate it 🙂 I found this 'cause you were one of the first Google links for 'financial blueprint', which I thought was cool.Not only that, but reading this inspired me to write my own post on financial blueprints (I totally linked you), maybe it's something you'd like? <a href="http://spiritsentient.com/financial-blueprints-one-path-to-abundancehttp://spiritsentient.com/financial-blueprints-on… />Anyway, I'm off to check out more of your blog. Rock on.-J
Thanks so much Jason. I'm glad you got inspired man. I'll definitely be checking out your blog.
When I originally left a comment I seem to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments
are added- checkbox and from now on every time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment.
Is there a means you can remove me from that service?
Thanks!
I have to agree with you Shawn as a certified financial planner and being in the financial industry for over 16 years I have noticed a trend. Many people concentrate on the sales of product or trying to get the best rate of return or try to cut down on their expenses to me these are just symptoms of a much larger problem.
As you have indicated money is not the problem if it was so as you mentioned the 85% of lottery winners would do better after five years instead of returning back to where they were before they won the lottery. In order to resolve the financial issues that people have the need to learn about their belief systems. What I found shocking was that 95% of our belief systems regarding money and outer things are form before the age of 12
I do agree with you that people must first fix the inside world the way they think and feel about money than they can change the outside world the way they are handling their money. What I also suggest for people to do is prepare a Financial Plan this is on document that every one should have.
I am in the process of writing a book "Financial Reset" that deals with this subject check it out at http://cfp-financialplanner.com
Thank you for your post.
Daniel
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