Since prosperity is a component of well-being this also deserves our attention.

The definition of well-being is a good or satisfactory condition of existence; a state characterized by health, happiness, and prosperity; welfare.

Question

I have my emergency savings in place, and am starting my “fun” account, and an additional investment account. I’m wondering if there is a ratio or % that I should keep in mind when deciding what to save and what to have fun with? Signed,  A.L.

(Note to readers, I wrote about the idea of the Fun account a while ago. You can find it here. But mainly it’s the account apart from survival needs. To be used for vacations, future projects, fun purchases, personal growth expenses like books, lectures, programs and retreats, life enhancing stuff, and of course your dreams!)

Answer

First of all, congratulations on completing one of the standards of financial health, insuring against financial risk by saving for emergencies. Things can happen, and even though we are all creating intentions for a comfortable life full of purpose and joy, change comes unexpectedly. Layoffs, auto repairs, home repairs, and other surprises present themselves. Having that 4 to 6 months of income needs set aside is such a relief when it is necessary. And just having that in an account, seeing it on a statement periodically, gives us a feeling of accomplishment. That feeling is a component of wellbeing.

Now it’s time for you to develop your own financial plan. Begin with the desired end result in mind. Don’t worry if you don’t know some of the answers right now, most likely your prosperity plan will be a living, growing piece of your life that will shift and change along with you. Your money is a representation of your efforts, desires, and goals. It will snap to your intentions as you develop confidence in this area.

First define your short-term (1-3 years), intermediate-term (up to 10 years, or to use any time before retirement) and long-term goals.

Examples:

Short-term could be things like the need for new car soon, job uncertainty, year-end property taxes, etc. and the emergency fund should take care of this.

Intermediate-term could be your plans for a special trip, self-care, fulfillment and service.

Long-term, of course would be kid’s college funding or/and retirement plan and estate plan needs. Here is a nice way to calculate your retirement needs based on your income by JP Morgan. I like this one because it isn’t one size fits all. It is based on a percentage of your current income. If you’re 35 and make $50,000, according to the chart, you should have 90% of that, or $45,000 in a retirement account so far.

Your emergency, short-term account is completed, (GREAT!) that leaves your intermediate and long-term accounts to fund.

$458 a month into an IRA would max out your contribution limit. It is fully deductible if your income is under $63,000, even if you are also covered under a 401k. If this is comfortable for you, start this now. Whatever is left after your bills are paid, put in your bank savings until it is a few thousand and then invest that for the intermediate savings. If you have $1000 from your paycheck left in the bank at the end of the month, roughly half will go into retirement and half into intermediate, or FUN account.

And name them whatever you want. Get creative!

Short-term account >4 years

Essential to get this done before the Fun account
Nickname: example, Allowing for Uncertainty Account
Ideal Amount: equal to 4 to 6 months income. $50,000 income would be $16,000 to $25,000
Keep in a bank savings or money market account. When you need to use it make it a priority to build it back up.

Intermediate FUN Account up to 10 years

Nickname: example, Intentions, Dreams and Goals Account

Ideal amount: figure the cost of each dream and add them up. This is for FUN. There are no strict rules, this may be used whenever. After your IRA and emergency accounts are being funded, your bills are covered, divert your new funds to this account. Use a bank savings account, money market or short-term investments.

Long-Term Account

Nickname: True Prosperity Account

Ideal Amount: Enough to generate at least 75% of income needs. Figure on taking withdrawals of 5% from your investment account annually. For example, each $100,000 saved will produce $5,000 a year. Or use the calculator mentioned above on how much you need to be saving a year based on your income now.

Maximize your employer’s plan, at the minimum contribute the amount they will match, that’s free money!

It’s impossible to address all the details and different situations in a short answer. I hope this gives you an idea on how to begin. To fine-tune your plan, especially if you have children to educate or older parents to care for, it is always best to find an advisor you can trust to help you navigate all these circumstances.

