The One Minute Millionaire: The Enlightened Way to Wealth - Tapa blanda

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MARK VICTOR HANSEN is the co-creator of the bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul.

ROBERT G. ALLEN is the author of Nothing Down, Creating Wealth, Multiple Streams of Income, and Multiple Streams of Internet Income.

Fragmento. © Reproducción autorizada. Todos los derechos reservados.

Chapter One
One Minute Millionaire


Two Ways to Millionize Your Life
There are two routes for climbing the Millionaire Mountain: the long route and the short route.
First, let’s talk about the long route. The long route is the safest and easiest. You can literally become a millionaire by investing as little as a dollar a day ($30 a month). Study the following chart.


How the Investment of Only One Dollar per Day Grows into $1,000,000
Number of Years to Grow % Interest into a Million Dollars
3% – 147 years
5% – 100 years
10% – 56 years
15% – 40 years
20% – 32 years

To become a millionaire in your lifetime, all that is required is (1) the ability to find investments that yield at least 10% annually after taxes (as in your tax-deferred retirement account) and (2) the discipline to keep up the process, year in and year out.


The following chart tells the story of what can happen if individuals save a dollar a day from the day they are born until they reach retirement age.


A Dollar a Day Invested at Various Interest Rates for 66 Years
% Interest Amount Accumulated
(Hidden in a mattress) 0% = $24,000
(In a savings account) 3% = $77,000
(Certificates of deposit) 5% = $193,000
(Corporate bonds) 8% = $1,000,000
(Growth mutual funds) 10% = $2,700,000
(Aggressive growth mutual funds) 15% = $50,000,000
(Real estate, businesses) 20% = $1,000,000,000 
(That’s One Billion!)


Yes, you can even become a billionaire on the investment of a dollar a day—given enough time and the right interest rate. But this is the long route—it certainly isn’t the way most of us want it. We want it FAST! And that is definitely possible, as we will show you. But while you’re creating rapid wealth, why don’t you also take the long route at the same time? Put aside $50, $100, $500—as much as you can afford—every month, from now on. It’s simple. It’s easy. It can be automatically deducted from your bank account. Then, if you make a million the fast way, so much the better. But no matter what happens, you’ll still be a millionaire—sooner or later. Agreed?


A Dollar a Day, A Minute at a Time
No matter your present circumstances, here are the four steps to your first million.
1. Decide that it’s okay for you to become a millionaire.
Some people believe that the accumulation of wealth is an unworthy goal. Before you begin your journey to become an Enlightened Millionaire, search your attitudes to make sure you are willing to create wealth in a way that will support your inner beliefs and values.

2. Practice imagining yourself enjoying an abundant lifestyle.
All great fortunes started in someone’s imagination. See yourself living in the home of your dreams, enjoying ideal relationships with friends and loved ones, contributing to the world through your own unique talents and abilities. Imagine the fortune you could create and the good it could do. Believe it and you will see it.

3. Spend less than you earn.
But how? Pay yourself first. Deduct 10% off the top of your income, and deposit it into your investment account. Convert all your credit cards except one to debit cards so it is impossible for you to go into debt. Then live on what is left over.

4. Invest the difference.
Invest your 10% surplus into investments that can earn at least 10%. A dollar a day invested at 10% interest becomes a million dollars in 56 years. In other words, anyone can become a millionaire by investing only a dollar a day—30 bucks a month. If you want to become a millionaire faster, then invest more money or find ways to make your money grow at higher rates of return.

You can become a One Minute Millionaire.
• It only takes a minute to decide it.
• It only takes a minute to visualize it.
• It only takes a minute to save it.
• It only takes a minute to invest it.

A dollar a day—a minute at a time—you can get there. Slowly but surely.

Now, let’s talk about the fast way....

Choosing Your Millionaire Mountain
In the whole wide world of money there are only four major ways of becoming a millionaire. No matter what your background, you can learn to master one of these areas.


