By: Charity Crawford
Please take a brief moment to complete these phrases:
“Money makes the world ___________.”
“Money doesn’t grow ______________.”
“Money is the root __________.”
“Mo’ money, mo’ ________!”
I’m willing to bet that you were able to complete most, if not all, of these phrases, and they may have all been phrases that you heard growing up. In fact, take a few more minutes to jot down other phrases or words that you heard growing up that revolved around money and wealth. I’ll wait.
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Now, take a good look at your list. Does your list include words or phrases like:
Greed/greedy,
We can’t afford it,
Too expensive,
Save it for a rainy day,
Debt/bills,
Or even famous people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, even Donald Trump?
It shouldn’t surprise you that your attitude and beliefs today about wealth and wealthy people stem from your childhood and how your parents, other family members, and environment shaped your views about money. However, what IS surprising is how few of us really received any kind of education during our formative years about how to manage, grow, save, spend, and even donate money. According to a recent Motley Fool article dated February 2018, 80.9% of baby boomers are in debt. 79.9% of Gen Xers and 81.5% of millennials carry debt. Mortgages and student loans are the most common forms of debt, but nearly as common are credit card, auto, and medical debts. Per the same article, medical debt is the number one cause of personal bankruptcy filings in our country.
Here’s another interesting point to consider. Have you heard about lottery or jackpot winners who end up spending or losing their entire winnings? Or, celebrities who go bankrupt? How is it possible that people who have SO much money can end up with nothing? I’m not saying that there aren’t unavoidable circumstances at play in a few of these cases, but those cases are very few and far between.
T. Harv Eker, the author of “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind”, refers to a financial blueprint that each person possesses, and his claim to fame is that he can predict within five minutes of meeting someone what the rest of their financial future will look like. The way he can do this is by determining your financial blueprint. This blueprint was largely developed by your family of origin and the messages you received, either consciously or subconsciously, about wealth. If you have a “poor” mindset, you will struggle with obtaining and maintaining financial success. If you have a “middle-class” mindset, you will subconsciously work toward being “comfortable”, which means you have a set amount of wealth that you will never earn more than, nor possess less than. If you earn more, you will end up spending or losing the excess until you are back at your comfortable number, and vice versa. The “millionaire” mindset is the one geared toward ultimate financial success.
Using this basic knowledge, take a look at your own personal track record with recruiting. Are you someone who tends to hover around the same headcount, give or take, every month or year? Do you struggle with receiving higher commission checks, perhaps feeling guilty about the amount you’ve earned? Have you hit a plateau that you just can’t seem to push past? It might be worth taking a hard look at your own financial blueprint to determine if it is your attitude and beliefs about money that might be holding you back.
The great thing about the financial blueprint is that you weren’t born with those beliefs and attitudes about money. You learned them. If something can be learned, it can also be un-learned. You have the ultimate control over your success, or lack thereof.
This is one of my favorite topics for discussion and learning, so please share your thoughts and any book recommendations that others may find useful.
(Interesting final note: The actual Biblical verse is not “money is the root of all evil”; it is: “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” 1 Timothy 6:10)
