23/11/2021
The Most Misleading Lie Ever Told About Wealth
What if I told you that you’ve been lied to? What if I told you that wealth is not what you’ve been told and taught?
Perhaps, you’ve been hypnotized by the world’s concept of wealth. Did you allow the media, entertainment, and sports word to define wealth for you?
Have you bought into the lies and fake lives of most professionals and senior executives, who fly business class all around the world, live in the upscale area of the city, drive the latest model of an exotic car?
Listen it’s time to wake up and shake yourself free of these shackles of deception that have held many down financially.
This deception about what true wealth is all about is the reason 80% to 90% of the world population are not wealthy. Society has lied to us about what it means to be wealthy. As a result, everyone is trying to LOOK wealthy, instead of paying the price to be truly wealthy.
The irony of life is this, those who are truly wealthy try to live like the poor, while the poor are killing themselves to live like the wealthy.
Indeed, empty barrels make the loudest noise.
Listen, friend, you need a reorientation, a paradigm shift from the lie the society is presenting to you.
This post is to help you know the truth about what true wealth is so that you can be free from the wrong perception and images the world has created of a wealthy person; which is making people take wrong steps and live fake lives.
Now, if I asked you about your idea of who a wealthy person is, what he wears, the car he drives, the house he lives and generally how he spends money.
Most likely, the pictures and images that would pop up in your mind would be that of a person who lives in a mansion by the seaside, wears designer clothes, drives exotic cars, and generally lives big and large.
Why this picture?
Simple! You have been lied to. You have simply allowed society, Hollywood, celebrities, and generally, the media to create erroneous, fake pictures of what it means to be wealthy.
We have allowed society to lie to us about wealth. We now have a wrong perspective of what it means to be wealthy.
As a result, we are all pursuing the wrong things in the name of wealth. And this has hindered us from attaining financial freedom.
Listen, friend, those who are truly wealthy don’t spend their money carelessly. They are not necessarily flamboyant and extravagant. Rather they are very prudent, and good managers of their wealth.
Yes, I know that there people who live big and large and are indeed millionaires. They spend lavishly.
But these are mostly celebrities…..people who make good money in the world of sports and entertainment.
These are not people who built wealth through financial intelligence, but talents and gifts. Also, included in this group are people who inherited money and those who won lotteries.
But check them out a couple of years down the road, and you’ll suddenly discover they are broke. Some already declared bankruptcy.
For example, FanBuzz dot com has this to say about Mike Tyson,”despite all he achieved in the ring, Tyson’s legacy is stained by his struggles outside of his boxing career, and Iron Mike has endured financial difficulties in retirement, even after earning hundreds of millions of dollars during his days as a professional boxer.
Despite the fact that Forbes lists Tyson’s career earnings to be as high as $400 million, It was revealed, however, that when Tyson filed for bankruptcy in 2003, the American boxer was more than $23 million in debt.”
Similar thing happened to Michael Jackson. Please understand that this is not in anyway an attempt to berate or downplay the achievements of these great people. I love and respect them.
I’m only trying to help you see the difference between earning great income, living big and achieving financially Freedom.
The truth is that wealthy People believe that financial independence is more important than displaying high social status.
The Truth About Wealth
Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko in their best-selling book, ‘The Millionaire Next Door made some astonishing discoveries about true wealth.
“Twenty years ago we began studying how people become wealthy. Initially, we did it just as you might imagine, by surveying people in so-called upscale neighborhoods across the country. In time, we discovered something odd. Many people who live in expensive homes and drive luxury cars do not actually have much wealth. Then, we discovered something even odder: Many people who have a great deal of wealth do not even live in upscale neighborhoods……… What is so profound about these discoveries? Just this: Most people have it all wrong about wealth in America. Wealth is not the same as income. If you make a good income each year and spend it all, you are not getting wealthier. You are just living high. Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend……. ‘These people cannot be millionaires! They don’t look like millionaires, they don’t dress like millionaires, they don’t eat like millionaires, they don’t act like millionaires-they don’t even have millionaire names. Where are the millionaires who look like millionaires?’…..The person who said this was a vice president of a trust department……He made these comments following a focus group interview and dinner that we hosted for ten first-generation millionaires. His view of millionaires is shared by most people who are not wealthy. They think millionaires own expensive clothes, watches, and other status artifacts. We have found this is not the case.”- The Millionaire Next Door
Now, the truth is that a lot of people who live big and display a high-consumption lifestyle have little or no investments, appreciable assets, or income-producing assets.
