Secure Your Long Term Financial Future

For those looking to create long term wealth passive income has long been regarded as the elusive holy grail that everybody aspires to achieve. If you’re not familiar with the term then in layman’s terms passive income is money that you earn that requires very little or no effort to maintain. There are many strategies that savvy investors use to achieve this highly sought after income stream and in this edition we once again caught up with renowned entrepreneur and investor, Rodney Peyton OBE to try and gain an insight into the mindset and the techniques that help individuals create long term wealth.

Rodney Peyton OBE MD. is a remarkable individual. He’s best known as a trauma surgeon and is widely regarded as the world’s leading surgical coach. He is also an international keynote speaker, businessman, entrepreneur and investor with a portfolio that spans three continents. We were lucky enough to be able to speak to him again, this time about wealth creation and some of the key strategies that can help achieve financial freedom for ordinary people. These strategies are effective regardless of the financial climate which is reassuring as the world reels from the global Covid 19 pandemic and the unprecedented turmoil and uncertainty that it has brought.

Having financial freedom is something we all yearn for but sadly very few of us achieve it. Ultimately what holds us back is a lack of knowledge and understanding about wealth and how it is created. Whether we like it or not having money allows you the opportunity to live life on your own terms and it gives you the freedom to make choices in life that are simply not available to others. Rodney describes it as “financial intelligence”, and it is your financial intelligence that will help you progress from your current reality to a future of having the financial freedom that you and your loved ones deserve and dream of having.

Particularly now in the digital age, there are lots of mentors and financial gurus out there who make big promises but simply don’t have the knowledge or the track record to back up their claims. In contrast Rodney Peyton is a man who practices what he preaches. For more than thirty years he has been successfully investing in a range of investments in the UK, Europe, the US and Australia. He has built an impressive property portfolio and as an author has written and spoken extensively on many wealth related subjects. For those truly serious about creating wealth the goal is to develop, grow and maintain diverse passive income streams in the pursuit of the financial independence we all crave. The ultimate objective is to build that passive income to a level where it covers all your living expenses and supports the lifestyle you choose. That is what true freedom looks like but it’s not a level many of us reach because we don’t have the right knowledge, mindset or plan.

Rodney shared with us a story which is typical of the existence many have where we have income but not the passive income we need to maintain our lifestyles. “When speaking at a recent business conference in Orlando, I was exploring with the audience their concerns about financial security. One answer, in particular, summed it up for many of those present. A lawyer stated he felt “like a hamster on a wheel”. He reflected he was doing very well financially provided he kept going, but if he were to retire, or even slow down, he would not be able to maintain his lifestyle.”

It’s a situation many of us find ourselves in as Rodney goes on to explain, “I have found that many people, particularly professionals, would have great difficulty in maintaining their present lifestyle – especially if inflation is added to the equation. I am not a financial adviser. What I am is someone with more than 30 years’ experience, not just as a medical professional, but as an entrepreneur, investor and business owner, who has learned from personal experience. I have also had the opportunity to study and discuss wealth strategies with experts from around the globe and make them relevant for professional colleagues.”

Many professionals spend their entire lives studying and working towards achieving their professional ambitions but have little or no education about financial matters. Many of us take our advice from so-called financial advisors but what we don’t take into account is that we are taking advice from individuals that are usually not independently wealthy themselves and are often employees of large corporations whose advice will be influenced by how much commission they will earn. Why would you put your financial security in somebody else’s hand when by becoming educated and financially astute you can take the future of you and your family into your own hands.

What Rodney shared with us is a five step system he teaches that encourages individuals to take the steps they need to achieve financial freedom. It’s an operational system that can be compared to the strategic path a physician would use with a new patient to help them bridge the gap between their current circumstances and their goal of financial freedom in the future. His system has five steps which we will take you through step by step so you can start making the changes you need to secure your future today. A common misconception is that you have left it too late or you are too old but whatever your current financial situation, how you arrived at it and whatever stage you’re at in your life there is always the opportunity to evaluate your reality, make adjustments to the underlying factors and, much like a physician would do with a patient, come up with a treatment plan.

Rodney describes step one of the plan as ’History Taking’ which he elaborates on by saying, “Dis-ease is the most powerful driver for a brighter future. The first step, therefore, is to recognise there is a problem and identify the nature of the dissatisfaction. What is it that you want, how far are you falling short and since when has this been an issue?”

Genuine progress in life often starts when you recognise that you are dissatisfied with your current situation. In any walk of life successful people are those that are always striving for more, happy to take themselves out of their comfort zones in an effort to keep improving and moving forward. Life doesn’t stand still and neither should you. Just because something has worked and been successful in the past is no guarantee of future success as Rodney powerfully illustrates, “The Apollo space mission was a marvel of its time, then there was the space shuttle and now Space-X, which makes the computing on the Apollo mission look like a child’s toy. Unfortunately, after the successful moon landing, there was no ongoing drive, vision, or purpose at government level in the USA for the future of space exploration and therefore advancements in space travel ceased.”

So stagnating or standing still will eventually lead not just to a lack of progress but regression. In monetary terms inflation alone will diminish the real value of your income or investments if you choose to accept your current plight without trying to progress. So how do you achieve that progress? First of all you must establish what your goals are as part of your future financial plan. You must evaluate what for you constitutes the lifestyle you desire and the level of financial independence you need to achieve to fund that lifestyle. Success will not just happen by accident which is why you must be clear on your required outcomes, purpose and strategy.

