“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” ~ Jimmy Dean
There was time in my life when I desperately wanted to become rich. For me becoming rich wasn’t so much about big houses, designer clothes or fancy cars (although there is nothing wrong with wanting them)… I was craving FREEDOM. And it took me years to become clear about the stages of creating Wealth and the essential elements needed to get to REAL Financial Wealth – the Financial Freedom.
Today I want to share with you the 4 stages of Financial Fitness because looking at where you are now in terms of your financial health will help you focus on solutions needed to evolve or leap your way to Financial Freedom.
There are 4 stages in Financial Fitness funnel:
1. “Not Enough”: This is the stage when I < E (Income is less than Expenses)
Typical characteristics of this stage:
- People spend more on their lifestyle than they earn, whether they have a job or a business, and whether they are high-income earners or low-income earners
- High-interest Debt (credit cards, car loans, or private loans) is often used to make the ends meet
- There are No Savings
- People need to work for their money
2. “Just Enough”: This is the stage when I = E (Income is equal Expenses)
Typical characteristics of this stage:
- People spend everything that they earn to cover their lifestyle
- High- and Low-interest Debt (credit cards, student loans, mortgages, car loans) is often used to maintain a desired lifestyle
- There are usually No Savings
- People need to work for their money
3. “More than Enough”: This is the stage when I > E (Income is more than Expenses)
Typical characteristics of this stage:
- People spend less on their lifestyle that they earn
- Low-interest Debt (credit cards are paid off monthly, low-interest mortgage(s), student loans) are sometimes used to maintain a desired lifestyle
- There are often multiple sources of income
- There are usually Savings and Investments
- Philanthropy is quite common
- People need to work for their money
4. “Financial Freedom”: This is the stage when I > E (Income is more than Expenses) and there is no need to work for the money
Typical characteristics of this stage:
- People spend less on their lifestyle that they earn
- There is No Debt or Low-interest Debt (credit cards are paid off monthly, low-interest mortgage(s)) are rarely used to maintain a desired lifestyle
- There are multiple sources of income
- There are significant amount of Savings and Investments
- Philanthropy become part of lifestyle
- People don’t need to work for their money – their money works for them
What stage of Financial Fitness do you think are you currently at?
“How do you know about these financial stages?” you may want to ask. Well… a bit of research and a lot of personal experience. I myself was at each of these financial fitness stages more than once!
Important: it is not uncommon to see “Financial Fitness Funnel” jumpers – people who jump as oppose to evolve from one stage of financial fitness to another. Yes, people often ‘jump’ in both directions of financial fitness range – from lower financial fitness stages to higher and back! Yes, it’s not always the upward spiral, the regression back to the lower financial fitness level is not uncommon.
Now let’s talk about obvious and not so obvious levers that you can use to improve your financial fitness.
Here are the essential factors of your Financial Fitness:
- Spending rate
- Income stream(s)
- Degree of Prosperity Consciousness (Wealth Mindset)
- Level of Financial Education
Obvious levers are Income and Spending. If you are currently in stage 1 or stage 2 in your Financial Fitness Funnel, you must honestly and courageously look at your spending patterns as well as contemplate ways to increase your income.
The key words here are honestly and courageously. I’ve met people with different income levels – from fairly low to fairly high – who got stuck in stages 1 or 2 in their Financial Fitness. Obviously, the Income factor is NOT the only important factor here.
The not so obvious yet essential levers are Wealth Mindset and Financial Education.
There are people who are considered to be rich because they own big houses and fancy cars. However, many of them are ridden by competitiveness, fear of losing their ‘stuff’ (houses, cars, money), by the need to make more so that they could consume more, by the need to keep up with the Joneses, or to impress or prove something to someone. This is the consciousness of scarcity and lack, which often leads to regressing from higher levels of Financial Fitness to lower levels.
And then there is financial education. Before you decide to jump into investing – whether it’s stock market investing, Real Estate investing, Cryptocurrency investing, or buying a business – you really must know what you are doing if you don’t want to lose all your money. It’s the naked Truth. And it is rather common that people over-estimate their financial knowledge only to get burned and learn the lessons the hard way.
Clarity Enables Empowerment.
My ultimate goal is to support you on your journey to REAL Wealth – to stage 4, which is Financial Freedom.
No, I don’t promise to give you freedom. I promise to give you the key to your ‘money prison’ cage.
I want to teach you how to make your money work for you. To show you that there’s a bigger, freer world you can live in. To help you unlock the money prison you might be living in (unconsciously) and let you fly away.
That’s what The Millen Method™ of Wealth Mastery is all about.
You can also watch the recording of my VIDEO on this topic HERE.
To Your Health, Wealth and Freedom!
Millen Livis
