B.w.

This Book Belongs To:

Limited edition hand-bound copy number:

About The Author The Author wishes to remain as anonymous as possible. The reason is that he no longer seeks fame or publicity. The sincere seeker will be able to uncover his identity if they desire it. However, it is the message of this book which is important, not who wrote it. Since the focus of this book is wealth creation, the reader needs to know that The Author is a multi-millionaire who has trained over 30,000 students worldwide in the methods of achieving wealth, power and freedom in their lives. This is mentioned only to give the reader confidence that The Author knows his subject and is qualified to write upon it. The Author wishes you every success in your pursuit of these goals – the same goals which have been attained by millions of people before you. Note Various amounts of money are mentioned throughout the book. If you are reading this book many years after it was written, please just index-up these amounts to bring them into modern money. For example if you are reading this book ten years after publication, then £10,000 should probably be £20,000 or more.

For legal reasons we are obliged to state the following: Disclaimer: To the fullest extent permitted by law, the publishers are providing this written material, its subsidiary elements and its contents on an ‘as is’ basis and make no (and expressly disclaim all) representations or warranties of any kind with respect to this material or its contents including, without limitation, advice and recommendations, warranties or merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The author is not a psychologist or Independent Financial Advisor - the information is given for entertainment purposes only. In addition, the publishers do not represent or warrant that the information accessible via this material is accurate, complete or current. To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither the publishers or any of its affiliates, partners, directors, employees or other representatives will be liable for damages arising out of or in connection with the use of this material. This is a comprehensive limitation of liability that applies to all damages of any kind, including (without limitation) compensatory, direct, indirect or consequential damages, loss of data, income or profit, loss of or damage to property and claims of third parties.

Copyright Material All rights reserved. No reproduction, copying or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted without written permission, or in accordance with the Copyright Act 1956 (amended). All cartoons, diagrams and comic strips are copyright to the original artist. No reproduction of the cartoons, diagrams, drawings or comic strips is permitted without prior permission from the publishers. This book is sold for entertainment purposes only, and the author, publishers and/or distributors are not responsible for any actions taken as a result of reading it.

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Published in the UK by: Wealthshare limited, 268 Bath Road, Slough, SL1 4DX United Kingdom

Section One The Teachings

Grade One: The Beginning 1.

I am The Author. You are The Seeker.

Who I am is not important. The message is. If you are highly motivated you can find me, but that should not be your primary purpose. 2.

You seek after something dimly glimpsed. You cannot yet manifest it. It hides for now, waiting to be discovered. These teachings will help you reveal this treasure. 3.

What you really seek is... you. You are what you seek. Right now, that probably seems mysterious. 4.

Like a rare diamond lying in crude mantle; like a sleeping princess under an evil spell; like a prince in beggar’s rags, the real you awaits discovery. 5.

6.

You have been waiting all of your life. Now it is time to wake up and be magnificent.

You have been dreaming. All is not as it seems. The world you see has not the solidity you imagine. It is mostly empty space inhabited by a boiling mass of quarks and photons masquerading as ships and string and sealing wax and cabbages and kings.

7.

The society you inhabit is a giant ‘construct’ carefully built to keep you asleep and dreaming, in service to your masters. 8.

The opaque veil between you and what you seek is woven from your illusions. Each thread is a belief, each stitch an opinion. Together they make a picture called ‘ego’. Nothing can be seen behind or through its projections. Your task is to tear down the veil and reveal the hidden temple. 9.

The picture woven in the fabric of the veil is the illusory you. It is your reflection. One illusion reflects another. Look around you and see the infinite hall of mirrors and the myriad virtual images shimmering and bending.

10.

11.

This we call Wonderland.

1

Grade Two: Welcome to Wonderland 1.

Wonderland is where you live. It is where you are now, reading this.

It is a place of enemies and a place of allies. To achieve your dreams you must identify the enemies and avoid them. You must identify your allies and cleave to them. Above all, to survive and prosper, you must wake up from your dream. 2.

3. Wonderland is the society which surrounds you. It is a giant ‘construct’ comprising belief systems called ‘memes’. It is largely illusory, but it feels very real.

Wonderland is inhabited by deeply unconscious beings called Thralls – derived from the word enthralled. You are a Thrall as was The Author before he woke up. Until now, you have been asleep and dreaming your life away, trapped in the construct which is called Wonderland. You have spent your life so far creating and maintaining your own corner of this illusory world. 4.

5. Most people are so firmly ensnared in slavery and illusion that even mild disclosures about the true nature of Wonderland can provoke a powerful backlash.

People do not want to wake up. They do not like having their ‘safety blanket’ illusions stripped away from them and they will become annoyed if this is done to them. They have been conned all of their lives but cannot bear to have this pointed out to them. You need to wake up quickly. You do not have unlimited time to realise your vision and greatness.

6.

7. Wonderland

is a ‘world view’ promulgated by everyone, but in particular by those with a vested interest in dream-weaving. This dream they weave is very convincing – it seems indistinguishable from reality. The dream is used to extract values from the weak and gullible Thralls. Failure to realise this prevents you from achieving your true desires.

Guiltless wealth and true personal power can only be achieved by waking up from your dream world – by escaping from the illusion which is Wonderland.

8.

If you believe you are awake already, think about your life and how it is right now. Are you living your dream life? Are you wealthy? Powerful? Free? Does ‘something’ seem to be holding you down into poverty and powerlessness? Have you ever wondered what that ‘something’ was? 9.

10.Waking

up from Wonderland is essential and non-negotiable if you are to progress Beyond Wealth. This is because Wonderland is an illusion and wealth is created in this world by facing the facts of reality. Power and Freedom are obtained by waking up to the truth about yourself, other people and the world. This means exposing Wonderland for the ‘construct’ that it is. Happiness is obtained not by mindless consumerism, accumulation of status possessions and building ego-empires – it is attained by being in balance with the world, free and helping others. 11.

Wonderland is constructed by others – and by you. It is created by our egos filtering reality down to a tiny sliver which we are pleased to call ‘the truth’. Other Thralls apply different filters, manifesting different ‘truths’. There is almost one truth system per Thrall. There is Israeli truth and Arab truth; boss truth and worker truth; rich woman’s truth and poor man’s truth; freedom fighter truth and terrorist truth. How does your truth serve you? How does it harm you? 12.

2

All of these billions of truths are woven together to construct Wonderland. It is here that you live and move and have your being. 13.

Because your filter only gives you a small sliver of The Truth, it would be fair to call your current version of reality an illusion. A single hair plucked from a leopard is, of course, real; but it is not a leopard. To believe it to be so would be to believe in an illusion.

14.

The Thralls are fast asleep or at best, barely conscious. They firmly believe they are awake and fully conscious of course, but this, like their lives, is an illusion too. You have been in a long dream – or a nightmare. But the dream seems so real it is hard to accept that you are barely conscious. It is painful but liberating to know that you have largely slept your life away so far.

15.

All of the pain, all of the suffering, all of the hate and tears in the world arise from a single cause – mankind’s unconsciousness.

16.

The Fate of Thralls Thralls are destined to be born, to work, to consume, to entertain themselves and to die after being drained of their usefulness. Their life energies go mainly into maintaining and building their corner of the illusion called Wonderland. They rarely glimpse their true purpose. They die leaving the world a slightly poorer place than when they arrived.

17.

One person in every million is ready to wake up and expose the illusion which is Wonderland. Is this you? Such a person desires wealth, power and freedom in their life. Are you the one? 18.

If you are not ‘the one’ then you may experience some of the following feelings whilst reading these teachings: gradually mounting irritation; a ‘hot under the collar’ feeling as your previously solid world is wobbled slightly; a strong desire to stop reading, bolt for cover and dive deeper into Wonderland for comfort and security.

19.

Most people do not have what it takes to wake up (or even realise there is anything to wake up to!). They are happy to drift and dream their lives away, floating down stream in the lazy current, carried this way and that by their whims and random events until they die. They are part of someone else’s story but never the author of their own. 20.

Are you willing to wake up? If you are tired of having less money and power than you would like, it is due to your fear and deep ignorance on the one hand, and the fact that you have been cheated out of what is rightfully yours by external ‘con artists’ on the other hand – and you have been asleep enough to allow them to take it. 21.

Whilst you have been dozing on the ‘bridge’, pirates have taken over your ship and have been busy steering it in the direction they want to take it. They thrive on somnambulant Thralls who they can exploit at their leisure. You are supposed to be the captain, but you have been slumped over the wheel, so… your ship and cargo have been free for the taking.

22.

Unsuspected by you, you have been stripped of the bulk of your money and kept powerless by forces you only dimly suspect. You have been lied to and manipulated by others who want your money, time and talents. You have been side-tracked from the path of financial freedom, actualization and real happiness. This is why most people live in quiet desperation – never achieving real wealth or contentment; not really understanding 23.

3

what is going on; believing the media, politicians, religions, adverts, films and TV. Living powerless ‘dream-lives’ in slavery to the system. 24. And that means they never get to realise their true, brilliant potential, make themselves wealthy and free, and make the world a better place.

Are you weary of never having enough money to pay your bills, let alone enjoy the good things in life? Are you angry at being pushed around by society, bosses, religions, businesses, governments and anyone else who feels like conning you out of your life values? There is a long list of people with their palms stretched out to take your money and talents if you are willing to let them. 25.

26. These teachings offer the key to crafting a life which can make you and your family wealthy and allow you to fulfil your true destiny. This is not a fantasy. Millions have achieved this. You could do it too.

But only a few are ready for wealth and freedom. Most long to stay wrapped in the comforting illusion of Wonderland, despite their protestations to the contrary. 27.

28.

You can break free, if you will it. Are you ready?

4

Grade Three: Choosing a Better Life 1.

This is how you are: broke and powerless. This is not criticism, it is an awakening.

If you cannot walk out of the door today, a free man or woman, never needing to work again as long as you live, you are a trapped wage slave, no matter how high your salary. 2.

Most personal power has been stripped from you long ago, leaving you with just the illusion of having power. You have agency only within the tight confines allowed to you by Wonderland and its masters. 3.

Your energies are being squandered on trivia and sacrificed on the altar of routine. This has been going on for a very long time – all of your life in fact. You are trapped in a near identical series of days spent in servitude to an idol you secretly despise. This is unbearable for you to face and so you pretend to believe in this idol and its world. The pretence allows you to get through another day whilst your tortured soul is screaming for release. In this way you help to construct your particular corner of Wonderland. 4.

Your work is unfulfilling to your deeper self – a mere means to an end which is base survival, tempered with a few small luxuries. You are prostituting your incredible talents and irreplaceable life-energies for a modest income which is spent mostly on survival and entertainment. 5.

Right now, you are a willing slave to this system, but something deep within you, barely glimpsed, yearns to be free from this tyranny. You groan under the weight of holding up the world and long to drop this heavy load. You hope one day to walk out into the sunlight – a free person. Something in you knows that only then can you begin to live. 6.

Yet all of this is only dimly seen in brief moments of lucidness before falling asleep again. Such thoughts are quickly suppressed as your dominant emotion – fear – impels you to scrabble again for security, comfort and status. Days pass. Months pass. Years pass. 7.

Time is running out, yet you pretend it is infinite. Soon there will be no more time. The moment for you to shine is now. 8.

But you cannot shine if you are deeply in thrall to the twin enemies of fear and ignorance. These teachings will release you from both. 9.

