The Money Advantage® Podcast | Infinite Banking Concept & Family Banking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Okx4cjnLylY

Becoming debt free is often listed as a notch on the belt of financial progress. It’s widely discussed, admired, longed for, celebrated, and even praised by so-called financial experts like Dave Ramsey.  But, paying off debt may be and personalities risky or even altogether unnecessary.  In fact, you’re probably not in debt in the first place!  We want you to be debt free, but you first have to know what that means.  Many confuse being debt free with being liability free.  Before you decide whether to add becoming debt free to your checklist, let’s get the skinny on what debt is.  Then, you can take action that gives you the most certainty, control, and peace of mind.

To help you gain clarity on your debt position and know what to do about it, we’ll answer:

What is debt?Am I in debt?Will a debt-free goal help or hurt me?More importantly, to reach my goals, gain confidence, peace of mind, time and money freedom, what should I do about debt?

This conversation will help you develop a big picture perspective of a balanced personal economy.

Rather than spiraling out of control, you’ll gain control, options, and increased financial capabilities.

Table of contentsWhy Becoming Debt Free Seems Like Such a Big DealWhere Debt Freedom Fits into Your Cash Flow SystemHow to Determine If You’re in Debt and What to Do About It#1: Understand Your Balance SheetDetermine Your Net WorthPositive and Negative Net WorthWhere Would the Money Come from to Pay It Off?The Real Reason You Don’t Like Debt#2: Understand Your Income StatementDetermine Your Cash FlowPositive and Negative Cash FlowThe Two Ways to Increase Your Cash Flow#3) Understand Your Debt-to-Income RatioMeasure Your Financial PainWhat Your DTI Means to a CreditorWhat Your DTI Means to You#4) Increase Your Cash Flow#5) Increase Cash and Assets in Your ControlPrioritize Paying Yourself over Paying down LiabilitiesHaving Cash Makes You More Secure Than Having No LoansBuild Assets You Can UseMultiply the Uses of Your MoneyThe Best Loan Pay-Off StrategyFinancially Free Is Better Than Living Debt FreeAre You Debt Free?The Whole Series on DebtSeize Your Financial Freedom

Why Becoming Debt Free Seems Like Such a Big Deal

Let’s face it; most people fear debt. They feel it’s an encumbrance or ensnarement that nullifies their goals.  If it was in a game of Taboo, it’s almost a dirty word that lives with other deplorable financial conditions, like losing money, bad credit, foreclosure, and bankruptcy.

Why does debt strike at the chord of our financial aspirations so much so that ringing the debt-free bell seems like such a milestone?

Often families start off saddled in student loan debt.  Because there’s not much cash, they add car loans, a mortgage, and credit card debt to achieve their lifestyle.  They work a job to pay it off, while also balancing buying a house and saving for their future.  But the more debt you have, the harder it seems to pay it off because you feel tighter each month.  The debt seems like a slippery slope that can easily have you feeling that forward progress is all but impossible.  To be debt free might seem like the best way to get back on track.

Maybe looking at the debt payments each month is an arrow to the heart, reminding you of past mistakes.  To be debt free would mean to be free of the pain of guilt.

Because a balanced financial life seems unachievably complex, looking at it one piece at a time might feel more manageable and doable.  Becoming debt free might be that one step you think you can really accomplish.

However, putting all your emphasis on getting out of debt can be detrimental when it causes you to lose control and delay your journey to financial freedom.

Where Debt Freedom Fits into Your Cash Flow System

Dealing with debt is just one step in the big picture of the Survival to Significance Cash Flow System.

Debt is part of your cash flow in the foundatio...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aoWvgbt2Uc

In this interview with Maureen McCann of Spartan Invest, we’ll answer:What is turnkey real estate?How can I use turnkey real estate to build cash flow from assets?What do I look for in a turnkey real estate provider?Why might I want to invest with Spartan Invest?How can I gain confidence when investing outside my local area?Why Birmingham, Alabama?When buying rental real estate, should I finance or pay cash?

