Know Your Money with Bronwyn Waner and Craig Finch
Know Your Money with Bronwyn Waner and Craig Finch
109. Crafting a Purpose-Driven Path to Wealth
Ever wondered how shifting your mindset could transform your financial reality? Join us for a compelling conversation with personal coach Mike Williams, where we unravel the psychological intricacies of the mindset-money connection. You'll learn how the wealthy harness a mindset of abundance, in stark contrast to those who are often preoccupied with scarcity. With insights from historical figures like J. Paul Getty, we discuss the relentless pursuit of wealth and how society's metrics influence our sense of financial well-being. Mike offers transformative perspectives that challenge conventional wisdom and pave the way for financial freedom.
In another engaging chapter, we tackle the significance of self-worth and service in achieving genuine satisfaction and success. Inspired by the journeys of industry giants like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, we explore how valuing yourself and creating value for others can be more fulfilling than merely chasing money. Discover the art of providing exceptional service by addressing both the transactional and emotional needs of clients, transforming them into advocates for your work. Passion and purpose become your guiding lights as we emphasize that true success emerges from adding meaningful value to the world. Tune in to discover how you can redefine your path to success through mindset, self-value, and service.
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www.growthfp.co.za
Welcome to Know your Money, where we will explore our relationship with money and how the psychology of it impacts our financial decisions, as everyone thinks about money differently. In our podcast, we'll be presenting a variety of financial topics in an easy to understand way, which we hope will assist you with managing your money.
Speaker 2:Hi, I'm Craig Finch, co-owner of Growth Financial Planning, an independent financial planning practice, and I've been a financial planner since 1986.
Speaker 1:Hi everybody. I'm Bronwyn Wehner, co-owner of Growth Financial Planning. I'm a certified financial planner and our philosophy at our company is to grow yourself to grow your wealth.
Speaker 3:Hi everyone. My name is Warren Grimsley. I'm a director at Rogue Media and help facilitate this wonderful podcast. My main goal here is to try and understand what these two lovely people are saying, so that we can all understand.
Speaker 1:Hello everybody. Welcome to Know your Money, craig. We have a guest in our studio.
Speaker 2:My good friend and my personal coach, Mike Williams. Good to see you again, Mike. You've come here to be here.
Speaker 4:And Mike's got a brilliant. So what I'd like to, and the one that I want to start with, is your relationship with money. Now, in 1985, I bought an american franchise, which um. One of the modules was financial freedom, and so, for the eight years that I was involved with them, um used to teach financial freedom principles and we had tools that you could apply those principles. But the thing that I have a concern about from over the years of working with people who are, let's say, money-driven okay, money is very important and it is important, there's no question about it. You know you need money to live on this planet, buy food, a roof over your head, whatever but the thing that I find very lacking in even the because I was involved in the same business as you, craig, I was at Liberty.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:I remember that Sold life insurance and the emphasis on the mental side of financial success and financial freedom is terribly lacking. In fact, in some cases people don't even recognize that it's relevant. And yet it is the most relevant because your mindset about money is a self-fulfilling prophecy and your mindset about financial scarcity is also a self-fulfilling prophecy, and people don't understand how powerful that is, because when I look at my most wealthy clients, when you talk to them, they've got a whole different perspective about money.
Speaker 3:Can you elaborate?
Speaker 4:Well, I've got a lovely quote to elaborate this and I love quotes because you know if I said it it might not be true people take cognizance of that, but there's a quote from I'm trying to remember who it is a very famous philosopher and he said that there's one class of people that thinks about money more than any other class. What do you think that class is?
Speaker 3:Low income Upper, upper.
Speaker 4:The poor. Poor, they spend more time thinking about money and obviously because they don't have it, than the rich. And the other example is I heard a story about Queen Victoria that when she was walking around the palace, if she wanted to sit, she would just sit, knowing that there would be a chair. I don't know if there was a guy walking by with a chair, but she never looked to see if the chair was there, Knowing that there would be a chair?