You are terrified of change; you have a mortal fear of the unknown. This freezes you into inaction and dull routine. Fear drives you to cling to the known, even as it slowly destroys you. 10.

You have another secret fear: that you are talented beyond measure; that your power may know no bounds; that you have the energy and ability to make the world a better place and to help your fellow travellers. You fear this because if you allowed yourself to glimpse it, you would have to throw off your shackles and take bold, decisive action. You would have to change. Slavery is more comforting and this is why you choose it. The Master is not so bad. The hours are bearable. The work is not too excruciating. You can survive for another year and then maybe see... 11.

Now is the time to vow to change all this – it is totally within your power. All that is required is to wake up, become angry at what you have allowed to happen to you and then to take action.

12.

5

Here is what such a change could look like for you. You are financially free. That means never having to work another day if you do not want to. You have enough money to live a comfortable life but you have transcended ego and so your life is devoid of status possessions. You are working with passion, energy and enthusiasm in work which you love and which you believe is making a real difference to others. You are happy and contented. You are free from almost all fear. You are an inspiration to others who seek out your wisdom and guidance. This and more is within your grasp right now. Whilst small in percentage terms, millions have achieved it, so this is not some fantasy.

13.

Will you take the steps that are needed to arrive at this state yourself? Maybe this is why you are reading this book. 14.

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Grade Four: Regaining Your Independence This is how you are. You have allowed yourself to become a weak dependant. This is not criticism it is an awakening. 1.

Compared with your ancestors and compared with others far less fortunate than yourself in the world today, you are weak beyond belief. You have sacrificed your dignity and freedom for illusory safety. 2.

You have allowed yourself to become soft and complacent with very little fight left. Your warrior spirit has been broken, but not on the rocks of hard fought battles. Your passion is a barely glowing cinder which never was scorched by the flames of a life lived in the furnace of trials. 3.

You sold your soul for comfort and safety long before the chance of real adventure could arise. Whilst the few set sail for exotic new worlds, you remained on shore, working in a humble counting house for a regular shilling a week. You are not alone. This is the choice of the majority. 4.

It is fear which keeps you here. Fear of failure and fear of success. You are terrified of responsibility and wish for others to relieve you of this burden. They are happy to oblige because the price you are willing to pay is – everything. Your life, your soul, your freedom, your happiness and your wealth – all will be gladly given by you, if only they will promise basic comfort and safety. 5.

Some are dependent upon cradle-to-grave government paternalism. Nearly half of all people are net recipients of government money. We expect the government to educate us, feed us, protect us from enemies, compensate us if we are injured or financially embarrassed, provide roads, railways and healthcare. Any attempts to reduce government handouts are met with howls of indignation from the Thralls. 6.

Some depend on religion with its message of a ‘loving father’ watching over us and protecting us – a personal saviour to whom we can pray when the going gets tough. Others bow and scrape in supplication to God directly, moaning incantations and begging for special favours, prostrating themselves in the dust. Government and religious paternalism resonates with our deepest desire to be children again and to return to a time when our allwise, all-loving parents would make everything alright; to a time when we were loved unconditionally and had no responsibilities. The lure of this is very hard to resist. 7.

Some are dependent upon the media with its litany of bad news and gloom which enfeebles the human spirit and makes all efforts seem hopeless, just as it makes our own drab lives seem bearable by comparison with the suffering of others. 8.

Some are dependent upon drugs and alcohol with their pain-numbing properties. These are the crutches that get them through another unbearable day of tedium which is a byproduct of choosing safety. When the soul has been crushed, the pain and despair can be tempered by addictive chemicals. 9.

Some are dependent upon comfort and luxury; shopping, consumerism, shiny baubles and trinkets. When the spirit is polluted by pessimism and despondency, it seeks solace and comfort in indulgences. When the outlet for our energy and talents is blocked we seek to gratify and puff-up our egos with undeserved and entirely illusory status. 10.

7

Some are dependent upon entertainment, and waste, on average, one thousand hours a year in this pursuit. When the mind is diverted from the great work of life it seeks amusement in trivia and inconsequential things. It takes just ten thousand hours to become an expert at something which could change your life dramatically – yet people elect to spend 1,300 hours each year watching television (the average, with Internet, is 3.7 hours per day). 11.

Some are dependent upon being admired, lusted after, loved and wanted. When the soul is driven into isolated loneliness by the seeming impossibility of being and shining, it cries out for connection of any sort at any price. 12.

13. This

is how it will remain until you die, if you allow it.

But if you will it, you can break free, although it is not easy. You must seize back your independence as much as is possible in this place and at this time. We live in an interdependent world of course. You do not have to make your own car or sew your own clothes, but here is what you must do: stop expecting others to save you, to look after you, to nurture you. If they do, it is a wonderful unexpected bonus, but do not depend upon it. Stop looking to others for answers about your life – they do not have any for their own so why should they have any for yours? People are entirely obsessed with their own lives and have close to zero spare capacity to devote to yours. Do not expect help. If it comes, it is a blessing but it is usually comes at a price. Vow to break free; to stand on your own two feet; to follow your own dreams and ideas. 14.

Do not give your power away to others. Do not bow your head in supplication to anyone – and certainly not to an illusory god. Get up out of the dust – you are a glorious human being and do not belong there with the worms and the cockroaches. 15.

You are the equal of any person on the planet. Be proud but not egotistical. Be powerful, but gentle and caring.

16.

Do not take any handouts except in the direst of emergencies and even then, know you are selling your soul. Avoid interfacing with government as much as humanly possible in the way a recovering addict must resolve to forsake his old haunts. If you are a net recipient of government (i.e. other people’s) money, make it your urgent task to change this as soon as is possible. No fully functioning, self-respecting person takes handouts from others. It destroys your self-respect at the core. 17.

Minimise (but do not exclude) ‘entertainment’ – this is diverting you from your true calling and keeping you asleep. Use the thousands of hours and thousands of pounds saved in order to advance your dreams.

18.

Stop being dependent, weak, needy and seeking acknowledgement and validation from others. They will pick up on your neediness and be repelled by it. 19.

20.

Do not fear your uniqueness. Do not care what others think about you.

Minimise, and ideally totally remove, all drugs from your life. These include nonessential prescription drugs (after you have checked with your doctor); alcohol, tobacco and recreational drugs. These last three are methods of controlling the masses to keep them docile and in harness.

21.

These steps will require you to engage your long-dormant will. Are you willing to do that? 22.

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Grade Five: Know Your Perfection This is how you are. You are wonderful and perfect beyond measure but you do not know it yet. 1.

Your essential nature is love – but you do not know that either, so these are mere words to you. Until you know this, your life will be that of a controlled and unconscious puppet. 2.

You have lost contact with your inner self, the real You; it is what you seek. If you could but reconnect with it, you would be blinded by its light and power. These are not words to comfort you, it is the truth. 3.

The world has corrupted you and you are ensnared in its illusions. This has caused you to fall asleep – to lose consciousness, if you like. This means that you act largely unconsciously, even though you might not yet believe this. You are not alone. Most of the world is populated by unconscious Thralls. 4.

The next phase of human evolution is increased consciousness. You can either be with that wave, or against it. This is what is meant by the battle of light against dark, good against evil. The battle is really between consciousness and ignorance.

5.

No conscious person could hurt another. No conscious person would squander their lives in trivia. No conscious person could stand by and not try to alleviate some of the terrible suffering of the world. No conscious person would play it safe, hide in fear, posture, brag, seek to control others, hate, despise, pollute their bodies with drugs and junk food, abase themselves at the feet of an illusory god, accumulate ego possessions, become intoxicated, fail to help others, lie, cheat, prostitute their talents, manipulate, deceive, sneer, feel superior or spoil their minds with cheap ideas, cheap opinions and cheap slogans. 6.

Your escape from this hell, for such it is, is to wake up from Wonderland and become fully conscious. This is possible and it usually happens by degrees. If you will it, you too can wake up and reveal what lies behind the veil. It is none other than You. The god you seek outside has been inside all along. The tales you have heard of love, compassion, yes and holiness, are tales about You. If only you would shine you would be the living god. 7.

Your perfect essence has been covered by layers of protection against the slings and arrows of a harsh world. This we call ‘the ego’. It is your ego which causes all of your suffering and prevents you from realising your true nature and power. The ego tells you that you are better than others or inadequate compared with others. Both serve to keep you separate, alone and suffering. 8.

You fear being hurt. The ego seeks to protect against this but only causes more hurt. The flickering light seems so delicate that you feel it is best hidden away from the storm which is the world. That is why you hid it so long ago; you have almost forgotten where, and what it looks like. It has become The Holy Grail which you seek far and wide throughout the kingdom, when all the time it was safe and close to your heart. You made a mistake all those years ago – a simple childish error. That which you thought lost forever is safe within. This light cannot be extinguished by the gale. It grows stronger with exposure to the elements just as it grows feeble and weak when hidden away. It is indestructible. 9.

Now is the time to give yourself permission to shine once again, just like you did as a young child. 10.

9

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? ... Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.... it is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson. 11.

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Grade Six: Your Quest For Wealth This is how you are: you seek wealth but do not know why. You think you know why, but right now it is unlikely that you do. This is not criticism it is an awakening.

1.

The ‘why’ precedes the wealth. Without a valid ‘why’ you cannot become a wealthy and contented person.

2.

Some want money for security and survival. Some want it for comfort. Some want it for lifestyle and status. These are very little ‘whys’ and not worthy of your greatness. They are survival whys. They are ego whys. They are comfort whys. You are greater than this. You are more magnificent than these poor aspirations but you do not yet realise it. It may be that you stay asleep never realising it. We shall see. 3.

Some want money for space just to be free and to explore their inner world. This is the beginning but not the end of wisdom. 4.

Some want money to make the world a better place and aid their fellow travellers. This is wisdom. 5.

You may question the assertion that survival is a trivial reason for wanting money. It was not always so in our past, and is not so in many poorer countries. But here, in the first world, it is trivially easy to get your basic survival needs met. What consumes the bulk of your precious time is striving for luxuries, comfort, status and prestige. 6.

At the moment you almost certainly have less money than you would like and have followed a life-path not necessarily of your choosing. You are almost certainly not following your ‘life calling’ and may even be unaware that you have one. You probably also suspect that ‘unseen forces’ are stopping you from getting ahead of the game.

7.

There are several reasons why you are not free and not wealthy. These teachings expose those who seek to enslave you and keep you powerless and poor. Knowing this allows you to take avoiding action. They do this out of unconsciousness, not enmity, but you still must protect yourself, just as you must protect yourself from a physical assailant. You will be shown how to leave them far behind as your true power shines forth and guides you to the wealth and freedom which you seek. You must also conquer some inner demons and these teachings will show you how. 8.

Due to programming since birth, most people are superficially greedy and lazy. They want money for no effort so that they can buy more ego and status-driven consumables. In short, they are deluded and are dissipating their life-energies. Soon they will die having achieved little of note and leaving the planet in a worse condition than when they arrived.

9.

They are trapped deeply in the debt illusion with the result that they sacrifice their lives in the (usually fruitless) pursuit of cash and consumables. Their lives consist of work, survival and ‘entertainment’ (the bar, TV, sport, internet, shopping, eating out, holidays, computer games, etc.). In this way they drift and dream their lives away whilst rushing towards death.

10.

This is about as far away as it is possible to get from Beyond Wealth philosophy. If you are after fast cash to buy yourself toys, to consume more, to big yourself up, to feed your ego, to assuage your terror, to ‘prove’ yourself or just to ‘have fun’ then the core message of these teachings will not please you.