Spartan Invest offers the opportunity to benefit easily from real estate investing.  Investors secure the tax advantages of real estate ownership and earn cash flow, without industry knowledge, maintenance, or management headaches.  If you’re looking for a way to get started in real estate investing or build a portfolio, consider the income-generating asset of single-family rental real estate in the renaissance city of Birmingham, Alabama.

Where Does Turnkey Real Estate Fit in the Cash Flow System?

We are evangelists for cash flow because cash flow is your ticket to time and money freedom.

Investing in cash-flowing assets is part of the third stage of the Cash Flow System.

Once you have a stocked emergency/opportunity fund, you now have a pool of capital that’s ready to invest. To accelerate your cash flow, you need to identify cash-flowing assets and develop an acquisition strategy.

By introducing you to opportunities that could help you accomplish your goals, we want to expand your cash-flow investing options.

Real estate has long been an asset choice of the wealthy to create cash flow income.

If you’re looking for a way to increase your cash flow, producing income in low-risk alternative investments outside the stock market, turnkey real estate with Spartan Invest may help you accomplish your goals.

Who Is Maureen McCann?

Maureen’s Role at Spartan Invest

Maureen McCann is a partner and owner, and the VP of Sales and Marketing at Spartan Invest.

She has over ten years of sales and marketing experience in the turnkey marketplace. Having served as an Investment Property coach for years, Maureen is skilled at helping clients build turnkey cash flow portfolios. Maureen has helped hundreds of investors build the type of rental portfolios necessary to reach their short-term & long-term monthly passive income goals. Investing in turnkey real estate for long-term wealth generation is something Maureen understands intimately.

Whether clients want to replace their current income with passive income or are simply looking to supplement their retirement, Maureen can help design the right portfolio with the right end goal in mind. With an incredible work ethic and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, Maureen helps provide peace of mind while investing in premium income-generating properties.

Maureen excels in providing trusted, reliable, knowledgeable consulting to assist you with building your real estate portfolio. She spends time coaching her clients on the wealth-building principles tha...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aoWvgbt2Uc

In this interview with Maureen McCann of Spartan Invest, we’ll answer:What is turnkey real estate?How can I use turnkey real estate to build cash flow from assets?What do I look for in a turnkey real estate provider?Why might I want to invest with Spartan Invest?How can I gain confidence when investing outside my local area?Why Birmingham, Alabama?When buying rental real estate, should I finance or pay cash?

Spartan Invest offers the opportunity to benefit easily from real estate investing.  Investors secure the tax advantages of real estate ownership and earn cash flow, without industry knowledge, maintenance, or management headaches.  If you’re looking for a way to get started in real estate investing or build a portfolio, consider the income-generating asset of single-family rental real estate in the renaissance city of Birmingham, Alabama.

Where Does Turnkey Real Estate Fit in the Cash Flow System?

We are evangelists for cash flow because cash flow is your ticket to time and money freedom.

Investing in cash-flowing assets is part of the third stage of the Cash Flow System.

Once you have a stocked emergency/opportunity fund, you now have a pool of capital that’s ready to invest. To accelerate your cash flow, you need to identify cash-flowing assets and develop an acquisition strategy.

By introducing you to opportunities that could help you accomplish your goals, we want to expand your cash-flow investing options.

Real estate has long been an asset choice of the wealthy to create cash flow income.

If you’re looking for a way to increase your cash flow, producing income in low-risk alternative investments outside the stock market, turnkey real estate with Spartan Invest may help you accomplish your goals.

Who Is Maureen McCann?

Maureen’s Role at Spartan Invest

Maureen McCann is a partner and owner, and the VP of Sales and Marketing at Spartan Invest.

She has over ten years of sales and marketing experience in the turnkey marketplace. Having served as an Investment Property coach for years, Maureen is skilled at helping clients build turnkey cash flow portfolios. Maureen has helped hundreds of investors build the type of rental portfolios necessary to reach their short-term & long-term monthly passive income goals. Investing in turnkey real estate for long-term wealth generation is something Maureen understands intimately.