A case study
Now let us consider this scenario, Anthony, a top executive in the company where he works, has a monthly income of $40,000, with monthly expenses of $35,000. He is indeed a big boy, lives high, and spends lavishly. After working in the organization for twenty years, the company was shutting down and laying off workers as a result of some major problems. At this point, Anthony has $270,000 in his savings account, no investment of any kind.
On the other hand, here is David, a janitor in the same company who earns a monthly income of $10,000 with monthly expenses of $8,000. He has successfully invested 20% of his monthly income in stocks for the last 20 years with a return on investment of 10% per year.
Of these two characters, who would consider a wealthy person and a candidate for financial freedom?
David now worths $1.5 million. And with monthly expenses of $8,000, he is financially free forever. He won’t HAVE to work again, except he just WANTS to work. Work has become optional. This is true wealth and what it means to be truly wealthy.
What Is Financial freedom?
Financial freedom is the point where the passive income from your assets is equal to or greater than your living expenses. It is the point where your assets make more money than you do with your personal effort. And if you decide to withdraw your personal efforts from your income-generating avenues, the cash flow from your assets would effectively pay for your living expenses.
It is the phase of life where what comes to you financially is more than what goes out from you. It is the point of positive cash flow, where inflows of cash are more than out-flows.
I recently got an email from Robert Kiyosaki that nailed all I’m trying to say. He wrote, “It’s no secret that about 60% of NBA players go broke only five years after their retirement.
(Maybe their agents should give them a copy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad with every new contract.)
But Junior Bridgeman was one of the smarter ones.
If you don’t know who Junior is, don’t worry. You’re not the only one. In fact, very few people remember him.
He played from 1975 to 1986.
He:
Wasn’t the best player…
Didn’t break any notable records…
Wasn’t the highest-paid player (his highest salary was about $350,000 per year)…
But, as I said, he was financially smart.
He knew his playing money wouldn’t last forever. He knew the odds were against him. And he knew his name was not big enough to attract sponsorships and endorsements.
So what did he do?
He used the money he was making as a player and
started investing it in assets!
In his specific case, he invested in a Wendy’s franchise. To learn the business model, he even spent a lot of time working at a local Wendy’s.
By the time he retired, he had 3 restaurants. Today, he’s Wendy’s largest franchise owner, with over 160 restaurants. Plus an additional 120 Chili’s restaurants across the United States.
Now, at the age of 67, Junior Bridgeman is worth $600 million.
So how did he beat the odds and go from $350,000 to $600 million?
He invested his money into wealth-building assets”
The moral of this is to show you that wealth is essentially lifestyle determined not necessary income determined. And the good news is that your lifestyle is your choice.
In conclusion, it is not only erroneous and misleading to think or believe that a lavish lifestyle is a sign of wealth, but the height of financial immaturity.
So make your choice…..a flamboyant and lavish lifestyle or one that facilitates the accumulation of wealth and financial freedom.
It’s a new day for you!
Please get a copy of this book, FINANCIAL FREEDOM: How To Generate Income For Life Without Ever Having To Work Again, The book will indeed expose you to the basics of wealth building and financial freedom.
It’s a book that will definitely add value to your life and change your financial story for good.
Get a copy here: https://tinyurl.com/5czk3arr
It’s your turn to enjoy financial freedom.
To Your Prosperity