Speaker 4:I don't think there was a guy walking by with a chair, but she never looked to see if the chair was there. And that's how the rich are with money they know it's always going to be there. That's a powerful mindset.
Speaker 1:I think it is a powerful mindset, but sometimes I think, with what you're saying, that's all they think about what? That they've got it and that they need to have more. So the poor are thinking of the lack, whereas the rich generally well I think it's been a lot of time thinking about it.
Speaker 4:I think if you know, you think about when they spend it but they're thinking about earning. You don't even think about it really.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean so if you have food in the fridge, you're not going to think about going to the supermarket, but but if you don't even think about it, really, yeah, I mean so if you have food in the fridge, you're not going to think about going to the supermarket.
Speaker 1:But if you don't have food in the fridge you're going to think about I?
Speaker 3:need to go buy food.
Speaker 1:They think about making it and keeping it and what it can do.
Speaker 4:Well, they do give it attention. Obviously, I mean they're not negligent about it. But the point is this is that the obsession? But the point is this is that the obsession? I mean, I've got to quote you from J Paul Getty who I think in the 1950s was considered the richest man in the world, and I watched a documentary of him and in the documentary he says I find having all this money, a considerable burden.
Speaker 4:So there are two classes of rich people the rich people who, like I don't know if you saw that documentary of Paul Getty- and his accountant says to him when is it enough?
Speaker 1:Yes, that's what I'm trying to say. They are worrying about making he illustrates he says just a little more.
Speaker 4:He illustrates, he says just a little more. That is a problem for the rich in that it's never enough.
Speaker 3:So that's a whole different mindset. Well, does it come down to this, right? So what are the metrics that are generally established as the means to success? So wealth is probably the biggest one in the world. I mean, if we look at countries, the metrics that are used to define their economic success are all based on their GDP turnover and all that stuff, right? So if that bleeds down into the everyman, and if you've taught this from a very young age at school, that you know accumulating wealth is you becoming successful, then money is everything. So that quote of when is it ever enough? Well, it's not, because you have to continue to be successful.
Speaker 1:But that's where I think Mark's point comes in, that people are just looking at it logically, not mentally as well as emotionally. So what is that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's exactly it. Because there's no, I mean how there isn't. Like countries aren't compared on happiness of the population index. Surely that would be right up there if people really cared about people.
Speaker 4:That's a beautiful comment, warren, and I want to give you a quote from Steve Jobs which I only found earlier this week, and he says when he was on his deathbed he said yeah, don't educate your children to be rich, educate them to be happy. Now, this is a guy who died with $7 billion net worth, okay, and yet he's saying don't teach your children to be rich, teach them to be happy. And there's a lot of wisdom in that statement.
Speaker 2:Then, mark, how can you take the population of South Africa? Just look at our own country and how many people are poor and on the poverty line. How can we make their mindset more positive towards money?
Speaker 4:can we make their mindset more positive towards money? Well, I often talk about this in my workshops is that if you look at the poor, they grow up in an environment where you know if it rains, the roof is leaking, maybe the floor is sand, maybe the floor is sand. The food that they eat is not the most wealthy food you know. In the sense, it might be the very poorest thing you can buy to feed yourself with. Okay, I mean I love Sia Kolesi. When they interview him, he says that many days his meal was sugar water. Oh, the only time he had a square meal was when he went to his granny. And I mean you look at what he's achieved. I mean I admire Sir Kolesi hugely.
Speaker 4:Okay, but if you grew up in that environment, the message that you're getting is we're poor, we're poor. You see it every day. But if you grow up in that environment, the message that you're getting is we're poor, we're poor. You see it every day, you see it on your dinner table, you see it above your head. That is the biggest challenge. Is that the environment that you grow up in is what's programming you to stay poor, Absolutely. And you know they were saying that the rich when their kids are growing up in that environment that they grow up in, where you know the table is, you know, overloaded with food and they've got all the conveniences in their home, all these luxuries, and what have you that even if these kids are stupid, they will gravitate to being wealthy?
