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Table of Contents

Chapter 1:

Financial Independence

Chapter 2:

Wasting ability

Chapter 3:

The four fundamentals

Chapter 4:

Is three plus three five?

Chapter 5:

Accumulating assets

Chapter 6:

Building Your Assets

Chapter 7:

Education is the key

Chapter 8:

Recreation vs growing wealth

Chapter 9:

The Long Haul

Chapter 10:

Staying Upwardly Mobile

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Introduction

Financial Empowerment is the buzzword of the new generation, the jet-set

generation that wants to be self-sufficient in what they have, to never have a need

for more and keep attracting more even as they sleep.

What makes them different from others who aren’t financially empowered already?

What can the have-nots of this generation do to elevate themselves to the status of

the haves?

Most importantly, is this upward transition possible?

See what it might take in today’s world to reach the top economic levels of society.

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Chapter 1

Financial Independence

Being financially independent is not exactly the same as what we understand under

the term “financial empowerment‟, which has many aspects to consider. On a

general note, it means being ‘stronger minded’ with your money, to the point where

you are self-sufficient and don’t want for more. You have your financial coffers full

and for any of your needs, you just have to plunge into them and take out what

you need. A person who is financially independent is also empowered and usually

economically dynamic, because he or she is able to use money to attract more

money.

This speaks about financial empowerment on an individual note. However, there is

also a social aspect to it. Analysts may talk about financially empowering a

particular section of people, such as empowering the youth or the seniors or the

sick or women, but when it’s used in that context, it means self-reliance. These

particular sections of society may sometimes dependent on other active and

earning classes for their monetary requirements and when economists speak about

financially empowering these groups, what they mean is that these groups should

be self-sufficient and become less dependant on others.

This book will show that individual, financial

empowerment is possible and how to reach for financial

independence. We’ll discuss ways for how an individual

– yes that is you – can become self-reliant with money.

Anyone in that position will confirm that it is a truly

great feeling when you don’t have to depend on anyone

else for your financial requirements, but if the right

steps are taken, you too can achieve that!

The solutions we mention are going to be simple, but it is in the implementation of

them that their true worth comes out. This is what you have to know. No financial

empowerment techniques are of any value unless and until they are really

implemented in the right away. The approaches must see action.

From here, we begin our journey to financial independence. Understand the

concepts and implement them and you will see how they start working for you.

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Chapter 2

Wasting ability

There is a wide gulf between ability and action in the world that we live in, with

millions of people out there who are very capable of doing something, but do

they? They may even have the right academic qualifications and some might

even have experience, but many aren’t putting their talents to the right use.

Think about someone that could do an excellent job teaching something, but

they don’t and don’t put that talent to use. This teacher is instead doing a desk

job because according to him or her that’s a safer bet! Now, the desk job can

only take the person so far because he or she doesn’t really like doing that

stuff, but if this person took the bigger step of going ahead and teaching that

something special – overcoming any limitations in the way, such as stage fright

and it is highly possible that he or she could be much more financially stable

and empowered today.

We all have various talents, but we fail to discover them and even if we do, we

fail to put them to use. J. K. Rowling would not have

become the multi-millionaire she is today, if she had

gave up her penchant for writing and chased a

humdrum “safe‟ job, like most do. Imagine Michael

Schumacher or Zinedine Zidane’s vast bundle of talent

hidden behind an office job.

The one thing we have to consider is that it is not just

enough to be able. In other words it is not enough to be

able to swim, cook, dance, write, jump or whatever. If you want to be

financially empowered, you have to use these abilities that you have to wow the

people around you and only then your journey toward your financial

independence will be underway.

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Chapter 3

The Four Fundamentals

When looking at building your financial independence, there are a few things

you should have with you. Your allies in your quest for financial empowerment,

the four fundamentals, without which you this journey will be very difficult. We

mention briefly but throughout this series we’ll refer in more detail at what they

really mean.

Assets

Assets include the material and non-material things you have. These things are

valuable because they are the foundation to create more with, but we hope to

bring about a change in how you perceive of your assets, as most people think

only about monetary assets, when everything that you have, including the love

of and for your spouse, for example, is an asset.

Education

Education is an undeniably important factor in the

process of personal and financial empowerment and

stands out as the one particular aspect you find amongst

really successful people… the ability to always learn a

new skill and never accepting you know it all. Your future

will be determined by skills such as your ability to read,

assimilate facts and understand events unfolding around

you and keeping your mind ‘sharp’ is as much part of

this, as breathing is to life. Education, as we refer to it

here, doesn’t just mean academic qualifications – everything that you do in the

pursuit of achieving something counts toward your education. For example,

reading a manual to understand how a particular software application operates

will be education for future use and further benefit.