As always, pay yourself first. Get these accounts set up and growing! As you watch them increase, your motivation will grow too! You will be financially free! And to me, that means you do what you want, when you want, and have all that you need. And you can also take the Money Map Quiz to see your strengths and next step to gain more competency financially.

Many people find me and my site because they’ve googled money quizzes or money health, or something along the order of improving their financial life. I realize this and yet find myself going back to wellbeing over and over again. I have to pull myself back from that because I understand how important this is to people.

People think having lots of money will solve their problems; having lots of money will ease stress, make their lives more attractive and make them happier.

I’d like to address this, and how a healthy approach to money is imperative to making peace with the subject of money. It is the feelings of lack, the wishing, the grasping, the neediness that makes us suffer. Not our bank account balance. After all, most of us will eat today and tomorrow. Most of us have a dry, warm place to sleep. Therefore, the angst and despair over the idea of not having enough is where our suffering originates.

Some of the happiest people in the world have very little in the way of possessions and luxuries. It isn’t money that creates happiness and wellbeing.

The grasping and angst could be just what is wrong.

Avoiding learning about money

Holding a belief money is really hard to attain

Thinking wealthy people must be shady

Or, we don’t deserve it

Etc.

We all know these concepts.

But what about this. Money is just a game. Some people know how to play the game better than others. They don’t take it so seriously. It could be their hobby. Challenging themselves to up their game to find a better paying job, or have a hobby that enables them to sell a product or a service, saving the extra cash.

It feels like a game to see how much can be put away each month in a savings or investment account.

It feels like a game to figure out what kind of trip you really want to go on and make a vision board about it, save toward it, and revisit imagining it often.

It feels like a game creating crafts around your vision, like the ‘Fun Account’ check book cover I showed on my money blog. I drew places I wanted to visit and words like, “unlimited” on it.

What are other ways you can make creating money playful? Asking the question will begin the movement of change.

This is a topic I live daily, but don’t talk about much. I’ve incorporated these key practices for so long, they are my normal state, so I forget others would really like to know them! Everyone wants more wealth. Integrating these following practices, one by one, or a few at a time, until they become habitual, feel comfortable, will get you on your way. You don’t need to do special affirmations, writing them on your mirror, (though I’ve done that) follow 100 gurus and teachers to discover success, or your purpose; just develop good daily practices that make you stretch and grow.

I was very fortunate to have a wonderful childhood of contrasts. For the first 11 or 12 years of my life we were in prosperity, though I had no idea of that concept. In my world it was just the way it was. Then, my father lost his business and we fell into poverty. Looking back, it was a remarkable occurrence, for, if that had not happened, I wouldn’t have a clue how other ways of living were. It also gave rise to my impetus to recreate the prosperity we once experienced. I went through more poverty as a young adult, yet believed it was temporary. It was.

• Examine your beliefs regarding wealth and money, and your feelings about the success of others

You already know this; when envy pops up, when you judge other’s success harshly, when you find yourself bashing the wealthy, you know it holds you back from your success. It may be that you don’t consider it possible for yourself. False notion. If you think being wealthy, (which by that I mean a sense of freedom in doing and having what you want and need), is somehow sinful, you need to reframe that belief. Just like you can change a memory, choosing the positive parts it offers, instead of dwelling on the negative, you can shift your past, its effects, and ultimately your expectations. As it has been said many times, your being poor doesn’t help anyone.

Practice praising others success, be happy for them

• Assume and expect

Build that expectation that you will succeed. Live in the world where you have already reached your goal and watch reality catch up. Assume in your words and manner you have already arrived. But be humble! Be dignified! You have what it takes. You know you do!

• Don’t get comfortable with mediocre

I see this all the time. People settling. It is one of the biggest causes of unfulfilled desires. People stagnant. They don’t believe they can do better, so they don’t try. They make do, accepting a so-so existence. You know you can do better. Butt-kicking time! I’ve done that many times myself. No self-pity.

