Rule 5: A Real Man Protects the Money Machine
THE THING
Here’s the Thing! What if you had a money machine that made you a certain amount of money every month? Let’s say this money machine was in your garage and every month it made and spat out a fixed amount of money. Would you try everything to protect this machine from theft or damage? Would you have this machine insured?
Real Men understand that they are the money machines. If the money machine should break, they need to insure against this possibility. It is for this reason that they take out insurance policies on themselves for the unlikely, but possible event that will cause their loved ones to suffer as a result of the missing income. If you and your wife are the money machines, it follows that both of you should in some way insure the flow of cash, should either of you be unable to make the money.
Real Men believe in life insurance, income protection, dread disease and disability cover. I sound like an insurance salesman now. Real Men look into the future and they take out a retirement plan when they are young, to ensure the maximum return for them when their money machine is too old to work anymore.
Real Men plan, they protect, and they have a backup plan.
THE REWARD
You have the peace of mind in knowing that you and your income are protected.
The reward is knowing that you have money put aside for a rainy day and trust me that rainy day and those storms will happen. If by some miracle they don’t happen, you have spare cash to do with what you want.
THE HOW TO
- Go now and sign a debit order against your account putting at least 10% into some form of savings account.
- Take another 10% and take out some kind of insurance plan that covers you in the case of death or even worse disability.
- Contact an insurance broker today and make sure you are covered for disability, dreaded diseases and some form of life cover.
- Ask for a retirement vehicle and divide the 2nd 10% between cover and retirement. The younger you start, the cheaper it is and if you are already in your 30’s or older you had better get this stuff ASAP.
- Once you have the savings habit down, you can start to protect yourself by getting money to work for you. You do this by investing.
- Look at companies you admire and respect or who have products or services that mankind needs in order to survive, and buy their shares.
- Investing is generally a long-term exercise so don’t expect immediate gratification.
- There are literally thousands of financial advisers and insurance brokers who will gladly assist you in this regard. May I suggest seeking the services of someone via word of mouth? Ask someone you trust for a recommendation, suss him or her out and make up your own mind.
- Never give these people access to your banking account and never give them power of attorney.
- The Best Investment You Will Ever Make.
Invest in your money machine. In other words, invest in yourself and your education. Improve your skills, both professional and social. If you are the money machine, it makes sense to keep upgrading your software. The better the machine operates, the more it is in tune with modern day business practices and commercial endeavours, the better the machine will operate and the more cash it will generate.The average man spends more money on toilet paper every month than he does on improving his mind. When was the last time you took a course, or went on a programme, to improve - you?Best insurance and investment you can make is in yourself. Start today. Enrol for that course, go on that programme, start that degree, it is never too late.
TROUBLE SHOOTING
- I can’t afford to do this?
As I have already said, if you were forced to, you would make a plan. The real question is, can you afford not to? It’s never too early or too late to start.
WISDOM
"Invest in yourself first, expect nothing from anyone and be willing to work for everything." - Tony Gaskins
Rule 4: Money Doesn’t (Always) Make a Man
THE THING
Here’s the Thing! A Real Man understands that money doesn’t make him better than anybody else. Generally, men who haven’t earned the money themselves tend to think that they are better people than those people without money. It is a generalisation but men who inherit money, who are given money by dads, uncles or trust funds, always seem to think that they are indeed better than others. (Again, there are the exceptions to this). The truth is that no matter how you came by your money, it is not what makes you a man and it is not in any way a requirement for being a Real Man.
Money doesn’t make a Real Man; character makes a Real Man!
Is it possible for a man who has money to have character too? It is very possible, especially in cases where the man has come from a less privileged background and has through sheer hard work and determination built up his own wealth and has amassed money on his own. These men, more often than not, understand what it is like not to have money, and you will find them very supportive of good causes and the uplifting of those less fortunate. Self-made men seem to be cut from a different cloth.
I really wish I could tell you that money is less important than love or friendship, and it is, but in the modern-day world - money is pretty damn important. We should never make our entire lives about money, but for most men, being the primary breadwinner, we can at times let it consume us. Take care to refocus and to remember that a Real Man is so much more than how much he earns or how much money he has.
THE REWARD
When you have money and you are humble you gain the respect of people.