11.

11

The teachings offer true wealth. For some that is many millions to put their unique dream out into the world. For others it is an extra £20,000 a year – and everything in between. There is unlimited money out there for you – but you have been using totally the wrong method until now. You have been driven by a ‘why’ which does not resonate with your deeper values. 12.

The proper use of money, over and above funding a reasonable lifestyle, is to improve the lot of your fellow travellers. This is not altruism. Doing this brings contentment and ultimately lasting happiness. It is therefore a selfish goal, not a selfless one. This is a key point. Many will use the weapon of altruism in order to try and extort your life values from you so you need to be watchful. 13.

Almost all wealth seekers are trapped, either in fear-based lack mentality or ego-based status mentality. Pity the poor person who is a millionaire in pocket but not in spirit. 14.

Right now, you probably want money for security, comfort and status. You think the principles of Beyond Wealth sound abstract and a little airy-fairy. You believe that when you have a lot of money, all will be well. You believe that when you are rich, you will be happy and then you can turn your mind to higher things – if there is any spare time or money. This is part of the delusion called Wonderland. The Author was deluded for thirty years. Your task is to wake up as quickly as possible in order to propel yourself through survival, through comfort, through ego and onwards Beyond Wealth.

15.

A Beyond Wealth initiate has left the ‘issue’ of money behind. He or she acts from a position of power and strength. Money is secondary and can even come automatically in the service of the higher ideal which is to improve the conditions of mankind or the planet (with the aim of helping mankind). This is likely to seem puzzling to you at present as you struggle for bare survival, or to build your mini ego-empire in your frantic search for status, acknowledgement and respect. You have been struggling and building for years. Doing more of the same will not bring you the wealth and happiness you seek. 16.

Avoiding The Traps These teaching aim to speed you through The Poverty Trap, The Security Trap and The Ego Trap and rapidly into a state where you have all the money you could conceivably desire. Enough to live on and enough to put your unique vision out into the world. How much money is that? It depends on your dream. The bigger the dream, the bigger the price tag. As an example, Bill Gates started life as an ordinary person. After the success of Microsoft he transcended ego into the realm of Beyond Wealth. Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation now works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. The amount invested by the foundation in the last fifteen years is three billion dollars. Bill and Melinda are setting out to eradicate polio from the globe. That is a big dream with a big price tag and yet Bill and Melinda probably started with less than you have now.

17.

Smaller dreams have a more modest price tag. The scale of the dream is not critical – what matters is allowing your light to shine, maybe for the first time in your life.

18.

12

Imagine if you were the one to make a huge difference to the lives of others. Imagine ten people, a hundred people, ten thousand people being freed from destitution, grinding poverty or starvation as a result of your vision. 19.

Imagine saving a species. Imagine being instrumental in eradicating a disease, or bringing water to the thirsty, or saving children from prostitution, or rescuing sick animals. Imagine a beautiful place created by your willpower. It is you who cured the sick, helped the lame to walk, fed the hungry, beautified a corner of planet. There are a million dreams like this. These are just small examples. You have the power to bring such dreams into the world.

20.

Now contrast those dreams with the dream to live in a mansion; to lord it over others; to own three cars a helicopter and a boat; to have a wardrobe full of ludicrously expensive ‘designer’ clothes, two holiday homes and a £30,000 Rolex watch. Imagine that your dreams extend no further than lying on a beach in some exotic location being served iced drinks. There is nothing wrong with living comfortably and a little luxury from time to time of course, but imagine that these things are the full extent of your dream – the absolute pinnacle of your desires. What a desperate and shocking waste of human potential, and yet this is what most wealth-seekers aspire to. Maybe you are still trapped here? 21.

You may not yet know what your dream is. That is because you are trapped in wage slavery and have little free time or energy. Basically you are too tired, stressed and worried to think about helping others. You believe you will do this ‘one day’ when you are a wealthy man or woman. That day will never come without a guiding hand.

22.

These teachings aim to free you from slavery and poverty and help you uncover and achieve your own unique life purpose. 23.

The Beyond Wealth Mission Statement The mission statement of Beyond Wealth is to free as many people as possible from lack mentality, poverty, wage-slavery, control and disempowering beliefs which keep them trapped and wasting their precious life-energies. This frees them to contribute to humanity with their own unique energy, talents and purpose. This brings true contentment and happiness. 24.

25.

Each awake, wealthy, free and happy individual touches many other lives. Thus the effects of the teachings are spread and multiplied through example. That is why this book came into being.

At any one time in evolution, only a tiny percentage of people are aware and conscious enough to see the power of this mission and join it. The rest are destined to dream and waste their lives trapped in poverty, slavery, mindless consumption, ego games and illusion. 26.

27.

That is how it is. We do not rail against the given.

The teachings in this book are neutral and can be used to attain wealth for whatever purpose you want, including all of the comfort, ego and status reasons above, but the aim is to persuade you to walk in the sunlight Beyond Wealth. Ultimately this will depend upon your level of consciousness.

28.

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If you are after ‘instant cash’ and your vision extends no further than plans to buy shiny, expensive toys with it, then Beyond Wealth will help you achieve this but realise this is a very ‘low consciousness’ goal and one which is unlikely to make you happy long term. This book will help you raise the bar and be more than you dared to dream you could be.

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Five Serious Wealth Questions Take some time now to ask yourself five serious questions about wealth: Have you ever thought that others, who are no cleverer than you, were getting ahead, making great money and enjoying life but that some ‘unseen force’ seemed to be stopping you from joining them? 30.

Have you worked hard most of your life but not really arrived where you long to be? You are probably reasonably comfortable but do not have enough money to enjoy life without working (if that is what you want). That is what financial freedom means. 31.

Do you find that when you get your pay cheque it is almost immediately swallowed up, not by luxuries, but by debt and the ordinary costs of living? Maybe you are slipping further into debt with each passing year.

32.

Have you also noticed how seemingly impossible it is to make more than a modest wage, without someone trying (usually successfully) to take it away from you? It is almost as if there is some plan to keep the poor working Thrall just above the poverty line. Just when you think you are getting ahead of the game, along comes something to knock you down, time after time. It does not seem to matter how much you struggle and strive, you never quite seem to 'make it'. 33.

Have you ever suspected that there was more to your life than an endless round of working, consumption and ‘entertainment’? Have you ever thought you had something to give to the world? You may not know what it is, but you suspect it is there. The pressures of survival have so far prevented you from giving it more than scant attention. You hope ‘one day’ to be able to look into this. Is that you? 34.

To awaken you to a wonderful life of power, wealth and freedom, you must first glimpse the truth of this, then open both of your eyes fully and start out on an amazing adventure which leads to your dream life. If you have ever thought you were worth more, that you could achieve more, do more, contribute more, help more, be freer, wealthier, more powerful, happier – but that something seemed to be stopping you, then maybe… just maybe… now is the moment to step out of prison and awaken to your true potential. If you are on the threshold of awakening, Beyond Wealth can give you the quantum leap you need.

35.

36. Take some time now to write out your genuine reasons for wanting to become wealthy. Do not pretend to aspire to greater things if they do not resonate with you right now. You are where you are and it is the task of these teachings to raise your consciousness. So be honest. What do you want money for? If you won the lottery, what would you do with it? These are likely to be small ‘whys’ but even these are far preferable to no guiding principles at all.

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Grade Seven: Why You Seek Escape 1.

What are your needs?

To have a hope of escaping from Wonderland, you have got to have a ‘why’. You cannot just hurl yourself at the barbed wire; you will lose energy and momentum. Soon you will be escorted back to Wonderland control. 2.

3.

What is driving you to escape?

All your actions and desires are driven by your needs. This might be your need for approval, recognition, status, safety, love, food, shelter – or any one of fifty different needs. So when thinking about your dreams, remember the concept called ‘the hierarchy of needs’ – you might have come across this before. It goes like this: 4.

The Hierarchy of Needs When life is a desperate struggle, we are overwhelmingly consumed with the desire for food. Every waking moment is spent in pursuit of nourishment. Nothing else matters. We scour the earth from dawn until dusk with little on our mind apart from the thrill of discovering another root or berry. There is little time for philosophy or self fulfilment. We work, we sleep, we eat – if we are lucky. 5.

Food is the first need, assuming we have basics such as air and water. If, due to human ingenuity, we manage to crack the food supply problem, our next need becomes shelter and warmth – somewhere cosy to lay our heads at night. If we achieve all of these things, the next thing we seek is love and belongingness. 6.

7.

And after that? Recognition, self-esteem and the esteem of our peers.

8.

The final higher consciousness needs are meaning, purpose and fulfilment.

This is a very important realisation for you. It is very likely that you already have water, sufficient food, a roof over your head, a modest amount of money and a certain amount of love and friendship. Therefore your dreams will almost certainly reflect your next need on the list which is your desire for recognition, self-esteem, admiration, respect, acknowledgement, achievement and so on. 9.

These are called ‘ego needs’. It is the level at which most people are currently trapped. If you want ten million pounds, then this is almost certainly an ego need unless you have transcended into the higher realms of consciousness. You want the money because you want to be somebody and have the respect and admiration of society, not because you need a larger house or extra food. In other words, your dreams of wealth are likely to be driven by your need for respect, efficacy and acknowledgement. It is important to know these things. This is the sort of knowledge which will allow you to break free. 10.

Recognising your ego-desire for adulation, fame, infamy – call it what you will – helps to clear your head and focus your mind more firmly on your goals. It can also help you to detect erroneous or incorrect dreams.

11.

12.

Yes, there are such things as incorrect dreams!

An incorrect dream is defined as “an overly complex or grandiose strategy for filling a simple need, when a far simpler (and more achievable) strategy might suffice”.

13.

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Achieving a net worth of ten million pounds is actually a difficult task and one which will exercise you for the next five or ten years at least. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, if it is what you really desire. But if this dream is being driven by a craving for recognition, admiration or respect then there may be an easier way of satisfying your ego desires without going through the decade of effort required to amass ten million (one million is much easier and can be achieved in a year or two). 14.

Perhaps you can get the recognition you crave in some other simpler way by writing a book, appearing on television, being a star in your local community or any one of a hundred easier ways. 15.

16.

It is just something for you to think about…

Recognition or Money? Once you understand that it is our ego-need for recognition, not money, which drives most people in an affluent Western society, you will be less puzzled by the things that are going on around you. 17.

The rise in crime and delinquency for example is not caused by poverty, it is caused by tens of thousands of young petty crooks wanting to ‘be somebody,’ or ‘teach society a lesson’ or to 'get respect' – they are, if you like, ego crimes not fiscal crimes. 18.

A century ago most crime was survival crime. People stole to eat. Vandalism was almost unknown. A vandal leaves his or her mark on the furniture of society – it is a statement of ego. 19.

The dramatic rise in divorce rate has little to do with people being worse husbands or wives these days, compared with the past. If anything, they are a lot better. It is driven by people's desire for recognition. They want to be appreciated and acknowledged. They are not prepared to suffer the drudgery of marriage without reward. A century ago this would have been unthinkable. You stayed married because the survival of your family was at stake. Your precious thoughts of wanting appreciation were inconsequential in the struggle for plain survival. 20.

Look at advertising on television. Most products are sold on the basis of raising your self-esteem, not on the benefits of the product. Most adverts these days have the hidden message 'be somebody.' 21.

