I have a bunch of friends who are car racing junkies.  They attend the local races and they watch NASCAR on TV.  They know who’s who,  and what’s what.  You could call them full fledged FANatics.  Some people I know make several trips a year to see the big races in other cities.  And yes, they were totally supportive of bringing a NASCAR track here to the Seattle area.   

I have to admit that I am not a big car racing fan.  I don’t like watching it on TV and I can’t understand anyone listening to it on the radio.  I have attended a few local races over the years and the truth is, once I get there I do enjoy it.  I just don’t like big crowds.  Getting there seems to be the biggest impediment to my participation.  I am a maverick by nature, whichever way the group is going, I tend to go the other way.   

Anytime you have big events, where lot’s of people are going to the same place at the same time, you have traffic and long lines and waiting.   That’s it, the waiting.  That’s what I don’t like, the waiting.  You have probably heard that it is the journey that is important, not the destination.  Well I don’t buy it. 

I am goal oriented guy and I am a finisher by nature.  I like to complete what I start, so if I am going to a place where lot’s of other people are going at the same time, I just want to get there to enjoy what I went to experience.  I don’t go to some events that I would like to for that very reason.  I don’t participate in some things in life that I would like to just because the journey is unpleasant for me.  Sure I could put up with it, but I don’t.   

Many people do this with their money.  They give up the enjoyment of being financially sound because they don’t like the journey to get there.  Believe me, I understand.  But, not being willing to fight the crowd for a NASCAR event won’t affect my ability to live my older years in comfort.  It won’t stop me from being safe and warm in my own home and it won’t stop my kids from developing whatever skills and interests that could make their lives better. Find ways to enjoy the journey.  Becoming financially stable does not have to be a difficult journey.  You can do it like the NASCAR racers do it by following a couple of simple steps. 

1. Start with an attitude that you are going to win and give it everything you have. 2. Plan your race.  Figure out where you are going and what is the best way to maneuver through it.  There are corners and you will have to turn.

3. Look for ways to do it better and faster.

4. When you start to slide more than you should, make a quick stop to change your tires and fill up with gas.

5. Visualize yourself in the winner’s circle.   

As you start to have some success, you will find that there is less traffic.  The crowds get smaller once you hit the winners circle, everyone will want to know the secret of your success.     Just tell them you gave it everything you had, stopping only to change the tires and fill the tank.

I have been talking for years now about the way of the turtle. How slow and steady wins when it comes to money. I came to this understanding from my experience working with clients and talking to my wealthy friends.

My wealthy friends all have taken that slow and steady approach to accumulating wealth. They understand that their plan was the most important part.

Their strategy is to make money, live on less than they make and save and invest the rest. They are focused on the end goal and they are deliberate about the day to day carrying out of their plan. These people are followers of the way of the turtle whether they know if or not.

My wife and I were having a discussion about this the other day. She is more focused than I am about a lot of things and needless to say, she is a deeper thinker too.

A turtle understands the way of the turtle because God made them that way. It is inherent in their nature to behave in a certain way. They can’t move fast. They are stable and are forced to be more deliberate in their movements to get where they are going. They have small brains and they focus on staying alive, eating and procreating. Simple life.

As humans we are not wired that way. God gave us the ability to move faster, he gave us minds that and invent and build. We have created vast communities to live together and we have the ability to change the face of our world for the comfort and enjoyment of all who inhabit it. We might just have too many options.

The Indians have a long heritage of being in touch with the earth and its animal population. They associate with animals and learn from the behaviors and strengths of that animal. When asked what your spirit animal is most people have one that they resonate with and rarely is it a turtle.

In the martial arts there are fighting styles that take on the characteristics of a particular animal. This helps them get out of the human mindset and focus on the strengths that a particular animal has. Again, turtles are not part of that thought process.
My wife reasons that because the turtle is a simple creature (we men are too) they have a much easier time moving through their lives and doing what they do. When we humans try to emulate the turtle in any way, we get in our own way. We over think it. We try to make it better and faster.

When it comes to your money, it just doesn’t work. Let me give you some examples.

The clients that I work with that are struggling financially all have a few things in common. I believe that is why they are struggling with their money. Here are some commonalities I have found in working with thousands of people over the past couple of decades.

1. They don’t focus on their money. They think that focusing on money is a bad thing. If the turtle didn’t focus on food, it would ultimately violate the first goal of being a turtle, staying alive and life in the meantime would not be enjoyable.

