Author: The Soaring Eagle

Entrepreneur, Investor, Solution Architect, Award-winning poet, Published author
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What is Wealth to You?


Everything is created twice: First on the screen within that reflects heart wishes and mind logic, and second, in the physical world, as a manifestation of what is reflected on that screen.

Now, the actual realization of one’s wishes and desires may or not precisely reflect what was within. Individual beliefs, self concept, and guided action, all, among others, determine what actually takes place before our eyes.

Wealth is no exception. In order to attain it, you’ve got to know what it means to you! Can you hit a target you don’t see?

I was inspired to write this article by a book titled “The Rules of Wealth” by Richard Templar. The 2nd rule in that book is “Decide on your definition of wealth”.

Templar has a good point there. It is not enough to tell yourself: “I want to be wealthy”. What does that mean?

If you couldn’t “define it”, then how would you go get it?

Once you finish reading this article, grab a pen and paper, your smart phone, tablet, whatever, and write down at least five things that would give your dream a meaning; something you can visualize, internalize and start moving towards.

It could be a list of possessions. Or, a combination of things to have, activities to do, and character traits to develop and sustain. No matter what comes first to the mind, and seems flowing from the heart, write it down. That’s how a commitment is shaped.

Use present tense, and avoid hoping and wishing. Here’s an example:

I intend to get a graduate degree in (fill in the blanks) by end of 20xx

I intend to create a residual income of ($$$) by June 20xx

By the time you finish writing down your intentions, you’ll have a “contract” with yourself. If you enjoy a high, healthy self-respect (which I’m sure you do), chances are you will attain those intentions, because the first, and most important, creation has already been taken care of!

The Wealth Maker

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The Wealth Making Architect™


If you performed a Google™ search on the above title, you’d get something along the lines of either wealth advisors or engineering architects.

I wanted to introduce this term to reflect the necessity of building wealth from the ground up. Furthermore, to emphasize that “wealth” is not only financial. When an engineer designed a house, for example, he/she would take into consideration all the aspects which would make that house livable and ready to become a home!

Another vital step in creating that architecture is to create a blueprint. Have you ever heard of any sort of construction that didn’t have a blueprint to start with, to build upon and use as a baseline?

A Wealth Making Architect (WMA™) is going to follow the path of his/her counterparts in other disciplines. However, instead of designing a brick and mortar dwelling, they design a life-long wealth making, growing, and maintaining epic, with the client being the hero.

And here’s a list of the steps involved:

  1. Find out what the requirements really are: Working closely with your client, you set an objective to clearly “understand” the hopes, the dreams, the needs, and the responsibilities of that client. Once you’ve reached such understanding, you turn it into a set of specific, implementable”requirements”; one which the client accepts and feels satisfied with
  2. Now you go to the drawing board and create a solution derived from the requirements. This is easier said than done. How can you “weave” requirements into solutions? Into a blueprint that has an eye on the vision, and another on the strategy and plan. Your knowledge and expertise play a major role here, and that involves specific methods, processes, products and/or services available. Sometimes you might need to seek help from other members of your organization/team to “develop” new products or services that would meet the requirements (those must prove reusable with other clients in order to justify the cost and time of a new development)
  3. The next step is a comprehensive review of the solution with your client. Although you both had reached a set of specific requirements, the blueprint might not express what the client was hoping for. This could be the result of the client being not sufficiently informed/educated, or it could be a flaw in the design. Either way, a revision and an update version of the solution should be created. This can take more than one iteration
  4. Once you reach an agreement with the client on the blueprint of his/her financial story, you start translating that solution into long-term and short-term objectives. Each objective requires an action plan. Here comes the knowledge and skill of financial planning, or let’s say, wealth-making planning; the bits and bytes of what needs to be done on a daily basis
  5. Implementing the plans is not an open-ended endeavor. You wouldn’t hand them over to the client and “instruct” him/her to go ahead and “do” the steps! You still need to work with them regularly, and make sure they are ready to commit their time and energy to implementing what has been mutually agreed upon
  6. As with any plan, the process continues dynamically. This is the tracking/observing, feedback, review and update/correction cycle. Plans are not meant to be set in stone. They must evolve in reflection to consistent change. However, a good architect would not divert too much from the original vision and the blueprint.

