Mental Wealth

5 Healthy Mindsets to Win With Money

Jeremiah Reed

• Publisher: New Degree Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781641377454
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Personal Finance

Imagine what your life would be like if you didn't owe anyone anything. You have zero debt, and it's the beginning of a brand-new life!

Mental Wealth: 5 Healthy Principles to Win with Money is the guide to help you achieve that level of freedom. It's the plan that will show you how to win with money and improve your mental health by focusing on 5 key areas that make up your financial journey. These 5 Healthy Principles include:

• Finding your Purpose
• Planning to hit your goals
• Surrounding yourself with the People that are going to support you
• Practicing Persistence
• Being mindful of Prayer

This book is for anyone who has struggled with money throughout their life. It's for individuals that need help finding their way out from years of bad spending habits. It's for those looking to overcome debt, and for those eager to learn how successfully manage money to build generational wealth. Mental Wealth will show you the way and help turn your mindset into your greatest asset when it comes to winning with money.

Chapter 2

Purpose

My Love Story

November 29th in 2014 was a cold day. I had just worked a double at Macy’s since it was Black Friday, but I was not sleepy. I was full of energy, and I could not get my future wife off my mind. It was one of my milestones; it was the day I said I do. There was some anxiety, but I was filled mostly with excitement. It felt like a championship game, and the ball was in my hands. I blocked all the naysayers and focused on one thing, the love I had for Selam. We were both young, in our early twenties, full of love and missing some direction. I told myself to let us get married first, and I would figure the rest out. There were no conversations about debt. We never discussed how we felt about loaning our money to others, merging our accounts, or what we wanted for our future. We were just two love birds without a clue.

November 29th ended, and well, that is when reality set in. That was when we had our first money fight. I am not going to say who started it. My wife would kill me, but let’s just say merging accounts without a clear expectation is a bad idea! The conversation went like this: “Hey, why do we have a bill of $1500? I do not recall making any large purchases.” You can imagine how the rest of the conversation went. We are only human. Feel free to insert what happens when you argue with someone. That credit charge was our first step down the hill of debt. It was a loan taken out for a family member—$1500 gone—and added to our liability category.

Well, there was something else that added to our growing debt as a couple. My wife financed a beautiful new 2014 Honda Civic for graduation. The salesman even convinced my wife that tire insurance was vital, and he rolled that tire package into the car and financed that as well! A $1,200 tire warranty would turn into $1,379.47. Let’s not stop there, because I felt entitled and got a brand new 2013 black Nissan Altima—a gift to myself for graduation. I fell for the “new graduate program” discount. Our life just started, and we were paying $357 per month for my car and $423 for my wife’s car. The $36,000 in student loans did not hit yet, and we were only making minimum payments on everything else.

We were the epitome of looking good,but dead broke.

We were asleep and living the “American Dream,” somebody had to wake us up! We managed to make more poor financial decisions as time went on. Macy’s got much of my paycheck because of how much I spent there throughout the week. We even financed our twelve-inch memory foam bed. Yep, every night was sleeping in debt and on debt.

I was the average American college graduate with real problems and a new wife. Please believe me when I say, paying off $210,711 took hard work! I made a lot of sacrifices, but I had to become crystal clear on my purpose. I had to create a plan for my family and myself.

I hit a wall, and my season came. I knew enough was enough. In that season, I realized I worked way too hard not to have anything to show for it. I was in the middle of winter in 2015.

Winters are cold and sometimes brutal. I grew up near Chicago, and the kiss of a winter breeze was nothing to take lightly. The windchill alone could cause your body to freeze. That unfavorable weather taught you how to plan. I spent most of that winter in self-reflection and meditation on where I went wrong. I was a smart guy; I graduated first from East Chicago Central. I went on to graduate from one of the top business schools in the country, the Kelley School of Business, but I was still a financial failure early on in my life.

I felt that I had the plan to change, and nothing was going to stop me. My wife supported this new attitude, and the first signs of spring began. I was becoming the morning sun that shined on beds of snow that had settled over my life. I had grown from the darkness of victimhood and became driven to clear my debt as soon as possible. Winter days allow you to take shelter and reflect on what is going on in your life. Most people are not excited to run around when it is negative ten degrees outside. In negative-degree weather you must clean the snow off the car, warm the car up, and layer up just to go out. So, if you are like me you would rather just stay indoors and relax.

Winter was coming to an end. February 2015 was different. I was missing something. I knew that I needed to be financially free, but I lacked direction. Then God revealed his wisdom. I had no vision. While most people were looking forward to Valentine’s Day, that year I was focusing on defining my financial vision for my family. Being debt-free and living an abundant life had consumed me, and I became obligated to my family and God to do so.

Putting the Pieces Together

My Purpose

“First learn and then teach others how to manage money.”

My Vision

“Innovate how people view managing money and build a financial legacy of stewardship for future generations.”

My Mission

“Share the knowledge of money management across the world to create better financial stewards in every season of their life.”

Change of Heart and a Renewed Mind

Let’s get an official definition from Lexico.com to give us the explanation of purpose. That takes the pressure off this profound concept of purpose.

Purpose as a noun has two definitions.

The first definition is “the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.” The second definition is “a person’s sense of resolve or determination.” Purpose as a verb or action is defined as “having as one’s intention or objective.”

I had to have a crystal-clear mindset to establish objectives for myself and my family. Through my years of observation and personal failures, I learned we can become professional beginners. Never finishing what we set our mind to do—I did not want that to be us. One area of focus to help you complete what you set out to do, is knowing your purpose, knowing the why behind your what.

In the book Start With Why, Simon Sinek stated there are

“Two ways to influence human behavior, you can manipulate it or inspire it.” 10

Your purpose must inspire you to pursue your financial goals at all costs. Having a clear purpose will help you stay true to your goal when times get hard. Your vision should drive you to self-discipline, which means self-imposed...