2. They don’t believe they can make their money situation work. The turtle believes there is food in their world. They may know where it is, they may not. Every day they have to set out to find it. They keep plodding until they do. If people believed that money is plentiful and just set out to find it, it is my belief that they would indeed find it.

3. They think there is a shortcut and if that doesn’t work that someone will bail them out. There are no shortcuts when it comes to your money. No one gets rich quick. It is up to you and you alone.

A little about bailouts…

I have a friend who’s house burned a couple of weeks ago. The fire started with a light that was set up to keep a turtle warm.
This was a turtle that got a bail out. The turtle didn’t have to do anything anymore. Just sit under the light and wait for food to be delivered to him. Rule number two of the turtle taken care of. Not a bad gig some would say.

On the other hand, he lost his battle with rule number one of the turtle, to stay alive.
He didn’t have to worry about rule number three. No sex.
All in all I would say that the benefits of his bailout didn’t outweigh the costs. With humans it is the same way. If someone bails you out, something is lost. You may get easy money, but will it be enough to help you fulfill your dreams or will it be just enough to get by.

Bailouts come from the excess that others create.
Your talents are gifts God gives to you.
What you do with them is the gift you give to God.

Use your talents and the way of the turtle to create your own excess, then do something with it.

It appears that spring has hit the Pacific NW.  Believe it or not, we made it through another dark, wet, cold and this year snowy winter.  The sun is out and the mercury is rising.   

For most of us a sunny and warm Memorial Day weekend is a special bonus.  It was sunny, warm and it is staying light later.  Around here we can’t waste the nice days we do get so this means getting off of the couch and outside to do whatever needs to be done.   

My wife spent the weekend in her garden.  I have to admit that I don’t know much about plants or gardening.  The fact is, I don’t like it.  Gardening is just too slow for me.  

Even though I don’t know much about it, one of my favorite things of the summer is my wife’s beautiful garden.  I just love to look at the organization, the care she puts into it and the way she develops it to help nourish our family.  I know for a fact that it nourishes her soul as well.  She seems to be the happiest when she has dirt under her fingernails. 

She takes the time in the winter to plan out what she is going to plant that year.  She has a few things she plants every year and she changes up the others from year to year.  I don’t know if she changes it for variety or if it has something to do with the soil or what.  This is her gig and she is the expert.   

I ask her questions about what she is doing and why she does it that way.  I want to understand a little but when she gets going on the what’s and why’s, she loses me.   

All I know is that in the spring we eat strawberries.  We have all the greens we can eat.  She even plants flowers around the outside of garden which makes it really stunning to look at.   

She grows great tomatoes and the corn is sweet.  We use the corn stalks to decorate for Halloween and Thanksgiving and pumpkins always seem to show up at the right time.   

This all happens because my wife is a planner when it comes to making this all work.   Like all gardeners, she understands the laws of the farm.   

Here are the laws of the farm:  

·         You have to cultivate the soil to make sure it is ready for the seed.·         You reap what you sow.  If you plant turnips, you don’t get daffodils.·         You have to consistenty nourish your plants with what they need to grow.  This includes getting rid of the weeds and other attackers that steal what your plants need in order to grow to their potential.  ·         You sow your crops in one season and harvest in the next.   

This is the natural order of things.  You can’t shorten it or skip a step.  It just doesn’t work that way.  It takes time and the right ingredients to create a bountiful harvest.   If you have already made the connection between my wife’s garden and your money, good for you?  The law of the farm works exactly the same way with your money.   

You have to cultivate the soil.  Invest some time in learning about your money and what you could or should be doing with it.  Start by digging into your spending.  Look at where you are spending your money.  Are you spending all of your harvest each month. 

You have to plant some crops.  If you are spending everything you bring in or even more.  You don’t have any seeds to plant to create a financial harvest.   

You have to feed your investments on a regular basis and guard them against financial predators out there to steal your harvest.   

And finally, you will not create a bountiful financial harvest overnight.  Like the farm, your money doesn’t work that way. You save, you invest, it grows and then you harvest.   

I wish you all could see how my wife combines the law of the farm and a lot of love together to create a wonderful garden each year.   

In our family, it’s my job to apply the law of the farm to our money.  I have to admit that she knows more about money than I know about gardening.  We have a financial vision for our family and our jobs in that vision have been discussed and agreed upon.  We are both happy with the vehicle each of us has chosen to use these laws of nature to support our family.   

