An odd twist for many wealth accumulators is when they realize that the feeling of financial security doesn’t necessarily keep up with monetary assets and numbers on financial statements. In many ways, wealthy individuals don’t end up feeling any more secure than others who have less financial resources. How could that be you ask?
This happens for a number of reasons. First, wealthy individuals eventually get wise to all the ways people get fleeced out of their money. This could be from advertising in regards to their spending. It could be the pitches of Wall Street and “financial advisors” who promise riches but end up delivering piles of crap. Second, it could be watching others lose their jobs at the organizations that they work at or fellow business owners missing the trends and become obsolete against new competition. Third, it could be just shifts that take place in the normal course of a lifetime that people are unprepared for (aging happens, health changes occur, energy levels diminish).
“Any fool can make a dollar. Only a wise man can keep it.”
Paul Kindzia
There’s a saying in Silicon Valley which stems from a 1999 book written by then CEO of Intel called, “Only The Paranoid Survive.” In many ways wealth building and wealth preservation entail skills that result in a delicate balance between “feeling secure” while “constantly being paranoid.”
Here are 3 keys to mental prosperity as we gain financial wisdom and experience;
- Recognize the wisdom gained in your life that helps you avoid taking losses. Unfortunately, the way we usually learn this lesson in life is by taking losses. Warren Buffett has a very famous quote that is, “There are two rules that you must follow. Rule #1: never lose money; Rule #2, don’t forget rule #1.” When I was younger, that quote didn’t quite mean much to me. Only in hindsight do I realize that avoiding big losses can be more important than scoring big gains. When you lose your capital, it’s either game over or back to square one (which has caused many a man to jump from tall buildings without an umbrella).
- Keep a positive spin on your own internal paranoia. I’m not here to tell you that you shouldn’t be paranoid or just wander through life care-free. I’m not the Dalai-Lama and I doubt you are either (if we were, we wouldn’t be reading and writing on wealth blogs…) Give yourself props for keeping your radar on as draining and as taxing as it can be at times. It takes a lot of mental energy to worry about things. But we can’t start worrying about worrying. That would equate to worrying squared! Reach a place inside where you can say, “OK, I’ve worried enough about things, let it go, relax, and enjoy the moment.”
- Pat yourself on the back for keeping your radar on for “changes on the horizon.” Change is a two way street. Changes can bring nasty negatives on businesses and finances but change is what provides opportunities for new thoughts, ideas, products and services to flourish. Entrepreneurs and business people embrace those changes. If it wasn’t for change, there would be no new opportunities for the ambitious. Recognize that no matter how hard we try, change is going to happen so the best thing we could do is just embrace the change, accept it, maximize the opportunities, diminish the downsides, and progress with grace. Remind yourself that most people aren’t diligent about looking up at the horizons of change and that you have excelled because of that.
If you are doing things correctly, you should be gaining more wisdom and experience as you age. You get to see and observe not only how things are unfolding in your own household but how things are working for those around you. It’s far more efficient to learn from the mistakes of others while also never repeating mistakes of our own past.
Wealth accumulation and preservation should become easier as we age because of more wisdom and experience (and a larger capital base to work from). Wealth is one thing in life that shouldn’t be harmed or slowed by aging (like it does in athletics or other physical endeavors). That alone should bring you peace of mind and more personal security from an emotional perspective.