0:03

Welcome to it's a Good Life

0:06

with Brian Buffini, founder of America's

0:08

largest business coaching company. Here's a

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short classic cut from one of

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our all time favorite episodes. Today.

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I want to talk to about building a

0:19

financial fortress. You know, for me I came

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to America would ninety two bucks in my

0:23

while and I've built a financial fortress. I've

0:25

help my company and a lot of folks

0:28

whether through recessions and upsides and downsides and

0:30

were doing alright. Were eaten good as they

0:32

say back home, but that wasn't aware I

0:34

started. You know, I started in a very

0:36

small home on the south side of Dublin.

0:39

Five boys and a girl on our grandparents

0:41

live in with us on the weekends. Lotta

0:43

love in our home. Not a lot of

0:45

resources, but when I came. To America. What

0:47

I realized was at that I was broke

0:50

and I was poor. Broke was my state

0:52

of account, but poor was my state of

0:54

mind. That I know I didn't have a

0:56

lot of money, but I didn't realize that

0:59

my thinking needed a change. So today I

1:01

want to share with the a few things.

1:03

First thing we're going to do is just

1:05

a little bit of facts and figures that

1:08

kind of expose the cultures attitude towards money.

1:10

Then. I'm gonna contrast that with the

1:13

high performers mindset towards economic wellbeing. And

1:15

then last the I'm going to into

1:17

a bunch of how twos and objectless

1:19

if you will that will present both

1:21

a defensive and offensive strategy and will

1:24

talk about that and why. That's an

1:26

important methodology but also tied to a

1:28

mindset. Peace because many people are afraid

1:30

to become economically well to do because

1:32

their fear of losing us and I

1:35

want to talk to but how to

1:37

have a defensive strategy see, don't lose

1:39

it and an offensive strategy. See, you

1:41

know how to grows! So let's talk

1:43

a little bit about the cultures attitude

1:45

towards money. So the first

1:47

attitude that I see the mindset that

1:50

the culture has towards money is avoidance

1:52

Wells Fargo to this massive survey and

1:54

they said that eighty two percent of

1:56

people would rather talk about any subject

1:58

other than money. talk about

2:00

their sex life before they would talk about

2:02

their financial life. There's things we

2:05

just don't do. Americans are not budgeting their

2:07

funds and then we get into trouble. The

2:09

second attitude towards money that I found

2:11

is one of worship. Have you ever been to

2:13

a Black Friday sale and seen people fighting over

2:16

one another trying to get a

2:18

discount on a plasma screen or a dishwasher

2:20

or something? Crazy. Money's

2:22

a big deal. You know Americans

2:24

spent $65 billion last year on

2:27

winning the lottery. And yet the odds

2:29

of winning the grand prize is one in 195

2:32

million. By

2:34

the way, some of you are listening to this going, geez that's

2:36

not bad. Maybe I'll buy a ticket. So I don't know what

2:38

to say. But the culture has

2:40

some interesting attitudes towards money, whether it's avoidance,

2:43

worship. The other thing is this status. It's

2:45

a status. When I get this and when

2:47

I acquire this, when I buy this house or when I have this much

2:49

money in the bank, I will feel this

2:51

way about myself. And boy, let me tell

2:53

you, you will never have enough to fill

2:55

the hole that you're trying to fill. This

2:58

is who you are, not what you have. Secrecy

3:02

is another attitude. I mentioned the Wells

3:04

Fargo study saying, you know, over 80%

3:06

of people would rather talk about any

3:08

subject other than money. So we

3:10

end up, you know, being embarrassed about us

3:12

or being ashamed of it or we've made

3:15

mistakes or dings on our credit. And

3:17

so what happens is it becomes the private

3:19

part of our life. If you share your

3:21

life economically with somebody, it can't be avoided

3:23

and therefore creates a lot of conflict for

3:25

folks. The other thing that

3:27

goes on in the culture is confusion and

3:30

rightly so. If you go into Google and

3:32

put in books on finance, you'll get 460

3:34

plus million results. There's

3:38

a lot of information. One guy says, if you do this,

3:40

you'll be rich and the next book says, if you do

3:42

that, you'll be broke. There's a lot of

3:44

confusion. Well, here's the thing. The

3:47

next time you read a book like that, you got to ask

3:49

the guy, what's your net worth? How are

3:51

you doing? How's your economics? So

3:53

let me tell you about the

3:55

high performance mindset with regards to

3:57

money. First, that knowledge is power.