Whether clients want to replace their current income with passive income or are simply looking to supplement their retirement, Maureen can help design the right portfolio with the right end goal in mind. With an incredible work ethic and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, Maureen helps provide peace of mind while investing in premium income-generating properties.

Maureen excels in providing trusted, reliable, knowledgeable consulting to assist you with building your real estate portfolio. She spends time coaching her clients on the wealth-building principles that will help them and their families protect their capital while investing in real estate.

Maureen McCann’s Backstory

Maureen McCann was a blue-collar kid who grew up in New Jersey, paid her way through college while waiting tables, and earned her degree in Exercise Physiology because it was the one program that did not require Calculus.

She was a W2 wage earner for 15 years in Pharmaceuticals and Medical Device sales, and then stumbled into real estate in 2008 when she lost 50% of her 401K overnight and navigated her way towards turnkey real estate and passive income using her will for wanting to know what the rich knew that she didn’t know but was determined to find out.

Rich Dad Poor Dad set a new course for her life, and with the paradigm shift that occurred, she was well on her way to living a different life, with a different mindset with different outcomes leading her to live her life as a version of her highest and best self.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6fU7H7CPKQ

How do you know if the advice of financial experts applies to you?  In fact, who are the financial experts?  Does fame or popularity make someone an expert? What about having the biggest stage or the largest reach?  Is it a degree, certification, or credential that qualifies them?  Instead, the litmus test for a financial expert is that they give uncommon advice to people with uncommon income and uncommon goals. To help you decide who to listen to in making educated financial choices to secure your future, we’ll answer:

* How do I decide who to take advice from? * Who are the financial experts? * How do I make sure I’m following the advice that leads me to my goals?* How do education, personal responsibility, and the right guide work together?

We’ll help you gain confidence in who to listen to and how to apply advice in your specific situation, without guessing, having to DIY, or blindly trusting someone with your money.

You’ll go from overwhelmed with the financial noise, to confidently tuning in to what aligns and tuning out what doesn’t align with your goals.

Instead of getting stuck trying to figure everything out, you’ll have the information to take action and make progress.

You’ll gain confidence as you see a clear path from where you are to where you want to be, rather than wasting time wondering whether you’re going in the right direction.

Where Financial Experts Fit into Your Cash Flow System

Finding out who the financial experts are is just one step in the greater Survival to Significance Cash Flow System.  Once you’ve discovered who the experts are, you decide which of the four ways you want to implement their advice.

Identifying the experts and implementing financial advice make up a micro-step in the bigger picture of gaining time and money freedom.  Here’s how:

Deciding who to listen to is part of the foundation of your mindset and how you think about money.

While your mindset may be the least tangible of all of the 9 steps, it’s critical to your success.  Don’t ignore or skip the mindset step.  Your thinking opens the door to all your financial possibilities and brings everything else into focus.

The Critical Need for Education and the Battle to Find It

Financial competency is the most ironic adult life skill.  We’re not taught in school how money works, how to make it, how to set goals, or how to arrive at our intended destination.  Yet we spend almost 100% of our waking hours in pursuit of making money, spending it, or thinking about it.

If you aspire to transcend your current ranks and carve out a future of confidence, meaning, and security, it’s up to you to figure it out.  So as an adult that’s mastered the education system, and probably marriage, family, and a career, you still have to figure out what to do about money.

Realizing that your financial independence is up to you is the first wake-up call.

The second is when you become aware of the sea of “financial education” that doesn’t agree or stack up,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6fU7H7CPKQ

How do you know if the advice of financial experts applies to you?  In fact, who are the financial experts?  Does fame or popularity make someone an expert? What about having the biggest stage or the largest reach?  Is it a degree, certification, or credential that qualifies them?  Instead, the litmus test for a financial expert is that they give uncommon advice to people with uncommon income and uncommon goals. To help you decide who to listen to in making educated financial choices to secure your future, we’ll answer:

How do I decide who to take advice from?

Who are the financial experts?

