Today, I would like to talk about the world of scarcity and the world of abundance. I’m looking at some old family photos of some people that came before me and there’s one thing that I will see in the photos time and time again: most of my ancestors in these photos were wearing overalls. That is because I come from a family of workers. In fact, recently I heard a joke on a show that resonated with me. The joke goes “I’m sorry. I have a pre-existing condition; I have a work ethic”. How often do we find that now-a-days? That would be a very positive pre-existing condition.
Here’s a simple story some people might say maybe it’s cheap or maybe it’s just being frugal, but I think it might lay out a way of looking at scarcity and abundance. Not too long ago, I was speaking with my mother on the phone and trying to do two things at once. I was trying to do my laundry at the same time. So, I was speaking with my mother, cell phone to my cheek and doing the laundry and moving things from the washer over to the dryer. She even asked if I was doing something because she heard the clanging of the doors opening and closing from one machine to the other and I said, “Well I’m doing laundry and moving the clean laundry over to the dryer” and because I wanted her to be proud of me, I told her that as we were speaking I was taking a Bounce dryer sheet and ripping it in two so I could use half of it now and save the other half of the Bounce dryer sheet to be used later.
I thought my mother would say something like that’s a smart boy that I raised because he’s being frugal, but instead she paused for a moment and instead said that if you use a scissors, you can actually cut it into thirds. I’m thinking to myself there is no way to win with her. The very next weekend, I traveled and visited my mother and father. My dad is 89 and my mom is 87 right now. I’m having a conversation with my dad about this dryer sheet conversation where I ripped it in two to use half now and half later, and how mom came back and said I could cut them in to thirds if you use scissors. He said that that’s right and who do you think gets to cut those all into thirds! He’s the one who is relegated with cutting each one of those dryer sheets into three separate pieces for the laundry in their house, so we had a good laugh about this.
Now, my parents have plenty of money to be able to buy all the dryer sheets that they want. I have plenty of money to buy all of the dryer sheets that I want, but sometimes we turn to a time of scarcity thinking. I’m not one to say you should go spend money in a frivolous way. If you can only afford to go out once a money, only go out once a month to dinner. If you can afford to do it once a week, God Bless You, do it every week. If you can afford an expensive automobile, go ahead. If it doesn’t affect your life in any other way, go ahead and buy that automobile or go on trips, etc.
I know many people who have the resources and the money to be able to do all those things, yet they are so pressured by the way that they were raised. Their thinking is that of a scarcity mentality. When I was young, I did everything that I possible could do on my own. I would do plumbing that I never do now, but back in the day, when I had no money, if there was plumbing that needed to be done, I would pull and install a toilet. If there was painting that needed to be done, we did it. It was the way to be able to save money and to be able to move ahead.
There comes a time when you don’t want to die with all of your money, never to be able to see the joy, the experiences, the life that you want to live, and the life that you would like to see others be able to enjoy as well. The person who dies with the most amount of money stored up does not win. In fact, I think that often-times they are the loser in the financial game of life. I will tell people that my own individual escape plan is the following: the day that I die, I would like to be overdrawn at the bank. That would mean that Mark had a full life of enjoying life, experiencing life, of giving up my resources to those organizations and giving to those people that I love. It shows that I spent all my money as I lived. Then, I would like for the very last check that I write to be written to the IRS, and I would like that to bounce to show I was able to enjoy life to the very end. Then, because I used life insurance asset and because of the way that I established my estate plan, ten days after I day, I would like all the money that it might have appeared that I frivolously spent to be created all over again. I would like to have this done tax-free, and I would like that money to be deposited into the accounts of those people and those organizations whom I love. Then, I would like them to do it all over again. I want to be able to live my life and live it with however amount of money that I have left in my lifetime. I would like to be able to enjoy and give it my all. At the end of my days, I would then like for it to be created all over again so this can happen again and again from generation to generation. Unfortunately, you cannot do this with a scarcity mindset because the very first step requires you to have joy in being able to experience what money can do for you and how it can impact the lives of others. That’s number one.
A prosperity mindset provides the mindset of being able to give, being able to receive, being able to experience, and being able to pass on. Here are the questions that I pose today: What are you doing with your Bounce dryer sheets? Are you ripping them in two? Are you cutting them in thirds? Or are you going to, as I decided that day I spoke with my dad, using the whole sheet?
If you want to know more about the life insurance asset, simply read my book Investments Don’t Hug: Embracing the Life Insurance Asset. It’s available on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, iTunes, or Audible. You will discover what I have learned in my 35-year career. If you are getting what I’m saying and want to explore the possibilities of implementing the life insurance asset so you can live a life of prosperity and abundance, explore our website www.investmentsdonthug.com or contact our office to meet our team.
