If you’re in jail, a KEY represents your freedom. If you’re imprisoned by SCRIPTED
dogma, careful stewardship of MONEY is your key to freedom.
STEP 4: REALLOCATE (AND REMIND)
Financial reconstruction’s fourth step is to reallocate
something
into your
money system every month,
even if it is only a few dollars.
Optimally, allocate any
surplus income after covering your business and living expenses. And yes, even if
you have to divert a few dollars away from debt repayment, do it.
When I started my purposed-saving journey, I went to Home Depot and
bought some nails, a short two-by-four, and some vinyl number stickers, the
kind used for labeling house addresses. After hammering the nails into the wood,
I hooked the vinyl letters on the nails to form an interchangeable number, almost
like something you’d see on
The Price Is Right.
This number represented my
liquid money-system total: my total dollars saved. I then hung this makeshift
meter on the wall above my desk. Every day, it reminded me what my purpose
was. While this might seem neurotic, I was neurotically opposed to slaving at a
job for 50 years in lieu of a gold watch and a two-week vacation. Believe me, I
made sure this makeshift counter went up a few bucks every darn day.
Another reallocation trick I used was an empty coffee can. Here I deposited
loose change daily. This always creates an extra $500 per year.
While none of these strategies makes more money, they help align your mind
for a money-system goal. The real magic happens when your income starts to
explode.
At some point in your
UNSCRIPTED
evolution, you will see your income
rising to levels never experienced. When I eclipsed $100,000 per month in
profits, I remember being excited with all types of temptations: multiple cars,
second homes, new this, new that. This is when you need to clamp down and
really flex your discipline muscles. Instead of spending, I save most of it. And no,
it didn't involve frugality.
When your income expands into five or six-figures monthly, this is where
your money-system can really ramp up. More importantly, it prepares you for
the expected quarterly thunderstorm: the tax man. You'll find making millions is
bittersweet; explosive income, hooray! Six-figure checks to the IRS? Ugh. Talk
about burning a bag of cash.
In the end, a lifelong dividend of passive income needs to come from
measured adaption and reallocation of cash from frivolous expenditures into
savings. Once you realize that becoming a millionaire isn't this long tortuous
process, saving becomes a breeze.
SCRIPTED
sheep take a Slowlane to the slaughterhouse while
UNSCRIPTED
freethinkers drive the
Fastlane
of a CENTS business. The former creates
millionaires timed by centuries—the other, years.
STEP 5: REWARD
Reward is the final phase of financial reconstruction for purposed-saving:
giving yourself a gift for milestones achieved. This could be dinner at an
expensive restaurant, a vacation, a fun gadget, any desire craved. For example,
my first Lamborghini purchase was a reward for a financial milestone. Even
today, while living within the
UNSCRIPTED
pinnacle, I reward myself with
treats for new accomplishments: expensive gadgets, toys, and yeah, even hours of
mindless television.
Besides business, living, and debt-repayment expenses, reward is the one
exception to the three cash outlays described above. Of course, no reward should
threaten the long-term goal of
UNSCRIPTED
. A speedboat is not a reward if it
increases debt and living expenses and injures the reallocation phase of financial
reconstruction.
CHAPTER 45
MEASURED ELEVATION:
REWARD AND ENJOY THE RIDE
For every disciplined effort, there is a multiple reward.
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