When you accept people based on their character, you make genuine friends and build proper relationships.
When you are able to judge a man on his character instead of his bank account, his car or his house - you are a Real Man.
THE HOW TO
- Spend most of your time becoming a better human being.
- Invest in yourself, your mind, your skills and making genuine contacts.
- Make sure you spend your money on improving yourself every year. Upgrade your personal skills and your software (grey matter) every year.
- No matter how much money you have, you can always invest in someone less fortunate than you. The rewards and the emotional growth you achieve when doing this cannot be put into words.
- When you meet someone, try to find out about them and who they are as people and not so much about what they do and how they earn a living.
- Never brag or boast about your achievements or your money, you could be speaking to someone who is going through a whole world of hurt.
- World peace starts at home, charity starts at home, investment in your children and your family should always be your priority.
TROUBLE SHOOTING
- But in my experience women go for the money every time. The more money you have the more women you attract, what’s that about?It is sad but true that many women find men with money more attractive than men without money. One of the many experiments in this regard was conducted and aired on the Oprah show. Women were asked to look at men and decide how attractive and appealing they were. The photos had the men’s occupation on them. Almost without exception, when the women noticed an occupation that was well paying, without consciously realising it, all of them, found the high earning men in the photos more attractive than the others.In the earlier control phase of the experiment, the same women had been shown the same men but without occupations on the photos, the results were different. Unanimously, the good-looking men were chosen and singled out. But, by placing occupations that don’t pay well or stating that the individual was an unemployed actor, they slid down the attractive list like Enron shares.Even crazier still, other women were shown the same photos with the occupations of the same men swapped around. This time, the women found the other men were now more attractive. They explained it as a biological need to find men to look after and protect their cubs, a security thing, a feminine need or something.
The truth is, women find money, and men with money, very appealing. (In most cases women are not even aware of this subconscious selection process and when it was revealed to them - many were shocked at themselves.) But I can assure you there are millions of women who consciously find men with money appealing.
Is it right? Is it wrong? Who am I to make that judgement? I just know that it is a thing and your observations are correct and have been proven over and over again. It doesn’t mean that it’s the end of the world that some women, a lot of women, do this, it means you should be aware of it. Do you realise that most men find women who have big breasts more appealing than women who don’t - does that mean that small breasted women never get married or have relationships? No.
If those women appeal to you and that’s your game, do your thing. Real Men however look for the character of a woman that hopefully matches his character. Real Men understand that no matter how much money you have, or what perception of money you project, it’s all just superficial because money doesn’t make a man - always.
- Okay, so you’ve done it again just like in the heading, you ended your last sentence with the word - always.The other side of the coin is that a whole lot of men have made a whole lot of money because of their contribution to making the world a better place. There are some men who have from a very young age been goal-driven and ambitious. Because of their drive and determination, because of their commitment and dedication, they have managed, in the service of others, to make a lot of money. Are they any less of a man than the poor environmentalist who hugs trees?Being ambitious and achieving financial success can make you a better man. In the journey of building wealth, the sacrifices, the education, the failures, the tough breaks and all the challenges, these struggles can make you a better man. Most of these men believe that it’s not what they have achieved, not their money or assets but who they have become on their journey of achieving.So, money can make a man when he has achieved success because of his dedication and service to mankind. Do you get the paradox?
Now, to throw a spanner in the works; when a woman is attracted to a man with money; on a deeper level, she could be saying, “I am attracted to him because he must be a hardworking, in control, talented man to have so much money!” It probably is about the money but it also could be because of who he has become because of his struggle; it’s why he has it, and how he sacrificed for it, that makes him attractive. I suppose the question is; what is more attractive, the trust-fund millionaire or the self-made one?
Having said that let’s modify the saying to read; money does make the man, if the man has made the money- unless it doesn’t. The word always was added to give you another perspective on the point.
Money doesn’t always make a man but in some ways, it can.
WISDOM
"I’d like to live like a poor man, only with lots of money." - Pablo Picasso
Rule 1: A Real Man knows That Money is Energy
THE THING
Here’s the Thing! Real Men are not obsessed with money but they do know and understand that money is very important. Money is also nothing but an energy. An energy that will find you if you are on the correct frequency. The more frequently you are used (asked to sell your goods or ply your craft), the more money you will get.