So learn to look at your dreams with a critical eye. Ask yourself what the underlying need is behind the dream and then ask yourself if getting rich is the only way you can achieve it. Do not get fixated on the actual method or strategy of getting the need met; often there are many different ways of achieving satisfaction. First work out what the actual need is, and then plan the simplest, most realistic strategy for meeting it. That may not be amassing untold wealth. 22.

Many people struggle throughout their lives to make big money only to find that when they have got it, they still feel hollow and empty. Many millionaires are in this state. This is because the money was just a symbol for the underlying need – which still has not been met. This is not, of course, the same statement as ‘poverty is good’! 23.

A classic case would be a woman who sacrifices everything to reach the top of her profession and makes a lot of money, only to realise that she has spent twenty years trying to gain her father's approval and love and this was the way she thought she could get it.

24.

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What a hard route – and it did not work! If only she had recognised the underlying need (for approval and love) and considered some alternative strategies, any one of which could have been far easier than the struggle she put herself through. Beyond Wealth is all about propelling you as fast as possible through these ego needs and on to the real deal – meeting the higher level needs. These are what we are all longing to fill in our hearts. Peace, love, meaning, contribution, purpose, fulfilment. We long to be a part of something larger than ourselves. In our hearts we are weary of our pettiness and our greed for status and comfort. The fact that you are reading this book means that you have probably glimpsed this already.

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Grade Eight: The Illusion of Finite Wealth Earlier the term ‘meme’ was mentioned. A meme is a commonly held, widespread belief. Very often such beliefs are false, or sometimes they are an almost infinitely small slice of The Truth. 1.

Many memes have the function of controlling people and keeping them docile and in harness. 2.

3.

An example of such a meme is The Finite Pot of Wealth.

This illusion stops many kind, well-meaning but powerless Thralls from achieving their dreams. The message of the meme is this: “There is a finite pot of wealth in the world and every hand that dips into the pot to grab a handful of money means there is less for everyone else. Some greedy people grab more than their share, meaning there is none left for others. Consequently they starve or live in squalor. If you are a caring person, you do not want to cause that suffering, so keep your hands out of the pot in order that there may be more for those who really deserve it.” 4.

In our unconscious, corrupt, greedy and exploitative world there is a sense in which this is true of course. There are countless stories of greed and exploitation resulting in misery for others. But a deeper truth, and one you rarely hear, is that the pot is almost infinite in size when you see money in the correct way and not in the distorted way spun by the media, films, politicians, religious people and television. 5.

It is clear you cannot become guiltlessly wealthy if you believe this meme. You may become wealthy, but it will always pain you if you believe that your wealth was somehow gained at the expense of others. 6.

The truth is very different and rarely discussed. It is this: making a large amount of money can actually increase human wellbeing and wealth, not decrease it. 7.

8.

Surely that is the only decent and honourable way to become wealthy?

How is this possible? This is hugely important because people have such confusion and guilt over money that it is time the truth was told. If you are a caring person, then of course you do not want to greedily grab more than your share at the expense of those less fortunate. 9.

What a perfect tool of control this is. If your idea is to loot as much money from the Thralls as possible; what better way than to get them to believe that money is bad; that trying to get wealthy is greedy; that the money you make is taken out of the mouths of starving children in the third world or has been grabbed from the poor defenceless folk living in urban poverty. It is diabolically clever. You simultaneously loot people and brainwash them into believing that making a lot of money is evil. 10.

Wealth Creation For All For illustration purposes, here is an example of how someone could make (say) one billion pounds and simultaneously enhance the lot of their fellow man and make each one of them wealthier, not poorer. Please note this is an illustration of a wealth principle – you are not being asked to become an inventor! 11.

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Imagine the motor car had not yet been invented. Let us also imagine the average person spends two hours a day walking around doing the routine errands of life, say to the market and back home again. You come along and invent a simple motor car. It takes you many hundreds of hours of thought and work, but eventually you crack it. Sales are brisk and soon almost everyone has a car. ‘All’ you ask is £100 royalty per car sold – so you get one billion pounds immediately – with another few tens of billions around the corner. If £100 seems high, let us make it £1 to illustrate the point. You would still make hundreds of millions. 12.

According to the (entirely false) ‘finite pot of money’ illusion, the world must now be a poorer place since you have ‘greedily grabbed’ one billion pounds. Some poor losers must have lost out to your ‘con’ and be starving even as you stack another gold bar in your vault and rub your hands together in glee. But wait… something is not quite right with that logic. The opposite has happened. 13.

Your invention has released two billion hours of creative work per day since people no longer have to waste time walking endless miles to get food and provisions. They are all two hours a day wealthier – and that time could, of course, be turned into hard cash. You have made yourself wealthy… and made others wealthy… and made their lives better. 14.

If you are still struggling with this, think of it this way. The ‘royalty’ you receive for your car is (say) ten minutes each day of work from each of a billion people – they get to keep the one hour fifty minutes which you have created for them. Obviously with that amount of work being done for you every day (thousands of man hours), you would be rich beyond the wildest of dreams. 15.

This is what happens when money is used correctly – in the service of true human needs. Please read that last sentence again. It indicates the way for you to become guiltlessly wealthy (not by inventing the motor car of course!). 16.

Few things are better than making a lot of money and contributing to the happiness and wellbeing of your fellow humans. This should be the object of any financial endeavour you engage in. 17.

To underline the point, here is a further example. Your house is falling down and you know nothing about brickwork. It would take you one hundred hours to fix the walls, and still it would be a poor job. You hire a bricklayer who does it perfectly in twenty hours. You ‘pay’ the bricklayer forty hours of your time (or the money equivalent of course). Haven’t you both gained? Check the sums. The bricklayer worked for just twenty hours and got paid forty hours – so he is richer by twenty hours. You saved yourself sixty hours on a job which would have taken you one hundred hours and so you are richer by sixty hours, having paid just forty hours. You are both richer. In a sophisticated society we pay each other in money, not time – but it amounts to the same thing. It is this division of labour which is behind the startling improvement in people’s standards of living over the decades, of course. 18.

This powerful thought should now release you from this illusion. It is possible to achieve guiltless wealth. It is possible to become wealthy without harming others. It is possible to become wealthy and help others to be happier and wealthier too. 19.

In fact, this is the only honourable way of making money – by meeting true human needs. 20.

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Grade Nine: The Secret Link Between Wealth and Happiness There is another big illusion (meme) which the majority believe unquestioningly. Simply stated it is: “The more money you have, the happier you will be.” 1.

2.

This is maybe the primary illusion of our time.

Many people pay lip-service to the opposite. They will say: “Money doesn’t make you happy.” yet in their hearts, they yearn to be wealthy. Many such people do lotteries, hoping against hope to win millions. 3.

Most people believe that money will bring them happiness – and this is despite their own personal experience and despite the experience of almost every rich person they know something about. 4.

Think about wealthy pop stars, footballers, television soap stars and suchlike. Do they seem happy, contented, wise and calm? Or are their lives usually a sordid mess of booze, drugs, shattered relationships, unseemly brawls in clubs and ego-driven tantrums? 5.

Maybe that is a peculiarity of show-biz, so think about wealthy ‘city banker’ types who are often overweight, bored with life and usually trapped in a deeply unhappy marriage which they maintain for the sake of appearances; or oil-rich Sheiks who live a life of reckless and greedy indulgence. 6.

7.

Yet still we cling to the MONEY = HAPPINESS illusion.

Forget the rich and famous. Think of yourself. Your own life experience shows you that every time you thought a windfall of cash would make you happy, when you got it, the joy was fleeting and within a few short weeks or months you returned to normal. The new car, the holiday, the sofa, the redecoration of the living room – all of these things brought you just a quick fix of happiness. Soon you were back to normal. 8.

If you have ever owned a new car you will know that you were excited when you drove it out of the showroom, but a month later, you just threw your briefcase or handbag in the back and drove off without thinking about it. It is just another car, after all.

This is vitally important because this is a book on wealth creation and it seems pointless to go for wealth if we cannot first make some sensible link between wealth and happiness. After all, surely it is happiness which you seek? We do not want freedom from control for its own sake. What is the point in being free and miserable? We want that freedom 9.

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because we want to be happier. When we think about getting more money, we do not want it for its own sake – we think of the things we can do with it, and imagine being happier as a result. You may still be stuck at the ‘give me the cash and let me sort it out’ level, and believe the con that buying expensive toys will bring you happiness. It will not. All that does is transfer your money (i.e. life) into the hands of the operators of Wonderland who will gladly take it from you. 10.

Lottery-winner surveys frequently show that people who win a fortune are either more unhappy a year later, or about the same as they were before the huge win.

11.

12. A few are happier – and it is these people who interest us for they have accidentally discovered a secret which you need to know. 13.

They have discovered the real truth about money and happiness.

The Real Truth About Money and Happiness 14.

Some people say money brings happiness – they are mostly wrong.

15.

Some people say money brings unhappiness – they are mostly wrong, too.

So what is the real truth about money and happiness? First, let us agree that our target is happiness, not money. You may want money, but it is just a tool to allow you to live a contented happy life. Money is not an end in itself. The object is not to amass a glittering tower of gold and sit on top of it gloating. That is, in fact, a very poverty-stricken life.

16.

17. We do not have to guess at the link between happiness and money, because the truth is well known, although you may not have seen it before. Careful research has been conducted on how increasing amounts of money affects people’s level of contentment, and the results are fascinating.

This research indicates that if you are desperately poor and barely existing on (say) £5 a day, then getting a raise to £10 a day has a dramatic impact upon your happiness. Doubling your income approximately doubles your happiness. If you now increase this to £50 a day (in other words, by five times more), yes, your happiness goes up, but only by, say, 50%. So increasing your salary by five times now only increases your happiness by one half! Interesting… 18.

We can play this game as long as we like, but you can see where this is going. If you make £20,000.00 a year, then doubling it to £40,000.00 a year brings a mere 10% increase in happiness (these figures can never be exact of course, they vary from person to person.) If you make one million a year, then increasing this to ten million a year also may bring about a 10% happiness increase. 19.

In other words, getting ten times the money now brings only one tenth more happiness. You know it from your own direct experience of course. If you like graphs, this theory would look a bit like the one shown here.

20.

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It seems in the light of this that we should abandon our intense longing to become wealthier and just settle for what we have. Even a substantial amount of money only seems to increase our happiness by a few percentage points, if at all. People with a socialist leaning seize upon such graphs as proof that greedy materialism is a ‘bad thing’. 21.

If this graph were the whole story, you would rightly wonder why this book about wealth creation came into existence. However, there is another missing piece of the jigsaw and one which is always ignored by those on the political left. 22.

The Quality of Money So far we have only discussed faceless cash – the quantity of it, not the quality of it. And herein lies the secret relationship between wealth and happiness. It can be summarised in the following true story recently told to the Author by a Christian friend of his. This man’s son had come to him and said “Dad, I know what I want to do when I grow up. I want to make lots and lots of money!” His father had mildly reproved him, saying something along the lines of: “That’s not very Christian, son.” To which the lad immediately replied “But Dad, I haven’t told you what I want to do with the money yet!” 23.

Money itself is neutral. It is what you do with the money which adds to, or subtracts from your happiness and the wellbeing of others, and remember, it is happiness we want, not just money. Money is merely a tool. 24.