The past is gone for all of us. The future is known to none of us. All we’ve got is the present moment. Planning, to a great extent, is a matter of trying to predict the future based on past experiences. It helps, but nothing is certain. That’s why it’s a good practice to keep risk planning in sight, and always have plan B within reach!

The Wealth Maker

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Can Wealth Be Attracted, Unconventionally?


 

The advocates of the law of attraction suggest that people “attract” into their lives what they think and feel repeatedly. That is a big statement, and an alarming one, for that matter.

I recently stumbled upon an audio product titled “Attract Wealth”, by barainsync.com ™. It is presented (and probably authored) by Kelly Howell, a well-known figure in that field.

The message is this: If you could bypass the traffic lights of your conscious mind (the gatekeeper of everything you know since you were in your mother’s womb), and delve into the subconscious, impressing upon it messages of wealth and prosperity, you would see different, positive results manifest in your financial life.

Coming from an engineering/science background, I can’t seem to find a method to “test” or measure such claim. The only way of validation is direct experience. And that differs from one person to another.

Regardless of whether the proposition is valid or not, my own view is that it should be treated as a supplementary resource, just like multivitamins.

What does that entail? We still have a need to work, to provide value and be rewarded for it. If something can make that meaningful effort easier and more enjoyable, then why not?

On the other hand, it is true, in my opinion, that the universe is much more than what the five senses convey to our minds. If we can’t see, smell, hear, taste or touch something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that “something” does not exist. Existence is not as simple as we might think. It’s real, complex, and mysterious at the same time.

A word of caution before you try to “experience” the above-mentioned product (or something similar). The soundtracks have embedded brainwaves and subliminal messages. If you don’t know what those are, Google™ them. You’ll find thousands of pages. Here’s the one I’d suggest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainwave_entrainment

If you decide to give it a shot, why not share with us your findings by commenting on this post?

 

The Wealth Maker

 

 

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Are you ready to start?


Why do most dreamers end up at the nearside of their dreamland?

Why do only three percent of the population, or less, make it, financially?

Is it lack of knowledge or lack of courage?

Or is it a main effect (not a side-effect) of a widespread disease called: Perfectionism?

How much preparation does one need in order to start? And what kind of preparation is that?

We tend to fall prey to our own predictions! Our own procrastination, which is, oftentimes, an implicit result of our fears…

So, when do we start? At the onset of the dream, or when the dream starts vanishing!

When the dream is ripe; clear in your mind and soul, and you take one action, just one simple action, something remarkable happens!

Trouble? Challenges? You bet! Yet, you got a huge advantage there; the image is still vivid behind your eyes and between your ears. Sometimes it’s even pounding in your chest.

While challenges mount up the moment you start, your momentum has been set in motion. Just before that one action, you had been in total inertia. Your own dream had been weighing you down.

Never wait till your plans are perfect. They will never be.

Dream vividly, intend purposefully, plan carefully, yet, start taking actions now!

The process is not linear. Always balance out your preparation and your action energy, even if you have to juggle between the two. Actions give you valuable feedback on your plans, so you would revise and improve them. Plans, on the other hand, guide your actions, so you wouldn’t shoot in the dark!

The Wealth Maker

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2013 in review


The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 74,000 times in 2013. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 3 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

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The Trader: Financial Awareness


 

“When a proactive, constructive idea hits you, all of a sudden, never dismiss it, act on it instantly”

That exactly what happened one afternoon, two months ago. I felt so driven to create a LinkedIn group, and name it The Trader. No analysis or deliberate planning, just a strong gut feeling.

