Air $upply

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Ihave to start by thanking my virtuous wife, June. From reading early drafts to giving me advice on the cover to constant encouragement from start to finish she was a stalwart. There were also the many years of behind the scenes help, organization, exchange of ideas, sagacious viewpoints and wise counsel that afforded me the opportunity to pursue a life as a Financial Advisor (FA). Proverbs 31:10 asked a question that I have been able to definitively answer I can! since 1996. Thank you so much, Hon.

My lil’ brother Sean, a deep thinker with a cosmopolitan viewpoint that helped shape the contents of this book.

My mentor Mike Rosner. Though being younger than me in years he was older than I was in money management and took me under his wings while I was a struggling FA. Through selfless intervention he gave me opportunity and provided tools, strategies and guidance to build success for my clients which in turn built success for me as a FA. Big Time Thanks, Mike.

My editor Shaakirah. Thank you for patience and guidance through the tedious, least fun, most rewarding part of this endeavor.

My cover design team – Becel Dubreuze II (B2), Shane Gross and ultimately the final cover designer and creator my nephew, Marquise Williams. Thank you!

My Mom. Forget the clothes off her back; my Mom would take the teeth out her head to give to her children if that’s what we needed to eat our food (of which she’s an awesome cook too!!) If I only sold one book, I would not have to ever wonder who the purchaser was.  Doesn’t it all start with Mom? Thank you, Mommy.

My sons, Q & Mars. The reasons why I strive to be a good example. Special shout out to Marselis for challenging me to write this book before he wrote his book. I’ll leave it to your imagination on who won. :)

Jesus. Without Him my life and everything in it would be meaningless. With Him, life is good.

PREFACE

As we course through life, we continually witness commerce all around us. Food, clothing and shelter, being the most common and ubiquitous forms of commerce, compete against such things like electronics, travel, leisure and other commercial items. Money is the primary conduit to transact in all these items of commerce, yet money seems hard to come by and indeed elusive to many, if not most people. This book is intended to inform on how money is produced in the private sphere, that is, in the life of individual persons. Though mentioned and touched on, it is not intended to explain macroeconomic (how the economy runs on a national or global scale) principles nor is it intended to solve any deficiencies on that level. Though actionable steps for better money management are mentioned throughout, the main focus will be on the attitudes toward and approaches to money. This book is intended for anyone who is over the age of majority (typically age eighteen in most states), who has a job or receives an income. In short, if you handle money as a legal adult, this book is for you.

Now this may seem as an overly broad audience, but think about it; how many people have had great incomes yet still no savings or not enough savings? That means if you are what many people consider ‘rich,’ this book can help you get the savings you desire. How many people make an income but struggle from paycheck-to-paycheck? Most people consider that person an average Joe. That being the case, this book will help you move from paycheck-to-paycheck to a virtuous money producing cycle. How many people work or get some kind of income but always feel as if they are one incident away from being totally ruined financially? This book will help you get to that place of financially breathing easier, much easier than you ever have before.

Though Biblical references will be made sparingly, this book is not intended to be spiritually evangelistic. It is intended to be financially evangelistic, meaning, it is intended to change long-held approaches, attitudes and knowledge about money that makes less efficient use of money largely to the detriment of the money holder (that’s you!).

References to extreme and uncommon wealth will be made as well as to poverty and financial distress. This book is not intended to solve the root cause of either. It does not seek to carry favor of one in opposition to the other. This book will inform the rich such that they can better interact with their poor or poorer neighbor and it will educate the poor or less rich reader to continually make efficient use of money to achieve their desired goals.

Lastly, this book is intended to convey useful information from my years as a trusted financial advisor. During that time, I have come across various situations that demonstrate how fear, misinformation, lack of information and ignorance, willful and/or otherwise, have led to less than desirable outcomes in the lives of many people that I have either spoken with, counseled, delivered seminars to or simply overheard. Equally true is that I have seen how good information and discipline has led to many people achieving their goals. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, who is a legal adult and handles money can benefit from this book. As I state further on, I state now: the one thing I cannot do is provide the discipline for the benefit to be effective. That discipline must come from you, the reader.  The things discussed herein, when employed, can increase your money production allowing you better air supply to financially breathe easier.

