The Morphing of Thought and Cash

Here are some thoughts about the morphing of thought and cash. What do I mean by morphing? I mean the transformation of something from one form to another. If you have seen movies like TERMINATOR 2, X MEN, or MATRIX, you have an idea of what I'm talking about. In these movies, some characters literally change physical shape from one form to another. What I'm speaking about is a kind of mental "alchemy."

Alchemy was the attempt in the Medieval Ages to change base metals into gold.

This is where the word "chemistry" comes from. While we may not be able to change lead into gold (although science being what it is, maybe they can), we can transform, transmute, or morph our thoughts, ideas, and actions, into money. Most of us do it all the time without giving it a second thought.

If you have a job with a regular paycheck, you are transforming your services into money. A big part of creating wealth has to do with how are you creating your cash flow, and what you doing with it after you get it.

What are some ways cash flows into our lives?

--Paycheck
--Loans
--Gifts
--Inheritance
--Lottery (just kidding)
--Stocks/Bonds/Real Estate
--Businesses that require your presence
--Businesses that do not require your presence
--Royalties from intellectual properties

What are some things we transform our cash into?

--True necessities--food, clothing, utilities
--Taxes
--Interest
--Houses
--Cars
--Doodads (in most cases, trash)--unnecessary luxuries
--True cash flow assets--assets which create regular cash flow now and appreciate in value (can be sold for more money later). The benefit of transforming your cash into assets instead of trash is your cash starts to make more cash. Get good at this, and then you won't have to work for your cash, your cash will work for you.

When your passive income exceeds your personal expenses, you are on your way to escaping the RAT RACE!

Don't you think this is important enough to invest some time and study? Maybe a lot of time and study!

One of the reason most people don't accumulate a lot of wealth is that they rely on only one way to create wealth: their job. And that usually involves transferring personal time and energy for money. If you want more money using this strategy, it will take more personal time and energy. Pursue this to the extreme, and you wear yourself out. One day, you wake up and it's time to retire. And all you have to show for it is a gold watch and a heartfelt "thank you." There's only so much you can do on your own.

Most of the time, it is simply because they didn't transform (spend) a portion of their cashflow to create or take ownership of cash producing assets in order to develop new sources of cashflow.

Instead of morphing a portion of their cash into new cash producing assets, they morphed their cash into trash.

Here's an example of what I mean:

Cash In: Paycheck (personal services morphed into cash), loans

Cash out: regular living expenses, doodads, things whose end is eventually trash. Here's a question to ask yourself: what is the ultimate destiny of the objects you are spending your cash on? If you are over spending on food, where is it eventually going to go? I don't think I want to know the answer to that.

If you spend it going to the movies, what have you transformed your cash into? (answer VAPOR!--you have nothing--"no thing" (a physical asset or even an object-- to show for it! I say this, and I'm in the entertainment industry). I take that back--you have a ticket stub--a small piece of paper. And where does that paper go--the trash! So, when you spend that $10 or more going to the movies, it is as if you are taking a $10 bill and throwing it in the trash. You may have had a good time (which does have some value), but you still need to be honest about what you morphed your cash into by your thoughts, emotions, desires, and actions.

When you buy that piece of furniture, or toy, or the latest electronic gadget, where is it eventually going to go? Many, many times it's eventually going to go to the trash heap. Or be sold for pennies on the dollar at a garage sale. Or given to charity.

It gets even worse when you transform future cash (loans) into trash. Now you have to pay back the lender (plus interest), but you have nothing but trash to show for it. In that case, you are accumulating liabilities to buy trash! That is exactly opposite of what people who accumulate wealth do.

If you think, I'm being overly harsh by calling these "luxuries" trash, first take personal inventory of your possessions--most likely acquired with CASH--and ask yourself where are they going to be 10-20 years from now. If a high percentage is going to be in a local landfill (in many cases literally), then you have probably transformed your precious CASH in to TRASH.

I am not saying don't buy luxuries. And yes, I love a good movie on occasion. There is a time and a place for these things. But not while you are creating your financial foundation. I'm saying buy assets first. If you have money left over, go ahead and spend it. But realize you may be slowing down your progress. Exercise discipline to set aside a portion of your income into buying true assets. How fast do you want to accumulate wealth?

Every time you earn money from your job, you are morphing your services and time--your brains--into cash.

Every time you spend your cash, you are transforming it into something else.

What is true for an individual is also true for larger entities such as businesses, organizations, governments, etc., but on a much larger scale. If you want to create strong, cashflow rich businesses, apply the principles to your own life first. This will correctly shape your thoughts when it comes to evaluating and managing business opportunities.

What you choose to morph your cash into often determines your ultimate financial destiny. Transform cash into trash, and you will be broke. Transform cash into growing, cash producing assets, and you will accumulate and create new wealth.

One of the questions I've learned to ask myself when I'm spending my money is "am I transforming cash into trash, or into assets?" This has made me much more selective on how I spend my money. As a result, money is accumulating. Income is rising. Bad debt is being transformed into good debt (more on the difference between the two later).

Copyright (c) 2005 Bill Marshall - All rights reserved. Feel free to republish this article provided you include the copyright information and the weblinks where possible.

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