How do I make sure I’m following the advice that leads me to my goals?

How do education, personal responsibility, and the right guide work together?

We’ll help you gain confidence in who to listen to and how to apply advice in your specific situation, without guessing, having to DIY, or blindly trusting someone with your money.

You’ll go from overwhelmed with the financial noise, to confidently tuning in to what aligns and tuning out what doesn’t align with your goals.

Instead of getting stuck trying to figure everything out, you’ll have the information to take action and make progress.

You’ll gain confidence as you see a clear path from where you are to where you want to be, rather than wasting time wondering whether you’re going in the right direction.

Table of contentsWhere Financial Experts Fit into Your Cash Flow SystemThe Critical Need for Education and the Battle to Find ItThe Noise of Self Proclaimed Financial ExpertsFive Steps to Identifying the Financial Experts#1) Determine the Interest of the SourceThe Five Most Common Sources of Financial AdviceBanks and Financial InstitutionsFinancial Planners and Investment AdvisorsFinancial Entertainers and Financial Experts On National Tv and RadioThe SuccessfulFamily, Friends, and Neighbors#2) Determine Whether the Source Is Providing Common or Uncommon Advice#3) Decide Whether You Have Common or Uncommon Income#4) Decide Whether You Have Common or Uncommon Goals#5) Decide Whether You Want Common or Uncommon AdviceIt’s Not Advice If the Financial Expert Didn’t Understand Your Complete Financial PictureDetermine How to Work Together with a Financial ExpertDo It for MeDo It YourselfDon’t Do AnythingDo It TogetherYour Financial Destiny Is Yours for the TakingFinancial Experts offer Uncommon AdviceBuild Your Time and Money Freedom

Where Financial Experts Fit into Your Cash Flow System

Finding out who the financial experts are is just one step in the greater Survival to Significance Cash Flow System.  Once you’ve discovered who the experts are, you decide which of the four ways you want to implement their advice.

Identifying the experts and implementing financial advice make up a micro-step in the bigger picture of gaining time and money freedom.  Here’s how:

Deciding who to listen to is part of the foundation of your mindset and how you think about money.

While your mindset may be the least tangible of all of the 9 steps, it’s critical to your success.  Don’t ignore or skip the mindset step.  Your thinking opens the door to all your financial possibilities and brings everything else into focus.

The Critical Need for Education and the Battle to Find It

Financial competency is the most ironic adult life skill.  We’re not taught in school how money works, how to make it, how to set goals, or how to arrive at our intended destination.  Yet we spend almost 100% of our waking hours in pursuit of making money, spending it, or thinking about it.

If you aspire to transcend your current ranks and carve out a future of confidence, meaning, and security, it’s up to you to figure it out.  So as an adult that’s mastered the education system, and probably marriage, family, and a career, you still have to figure out what to do about money.

Realizing that your financial independence is up to you...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHr-DsOLGYM

In this fascinating interview with Paul Moore, we discussed opportunities for investors to build generational wealth through commercial multifamily investing.  Unfortunately, there are high barriers to entry into this investment sector.  New investors to this space may lack the capital requirements, loan qualifications, and experience needed to gain a seat at the table. Through real estate investment firm, Wellings Capital, Paul Moore is making this asset class available to investors who would otherwise lack access.  Wellings is a syndicator that allows investors to pool their funds to get the advantages of direct ownership of commercial multifamily real estate, along with its high returns, tax advantages, and low risk.

You’ll gain powerful business insights as you hear Paul share his thought-provoking and honest story.  He confidently shares his monumental accomplishments and the significant failures that accompanied them along the way.  When you listen, be prepared to learn just as much from his successes as from his stories of failure.

Paul Moore is masterful in business and marketing.  You’ll come away with a new appreciation for continuous learning and reinvention, solving problems for others, and staying congruent with your life mission.

Where Entrepreneurship Fits into the Cash Flow System

We love Entrepreneurship.  Business owners emphasize and focus on cash flow over accumulation.

In the Cash Flow System, you first increase cash flow by keeping more of the money you make.  Then you protect your money.  Finally, you increase and make more.