1. Investments: Accumulating shares of stock, bonds, CDs
2. Real Estate: Owning properties
3. Business: Marketing products, services, or ideas
4. Internet: Expanding possibilities


We call this the Mountain Range of Wealth. A lot of routes can be taken to the top of each mountain. We will teach you many different models for creating wealth later on in this book. But for now, realize that you will probably reach your million-dollar goal with a combination of all four. Suppose you make a fortune by launching a home-based business. You’ll still need to invest your excess cash in the stock market or other forms of passive investment. Certainly, you will need to buy some real estate along the way—and if you can buy it at wholesale prices instead of retail, it can make a huge difference.


For now, just be aware of the four major mountains. Make an initial “gut” decision to choose one mountain—something that you sense is going to be your primary investment vehicle. Suppose you were enrolled in a University of Money. Which of the four mountains would be your “major”? Which would be your “minor”? Which mountain interests you the most? Which one scares you the most?


Imagine yourself in conversation five years from now. Try these words on for size:
“I made my millions in real estate.”
“I made my millions by investing in the stock market.”
“I made my millions in business.”
“I made my millions on the Internet.”

Which one seems right to you?


The Millionaire Ahas

 
PRINCIPLES

The First Aha: Everyone Manifests

 
Everyone thinks that the principal thing to the tree is the fruit, but in point of fact the principal thing to it is the seed.

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844–1900)


Look around you. Everything you see began as a thought in someone’s mind. The chair you sit on. The table you work at. The car you drive. The house you live in. The clothes you wear. The television you watch. First, a thought. Then, a thing—brought forth out of nothing. Voilà! There it is. Everything begins as a thought.


The verb for turning thoughts into things is to manifest. It comes from the Middle English word manifestus meaning “visible” and the Latin word manus meaning “hand.” When you manifest something, you metaphorically reach your hand through the invisible curtain separating the tangible world from the world of imagination and pull your desired object into existence.
First, you think it, then you manifest it. You “materialize” it. You cause it to appear.


Everyone manifests. Some people manifest abundance. Others manifest lack. If you don’t have what you want, examine your thoughts. Ask yourself, “How did I manifest this?”


You are the fruit of the thoughts you have planted and nourished. If you want a better harvest, you must plant better thoughts. Just like an apple seed will not produce a peach tree, poor thoughts will not produce prosperity. As surely as the acorn becomes the oak tree, the images in your mind become your reality.


Thoughts are things. Every thought has a consequence. No thought lives in your brain rent-?free. Each thought is a pebble dropped into the pond of your life—the ripples are real. The more intense the thought, the more powerful the outcome. An angry thought gets picked up like a radio wave. People can sense it. Animals can smell it. The whole energy system surrounding you is infected. Weed out such thoughts.


Think positive thoughts, intensely. Grow enthusiastic images, boldly. Speak only wonderful words to yourself, constantly. Feel fantastic, NOW! This colors your view of the world. Like a magnet, you attract the resources necessary to manifest the world you desire.


Everything manifested around you made someone a fortune. Everywhere you look, you can see it. The chair you sit on. The table you work at. The car you drive. The house you live in. The clothes you wear. The television you watch. Everywhere you look—every thing you see has made or is making someone millions. There are millions of enlightened ways to manifest a million dollars. We want to be your manifestation coaches. We want to support you in changing your economic future. Together we can change the economic future of the world.


The Second Aha: BE-DO-HAVE


To Fly As Fast As Thought
To Be Anywhere There Is
You Must First Begin By Knowing
That You Have Already Arrived
From Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach


Properly adding a million dollars to your net worth is a primary objective of this book. Yet to reach this objective—the Enlightened Millionaire way—you must follow three steps in a specific order. They are:
BE
DO
HAVE


Of course, to become an Enlightened Millionaire you must DO what you love, add enormous value, and leverage it (more on this later). While these DOing steps are critical they are not the first priority. BEing comes first! You must first BE an Enlightened Millionaire.


The Enlightened Millionaire knows and acts from the space that
1. abundance comes from making others better off, and
2. the primary reason to get is to have more to give.


For the Enlightened Millionaire, it’s all about giving. It is rarely about getting. Giving springs from the wellspring of the abundance that exists. Enlightened Millionaires give because that is who they are—it’s the highest manifestation of their true nature. It comes from their BEING.