Over the Memorial Day weekend she dug in the dirt and I took a 4 day, 1,300 mile motorcycle trip to Montana.   We both had a great time and appreciated each other even more when the weekend came to an end.

In the story of the tortoise and the hare,

The tortoise won the race because she consistently worked toward her goal. She didn’t stop for food, or because she was tired, and despite all of the odds against her, she did what nobody excepted and crossed the finish line first.

That is quite a testament to the nature of any being who will set a goal, plot a course and regardless of the obstacles, finishes what they set out to do.

Now what if the turtle had been told at the end of the race that yes she did cross the finish line first, she did win the contest according to the rules. But, her success was tainted by the fact that the poor bunny rabbit was hungry and tired before they started. The bunny didn’t have the energy to finish the race without taking a break.

So to be fair, if she wanted to she could still call herself the winner but if she was really a thoughtful being, she would share the prize with the poor tired bunny rabbit.

This is what is happening in our society today. We all have the ability to set goals, to continue to move through whatever obstacles that get in our way. And believe me, obstacles get in everyone’s way on a regular basis. We are developing a mindset that anyone who overcomes the obstacles and becomes financially successful has somehow received it as a result of an advantage or because they didn’t’ have a disadvantage that someone else has.

I say that is bunch of baloney. This attitude will ultimately destroy us.

Here is a lighthearted example.

Suppose that every week, ten people all meet for lunch. They go to the same place and order the same thing and the bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this.

The first four (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do.

The ten, met every week and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

“Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your weekly lunch by $20.” Lunch for the group now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.

So the first four, were unaffected.

They would still eat for free. But what about the other six lunch partners? The paying customers?

How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?’

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth and the sixth person would each end up being paid to eat lunch.

So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each person’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth person, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings)
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to get a free lunch each week. But once outside the restaurant, the lunch partners began to compare their savings.

“I only got a dollar out of the $20,”declared the sixth person.

He pointed to the tenth person,” but he got $10!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth person. “I only saved a Dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!”

“That’s true!!” shouted the seventh. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!”

“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!”

The nine people surrounded the tenth and told them how greedy he was to take the lions share of the benefit. That if he was a kindhearted person that truly cared about the other people in the group that he would be willing to share in his good fortune. As a matter of fact, it is obvious that the success he had in the past to create his wealth must have been made at the expense of other people too. He must have taken advantage of those people, just like he was now taking advantage of the lunch group.

The next week, the tenth man didn’t show up for lunch. The nine sat down and had their weekly lunch without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

It has been my experience that the people that achieve the most, give the most. If we continue to exploit them, downgrade them and make them feel guilty. They will go away.

They will be fine, but we will be eating alone, with the responsibility of the whole bill our shoulders.

So the next time you meet a successful turtle. Congratulate her and ask her for some secrets of her success.

I have always been an advocate of trusting the advice of people who have already done what I want to do.

No matter what you want to do, there are people out there that have already accomplished what you are working on and are willing to share their experiences, good and bad to help you along.

If you know these people or know someone who can put you in contact with them so much the better. If you can’t reach them directly, there are other ways to find out what they know so you don’t have to try to figure it out yourself.

Many years ago, I hired a business coach to help me understand how to run my business. I paid him a hefty sum of money each month for over four years until I felt that I was ready to quit paying him. I could have done it in half the time and half the money if I had just listened to him and did what he told me to do. That in itself was a valuable lesson learned.

If you can’t sit down with someone and pick their brain, you have to go on faith and trust the information that you find. From my experience, the more you fight the method, the longer it takes.

Here is an example of what I am talking about. Have you ever heard the saying, “A penny saved, is a penny earned”. Of course you have. Do you know who said it? If you said Benjamin Franklin you would be correct.

Before I go into the penny saved thing, let me tell you a bit about old Ben.

You probably know that he was one of the framers of our Country. He stands alone as the only person to have signed all four of the documents which helped to create the United States. He actually helped to write parts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. No other individual was more involved in the birth of our nation.

He lived to 84 years old in a time when 60 was really old.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with inventing among other things, bifocals, the lightning rod, library chair, swim fins, the long reach device, the Franklin Stove and Daylight Savings Time.
He retired from business a rich man at the age of 42 without ever having patented any of his inventions and receiving royalties on them. By the way he was born and raised in poverty. He earned all of his wealth

So, having given you just a small portion of his credentials, let’s return to “A penny saved, is a penny earned”.