• Pay yourself first

A big cause of financial failure is lack of knowledge about money. No excuse. No matter how much you make, you can begin to put aside even a small amount, every payday, every month, before you pay your bills. When it grows enough to invest, find a good financial advisor and begin investing. Have your checking account debited every month to go into your mutual fund. Watching it grow will shift you in magical ways.  If you don’t have enough to do this, never, I mean never, quit looking for a better paying job, or start a business!

• Read & find stillness

Educate yourself. Reading does many great things, among them increasing your knowledge, raising your IQ, developing better problem solving skills, increasing your grey matter, raising your consciousness, and training your mind in new and wondrous ways. And meditate. Benefits abound.

• Fear + action = self-esteem

This is from my daddy. He told me you never grow if you don’t stretch into unfamiliar land. Enough said.

• Go for wellbeing

All the best advice out there will inevitably lead you to wellbeing. This is my thing, my focus for my life: health, happiness, peace, prosperity, and enlightenment.

• Giving and receiving

The ability to give and receive is crucial to a satisfied, happy life. Inviting both with open arms keeps the flow going. Abundance will dance through your life like a great ballet.

• Gratitude

A key for many successful people. Being grateful everyday invites more into your life to be grateful for.

• Baby steps

Be gentle with yourself. Take small steps. Withhold judgement. Forgive yourself. Do your best. Start over. Every time. There is no finish line.

I have been a financial planner, broker & advisor for so many years—almost too many to count! I have also been fascinated with Ayurveda since I first read Quantum Healing by Deepak Chopra in 1989. Now, combining these two bodies of knowledge allows for some really interesting analysis from my years of observing clients and their attitude toward money.

You see, Ayurveda classifies people’s mind/body constitutions into three main types, or doshas. They are actually resulting from combinations of the five elements of the material world, as this science sees it. For this short article’s purpose, we will use a simplification into the three-main mind/body types and call them Air, Fire, and Earth.

Here is the description of the three types along with their responses to money and investing:

Air– Changeable, creative, lively, artistic, quick moving, expressive with a tendency toward worry and anxiety when they are stressed, (For example, while watching the volatility of the stock market.). An Air type may be impulsive and enjoy spending money, often to their own detriment. Once they entertain thoughts of the market going south, or the possibility of flaws in their investment plan, they will get anxious and think they’ve made a mistake. They may even lay awake worrying about it.

If this sounds like you, do things to create a calmer life. To reassure yourself, create a plan that includes less volatility, stay prudent, and find someone to coach you so when the markets get scary, they help you stick you your plan.  The challenge here is to keep yourself from making rash decisions, foiling your long-term goals.

At your worst, you may impulsively jump in and out of the market or withdraw money for an imprudent purchase.

But, at your best, you appreciate the philosophy and creativity of a solid, wealth building strategy, along with the security of it. You are extraordinary in the creativity department, so devise the terminology and schematic for your financial plan.

Stay away from topics that cause you to worry or obsess about your investments. Go outside and take a walk.

Fire–  High intellect, loves having control, ambitious, likes luxury and the finer things in life, often leadership qualities, can get irritable and angry when things go wrong. Mostly good savers until their competitive nature and desire for looking successful causes them to choose big dollar items not always good for their overall financial plan.

Once this group understands the portfolio allocations and their options, they rapidly pick one with an objective they like. They are usually good to go until a buddy brags to them about the new, greatest mutual fund, stock or scheme, which can get under their skin and drive them back in the office to see what is wrong with their portfolio! Patience isn’t such a virtue for this group either.

So, if this sounds like you, it is knowledge that soothes you back into financial health. Do everything you can to keep yourself focused on your plan, regardless of what anyone else is doing, or saying!  You completely understand the reasons to stick with it, and keep your vision of success in mind. What will work best for you is giving yourself occasional rewards, turning off economic or financial shows that cause you to become doubtful or irritated, (because you can’t control the markets) and find things that sooth you. Take up yoga.