Most people chase more money without knowing how much they want, or what they want it for. At best, they have some vague notion of buying more toys – maybe a conservatory, a new sofa, one or two flashy cars, expensive holidays, a fancy watch, designer clothes... all of the consumer junk which, to be fair, they have had sold to them since they were old enough to watch television. So it is no surprise that when people win the lottery, they buy a big fancy house, five cars, expensive ‘label’ clothes, a boat, a plane, jewellery and other silly (but shiny) baubles and trinkets. When they have done all that, they sit back and wonder why they are no happier – or maybe why they are even more miserable than before they received their windfall. 25.

Ask yourself again why you want more money than you have already… and how much you want. 26.

Think about these things just for a moment. It is truly hopeless plunging headlong into a search for something (money) without a firm idea of what you want the money for or when you are going to have enough – if ever!

27.

Money is not for buying trivial but expensive consumer toys. Nor is it for buying pretty little baubles to amuse yourself with. Nor is it for gluttony, greedy consumerism, gaining status over your fellow life-travellers, manipulation and negative power. These are all ‘memes’ which you have been brainwashed over decades into accepting. It is these and countless thousands of other memes which lock you into Wonderland.

28.

Many people who have money use it for all these things and more. And since each of these things contributes to unhappiness, you can see why the graph starts to flatten-off the more money you have. Unless…you get real and start to understand the link between money and happiness, which will now be explained.

29.

Once you use money in the correct way – first to free yourself and then to create guiltless wealth and/or happiness for yourself and others, then the ‘happiness – money’

30.

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chart looks far more like the one shown below. The more money you get, the happier you are. A simple story will illustrate this. Imagine your dream is to fund a simple operation which restores the sight of an African child. The more money you have, the more operations you can fund. The more children you save from blindness, the more your happiness will increase. You need hardly contrast this sort of happiness with the ‘happiness’ attained by getting the ninth sports car in your collection, or the fiftieth expensive oil painting. Do not make the mistake of thinking that the only route to happiness is to accumulate money and spend it wisely. That is not what the graph shows – it shows that if you make money and you spend it wisely in the service of human needs, then you will get increased happiness.

31.

It says absolutely nothing about other ways of gaining the same happiness – of which there are many.

32.

Happiness comes from becoming free and then using the money in a way which meets our need to aid the growth of other people. Meeting this need is selfish – it brings us increased happiness, just as it brings happiness to others. This form of rational selfishness is a very good thing.

33.

This may be completely contrary to everything you have ever believed about money. We have been taught that wealthy people must have got it by grabbing it from the poor and thereby contributing to their poverty and misery. We believe that wealth is a zero sum game – your wealth must have come at the expense of others. Why do you believe some version of this lie? It is because the con artists have brainwashed you with the ‘greedy robber baron’ meme. It serves to keep you poor and them rich and powerful. After all, you do not want to become one of those nasty, cigar-chomping greedy capitalist pigs, do you? No. Better to stay poor, humble, meek and mild. You will get your reward when you die. 34.

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Grade Ten: Beyond Financial Freedom These teachings show you how to get the freedom to be who you really are (you probably have no idea about this at the moment); power to create your dream and make it happen, and most importantly enough guiltless wealth to achieve this. That means as much money as you could possibly ever want. 1.

Why is this a book about wealth? Because money gives you the ‘pass key’ to your cell door. Money is not for greedily consuming loads of disposable products, as you have seen. 2.

Money is for buying your freedom from wage slavery and then putting your dream out into the world and making it a better place. 3.

You may not share this vision yet. You may scratch your head and wonder what dream you could possibly have. It may even seem weird or a bit flaky to you. That is normal. At this stage you should not be actively against such a vision. There is an exciting road ahead of you.

4.

The first benefit of applying the teachings in this book will be to attain Financial Freedom. 5.

This is defined as: enough income, without having to work for it, to cover your chosen lifestyle forever (barring dramatic changes). 6.

You get to choose your lifestyle (it could be anything from a Zen monk to a superwealthy life) and then you get enough money so that you can live like this for the rest of your days without ever having to work again. Of course you can work if it brings you pleasure and furthers your true purpose on this planet – but you don’t have to. No more jobs, bosses, commuting, office politics, stress and hassle. 7.

Achievable? Most definitely. And it does not stop there as you will see. The sky is the limit – if you want it. 8.

Achieving financial freedom is just the start. You are not a wealthy man or woman at this stage, you are merely free. That means you can live comfortably without working. When students arrive at this financial freedom stage they need to answer the question: “What is the money for?” Of course they will have thought about this often on their journey. 9.

Five Reasons For Wanting Money There are five usual answers to this depending on the level of the person’s consciousness: 10.

“I want money so that I and my family can be secure.” “I want money for comfort, pleasure and lifestyle.” “I want money to build my mini empire.” “I want money just to be still, at peace and to reconnect with my inner self.” “I want money to help others and make the world a better place.” Many people want to do more than one of these things. Imagine that! You are free. You need never work again. You are comfortable, totally secure, and you can help others (friends, family those less fortunate). If you have a passion

11.

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or a dream you also get enough money for that too. One student was keen on collecting omnibuses and he uses his considerable fortune (obtained through Beyond Wealth techniques) to buy buses! Fun though it is, you should know that such a ‘life-plan’ is fairly low-consciousness according to Beyond Wealth teachings. It is what is called an ‘ego-plan’. 12.

There is way more to life than living through fear (desire for ‘security’); living for comfort and status (desire to boost ego); or ‘empire building’ (more ego). None of these is the noble purpose of your life. That might surprise and excite you.

13.

Is it time you seized control of your life? Tens of thousands of people have escaped from wage-slavery and are living wealthy, free lives – fulfilling their unique destinies. You have always been programmed to believe you were excluded.

14.

Soon, you could be the one enjoying a wealthy and free life. You could be the one realising that you have a unique purpose and set of gifts which can help others and the planet. With the free time and the money, you can now put those gifts to work. 15.

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Grade Eleven: Power 1.

These teachings show you how to attain wealth, freedom... and power.

2.

What do you think about power? Take a moment to think about it. Power is a meme.

Power has a bad press. It is associated with cackling maniacs poised over the lever-thatwill-destroy-the-world, ready to pull unless one trillion dollars is transferred to their Swiss account. 3.

Power is associated with back-stabbing corporate types; lying, scheming politicians; organised crime; manipulative billionaires and despotic regimes – the list of bad uses of power is very long indeed. 4.

But what about the good uses of power? You rarely hear about those. Why do you suppose that is? 5.

What about the power to heal? The power to build a dam which brings life-giving electricity? The power to make positive changes in your community? The power to save a species, create a business, feed the starving? 6.

Power can also be a truly enormous force for good, but your Wonderland masters do not want you to realise that because they do not want you to have power. 7.

Living a life of power means you move out into the world with positive power – the power to bring enormous change for good. 8.

Hopefully you can see this, because power, like money, has been deliberately smeared to make you unhappy about seeking it – the result is that most people spend their lives in neurosis… desperately wanting money but believing it is evil… desperately wanting power but believing it is only harmful. 9.

These teachings will show you how to be who you really want to be – and to have a dramatic positive impact on the world and those around you.

10.

Learning to be Comfortable With power Money gives you more choices in life. It also brings you power and freedom if used correctly. So to be comfortable with becoming wealthy, you need to be comfortable with the notion of having personal power. Many people are deeply uncomfortable with this – again because all they ever hear about are the negative, corrupting aspects of power. 11.

Power has the same bad press as money. Do you think those in control of Wonderland might have some interest in promulgating a meme that ‘power is evil’? How convenient that those who are being looted of their values also sign-up for a meme which says that being ‘meek and mild’ is a good thing? 12.

13.

Are you starting to glimpse how Wonderland works?

Most people have chosen to be weak and powerless; they did not have this forced upon them. Most people do nothing in their lives to change the world for the better. They are born, they consume and they die leaving little positive impact. They dream away their lives in Wonderland. Sad but true. 14.

The effect of this is paralysis and a life lived at about one tenth capacity. You are revving the accelerator whilst standing firmly on the brake. Now pause for a moment and ask yourself who might want you in this state and why.

15.

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16.

Do you want that for yourself? Was that part of your plan?

Personal power is the difference between giving a pound to a homeless person – or creating a nationwide charity (not just giving to one) which provides temporary shelter to thousands of homeless street people (assuming this is something you are passionate about, of course.) Again, the more money you had, the happier you would be.

17.

It is spending your life creating marvellous children’s stories which delight and inspire generations, compared with churning out tedious reports which are never read.

18.

It is starting your own superb business which is hugely profitable and which produces goods and services which enhance the lives of others, compared with working in someone else’s mediocre business because you need the money to pay the gas bill and the mortgage.

19.

It is becoming a sportsman or sportswoman compared with watching sport on the television. 20.

21.

Which is the more powerful life? Is this power ‘evil’?

Stop having childish fantasies about power (or money) coming for no change on your part. This is a delusion. Power and money come through effort. Thousands of hours of discipline and honing your skills until you are lean and mean. Forget the snake-oil purveyors of quick and easy power and wealth solutions – they are there to exploit your greed and childishness. 22.

23. Become serious about gaining power – positive power to make the world a better place. Fight the meme that conditions you to believe that power is evil and ultimately corrupting. This is not true of positive power.

Do not pretend to be humble – you are not that great! True humility arises from a basis of personal power, not cowed servility. Only the great in spirit can be humble with integrity. 24.

Do not let others walk over you. Fight your corner. Not with anger and hatred but with determination and fearlessness. 25.

Be wary of the meek. With certain rare exceptions they are often deeply angry. Like the cowed runt of the pack, their ‘meekness’ is a learned strategy to avoid conflict. Often they crave negative power but currently lack the wherewithal to gain it. If they do gain power they often show their true colours.

26.

You will know genuine humility (and hence genuine power) when you see it. This is not the same as fake ‘meekness’. There is a luminous, undefended quality to it which arises from spiritual attainment. It will never have a crafty, subserviant or hungry quality to it.

27.

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Grade Twelve: Who is Controlling You and Why? To become wealthy you need to break the bonds of servitude. You need to rise above Thralldom. 1.

Allowing yourself to remain enthralled has serious consequences for your life, your happiness and your freedom. It is also impossible to become wealthy as a Thrall. 2.

3. Due to the deep unconsciousness of your fellow travellers, being a Thrall opens you up to exploitation. You need to understand that there are dark forces arrayed against you. You need to unmask them so that you will not be damaged. I wish it were not so, but in a world of unconscious people, the light of love is sometimes very dim.

There is light in the world of course. There are many awakened, loving and wise people who will aid your journey. But it is very hard to see them when you are a Thrall. Somehow they are invisible. You push them away and even seek to destroy them. Such is the power of unconsciousness. 4.

On the shadow side, there are people in the world… thousands of them… millions of them… who want your money, your talents and your life-efforts for themselves. They are driven by fear and lack-programming and victim mentality. The more dangerous ones are driven by ego, status and negative power. For them, almost any means justifies the ends of getting resources. Their motive is simplicity itself. If they can con these values out of a Thrall, they can enjoy many of the wonderful things that life has to offer – just as you will enjoy less. 5.

Forgive and do Not Try to Redeem They are not evil. There is no evil in the world, just love screaming to be heard. Like you, these people know not what they do and hence require our forgiveness not our violence. Yet we must protect ourselves from them as well. They are us, on a different day in a different year, with different genes and a different upbringing. We acknowledge that this is how they are; we forgive them; we avoid them if they seek to damage us. Only at the very higher grades might you try to redeem them, for this is a very fraught business requiring superior skill and considerable enlightenment. For now, do not attempt it. 6.

