Dare to Change Life Coaching & Mentoring

Tag: rich

  • What Is Your Worth? Hint: It’s Not What You Think!

    What Is Your Worth? Hint: It’s Not What You Think!

    “The more you’re like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.”
    ~ Walt Disney

    “I am not where I supposed to be in this stage of my life.”

    “I appreciate the great money I make but I feel I could do and have more.”

    “If I only had a thriving business, I would be happy. I don’t feel that I live my full potential.”

    In my experience as a wealth coach and financial freedom mentor, I have yet to meet a single woman who was truly deeply connected to the intrinsic magic that she possesses.

    I am referring to the true magic of YOU that is so much more than your appearance, your business success or the size of your bank/brokerage account.

    I am referring to the magic of YOU that you were so highly aware of when you were a little kid.

    Remember those glorious days when everything was possible; when you were happy by just being YOU?

    Remember the time when you didn’t try to prove your worth or impress anybody? When you didn’t compare yourself?

    Do you remember those days when your heart was filled with enthusiasm for life and curiosity about ‘what else is possible’?

    Would you agree that you were more connected to the REAL YOU when you were a child than you are now?

    Although your physical body has changed significantly, the true essence of you as pure consciousness, as spiritual being, hasn’t changed!

    That’s why when you see your picture when you were 3 or 5 years old, you can easily recognize yourself although there is not a single cell that is present in your body now was present than…

    “How does all this relate to money and wealth?’ you may ask.

    Good Question!

    If you want to achieve success in life, you must shift your perception of yourself as limited, unlucky or any other judgmental label you may have assigned to yourself.

    Money is energy and it likes to ‘hangout’ with those who emit true enthusiasm for life and live in the question “What else is possible?”

    So many people live their lives by subconsciously counting their ‘successes and failures’, their ‘right and wrong decisions’, their ‘luck and misfortunes’.

    What if you shifted your perspective of yourself and stopped trying to ‘prove your value’?

    What if you released your judgements of yourself whatever they may be – successful, unlucky, looser, achiever – and instead truly connected to the AWARENESS of YOUR INTRINSIC VALUE?

    I realize that these suggestions may sound esoteric or even radical for some of you… After all, it’s part of our culture to strive for bigger and better, for glamour and fame, right?

    It is also likely that your parents had good intentions while planting the seeds of judgement in your mind by saying things like “You could do much better.”

    Ask yourself, does it make YOU happier to be in a perpetual ‘proving your worth’ state of mind?

    Does it make YOU more joyful, more loving and more connected to God?

    It has been my personal experience and observation of other people’s struggles that looking for your value and trying to prove your worth or your specialness lead to comparisons, endless competitiveness and, ultimately, inner unhappiness or turmoil.

    Rather than BEING AWARE and OWNING THE INTRINSIC VALUE OF YOU,  you’re trying to prove your value and your worth. By the way, when I say you, I include myself in this category, as I too had been in this subtle mental trap for a long time.

    Today I invite you to entertain the following questions

    • What would it be like if you stopped judging yourself and trying to prove your value and instead recognized your inherited worthiness?
    • How much happier will you feel?
    • How much freer will you be?

    I find true Self-awareness to be so important for life satisfaction and wealth building that I incorporate these concepts of ‘winning the inner game’ into my wealth building training as essential elements for living a prosperous, happy and healthy.

     

    To your Health, Wealth and freedom!

     

     

    Millen

    P.S. Download  your FREE Wealth Planner HERE

  • Your Path To Financial Freedom: Where Do You Start?

    Your Path To Financial Freedom: Where Do You Start?

    There are tons of books and seminars these days about abundance because it’s a “hot topic” now. Everybody wants it, everybody likes to talk about it.

    But what does abundance mean to you?

    Luxurious houses, expensive cars, designer clothes, exquisite jewelry?

    Or maybe for you it means having the freedom to choose how to spend your time and live your life?

    Whatever it is, I invite you to define it for yourself if you want to experience it one day.

    Many of us were raised with limiting beliefs’ programming. This external conditioning implies that you are confined to a certain level of possibilities in your life that is restricted by things like your parents’ social status, your race, religion, education, country of origin, etc.

    It is often so deeply ingrained in our minds that we often sabotage ourselves and have no idea that we have these “blind spots”! It’s really hard to think and live wealthy when your perception of what’s possible for you is defined by your past, or your current challenges, or others’ opinions.

    The good news is that it’s a complete and shameful lie.

    You are powerful by design.

    You are only limited by your own imagination and beliefs’ system.