Earth- These warm kind-hearted souls are ever patient, giving, and understanding. They can save like nobody’s business. Once they decide on a plan, they are loyal to it. They have a tendency to procrastinate, so the first hurdle is making a decision. Once they do they are good to go. The downside of being this type, however, is hanging onto things too long, and that goes for their money too. They may have too much building up at the bank; it’s comfortable, but their money isn’t working for them. This is a type of stagnation. If they receive a recommendation to change assets that are in a poor investment, develop their estate plan, or add beneficiaries, it is easier for an Earth type to push it down the road. At worst, when things go wrong, they get depressed, which causes even greater withdrawal from needed actions.  So, if this sounds like you, find ways to get yourself stimulated to take action and tackle these tasks so that you are financially healthy and secure. Find ways to uplift and encourage yourself. You ultimately have more endurance than the other types, so once you do decide on a path, your amassing of a rich life is on the way. No one can stop you once you build momentum. And it is important for Earth types to physically move, so get out and run!

No one is solely one of these types. But we all can recognize dominate attributes of one or two in ourselves. Part of an advisor’s job is to help you devise your goals and strategy and coach you to stick to it when you get in your own way!

Having spent my career in the financial world I’ve seen loads of people become financially successful, that is, they are what we would call wealthy. But, are they content, with a sense of joy? Healthy? These are the meaning of wellbeing: health, happiness and prosperity. And this is why my message is always designed to move you toward your own wellbeing. It may seem like my message leaves out prosperity, but please read this:

You can gain wealth by working hard, taking risks, continually moving up the ladder, grasping and maneuvering, trying to change yourself for the world. You can suck up the demeaning boss’s abuse, bearing the slights and lack of recognition on your way. By shear force and dogged determination you just might become one of the ‘successful’ ones. I saw this in the brokerage industry, the unfailing loyalty to the company, the acceptance of grueling projects, ungodly long, suffering hours, even sometimes the throwing of co-workers under the bus. And when you get the corner office you’ve made it. Or have you? How much grace is in your life? Peace? Light-heartedness?

On the other hand what if you followed joy? What if you conducted your life in a way that reflected love? What if you held your wellbeing as a priority, making decisions by taking into account whether they will move you toward more wellbeing, or further away?

A person moving toward their wellbeing, with a holistic approach to self-care, and a practice connecting themselves to the underlying flow of their own divine guidance, will gain prosperity, in whatever form that means to them. It is all created in the moment by moment choices we are presented with throughout our day. With a clear head and robust health, we are ready to take on new challenges. Our inner guidance assists our decisions. Our self-knowledge moves us through the fear of going in a new direction. Our maturity helps us know when and who to ask for help.

When I finally, finally faced the fact that the corporate world was making it difficult for me to reach my own wellbeing, I started exploring other options. I signed up for my first Chopra Center course. I read books. I spoke with other advisors who left the corporate world to become independent, running their own business.  So I did too, and never looked back. That was 16 years ago. What is funny, is that when you are running your own venture, whether you work 30 or 70 hours a week, it just flies by, because it is what you are filled with a passion to do. The energy it takes is abundantly available.

You don’t need to start a business yourself to reach prosperity and wellbeing. It may mean doing your own thing in your off hours. It could be writing, acting, volunteering, teaching others, picking up a part time job in a field you are attracted to. It’s endless. And any one of them could lead you to your prosperity. It all begins with caring for yourself.

One last thought; so many people come to my sight for the first time by taking the Money Map Quiz. It is worth taking, or taking again, and follow the suggestions for your level of money consciousness.

Money. What a word steeped in judgements, emotions, and labels! It is as if we throw all of our unwanted attributes onto it. And it is just a symbol, a means to trade goods and services.