7. There are others who will love and support us. We must seek them out as allies for it is hard to walk this path alone. However, often we only see angels when we begin to wake up. Until then, we only see demons. 8. Wonderland is a ‘world view’ promulgated by those with a vested interest in dreamweaving. This dream they weave is very convincing – it seems indistinguishable from reality. The dream is used, amongst other things, to extract values from the weak and gullible Thralls.

Exposing their con-tricks allows you to stop being taken advantage of. True wealth and power can only be achieved by waking up from your dream world.

9.

These teachings are intended to wake you up. This will not be easy. You have never been awake before. Your ‘dream world’ has seemed totally real to you and you have rarely, if ever questioned it (except perhaps recently). It is frightening to have it wobbled, even slightly. Hold on because the truth will set you free. 10.

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Why would you be controlled, manipulated and deceived by other Thralls in Wonderland? Simple: so that they might profit from your efforts. In their unconsciousness, this seems reasonable to them. We do not blame them, we merely observe and avoid.

11.

Your life-values have been consistently stolen from you by others. And – you have not even noticed! Most times you have handed over your values like an obedient zombie.

12.

13. But why would someone take money from you unfairly like this? Why would they take advantage of your weakness? After all, it is hardly sporting to rob a drunk or a sleeping person. Their motive is not so hard to understand. If they can profit from your efforts, for no work whatsoever on their part, that is a terrific deal for them. It is a clever trick. Yet it seems inconceivable that anyone could pull off such a stunt. Who in their right mind would fall for this? How on earth do they get away with it?

The very best way is to keep you asleep – drifting and dreaming your way through life. The last thing they want is for you to wake up, because then you would stop working for their profit. It stands to reason. If you were to wake up, you would want to get wealthy too. You would want to keep the values and money you created and not allow them to be confiscated. You would not fall for adverts which hypnotise you into handing over your hard-earned money for trash. The ‘Cash For Trash’ deal. You would not squander parts of your life in futile religious nonsense. You would not allow your ‘friends’ and family to hold you down to their level of squalor and powerlessness or to leech from you. You would want freedom and power and would no longer be content to be a caged workerdrone watching others live powerful, fun-filled lives – at your expense!

14.

But how do ‘they’ stop you claiming your birthright? How can they keep you willingly enslaved like this? You are really not going to like this because what they do is leave you just enough so that you can pretend to be in control, pretend to have ambitions and pretend to reach your goals, when all along, you are a powerless slave. It is diabolically clever. 15.

The Pharaoh Principle This is called The Pharaoh Principle. In ancient Egypt the kings were under the delusion that they were divine. This brought a lot of willing Thralls to worship them, slave for them and provide for their every need, including dying in their thousands to construct their final resting places. Please be clear. The Egyptian Thralls sacrificed a huge portion of their lives to keep the Pharaohs in luxury.

16.

The Egyptian Thralls were deep into their own Wonderland and had probably never questioned if any of this fantasy about divine kings was actually true. They almost certainly did not see through into a deeper level of reality. The truth was that one Egyptian was conning values out of thousands of other Egyptian by putting on some kingly clothes and a big head-dress and pretending to be a mini-god. Back then you would have been considered insane if you had tried to expose this ridiculous illusion. Everyone believed it, including the Pharaohs.

17.

The principle is the same today. If a 'Pharaoh' can con you and other slaves into sacrificing your life-efforts, then the 'Pharaoh' can obviously enjoy more of the good 18.

29

things in life, just as you enjoy less. And that is what has been happening to you – for years. All of your life, in fact. The truth is – you are broke (by any sensible definition of the word). You are powerless (almost all personal power has been stripped from you). And you are enslaved (any illusion of freedom you might entertain is just that – an illusion.)

19.

Do not despair. You could not help being a Thrall – until now, that is. Alone and unaided it is almost impossible for someone to realise they are fast asleep in Wonderland. It would take an extraordinary effort to wake up unaided because life around you seems so real; the society you live in seems so normal; governments seem so essential; TV, radio and movies seem such fun; newspapers seem so informative; taxation appears such a reasonable idea, so do ID cards, spy cameras, DNA profiling, satellite tracking, government databases, chip implants, tags and 101 other tools of state control. Exploitative big businesses seems so inevitable; advertising seems just a part of normal life; religions seem so comforting. 20.

Hall of Mirrors There are dozens of mirrors in this hall and you have probably never thought to question the reflections you see there. Why should you? You have been taught since birth that they are not distortions at all but reality. How things ‘should’ be!

21.

You have been bedazzled and confused. If you are struggling to get your brain around all of this, it is not surprising. You see… you have never learned how to use it. If you think it is hard to de-program someone from a religious cult, that is trivial compared with waking up from Wonderland unaided. Few people can manage it alone. 22.

The terrifying truth is that you were born in servitude, you have spent your entire life (until now) ensnared in its illusions, and you were scheduled to die in Wonderland (like billions of others) after you have been drained of your energies and talents and outlived your usefulness.

23.

You do not have to accept this of course. You can stay asleep and dreaming, or you can wake up and join the thousands of other escapees in a glittering life of wealth, power and freedom. Right now, ‘they’ do not yet have complete control over us. They are working towards this end, but right now it is still possible to escape. But the truth is that you are most unlikely to believe this unless you have already suspected that something ‘funny’ is going on – if you are that 1 in 1000 who is on the verge of waking up. 24.

Maybe you have a question along these lines: “You have explained why ‘they’ might like to exploit me, but who has been doing this to me?” In other words, who are ‘they’?

25.

Firstly, please know one thing. There is no global conspiracy where world leaders meet behind closed doors together with religious leaders and heads of big business to plot the fate of the world. There are lots (millions, in fact) of mini-conspiracies of course. Big Business ‘conspires’ to maximise its profits; religious leaders ‘conspire’ to maximise their flocks; politicians ‘conspire’ individually and in small gangs to cling on to or attain power; media ‘conspires’ to maximise circulation or viewing figures; individuals ‘conspire’ to climb ladders of power.

26.

But there is no secret cabal of Jewish bankers, no Illuminati or white-coated government technocrats meeting in an underground bunker to see how they can

27.

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manipulate the docile puppet-population this week. Such fantasies, like alien abductions and faked moon landings are for conspiracy theory dreamers; powerless people trapped deeper than most in Wonderland. The truth is far easier to understand and far more frightening. Like any good detective, if you want to find a culprit you can start by asking: “What is the motive?”

28.

The motives are money and power; two very powerful reasons for exploiting you. It is not a conspiracy, it is a straightforward heist. 29.

The Wonderland Business For example there are billions to be made each day from the ‘The Wonderland Business’. There are vast profits and huge power to be gained in keeping us fast asleep and dreaming. This is why governments, advertisers and religions all have the same agenda – to keep us asleep. 30.

There are many examples of people who want your money because they are greedy for power and unearned cash – and the best way – the absolute ‘taking candy from a baby’ way to get it is to hypnotise you into handing it over without a murmur – even with a smile on your lips. You, for example, hand over 50% of everything you earn to government bureaucrats to squander on whatever they feel like, even if that is murdering innocent people (e.g. troops in places they have no business being), supporting despotic regimes (the list is too long to include here), handing out free to people to sit at home doing nothing, or to build nuclear weapons designed to incinerate millions of civilians, or destroying the environment. You do this without a murmur of protest. You have no say in how your money is spent and you cower in fear about what they will do to you if you disobey. This single fact alone should cause you to question your imagined freedom. 31.

Another example is advertising. Watch any advert selling anything from cars to hairspray and note how most of them are in the dream business not the product business. They want you asleep so they can sell you their illusion. The tools they use are clever images and sounds to hypnotise you whilst they implant their message. Please be aware that hypnosis (flashing, brightly coloured imagery linked to certain sound combinations) is a primary tool of advertisers and others seeking to enslave you. It is not personal. They do not know you and they do not care about you. To them, you are a faceless cash machine. You need to appreciate that they just want your cash, and cash comes more easily from asleep people than from awake people. 32.

There is no one person or ‘secret group’ scheming to keep you asleep and dreaming. It is pretty much everyone – except those few who have escaped. 33.

Wonderland is nothing more (and certainly nothing less) than the zeitgeist – the cumulative tapestry woven by all humans alive today and in the past. Those who are born pick up the needle from those who have died and continue sewing their corner of the Tapestry of Illusion.

34.

The only thing creating Wonderland and keeping you in Wonderland at this level are other people and your belief in their illusions. These people take on different disguises as lovers, spouses, friends, family, politicians, business owners, media people and so on – but all are people weaving their own particular portion of the Tapestry of Illusion. 35.

31

Remember why they do this. Mostly it is unconscious, but a few know exactly what they are doing. They do this because they want to extract values (power and money for example) from those beneath them on the scale of slumber. The ‘slightly awake’ scam the ‘mostly asleep’, the ‘mostly asleep’ scam the ‘deeply asleep’ and so on. Many people are acting for their own interests (that is good) but are trying to manipulate and control others to achieve their ends (that is bad). Your freedom comes through unmasking their manipulations. 36.

This section has explained that one key to your freedom is to expose the outer forces which are trying to push you down into poverty and helplessness and it has touched upon a few of those. They will now be described more fully. The point is to expose these negative forces so that you are forewarned. They are the force of unconsciousness, not of evil. There are also loving, caring, amazing people in the world – millions of them, but this and the following chapters fall under the heading of ‘knowing your enemy’. 37.

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Grade Thirteen: Schooling If you want to be wealthy, powerful and free first you must wake up to what has been done to you. 1.

This should make you a little angry because you are going to need some anger to get debt-free and then to make some real money. 2.

The brainwashing and control began early. Most schools are little more than Thrallfactories designed to turn out compliant worker drones. Putting it more benignly, they attempt to make students ‘fit for the current workplace’ by giving them the skills which the current generation of bosses demand. 3.

The sequence is important. The bosses demand the skills, the government turns out the workers to comply. 4.

Obedience What is the basic message of school? Sit down, be quiet, obey, go through the system, get a job at the end.

5.

Now ask yourself what will be the effect on the minds of the children after years of attending such an institution? 6.

Will such a regime turn out individual free-thinkers? Wealth-generating entrepreneurs? Or will it produce (in general, of course) restless youngsters who are bored beyond belief and trained in obedience? Wonderland fodder. 7.

If ever you are puzzled about a social problem and are looking for a place to start to unravel it, you might begin by asking the question: “Is this problem caused by government?” 8.

So let us start there with a question. Why do many American (and increasingly British) schools resemble high security prisons? They now have CCTV, scanners, metal detectors, guards on the door, ID cards, microphones, random searches for guns and knives, and bars on the windows. 9.

The answer is that like real prisons, schools contain a percentage of dangerous, out of control, sometimes violent young people. Let us probe further and ask “Why?” (Government's do not ask why, instead they ask: “What draconian, violent force can we bring to bear in order to crush the symptoms of this problem? What new laws can we pass? What new criminal offences can we create? What technology can we bring to bear to monitor and control the perpetrators?”) 10.

11.

The answer is surprisingly simple: the students are attending out of compulsion.

Not one single student, even the brightest, has made a voluntary decision to attend school. When you are compelled to do something, your own feelings in the matter are rendered irrelevant and this makes you angry. Students are forced to attend by bureaucratic decree, and whether they want to be there, or do not want to be there has no bearing on the matter. 12.