You must BE an Enlightened Millionaire before you DO anything. From that “BE” space you DO what needs to be done to add as much value to the world as possible. As a result of your Enlightened Beingness, your behavior or Doingness will be appropriate in each situation.
Granted, it is possible to make millions of dollars by doing and undoing. However, you won’t experience the peace, gratitude, and sense of wealth that come from the added-?value approach of the Enlightened Millionaire. You will also miss the joy of tapping into the ocean of abundance, one of the greatest of earthly pleasures.


When both the BEing and DOing are correct, you will HAVE your desired outcome. You will have riches beyond your wildest dreams.


The Third Aha: Live Life Above the Line
Whenever something doesn’t go as expected, most of us tend to “blame” someone else for what went wrong. In doing so, we lose a tremendous learning opportunity.


The world makes progress by learning from mistakes. When we blame someone, it gives that person power over the situation. For example, “If John had done what he agreed to do, then this would never have happened.” That may be true. However, this statement gives John the power over the situation, and we usually learn very little from the experience.


If we avoid the trap of laying blame, we sometimes tend to justify what happened. “I would have gotten the job done except that I had traveled all night yesterday and I was too tired to focus on the project today.” This is just another form of blame. Instead of blaming a person, we blame the circumstances. Again, no matter how reasonable the justification, we lose an opportunity to optimally learn from the situation.


If we get beyond blaming and justifying, there is another level of suboptimal learning. That is shame—beating yourself up; “I did the dumbest thing!” Instead of blaming another person or the circumstance, we blame ourselves. This too reduces the opportunity for learning.


Where, then, is the optimal place to view life experiences? From the point of personal responsibility—from above the line.


Learn
Blame


Granted, we may not be responsible for everything that happens. However, the more we are willing to view the world from this vantage point, the more the reins to life are in our own hands. By operating “above the line,” each of us has optimal control, direction, and command over our existence. From this perspective, “free will” surfaces in each individual action or omission, allowing us to learn as much as possible from each situation.


Life is a succession of choices. The Enlightened Millionaire embraces each outcome from “above the line.” As much as possible is learned from each situation. As a result, the next choice is more likely to be wiser.


Choose to look at everything from above the line. The Enlightened Millionaire does.


The Fourth Aha: Abundance Is Your Natural State


Out of abundance He took abundance and still abundance remained.
The Upanishads


The Universe is fundamentally abundant. There is no shortage, except in our own mind.
Infinite money potentially awaits each of us who apply the principles of acquiring it. You can decide to become wealthy and abundant now, and the Universe will cheerfully provide. Opportunities and blessings come to individuals who embrace an abundant attitude. Others everywhere have created abundance, so can you.


Once you embrace, experience, and choose to express it, there is only abundance. Who can absorb all the abundance of a magnificent sunset? There is absolute plenty for each of us to drink, absorb, photograph, and share. And it returns again and again—it’s endless. In fact, sharing always creates more.


The principle of abundance is exactly the same. The dictionary defines abundance as “great supply, plentitude, sufficiency, more than enough.” It is a principle that cannot wear out, rust out, get tired, or not deliver the goods. Abundance is. Once you own the principle, the results that follow must be abundant. Abundant thinking multiplies, magnetizes, and magnifies whatever is focused upon.


What is the significance of this? It means there is more than enough to attend to the needs of everyone, everywhere and simultaneously create a sustainable ecology and economy.


Real-life models of abundance include such wide-ranging examples as Mother Teresa, Dr. Maya Angelou, Oprah, Paul Newman, Art Linkletter, and Bill and Melinda Gates.


To “out-picture” abundance, we first must successfully and repetitively “in-picture” a mental state of abundance. Why? Because our state of mind creates our state of results. Affirm the following each morning and night for the next 30 days or until it becomes the truth for you.

Preferably, do this just prior to sleep and just before getting out of bed in the morning. Repeat it with feeling, belief, imagination, and acceptance:


I am abundant in every good way.
Infinite money is mine to earn, save, invest, exponentially multiply, and share.
My abundance is making everyone better off.
I embrace abundance and abundance embraces me.


The Fifth Aha: Givers Get


He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; 
and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
2 Corinthians 9:6


The dictionary defines paradox as an act or statement that on one level of meaning seem to contradict itself. Yet at a higher level (often called the “meta level”) there is a deeper truth or understanding.