Category Archives: Money & Your Mind

Is Money Holding You Captive?

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Money is an essential part of our existence, as we need it to acquire the basic necessities and comforts of life. I always encourage persons to be more purposeful in their financial dealings and to constantly look out for opportunities to earn more income. Becoming more focused and productive is a key ingredient to attaining our goals.

While money is very critical for our well-being, it seems that in today’s society many of us place too much importance on money itself. Our thoughts, beliefs and fears about money can lead us to make unwise financial decisions, and very often our money attitudes can bring out the worst in us.

It seems that many of us have become enslaved by our desire for and dependence on money.

Continue reading Is Money Holding You Captive? →

Developing Your Millionaire Mindset

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Last week, we introduced a fascinating audio book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, in which author T Harv Eker explains how people’s thoughts can actually influence their financial results. This week, we explore some of Eker’s insightful suggestions about how you can create a mindset for wealth.

Acknowledge that you create your results

It’s important to understand that you have the ability to design the destiny that you desire. Eker insists that you are the “steering wheel of your financial life” as you have the power to create what you have or what you don’t have. Unfortunately, too many people never achieve their goals because they think that forces outside of their control are responsible for their success or failure.

Instead of taking responsibility for their future, Eker explains, people with poverty mindsets often blame other people and circumstances for their money problems. They also try to justify their financial lack with comments such as, “Money is not that important to me.”

Constant complaining is another form of negative energy that actually ensures that they only attract more problems. Continue reading Developing Your Millionaire Mindset →

Who Wants to Have a Millionaire Mind?

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Here’s a fantasy scenario: If you had to choose between getting a million dollars in your hand tomorrow, and being given the mind of a millionaire but no money at all, which option would you take? Would you say, ‘I’ll take the money!’ or ‘I’ll take the mind’?

There are many benefits to be obtained from having access to a large sum of money; the opportunities for profiting from a sudden influx of wealth should be almost immeasurable. Yet we constantly hear unfortunate stories of persons who have received sudden fortunes, such as lottery winners, and who end up losing all their money in a short time.

On the other hand, there are inspirational tales of very wealthy people who, through business failure or some major calamity, lost everything they worked hard for, only to regain it in a few short years.

Donald Trump’s riches-to-rags-to-riches-again story comes readily to mind as a perfect example of someone who, although he lost his money, didn’t lose his ability to make money. Continue reading Who Wants to Have a Millionaire Mind? →

Discovering Your Money Blueprint

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I like to encourage people to continuously seek knowledge and information about various topics. Keeping abreast of changing trends is especially crucial in the world of finance, as these can help you to find opportunities to create wealth. When it comes to money, I have found that you can never learn too much about it.

When I began my search for the secret to financial success many years ago, at first I was only hoping to find some answers to help me to fix my own money problems. However, the more I researched, the greater my desire became to discover how the essential principles of money could be harnessed to help more persons break free of financial bondage.

As an avid reader, I prefer to get financial information from written material. Ironically, it was the audio recording of a book, and not the printed version, that gave me the solution to a money mystery that I had been trying to figure out for a very long time: “Why do some people struggle with money for their entire lives?” Continue reading Discovering Your Money Blueprint →

What do the rich know about money?

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“The main reason people struggle financially is because they have spent years in school but learned nothing about money. The result is that people learn to work for money… but never learn to have money work for them.”

This bold statement on the back cover of Rich Dad Poor Dad was very intriguing. I had heard a lot about Robert Kiyosaki’s bestselling book, which promised to reveal what rich people taught their children about money that poor and middle-class people did not.

I was eager to find out if the publicity hype surrounding it was warranted, so it was one of the first books that I read in my search for ways to become financially successful.

