MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom (29 page)

A WORD OF WARNING

Before we move on, let me be very clear on one point: this does not imply that all versions of these products and strategies are great. Some have high fees, high commissions, hidden charges, and on and on. The last thing I want is some salesman using these few pages to sell you something that’s not in your best interest. And when we dive into these solutions in section 5, I will give you a specific list of pitfalls you must avoid as well as a list of things you absolutely want to make sure you receive when utilizing these solutions.

YOU GET WHAT YOU TOLERATE

The point of this chapter is to begin to show you ways in which you can have your cake and eat it too. Sometimes, when you have endured the choppy waters for so long, you begin to believe that there is no other option. This tendency is called “learned helplessness.” But that’s not the way insiders think. From Buffett to Branson, they all look for asymmetric risk/reward.
Insiders are not helpless, nor are you. In every area of life, you get what you tolerate. And it’s time to raise the standard.

HOW FAR WE HAVE COME

We have made some serious progress! Let’s recap the myths we have shattered and the truths we have uncovered thus far:

• We have learned that nobody beats the market (except for a handful of “unicorns”)! And by using low-cost market-mimicking index funds, we can outperform 96% of mutual funds and nearly as many hedge funds. Welcome to the front of the performance pack!

• Since stock-picking mutual funds are charging us extremely high fees (over 3%, on average), we can drop our investment fees by 80% or even 90%. You could have more than twice as much money when you retire or cut years off the time it will take you to get to financial freedom. Let that soak in for a second!

• We have learned the difference between a butcher and a dietitian—between a broker and a fiduciary. And now we know where to go to get transparent advice (that may also be tax-deductible).

• 
We learned how to drastically reduce our 401(k) fees by using a low-cost provider like America’s Best 401k. You can see how your plan stacks up by using the industry’s first fee checker (
http://americasbest401k.com/401k-fee-checker
). Again, these cost savings will compound our total account balance and put money back in our family’s pocket. (For business owners, we showed how you can get yourself compliant with the law and drastically reduce your liability.)

• We learned about the Roth 401(k) and how we can protect against rising taxes by paying the tax today and never paying tax again (not on the growth or the withdrawals).

• We learned that target-date funds (TDFs) are not only expensive but also may be more aggressive or volatile than you think. And if you want to use a TDF, you should stick with a low-cost provider like Vanguard. Later, in the “Billionaire’s Playbook,” you will also learn how to put together your own asset allocation instead of paying a TDF to do it for you.

• We learned that variable annuities are a mutant evolution of a 2,000-year-old financial product but that other more traditional (fixed) annuities can provide what no other product can: a guaranteed lifetime income stream!

• And finally, we learned that wealth without risk is a possibility. Sure, there is risk in everything, but we learned that certain structures will allow us to participate when the market goes up and not lose when it falls!

Are your eyes beginning to open? Has the blindfold been removed? How will your life be different now that you know the truth? Shattering these myths is the groundwork for creating true financial freedom. I want you to see, hear, feel, and know that
the game is winnable.
If these myths are unsettling, good! They were for me when I first discovered the truth. Let them drive you forward to make financial freedom a
must
in your life, and to declare that you will never be taken advantage of again.

We will take it up a notch and have some fun in section 3. It’s here where we will make our dreams become more of a reality by putting in place a plan that is both doable and exciting. And if it’s not happening fast enough
for you, we will show you how to speed it up and bring it closer into your future.

But first, the last and final myth must be put to death. But unlike the others, it’s not one that someone else has sold you. It’s the story you have sold yourself. It’s whatever myth or lie has kept you from taking action in the past. It’s time for a breakthrough! Let’s shatter your limits by discovering the lies we tell ourselves.

CHAPTER 2.9

MYTH 9: “THE LIES WE TELL OURSELVES”

Seek truth and you will find a path.

—FRANK SLAUGHTER

Okay, let’s get real here. We’ve just gone through all of the marketing and investment myths that have been promoted for years, at great expense to us, and to the benefit of big institutions. And my bet is that right now you’re probably shocked, but you feel incredibly empowered. You now know what to avoid and what to do to succeed.

But there’s one final myth to tackle. The myth that says the reason we’re not succeeding, not achieving, not growing is because of someone or something else beyond our control. Or the alternative thought that somehow we just aren’t made of the stuff that can help us master this area of our life.
But here’s the truth: the ultimate thing that stops most of us from making significant progress in our lives is not somebody else’s limitations, but rather our own limiting perceptions or beliefs.
No matter how successful we are as human beings, no matter how high we reach personally, professionally, spiritually, emotionally, there’s always another level. And to get there, we have to be honest with ourselves; honest about our unconscious fears. What do I mean?

Everybody has a fear of failure at some level; at times we’ve all been fearful that perhaps we are not enough.
Even when we know what to do, our fear can keep us from executing our plans. As a result, rather than face our natural fears, what do we do? We come up with stories. Stories about why we’re not where we want to be. Why we’re not smart enough, successful enough, thin enough, rich enough, loved or loving enough. Our stories almost always relate to something outside our control, or our lack of some natural talent or ability. But talent and skill are two key elements to success
attainable by anyone who is truly committed. You can get the skill if you can get beyond the mental limits of how hard, difficult, or “impossible” it may be to master something.

