Things That Prevent Your Wealth

Is your relationship with money healthy?

Every person should be wealthy, but only a small percentage are truly wealthy.

I wondered why, as I read about billionaires in Fortune magazine, there are so few truly wealthy people. In 2000, there were 6 billion people in the world, yet only 587 billionaires. Today, there are over five times that number (3028 billionaires), though the population has only grown to a little over 8 billion people.

I predicted in 2000 that many of the wealthiest people would be tech entrepreneurs. There will also be a time when there will be more billionaires from China than the US in the next 50 years. Soon, there will be the world's first trillionaire, most likely Elon Musk, in the 2030s. And there will be companies worth tens of trillions as AI is leveraged for exponential growth, quality, and cost reduction.

I believe that the bifurcation of wealth will become even more pronounced as technology continues to disrupt the world at ever-increasing rates. Even existing tech companies will get disrupted by new technologies and networks.

How do you measure wealth?

Wealth is supplied by attitude but the world measures wealth in dollars. Attitude is the input and dollars are just the output.

Dr. Kevin Ham

People tend to value things very differently. I refer to this as the standards of value. Many people inherit wealth. However, great wealth often comes from startup entrepreneurs who grow something of great value from nothing. 0 to 1. Alchemy. Startups.

John D. Rockefeller was thrilled to be included in his school class photo. He imagined how he would smile, his posture, and the pure joy of later showing his class photo to his parents. Then the photographer asked the teacher to remove him from the group, as his clothes were too shabby. 

John was fuming inside but quietly left his class and watched as the photographer proceeded to take the class photo. Right then, he made it his life promise to become the wealthiest man in the world. He did not blame his poor family or even the photographer for this circumstance. This grave insult was the spark that burnt the deep-seated desire to acquire great wealth more than anyone in the world.

As I read this, tears fell from my eyes for this poor little John, who had his heart pierced by the knife of the photographer's request to eliminate John from the class photo. That photo was a reminder for John never to let others take his dignity or identity away from him ever again. He cherished that photo into his old age, falling short by just two years of his goal to live to 100.

He valued himself greatly from that moment, seeing himself of such great wealth and great worth, even though he was still poor in other's eyes.

I had a similar moment as I was trying to grow my business in 2000; I wanted to partner with a local computer company to help me obtain domain names. The CEO of a large tech company was interested in helping me, but he had his own ideas about which domain names to acquire. I wanted generic keywords. He wanted brand names like redhat.com, pinkhat.com. He yelled profanities (F#**) that if he didn't make millions of dollars, he'd..! I decided I would never work with anyone like that and chose to go my own way. 

I prayed to God, saying that since I didn't know anything about business if He would grant me wisdom in business, I would glorify Him because it would be all His doing.

If you don't value yourself greatly, how can you dream great dreams, and how can you believe you can accomplish them greatly?

Money is the root of all evils

Most people run away from opportunities for wealth even though they may desire wealth because they do not recognize wealth comes disguised as great hardship

Dr. Kevin Ham

There is a verse in the Bible that says that money is the root of all evils. Many people are content to be poor or struggle in life, believing that this is a more noble pursuit than accumulating wealth and contributing it to society and others.

But many people gloss over the words, the love of money and see the word money. It is the love of money that is the root of all evils. When money becomes your idol, it violates the Creator. And in business, who is the Creator but you? When you worship money, you become a servant of money, and it masters you. Money must be your servant and not your master.

I told a university student that if he understood this one principle and made money as your servant so that it would serve you, you can't help but be wealthy.

Money must be circulated

He who scatters gathers all the more. He who waters will himself be watered.

There is another vital principle in life: The life of the flesh is in the blood. In the life of the business, what is like blood? Blood must flow for life. What must flow for a business? Money. That's why it's called Cash flows. Money must come in, go through the business and go out. We pay taxes to the government, we pay for our daily living, and we pay tithes and donations to non-profits. This circulates money beyond yourself to your family, community, country and globally.

Money must have a definite goal

Money without a goal is like shooting blindly at no target.

Dr. Kevin Ham

Making money for the sake of money will either result in it being stored and rotten or spent recklessly for pleasure and luxury without good measure. People who win lotteries typically lose all their winnings. People who gain money quickly often struggle to preserve or grow it. People who acquire money immorally or illegally will ultimately face dire consequences. The scales of justice eventually balance.

When you have a definite goal for money, it aligns with your life force. When you have a goal for money, money naturally also becomes your servant, as the goal is its master. The money circulates to fulfill your goal. You fulfill the previous principles by giving money its master goal. The greatest goal for money is to serve others rather than yourself. The greater that goal, the more powerful money can be made or raised.

Life Question:

How much money do you need to serve your goals?

I’ve made more than I bargained for so I must donate it for great purposes in saving lives.

Dr. Kevin Ham

• I have yet to meet many people who lived and practised the wealth principles above concerning money.

Next week:
What level of wealth do you want?

See you next Thursday!

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