Speaker 4:So, how can you change it? So, by changing your thinking. And if you look at these guys who have come from poverty and created wealth financially, they worked on their mindset, they rewired their thinking, they reprogrammed their thinking, they reinvented themselves. I mean, I can give you lots of examples of a golfer that his name escapes me right now, who grew up very poor but he had a desire he was a caddy.
Speaker 4:Yeah, Trevina Lee Trevina, yeah Lee Trevina, Amazing story and look at how he turned his life around. He was a caddy and yet he changed his mindset. And that's where it starts. So that's what we're talking about. Your relationship with money is your from the heart. You know, bronwyn, you were talking about. The heart is how you feel about money, how you feel about yourself, how you feel about your job, how you feel about the country you live in, how you feel about your partner, how you feel about your children. It's all about how you feel, because that's what creates that different mindset.
Speaker 3:How can you break a social conditioning? To be okay, I've grown up in one of the locations. I'm going to end up in one of these locations. If I can bring home 7,000 Rand a month, I'm doing well To get out of that. Something has to change internally in your mind. Something has to.
Speaker 4:Internally.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:In fact, one of my favorite metaphors is the mirror. If you look into your mirror and you're frowning, you don't walk up to your mirror and say what the hell, and you try and change the mirror. That's how most people live their lives. They're trying to change the external, but how are you going to change that frown on the mirror?
Speaker 2:You always take it with you. If you move to another city. You're taking you with you If you want to change that frown on the mirror. You always take it with you if you move to another city.
Speaker 4:You're taking you with you, if you want to change that frown smile, then the mirror's got no option but to reflect back to you the smile. And it's the same with this thing about wealth is that if you don't have that wealth, or you have that wealth but you're still not happy, it's not enough. Is you need to change the internal, and how much do you need really?
Speaker 1:You know, I think everything that you're saying aligns so much with us. So our value proposition at Growth Financial Planning is grow yourself to grow your wealth Beautiful. So once you work on yourself to grow your wealth Beautiful. So once you work on yourself, then all of that changes. And I also really believe like there's more than one relationship we actually have with money and you need to understand your relationship with each of those before you can make that change. Because for those rich people that can't stop earning, what do you need to learn about that relationship? For the poor people who just spend because they were never able to spend, what do they have to learn? What do they have to process? And I think everything you're saying aligns with that. It's how you think, but also how you feel that actually changes your relationship and what you think about yourself.
Speaker 3:Yes, Because I mean it ties into the way your relationship with money ties into the relationship you have with yourself. So you know, for a long time I had anxiety. We've talked about this on the podcast before. But my anxiety stemmed from the way I spoke to myself in my head. I was very negative towards myself and for whatever reason, and I think that was because I was bullied growing up. So I started to indulge in what these bullies were saying in my own head.
Speaker 1:Again what Mark was saying. That was the environment you were in, so that was what you took on and it took a realization for me to go okay no, you're fine, dude, you're good.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you're great. Thank you, mark and I.
Speaker 3:I think you're flipping awesome and I know you've been through a lot but, but it was the best thing that could have happened to me, and the point of what I'm saying, though, is that if, if you want to have a change in your mindset of money, it's every part of the fundamental of who you are, so it's how you view yourself, okay, so so I am not a poor person. Okay, I may live in a shack right now, but I am not a poor person.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that has to change. That's the first thing you have to change.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Because then that opens you up to realizing that you deserve what you want, and what you want is what you think you deserve.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it all ties in so powerful. What you're saying, warren, about. The challenge for you was internal, because there's another quote, and it is when you place a small value on yourself. Are you listening? Yes, we are. If you place a small value on yourself, rest assured the world will not raise your price.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 4:And you know, when I say this to people who really need to understand that quote okay, you already get it I find they don't understand it. You know, when I say to them, if you place a small value on yourself, rest assured, the world will not raise your price I have to explain it to them and that means that they haven't grown up with that understanding. They've grown up with an understanding is just you know, pay me, give me money, give me charity or whatever the case might be, a poverty mindset. Exactly, you know they're a victim rather than a victor.