Are gut feelings, intuitions, inspirations enough to embark on a new business idea, take an investment decision, or get married!

Honestly, I am not sure. It depends on the person, the topic, and the circumstances. In this case, it was clearly a good idea. The only resistance came from this part that always says no!

I’m so glad now I listened to that hunch. The Trader has become an exemplary group, in less than two months. Not because I created it, but because of the fine people, who accepted my invitation to join, then shared their wisdom, expertise, and hearts. I owe this success to them.

So what is this group all about? Most LinkedIn groups are networking boards. It is different with The Trader. The vision, in three words, is to learn, share and grow.

The world today is filled with financial advisors, professional traders, investors of all types, wealth management experts, financial authors, or just novice beginners, who are eager to find their way through all the clutter, online and off-line.

The Trader aims to start a movement of “financial awareness”. When the right people get their heads, and their hearts, together, have a clear vision, and robust intentions, they can create miracles. You don’t need thousands of members, just a selected few.

The discussions are still spontaneous, which is perfectly normal and healthy. Down the road, and guided by the group’s vision, The Trader will step on its path.

I believe The Trader can present a robust and sane investing model to the industry. That could be the nucleus for a revolutionary trend, one that is rooted in the principles of value investing, yet flexible enough to utilize the best of evolving schools of thought.

It is still young. It has a bright future, and a rich potential.

The Wealth Maker

 

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Intelligent Wealth Making


With the advent of the Internet, creating and maintaining wealth has become accessible to more people all over the globe. Throughout the posts of this blog, I have covered several methods, techniques, and concepts that, if followed properly, would lead to making, growing, and maintaining wealth.

Nevertheless, the explosive proliferation of “money making” tools, especially online, has not replaced the need for intelligence! On the contrary, it has made losing money much easier and faster than ever before…

What does it entail to be an intelligent wealth maker? Knowledge? Hard work? Yes, but on top of that, one should realize that this business starts within. It has so much to do with knowing who you are and what you want, with ultimate clarity.

Coming from a solid foundation like that would make you use your awareness to identify the right opportunity, and avoid everything else.

Does that require a 160+ IQ? Not at all. A decent IQ, supported by a good EQ would suffice.

Start by spending time and energy exploring your innermost orientations, motives, tendencies. Discover your values. Revisit your roles and mend your essential relationships. Know where you are going, and then set intelligent objectives and action plans on how to get there. Be flexible enough to learn and adjust as you go.

However, be aware that some things are changeable, while others are changeless!

The Wealth Maker

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Enlightened Work


 

Over the years, I have come to believe and realize, that in order to reap the tangible and invisible fruits of work, one must provide real value to others. Something he or she feels proud of. Something that coincides with the principles that person believes in, and knows to be true.

The rewards are numerous. Money and the riches are but one of them. How about “peace of mind”, “healthy self-esteem”, “an elevated sense of spiritual content”, “deep satisfaction”, and happiness, to name a few?

Yet, above all comes a unique connection with The One who Blesses us with the gift of work! The ability to go out in the world and create positive change, without expecting gratification from our fellow humans. Rather, we look up and say: “Thank You for making me a channel, through which You Provide some of Your Bounties!”

It is possible to make money in today’s world without offering any value in return. Moreover, it is possible to make a lot of money by spreading harm and misfortune.

By choosing to be an enlightened wealthy being. By choosing to create wealth and value, you benefit yourself, as well as all around  you.

What is real value? That is something you need to identify. It is not the same for everyone. A farmer provides value by producing quality food. A doctor by eliminating disease, and so on.

Find something you love to do. Check its validity against your principles. Learn all you can about it. Set an intention to excel at it, and then move into that direction with all your energy. That is success!

The Wealth Maker

 

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The Art of Prediction


 

Investing is a business that relies heavily on objective knowledge, such as statistics, probability, math, historical data and trends, analysis, logical judgment, in addition to several other fields of factual knowledge.

