The Plan for Action #3: Reject "rich" and start getting wealthy

    Given my other recent post on a different measure of wealth, you might think this would be about rejecting material wealth and pursuing some kind of grand moral wealth.

Not this time.

    Since we're talking about what it means to take action, and now that we've discussed negative knowledge and negative habits, and now that your room is clean ;) , we are jumping in to the first and easiest step in taking action. Money. Why is money easy? Because money is a number, and most of what we need to do is basic arithmetic.

Why money matters

    Can you take action without money? Sure. Once for a campaign I was given the task of setting up a call center on a budget of just 50 dollars, so I bummed a friend's basement (with no heat, in January) and bought some pizzas. It *can* be done. But at the same time, let's face it:

> The 2016 was Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton because they both have money to conduct a serious political campaign

> Minds was not seriously going to take off until someone with money gave them much-needed startup capital

> Jordan Peterson is able to continue ripping the face off SJWs because he has enough money to make it impossible for them to ruin his life

And most importantly

> You cannot take consistent action if you are living paycheck to paycheck

What money really is

    Austrian economics aside, money is a representation of resources.

    For example, an honest politician (they really do exist, I've met 6) needs to mail letters to everyone in a certain area to get the extra votes he needs to ensure victory. To get them out in a timely manner, the printing company needs to have a dozen staff design, print, and mail the letters, and this will cost the politician $20,000. But since he's honest, there will be no Pharma/Monsanto/Google money coming his way. He needs 80 people to cut him a check for an average of $250 each. If he called you tonight, could you cut that check? I just helped an old friend of mine get elected in this exact situation, and these are extremely common numbers when you are fighting in local and state elections.

     For a personal example, at one of my old jobs my boss came out talking about how we needed to "really ramp up sales" in ways never seen before. We all got the clear sense that layoffs were coming, and the boss was flailing. Which leads to a question - if you got laid off today and couldn't find comparable work for 3 months, could you make it? Or would you be forced to take panic actions like selling off everything?

    This is what money really is - increased options to defend yourself in uncertain times, to be able to walk away from a toxic situation, or to help others. In an "action" sense, if there's an opportunity to seriously move the needle in politics or the culture, money means you can take advantage of the opportunity. It could be in the sense of you pursuing the opportunity full time, or chipping in so someone else can (again, look at Jordan Peterson's example), but its clear that we can't be living on the edge of bankruptcy while bitching about "the rich."

Rejecting "rich"

    The TV definition of "rich" is a high-spending lifestyle, which assumes money is for showing status. This is further confused with high current income, which when coupled with high spending tends to mean the maximum taxes and maximum interest to the bank, to pay off the flashy house and car bought on credit. Building up wealth is a necessity, but unless you build up such phenomenal wealth that a flashy car is just 1-2% of what you own, then we're skipping this. We're aiming at a different purpose here: building up wealth to give, and by giving, building relationships.

How to start building up wealth

    I am a Dave Ramsey fan, mainly because of the situation around getting started with his Financial Peace University program. At the time, I was earning $23,000 a year, living paycheck to paycheck, and then my car was totaled. Then the breaks on the truck I bought gave out, and since I didn't have the money to fix them and eat, I was in line with the homeless people at one of those deals where they give away expired grocery store food (half a dozen eggs every two days, with a side of half-dry limes - enough for survival). That's when someone at my church told me to get into FPU, and somehow I scraped $90 together and did it. The plan is very simple:

Step 1: Write out a budget (it was my first budget ever), live on less than you make, and get a $1,000 emergency fund together

Step 2: Pay off all debts smallest to largest

Step 3: Expand the emergency fund to cover 3-6 months of expenses

Step 4: With the savings finished, start investing 15% of your income

Step 5: If you have kids, start saving for their college and break the student loan debt cycle

Step 6: Throw any extra money at paying off the house faster

Step 7: You have zero debt, so build up the accounts, and give generously

    People ask what the secret is in Step 7, and I have a post on it here. It's about a book on the largest study of millionaires ever conducted.

    The hardest step I faced was Step 1, because I had to admit that I was living paycheck to paycheck because I was irresponsible. I also had to admit that if I wanted to start winning, I would have to put some fun on hold until I could get my life in order. It isn't as soul-destroying as the TV tells you. Instead, your stress levels go way down because you don't have to worry about a surprise $500 car repair bill, or having to say "sorry, I can't give" when someone is in need or a rare opportunity comes along. All other steps follow quickly from the first, because once you say "I'm going to get serious, you start to actually look around for opportunities to improve your financial situation, something you may never have done before. And you will see opportunities that until then were hiding in plain sight.

A Network of Givers

    As you build this first and very basic form of action, it will be contagious, and a few folks around you will start building with you. This is an opportunity to build a giving network, and this is a powerful way to take action. 10 people giving $500 a month, for example, is $5,000 a month, or $60,000 a year. 50 people giving $100 a month would accomplish the same. That is a modest full time salary.

    Imagine setting someone free to start conducting open source research, or to start organizing for a cause. Or, imagine using it as a kind of scholarship fund that lets you influence young people (maybe sponsoring a journalist, giving scholarships for educational travel, etc.). Or maybe you could help Minds add another developer. Taking down the mega giants is going to take a bit more work (and we'll cover those n upcoming steps), but what I listed are all things that most of us could realistically get into, right now.

    Finally, the act of giving together builds relationships, both the team giving relationship, and the giver/receiver relationship. This will be critical in future steps towards action.

Thanks for reading! Tell me about some of the things you are giving to, or what you dream of starting in the future.