Just the fact that you’re reading this, already shows a willingness to break free

from the ordinary life and empower yourself and see what it takes, as one of

the ideas we have found to really work.

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Investment

The ability to understand investing is an asset, because it is part of the process

of securing your financial assets in the long run. When things may hit a bump in

the road, your investments will matter.

Then again, when everything is hunky-dory, your investments will enhance your

financial portfolio like few other things can. There are of course various types of

investments, which we’ll delve into later on.

Recreation

You may just have blinked twice and took another look at this sub-heading! Did

you not know how important this is as a factor for financial empowerment,

playing a role in enriching your mind, which keeps you healthier and hence

make yourself more stable monetarily. Some forms of recreation can actually

directly help in improving your economic standing as well.

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Chapter 4

Is three plus three five?

The Sum of Five is a key aspect in financial empowerment and possibly

something you’ve never heard of. It is a rule, a rule which you apply in order to keep yourself dynamic, to ensure that you don’t remain stuck in a rut, even

after you achieved a modicum of success and to keep improving upon it and keep moving forward.

So, what is the Sum of Five?

The Sum of Five states that if your income exceeds (in other words you earn more than) the income of the five most important people you deal with, then

it’s time to move up....

This is the statement of the Sum of Five, but you need not judge it by what it actually says. Look at what it means. What it means is this – let’s say you’re

involved in a business collaboration with other people, you should take a look at how much the people (say the five closest to you) are earning and yes, we don’t

really mean the number 5 as such, we’re talking about those you are dealing with all the time. If these people make more money than you, stick around and

continue working with them, till you reach their level. Once there comes a time that they all make less than you, it means you may reach a point of stagnancy

and should find more people to hobnob and work with. If you think this sounds a bit selfish, relax, it’s not the case. Change is always

part of improvement and growing is change, including the need to also change

the circumstances that surround us. Living your life without making these

upward developments and leaps is limiting your actual growth too.

Part of progress and personal growth, especially when it comes to your financial

standing includes improving the situation that we are surrounded with. This

even includes the need to change the set of people we regularly deal with.

There is a saying in one of the Indian languages that says, “A man doesn’t

really succeed in life unless he leaves his childhood behind.” What it really

means is that we shouldn’t cling to our past more than we should. In life, we

continue climbing the rungs of ladder of success and don’t think you’ve reached

your zenith, when you could actually continue moving upward. Not doing so

could actually start downward spiral in stead!

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Chapter 5

Accumulating Assets

Assets are those things you obtain in your journey of financial empowerment

and eventual financial independence. These assets include monetary as well as

non-monetary resources. Most people only consider monetary assets when they

speak about assets, including things like their bank balance, property, cars,

stocks and shares, but there is actually a lot more to assets than just these

materialistic things.

Let’s look at assets other than just the usual material ones.

Goodwill

Your good name in the market is a veritable asset. It could also

include the name of your company, your brand, etc. Whatever

goodwill your name has accumulated, it goes without saying

so, a long way to improve your profits and hence it’s asset

value. For example, when Richard Branson’s company, Virgin,

launches a new product today, it already comes with a

foundation of previous success. That is the reason big name

companies include a value called ‘goodwill’ when they give out

franchises.

Your Qualifications, Eligibilities and Experiences

Everything that you do in your life helps build your asset base. These are things

you can tap on in order to empower yourself, including for example, a post

graduate could use that qualification to improve financing for a research plant

he or she wants to set up. If you worked in a particular area and became

somewhat of a professional, your chances of increased earnings in that area

also improve.

Your Family, Friends and Other People

Everyone you come in contact with is a potential asset for you. You are what

your family makes you and that also affects your capabilities to a large extent.

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Did you know that your friends have an effect on your beliefs, outlook on life

and other things and so does every other person you come in contact with and

whom you spend some time with? People are so important to businesses today

that there are complete business models that are set up on this concept. Take

network marketing, for instance, also referred to as MLM, where the ability to

tap into the trust and goodwill of other people bears a direct influence to

enhance their income capabilities. Why not see what it takes to start realizing

your dreams?

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Chapter 6

Building Your Assets

Being financially independent means you did what it took and reached the point

where you have enough financial resources not to lack for money when you

need it. This means you have money to cover all your needs and desires, even

thought the reference to desires should be taken in perspective, because if you

have adequate money to cover most basic needs and have money left over, it is

often when realizing a specific dream that a lack of proper funds pop up.