Speaker 2:And you also say something about your relationship with money spending growing. You've said it a few times over the years Spending keeping. You've got those three. Do you want to elaborate about?
Speaker 1:that Are you saying ours.
Speaker 2:No, no, mike's got it as well.
Speaker 4:I'm not sure what you're referring to.
Speaker 2:We'll cut some of this out, though. You got that thing that says keeping growing, not keeping. You got this I can't remember over the years are you sure it's me?
Speaker 2:that's yeah, yeah, I know, yeah, earning, I think. And yeah, earning, you earn the money, but you know how to keep the money and you know how to invest the money, but you know how to keep the money and you know how to invest the money. There's three things on that. Okay, I can't remember. You just read it over the years. I thought it might be relevant.
Speaker 4:Okay, well, maybe it will come to me yeah.
Speaker 1:What did we say before that? Maybe you're mixing me up with somebody else yeah. We're cutting this part out, right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, what? What did we say before that? I've got a couple of quotes here or statements. That is along the lines of what we're talking about Is, when I look at Steve Jobs and Bill Gates' books, both of them have said very clearly that for them, you know, starting Apple and starting Microsoft was never about the money. And I'm quoting Bill Gates now. He says that he's most wanted goal, or most wanted desire, was to create technology to improve society and enrich people's lives. What a beautiful statement, and I think a lot of people that are clients of yours sometimes have that erroneous idea that it's about chasing money. And it's not, because Einstein said something that I really love, and he said try not to be a man of success, try to be a man of value, because if you're successful you might not be valuable, but if you're valuable you will always be successful. So it's along the same lines of what we're talking about. If you place a small value on yourself, when you start to add value and you believe in the principle of adding value.
Speaker 3:And you believe in yourself.
Speaker 4:Then it's automatic that you're going to be doing things that people will respond to and appreciate. Whether you're selling a product, a service or whatever it might be, they fall in love with you because you're giving them something more than a product.
Speaker 2:And you need to be happy with what you do, and it doesn't matter what it is. Whatever you do for a living, it must be your passion, because then I think the money will come anyway.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's finding your purpose and I believe you only find your purpose.
Speaker 4:Beautiful Purpose is so important? Because this week I was working with one of the branches that I work with and we were talking about giving service. Because the GM was complaining that a very important client of theirs, a dealership who gives them regular business every week, every month, every year, and what happened was he had initiated this client originally, found this client, did whatever he needed to do to get this guy excited about the product and the service that they're offering, and then he handed it over to one of the service advisors and then this client you know this is going over a period of time this client phoned him recently and said to him what's happening, happening with whatever, and he knows that he had given it to a service advisor and he said no, no, I've given it to one of the service advisors. He said no, no, I remember now. And he said what was the name of the service advisor? And the client couldn't come up with the name and he got upset with that because what he was saying is, if this service advisor had developed the right relationship with this client, the client would never forget his name.
Speaker 4:So some of the things that we say with giving service and this is part of wealth. Okay, because the product and service that you provide to your customers adding values, as Einstein said, is if you meet people's transactional needs, you do the job, you provide the product, the service, you'll get a check. But if you meet their emotional needs, you create an advocate, meaning what they refer you to other people Exactly. They now champion you and promote you because you've given them far more than they expected. You know getting that extra mile, and so when we talk about giving value and adding value and having a purpose, you know something that is very important to you, is very important to you, is very important.
Speaker 1:Awesome. I think that's great. Thanks, Mark.
Speaker 4:Awesome Thanks.
Speaker 1:Mark, thanks guys, thank you Bye.
Speaker 2:Thank you for listening. If you have enjoyed this podcast and would like to subscribe, please visit our website wwwgrowthfpcoza. The information we have provided in this podcast is our personal opinion. For more detailed information, please discuss your financial situation with a financial planner.