What if you woke up one morning and, suddenly, your commute to work was full of detours. No matter which roads you took, you could not get back onto the road you normally took to work.
You broke into a sweat as you looked at your watch. You had the most important meeting to close a huge transaction that you’d been working on for a couple of years. You could not afford to piss the other side off by being late: the negotiations were at a very delicate point. You knew the other side had potentially a better offer from another group. You had one advantage; they liked you. You believed your presence at today’s meeting would turn the transaction in your favor.
You pick up your cell. No way! You must be in some dead zone. You cannot get any signal.
The traffic jam is for miles. The detour roads are full of pot holes.
The feared nightmare scenario is unfolding. You feel absolutely helpless.
Instead of clear sailing, you find yourself stuck in this unanticipated maze of detours and obstacles.
You want to get to that meeting. If only you could close the deal, you’d quickly reach the next level. But, instead of speeding with an air of abandon and exuberance, you are at a crawl. The pot holes detours and traffic jams of your life keep you on this Slow Road or Slow Track. You are frustrated; seemingly, forever, marooned at level in your business, career and life.
Now realize this. This nightmare Slow Road: scenario is happening each and everyday to you and to most people. You are by far not alone. People are racing to get to the next level. Yet, no matter how hard they work, they end up being detoured and constantly find themselves in a traffic jam. The big deals, the big dreams for your business and life never seem to materialize.
To be blunt you are in the proverbial rat race heading nowhere. What if someone told you all these detours, road blocks and traffic jams are occurring in your life because the game has changed.
You think you are running on the Fast Track but you are on the Slow Track using an antiquated road map.
Your roadmap – your paradigm or your world view – relates to the old game. You are racing or maybe even trudging along, following a bunch of roads that with all your hard work will not get you the wealth and happiness you are seeking.
How can this be? You read the papers. The NY Times. The Wall Street Journal. Watch TV. Scour magazines for new ideas and tips.
Here’s something even crazier to ponder. Trump. Branson. Gates. Jobs. Buffet. Google. Welch. Lynch and a number of others. They get it. They are on the Fast Track to more and more wealth.
Some people are creating wealth incredibly fast. They are experiencing the Law of Increasing returns. Others are going nowhere. The harder they work the less they make in absolute or relative terms. They are experiencing the Law of Diminishing Returns.
So what has changed?
The ways of creating wealth and money making have changed in the Age of Speed and the Age of the Internet. Those who understand the Dynamic Forces at play are on the Fast Track to Wealth. Those who do not understand – no matter how fast they run – are stuck on the Slow Track to Wealth.
If you play by the old rules, you will remain on the Slow Track.
Look at the table below listing some of the characteristics of Slow Track vs. Fast Track to money making wealth and purpose, meaning and happiness:
Slow Track Fast Track
1. Saving creates wealth through 1. Leverage, the Internet, Speed, Time,
the magic of compound interest Technology, Knowledge Capital to
2. Savings plans such as wealth
401(k)s, IRAs, annuities, create 2. Invest in Fast Track Companies both
wealth publicly and privately
3. The vanilla stock/bond 3. Casino like or Franchise
allocations of your savings companies. Buffet, Lynch revisited.
or savings plan create real Find entrepreneurial CEOS and
wealth advisers. Or do it yourself.
4. The Old American Dream 4. The New American Dream;
of the 1950s the old American Dream is dead
5. Being a millionaire 5. The new millionaire - $10 to 20
is not truly a millionaire million
6. Trying to balance work, family, 6. Work, Family and play come
and play as separate functions together
Slow Track Wealth is an old paradigm based upon certain rules and environments and marketplaces.
With computerization, technology such as mobile phones, the Internet, the Age of Speed, Time and Globalization, the context - the game itself - for doing business and creating wealth has changed.
Be aware of the following:
1. You either get on the Fast Track to Wealth or you are not going to create the wealth or build the company you are
envisioning.
2. Protect yourself from the US Dollar. The US Dollar is going down the tubes. Since 1907 the dollar has lost 95% of
its value.
3. The US has committed more than 72 trillion dollars today for Social Security and Medicare. The total value of all
public equities and bonds in the world do not amount to 72 trillion.
4. Without understanding how the Age of Speed and the Age of the Internet have changed the business building and
wealth creating game, you will be left in the dust by the Fast Trackers who already get the new game.
5. On the Slow Track, you will work harder and ultimately have less to show for it. The Law of Diminishing Returns.
6. The old Slow Track American Dream is dead but politicians and some of the media still pushes it. Why? It sells.
It’s comforting. But it won’t get you where you want.
How do I know this? Just look at the statistics. Only 25% of the population has, on average, a net worth of $1,200,000 according to a recent McKinsey report. These top 25% the report says are the people “prepared for retirement.” But, this is an average. Some of the “prepared’s” have less than $ 1,200,000 net worth. Even a $ 1,200,000 net worth will not get you far in light of the dollar’s purchasing power. You are playing with funny money. Are you in the top 25%? Are you in the lower part of the top 25%.
In other words, few people can retire comfortably when you realize this money will be declining in value.
When you start to break down these figures into income producing assets that can protect against inflation, few people have the real net worth to retire.
My calculations tell me you need 20 to 25 times your current income to estimate the net worth you will need to retire. With inflation taxes and other costs even this net worth figure will not be enough.
In reality, few people are real millionaires as defined when the dollar was strong. In fact in 1907 dollars a million dollars today would be $ 50,000 in 1907.
If you do not first understand the new game and the Dynamic Forces of inflation, the Internet, Speed, Taxes, others costs, you cannot get in the game, stay in the game and get on the Fast Track to Wealth.
So, how do you begin to assess where you are?:
1. Evaluate your dollar denominated assets
2. Figure out your real costs and liabilities
3. Look at your career or business in which you are in. Are you mismatched?
4. If you lost your job or company, where would you be? How long would you survive?
5. Who in your life are energy drains? Parents? Spouse? Children? Friends? Associates? Change yourself and/or the
dynamics.
6. Redefine what you really want out of life?
7. Look at all the demands on your time. Is it worth your health?
Lastly, remember that statistics show that 60% of people over 50 have chronic health problems. Unless you begin to see the changes in the game, you will possibly achieve wealth and lose your health from overworking, stress, frustration, disillusionment poor eating habits and fitness - (See AskDestiny®.com’s affiliate NHI on Demand for Health Facts that can change your life.) Or, you may end up like most Slow Trackers without health and wealth, or even worse, alone and lonely.
I have spent much money and risked my health and wealth learning how to get on and stay on the Fast Track to Wealth and Success. The Fast Track is not necessarily about how fast you work, but how fast you get things going in the right direction.
In subsequent articles, I will explore with you the secrets of creating entrepreneurial wealth in all areas of your life.
Why am I sharing this with you? Because I started out as a writer poet and teacher, I promised myself that if I was fortunate, I would give back:
AskDestiny®.com is the culmination of 25 years of research observation and experience in exploring and discovering patterns of achievement and success in all areas of life.
We will be creating mind – boggling free eBooks that will change the way you create money wealth and look at your life forever.
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