    You and only you can make the decision to live your best life, to experience abundance and joy or… to complain and compare yourself with others who seem to have everything that you would like to have. Yes, it’s a matter of choice. (more…)

  • Think and Live Wealthy: 13 Guidelines for Becoming Financially Independent

    Think and Live Wealthy: 13 Guidelines for Becoming Financially Independent

    “In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

    Money is an interesting indicator of our state of mind. Emotions like paralyzing fear, envy, revenge, resentment, scarcity, hatred or bitterness usually reflect less than desirable state of financial affairs in our lives. On the other hand, emotions like peacefulness, kindness, contentment, appreciation, happiness, joy, love and serenity reflect the state of mind that is open to receive the abundance that Universe has for everyone…. Among many things, money is a language we use to express the best in us and the worst in us. (more…)

  • Competing Financial Priorities: 3 Human Biases About Money

    Competing Financial Priorities: 3 Human Biases About Money

    Fin

    I recently saw the statistics that 60 % of baby boomers are more afraid of running out of money in their retirement than they are afraid of death. Millennials are buying cryptocurrencies, often using their credit cards, with hopes of become overnight millionaires.

    Over 70% of businesses fail within the first 5 years because of cash flow problems.

    From my personal experience and observations, awareness of your money habits, planning your financial future, and having financial discipline are the most critical factors for creating a comfortable retirement.

    As Robert Kiyosaki once said, “It’s not how much money you make that matters most, but how much money you keep. How hard it works for you and how many generations you keep it for.”

    Making a good living does not automatically put you in the “more than enough” or “affluent” category. Because it’s not just about how much you earn but also what you do with what you earn. Do I hear “Yes”?

    Now let’s go over different ways you can choose to manage your competing financial priorities.

    If you want to become financially independent, one of the most important skills you must acquire is managing your money intentionally, so that regardless of your current income, you become richer every month and every year.

    How do you accomplish this?

    By managing your competing financial priorities while saving and growing your money.

    When it comes to managing your financial priorities, it’s a good idea to be aware of the three human biases that may affect you financial choices and decisions.

    1. The Present Bias

    As a human being, you are wired to take care of immediate needs first, making sure your essential requirements for food, shelter and security are met. So it’s understandable that when current, short-term financial needs and goals compete for your attention, saving for the future gets neglected. For example, when you focus on car and home repairs, your kids’ day-care or private school, or a new heating/cooling system, your long-term savings for big purchases such as education, financial emergencies, or retirement go to the back burner.

    The famous Hierarchy of Human Needs by psychologist Abraham Maslow outlines the progression of human needs and human awareness as we ascend from meeting our immediate survival needs to the need to feel fulfilled and self-actualized.

    We like to say: “Live in the moment”, right?

    Right, but not when it comes to your money; with money you must be intentional.

    Most people have difficulty envisioning distant events. It’s easy to envision, associate with and express immediate financial needs. This is something that financial professionals refer to as “the present bias.” The “present bias” makes you handle competing financial goals by assigning your highest priority to immediate needs and nearest goals, and overlooking the long-term financial priorities.

    1. The Availability Bias

    The availability bias is another mental pitfall when you are very comfortable with your current available income and assume that you will always have it. So, why bother thinking about long term financial goals?

    While this bias pertains to all humans, it’s especially common among new entrepreneurs and famous sports figures, who often go through feast/famine experiences and some end-up in financial ruin. Many of the currently well-off folks treat their businesses or contracts as their piggy banks that are available to cover any and all desires.

    1. The Busy-bee Bias

    The busy-bee bias is very common among highly paid professionals who are so busy making money that they don’t make time to plan how they can grow it, let alone how they can make their money work for them!

    These people rely heavily on the easily available information and often don’t do their due diligence on the accuracy of the advice and integrity of the source from which they receive their financial advice. As the result, they put more value on the easily available solutions rather than more strategic ones and end up disappointed.

    The tendencies and biases I have mentioned often cause people to spend everything they are currently earning. They want to enjoy their money to the fullest while they can, or save and invest first for their family’s educational goals, rather than diversifying their savings across different financial priorities like planning their financial future, retirement, health-related needs, and creating financial independence.

    More often than not, goals like buying a new car or a house, financing private school or college tuition for your kids, become top priorities relative to retirement or financial independence goals. However, you don’t want to burden your kids by depending on their financial support when you get older, right?

    So, how can you manage competing financial priorities, the immediate and the upcoming ones? The solution may be as simple as asking yourself if the financial priorities you’re focusing on now are really the most important ones, given your overall goals in life, not only your immediate needs.

    Here are two simple questions you can ask yourself:

    1. What are my short and long term priorities in life?
    2. What are my core values that help me experience more joy and fulfillment in life?

    The answers to these questions will help you sort out your financial priorities.

    For example, one of my core values is FREEDOM. I can be content driving an older car, leading a modest lifestyle and wearing stylish but not necessarily designer clothes and shoes. However, I am willing to do whatever it takes to achieve financial independence so that I can have the Freedom of Choice in my life.

