Wealth Building 101: Manage your emotion
When it comes to wealth building, emotion is not your friend! A perfect example of this is the roller coaster ride the stock market has been on the last few weeks. One day the news is good so people buy, the next day the news is bad so people sell. Did the companies being bought and sold really gain or lose value in those few hours? Of course not but people are reacting to emotions rather than logic.
What about your everyday spending habits? Do you spend money when you feel like you want something even if the item is not in your budget? Do you have a budget? Do you save when you are fearful about the recession economy and then start spending freely again when the economic news improves?
How about your work habits? Do you stay focused on your business even when your friends are headed to the lake? Do you set goals and plan out the action steps needed to reach them?
Before I was introduced to the Kiyosaki financial education principles I made all of my wealth building decisions based on emotion. Actually, it has only been in the last few years that I have developed the discipline to manage my emotion when it comes to wealth building. I am a very impulsive person and I love excitement. Believe me when I say I have had to sit on my hands during the recent stock market churning. I have a plan for my investments but it has been so tempting to bail on some holdings to add to others only to watch the fortunes reverse for each in a matter of hours or days.
Same with my everyday spending. On my farm I have so many projects I want to do but I have to stay focused on priorities. In the past I would have simply done the projects and put to cost on credit cards. Now, thanks to my Kiyosaki, richdad education, I avoid credit card debt like the plague. I have to look at the importance of a shelter for the horses first even though my emotion is that I want a round pen more.
Same with business. It is Friday afternoon and I am so tempted to call it a week and quit early but writing this blog is the action step that is needed to achieve my long term business goals. Now that I am writing this blog my emotion has shifted from bored to excited.
Emotions are like that. They are fickle and can shift on a dime. That is why wealth building is about managing emotion.
Here are a few tips that help manage emotion:
Keep a journal so you can see where your emotions go from day to day
Keep a balance sheet for your business so you can see where your money goes
Track business and personal assets and expenses
Understand what your net worth is
Watch your cash flow monthly
Study all you can about wealth building. Hint – all the experts say make a plan and stick to it. Boring but true.
Schedule time for fun and keep a little cash on hand for impulse spending
Celebrate and reward yourself for managing your emotion
Madalyn
Like this post: Check out Hope is not a strategy or
Why you need a coach
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Wealth Building 101: Creating cash flow monthly verses building a fence
I have been building fence the last few weeks in 105 degree weather and hard as that is, it is easier than creating cash flow monthly. You see, with building a fence I see the fruits of my labor right away. The pattern looks like this:
Goal – work – reward
My goal is 1000 feet of new fence so my horses can have more grazing area.
The work involves laying a ground wire so I know where I want the post holes, buying the supplies, digging the holes, driving T posts, stretching wire, tying the fence to the posts and hanging gates. It is hard but straight forward work.
The reward is happy horses and hopefully a lower feed bill when it decides to rain again.
Creating cash flow monthly is not so clean a process. The pattern looks like this:
Goal – work – work – work – work some more – small reward – work – work – work some more – setback like a major recession – keep working – reward – work – reward – work – more reward – ongoing reward of regular cash flow monthly with less to no additional work on your part
Your goal is cash flow monthly so you can have money and time to enjoy it. In other words, to live your dream.
It’s the work part that is so challenging. First, you have to be willing to work and delay your gratification. Second, like building a fence, you have to have a plan. If you are starting a business from scratch this can be a huge barrier. You will not likely get a loan or investor support without a solid plan on how you intend to create cash flow monthly. If you have never built a business of your own you may have no clue where to start the process.
A great place to start in building a business that can generate cash flow monthly is with a solid network marketing company. With a good company and good partners you will have the security and mentoring from people who have already put the infrastructure in place for you. You will still have to learn the skills needed to be successful and there will be a lot of work involved but you will have a plan. You don’t have to quit your job and you can build your business working as little as 7 to 10 hours a week.
The reward part of creating cash flow monthly is often very slow in coming. This is probably why so many people lose track of their goals and give up on their dreams. They stick to what they know, even if it is painful – like fence building. Madalyn
PS My network marketing business gives me cash flow monthly so I can have and enjoy my own farm. Fence building is not my real job:).
Money Smart Skill: Appreciation of residual or perpetual cash flow monthly
Recently I asked myself why I get so excited about small increases in my residual cash flow monthly and take my more significant earned income for granted. It is not that I don’t appreciate the money I earn in my veterinary practice but I see that money evaporate when the bills come due and then I have to earn it all over again.