Most investors, especially those who rely on technical analysis methods to reach buy and sell decisions, stop there. If their analysis suggested that a specific investment did not fit the mathematical model employed, they wouldn’t invest in it.

There is, however, a small camp of investors who use something else, in addition to all the above. That is intuition.

You may have come across the notion of the two hemispheres of the brain. The left hemisphere is specialized in logic, analysis, the outcome of the data feed that come from the five senses. The right hemisphere is intuitive, subjective, spontaneous  It is responsible for our emotions and spirituality.

People differ in terms of which part of the brain they use more often. Accountants, for example, are mostly left-brained. Poets, on the other hand, tend to be more right-brain oriented. A low percentage of any population can use both sides of the brain effectively. Those are hard to find. If you stumbled upon one of them, and were able to recognize the gift, I’d recommend you stick to them as long as possible!

To be a true enlightened investor, you should not ignore your right side of the brain. Although that is a gift, it could be improved with training and practice (to some extent).

So how would intuition help you make investment decisions?

Let’s tackle that tough, and interesting question in the next article.

Till then, why don’t you get more familiar with your brain/mind? Observe your daily life and see which part you utilize more. Here’s a little drill: The phone rang. It’s your best friend calling from the airport, telling you he’s in town for two days. You already had plans, yet, you’d like to see your friend and spend quality time with him. What would you do?

 

The Wealth Maker

 

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Life Without Money – The Roles of Money


 

The last post seemed to have opened the Pandora box! Life without money!? Are you out of your mind? Nobody actually said that, but I could read it between the lines.

Yes, life without money, why not? Things, by their very nature, are replaceable. People, on the other hand, are not. The social/emotional crises that sweeps across most Western societies has something to do with this simple fact. Most businesses “cling” to things and let go of people. An employee is referred to in the “books” as a “cost center”, while a desk is an “asset”! Wow! How had we come down to this? No wonder our economies are “soft” nowadays.

Well, maybe I got a bit emotional there. I’m not suggesting that we throw money out of the window overnight, then fall into an even bigger disaster.

Changes of such magnitude take decades, if not centuries. But everything starts with a single idea. If any of you lived to see that happened, please remember yours truly!

Then how would we approach this idea? How would we explore it? I suggest we start by understanding the role of money in our lives.

It is easy to realize that money plays multiple roles, all important. Let’s start with the obvious one: An instrument to facilitate the exchange of benefits and value among people. What does that mean? A company needs the right expertise to build specific products. A group of Engineers have that expertise. There is a potential for benefit exchange and creation of value here, but what is the facilitator? Yes, money. You know the rest of the typical story: As the engineers create the desired value, they receive the benefit in the form of money.

What else? A discriminator. Imagine the price of a first class ticket from Vancouver to Auckland was the same as the price of an economy class ticket; who would travel economy? The carrier would run into a multitude of problems. Money, right now, is the only instrument to “discriminate” among passengers, forcing them to choose what fits their budgets.

And? A controller. In a business joint venture, the party that invests 51% or more has the final word in any dispute. Even in families. In some cultures, after high school, the boy or the girl has to go into the major that her or his father (or mother) chooses, simply because the latter is going to fund the expenses.

Finally, an organizer. Let’s take traffic as an example. When you exceed the speed limit, you run a chance of getting a ticket, in other words, pay money. Consequently, you adhere to traffic laws, and we end up with an organized, smooth flow of vehicles across the city, and over the highways.

We covered the role of a motivator in the previous article, despite the fact that money is not very good at that role. It performs it rather forcefully and negatively!

I guess that should be enough for now. Will carry on in the next post to see what would be an alternative that could satisfy all the above roles and more. Or maybe shift the whole paradigm, and spread the discussion to other fields such as sociology, psychology, policy, etc…This sounds complex, but let’s take it one step at a time.

In the meantime, let’s keep making and growing wealth, the usual way 🙂

The Wealth Maker