Entrepreneurship is part of Investing in stage 3.  Building a cash-flowing asset portfolio of real estate and business accelerates time and money freedom.

Who Is Paul Moore?

After graduating with an engineering degree and then an MBA from Ohio State, Paul entered the management development track at Ford Motor Company in Detroit.

After five years, he departed to start a staffing company with a partner. They sold it to a publicly traded firm five years later for $2.9 million.

Along the way, Paul was a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Michigan Entrepreneur of the Year two years straight (1996 & 1997).

Paul later entered the real estate sector, where he flipped over 50 homes and 25 high-end waterfront lots, appeared as the only REALTOR® on HGTV’s House Hunters for a waterfront week special, rehabbed and managed rental properties, built many new homes, developed a subdivision, and started two successful online real estate marketing firms.

He also built several other companies and made quite a few medium and high-risk investments along the way.

Paul Moore’s Most Important Business Lessons

High Risk Does Not Equal High Returns

People often think that to get high returns, they have to take on high risk.

Instead of high risk leading to high returns, Paul Moore says that high risk leads to the potential of high returns, and more so to the potential of higher loss.  Often, people think they’re investing, when really, they’re speculating or gambling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHr-DsOLGYM

In this fascinating interview with Paul Moore, we discussed opportunities for investors to build generational wealth through commercial multifamily investing.  Unfortunately, there are high barriers to entry into this investment sector.  New investors to this space may lack the capital requirements, loan qualifications, and experience needed to gain a seat at the table. Through real estate investment firm, Wellings Capital, Paul Moore is making this asset class available to investors who would otherwise lack access.  Wellings is a syndicator that allows investors to pool their funds to get the advantages of direct ownership of commercial multifamily real estate, along with its high returns, tax advantages, and low risk.

You’ll gain powerful business insights as you hear Paul share his thought-provoking and honest story.  He confidently shares his monumental accomplishments and the significant failures that accompanied them along the way.  When you listen, be prepared to learn just as much from his successes as from his stories of failure.

Paul Moore is masterful in business and marketing.  You’ll come away with a new appreciation for continuous learning and reinvention, solving problems for others, and staying congruent with your life mission.

Where Entrepreneurship Fits into the Cash Flow System

We love Entrepreneurship.  Business owners emphasize and focus on cash flow over accumulation.

In the Cash Flow System, you first increase cash flow by keeping more of the money you make.  Then you protect your money.  Finally, you increase and make more.

Entrepreneurship is part of Investing in stage 3.  Building a cash-flowing asset portfolio of real estate and business accelerates time and money freedom.

Who Is Paul Moore?

After graduating with an engineering degree and then an MBA from Ohio State, Paul entered the management development track at Ford Motor Company in Detroit.

After five years, he departed to start a staffing company with a partner. They sold it to a publicly traded firm five years later for $2.9 million.

Along the way, Paul was a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Michigan Entrepreneur of the Year two years straight (1996 & 1997).

Paul later entered the real estate sector, where he flipped over 50 homes and 25 high-end waterfront lots, appeared as the only REALTOR® on HGTV’s House Hunters for a waterfront week special, rehabbed and managed rental properties, built many new homes, developed a subdivision, and started two successful online real estate marketing firms.

He also built several other companies and made quite a few medium and high-risk investments along the way.

Paul Moore’s Most Important Business Lessons

High Risk Does Not Equal High Returns

People often think that to get high returns, they have to take on high risk.

Instead of high risk leading to high returns, Paul Moore says that high risk leads to the potential of high returns, and more so to the potential of higher loss.  Often, people think they’re investing, when really, they’re speculating or gambling.

Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas. – Paul Samuelson, the First American to win the Nobel Prize in Economics

According to Paul, investing is when your principal is safe, and you have a chance to make a return.

In contrast, the definition of speculating is when your principal is not at all safe, and there’s a chance to make a return.

His wisdom comes from several experiences speculating when he thought he was investing, and consequently, losing a lot of money.