    Now, pause and write down answers to the two questions above.

    Share your experiences in the comments.  I would love to know how you manage your competing financial priorities.

    And here’s the recording of the mini-class on this topic

    To Your Health, Wealth, and Freedom!

    Millen

  • To Bitcoin or NOT to Bitcoin? Pros and Cons of Investing in Cryptocurrencies

    To Bitcoin or NOT to Bitcoin? Pros and Cons of Investing in Cryptocurrencies

    “Cryptocurrencies are here to stay. But don’t be stupid.” ~ James Altucher

    Let me be frank… Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies – Money 2.0 – is a very new and even uncomfortable concept for most people.

    As excited as you may be about this idea, you need to recognize that there is an inherent risk in cryptocurrencies. This is a brand-new market. So, I want you to remember that the risk of a 100% loss is ALWAYS present in cryptocurrencies. That’s why I urge you to go small should you decide to invest in this space.

    Investing $100- $400 is small enough to cause you only minor financial pain if one of your cryptocurrencies goes bust… But it’s still big enough to create real wealth for you if only few become a major success.

    The smart approach is to build yourself a “basket” of different cryptocurrency plays. Some of them will become superstars. Others will be good winners. And a few will go to zero.

    So, don’t go crazy!! Don’t invest all your investing funds in one particular cryptocurrency – diversify with well respected cryptos. Do your research. Join cryptocurrencies forums.  Be calm. Be rational. Stick your toe in the water with just $100, or $200 in each of ideas you want to test. Get started, and see where the game will take you.

    The blockchain technology is young… the cryptocurrencies market is young… and it’s changing every day. That might make you a little nervous. Usually, conservative, rational investors like to stick to known, stable, predictable investments. Warren Buffet publicly shared his distrust of this new digital money.

    However, there is another side of the story. Blockchain is a budding new technology. It’s an exciting, massive new movement and a trend that you may want to be part of. After all, when you can get in at the ground level of such an opportunity (and I believe that we’re still at that phase), you have a chance to plant seeds for the life-changing wealth.

    You can do that… while being smart about it. All that means is that you need to invest sensibly, start small, and avoid risking more money than you’re willing to lose.

    I recommend allocating no more than 3-5% of your total net investing money in cryptos. In other words, of all the money you have to invest, only put 3-5% of that toward these investments. From there, you can take even smaller positions in each individual cryptocurrency.

    Remember: It doesn’t take much to turn a small stake of $100, $500, or even $1,000 into the life-changing wealth.

    As I write this post, the stock market in the US had one of the biggest day declines in the history (4.6% in one day), then turned around and jumped up the next day. Bitcoin price too fell below $7,000 from its highs of $20,000 in 2017. Does it mean that the cryptocurrencies are heading to the graveyard?

    I don’t think so.

    It means that it’s a volatile financial product and you must exercise prudence and patience. Be an informed investor – follow the development in this space. Learn how it works and how to buy, store, send and receive Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

    If you’re really interested in learning more about cryptocurrencies, sign up for my 4-day Masterclass “Bitcoin, Your Money and Building Wealth” and get a lot of specific details about investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies while managing your risk.

    I want you to see the big picture of building wealth. Cryptocurrencies could be part of your portfolio but very small part. The key element to building lasting wealth is to diversify your investments.

    To Your Health, Wealth and Freedom!

    Millen Livis

    p.s. “Bitcoin, Your Money and Building Your Wealth” Masterclass will help you answer the questions “To Bitcoin or Not to Bitcoin?”

  • Bitcoin, Blockchain and Your Investment Strategy

    Bitcoin, Blockchain and Your Investment Strategy

    I recently heard about a report that stated that 30% of millennials would invest in bitcoins instead of stocks (I refer to established, successful publicly traded companies) in order to secure their retirement. Not only that… they would be willing to use their credit cards to buy the bitcoins! This information was quite shocking to me and I felt compelled to write this article.

    But before I get into specifics of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies world, I want to curb your ambition to become a cryptocurrencies millionaire. I am not saying it’s impossible (yes, there are Bitcoin millionaires). I just want to show you a bigger picture of where Bitcoin and other  cryptocurrencies fit into your investment portfolio.

    Role of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies in your Investment Portfolio

    Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ether, dash, blah, blah, blah can be considered to be chaos hedge. Chaos hedge is a portion of your investment portfolio that acts as a form of insurance against things like market crashes, financial system collapse (when banks are closed/insolvent), global economic shocks caused by wars, massive natural disasters, etc. Having some chaos hedges, such as gold, silver, and cryptocurrencies, provides downside protection for your investment portfolio.

    However, most cryptocurrencies are very speculative investments because out of 1000 or so existing cryptocurrencies, likely over 90% are Ponzi schemes according to a few savvy investors I follow. So, you’ve been warned: If you want to dive into a super-speculative world of cryptocurrencies, especially outside of Bitcoin (which is currently considered to be the most recognized, “reserve currency” for buying other cryptos), you must do your due diligence before buying them.

