Creating Wealth: lasting sure to financial struggle | MADphilips

CREATING WEALTH – A lasting cure to financial struggle!

Posted on 13. Feb, 2010 by Tito Philips Jnr. in Archives, Business Quotient (BQ), Life Quotient (LQ), People Quotient (PQ)

“Profit is better than wages. Profit makes you a fortune (wealth) which is fine; wages makes you a needy (paycheck) which is not fine. Which of these two do you possess?”

The issue of money is a lifelong challenge; any attempt to tackle it with a short term solution will be futile. You cannot solve a long term problem by applying a short term solution. You’ll only end up where you started!

Conquering the challenge of financial struggle is not a quick fix affair. You cannot fight a chronic illness by simply treating the symptoms. You’ve got to go to the root of the illness before you can effect a permanent cure. You simply cannot cure the illness of being poor by simply injecting some funds every thirty days. If your solution to financial struggle is a constant paycheck from a secure job, then you are far from it; you’re endlessly trying to solve a long term problem with a quick fix solution. You can’t succeed!

WELCOME TO THE RAT RACE

Robert Kiyosaki, author of ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’, calls this mindset of trying to cure a chronic illness like financial struggle by treating the symptoms a rat race. Looking at the basic characteristics of a rat will help to shed more light on this issue. A rat is naturally needy–dependence on an external source for survival; It’ll always be in pursuit of the next meal. It knows it will always be in need of food, but can’t seem to work out a lasting plan on how to continually get food without having to worry about where the meal will come from. A rat is never certain about the next meal knowing well that it doesn’t own the source where it got the last meal. The fear of not being able to ascertain the source of its next meal keeps the rat in a perpetual race for survival.

Unfortunately, a majority of the world’s populace live their lives just like the rats; perpetually on the run for a paycheck they know will never last forever. The fear of lack of money keeps them hanging on to a source they do not really own–a job. They live their lives fully dependent on a paycheck for survival. You can never be certain of continuously getting something from a source you do not own.

Why plan your life around a source you can never own? Why choose to pursue what won’t always be available? Since a paycheck, no matter how secure the job is, can’t put an end to all your financial challenges in life, why hold on to it all your life? Why choose to cure a chronic disease (financial struggle) by treating the symptoms (lack of money)? The problem of lack of money is a symptom to the illness of financial struggle.

WHAT PROBLEM ARE YOU SOLVING, FINANCIAL STRUGGLE OR LACK OF MONEY?

Financial struggle is the state of constantly living in the fear of not having enough money to cater for one’s expenses in life. Lack of money is a state of being broke; that is having no money. When you struggle financially it doesn’t mean you are broke, it means you know the money you own will never be enough to meet all your life’s expenses. It means the money you own can’t afford you the kind of lifestyle you desire. It means your source of money has an expiration date. Financial struggle is a matter of time, that is; how long can the money you have take you? How long can your means of livelihood last you? Can your money last you for your entire life time without running dry? Are you free from the worry of how you are going to live for the rest of your life? How long can you live without the fear of not having enough money to meet your expenses in life? These and many more are the challenges of financial struggle; it is a matter of a lifetime. Financial freedom comes when you’ve permanently put an end to financial struggle. That is; when you can live your life without the fear of not having enough money to cater for your life.

It’s unlike the problem of lack of money which on the other hand refers to a state of being without money. It means you are incapable of meeting your immediate needs. It means you do not have a source of income. This makes the problem of lack of money a matter of source; where do you get your money from? How do you solve the problem of not having money? Are you sure of making continuous income from where you’re currently earning your money? Is your source of income a permanent one? Are you the owner of your source of income? When your source of income is a job, then you really haven’t solved your problem of lack of money; you’ve only suspended it. Being broke is a temporary state which cannot be permanently solved by applying a temporary solution such as a paycheck (job); you’ll need something much bigger. A paycheck is an inadequate solution to the problem of lack of money; never assume it’s going to solve the problem of financial struggle.

Not having money is the symptom of financial struggle. It is a sign that one is not yet financially free; that is freedom from the worry of where the next income will come from. Many people confront this problem of lack of money by getting a job which allows them to earn income through a paycheck. They believe as long as they have a job they will always have money to spend and thus would have ended the problem of being broke. The problem with this approach is that they are not treating the real sickness which is financial struggle but treating the symptom. When you try to get money by getting and holding on to a job, you have only extended the date to your being broke again.

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING FOR, A JOB OR A BUSINESS?

A job is short term solution to a lifelong problem; staking all your life on it will be a fatal mistake. You are never going to make it out alive. The problem (financial struggle) will continually outpace the solution (paycheck) you are proffering. This is because a job was never created to solve your financial problems for life. It was designed to make you needy (dependent) for life. It was designed to pacify (make less painful) the problem of lack of money but never to nullify (abolish) it. As long as the job remains, the trick is to make your financial problems less obvious. But once the job stops, that same old problem of lack of money which was never actually solved suddenly resurfaces again. Why? Because all a job does is to shift your focus from the problem (financial struggle) to the paycheck (temporary cure for lack of money). For as long as the paycheck keeps coming, your problem of lack of money appears to be over. But is it really over?

What we never stop to ask ourselves is this; “who is actually making the problem of lack of money less painful, you or your boss?” if we do ever come to this realization, then maybe we’ll stop feeling secure about an uncertain job. The feeling of being secure can only come from what we have a direct control over. How can you feel secure about a job your boss directly controls? How can you feel secure when you are not in charge? How can you call a job yours when someone else designed the position you currently occupy? How can you feel secure or safe about a company you work for? The very notion of “a job” negates the essence of security. Security can only come from being in control and you can only control what you own. Unfortunately, in all my short stay on earth, I’ve never come across a job that is owned. What I’ve seen so far are job positions that were created for people to occupy. Just because you fill the position doesn’t make you the owner and since you’re not the owner, you can be replaced.

A job was created to be “worked in” (physical engagement) and not to be “worked on” (mental engagement). A job is like a car; you’ve got to be in it before you can drive it. Your physical engagement will always be a requirement. There’s no other way to having a job than to “work in” one. You can never be free from what you “work in” (job), you can only be free from what you “work on” (business). The former (job) requires all your time, while the later requires some of your time. You do a job, but you build a business. You engage in a job, but you create a business. You are inside one doing all the work (job), but on top of the other calling all the shots (business). A job requires your presence to make money; a business depends on asset to generate income. A job gives you money (active income); a business makes you wealth (passive income). The difference is TIME. A job takes your time and gives you money, but a business frees your time and still gives you money. In a job, your time is being exchanged for money; the more money you make, the less time you have. Eventually, you would run out of time because there’s a universal constraint placed on we all humans–AGE.

The older we grow, the less we can physically do. Ultimately, as we age we lose our capacity to physically perform. Life has been designed in such a way that there’s an opposite relationship between age and our capacity to perform. This implies that there’s a deadline on our working years; much like an expiration date when despite our increasing needs, the ability to work would have diminished. The reality of this fact of life poses a rather disturbing question to us all; “how long will your earned income serve you when your working years are over?” Don’t wait till that time to find out, it would be too late; START NOW!

You can start a part time business that will help you build assets (wealth) while you are still working for a paycheck (money). Don’t get carried away by the temporary thrill of working for money that you forget to start building a business that will guarantee perpetual wealth. Wealth and not money, is the lasting solution to financial struggle!

How are you building your own wealth?