The Importance of Giving

There is a universal law that you will get back in proportion to what you give.

When Paul Moore was $2.5 Million in debt in 2007, he decided to model George Mueller’s heroic story of giving.  Paul made the most counterintuitive decision to give his way...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhhCWKRRSvU

The #1 most effective way to increase your cash flow today is to be the bank. In order to be the bank you have to think like the bank.  Banking generates voluminous cash flow.  There are rules for how the bank operates that have established banking as the most powerful business model in the world.  You can follow these rules to increase your cash flow, starting from whatever income you have today.  This secret hidden in plain sight is the catalyst to increase your cash flow and take control of your financial destiny, without cutting back, working harder, or taking on more risk.

Let’s build your bridge to time and money freedom by increasing your cash flow with the one most powerful step.  We’ll answer:

* Why focus on cash flow?* What is cash flow?* How do I increase my cash flow?

We’ll give you the seven rules banks use that give them the upper hand.

When you utilize these rules in your own economy, you’ll stop having so many dollars flow out of your hands, and you’ll start keeping and controlling more of your money.

You’ll leverage the magic of compound interest, so you earn it, instead of paying it.

Instead of making costly mistakes by following typical advice, you’ll think for yourself and take control.

Rather than building the empires of banks, Wall Street, and financial institutions, you’ll begin building your own financial destiny.

Where Increasing Your Cash Flow Fits into the Cash Flow System

It may seem obvious that increasing your cash flow is a critical component of your cash flow system.  I mean, that’s the part of your life that is all about cash flow, right?  But here’s how it fits in the bigger picture exactly:

The Cash Flow System moves you from survival, with little to no cash flow, to significance, where you have abundant cash flow from assets.

In the foundational phase, you start by keeping more of the money you make.  In the next phase, you protect your money.  Finally, you make more money and increase your cash flow.

Thinking like a bank is part of all three stages and allows you to increase your cash flow.

Most importantly, it’s part of your mindset in the foundational phase.   Your mindset is what allows you to reduce your money leaks and keep more of your money.

In the second phase, thinking like a bank allows you to protect your money, earn uninterrupted compound interest, and save like the wealthy.

Finally, employing banking principles allows you to utilize cash-flowing assets to build time and money freedom.

What Is Cash Flow?

Cash flow is when you have more money at the end of your month.

Cash flow is the money that you’re not using up each month,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhhCWKRRSvU

The #1 most effective way to increase your cash flow today is to think like the bank.  Banking generates voluminous cash flow.  There are rules for how the bank operates that have established banking as the most powerful business model in the world.  You can follow these rules to increase your cash flow, starting from whatever income you have today.  This secret hidden in plain sight is the catalyst to increase your cash flow and take control of your financial destiny, without cutting back, working harder, or taking on more risk.

Let’s build your bridge to time and money freedom by increasing your cash flow with the one most powerful step.  We’ll answer:

Why focus on cash flow?What is cash flow?How do I increase my cash flow?

We’ll give you the seven rules banks use that give them the upper hand.

When you utilize these rules in your own economy, you’ll stop having so many dollars flow out of your hands, and you’ll start keeping and controlling more of your money.

You’ll leverage the magic of compound interest, so you earn it, instead of paying it.

Instead of making costly mistakes by following typical advice, you’ll think for yourself and take control.

Rather than building the empires of banks, Wall Street, and financial institutions, you’ll begin building your own financial destiny.

