{"id":22675,"date":"2011-07-28T11:47:06","date_gmt":"2011-07-28T15:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/fx\/?p=22675"},"modified":"2011-07-28T11:47:06","modified_gmt":"2011-07-28T15:47:06","slug":"finding-true-wealth-in-any-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2011\/07\/28\/finding-true-wealth-in-any-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding True Wealth (in ANY Economy)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By John Carlton<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

I just spent a week with family \u2013 mostly my sister\u2019s boys and their wives and kids.<\/p>\n

I was sitting in my sister\u2019s living room, watching the grandnieces and grandnephew play (ages 2, 4, and 6) with rambunctious glee\u2026 and I realized that all the adults were reading books.<\/p>\n

No TV blaring. No radio jangling.<\/p>\n

In fact, we\u2019d just finished playing some guitars together and having an intense discussion about world affairs. You know\u2026 like really intelligent people enjoy doing.<\/p>\n

Not everyone was reading great literature, of course. There were volumes of happy trash being devoured, along with some really good stuff. But I was kinda stunned, just the same.<\/p>\n

This was a room full of very educated people. Three are teachers, one is a school shrink, another runs a program for troubled youth. All were involved with written stories. All deeply <\/em>involved, too.<\/p>\n

No one wanted to talk about marketing B.S. Or ways to get rich. Or systems to get ahead. These were family-oriented people, content with doing their jobs well and living their lives as fully as possible within their means.<\/p>\n

I felt a little\u2026 humbled.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t apologize for my entrepreneurial DNA. Unlike most of the rest of my family, I chafed at authority, and desperately needed to find my own path.<\/p>\n

However, as I hang out with more and more of the elite \u201cwinners\u201d in the online marketing world\u2026 I am becoming acutely aware of how little I am driven by the desire for money.<\/p>\n

Not that there\u2019s anything wrong with making money. But throughout my career, I\u2019ve felt out of place among the guys for whom business success was the ONLY thing that mattered.<\/p>\n

I honestly do not \u201cget\u201d people who need piles of cash to justify their existence. And I am often offended by gratuitous displays of wealth. The path I took veered away from the glistening skyline of power and fame that most of my colleagues were attracted to.<\/p>\n

I like <\/em>having lots of dough, don\u2019t get me wrong. But long ago, I figured out what \u201cenough\u201d was, and I\u2019ve not sacrificed my other lifelong interests to build my pile bigger than my humble little self can handle.<\/p>\n

We used to call it \u201cF*** You Money,\u201d to be honest.<\/p>\n

True independence comes when you are no longer desperate for whatever your current client is offering you. You can walk away and not worry about the consequences if he turns out to be an ass. Or if the deal seems squirrelly.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t need his money\u2026 because you\u2019ve got enough stashed away.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a stash you put aside and never touch unless you absolutely need to. If you die without ever dipping into it, you\u2019ve won.<\/p>\n

The psychological juice behind knowing you don\u2019t \u201cneed\u201d anyone\u2019s money is staggering.<\/p>\n

The size of your FYM stash, of course, is dependent on what you feel you \u201cneed\u201d \u2013 in cold, hard, liquid cash \u2013 to be confident you\u2019ve got enough to tide you over until circumstances change.<\/p>\n

For me, it\u2019s not a huge amount. Enough moolah to survive for a year or so with no other income. Being frugal, I could stretch it out for much longer. And still have fun, and still indulge in things I love.<\/p>\n

But the key thing is\u2026 it\u2019s your support system. It\u2019s not an investment.<\/p>\n

However\u2026 once you get a taste of business success, it\u2019s easy to be lured into living each day FOR that business. You put off other pursuits, you start to obsess on projects, you become\u2026 boring.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve suddenly got 20 times your basic FYM, and yet still get up each day focused on bringing in more.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been lucky. I don\u2019t need lots of money to have a great time. So much of life\u2019s best adventures are actually dirt-cheap.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m seeing a group of old college buddies this weekend, for example. None are \u201csuccessful,\u201d according to any measure a businessman would use. And yet, all are happy. All are good friends, and I cherish the time we get to spend together.<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t envy my success. And they don\u2019t treat me differently. (To them, I\u2019m still the nutcase I was 30 years ago at the university. And I embrace that character with gusto.)<\/p>\n

All this gets me thinking about what \u201ctrue\u201d wealth is.<\/p>\n

Being broke sucks. No getting around that. But somewhere between being broke and being stupid-rich, with 12 cars and three homes and more boats than you can count\u2026 is a sweet spot where many people live in near-bliss. Minus the expensive toys.<\/p>\n

I think, by now, you know what I\u2019m getting at.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s sappy, yes. It\u2019s all about love and living well with what you have.<\/p>\n

Ambition can be a curse. I\u2019m very lucky to be ambitious\u2026 but also to be lazily moderate about pursuing what I want. I\u2019ve done most of what I set out to do at this point in life. The goals remaining on my master-list are good ones, and I hope I\u2019m around for another half-century to knock them off, too.<\/p>\n

But, more urgently, I am reminded of how amazingly \u201crich\u201d my family and friends are who sink their teeth into life without <\/em>driving ambitions.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, playing with your grandniece on the old swing set at the park is enough wealth to last an eternity.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a big shake-up in the economy. As with any shake-up, there are lots of opportunities to profit. If you have ambitions, this could be your year to break out. When you do, though\u2026 keep a little Zen awareness in your brain about what truly counts in life.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t take your FYM with you when you die. But you can\u2019t tell me that the love you generate and receive doesn\u2019t travel to the Other Side.<\/p>\n

[Ed. Note: If making more money this year is your top objective, that’s great. ETR can help you grow your wealth<\/a><\/strong> every step of the way. But keep John Carlton’s words in mind – and remember that amassing money isn’t the only type of wealth you want to find this year. Whatever you’re looking to achieve – business success, personal fulfillment, becoming a better parent or friend – our Success Mentor can help you find it. Learn more about how to get everything you want out of life right here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

John Carlton is an expert copywriter, a pioneer in online marketing, and a teacher of killer sales copy. He knows marketing inside and out. Discover how to get your hands on the kick-ass secrets of the world’s smartest, happiest, and wealthiest marketers<\/a><\/strong>.]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise<\/a>, a free newsletter dedicated to creating wealth<\/a> and success<\/a> through inspiration and practical, proven advice. For a complimentary subscription, visit http:\/\/www.earlytorise.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Carlton I just spent a week with family \u2013 mostly my sister\u2019s boys and their wives and kids. I was sitting in my sister\u2019s living room, watching the grandnieces and grandnephew play (ages 2, 4, and 6) with rambunctious glee\u2026 and I realized that all the adults were reading books. No TV blaring. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Finding True Wealth (in ANY Economy)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22675\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}