Secure your long term financial future Gold & Wassall sponsors this issue of Industrial Solutions UK: see them on page 15 11 Business News Summing up the first step Rodney says, “To achieve success in anything, including financial independence, you must be on purpose. Your “why” allows you to focus on what is most important, as goals must be compelling and inspiring, much more than a desire but a need. It is therefore essential to determine the “why?”, the vision and purpose. This requires dedicated time put aside to concentrate on setting goals for the future and getting crystal clear on the reasons why those goals are important. Next, plot all the goal categories 20 years into the future and clarify your personal definition of success in each. Commit, in writing, why these goals are vital for you, so they become not just a vision but a purpose.”

The next step on the plan is ‘Investigation’. This requires an honest assessment of where you’re currently at. You have already established what your financial goals are and why they are important. What’s needed next is a thorough financial health check where you evaluate your finances, separating essential expenses like mortgages, utilities and insurance from expenses that could be considered a luxury such as eating out, the latest phone or a holiday. You need to calculate your current income streams from your salary, pension and your passive income from investments such as property or shares. Take the time to work out the difference between your current situation and the income needed to achieve your financial goals. Bridging that gap requires a degree of pain. It comes down to linking the pain of your current predicament to pleasure in the future if you take action now to transform your circumstances. Rodney explains the emotions involved saying, “One of the strongest drivers is the avoidance of pain so consider what would happen if nothing were to change over the next six months, one year, five years. We tend to work hard to move away from pain, like moving away from a fire, but only until the situation becomes comfortable although, initially, this may be necessary to kick start the process.”

It could be that your overall goal seems distant in which case it makes sense to break it down into smaller individual targets which are easier to achieve and stop you from being discouraged by a lack of progress. Therefore, at this stage, it is vital to be clear about the present financial reality and the gap between this and future ambitions.

The next stage of the process is ‘Assessment and Diagnosis’. Try and think of the reasons for your underachievement or not being where you want to be. For Rodney this is a key stage in the process, “We need to reflect on what happened in the past and why we have not achieved the level of success to which we aspire. We must get clear on what has prevented us from moving forward. Is it within ourselves – is it procrastination, mindset issues, feelings of being unworthy or that we are unable, is it because of age or education, to drive forward? Or do we blame the outside environment, the government, the company or someone else? At the end of the day, the root cause for our current circumstances usually comes down to mindset. If we change how we think, it influences our actions and hence our results.”

It’s important to forget about apportioning blame too and take back control of your circumstances. There are things in life that we have no control or influence over and if we put our emotions aside it can often be easier to see a way forward. It’s far better to expend our energy on the things that we can control.

The next phase in the process is the ‘Treatment’. This is where Rodney’s background as a trauma surgeon comes to the fore as he explains, “As with any physical health challenge, once the diagnosis is clear, everyone must participate in their own recovery. The treatment plan has to be agreed and then followed. Just as negotiating geography requires a map, negotiating financial geography requires a different form of MAP – a Massive Action Plan. You must focus on the objective, remembering that focus stands for “Focus on Course Until Successful”, and take action. This is the time to have a good mentor, someone who has been there before and can act as a beacon to guide you on your path. It is said that a wise man learns from his own mistakes, but a genius learns from the mistakes of others. It is always best to follow a path previously trod as success leaves clues and this is the quickest way to formulate a workable plan to achieve the goal.”

A tried and tested method for virtually anything in life is to study other people who’ve already achieved what you’re aspiring to and to try and replicate some of the methods that they’ve used. Understanding how others did it and then integrating what you’ve learned from them into your own lifestyle is an effective method of getting closer to where you want to be. Put into practical terms Rodney says, “Think how you can increase your income, decrease your expenses and use any additional savings wisely to fund passive income streams. The secret is to save money and put it to work as efficiently and effectively as possible. This requires a combination of strong mindset, planning and determination to follow through. Remember, even the best financial plan means nothing unless you take action.”

The final part of the process is the ‘Follow Up’. Adopting medical terms again, as with any form of clinical treatment the impact needs to be evaluated over time in collaboration with a physician or in financial terms with your mentor. Feedback from your mentor and reflection are an essential part of ensuring you are hitting each goal or if you are not trying to evaluate the reasons why not. Regularly evaluating your progress and making adjustments where necessary to keep on course is important as Rodney emphasises with a great example, “A plane flying from London to New York is off course at least 90% of the time due to traffic lanes and the winds aloft. It, therefore, has to make course corrections frequently so that at the end of the journey it lands in the right direction, on the correct runway.”

Achieving your long term financial objectives is not always going to be plain sailing and you will always experience difficulties along the way. You cannot be discouraged by minor setbacks and must stick to the plan whilst making adjustments where necessary. Concluding his advice on the final phase of his five step system Rodney concludes, “Results need to be measured regularly and the overall financial position rigorously evaluated at least annually to close the audit loop. Growth in financial aptitude along with changes in mindset as you move forward is just as important as the end goal. Success is not what you achieve, it’s who you become in the process. This is why as you get closer to a goal being achieved, you need to set a new one to sustain the momentum.”

Securing your long term financial future is something that is in your own hands. It will not just happen by accident and by following the process you too could take your first steps towards the financial freedom you dream of. You need to change your thinking and your mindset. Educate yourself and develop your financial intelligence. Identify role models or mentors who can help you on your journey by holding you accountable and of course offering support when you need it. It won’t happen overnight but trust the process, don’t be discouraged by short term setbacks which are inevitable and you can achieve those multiple streams of passive income that will give you the lifestyle you and your loved ones deserve.

For more information visit www.rpeyton.com