You’ve made the single most important financial decision of your life by deciding precisely how much you’re going to save to build your Freedom Fund—so you can tap into that and create a money machine that makes money while you sleep. And we’ve taken the time to look through all of the marketing myths that can trip you up along the way. So what’s left? The last thing out there standing in our way is often our own story, our own limitations, our own fears. The final obstacle to face is ourselves. That’s why, for 38 years, my passion has been helping people to break through from what holds them back—to help them get from where they are now to where they want to be, and faster.
My whole life has been committed to helping people create breakthroughs.
And frankly, while lots of people make this step complex, I’ve found there are only three elements that make the difference between success and failure in the long run––between whether you stay where you are, or you move forward. Whether you make excuses about what you don’t have or whether you get to enjoy the life you deserve.

BREAKTHROUGHS

So what is a breakthrough?
A breakthrough is a moment in time when the impossible becomes possible
—when you don’t just talk about something, but you finally take massive action and do whatever it takes to make it happen. You make a move to truly change and improve your world.

Often it’s frustration, anger, or stress that triggers a breakthrough. We hit our threshold: a point where we say, “Never again and no more.” Or inspiration strikes: we meet someone who inspires us and that makes us see how life can be so much greater than we ever dreamed possible. You meet someone who enjoys life fully, has a great relationship, is physically fit or financially free, and you decide, “I’m as smart as he or she is. I’m going to find a way.” What was acceptable before no longer is. There’s no going back now. It’s amazing what you can do when you decide to draw a line in the sand, commit to a new goal, and set a new standard.

Most people say, “It took me ten years to make this change.” But the
truth is, it didn’t take ten years for a breakthrough. True transformation happens in a moment. It may have taken you ten years to
get to the point where you were ready,
or open, or maybe even provoked. But we’ve all had breakthroughs in our lives, and those breakthroughs happened in a single moment. We struggle with something for years—a job or a career, our weight or a relationship. We’re miserable until one day a trigger goes off. Suddenly, “That’s it.”

“I love you!”

“I quit!”

“I’m in!”

“Let’s begin!”

Not within a day or an hour, but in that moment your life changes—and it changes forever.

Have you ever stayed in a relationship way too long, even though you knew you were unhappy, and so was your partner? You came to the edge of dealing with it, and then the fear of the unknown, of change, of being alone, stopped you. The fear of loss and uncertainty kept you from taking action, and you settled.

Whatever you struggle with, I know there’s a place where you’ve had a breakthrough before. Take a moment to think of one. What’s an area you used to struggle with—daily, weekly, monthly, for years or even a decade or more, until one day you hit your threshold? You became inspired, or fed up, enough to finally make a real decision to change this area once and for all! And you took massive and immediate action to make a change. You got it done. You finally kicked the habit and quit smoking. Or you left a job that made you miserable and started your own business. Or maybe you finally decided to start exercising and change your body or get yourself out of that bad relationship.

I want you to own that breakthrough. There was a time when things seemed like they couldn’t change, but you did it—
you
made it happen. You
do
have the ability to change everything in your life. No matter how long it’s been this way, you can change it all in a moment, a moment of real decision, a decision that is acted upon. That’s a breakthrough, and one is waiting for you right now.

THREE STEPS TO CREATING YOUR BREAKTHROUGH

There are three steps to creating a breakthrough: three forces that, together, can massively change any and every aspect of your life.
Any one on its own can work, but if you put all three together, you will absolutely change the aspect of your life that you choose to focus on.

What are the three biggest challenges people face in America? What are the three areas that show up over and over again, causing pain in people’s lives? Our finances, our relationships, and our bodies. How many people do you know who struggle with money, who can’t save, who don’t earn enough, who spend too much, or who can’t figure out what to do next with their career? And what about relationships? Men and women, we are wired so differently—if we don’t understand each other, it can take so much work to maintain healthy intimate relationships, to understand what our partner really needs and wants, to communicate in a loving and supportive way. And then there are our bodies. We live in a time where the majority of people in the Western world are massively overweight. In the United States, nearly seven in ten Americans are either overweight (defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as having a body mass index of 25.0 to 29.9) or obese (having a BMI of 30.0 or higher). Our struggle with fitness and health has become a national crisis, and it’s spreading around the world as developing countries adopt some of our lifestyle and eating patterns.

Why do I bring this all up? What do relationship challenges and unhealthy eating habits have to do with your ability to achieve financial freedom? Well, whatever area you want to create a breakthrough in, whether it’s your body, your relationships, or this book’s focus, money, there are only three things that you need to look at. And they are the same three things no matter what kind of breakthrough you’re hoping to achieve.
If you want to change your life you have to change your
strategy,
you have to change your
story,
and you have to change your
state.
Let’s begin with strategy, because that’s where most people start.

THE RIGHT STRATEGY

If you’re with me here now, reading this book, you’re in search of answers, of strategies, to take control of your money and secure your financial future. I live for finding strategies to improve every area of our lives. I’ve spent the past 38 years relentlessly focusing on finding strategies and tools to immediately change the quality of people’s lives. I’ve been successful and impacted over 50 million people in 100 countries
because
I’m obsessed with finding simple strategies that quickly lead to breakthroughs—breakthroughs in relationships, in finances, in careers, in growing businesses, in mind, body, and soul.