    On the other hand, there are setups in the cryptocurrencies’ market that could give you high gains within next six to 12 months.  I call it smart speculation. When used correctly, smart speculations offer the opportunity for substantial gains, even in conservative investment portfolios. The key here is to allocate a small percentage of your investment portfolio into the smart speculation holding.

    Now, a brief overview of what Bitcoin is and why you may want to consider owning some.

    Bitcoin: Brief Overview

    Bitcoin is the most widely used open-source (not proprietary owned) peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that you can send over the Internet without a bank or a middleman. It is also a storage of value, finite value to be precised. Only 21 million bitcoins will ever be created. They have value somewhere between zero and a very large number (some predict $500K per bitcoin) and the value is determined by the demand of the Bitcoin network users.

    Bitcoin is a “native of the internet”, and thus it is digital in its entirety, although very few physical bitcoins  were manufactured by Casascius,  the coin company, before they were stopped by regulators.  There are technical reasons why it doesn’t make sense to use bitcoin to pay for small transactions. However, owning bitcoin does make sense as an asset for people who want to store value of something that can be traded for something else in the future.

    For example, you don’t trust banks or you’re worried about a natural disaster and want to have some cash available. Some people put cash in a mattress, or in a safe. But you can also put it in something attributed to you that shows that you have something of value that you can use in the future. Yes, it’s somewhat similar to gold, the traditional storage of value. And similarly to gold, you can store value in bitcoin by converting fiat currencies into bitcoin.

    With Bitcoin, the original alleged developer Satoshi Nakamoto, set out to create a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system”. There is much mystery around the true identity of the original Bitcoin creator. There are rumors that whoever Satoshi Nakamoto actually holds roughly 1 million bitcoins, worth approximately $11.6 billion based on the recent prices ($11, 600/Bitcoin).

    One of the big innovations of Bitcoin was creating a system that did not rely on trusted third parties to process electronic payments; instead it relies on the consensus of the “bitcoin miners” on the network (sometimes referred as computer nodes).

    Bitcoin is a currency which supply cannot be altered by any central bank or government. That might not seem like as big of a deal in countries like the U.S., or U.K. but in places like Zimbabwe and Venezuela that have experienced hyper-inflation due to excessive money printing by corrupt governments, this is of greater concern.

    Blockchain technology

    The truth is that cryptocurrencies’ rise in popularity is largely attributed to a new innovative technology that is used for trading cryptocurrencies – “blockchain”, which is considered to be revolutionary, just like the Internet was in the 90-s.

    Many people say “I don’t know about bitcoin, but I believe in blockchain.” That could be because many people don’t believe in bitcoin but believe in Blockchain technology.  So, what the hell is Blockchain?

    Blockchain is a digital distributed public ledger, but it’s really a strong cryptography (based on mathematics). And just in case you are not familiar with the word cryptography, it’s the art of protecting information by transforming it (encrypting it) into an unreadable format. Only those who possess a secret key can decrypt the message into plain text. Cryptography is used to protect credit card information, corporate data, etc.

    Recent advance of Bitcoin and recognition by financial communities

    On December 17th,2017, the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange), the world’s largest futures (future contracts) exchange, launched its own bitcoin futures contract under the ticker “BTC.” One CME futures contract represents five bitcoins.

    You may know that there are plenty of well-known critics of Bitcoin in the banking and business worlds. Specifically, Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co., called the cryptocurrency a “fraud” and said it would blow up. However, Mr Dimon recently said in a TV interview on the business cable network that he regrets calling it a fraud.

    There are more and more investors and even hedge fund managers jump on the Bitcoin wagon. Bitcoin has had a phenomenal bullish run in 2017, rising from $966 at the start of the year to a record high of over $20, 000. While the price of the Bitcoin failed since its highs in 2017, many expect that the cryptocurrencies prices are going to climb up further.

    If you want to learn more about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as well as how you can buy, store, send and receive cryptocurrencies, I invite you to join my upcoming masterclass Bitcoin, Your Money and Building Wealth.

    This training offers a comprehensive approach to investing in cryptocurrencies – from understanding what it is and how it works, to how to buy, store, send and receive it, to how to manage your risk. While I cannot give you a specific advice or promise profits from any of your investments, I can promise that by  the end of this masterclass you will be in a good position to make a decision  weather you want to invest in cryptocurrencies and what to do next.

    To Your Health, Wealth and Freedom.

    With Love and Gratitude,

    Millen Livis

    P.S. I have a crazy good offer for this training if you sign up for this masterclass before February 1st, 2018

    Sign up  HERE for Bitcoin, Your Money and Building Wealth.