My residual cash flow monthly, on the other hand, is based on past effort and financial investment. Although generally a smaller amount than my earned income I don’t have to earn it every month, it just shows up. I love that. I have spent to last 15 years developing the money smart skill of shifting my overall income from primarily earned income to residual cash flow monthly.
Residual is what is left over at the end of a process, in the case of residual income it is money that comes to you regularly in return for your past work and investment efforts. You might argue that you should have money left over after paying bills with earned income. This is true but you have to work for that money each time.
Passive is another term for residual income but I don’t like it because it implies that the income happened with no effort on the part of the receiver. Nothing could be further from the truth. Creating residual cash flow monthly requires significant effort, sometimes working months or even years with little reward.
I prefer the term perpetual income which means something that continues indefinitely without interruption. Some people call this mailbox money from back in the days before direct deposit.
Lets look at a hypothetical example of how earned and perpetual income compare over the course of a few months:
Month 1
Earned income $1000 with $200 left over after paying bills
Month 1
Perpetual income of $200 from investments such as rentals or a network marketing business
Month 2
Economy slows. Earned income $800 with none left over after paying bills
Month 2
Economy slows. Perpetual income of $200 remains consistent
Month 3
Great economy. Earned income $1200 with $400 left after paying bills
Month 3
Great economy. Perpetual income of $200 remains constant
Month 4
Brief illness limits work. Earned income of $800 with none left over after paying bills
Month 4
Brief illness does not affect perpetual income of $200
Month 5
Vacation needed to recover from illness and overwork. Earned income $800 with none left over after paying bills
Month 5
Perpetual income of $200 comes right on time while you enjoy vacation
Month 6
Back to normal. Earned income of $1000 with $200 left after paying bills
Month 6
Perpetual income of $200 remains constant
Lets look at the final tally over a typical 6 month period:
Earned income $5600 with $800 net
Perpetual income of $1200 with $1200 net
Earned income and perpetual income combined $6800 with $2000 net
This may seem like a simplified example but it is a reflection of reality. If you ever wonder why you don’t get ahead with earned income alone I hope this helps you understand. I am not saying quit your job but I am suggesting you consider adding a source of perpetual income. Keep your job to pay the bills and create perpetual cash flow monthly to enjoy your life. Madalyn
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Money Smart Skill: Patience
I got a very late start with my financial education but I have been working hard to catch up. My favorite mentor is Robert Kiyosaki of RichDadPoorDad fame. Kiyosaki created a board game called cashflow to help teach people his financial strategies. In the game you draw a card that has a profession on it and you get a list of expenses and your cash flow monthly. The goal is to escape the rat race board and graduate to the fast track.
After playing the rich dad financial education game, cashflow, many times I have found the way to consistently get out of the rat race in less than 2 hours. I always draw the doctor card even if I am not trying to. I think God is wanting to make a point. The doctor card is one of the most challenging cards because it carries the highest cash flow monthly.
Right, I said the highest income. It also carries the highest monthly expenses and the object of the game is to get your passive cash flow monthly higher than your expenses. You might think a big monthly paycheck would be the ticket to building passive income but that is not necessarily the case. Passive income is money that comes through businesses, rental income or other investments. In the rich dad financial education game, cashflow, you must build up a portfolio of investments until your passive cash flow monthly exceeds expenses.
In the cashflow game you have expenses that are fixed and you have debt that you can pay off to lower your monthly expenses. Like the game I have fixed expenses such as malpractice and liability insurance, home insurance, license and association membership fees as well as mandatory continuing education. In the game you have fixed child expenses and they are higher for the doctor card. I have 4 legged children and they have significant expenses associated with them that are not negotiable.
When I first started playing cashflow I was so frustrated to see other players, who drew the truck driver or mechanic card, breeze out of the rat race once they got the hang of the game. Despite all my money making efforts I was always the last to make it. This cost me a few sleepless nights.
So what is the secret I finally discovered about getting out of the rat race? Patience! This has not been an easy lesson for me. When I first played the game I tried to save my money so I could invest in some big deals. This never worked. Then I tried to borrow money to make big deals. This did not work either. I resisted the reality of my situation and was sure I could make one big deal and change my financial situation quickly.