Financial empowerment leading to financial independence means you chase

your goals and intentions and along the way asset building becomes important.

In this context, you try to build on what you can call your own so that you can

build more of what you call your own.

There are various ways to build your assets.

Classic Investments

This is the ‘basic’ route to building assets,

including ways to make investments such

as fixed deposits in banks, money-back

insurance policies, stocks or whatever suits

your interests. The channel you select for

investment here is seen as safe and should

ideally guarantee fairly high returns, but

when you get down to doing proper

financial planning you will find out this

‘safe’ haven could be at risk of inflation. Be

aware that some investments are meant to

be “an investment for the brave”.

Sniffing Out Opportunities

Opportunities abound, but keep your eyes wide open, otherwise you’ll miss

them. When you find a business venture that interests you, learn more about it

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till you know all that there is to it. There are several high-paying opportunities,

including a franchise, network marketing or just taking a share holding position

within a local business that can pay you back a lot without requiring much

investment. Keep your mind receptive to such opportunities. These are higher

risk than the “Classic” investments, which means you’re at risk of making more

money quicker, as well as that you could lose some.

Involve Your Friends and Family

This paragraph refers more specifically to financial assets and it’s somewhat

wise to shut out our nearest and dearest ones, but please understand that when

it comes to asset building, all assets are not just monetary. There are various

other things that can help us build ourselves financially and toward this end, we

have to realize the role of the people in our lives, which is quite significant.

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Chapter 7

Education is the key

We don’t really realize that our tryst with financial empowerment begins much

sooner than we think. It’s not when we’re 20 and thinking about a career; it’s

right when we’re 3 and starting to attend school! In fact, your financial

empowerment may even have begun earlier, when your parents lovingly and

patiently may have told us what is what… all those questions, all those attempts

at gathering information and later on, formal education… all steps toward

financially empowering ourselves!

Did you not know that education is really nothing but a way to empower us to

eventually be financially independent?

We all tap into our educational qualifications when we look for a job, pitch for a

promotion, apply for a freelancing assignment or even when applying for

financial assistance for a commercial venture. An educational qualification is a

kind of abstract collateral; it is something people judge your financial worth with

and if you are better qualified, they expect you to keep

sailing through and hence not mind extending better

financial help for your ventures. They don’t mind

investing in your ventures either, because they consider

you as a worthy candidate with their money.

That is the reason why it’s so important to learn as

much as possible and why every President of the United

States do is to exhort the folks to “go back to school‟,

not really meaning physically going back to school, but

to continue to learn something or the other and to

become better equipped.

Come to think of it, when we were at school, we would learn a new thing each

day. Are we doing that right now? At school, we enriched our minds each day

and became what we are today, but this process of “becoming‟ stop for some

people… do some people think that their learning age has ceased? We need to

educate ourselves continuously, till our last day and keep improving ourselves.

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When we are better educated, we do not only learn better avenues to earn

money but we also learn how to manage the money properly and to keep it

growing. No form of education should be intimidating and there is no age when

you cannot begin learning something.

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Chapter 8

Recreation vs growing wealth

Many people are of the opinion that getting and enjoying some recreation, in

whatever form that might be, is actually wasting time. To think that by enjoying

some amusement, they’re depriving themselves of another opportunity to earn

something. A saying like “Wasting time is akin to wasting money” doesn’t help

matters one bit, but we should remember that “all work and no play, make Jack

a dull boy!” But, is it only a dull boy that Jack can turn out to be? No, worse

things can happen if you deprive yourself from proper routes of recreation.

You have to understand what recreation means. To recreate means to free up

your mind and utilize it in doing something that you really like to do. It means

to unwind yourself from your daily rigmarole of work. Since your mind is not a

machine, but a living organ with blood and tissues in it, it does need this kind of

unwinding.

There is however a subtle point that

you must understand… every person

chooses his or her form of recreation

and this is often related to what they

do professionally. For example, for a

teacher, reading could be a form of

recreation and let’s admit it is actually

helping their profession in some ways.

This person is able to expand his or

her knowledge and that really helps them in their profession. For a professional

sportsperson, looking at someone else’s game could be recreation and again,

they could pick up tips from that and learn.

However, even when you think there are no obvious benefits to your profession

by the way you create recreation, there are actually several benefits. Consider

that you have a desk job. Your mode of recreation is to shoot villains in

computer games. How does this help your profession? It does and in a very

poignant way, because it helps clear the clutter of monotony that your job has

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created and gives you a chance to do something that revitalize your energy.