What Franklin is saying in this simple quote is that when you put money away or spend less, it is the same as making more money. In our current society, saving your money is actually better than earning more. I am not saying you should not do everything you can to increase your value and thereby increase your earnings, there are many more advantages to earning more money besides the money itself.

In your journey to put some money together, you only have two choices. You can spend less or you can make more. As we have discussed on the show before, there are no shortcuts. The one thing that all wealthy people have in common is that they all spend less than they bring in and invest the difference.

If you save $10 today, you would have to earn more than that just to put that same $10.00 away. Taxes alone could make you have to earn $13 or $14 just to break even.

I am a spender by nature so don’t think I am telling you to just stop spending money and hoard all that you can. I’m not. But what I am saying by using these time tested words of wisdom, is to be smart with your money.

If you are educated and patient in the ways of the spender you can find ways to still get what you want. Just don’t pay as much for it. Look for bargains, sales and even barters or trades if necessary. If you take even a portion of the money you didn’t spend and put it away, you will find that over time you will be much farther ahead of where you are today.

Don’t fault people who have accumulated money in the past and live or lived a comfortable or even and extravagant life with the excess. Do what you can to create your own excess. You can start doing it by watching what you spend or don’t spend and put some away to grow.

A penny saved, is a penny earned is simple advice from an accomplished man. He helped design our country and these wise words can help you design a better financial future for anyone and everyone.

My goal in this segment is to help guide you along your path to changing your money situation for the better.  Improving where you are at today is simply a matter of taking another step toward where you want to go.  I say simply because it is simple, however that doesn’t mean that it is easy.  If you continue to make strides in the right direction, at some point you will be able to look back at where you were and realized that you are a lot farther along.  This is progress.  This is how success is really measured. 

I am an information junkie.  I am always looking for more input.  The more information you have about anything, the more choices you have.  I had an opportunity many years ago to talk one on one with Tony Robbins the famous motivational guy.  He was trying to hire me to come to work for him and the main piece of advice I took away from that encounter was the “The one with the most choices wins”.  In my experience that advice holds true every time. 

There are lots of sources of input out there.  On the internet alone, you can access almost every piece of information ever created.  Bloggers take information and put their editorial spin on it.  You can get more input on TV and radio and of course there is the old fashioned book.I read a lot and it helps me to keep my need for more information updated.  Today I want to tell you about a book that I am reading for the 5^th or 6^th time.  It is a short story about how you should handle your money.  It is called, The Richest Man in Babylon it’s a book by George Samuel Clason which dispenses financial advice through a collection of parables set in ancient Babylon. Through their experiences in business and managing household finance, the characters in the parables learn simple lessons in financial wisdom. By basing these parables in ancient times, but involving situations that modern people can understand and identify with, The Richest Man in Babylon illustrates these lessons as timeless wisdom that is as relevant today as it was back then.The book began in 1926 as a series of informational pamphlets. Banks and insurance companies began to distribute these pamphlets, and the most famous ones were eventually compiled into this book. I find it interesting that back then, banks and insurance companies felt it was important to help people understand how to handle money.  Today they fill their contracts with fine print designed to trick you and take your money from you.  I believe that people are inherently smart.  The only reason that we do silly things with our money is that we don’t have the right information and strategies to make better choices.  In order to make your financial life better you have to continually make the small steps that will lead you in a different direction.  The right information will help keep you on track or at least help you to understand when you choose to get off the track.  I encourage you to add more information into your life.  You don’t have to act on all of it, you just have to put it in your brain and trust that when that information is needed, you can pull it out.  If you don’t like to read, get information on disks and listen to it.  Go on line and just do a google or yahoo search for the information you are looking for.  Start with a small amount of time so you don’t feel like have to change your whole life.  You just need to add this in.If you don’t want to do any of that and still want the information.  Tune in to The Money Thing right here on KKNW or visit our website at www.themoneything.com.Starting next week, at the beginning of the second hour, we are starting a new segment where we will give you some easy to implement money ideas.  We will start the new segment with a short coaching session on “The Seven Cures for a Lean Purse” straight from The Richest Man in Babylon.  Each week I will go over one of the seven cures.  That will give you the whole week to think about that one idea and start to implement it into your life.  Most of the methods you should use to handling your money are straight forward but are complicated by those who want to sell you something.   I hope you will start a new habit of adding some financial input into your mind.  If you do, you will create a new reality and you will have money that you never thought possible.