I genuinely believe that I was put on this Earth to help people create ease around money and wealth so that they can have the impact on the world that they want.
I’ve witnessed so many people struggle and have a bad relationship with money. And while you don’t have to have a lot of money, the relationship you have is super important because it allows you to establish what money means to you and how you apply it in the world.
So, I want to share a bit more about the impact I’m trying to have in the world and why I am trying to change the way people relate to money and wealth.
The Relationship and Intentions with Money
I believe that many people, especially business owners, go into business because they have this idea of what kind of life they want to live, whether it’s freedom around their time, resources or money.
Unfortunately, there are no two ways about it – business is hard. I‘ve not only been witness to it, but I’ve also experienced it myself and coached hundreds of people who run businesses. It can be quite a lonely and unique journey.
And sometimes, the euphoria or the vision that people have for their businesses doesn’t quite come to fruition in the way they expect. It’s not so much that the business can’t be lucrative, but sometimes a business can rob us of a pound of flesh and create wage burdens that the average wage earner doesn’t experience.
So, if you can get the “wealth” piece right and get good at converting a small piece of your premium income into assets and investments that work for you, that automatically gives you the liberty of being able to choose.
The Freedom of Choice
We all just want to choose how we spend our time and how we impact the world.
Part of my dream is having the freedom to choose when you stop working for a living, but I don’t necessarily believe in “retirement.”
I’m so tired of seeing business owners killing it in their business but not building enough passive income streams outside their business – it’s super limiting. What I really want to see is people winning at business and winning in all other aspects of their lives.
If business owners can do a great job at generating income and then putting it to work (beyond just lifestyle), that will eventually pay back tenfold down the track.
Being in Control of Your Financial Decisions
I also believe that wealth building should be simple, not complex.
Through my years in the accounting industry and the wealth-building field, I’ve witnessed people get paid to make investing seem complex. If you think back 40 to 50 years ago, wealth advice was not a commonplace service.
And now, if you don’t have someone giving you support around wealth, you can’t possibly create financial freedom. Financial planners, in particular, have positioned themselves as being top of the tree when it comes to wealth advice. But, to me, wealth building is not rocket science.
You don’t need a Master’s Degree in Finance to understand how to build wealth. You simply need:
- an open mind,
- a good relationship with money,
- relationships with individuals who can support you on your journey so that you can avoid the landmines, and
- to keep it simple.
The extension of that is that too many investors abdicate the decision-making for their financial decisions – it’s easy for them just to hand off decision-making to someone else.
But one of the big distinctions between a financial mentor and a financial planner is that a financial planner takes away an investor’s decision-making ability and tells them where they should be putting their money.
Whereas a financial mentor is someone who shows you what the options are and then helps you work out how to make the best of the resources available without giving you specific advice on which investment to put your money into.
So, staying in control of our financial decisions and not abdicating them is super important.
The Purpose of Money
The next thing I believe in is that the purpose of money is to live a bigger life and have a bigger impact on the people and causes we care about.
Too many of us spend our lives living on autopilot trying to scrape a living together, when in fact, it’s not really what our heart desires, and it’s not the impact we want to have in the world.
If the purpose of money is to live a bigger life and create a bigger impact, how does where you are reconcile to that?
Saying No To the Wrong Investments
Beyond that, I believe in saying no to all the wrong investments so that we can hone in on the ones that move the needle and make the biggest difference.
Too often, we get distracted by attractive marketing, the possibility of high returns or the fear of missing out – so we end up taking the investment.
When you put your head into the game of money and investing, the opportunity of a lifetime comes along every day of the week, and it’s just as tricky to say no as it is to find the gems. So, if you focus on “moving the needle” on your investment compass, it makes it much easier to discern whether investments are a fit for you or not.
A good example of this is Bitcoin. And if you’re someone who feels they fully grasp the world of Bitcoin, what it means and how it moves, then, by all means, put some money in it. But, it’s not going to move the needle for most people because they don’t fully grasp and understand.
I know very little about asset classes beyond my field of expertise because I stick to the investments that I know, giving me consistent, predictable results. And I’ve realised that, over time, predictability is super important.
Building Beneficial, Authentic Relationships
The next thing I want to cover is this idea that I believe in building deep relationships with amazing people. I’ve learned along the way that people who can support me with wisdom, guidance and opportunities to grow, allow me to create results that the average investor simply can’t.
As an accounting graduate working at Deloitte, I witnessed the whispers of people who were getting access to deals and seemed to have the edge. But, at that point, I just couldn’t work out how they got those deals.
Did they find a secret community of people? Did they have parents who had friends in high places?
Only years later did I realise that there’s no magic – they simply made consistent efforts to meet good people and build authentic relationships.
Part of the reason people join the Freedom Warrior programme is they want access to the relationships that I have long fought hard to create and preserve. And there’s nothing like a personal introduction to someone who is an A grade player who has access to epic deal flow.
And the introduction is not to simply secure one deal but to have access to a pool of investments for the rest of your life.
I’m giving them access to a network of trusted advisors who have a proven track record as investors and are good people who move in circles that matter to them – and that’ll give you some degree of protection simply by association.
If you want above-average results, go and find the people who have those results and then ask them how they got there – ask for support, wisdom and insights.
Be Assertive About Building Wealth
The final piece that I want to touch on is the idea of being fierce.
The book that I wrote, the Freedom Warrior, is really a testament to this idea that if you want to be financially free, you can’t be meek and mild about it – you have to be fierce about it.
And, being fierce is not the same thing as being greedy. But, being apathetic or apologetic is not going to get you to financial freedom very fast. It doesn’t get you there in business, and it won’t get you there on your investment journey.
I’m reading many stories about the founders of massive corporations: the founder of Nike and the founder of Netflix, for example. Those kinds of stories illustrate massive grit, determination and being fierce – they went after what they wanted and weren’t embarrassed about it.
In Australia, we tend to pretend that we’re laid back and don’t care about money. But money for the sake of designing a life where you can have a bigger impact – that’s something worthwhile. If you’re interested in building financial freedom, it’s super important that you constantly look for ways to move the needle – there’s no room for apathy or for being apologetic.
You need to do things with a level of grit and determination.
And that doesn’t mean you have to make money at someone else’s expense. I believe that helping others and helping yourself are not mutually exclusive – they can be one and the same.
Final Word
The purpose around wealth building and having clarity about the “why” is super important.
So, this article was a dive into my “why” – why all this stuff matters to me and why it’s important.
Even in a first-world society like Australia and New Zealand, there are still so many people suffering in terms of their relationship with money, and it’s super important to recognise that and do something about it.
I would love more than anything to help you understand what I understand – which is having a freedom formula and a pathway to get you where you want to go in the shortest possible time.
So, if you’re interested in understanding how to create wealth through alternative strategies, please check out my programs, where I help you catapult your investment income and blend strategies to shave decades off your timeline to financial freedom.
Or, you’re welcome to get in touch today, book a call with me, and I would be happy to talk you through it – no obligation!
