LEONOR HERRERA

Making the decision to shift to a wealth mindset is the first step of many towards building a wealth legacy. Taking action is the second step. Both steps are very important but maybe not the most important. The most important step towards a long-lasting wealth mindset is not allowing a setback to undo all you have accomplished.

Sometimes making a change is easier when everything is going right. Let’s use weight management as an example: Everything is easy as long as the numbers on the scale keep going down and you can get out an exercise regularly... then BOOM! Life throws you a curveball. You twist your ankle and end up in a cast for six weeks. Suddenly, your success isn’t as easy. Being sedentary and feeling blue, the cakes are calling and there’s no way to burn up the calories. That setback can undo your weight loss success if you don’t modify your thoughts and actions. 

You may find that you are doing all the rights things. You’ve…

✔Gotten an advisor

✔Made a budget

✔E...

Your family is always watching…  

It’s true. Most of what your family takes in about life and how to live it comes from what you say and the behaviors you have regarding what you say. Tiny humans are like sponges, and they make assumptions about life based on the modeling you do every day of their lives. Why not model a smart money mindset for your family?

 Parents are faced with some big decisions as their children grow. How much they can share about real-life situations and if they do share, how honest they should be about them. It is important to match a child’s development to the level of information they receive. Likewise, it is important to not place undo responsibility or expectations onto children who aren’t supposed to carry a parent’s burden.

This can make it really hard to share certain struggles that a family may face in the financial realm. Failing to be honest about financial issues can lead to fairytales where life magically happens for children who grow up ill-equip...

We’ve all seen wildly generous people as well as stingy misers that never share any resources. Both might be wealthy, which proves money doesn’t buy happiness. Their wealth doesn’t guarantee that they are better people just because they have wealth.

Money is a magnifier. It puts a spotlight on your personality and projects it onto the big screen of your community. If you are a jerk without money, you’ll likely be a jerk with it. If you are fabulous when you are broke, chances are you will be extra fabulous when the wealth comes your way.

People attribute a lot of their personal satisfaction on how easy life is. How wealthy they perceive themselves to be translates to the ease they expect to have in life. Foolishly thinking you’ll be nicer when things are easier is… well, foolish.

Having more money doesn’t guarantee a better life. It won’t make you happier or easier to be around. Having a good attitude begins humbly when there’s only you and all you have to offer is yours...

“What you think about, you bring about.” - Bob Proctor

 It’s true that energy flows to the things you think about but thinking about things isn’t going to make them happen. Having a wealth mindset isn’t going to make money bags drop from the sky into your lap. Having a great attitude about wealth is the first step. The steps that come after lead to wealth appearing.

A wealth mindset isn’t just about attitude, it’s about behavior.

Moving from hoping things can change, to believing they can, to doing something about change is the flow that creates the wealth. How you live day-to-day creates the behaviors that take the mindset into practical experience. Let’s look at a few behaviors that shift a lifestyle from lack to wealth:

Saving- Saving is a wealth mindset behavior. Saving indicates that you know that living for tomorrow is equally important to living for today.

Giving- Giving is a wealth mindset behavior. Helping those in need helps the community and the individual you are ...

Isn’t it funny how being unable to have something makes you want it more? If you are dieting, that donut seems to be the only thing between you and eternal happiness. If you are broke, nothing in your closet fits or looks good and shopping - being out of the question - is all you want to do. In many cases, not being able to be, do, or have something seems to cause pain and suffering. Even if it never has in the past.

In the same way, living within your means can cause fear and anxiety to well up inside you. Imagining that you are unable to have whatever you want, whenever you want feels like the ultimate denial. Like a punishment.

Living within your means shouldn’t feel stifling or like denial. It should feel:

• Powerful
• Mature
• Responsible
• High-functioning

These are all amazing things to be celebrated. Living within your means isn’t about lack, it’s about freedom!

It’s hard to believe that living within your means is even necessary. Anything can be bought on c...