Table of contentsWhere Increasing Your Cash Flow Fits into the Cash Flow SystemWhat Is Cash Flow?Two Levels of Cash FlowWhy Focus on Cash Flow Now?Increase Your Cash Flow Today to Accelerate Time and Money FreedomHow to Increase Your Cash FlowThe #1 Cause of Limited Cash Flow and How to Overcome ItThree Mindset Shifts to Achieve Time and Money FreedomMindset Shift 1: From Accumulation to Cash FlowMindset Shift 2: From Retirement to Financial FreedomMindset Shift 3: From Scarcity to AbundanceYou and the BankYou Can Start Thinking Like the Bank or Be a Customer of the BankBanking 101: The Seven Rules of the Bank#1) Banks Want Cash Flow#2) Banks Earn InterestMake That Compound Interest#3) Banks Use Leverage#4) Banks Use OPM (Other People’s Money)#5) Banks Want Money Back Faster#6) Banks Take the Guarantees#7) Banks Want Low Risk and Guaranteed ReturnsModel the BankOne of the Most Effective Ways to Model the BankBuild Your Time and Money Freedom

Where Increasing Your Cash Flow Fits into the Cash Flow System

It may seem obvious that increasing your cash flow is a critical component of your cash flow system.  I mean, that’s the part of your life that is all about cash flow, right?  But here’s how it fits in the bigger picture exactly:

The Cash Flow System moves you from survival, with little to no cash flow, to significance, where you have abundant cash flow from assets.

In the foundational phase, you start by keeping more of the money you make.  In the next phase, you protect your money.  Finally, you make more money and increase your cash flow.

Thinking like a bank is part of all three stages and allows you to increase your cash flow.

Most importantly, it’s part of your mindset in the foundational phase.   Your mindset is what allows you to reduce your money leaks and keep more of your money.

In the second phase, thinking like a bank allows you to protect your money, earn uninterrupted compound interest, and save like the wealthy.

Finally, employing banking principles allows you to utilize cash-flowing assets to build time and money freedom.

What Is Cash Flow?

Cash flow is when you have more money at the end of your month.

Cash flow is the money that you’re not using up each month, that you can instead set aside and store up.  When you have cash flow, you have money left over in your monthly economy.

Determine your current monthly cash flow with this simple equation:

Cash Flow = Income – Expenses

Having more cash flow gives you more options, and options give you freedom and control.

Two Levels of Cash Flow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzIkG9x3u1g

If you listen to the “financial experts” on tv or the radio, you will hear the typical blanket advice that you should put money into a 401(k).  But the question is, does that advice apply to everybody?  To get as much of an insider’s perspective as we could find, we interviewed Ted Benna, "inventor" of the 401(k). During this insightful conversation, we discussed the purpose of the 401(k), its history, shortcomings, and the need for reform.  This interview was forthright about why there’s a coming retirement crisis and what you can do about it if you want to take control of your financial destiny.

In this episode, we’ll help you answer:

* What does the 401(k) help me accomplish?* Is the 401(k) right for me?

If you remember in How to Find Your Best Investments, we discussed that your investing strategy will be unique to you.  You maximize your gains when you take an active role in investing in what you know and control.

So, where does the 401(k) fit for you?

Individual Goals Create Individual Strategies

Here at The Money Advantage, our objectives are to help you keep and control more of your money.  As an entrepreneur, you want control, access to your money, liquidity, cash flow, and tax advantages as possible.  A 401(k) doesn’t support those goals.

However, to promote your education, it’s valuable to round out your perspective by considering the full discussion.  When you increase your knowledge, you gain the ability to make decisions and build confidence that you’re doing what’s best.

Whether or not a 401(k) is a fit for you, it’s in your best interest to understand them.  401(k)s may be a part of providing solutions.

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. – F. Scott Fitzgerald

In this previous conversation about abundance, we discussed why being open-minded and considering contrasting information is critical to learning:

Unless you’re willing to expand your map, nothing new exists for you.  When we come into a conversation with people who see differently, it’s important to recognize that if we both had the same map, we’d think the same way. When we each defend our own interpretation of the facts, it leads to conflict.  The only way you can learn something new is to be willing to step off of your map and onto someone else’s.  It’s not about who’s right, but about learning what else is possible.

Today, we’re jumping onto the map of someone with a different perspective so that we can expand our own map.  We invite you to do the same.

Different Perspectives

While you’ll notice a great deal of common ground in our philosophy and perspective, we don’t agree on everything.  We do agree that there are problems, but we do not completely agree about how to solve them.

One specific distinction is that we do not view putting money in a 401(k) to be