4:00

You know, people say ignorance is bliss, ignorance

4:02

is bankruptcy. Knowledge

4:04

is power. You need to go and become a

4:06

student of money. When I was

4:08

just a couple years in the States, I read

4:11

a book recommended to me by three people called

4:13

The Richest Man in Babylon by George Plaison. The

4:16

book at the time cost me $6.95. It's

4:18

a series of short stories and parables. That book is

4:20

the first book to put me down the path to

4:23

becoming a millionaire. And one of my favorite comedians is

4:25

the great Groucho Marx. And he goes, money frees you

4:27

up from doing things you dislike. I

4:30

dislike doing nearly everything. Money's handy.

4:32

So, you know, it is handy. And

4:35

knowledge is the way to get there. The

4:37

second thing is that money is a tool

4:39

to be respected. Money's just a tool. It

4:42

doesn't have any power to it or of itself. It's just a

4:44

tool to be respected. I like to say

4:46

that money's like fire. It can heat your home and cook your

4:48

food, or it can burn down the place. So

4:50

it's a tool to be respected. Next,

4:53

high performance attitude towards money is that

4:55

it provides a grounded identity, a grounded

4:59

identity. George Larimer was the famous editor of the

5:01

Saturday Evening Post and he said it's good to

5:03

have money and the things that money can buy.

5:06

But it's good too to check up once in a

5:08

while and make sure that you haven't lost the things

5:10

that money can't buy. The next

5:13

high performance mindset towards money is

5:15

clarity and alignment. And

5:17

you need to have clarity with regards to what

5:19

you want money to do for you and an

5:21

alignment in that an alignment of your values. So

5:23

you want to align your resources with your values.

5:26

And I like to say, my first mentor, Dr. Alex

5:28

Lac, used to say, show me your day

5:30

timer and show me your checkbook and I'll tell

5:32

you who you are and what you believe. Errol

5:34

Wilson was the famous journalist. His mindset

5:37

towards money was if you think nobody cares of

5:39

your life, try missing a couple of car payments.

5:41

So you want to make sure that your values

5:43

are aligned. Lastly, the high

5:45

performance mindset towards Money is that you need

5:47

a path to follow. You Got to have

5:50

a path to follow. You're running on a

5:52

track. And So there's just some great thoughts

5:54

there on the high performance mindset towards Money,

5:56

which is knowledge is power and it's a

5:58

tool to be respected. Oh yeah,

6:00

I've done a grounded identity and clarity

6:02

in alignments and it's a path to

6:05

follow: Viruses, avoidance, worship, status symbols, secrecy

6:07

and haven't confusion about as okay. So

6:09

here's what I'm gonna do right now.

6:11

I'm going to share with you some

6:13

practical how to that are going to

6:15

break down into a checklist I'm gonna

6:17

lay out for yeah I'm a defensive

6:20

strategy to guess to billie economic stability

6:22

and then I'll show you an offensive

6:24

strategy so how you can grow from

6:26

there. Okay as of you do that

6:28

type of stuff. If you follow

6:30

it you'll follow what's called a sequence And the

6:33

sequences about haven't the horse in front of the

6:35

cart, not car and for the horse maybe we'll

6:37

make financial decisions are you and and as up

6:39

that it's a bad decision is just as out

6:42

of sequence. that's not the time as so what

6:44

happens is many times in or somebody say I

6:46

went far as I pursued my dream. I put

6:48

my money into this and I lost at all.

6:51

When somebody loses at all, there's only one reason

6:53

they're out of sequence. There

6:55

as a sequence of stability. Then

6:57

get success and then significance and

6:59

that's the dynamic. So

7:01

on the defensive side of stability. You.

7:04

Want to have a work and home budget?

7:06

You want to pay down the daddy one

7:08

ever will. automatic savings and one month reserves.

7:10

On the offensive side of stability, you want

7:12

to invest in yourself or in legionaries of

7:14

your business. You want to build equity home

7:17

you on establish retirement fund once we have

7:19

that if you stay faithful to that and

7:21

by the way the water keeps flowing into

7:23

that to keep having a budget when you

7:25

have more money. Okay, you keep you consumer

7:27

debt down when you have more money to

7:29

keep on in your retirement to keep paying

7:31

off your house. Now you're in a process

7:34

where. You won't lose us. Now.

7:36

You're stability of a platform by which you

7:38

can drop and that's where you get to

7:40

the next level. So now we get to

7:42

go from stability to success and talk about

7:44

the defensive side of success. Now you want

7:46

to go from reducing your consumer debt to

7:48

have and zero consumer debt. I don't believe

7:50

someone's and economic success who has consumer debt?

7:52

Now you go from haven't won months and

7:54

reserves for your home to have and three

7:57

to six months. Again, it's a defensive stats.