Surely some will be offended by things written here — not because what’s written is necessarily offensive, but sometimes consumers seek to magnify a distorted interpretation of a statement. The intention is not to offend. This book will likely delight others — not because I’m a gifted writer or have the wisdom of Solomon to impart to the masses but because of the truthfulness of what is being told and how readily it may connect to your own experience.

So with these things in mind, I now encourage you to read on and hopefully you will not only enjoy but take action such that you obtain even more joy.

INTRODUCTION

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Gen 2:7 —KJV

Through the progression of a pregnancy, a child experiences a comfy, warm environment in a cocoon where it is fed, nourished, protected and has the opportunity to grow. From the time of conception, anticipation builds over the ensuing nine months as everyone excitedly awaits the arrival of this new bundle of joy. Congratulations are in order! In what appears to be a small miracle, a child is born! It is birthed into an environment that is not the same comfy, warm, nourishing and protected place from whence it came, yet there is no less joy as everyone celebrates the new birth.

Though none of us remember the experience of our own birth, we can imagine that in moving from that comfy cocoon to this ‘brand new world’ there is a longing to return to a warm embrace and satisfying nutrition that the womb provided.  As important and necessary as the warm embrace of loving arms or the life sustaining benefits of food is, before that child is held by the attending healthcare staff, before being caressed by the mother, father or other family members, before sucking its finger or a pacifier, before taking its first attempt of nourishment from a bottle or breast, that child has to breathe. It is the process of moving from one environment to another that calls for the child to adapt, to get accustomed to the new reality of breathing on its own. Try as they may, the doctor, nurse, mother, father, grandparents, siblings and host of others that have a vested interest in that child, none can take that first or subsequent breaths for that child. That’s how important air is for our existence and survival and how important it is for us to play our part in properly breathing air. Air is necessary for human life. Money is not. Money is not air. But money is like air.

Money isn’t everything; yet we classify it right up there next to oxygen. Why is this the case? It’s because there are certain characteristics that apply to this necessary-for-life-entity we call air that also applies to money regardless of a person’s ethnicity, region, economic system, political ideology or affiliation. In the same way that air is indispensable for life and living, money is directly situated for our financial life and living and in many cases, for life and living itself.  In fact, money is much like air — it’s  everywhere; it’s borderless; national/international borders cannot contain it, only modify it. It can be contracted. It can be expanded. It can be polluted. You can never possess too much of it but having too little can be fatal; we possess it for a finite amount of time.

Let me pose a question or two: When was the last time you thought about breathing? I mean when have you seriously thought to yourself: I wonder where my next breath is coming from? Now when was the last time you thought about money? Was it last month, last week, last night or a second ago? See what I mean? Most, if not all of us, rarely give thought to the air we breathe. I don’t mean macro or global air such as climate change, pollution and the like but the very molecule of air we just inhaled. Yet many, if not most of us, think continually about earning or making or taking, spending, giving, winning, saving, stashing or simply just holding money. Think money is not important? Think people don’t see it as important as air? Think again.

In the pages that follow, we’ll explore how you can take advantage of this air-like quality of money to financially breathe easier, accomplish your goals and build a legacy that survives long after you stop breathing.

CHAPTER 1

AIR $UPPLY

Earth’s atmosphere is composed of air. Wherever humanity makes a residence on the planet, one can be sure that air will be present. The economies of present-day civilized societies are based on money. As air supplies the necessary precursor to human settlements across the planet, money supplies the necessary precursor to economic activity wherever human settlements can be found on the planet. Money, therefore, is like air supply for an economy. And not just the economy of a town, city, state or nation but also for an individual, a family, a group or an organization. Be mindful that money only has value because people agree to give it value. Unlike air, which is priceless and has value that exceeds just about all other elements on the planet, money, by and large, has no intrinsic value. Currency and other financial instruments may not have any value on their own but become valuable when there is broad general agreement to use them.

For example, consider Confederate paper money and Monopoly money. Both have a similar composition (paper-based, ink, images) and both have certain utility: Monopoly