Why Most People Don’t Build Wealth

It’s no secret that wealth seems to belong to a minority of people. The top 1% of wealth currently control a majority of wealth on this planet, with numbers reporting that the 1% own somewhere around half of all the world’s wealth.

Meanwhile, the average person seems to barely get by financially or at best, make very slow progress in comparison.

To set the tone here, I want you to change your viewpoint on wealth. I want you to think of it as a game. Part of what makes people lose with money is how serious they make it. Money is quite literally made up and it only works and is used on a large scale because collectively we all agree on it. There are many rules to this game of money, but none of these rules state that you need to be serious with it.

If wealth is a game, we can see a very small percentage of people are winning this game.

And that boils down to 2 reasons:

1. Most don’t know how to play

2. Most aren’t playing the wealth game to begin with

I actually want to address reason #2. We will get into knowing how to play the wealth game in the future.

Why wouldn’t someone be playing the wealth game?

Maybe they don’t want to and aren’t interested?

Maybe they don’t believe it is possible?

Maybe they aren’t aware it is a game at all?

Or maybe they think they are playing it, but really are not?

These are all valid reasons, but they each are handled with the same solution.

I am going to give you a Law of Wealth here and we are going to use this Law of Wealth together to help someone who isn’t playing the wealth game.

Here it is:

A life without vision tends toward death. A vision without a plan tends toward delusion. A plan without a vision tends toward distraction.

Right now, we are going to focus on the first statement, “A life without a vision tends toward death.”

What is a vision?

It’s simply the picture you have of what the future should look like. It’s a goal. And a goal is a BIG, long-term idea. It isn’t next month, next week, or even 5–10 years from now. It is something you try and accomplish in your lifetime.

An example of a vision would be something like “To build generational wealth that outlasts me and my wife and creates a positive ripple effect on society.”

Do you see how it’s pretty broad?

It isn’t “save $100,000 so we can invest” or “pay off all of our debt” or “build up a retirement nest egg by the time we’re 65 so we can quit the work we do and enjoy ourselves before we die or the money runs out”.

Now, there are going to be two camps that read this and those are the realists and the idealists.

Realists are going to look at the concept of the vision and think “that’s not specific enough” or “that’s just a vague wish” or “that’s nice, but how are we going to achieve that?”

This is because realists are planners, and planning is a very important part of goal setting, but a plan without a vision tends toward distraction. And overall, a life without a vision tends toward death. Realists, you will need to take a moment and forget about problems, plans, and how you’re going to get there and just dream again. Trust me, we will get into the specific plans later. I’ve got you covered.

Why do I say that a life without a vision tends toward death? Because a vision is associated with your basic purpose. You achieve your vision through your basic purpose, with the basic purpose being the main road you take to get to the vision. It is the game you are playing and the prize at the end is the achievement of your vision.

A life without a vision is a life without a purpose and a life without a purpose is well…purposeless. Purpose is the point. With no purpose, there is no point.

You aren’t here just to get good grades in school, to go to college, to get more good grades, to get a job so you can pay for the good grades you just got and then get a house so you can pay it off, and then save up for retirement so you can use it all up before you die. Your purpose isn’t to spend 40–60 hours per week serving the 40-year-to-life sentence of trading time for money.

I don’t know what your purpose is. Only you know that. But I want to help you find it with a quick practical exercise.

Here it is:

1. I want you (and your spouse if you have one) to take 3 days and unplug from everything. No email. No social media. No kids. No pets. No work. No problems. Go somewhere that puts you into a state of total enjoyment where you feel rested, energetic, problem free, and serene. Do not skip this. I used to skip it and I didn’t realize at the time that being in this state allows you to come up with the best visions possible for your life.

2. Once you’re in this state, I want you to write down a short story that is 100% idealistic. But I want you to write it from the viewpoint of having lived this entire life already. You’re in heaven or getting ready for your next life, or whatever it is you believe in, but you’re taking a moment to look back at the life you just completed. What does it look like? In an ideal scene, what are some of the things that happened or were accomplished? What did you achieve? What are the main reasons that make people smile when they think about having known you? What positive things are going to carry on into the future because of you even though you aren’t around anymore? Write all of this down as a short story about what you see when you look at this in your mind. Don’t share this with anyone yet, not even your spouse. And if your spouse is there, they need to do the same exercise on their own.

3. When you feel good about this, I want you (and your spouse) to review what you wrote. If you’re with your spouse, DO NOT (and I will repeat DO NOT) disagree with what the other wrote. Don’t invalidate it. Don’t talk about how real or unreal it is. I want you to listen, understand their vision, and acknowledge them. We have spent our whole lives being taught by parents and teachers to be realistic, that certain things can’t be accomplished, and not to use our imaginations. The truth is the only restrictions that exist in this life are the ones we put there for ourselves and even those are made up. Support your vision and support your partner’s vision 100% and be positive and encouraging.

4. If you’re with your spouse, you’re a team. You are business partners in the business of life. You are teammates in the sport of living. I want you to discuss and expand upon your vision and add to it. Get really specific as if you are painting on a canvas. The more detail the better. Stay away from problems and “how we’re going to do it” and anything else of the sort. The only things that matter right now are what and why. Answer those questions as best as you can and splurge on dreaming, embellishing, and being audacious.

5. Finally, try to condense this all down into a Vision Statement that will be easy for you to remember. Use your creativity to find 1 sentence that would at a very broad and high level represent your full vision.

At the end of this, you should have a pretty clear vision for your life and an easy statement to keep it top of mind. This statement and vision should be one of the top things you think about.

One of the most impactful quotes of my life came from a book called The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale. I want to share it with you.

“We become what we think about.” — Earl Nightingale

Do you want to know my vision?

I see a world where the majority of wealth is controlled by good people. I see the quality of life of billions improved for themselves, their loved ones, and the world around them. I see these good people using their wealth to make the world a better place. I see in my wake, every person I interact with becoming freer than they were before. And I see you achieving all of this in your own life.

And that’s what I think about every day.

In closing, my mission in life is to help good people build more wealth who make the world a better place.

So, if you’re a good person who wants to help make the world a better place and this article helped you, I want to encourage you to join our community.

If you’re a client of mine and you’d like help leveling up, send an email to my team with “Level Up” in the subject line to [email protected].

If you’re a follower and have not read my book The Blueprint to Financial Freedom yet, that is the place to start. This book covers the specifics for each level in the various chapters and you can grab the book for free as my gift.

Click here to get a copy!

The Blueprint to Financial Freedom by Jerry Fetta

To Purpose, Wealth & Freedom,

Jerry Fetta

Jerry Fetta is the CEO and Founder of Wealth DynamX. He is a nationally recognized financial expert featured in Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Fox, Chicago Weekly News, New York Finance, interviewed on 100+ podcasts with world renowned experts, earning endorsements and affiliations throughout his career with names like Kevin O’Leary, Grant Cardone, Dave Ramsey, and Pamela Yellen.

Jerry’s mission in life is to help create millions of financially educated and solvent families achieving greater financial freedom and sharing the truth about money with those around them.

Learn more at www.WealthDynamX.com

(DISCLAIMER: The information in this content should not be considered tax, financial, investment, or any kind of professional advice. Only a professional diagnosis of your specific situation can determine which strategies are appropriate for your needs. Wealth DynamX can and does not provide advice unless/until engaged by you.)