I have spent over 30 years teaching others about money, how to plan for it, spend it, grow it, and invest it. But it really isn’t about money at all. It is really a path of self-discovery. So as I watch money vilified in the media and in society, it seems oddly amusing to me.

Spiritual principles outline how that which we resist and judge harshly is actually our own projections of our suppressed traits, the ones we don’t want to believe we have. We see those with power and money often as oppressors, evil-doers, or just plain selfish, which, in turn, puts us in the role of victim. It is a game. There isn’t validity in this victim role.  Their being rich does not reduce our possibilities.

In the broad spectrum of levels of human consciousness, the acquisition of money is spread across them all. (My Map of Money Consciousness™ illustrates a different consciousness, one associated with our relationship to money. More on that later.)

On a deep level, we know that rich people aren’t ‘bad’ just by being successful, and corporations aren’t ‘evil’, yet it has gained great popularity—again. I’ve seen this a few times in my career. When people are suffering they look outside of themselves to see who to blame. The ones in the spotlight are easy: the corporations who have executives making poor decisions for our culture and health, the arrogant elites who seem oblivious to the needs of employees and others.

Some people who climb to great success may begin their path with a high level of consciousness, but the rush of power causes them to fall back on their own inner awareness; the consciousness that opens compassion, empathy, and self-reflection. But it is a minority, albeit a noticeable, ‘in the news’ minority. Reality shows, 24 hour cable news, and titillating internet stories all combine to create a story about ‘rich’ people. Most are people just doing the best they can, like everyone else.

Money is inert. We apply our beliefs to it making it a force all in and of itself. We value stuff so much in our western society. We envy others who acquire lots of stuff. I’ve seen people who are addicted to attaining stuff. No matter how many houses, cars, or boats they buy, they continue to look for the next thing that will give them a charge, making them feel good about themselves. It isn’t about money at all.

The flip side of that are those who use their lack of money as an excuse to not try, to stay where they are, not wanting to move into that uncomfortable zone that would cause them to change, preferring to find others to blame.

YET~

It doesn’t matter how much money you have. What matters is, how much peace do you have? How much wellbeing are you experiencing? How are your relationships? Do you appreciate what is before you, right now? This is abundance.

No one is taking this away from you, unless you let them.

If you have issues with money you can begin with the Money Map Quiz, which will give you some place to start. If your quiz results are confusing to you, email me. I am here to help.

What do you spend your money on besides the cost of living, housing, bills, and food? Do you usually buy stuff:   clothing, luxury items, sports equipment, electronics, techy items, etc.? Or do you spend on experiences like weekend getaways, enriching programs, vacations, tours, charitable activities and dinners out with family or friends?

Buying ‘stuff’ will give us a temporary happiness but it is a fleeting consumption. All that we see, hear, feel, enjoy or experience is consumed much in the same way our food is consumed. We take it in and it becomes a part of us.

So, before you spend, think how it will enrich you. Whether that purchase will give you a lasting memory or fade away after the stuff wears out, is thrown out or used up?

Spending on experiences enlivens us, as an act of self-creation, building ourselves into a more aware, more complete, more exciting, and knowledgeable human being.

“Stuff” doesn’t do that!

One of my checkbooks is a money market account that I designated “fun”. I deposit money in it for home items, massages, trips, etc. FUN stuff!

I looked at this checkbook cover that I had marked in white paint with the fading name, Schwab Trust Fun, and I thought, “Why isn’t all of the checkbooks labeled something ‘fun’? And so it began!

I bought some paints and went to work.

I’d like to share this idea with you, so you can create your own special checkbook cover. It’s invaluable in creating a positive experience with saving and spending. You could write your favorite quotes, prosperity messages like debt reducing affirmations, growth of assets, expanding, building and abundance!

(And, of course, when paying those bills, fill yourself with gratitude.)

This one shown is for TRAVEL expenses.

Now create your own! Send me photos and I’ll post them on our Facebook page!!!