Be clear that we are discussing force here. This is not a voluntary matter. Failure to send your children to school will eventually result in police visiting your house to arrest you. Continue to resist, and you will be jailed until you pretend to think like the 13.

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government and mouth the words of compliance they want you to hear. If you hold out, your children will be stolen from you, placed into ‘care’ (a misnomer if ever there was one) and forced to attend the school regardless of your (or their) wishes. When you are forced to do something, and your desires in the matter are overridden, how do you feel? Usually angry. Perhaps you even feel like breaking something? 14.

Many children, particularly teenagers, feel exactly this way. They lack the intellectual skills with which to unpick the finer philosophical points of the argument, but they know force when they see it, and it makes them angry – sometimes very angry.

15.

On some deep level they know they are being programmed to become dutiful Thralls and they do not like it. Sometimes it even makes them want to break things.

16.

The government uses force to compel you to hand over your child to Wonderland programming at age 5 – the younger they get them, the more thorough the brainwashing. This is why the government is so keen on as many nursery places as possible – this gets the children into the regime at age 3. It also has the dual advantage of making more young mothers available for drone work too. 17.

The Government Education Agenda 18.

Who decides what is taught at school?

No surprise to learn it is the government again. Regardless of the interests, talents, or abilities of the child, all are squeezed through the same sausage machine, the stated objective of which is uniformity: sameness. Each child educated to an identical standard, holding the same values and ideals, becoming a perfect, tame little consumer/producer Thrall ready to take his or her place in society. 19.

Apart from the standard subjects, all schools major in the key topics of obedience to authority, sacrifice to society, working as a team and the ruthless elimination of individuality.

20.

It is laughable to read the glossy brochures which pretend to state the aims of a school – any school, they are all the same in tone. They read like this: “We at Hilldown School believe that each child is an individual. It is the aim of this school to encourage the individual talents of each unique child, to nurture those talents and to help each child to reach his or her full potential. We encourage diversity in all matters, particularly of race, culture and religion.”

21.

You have been school. Individualism, (called “being a clever show-off” by most teachers) is the very last thing which is encouraged, indeed it is stamped on very hard. 22.

23.

An ‘individualist’ has another name in most schools, and that name is ‘troublemaker’.

Just like prisons, schools want a quiet life and will move quickly to crush any resistance or rebellion. This is not an attack on teachers, most of whom are dedicated and hardworking. It is just that they have so few options other than to comply with the demands made upon them by their Wonderland masters. They have very little freedom of movement. What they teach and how they teach it is almost totally controlled by government.

24.

You do not have to ask yourself what all this does to the child’s mind; you merely need to remember what it did to yours. The state got you a long time ago, and so it requires a 25.

34

real effort of will to question such a fundamental Wonderland concept as ‘compulsory state education’. But let us examine it for a moment.

School Education – A Shockingly Poor Process Education is a lifelong process. You have taken a choice to educate yourself through this book. Be honest with yourself, most of the things you have learned – almost all of your knowledge – was obtained after you left school or college. You watch documentaries, you buy books and magazines, you subscribe to courses, you talk to other people, and most importantly you learn from life. 26.

Hour for hour, those tedious days you spent staring at a blackboard whilst the teacher droned on, produced a very poor return in knowledge compared with the time you spent in studying something which caught your interest in later life. Over 90% of your current knowledge and ability was probably obtained after you left the state education system.

27.

28. Government’s believe they 'own' our children, and have conferred upon themselves the right to indoctrinate them in any manner they see fit. It is they who set the standards, they who dictate the National Curriculum, they who say what must and what must not be taught. The teacher’s job is to comply and do what they are told. They know who is paying their salary.

The object of school is to turn out compliant, obedient, not too highly educated Thralls who will eventually create more wealth for the government to confiscate and thus keep the whole show rolling along. Above all, they should not be taught to question Wonderland or that they can change anything. 29.

That is what has been done to you. Although you cannot go back and change it, you should be aware of what has happened as this is part of your waking up process. 30.

After twelve years or more in such a state institution, nearly all resistance has been eliminated. You end up with a population of tame, unquestioning sheep, who will stare blankly at you with big sheep’s eyes if you explain that they are trapped in Wonderland. 31.

They will look genuinely bewildered if you explain the true nature of the society in which they live, or how to create real wealth, or how to escape from the sheep pen. Certainly, these subjects are not on the school curriculum. 32.

A few slip out of the pen: the delinquents who will not accept authority. They eventually stagger from the school gulags and split into two groups. The ‘go-getters’ and ‘troublemakers’. One group use their anger to fight and to win – to prove that the system has not beaten them – to escape from Wonderland. 33.

34.

The other group break things and hurt people and end up inside prisons.

But these are the few. Most emerge in doe-eyed contentment, marry, breed, and settle down into a Thrall lifetime of mediocre work; never questioning, never rebelling and never becoming all they could be. You cannot blame them. Since age five (or three) they have been systematically lobotomized; even the words required to question and rebel have been forbidden to them. 35.

How many lessons can you recall on the subjects of revolution; resistance to authority; defending yourself against a police state; personal freedom; getting wealthy; how all 36.

35

governments tend towards tyranny; alternative lifestyles; independence; your right to privacy; the evil of socialism; why taxation is theft; individualism; your basic rights, etc.? 37.

There is a very long list of ‘prohibited’ subjects in schools.

Instead these words were replaced by: sacrifice, duty, humility, obedience, citizenship, silence, multiculturalism, selflessness, altruism, sharing, not showing off, being no better than the next kid, not showing pride in one’s achievements (in case it offends a less talented child).

38.

What were you taught at school about making money? About property? Shares? Business? Finance? Saving? Or how about the benevolent uses of power? How someone of brilliance and creativity can help others and the world? Or about how only individuals push humanity forward, not committees? Nothing! 39.

In fact you are most likely to have been taught that it is the team that counts and no member should shine. These days schools do not even like ‘winners and losers’ in sporting fixtures.

40.

41.

Are you starting to glimpse just how deep this rabbit hole goes?

Sheep Fodder Instead you were force-fed thousands of dreary hours on such riveting subjects as sheep farming in Australia, the geography of India, the history of the Corn Laws, Latin, Greek mythology, rudimentary French, acute angles, and countless excruciating hours of ‘games’ regardless of ability, aptitude or interest. (Games, you see, build ‘team spirit’ so you learn the basic lesson of not being an individualist, but rather how to subsume yourself into a vapid ‘team’ where no single person can claim individual credit.) 42.

All of this ‘schooling’ is overlaid with the infrastructure of a statist government: prefects, head girls and boys, masters, senior masters, head mistresses – and now CCTV, stop and search, and ID cards. All intertwined with the methods of a police-state; punishment, obey authority, detention, obey authority, ridicule, obey authority, expulsion, obey authority. 43.

Few children have the maturity and resilience to resist this onslaught, and so they knuckle down and try to survive – just like you did. 44.

45.

1.

They quickly learn that survival means: Keep your head down – do not attract attention.

2. Obey authority. Make the right noises. Shuffle your feet and look with downcast eyes if challenged. Say “Yes Massah” and “No Massah.” Do not be truthful if you get into mischief – the truth gets you into deep trouble. Say ‘Dunno Sir’ to any and every question. If saluting is allowed – salute. 3. Above all, do not be an individual. Individualism spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e. Be one of the crowd; faceless. Do not stand out. Mimic the Thralls. Even your peers will give you a hard time if you dare to be a bit different! 4. Do not show too much ability. This will incur suspicion in the teachers and hostility and derision from your peers. Moderate ability is fine, just as long as it is well within the teacher’s standard range of abilities. Excessive ability will draw attention and attack. Dumb yourself down. Remember, your objective is to be a perfect little Thrall. 36

5.

Do just enough to get by. Do not aim for excellence.

6. Don’t talk, run in the corridors, bring money into school, forget your games kit, lose your locker key, answer back, be ‘cute’, be late, jostle in line, take two plates, use the bathroom too often, use the drinks machine before 10 a.m., rearrange the chairs in the lunch room etc. The government dictate what will be taught at the institution. One of the main core subjects is ‘Compliance and Obedience to Authority 101’. No deviation is permitted. The government pay the salaries of all those working at the institution, thereby ensuring obedience. In any event, most teachers believe in the use of state-backed force to ensure compulsory education. They think this is ‘a good thing’. They think the ends justify the means.

46.

Force to Pay For it – Force to Carry it Out All school facilities and salaries are paid for out of money looted by force (taxation) – refuse to pay the money and you will be jailed and the money stolen from you anyway. You will pay regardless of whether you have children or not. You will pay to educate the children of people you will never meet. Alternatives (home schooling) are actively discouraged and subject to a bureaucratic nightmare of inspections, examinations and standards to ensure you do what a normal school does. 47.

In these institutions, all individualism is ruthlessly stamped out. All children are forced to study near identical subjects, regardless of ability or aptitude. A long list of ‘prohibited’ subjects is never taught. 48.

This is the regime we have. This is the regime which most people think is great – absolutely wonderful. This is Wonderland. They love it. Nobody challenges it. In fact it is held up as a shining beacon of democratic values and progress.

49.

Some children, mostly teenagers, start to resent this enforced servitude. This manifests itself as ‘behaviour problems’, shouting, swearing, vandalism, lack of respect for authority. Instead of recognising that this behaviour stems from the use of force against the child, the government responds, as always, with more force. In the past it used to be beatings. Many children were caned into submission ‘for their own good’. Now it is detention, ridicule, and in America, armed guards, searches, metal detectors, ID cards and spy cameras. Already many UK inner-city schools are calling for ‘their share’ of the money for American-style security systems. 50.

When these people leave school, what do they do? ‘Get a job’ of course, just like they have been trained to do. What job? Well, anything really. The vast majority of people are not very engaged by their work. If asked if they enjoy their work they would say it was ‘okay’. The rest of their lives are spent in similar brainwashing by the television and media to keep the programming alive in their brains. They are told what to buy, what to aspire to, what life-style is ‘theirs’, what is ‘trendy’, what is ‘fashionable’ – and they blindly comply. 51.

And finally, society conspires to reinforce the brainwashing. Remember it is mainly society and its ‘memes’ which keeps Wonderland functioning.

52.

It does this by frequent repetition of brain-washing memes which play like an endless tape-loop throughout the life of a Thrall. 53.

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54.

Amongst the countless thousands of repetitive meme-loops are these:

“Rich people are unhappy.” “Wealth makes you greedy and sadistic.” “The rich get richer, the poor get poorer.” “Wealthy people are cheats and scoundrels.” “Money should be confiscated from the rich and handed out to the poor.” “Power is evil and corrupting.” “Servility and humility are fine virtues.” “Obedience to god and country are the highest ideal.” On and on it goes, an endless sheep-fodder diet from the media, television and films. You do not notice it seeping into your brain, drip-feeding you the poison year after year. 55.

Now it is time to wake up and see what has happened to you and what is still happening to those all around you. Then you must refuse to play their games any more.

56.

To become a free individual you must fight against unreasonable control with every fibre of your being.

57.

58.

You will now learn about the primary agents of control in Wonderland.

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Grade Fourteen: Government The first and probably the most powerful external force arrayed against you is government. 1.

If you do not know how you got into your current position of servitude and what dark forces are at work to keep you there, you will never break free. The way you have been trained to obey is your biggest enemy. 2.

