How To Take Control Of Your Money Starting Now

When Money Stress Stays Inside

SPEAKER_01 0:00

But I think part of the reservation that perhaps today's society has is the internal stresses that they that they carry. You know, they cannot outwardly show it. I mean, especially when it comes to, you know, money and money management. I mean, Keith, you're central to this. And I wanted to get your perspective in terms of what can you say to that individual who you know perhaps is struggling about you know with money. I mean, just that person living the paycheck to paycheck, having to pay bills, being behind on their rent, their credit cards. Um it's unfair, I understand. What could you do to help that individual?

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Well, it's a tough spot, you know, and and and uh you know I won't deny that. I mean, it's just it is a tough spot. There's just no easy way around it. And you know, when I started my companies, you know, I was living paycheck to paycheck, and you know, that's I I've been there, done that. So you did stress, you did worry. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, there's no question about it. But,

The First Small Step Forward

SPEAKER_00 0:58

you know, again, there's there there comes a point where, you know, and I've got to preface this by saying, you know, today I believe, based on my own experience, that anybody can be wildly successful with money, with the right knowledge, the right training, and the right mental attitude. Now, training doesn't even have to be formal, but the attitude, it's gotta be there and you've got to be focused. And that first step is terrifying because maybe you are living paycheck to paycheck, or maybe you don't are stressed, or maybe you are behind on your rent. But there's always a path forward in how you define it, what it looks like. It may not be exactly what you want. You don't get to buy the Rolex next week, you don't get to be vice president of the company afterwards, you don't get to have a gazillion dollars right away. But again, you know, to my experience, you know, I believe if you take those little bitty steps, that very first step is the hardest of, okay, I've got to take the bull by the horns. I've got to address this. Maybe I stop buying Starbucks, maybe I stop doing the fancy phones, maybe I stop doing all these other things because there's always a way forward if you want it. In, you know, it doesn't matter whether you're coming from a place of wealth, a place of poverty, it doesn't matter whether you're coming from a little, a lot, your age. It doesn't matter and when it comes to this. I don't believe it does. I mean, people say it does, but you know, I am I'm of the belief that your future is what you make of it. And, you know, yeah, some people are dealt a bad card, there's just no doubt about it. But if you make it a bright future, and that is your conscious decision, from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed, I believe you absolutely can do this.

Self-Awareness Beats Social Pressure

SPEAKER_01 2:33

But that leads me to my next question. I mean, how does self-awareness influence the way we invest and manage our money?

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Well, I think that that's an interesting question, and I'm not sure I have a perfect answer to this, but it comes down to what do you want to accomplish? So much of our world, particularly social media, is designed to engender likes or or a similarity, or you know, I'm gonna go over here because there's 5,000 people that like this, or or oh, I want to be here and there. I forget that. You know, who are you? Look in the mirror. There's only one person, unless you got a really interesting mirror, there's only one person looking back at you, right? And that's the person you got to come to terms with. And so if you can get the person in the mirror under control and you get the person in the mirror believing in your vision, then suddenly it gets a lot easier. You know, and I don't sweat a lot of the small stuff, I never have, because I always believed in the person in the mirror.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Sweating the small stuff, I think that's what holds people back. Because I believe that with all of the knowledge, with all the training, if it doesn't affect your heart, that spiritual earthquake in your soul, it's not going to make a difference. It has to be so meaningful, so powerful to you. And I happen to believe that, you know, just again, on the subject of finance and money, as a lot of people do happen to worry about stress and in this regard, you can't be the best version of yourself with this hanging over you, this being that 800-pound elephant that is the bills, the mortgage, the car payments, you know, student loans, and what have you. I think that's what perhaps holds people back from taking that step. And I would have to imagine that it is frightening.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

It's like it's terrifying. It's absolutely

Fear, Bills, And A Real Origin Story

SPEAKER_00 4:15

terrifying. I mean, you know, and and again, I I've been there, you know, I didn't know where my next paycheck or my next dollar was coming from. And we, you know, my wife and I had just we had our first son, and it was like we're starting our companies, and you know, we got down to a thousand bucks in the checking account. And it's like, okay, you know, that was our goal. It's like here we go. What are we gonna do? And you know, then that's when we got our first sort of publishing contract, you know, right? And it's it's it's scary, but if you understand there's a path forward, it's up to you to adjust the path. Nobody's gonna put it in front of you. And so, you know, if you're worried about money, what can you do? Can you you know get rid of some of those bills? Can you proactively go get a different job? Can you work two jobs? Can you, you know, there's there's always a decision pass. It may never be the one you want, it may not be the one you especially like, but you know, with the discipline needed to do those things, with the positive decision that it takes to get you over that first step and recognize that you can control this, that's mighty powerful because everything else builds upon that, or at least, you know, I believe that.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Well, I want to take this one step further, Keith, because I have a slight variation.

Time Value Of Money As Gratitude

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Um, so indulge me, Keith. What do you think your definition of the time value of money means?

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Boy, you know, I've got a lot of different definitions, but the time value of money to me is happiness.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

That's not what I was expecting. I was expecting maybe compound interest, compound returns. But what I was, and and I'll double-click on that happiness quotient in a moment, but to me, evolving that phrase of time value of money, converting that into time value of gratitude. Oh, interesting. And what I mean by that is your older self in perhaps in 10, 20, 30 years, thanks the younger self for the decisions that he or she would make to get the older self not to happen to worry so much about money, about having more freedom and flexibility with uh with your life. So, wanted to get your perspective on that, on this, uh, on this hypothesis.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

I actually happen to have some thoughts on that. So uh, you know, I sum it up this way to the folks that we work with and to our clients. You know, you work hard for your money early on, but if you do it right, when you get much older, eventually your money is working hard for you. So the decision you've got to make today is to treat your money with respect because every dollar you put to work in the markets, every dollar you put aside for your savings, every dollar you do there is a dollar that 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now, you're not gonna have to work for. In fact, that same dollar may be worth three, four, five, ten, a hundred, and it's gonna be working for you. So, so yeah, it seems tough right now to put aside the money. Yeah, it seems tough maybe you don't get to take that vacation, or maybe you don't get to buy the shiny new car, you don't get to have coffee at Starbucks five times a week, or you know, whatever it is. Every little, every little, every literally every penny that you divert as early as possible and leave in the game as long as possible magnifies over time. So, so the that to me is very much the message. If you take care of your money, eventually it will take care of you. But you gotta start as early in the game as possible. How early are we talking

Start Now No Matter Your Age

SPEAKER_00 7:36

about? The moment you realize it. It doesn't matter whether you're 55 and catching up or whether you're five and starting out. You know, if if you've got a piggy bank and you're five years old, use it because eventually you can do something with it. If you've got something you're 55 and you've suddenly woken up and dawned on you that, oh my gosh, you've just spent everything that you know you has come through your fingertips, you still have an opportunity to do something about it. It may not be what you once thought or maybe what you once dreamed, but you still have the opportunity to move forward. And again, so it to me it comes down to that dawning realization that I am in control. The first footstep that I take, the first step that I take over that line is the one that I define when I choose at a moment of my choosing. So you can sit back and watch the world go by, or you can go out and grab it by the horns and make it what you want. And it I don't think it matters how old you are, how much you have, how little you have, where you come from. It's that recognition of internal power that sets you apart and gets you going forward.