Issue #21: 5 Strategies to Develop a Wealth Mindset

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me! If you didn't catch it, my birthday was on the 6th, a fresh 34 yr old now!  How'd I celebrate, you may ask?  Well we stayed home as Lincoln had covid and has to be home for 6 days from school.  So we hung out at home, I prefer to just be with my family, not big into huge celebration of myself. (Yes, I am sure there is some mental trauma that causes that, but shh, don't tell my therapist).

Before diving into the strategies....I did get a smoking gun from the in-laws, see below. I am absolutely jacked! Now I can easily cold smoke...stay tuned for those pics shortly!

5 Strategies to Develop a Wealth Mindset

How can we develop a badass wealth mindset? It's easier than we all think and I am going to lay out 5 strategies to ensuring you achieve a badass wealth mindset.

1. Understand Your Behavior

Before we can start building more wealth, we need to understand where our money is going to begin with. 

That’s right. We’re talking about the dreaded B-word: your BUDGET.

Understanding how we spend our money is only the first step. We also need to dive deep into the emotions that surround our spending. For example, ask yourself these questions;

 How does it feel to spend your money? Does every single one of your purchases make you feel stressed to the max? Are you spending money for short-term stress relief, even though it makes you more stressed later in the month?

Inherently this is the most important piece of building your wealth mindset, which also means it is the most difficult.  You will go through many emotions in this process and start to realize you have deep rooted trauma that you haven't dealt with before.  That is okay you need to go through that, do not be afraid of it, go through it because once you do you can start to own your behavior as opposed to MONEY owning you.

2. Set Goals

Once we know where our money is going and we finally own our relationship between spending and our emotions, it’s time to start setting goals. 

Goal-based financial planning aims to set clear and actionable steps to reach our goals. It is more specific than a few abstract ideas such as “saving for retirement” though, because "retirement" can just too far of a dream for others and for some it's too late.

Instead, a goal-based financial plan is super specific and gives us tangible steps to take in order to provide direction for our future. To build our wealth mindset, we should know where we need to go to get to those big dreams we have. 

For example, met with a client yesterday that wants to buy a home, however it is not currently feasible. That being said they are putting about 10% into their employer retirement plans, so I stated that we can reduce/eliminate retirement savings to focus on your goal of a home.  They looked shocked, well yeah because society screams always save for retirement but my philosophy is live life happily, thus sometimes we may have to apply our assets in a different direction, at least for a short period of time.  They thoroughly enjoyed this approach and said thank you for being blunt and giving us an idea that we inherently would have dismissed.  Side note, they haven't gone through with that change but they are aware they have options as we discuss how important a home is to their family.

Live your life to fullest that makes you happy, do not get stuck on the numbers!

3. Focus on the Positives

The opposite of a wealth mindset is a scarcity mindset, and many people fall into this trap when it comes to managing their money.  - SAY IT LOUDER FOR THOSE IN THE BACK!

Making decisions based solely on fear will hold us back from achieving our goals. Instead of focusing on fear, try to find positive angles by looking for opportunities, solutions, and actions we can take right now.  Let's focus on moving forward not stuck behind, deal?

Keep in mind that even debt can be a good thing, though we are often taught contrary to this idea. Think of it this way: someone else (the bank) is tying up their resources (money) in order to hold our mortgage or loan. This means that our money can be invested elsewhere — ideally at a better rate of return than the interest we pay on the debt itself. 

Fun Fact: We are all "leverage" to other people...it's because we all work for someone. Even business owners...we work for our client or work to provide a service/product/etc.  So you are "leverage" just as much as we "leverage" the bank.

See how easy it can be to focus on the positives, even in situations that we might have originally conceived of as negatives? 

4. Free Up Your Time

There’s no way around it: our time is valuable, and we aren’t the best at everything.  (GUILTY AF, btw this is why coming soon you will see a more focused Stoy)

Instead of committing endless hours trying to accomplish the things that we are bad at, we can free up some of our own time (and valuable energy and money) by hiring an expert to do those items on our to-do list. 

With all that freed up time, we can reinvest our time to make more money. Develop ourselves or our skills, take on extra clients — whatever the case may be. This ultimately earns us more money and makes up for the cash we spent hiring someone else. Investing our time in the areas where you're strongest is crucial to building wealth.

Also known as "leveraging humans", think about it, we are paying someone to take tasks that are lower valued time sucks so we can focus on the money making time tasks, thus we win at the end.  If it costs us $500 to have someone do it but we turn around with that freed up time and make $600, we win! Or even if we use that time with our kiddos or family, that is work $600 in the end!

5. Find a Mentor or Advisor You Can Trust

Many people who know they want to save for the future are quick to hire an accountant or some other type of professional to help them get there. SELFISH PLUG - Financial planners are a great addition to your team and they can ask the hard questions about where your money is going and whether that aligns with your goals. 

But the goal shouldn’t be to find someone who just crunches the numbers for you. Instead, focus your efforts on finding someone who will offer advice, educate you, and help you to understand and improve your mindset. 

That might mean an advisor who offers encouragement or shares new strategies for success. And yes — sometimes even an advisor who’s honest enough to say it straight and talk you out of that not-so-smart investment idea.

What Do You Want Your Life to Look Like? 

Anyone can achieve a wealth mindset and grow their wealth, but it’s an ongoing journey you can’t complete overnight. You need a support team by your side to give honest advice, strengthen your portfolio with expert strategies, and help you achieve financial freedom. 

Do not settle for less! Get that team around you, from professionals to friends to clients that all support where you want to go in life!

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Cannot wait until next week or just want more, check out our podcast @nobswealth and catch us on Youtube. You can always follow me on Instagram and Twitter as well! Or just email me, [email protected].

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