Finally I resigned myself to being the last one in the game to get out of the rat race and low and behold I started having success. I learned to follow a boring plan of paying off as many of my high expenses as possible. While other players were able to invest and buy real estate I did best when I stayed with my plan. Get a paycheck, pay down debt was my life for 75% of the game. My action oriented temperament fought against this strategy but I persisted.
As my expenses went down I began to have a little extra to invest if I was careful. When I stopped trying so hard to get ahead and focused instead on the basic principles of paying down debt and investing in good deals when they presented themselves I made headway.
The cashflow game has been such a powerful learning experience for me. Based on my experience playing the game, when I decided to make my move to Fischer I took on my high expenses with open eyes. I knew I would be challenged but I also understood that I could work smarter to lower my debt and build my passive income at the same time, SLOWLY.
The path I have taken in not what is recommended in most financial education books. I did not start saving when I was 20 and I don’t have a big retirement account. I chose to live above my means and continue to work smart to get my means up to speed. I avoid consumer debt but sometimes I have to use short term credit which I pay off as quickly as possible. I understand that high, non fixed interest payments on credit cards make it very hard to get ahead financially.
Even though I got a late start with my financial education, I do have some savings and I am continuing to add to my passive income from several businesses. I love being a veterinarian and an entrepreneur. I am looking forward to having even more time to spend with my animals but I am not wanting to retire early.
Some months or even years are tight and I don’t get to do all the improvements I want to on my property but I know I am on the right path. I am learning to be patient and let time work for me as my debt gets steadily lower and my cash flow monthly gets higher. I am so glad to have the financial education to understand about money and have a plan and watch it unfold over time. Every day I am more appreciative of the gifts God has given me. Like patience. Madalyn
Did you get started late? Not sure how to get your cash flow monthly up? I would love to have a conversation. Contact me.
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Money Smart Skill: Do you know your money model?
Do you know your money model? By this I mean how do you earn and spend your money. Is your model to earn a salary and spend less than you learn? Is your money model to build a business and live off the proceeds of this business? It is a very important money smart skill to know your money model then to ask the very important question – is this model working in your life?
How do you know if your money model is working? Well, are you able to pay all your bills each month and have money to set aside for investment and retirement? Is your quality of life what you want? Are you able to tithe and help others? If you answered no to any of these questions then your money model is not working for you.
Back in 2000 I had to look at my money model. My model of working harder so I would have enough money to pay my bills, invest and still have time to enjoy my horses was not working. Luckily Robert Kiyosaki gave me a new model via his RichDad education books.
Changing models or paradigms is not something one does easily, especially if the model is one that has been in place for a long time. A great book to read about understanding models is Personal Career and Financial Security by Richard J. Maybury. Maybury emphasizes that for you to be successful you have to base your decisions on a sound model.
Personal Career and Financial Security is only the first in a series of books to help you understand models, history, economics and politics. I am finding these books fascinating. They are helping me understand that just because I changed my model does not mean I will be instantly successful in life and finance.
My money model now is based on the money smart skills of:
1. Decrease bad debt
2. Increase my cash flow monthly
3. Invest in assets
This is not an easy model but it is a sound one. One month may get me 2 steps forward and the next 1 step back but I am gaining. How about you? Is your money model working? Madalyn
Want to find out what I am doing to increase my cash flow monthly? This cash flow model is not for everyone but if you are interested in finding out what I am up to get in touch.
Money Smart Skill: Where does your money go?
I am retiring another checkbook cover. I opened this business account in 1986 and I have written over 13,000 checks on it. Even at averaging a modest $200 per check, a lot of money has passed through this account. Where did all that money go? Knowing where your money goes is an important money smart skill.
I went into business with a very poor financial education. Most of my cash flow monthly went to paying bills. I was not introduced to the Kiyosaki, RichDad financial education program until I read his first book in 2000. After a brief period of total shock at how little I understood about finances, I set about figuring out what was happening to my money.
In the year 2000, despite having a thriving veterinary practice, I had no assets. Kiyosaki stressed the importance of looking at profit and loss statements to determine where your money is going. When I started tracking my money it was clear that paying interest on consumer loans was where much of my money went. What a shock to find that a simple thing like not planning for consumer purchases was keeping me broke. Tracking my money was a money smart skill I had to develop if I wanted to change my future.
