Written by: Ketan Kulkarni
Money and success are among the most frequently used words across the globe. Majority of people want to experience both money and success in abundance. However, in the pursuit of money and success, majority of the people live in a consistent state of some degree of anxiety, discontent, busy-ness, overwhelm, stress or heightened alertness. They often do not recognize this or accept this as a “normal” life struggle. Some even consider this as necessary for wealth and success.
While the wealth and success are universal pursuits, current data suggests an extremely high levels of personal and professional burnout, stress, exhaustion, mental illness epidemic. A lot of people do not accrue wealth regardless of what they achieve, and how hard or smart they work!! Success and fulfilment often appear to be fleeting and temporary!! Problems seem to be plenty and never seem to go away!! There is always something or someone that’s wrong!!
Let’s consider a few examples.
KN is a 58-year-old real estate agent working 25 to 30 hours per week and answers weekend calls as needed. Her house is paid off. She has 1 million in savings that are hard earned. She has a boat and enjoys water time. She tries to take 2-3 short vacations per year. She really wants to retire in 5 years.
YL is a 43-year-old investment banker. He works 60 hours per week and 6 to 8 weekends a year for last 6 years. He bought a 1.5 million house in the A+ neighborhood. He owes 300K in lines of credit that are high interest. He is planning on buying a small cottage in 2-3 years.
JM is a 39-year-old accountant. He has been keen on understand finances. He has been saving 15 to 20% of his gross income consistently. He plans on launching a teaching course and a start-up soon. He has no plans to increase his expenses. He wants to be financially independent at 50.
It seems on the surface that KN is doing OK, YL is wealthy and JM is just starting out. But we cannot conclude who is wealthy among the 3 with this information.
What if we were told…
KN really doesn’t like her work. She always found it hard to talk to people and show properties. She really hates people buying fancy and high-end properties since she doesn’t own one, she always wished to. She is pushing herself to work another 5 years to make sure she has enough for her retirement. She is currently single and has relationship problems. Her only kid sees her a couple of times a year. He isn’t sure what she is going to do after retirement. She hopes to kindle her passions again soon.
YL has a high income. However, his expenses always catch up and often exceed. He is in deep debt and plans on working more to make more income and buy more possessions. He is in a relationship and expects to start a family over the next few years. He anticipates his expenses going up. His work schedule is demanding and is unlikely to slow down. He doesn’t have too much in savings. He can no longer pursue his hobbies. He has become irritable over the years and has taken up smoking.
JM is an optimistic young person who is grounded in purpose. He is looking forward to his career and plans on several entrepreneurial interests. He is well connected to his friends and community. He has a good nest egg already for his retirement. He has grand plans for his future and aspires to buy a waterfront house in the future. He plans on working hard and smart and build assets along the way. He is in a stable relationship and has a small family.
With this additional information our notion as to who is wealthy, financially healthy, and successful changes dramatically.
Let us examine some common myths related to money and finances
Money is equal to happiness
A lot of people pursue money as their primary end goal. Abundant data exists that this pursuit of monetary end goals and possessions will inevitably lead to unhappiness and disillusionment. When we are after money, we are truly after the feeling that we think we will experience when we achieve our monetary goal. This is what KN thought too. In reality, money is a means goal to achieve your end goals of purpose and meaning, fulfilment, contribution, your chosen lifestyle and life-choices.
Money is bad
Money isn’t good or bad. Money is a tool that allows us to exercise our choices and provides a mode of transaction. What often makes money good or bad in our eyes is our attitudes and emotions towards money and how we perceive wealth. KN often hated people based on their high net worth. In reality, she believed that money was intrinsically bad.
Income and wealth correlate
Data suggests that for most people, their income and expenses often directly correlate. Thus, once the income increases, expenses often catch up, similar to the case of YL. Unchecked, many high income or ultra-high income people have very low net worth or wealth. Wealth requires conscious management of one’s income and expenses to build a surplus.
Rich acquire money by unfair means
While majority of people want to be wealthy, so many hate the rich. Many firmly believe that all rich acquired money by unfair means. In our experience, there are innumerable wonderful rich people who worked hard and smart, lived by design, built their fortune, are grateful for it and are more than willing to share their journey to educate others. JM met a few such mentors early in his life that set him on the path of wealth. In contrast KN often thought that high net worth individuals somehow acquired money using unfair means.
Making money is extremely hard
A lot of people believe that making money is hard, it takes a long time and extraordinary effort. A long work hour culture to enhance productivity is deeply engrained in our modern capitalistic economy. However, abundant data suggests that none of this is necessarily true. Many examples in the world of technology, start-ups, entertainment, and literature suggest that people can achieve breakthroughs in relatively short period of times. In addition, when success happens it can escalate extremely rapidly. YL truly believes in long work hour culture and thinks that he must burn the midnight oil to somehow justify and create his income. He must re-evaluate.
Only lucky few can be wealthy
We frequently hear the comment: Oh well, that person was in the right place at the right time. They just got lucky. More often than not, this is a justification that an individual offers to himself/herself or others to explain why they are not wealthy or famous or something else that they don’t possess, similar to KN. In fact, this represents a scarcity mindset rather than a growth mindset.
You need to be cutthroat and competitive to become rich
Similarly, like YL, a lot of people believe that one needs to be extremely competitive and driven to achieve success. Moreover, you need to step over many heads to climb the ladder. In our experience, extremely successful and wealthy individuals are often very humble, purpose-driven, open-minded, sharing and eager to teach and learn. They believe in success and opportunity for all.
I can’t change my wealth and money mindset.
Nothing could be further from truth. Each of us has emotions, thoughts, and beliefs about money. A range of factors including culture, peer, family, media, internet, geopolitical factors and lived experience influence this. Furthermore, more often than not people have a distorted relationship with money. Each and every one of us can evaluate our money mindset and heal it. We can examine our beliefs, attitudes and emotions about money and mend them. Yes it does require work and introspection but it is possible to develop an abundance mindset regarding wealth. In our work, we have developed money blueprints that you can immediately apply to do the same (https://www.brainzmagazine.com/post/marred-in-endless-multitasking-follow-me). Thus, money and wealth mindset are a choice!
It's not about making money every minute of a day, it's about adding value every minute of the day. And wealth will follow!
For more information you can visit www.thelegendaryquest.pro. You can subscribe to receive a free life satisfaction questionnaire.
About the author Ketan Kulkarni:
Ketan Kulkarni is an international award-winning physician, entrepreneur, a clinician researcher (>125 published papers), a finance coach, author, an avid learner and networker, a traveler, an art enthusiast and antique collector and a music buff.
The Legendary Quest:
