Friday, October 13, 2006

Wealth Creation – Kiss It Or Say Goodbye!

I never thought that I would find myself using the old Kiss cliché ("Keep it Short and Simple" or “Keep it Simple Stupid). I’ve always preferred Einstein’s approach, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler."

Yet wealth creating is simple. Incredibly and utterly simple. When creating wealth becomes complicated it’s time to stop and take measure. It’s clearly time to get back on the track of simplicity before one gets derailed.

Wealth creating is not about “running a business” “making money” “investing” “earning an income” “having a great job” and the like. Far too complicated and time consuming for the serious wealth creator. There are, as you know, tens of thousands of books written on those subjects and guess what? The great majority of people still struggle financially through life. We all know of couples who have “great jobs” and are earning “high incomes” and making “heaps of money” yet still struggle to make ends meet at the end of each month. Commitments and expenses seem to sadistically expand to the level of the money available to meet them.

And of course we all know of people who were on very low incomes who end up fabulously wealthy.

So by all means keep at your job or business and retain the status quo – but quite separately, begin your new part time wealth creation program ASAP.

One of the biggest hurdles is that people at some level have the desire to be wealthy but do not know exactly what “wealth creation” is. Those whose real estate or investments rose in value, know that they are “wealthier” but see the obvious element of luck in the fact that prices rose opportunistically. Others coming into the same market, are “on a wing and a prayer” hoping that prices will continue to rise so they too can benefit.

Without knowing precisely what wealth creation is, it is impossible to become “wealth” conscious.

So let’s get Wealth Creation in focus and keep it simple.

Please consider:

A business has a gross annual income and from that total pays all overheads. From the net income or profit (if any) tax is payable. Now the amount that is left, can either be used to create wealth - or it can be spent on non-wealth creating products or services - for example, spending the surplus on a vacation etc.

Similarly a working couple has a combined gross annual income and from that total pays all domestic overheads. Now the amount that is left, can either be used to create wealth - or it can be spent on non-wealth creating products or services - for example, spending the surplus on a vacation etc.

So you can readily observe from the above two examples that there is a difference between “business” and wealth creation and “income” and wealth creation.

Wealth, put simply, is the total realizable value of one’s total material assets. That is if you have antiques worth $10,000.00 or gold worth $10,000.00 or acme widgets worth $10,000.00, your wealth is $10,000.00. Obvious and simple, yes? It’s so simple it’s a no-brainer!

Wealth Creation is NOW whilst investing is about planning (and praying) for the future. A wealth creator wants to multiply the value of his or her realizable wealth total NOW!

That is, if those antiques or widgets are genuinely worth $10,000.00 the wealth creator will buy them at $5,000.00 or less. At the point of purchase, at least $5,000.00 is added to the wealth total. Unlike the speculator or the investor, a Wealth Creator does not buy on the hope or the gamble that the purchase will rise in value. “Yikes - no way! Keep it simple – the golden rainbow of tomorrow may not come. I want my added wealth now – the minute I pay I intend being wealthier. Let others get their crystal ball out and start praying.”

Note that:

A wealth creator spends money and becomes wealthier.

The average punter spends money and becomes poorer.

The speculator gambles.

The investor hopes and prays.

Who of the above has the most fun?

And having fun is part of wealth creation. For example, Bob and June, part time wealth creators in England, keep in touch with me regularly. After reading my book, they used the money they each spend on each other as Christmas and birthday gifts to begin their wealth program. Instead of buying each other a present for $100.00 and knowing that as soon as they leave the shop the value of that present is probably about $30.00 maximum and thereafter declines in value to become a worthless keepsake, they became wealth conscious. He loves early watercolors and she collects estate jewellery. So off to the auctions and sales they went. Once they became wealth conscious and in a wealth program, when they spend that $100.00 on an item, the item is usually worth $300.00. They’ve been at it now for four and a half years. The two birthday and two Christmas presents added up. They buy and sell when ever possible.

Today they have art and jewellery worth tens of thousands of pounds and their wealth total is going up at an astronomical rate. Even more important they have immense fun in the process.

Business proprietors have every right to have all the hassles of working hard, paying the overheads and hopefully making a profit. The wealth creator takes a short cut through the whole tedious process and goes straight for the jugular – WEALTH CREATION.

To a wealth creator liquidating a part of one’s wealth gives the opportunity to increase the overall wealth total. In stark contrast, the business proprietor needs turnover to pay the overheads.

How ever much money you have available for your part time wealth program, two points are clearly obvious. (1) Your money is always limited - so you can afford to be extremely choosy. And (2) because you are always multiplying your wealth by at least 100%, it doesn’t matter how little you have to start with.