According to Kiyosaki, it is not only important to determine where your money actually goes but also to plan for where you want it to go. The Kiyosaki, RichDad education program teaches you how to invest in assets that will pay you and then you can use that money to buy things you want. This way you keep your original money or principle intact. What an amazing concept.
Tracking your money, budgeting your money and investing your money are all critical in controlling where your money goes. If you don’t take control of your money it will take control of you. Madalyn
Three money smart actions:
1. Reduce bad debt – consumer loans, loans with variable rate interest
2. Increase cash flow monthly – increase income or reduce expenses
3. Invest in assets – investments which bring in positive cash flow monthly
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Money Smart Skill: Is refinancing a mortgage right in this recession economy?
Robert Kiyosaki often says that being able to gain experience from solving problems is an important money smart skill. In this recession economy, I am having lots of learning opportunities. I made a bad real estate investment by purchasing a rental property close to the height of the real estate boom and keeping the property rented and the negative cash flow monthly covered has been a challenge.
One benefit of the recession economy is that lenders are lowering their standards on refinancing but not all deals pay in the long run. It is a money smart skill to be able to sort through all the hidden costs of a refinance deal to determine if it is worth the lowered payment. I recently got all excited about a deal I thought I was getting but reading the fine print quickly burst my bubble.
I had heard that refinancing usually costs between 3 to 6% of your outstanding mortgage principle so I was thrilled when my agent told me my closing costs would only be $1300 hundred dollars to lower my monthly payment by $200. Luckily I did not break out the champagne. When I read over the papers the trade off for decreasing my negative cash flow monthly was not only the $1300 at closing but an additional $6200 in fees added on to my loan and a new 30 year mortgage rather than the 24 years I currently had remaining. Not a good deal!
Refinancing can be a good idea if these criteria apply:
You will be living in your home long enough to recover the refinancing costs, usually 5 to 7 years
Your new loan is for less than 80% of the current value of your home
Your new loan balance does not exceed the total amount of your existing mortgage
Your credit rating is equal to or higher than when you took out your original loan
You have an adjustable rate mortgage(ARM) and you expect a significant increase in rates before you plan to sell your home
I am not blaming my loan agent for not being totally clear about all the costs. It is my responsibility to get my money smart skill level up to speed. I learned a lot by going through the process even though I did not decide to do the refinance. I also looked into making my payments twice a month instead of once and found that this would not give me additional benefit over making 1 extra principle payment each year. I am not losing faith. This recession economy may be around for a while and I may have another opportunity to refinance at lower rates. In the meantime, I am smarter now. Madalyn
Like this post? Check out: Congratulations, You just failed
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Rich Dad Education: Where does your cash flow monthly come from?
One of the most important money smart skills a Rich Dad education teaches is to know where your cash flow monthly comes from. When I first began studying the financial education of Robert Kiyosaki, I learned to understand the cash flow quadrants.
The cash flow quadrants are:
E for employee
S for self employed
B for business owner
I for investor
The E and S categories are on the left side of the quadrant and the B and I are on the right.
In the E Rich Dad education quadrant your cash flow monthly comes from your salary. Salary is the money you get by trading your time for dollars. Assuming your salary covers your monthly expenses then you maintain a positive cash flow but should your expenses increase for any reason you have little ability to increase your salary to meet the extra need. Money shortage is often a concern for those in the E quadrant.
In the S quadrant your positive cash flow monthly is based on the profit you generate over and above the operating expenses of your business. If your business does not generate a profit then your cash flow monthly is negative. In the S quadrant, which includes many storefront business or professionals such as doctors, you work in your business. To raise your profit level to generate positive cash flow monthly often means working more hours so you give up time freedom. Time freedom is often the concern for those in the S quadrant.
In the B and I quadrants your cash flow monthly comes from passive income. Passive income is based on previous effort and it comes in monthly without the ongoing time for money trade. A B quadrant leverages the time of employees and works off a proven system rather than the individual effort of the owner. In the I quadrant, passive income flows in the form of stock dividends or options, interest payments or real estate rental income. In the B and I quadrant you have money and time freedom.
