There used to be a time when you heard the words “net worth” and all you thought about was a dollar sign. Why? Because we link net worth to money. In today’s video I explain how to increase your net worth in a way that’s completely different, and it’s good news for you. Before I get into that, I have a story to tell you.
It's About More Than Money
It was 1999, and I was 21-years old. I had gotten out of the Army and was living in the Los Angeles, Hollywood area. Every time I saw valets in a Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley, Porsche or other exotic car, I wanted one. I wanted to become a millionaire myself. I pulled a wealthy guy aside and asked him to have lunch with me. During the entire lunch, I kept asking him how to become a millionaire. Finally, he stopped me and said, "Man, you're asking everything around money. You have the idea in a wrong way." And I said, "What do you mean by that?" He replied, "Look, let me just explain it to you this way. If I was to take this hand right now, and if I were to cover your mouth and your nose, what would you be thinking about?" I answered, "I'd be thinking about air." He said, "Do you know why?" I said, "Because I don't have any of it." He replied, "Of course. Do you know why all you think about is money? Because you have none of it. You're allowing this money problem to prevent you from ever finding out your purpose in life. You have to get this money problem squared away quickly." He explained it in a way that I realized that it' not just about money. It's about something bigger than money.
Four Brackets of Net Worth
Let me explain net worth to you in a completely different way. Today, net worth is four different brackets:
- Money
- Health
- Skill
- Influence and Voice
Money is a byproduct of the other three, not the other way around. It comes because of your health, skill, influence and voice. Money is just one aspect of your net worth. A person could be very wealthy, but if he's dying, he can no longer apply his skill set. He also no longer has influence and voice because he can't speak any more. At that point, the money doesn't mean anything. So let's get into the three areas other than money.
Health
Listen in here for why health is part of your net worth.
Skill
The next one is skill. If you have skills, forever you will be fine. That's part of your net worth. Imagine there's a country. And everybody lost everything. And you're trying to go live on this country. What question are they going to ask you before they let you come into the country? "How much money are you bringing to this country?" What's the other thing? "What do you know? What skills do you have?" Why does a country ask that? Because it's part of your net worth. We want some skills to come into the country.
Influence and Voice
And last but not least, it's your influence and voice. Let me explain something to you. If someone's influence goes up, you better believe money follows. Surprisingly, a lot of people aren't paying attention to this. Several people are figuring this out, but some are still moving way too slow on influence and voice. So what is influence and voice? Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Email. It's telling your story, arguments, and thoughts. That's part of your influence and your voice.
Money
These three, contribute toward your financial net worth. But they are part of your total net worth. This is a package. Nobody just gets it with only one. Now, if you're watching this video because your pure interest is around money, let me explain to you the four different areas on the financial side.
Four Areas of Net Worth
There are four areas of financial net worth:
- Credit score
- Savings
- Income
- Investments
Every one of these areas matter.
Credit Score
When we started our financial firm, the PHP Agency, every insurance company that wanted to give us contracts did an extensive background check on me. I'm talking checking everything from misdemeanor, felony, DUI, credit score, late payments - every single thing. If I didn't have good credit, I wouldn't get those contracts. Your credit has to do with the money the bank's willing to loan you: a car loan, a house loan, a business loan. Everything comes back to a solid credit score. It's that important. Some people don't pay attention to this. It hurts you. You need to pay attention to your credit score.
Savings
Next is savings. Why is savings so important? Think about it this way. Imagine you're about to get into a fight with a guy that's twice your size. You go by yourself. And you don't know how to fight. The guy knows mixed martial arts. What's going to happen? Do you feel confident? No. If you go to this guy he'll give you a couple of kicks and you'll be done. Now let me give you some backing. You're going to go fight that guy, except you have 100 people that are willing to come with you. And all of those 100 people are bigger than you. The other guy is all by himself. He's twice as big as you, but you have 100 people behind you. You say, you want to fight? Let's fight. He says, "Wait a minute. I came to fight one-on-one." But you brought leverage. The guy won't fight with you. Why? Because you have leverage. Savings gives you leverage. It gives you backing. Savings is having those 100 people standing behind you. It makes it so others say, "I'm not going to mess with you." Or they may say, "I'm going to do business with you because you have a lot of backing." Savings allows you to process things better. It allows you to make better decisions, lead better. You become a better CEO, you become a better executive. You become a better recruiter, better salesman, if you have savings in place.
Three Different Savings Brackets
Savings comes in three different brackets:
- Short-term (0-12 months)
- Mid-term (1-10 years)
- Long-term (10+ years)
Read this article for more information on the three savings brackets.
Income
Listen in here for different types of income, and why income is extremely critical.
Investments
Next is your investments. Stocks, bonds, stock options, real estate, art work, portfolios that have to do with certain baseball cards, collectibles that you have. Those are investments and they should grow on a yearly basis.
How to Increase Your Net Worth
You may have a net worth of $1 billion, $100 million, $10 million, $1 million, or $50,000. Regardless of your current net worth, here's what you should do.
First, fill out the form below to download a free PDF. Then follow the instructions for filling it out that are located below the form.
On the PDF write down your:
- Credit score
- Income, both passive and active
- Savings, short-term, mid-term, long-term, including your investments
Write all those numbers out. How do you feel about them?
Track Numbers on a Monthly Basis
Next, start tracking these numbers on a monthly basis. I started tracking this back in 2004, when I realized I hit rock bottom. And everything started changing. For each thing you track, write down a goal and how you'll drive it.
Goals and How You'll Drive Them
For example, if you have a goal to improve your credit score, to drive it, if there was a late fee from two years ago, you contact the Ford dealership and say, "Hey, why did you put a late fee? I was never late." Then they contact the bureaus and they remove the late fee, and your credit score jumps up 17 points. That's driving your credit score. How do you drive your income? You ask questions like, "How can I get paid more at my job? How can I make more money?" You drive both your passive and active income. The same with savings, same with investments.
Do the Same Thing for the Other Side
The same thing you did above for financial, you need to do for the other side. On the same sheet of paper, write down your total net worth. Net worth is your assets minus liabilities. So if you have $100,000 in total savings, and you owe $70,000, it's really $30,000.
Influence and Voice
Next, look at your influence and voice. Write down how many people follow your voice. How many total Facebook followers do you have? Also look at Twitter followers, YouTube subscribers, email subscribers, Instagram followers, Snapchat, etc. What is the total number of people following you? Write that number down.
Health
Next is your health. How is your weight? What about your height to weight ratio? How does that look? When's the last time you went to your doctor and asked for a complete physical? Start tracking these numbers.
Skills
Next, your skills. What are you an expert it? Write it in that box. This would be things like, "I'm an expert in coding" or "I'm an expert in selling or real estate." Whatever it is, write it down. Then review all of your numbers, and determine where you need to do work. For example, you may decide you need to drop 22 pounds. And maybe you're a great soccer player, but you're not going to be a professional soccer player, so you need to develop different skills.
For each of the areas, set goals, and then write the drivers needed to accomplish the goals.
So the process is:
- Write it down
- Track it
- Set goals
- Drive it
All of a sudden you'll notice your net worth increasing. Then when you look back five or ten years from now, you'll say, "Holy moly! I'm worth ____________? How did that happen?" It's because you focused on all of these areas, and then things started changing. Don't let anybody fool you. The typical academia way of in the box thinking that your net worth is tied to just money is BS. That's old school. This is new school. Times have changed, and it's important to adjust and pivot. The good news is, now you have the information. What you do with it is completely up to you.