I have spoken to hundreds of persons who are, just like I was many years ago, financially distressed and desperate for solutions to their money problems. Unfortunately, too many of them are looking for quick fixes to their financial woes. The question often asked is, “How can I make some more money fast?” Continue reading What do the rich know about money? →

Make Your Dreams Happen in 2011

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As another year rapidly draws to a close, it’s a perfect time to consider all the triumphs and trials that faced us in 2010. In reviewing the past, let’s celebrate our successes and learn valuable lessons from our mistakes.

When we look back in time, sometimes we may find that certain challenging issues keep recurring without us really uncovering or understanding their underlying principles. One important life course that many people believe that they are doomed to fail is ‘Money Success 101’. The key attitudes and actions needed to excel in this class continually seem to elude them.

People often ask me for one piece of advice that can help them to accomplish their financial goals. As they search for solutions, many of them think that a job that pays a higher salary would deliver them from their money woes. Others believe that the answer lies in the perfect investment scheme or a profitable business opportunity.

The reality is that even if more income or the ideal financial vehicle appears on your doorstep, they may not help you to be more successful with money.

Continue reading Make Your Dreams Happen in 2011 →

How to break free from financial bondage

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Last week as we celebrated Heritage Week in Jamaica, I reflected on the lives of our heroes and the tremendous challenges they had to conquer. Today, we are able to live better lives because of their bravery and determination in overcoming various forms of bondage: physical slavery, racial discrimination, and sovereignty to foreign rule.

I wondered aloud to a friend, “Will Jamaica ever attain any other heroes?” “Probably not,” she responded, “there’s nothing left for us to be liberated from.”

But are we really free? The harsh reality is the large majority of Jamaicans are living lives of quiet desperation, bound by the shackles of financial bondage. Unlike some of the chains that kept us down in the past, these impediments to our personal and national success are largely self-inflicted, and are strengthened by our inability to attack the roots of our oppression. Continue reading How to break free from financial bondage →

Maximising Your Time To Make Money

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Camille, a 35-year-old middle manager at a large corporation, is faced with a major dilemma. To date, her job has survived the prevailing economic challenges, but she is aware that at any time her position could be in jeopardy. She wants to boost her income in order to put aside more money for future eventualities including redundancy.

Camille has applied for a promotion in her company, which she thinks she will probably attain based on her performance reviews. However, she is concerned that the new senior management job entails working longer hours and being on call practically 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Although she wants to earn more, Camille is already having difficulty balancing her work and personal life. She feels guilty that she doesn’t spend more quality time with her husband and two children, but she is torn by her desire to increase her earnings and secure her employment. She wishes she could find a way to make more money but increase her leisure time. Continue reading Maximising Your Time To Make Money →

Money Milestones

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Recently, a client asked me if I thought that she had achieved all the appropriate financial targets for her age. Like a concerned parent eagerly checking for the age-specific developmental achievements of a child, she was trying to assess if she had attained the money milestones that would indicate that she was on the right track.

However, just like children who progress at their own pace, each person is unique when it comes to their personal financial development. Some people seem to be born with the right genes for money, getting an early start on wealth creation by being consistent savers and savvy investors. Others appear to be slow learners, remaining deficient with their money skills until their later years.

Despite the disparity in development, there are basic money milestones that can be used as a guide to people’s financial health and well-being. Let’s examine some of the signposts to look for as you move along your financial life journey: Continue reading Money Milestones →

Time is of the Essence!

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One of the realities of our current economic climate is that we are now forced to do more with fewer resources at our disposal. While our income loses value every month, our expenses grow almost exponentially. Layoffs and job work-hour cuts are reducing the size of the workforce, yet employees are being asked to produce more in less time.

As we continue to grapple with the financial challenges that this year will bring, it becomes even more crucial to manage the precious resource of our time. I often comfort my clients by explaining that they can always recreate lost wealth; but I can’t give the same guarantee about time because it’s not a renewable resource.

Many of us approach time as if it were an hourglass that will replenish itself with sand once we turn the instrument upside down. The reality is that once we use up all the seconds, minutes and hours in a day, we will never see them again. Continue reading Time is of the Essence! →