To summarize, cash flow monthly can come from:
Salary from the E quadrant
Profit from the S quadrant
passive income from the B or I quadrant
I was frustrated in my life because I wanted money and time freedom but could not understand how to have both. My Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad education taught me first to understand where my cash flow monthly came from and how to move from the left side of the quadrant to the right side. This simple concept has changed my life immensely. Madalyn
For a similar topic, check out: Money in your mailbox
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Rich Dad Education: Reducing debt burden secret to increasing cash flow monthly
Played a wonderful game of CashFlow last weekend and was reminded how critical it is to reduce my debt burden as a step to increasing cash flow monthly. I selected the doctor card on purpose because I feel it is one of the most challenging professions when trying to escape from the rat race.
My friend, Jeannie, and I sat down to play with anticipation of a great learning experience. Jeannie drew the police officer card so her cash flow monthly started out much lower than mine but her expenses were also much less. Both of us focused on reducing our debt burden and every time we passed the pay check space we used a portion for this purpose. This strategy did not leave either of us much money for investing in deals to raise our cash flow monthly but our expenses went down which had the same effect.
The whole point of CashFlow is to get your passive income higher than your expenses so reducing debt burden would not seem like the fastest way to win since it creates no passive income. What Jeannie and I both found, however, was our emotional state improved dramatically as our expenses went down. We had less fear of the downsizing space and we felt we were controlling what we could control.
Soon our debt burden was not an issue and we started getting excited about finding some deals. Jeannie bought a stock at a discount and sold it for a nice gain. This gave her a next egg to buy a nice little 3/2 rental house. I was also able to make a similar purchase. We hit a market card and both sold our houses. Now we could really have fun with some big deal cards.
Almost immediately Jeannie drew a great deal with wonderful cash flow monthly. She was frustrated that she did not have enough money to cover the down payment but when we did the math we found she could borrow the down payment from the bank and her additional cash flow monthly would cover her payment. Not only that but the passive income from this deal was greater than her expenses so she was out of the rat race.
I had to play on and do several big deals in an effort to get my cash flow monthly higher than my expenses while Jeannie gallivanted around on the fast track. Despite being downsized 3 times and hitting the baby and doodad spaces repeatedly, my cash flow monthly continued to grow. As my cash flow monthly increased I lost all fear of the bad spaces and continued to invest in big deals every chance I got. I got out of the rat race just as Jeannie won the game.
This was the best game of CashFlow I have ever played for several reasons. By using the strategy of reducing debt burden I got out of the rat race faster than ever before and with the least frustration. This is where I am in my life right now. I am making some sacrifices to pay down my debt burden and I am making significant progress. Patience, discipline and focus on cash flow monthly is getting me to the place where I can take advantage of any small or big deals that come my way. Madalyn
For more on reducing debt burden check out Money Smart Skill number one.
Ever feel like you are all alone with your money challenges? I am not a coach but I invite you to have a look at what has worked for me to increase my cash flow monthly. Contact me.
Wealth Building 101: Principle verses preference
My Kiyosaki, Rich Dad education coach has been teaching me about the difference between a principle and preference. He has helped me understand that there are certain common sense principles about financial education but people have different preferences as to how to put these principles into action. For example;
Sound financial education principles:
Have a budget and plan for saving for a rainy day
Get out of bad debt
Invest in assets
Use the cash flow generated by your assets to make purchases
Unsound financial principles:
Having no plan
Making impulse purchases using credit cards
Investing in liabilities such as a fancy car or house without adequate cash flow monthly in place
Spending your income on what you want now rather than waiting for the cash flow monthly from your assets to buy you what you want
Financial preferences:
Saving in the form of precious metal rather than cash
Paying one credit card off at a time or consolidating debt into one lump payment
Investing in real estate verses the stock market as an asset class or building a home based business to generate cash flow monthly
Buying a big home, new car or other material good verses using cash flow monthly to work fewer hours and have more free time
The point is the sound financial education principles don’t change. A person’s preferences determine what is the best fit for them. Not everyone is cut out to build a home based business but for others this is a perfect path to financial and time freedom. Any preference is fine as long as it fits within the sound principles of good financial education.
Just so you know. I have violated many of the sound financial principles in my life and paid the price. Most successful people I know have made similar mistakes and overcome them by refocusing on sound financial principles. Now I am learning through my Kiyosaki Rich Dad education coaching how to apply these principles consistently in my life.
For me, a home based business in addition to my professional skills has worked well to generate cash flow monthly. Some of my partners prefer to work at their own pace to build a consistent $500 cash flow monthly. Other partners prefer to work quickly and build towards much larger cash flow. Either preference is fine with me. Madalyn
To see if what I am doing is a fit for you contact me
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