7:59

Once you do that, we want you to

8:01

fully fund your retirement plan. By the way,

8:03

the days are long, the years or short,

8:05

you'll be retired. Before he announced. The.

8:07

Last thing you want to do is utilized the

8:09

Seventy Ten Ten principle. Which. Is

8:11

learn to live on seventy percent of

8:13

what you make. save ten percent. Give

8:15

ten percent, Invest and Percent is a

8:17

beautiful former. So now I want to

8:19

switch from. D. Cents on the

8:22

Success Bow. To offense so

8:24

now or flown teacher that sound.

8:26

Stability. Bowls of the Top doing all the

8:29

things as civilly. you never stop doing those things

8:31

that loud slows and a success. And

8:33

I've given you that the defensive strategy

8:35

to protect that second larger bowl protect

8:37

us would zero consumer death would have

8:39

and three to six months reserves with

8:41

fully funded your retirement plans and now

8:43

found the Seventy ten Ten Plus now

8:45

you have protected at both. Now you

8:47

can grow that both that successful that

8:49

that sounds make good overflow. And

8:52

the way you make an overhaul to start with, get

8:54

to fifty percent equity in your home. At least keep

8:56

a lid off. Keep a lid off. Keep chip on

8:58

a down. Next, increase your

9:00

avenue. By the way, people say no, I

9:02

work at a job and that's all they

9:04

pay here. Know that's all they pay you

9:06

there. I don't know any company In a

9:08

world where every single person, every level, the

9:10

company makes the same mount. Here's the thing

9:12

he got. Messy Self: You gotta grow yourself.

9:15

If you have a business, you make the

9:17

commitment to grow that sucker and build up

9:19

your income. I would also say

9:21

for me a one of the greatest ways

9:23

to grow well as in investment than and

9:25

for me I never met. A piece arose

9:27

that I didn't like. Sixty seven percent of

9:29

millionaires in America made their money invest in

9:31

a row state. I have four different outlets

9:33

and strategies for how I built my fortune

9:35

and here's the way it works. Every day

9:37

when I get up and of shaven in

9:39

the mirror there's Brian who goes to work

9:41

and then I have the for aspects of

9:43

Brian's money that goes to work for him.

9:45

One of them gets in his car and

9:47

drives you to the studio. one heads to

9:49

the real estate. And one has to the

9:51

stocks and they all had else. They all had our

9:53

for me and they all go to work for me

9:55

every day and God bless them are like those guys

9:57

are working hard these days and I am on amazon.

10:00

With you on a podcast and so this

10:02

is a great joy for me to do.

10:04

I hope you're enjoying the So. Last but

10:06

not least, the significance ball, the altruistic, the

10:08

giving back both. Well, in order for you

10:10

to give back the one thing I believe

10:13

the first thing and the most important thing

10:15

to get back to your own time energy,

10:17

influence and expertise. So here's some sense of

10:19

pieces on that. When. You get

10:21

to significant financially, you want to get all

10:23

your real estate holdings paid off no matter

10:26

what a recession happens. Here's a good rule

10:28

of thumb. a bank on foreclose on a

10:30

property does never mortgage on. Next established to

10:32

trust was living with Okubo irrevocably charitable trusts

10:34

and and at the third thing I'd say

10:36

as you want have passive income you want

10:39

to have passive income and passive income. I

10:41

believe the plan to be that it supports

10:43

intel your hundred years old. On

10:45

the offensive side. On the

10:47

offensive side of significance, you want

10:49

to give your money and time

10:52

to charities and ministry's that you're

10:54

passionate about. And I think time

10:56

first, money, seconds, and then if

10:58

you own a business, you want

11:00

to set up your business so

11:02

that it's true legacy. So we

11:04

talked about the cultures attitude towards

11:06

money, we talked about the high

11:09

performance mindset with regards to money,

11:11

and we talked about the defensive

11:13

and offensive strategies of each level

11:15

you can get to economically. Force

11:17

financial stability, then financial

11:19

success, and then finances.

11:21

significance. But.

11:26

We hope you enjoyed this quick. Had to the

11:29

show notes to listen to the full episode. If.

11:31

You'd like to elevate your business to achieve

11:34

your goals? Talk to one of our experts

11:36

on a free business consultation. Visit.

11:38

It's a good life.com/b C

11:41

to schedule years today. Made

11:45

the rose rise up to me

11:47

chills and made the wind only

11:49

Seattle fans May the rain saw

11:51

soft upon your seats and the

11:53

sunshine warm upon your face. Sensibly

11:55

nice again May God hotel in

11:57

the hello Us Sen.