Nicole's Commentary 2 February 2009

How is generational wealth created? By using financial discipline of paying yourself 10% of your income first and investing that money over time. But you must first allow yourself to be wealthy. We have to give ourselves permission to afford the lifestyle, responsibilities and habits that the wealthy have. From the consumerist article (http://consumerist.com/consumer/bad-decisions/1-in-3-lottery-winners-broke-within-5-years-316502.php), 1 in 3 lottery winners go BROKE within 5 years. These instant millionaires have not developed the habits to retain wealth. I have personally seen a family receive multiple 6 figures from a life insurance policy, buy 2 houses in the suburbs to eventually lose the houses to foreclosure within 4 years. The family then had to return back to the original house in a worse financial situation then before they got the money. One of the mistakes they made, among many others, was starting a business without the network and resources to sustain the business.

A network marketing executive recently told me a saying that continually plays in my mind “How you do anything is how you do everything”. In my own life, I am attending the wealth building seminar at IKEA as a student. I have had 2 practice rounds at building wealth. Just like it took me 3 attempts at weight loss to finally learn from the correct teacher (Thank you, Melanie Marchand) and add the healthy life style disciplines of cutting down on carbohydrates at night and adding 32 ounces of water to my diet. This time, I will implement the financial disciplines that are required to build wealth by budgeting the required 10% percent, giving 10% to charity, setting 10% away for fun, using 10% to continually improve myself and living on just 50% of my income (Thank you, Brian Williams for that formula).

When I opened my fortune cookie from my favorite Chinese Truck on 38th and Walnut, my fortune read “You will spend old age in comfort and material wealth”. I plan on doing everything possible by learning from the DiversePhilly network to make that fortune come true!