Retail therapy is the term used to describe shopping as a distraction from things that make us anxious. A diversion from whatever is causing problems in life. Sounds sort of fun and sort of dangerous, doesn’t it?

It is.

Doing any activity to distract or numb negative feelings totally unrelated to the activity causes double for your trouble. The term eating your feelings comes to mind. Eating the wrong foods to stop anxiety causes weight gain… and more anxiety. Shopping to distract oneself from problems causes debt... and more problems.

Can retail therapy ever be a good thing?

Actually, yes.

If you are one of the millions of people who love the hunt for a bargain, or designing or decorating a home or your body, shopping can be an exhilarating experience. If holding a shopping bag is your thing, then there isn’t anything wrong with finding pleasure in shopping. They key is to be intentional and responsible with your habit, umm… your shopping.

Here’s how:

• Never shop out of impul...

What we think about, we bring about. What we speak, we create. It’s that simple. The things we think and the things we say determine our outcomes in life. If we speak doom and gloom, that’s what we will find. If we speak life and love…. we find it too.

In this moment, you may have a bank account in the red and feel under employed and over extended. Your reality might look bleak and hopeless, but what you say about your reality determines your future. Sure, things may seem dire, but you can do something that doesn’t cost a dime to change things. Stop having these two conversations about money:

1. Stop saying there’s not enough.
2. Stop blaming your lack on someone or something else.  

It’s possible there’s not enough at this moment. I know that you can list a bunch of reasons why your lack is connected to someone or something else but leaning into those conversations is keeping you tied to their realities.

Stop having conversations about there not being enough and it bei...

There are “laws” of the universe that don’t make sense in the natural. Gravity is a law that makes sense when you are within Earth’s atmosphere but doesn’t seem to apply in space. Another law is generosity - how giving things away actually creates more. It might not make sense in the context of living paycheck to paycheck but being generous no matter how much or how little you have creates wealth.

Generosity creates a synergy that boomerangs and comes back to you in a compounding way. What you put out truly comes back.

Let’s see how:

Generosity creates a kind heart- Giving to others creates kindness between the giver and the receiver. Knowing you are making an impact on someone else creates a warmth and the sort of pride that isn’t selfish - it’s selfless.

Generosity opens eyes- Stingy people filter the world through a lens of lack. They see people in need as, well, needy. They see those who have less as unfortunate but not their problem. They believe that others in n...

Have you heard the story about the fleas in a jar? A flea has the capacity to jump very high and very far. Left to its own devices, a flea has an unimaginable ability to jump considering its size. A little flea with no limits has all the choices in the world right at the end of their good, long jump; however, if you put a flea in a jar and add a lid, the flea will adjust their jump to avoid bonking that lid. Even after the lid is removed, the flea only jumps their modified jump. This is due to the fact the flea believes the lid is there.

Sometimes people are like little financial fleas. They seem to think there is a lid on their financial jar and they will only expand so far to earn. They have every potential in front of them for limitless earning but stop short of the perceived lid for fear of pain.

Let’s take a look at some common reasons people put a lid on their money-making capabilities:

They had a bad experience- The biggest reason someone has a lid on their income-ea...

When taking a deep dive into the lack money mindset, one of the biggest indicators is the belief that working hard is the key to wealth and success. If this were true, slaves would hold all the riches in the world. Working hard does not guarantee wealth.

A wealth mindset sees the value of hard work but doesn’t relegate the work to extended hours or back-breaking feats of strength and endurance. Those with a wealth mindset have adopted the philosophy of working smart, not hard.

Working smart, not hard is a concept that allows for hard work as well as delegation, outsourcing, and maximizing resources in such a way that the goals are met with ease. Let’s take a look at an example:

Example: Tammy’s Bakery. Tammy is a baker who loves to make her grandmother’s recipes. Tammy started a bakery that serves her mid-sized community. In the beginning, Tammy did all the baking as well as all the marketing, ordering, and sales. Initially, it was fun and exciting, and Tammy learned abou...