Two of the major characteristics of a frequency are consistency and persistency. If you consistently provide a good service to other human beings while persistently giving value, the money energy will find you. The consistent value you provide for other human beings will generate the money energy you require. The higher the frequency, that is, the more often you deliver exceptional products and services, the greater the money energy reward you will receive. Obviously, the fewer the people who are able to supply the goods or services you provide, the more frequently you will be called upon.
So a person providing brain surgery will receive a far higher frequency of money than say a person who digs ditches. Most people can dig a ditch, only a few can do brain surgeries. Can the ditch digger earn big money? That all depends on the standard of ditches he digs. If he is skilled in sophisticated ditches, like say, digging for the owners of a diamond mine, and he uses major engineering digging equipment, then he can earn more than a brain surgeon. The skill normally matches the remuneration. The rarer the skill, the higher the remuneration.
Real men also know that money is also a scorecard to see how well you are doing.
Money is a great indicator as to whether you are actually delivering value and whether or not you are on the right wavelength.
Sometimes money finds you effortlessly when you do something that you love. This is pretty rare but does happen from time to time and when it does it’s a double blessing. The person who loves skateboarding ends up running a skateboard Empire.
Real Men understand that in most cases however, making money means hard work, effort and sacrifice, even if you are doing what you love. Simple hard work will give you simple returns. Sophisticated or rare hard work will give you higher returns. Please note in both sentences the words - hard work - appear.
Money needs to be respected. If you respect the money and you treat it well, money will not only find you, but it will stay with you and could even multiply itself.
Money is like a friendship. If you look after it, respect it, put a lot into getting and keeping it, and you ask favours of it sparingly - you will have a friend for life.
Spending money that you don’t have is like using and disrespecting a friend that you hardly know or you’ve just met. Imagine hearing about a guy you are going to meet and next moment you get a call from him asking you to pay his rent this month.
THE REWARD
Money does make the world go around and when you have it under control it’s like travelling through the ocean without an anchor dragging on the seabed.
It’s waking up every morning and not having to worry about how you are going to pay the bills or provide for your family.
When you understand that money is a scorecard, an energy, you don’t worship it, you work for it and you appreciate it; money can give you the freedom to live your dreams.
THE HOW TO
- The bigger the service that you provide, the bigger the money reward will be.
- The rarer the service that you provide, the bigger the money reward will be.
- The better you are at providing the service, the bigger the money reward.
- Energy flows where attention goes. So, if you focus all of your attention on delivering world-class service and products, you cannot help but attract money energy.
- The simple truth is that the more time and energy you spend on being the best and delivering the best, the more money you will earn. Now, what you do with that money and how you treat it, will determine how much money you will have and get to keep.
- Consistently invest a chunk of your money every month in self-education.
- Consistently invest a chunk of your money every month in savings.
- Consistently invest money back into your business - always improving it.
- It is almost impossible for anyone to see the value that you provide, and to pay you a valuable amount if you don’t value yourself. The more you value yourself and the more value you place on what you do - the more others will value you.
TROUBLE SHOOTING
- Yes, but money is the root of all evil!
No, it isn’t actually, I think the saying goes: “The love of money is the root of all evil”. And both of those sayings are completely false and only used to keep people down. Money doesn’t change you. Money just magnifies the person you were in the first place. So, if you were an arse hole before you got money, and you get money, now you’re just an arse hole with money.What you do with money is based on who you are in the first place. If you are a wonderful, kind, caring human being and your love for money helps you build hospitals, start feeding programmes or give bursaries away, then your love for money is not evil, in fact the exact opposite. - Yes, but money can’t buy you happiness!
Have you noticed that only poor people say that? I would rather arrive at my problems in a brand-new Porsche than by bus. Maybe it’s the angle of the problem that changes. Can money make you happy? Same answer as above, someone once said that money can’t buy you happiness but we all have the right to find out for ourselves. I believe money makes life so much easier if you understand it and treat it with respect.
WISDOM
"Money is neither my God or my devil, it is a form of energy that tends to make us more of who we already are, whether it is greedy or loving." - Dan Millman