You are refreshed and can even return to work the next day in a better mood.

Remember that financial empowerment doesn’t mean immersing yourself in

money-related thoughts and keeping yourself there all the time, instead,

coming out of those shackles is liberating, which is the ultimate benefit of being

financially independent. This helps you rethink things and you begin looking at

the world with a renewed perspective.

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Chapter 9

The Long Haul

When most of us think of the term “financial empowerment‟, we may think

about short-term goals, as many are anxious about next month’s rent, for

example… about how to and what to do to achieve financial goals in the short

term, maybe as long as within just a few weeks… but come to think about it,

why do we contract our entire lifespan into a few weeks by thinking in this

manner? We forget that there’s a long life ahead of us and if you are truly

financially independent, we have enough for that period which looms ahead of

us. The short term goals are important, but that is not exactly what is under

discussion in this series.

The process of becoming financially empowered mean you shouldn’t just think

of what to do that can give you returns today, but it is about what you can do

to become and stay financially empowered in the longer term. This is more

important the daily achievement, except that every little action taken today,

eventually adds up to a lifelong achievement.

There are some very important ways in which this can be done.

Education

Let’s not labour over the previous

discussion about education, other than to

say that if you want to become really

financially empowered, learn something

more than the next person. This has

nothing to do childhood education, but

education that enriches you as a

professional. In the Internet marketing

milieu, for example, a person who has

educated himself or herself to use blogs

and article submissions will do better than

someone who just write blog articles.

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Investing

If you’re in for the long haul, learn about investment options. This empowers a

person especially so when the chips are down and you may even wanna look at

an investment for the brave, starting small, but with knowledge and time on

your side, could become very valuable.

Insurance

Insurance is an assurance that is of value when something went horribly wrong

and there are several unforeseen things that can happen in our lives. One such

stroke of bad luck can wipe out all the financial empowerment you may have

achieved and as no loss in the world can ever be replenished completely,

insurances do provide some respite in such events.

Recreation

Every song you hear, every book you read, every movie you watch, every place

you visit, play a role in the process of enriching your mind in some way. Though

you aren’t doing these things for gaining knowledge, they are certainly

expanding what you know. You learn new things and who knows what you knew

could turn out to be vitally important at any time? Hence, even the way you

amuse your mind has a bearing when it comes to financial empowerment.

All these things won’t bring money right away, but many positive actions

enhance your capabilities and abilities. You become a better person, financially

and otherwise, when you use these key factors in the right way.

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Chapter 10

Staying Upwardly Mobile

To finish off this book, which is part of a much bigger series, let’s commit to

remain always moving toward the top. In fact, we have alluded to this already

when we spoke about the Sum of Five. When you try to equate yourself with

your collaborators and then find better collaborators, you are in effect staying

upwardly mobile. When you mix around with people who have a particular kind

of status, it automatically begins to rub off on you. Consciously or

subconsciously, you will begin to take he steps necessary to catch up with them

and sooner than you think, you will be there. Get that one important

breakthrough and you will be mixing in different circles in time to come.

Implement the four fundamentals correctly and you will keep shaping yourself

to be a more significant person and that will include financially. Your upward

and progressive mobility will be obvious and this is what really matters.

Always look at opportunities that will broaden your knowledge, experience and

mental wealth and once you are set with something, move on to other things.

Always be aware of opportunities and take them in your stride. Learn how to

make the most of them.

Think positive and think big. When you do that, you

usually do big. If you confine yourself to thinking

narrow-mindedly and about all the reasons something

may fail, you’ll be staying exactly where you are. Many

modern philosophers emphasize on the importance of

thought – Stephen Covey, Rhonda Byrne, Paulo Coelho

– and you have to understand that there is great truth

in this. When you think and expect positive outcomes,

things automatically ‘energize’ themselves to make

that happen. You know this as a fact and few have not

experienced it in one or another form already – we call it the Law of Attraction

and yes, this law will help you greatly in financially empowering yourself.

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Conclusion

Financial empowerment and to become financially independent is quite

attainable, even if you start with nothing, but there is a simple way and why not

see what it takes? Fact is that most people don’t think it can happen to them

and are then surprised about the outcome when nothing good eventually

happens to them.

One of the most important things to materialize the things mentioned in this

book is the importance of having faith in yourself.

Believe that you can make the transition. Believe that you can take that leap.

All the best to you and see you in the next one!!!

Please send me YOUR story… has this book helped you? My email address

is yesjoewecan@gmail.com and I look forward to hear from you