As well as money, people also want power. The evolutionary reasons for this are, obvious. The more power you have, the more resources you can command and hence the better you can feed your family. For men, you are more attractive to females too. This is as true today as it was 100,000 years ago at the dawn of human civilisation. Power gives you access to resources and women still find wealthy, powerful men more attractive than broke powerless ones. Women who escape Wonderland see through this (and other) programming and refuse to play anymore. 3.

The only people who claim not to want power are totally powerless people without a chance of getting it. These are ‘the meek’ referred to earlier. And they are the ones trapped deepest in Wonderland. Good and bad power was discussed in a previous section. 4.

Ask yourself if negative power comes from trying to control awake people, or asleep people? 5.

The answer is – asleep people because they cannot control awake people. If you are awake then you have unmasked their ridiculous con tricks. All of the juggling balls come tumbling down; the rabbit wriggles out of the magician’s sleeve; the Wizard of Oz is revealed to be a short, balding man pulling a few levers behind a curtain. 6.

All governments of every colour are in the ‘sleep’ business. They want a tame, docile population of sheep who will produce the wool and not bleat too much about it. Red, Blue or Yellow party, they are all in the wool business. They differ (slightly) only in the con tricks they use to round up the sheep into their coloured pens. 7.

The sheep love it. Really, they can hardly wait until ‘pen changing’ time. It comes around every four years or so and they get to the illusion of choice. You can stay in the coloured pen you currently inhabit (red, blue or yellow)... or you can change to one of the other pens. 9. The excitement is gripping. The sheep run around baaing in frenzy. The ‘sheep media’ are bursting with it for months. Which pen to choose? Which colour is best? Which master is claiming he will sheer you slightly less, maybe leaving you with an inch more wool? Millions stay up until midnight to see which coloured pen eventually attracts the most sheep. Exhausted by the thrill of it all, they fall asleep again for another four years. 8.

Why would people allow themselves to be exploited like this? The answer is very easy. People crave safety and security.

10.

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The Thralls will give up any and all freedoms if someone promises them a warm, cotton-wool nest. They will allow the majority of their money to be confiscated from them by force; they will sign away their human rights and liberties; they will allow themselves to be electronically monitored, spied upon and tracked; they will put their name to any atrocity (invasion of other countries, selling weapons to despotic regimes etc.) in short, they will sell their very souls for illusory comfort. 11.

They do not shout for more freedom or to keep more of their own money, or to have their names removed from the support list for genocidal wars. They do bleat – and loudly – but for more comfort, security and services. They want free health care, free schools, free transport, and if possible, free food, free housing and free money. 12.

The Thralls do not want less government, they want more. More handouts, more police, more security, more surveillance, more controls.

13.

Enslavement and Confiscation of Wealth In particular, what they most want is the enslavement of the productive. A big part of Wonderland is ordinary Thralls and their unconsciousness. Governments are merely happy to oblige the wishes of the somnambulant majority. Whatever the masses want, that is the latest government ‘policy’. 14.

The more deeply asleep, locked-into-Wonderland they are, the safer most people feel. Such people feel threatened by bright, self-motivated and actualised people. They want them enslaved, their life efforts confiscated and handed over to them. (Governments oblige with a system called ‘taxation’) and they want them broken down to their level of ignorance and poverty (media oblige with relentless attacks and smears on the wealthy and successful). 15.

Governments keep you asleep in order to gain power and kudos for themselves. Politicians get to decide the fate of the people. They get to make up laws, knowing they will be the ones controlling others, monitoring them, taxing them, fining them, imprisoning them. There is a power buzz to be had in invading countries and killing innocent people or covertly spying on your citizens. 16.

17. If you doubt this, ask yourself: Do governments want savvy, awake, wealthy, selfactualised, smart citizens? Or do they prefer ignorant, tame, servile, broke and above all frightened Thralls? (Frightened of terrorism, frightened of environmental disaster, frightened of the authorities, frightened of diseases like bird flu etc.)

Why are people attracted to politics? Many are well-meaning and get into politics motivated by a heartfelt desire to make the country a better place. But because they, the media and the Thralls are deeply asleep, they often end up as ‘functionaries’ – slightly higher level robots running around keeping Wonderland intact for their masters. Of course they do not see it like that. To them they are helping to pass ‘useful’ laws, ‘serving the community’ and suchlike. 18.

There are also the power-hungry. They typically end up in the higher levels of politics as ministers, presidents, congressmen and prime ministers. To get there, they have to learn the fine art of manipulation, spin, lies, distortions and half-truths. 19.

They must abandon many principles. Politics has little to do with principles, it is to do with negative power. And to get such power you have to concentrate very hard on what 20.

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the masses are currently calling for (focus groups are set up to do exactly this) and then serve it up to them. You also have to kiss frogs (which is a euphemism for abandoning your principles and embracing people you despise.) Many of their decisions are based not on what is right, but on what manoeuvre will be the best for their ladder-climbing career prospects.

Taxation 21.

Taxation is state theft of your resources backed by naked force.

Governments perpetrate terrible crimes in the country by the legalised extortion of your life values through force. It would be called a ‘shake down racket’ if organised criminals used threats to extract money in this way. But because everyone is asleep in Wonderland they merely stare vacantly if you start to talk about taxation as theft – which it is. 22.

To play their power games they need huge, unimaginable quantities of our money; 54% and rising by the last count (when you include hidden taxes). To do this, they threaten you with extreme force (doors kicked-in, officers raiding you, prison) if you do not comply. Not one person in ten thousand thinks this is a bad thing. If ever you wanted proof positive that Wonderland exists, that single fact should suffice. 23.

No matter what the various political parties say about free-enterprise, they do not like strong-minded, wealthy individualists. The state gets nervous if a worker drone has significant personal power. You cannot control and exploit people who have personal power. They prefer faceless production units hovering in a no man’s land of false hope, kept just above the absolute poverty line by confiscatory taxation. The burden is carefully calculated to stop just short of causing people to riot in the streets. It is designed to allow the Thralls to have some small hope of dragging themselves out of debt one day, or being able to pay their daily bills or maybe have a small pension. ‘Pay rises’ give the Thralls the illusion of getting slowly ahead, little realising that their ‘rise’ is stolen back by governments who deliberately inflate the value of your money away.

24.

People pay their taxes for one main reason – fear. And they are right to be very afraid. Each year, hundreds of doors are kicked-in by baton-wielding agents of force; people are dragged from their houses, often to the huge distress of family members including children. They are hauled off and imprisoned like criminals (which they are in the eyes of the Wonderland Masters). Meanwhile, their assets are looted by the same agents at their leisure. 25.

Please be very clear about one thing. These people want your money and they are going to get it by any means at their disposal. They are serious. They cannot operate Wonderland without cash. Lots of if. Billions of pounds of it. Your money; your effort, your work taken from you through intimidation, or if that does not work, brute force. To enforce this requires a veritable army of bureaucrats and petty officials with draconian powers of arrest, search, seizure, spying and interrogation. This is all coupled with the sophisticated surveillance methods of a police state. 26.

Most people think this is a ‘good thing’. There is virtually no complaint or protest. Direct taxation is naked extortion. There is no difference (in principle) between taxation and a mafia shake-down operation. People pay out of fear. Individuals are terrified by the power of the forces arrayed against them. Fear immobilises. It stifles creative thought and value production. The only reason the economy staggers onwards is because the terror is 27.

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partial, not total. Our slave-masters know that if they leave one small corner of our minds free then we will continue to work and struggle in desperate hope until we die. This is why they confiscate most of your efforts, but throw you a few scraps to keep you quiet. The government is not your friend. It is probably the most powerful force you will find arrayed against you. 28.

It is very hard to fight this powerful system. The best advice is to avoid all interface with government unless absolutely essential. Pay the legally minimum tax you can, and unless it is your life’s mission, do not directly confront vicious agents of force as you will lose. They hold all the weapons, all the power and they delight in breaking people like you. Do not give them that pleasure.

29.

Pay your taxes but do not become a ‘happy taxpayer’ – that is known as ‘sanction of the victim’ and is a weak position. Try to hold your head high until this tyranny is overthrown. 30.

Every society in living memory has been run by a more or less despotic government or royalty. Historically, the injustice we suffer these days, although unacceptable, is at the light end of the scale. For this we should be grateful. 31.

Work around the system; use your intelligence and skill to create, thrive and prosper despite the heavy hand of the state. Do not use any of the dark forces arrayed against you as a cause for inaction. These forces are being exposed in order that you might have knowledge. With knowledge comes power.

32.

Wean yourself off the dependency culture. Be a warrior. The dependency culture is promoted by governments who want compliant citizens amenable to bribes. Do not take their handouts, even if due to you. 33.

We yearn to return to childhood where everything is taken care of for us. Governments play upon this desire, promoting cradle-to-grave social security. Aim to want nothing from them. Pay your own way in everything. 34.

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Grade Fifteen: Media 1.

Another primary tool of Thrall control is the media.

The media make millions of pounds a day from their activities, some of which are benign, some of which are not. Even the benign output serves to reinforce the normality of Wonderland. 2.

Those running this propaganda machine are not evil. They are asleep like most people. They take their salaries and enjoy their status. In return they produce Thrall-fodder for consumption by the sheep. 3.

Politicians positively scurry when the editor of a major tabloid calls him or her in to the office (and it works that way around, not the other way. That shows you who has the real power). 4.

Politicians need the media to spin their policies. They need cheap tabloid opinions and the equivalent for the blanked-out Thralls to read and regurgitate. Politicians care very, very much about what bias a particular media outlet decides to put on a story. 5.

Over one billion newspaper pages are printed every day in the UK alone. That is a pile one hundred miles high. What is on those pages? News? Maybe a little, carefully chosen and sensationalised items. But mostly it is political propaganda; celebrity tittle-tattle; gossip; acres of sports coverage; malicious smears against those who cannot defend themselves; bringing down of the successful and wealthy; cheap sex; cheap opinions; cheap reader’s offers; dozens of loan adverts so that the Thralls can borrow to consume more; regurgitated ‘easy reading’ sound bites for the masses to repeat as their own opinions.

6.

Newspapers make their money from selling advertising space. So do they want alert, bright, discerning readers? Or do you think they prefer semi-hypnotised robots who will buy products? 7.

Financial Press You can completely ignore the financial press. At best they print fantasies, at worst they are little more than a confidence trick. Also they are out of date. 8.

Ask yourself if you think that any 'news' you read in the financial press will not already have been priced into the market? By the time the papers get around to the story, it is old news and everyone 'in the know' has cashed-in long ago. 9.

The papers exist to make money; that is all. They have no other reason whatsoever for being in existence. They make most of their money from advertising, and only a little from the cover price of the paper. Pick up a financial paper and look inside it. You will find it is packed with page after page of high priced adverts for Investment Funds, brokerages etc. Each advert makes thousands of pounds for the paper. All have the same theme. “Buy this investment now and make healthy gains.” 10.

In the light of this, how likely do you think it is that the financial press will run a story with the headline: Stock Market Crash Imminent! Share Prices Greatly Over-Valued. Sell Now! 11.

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Instead, they are much more likely to run a headline such as: Market Still Has Plenty of Steam Left. Is This The Next Big Upswing?

12.

They will talk about any down-turns in share prices being a 'correction', and they will urge you to buy on this dip and 'take advantage' of the low price before the next big surge. 13.

If they were to run a really negative headline, all the advertisers would immediately pull out and the paper would go broke overnight. Not only would people immediately stop investing in the advertised funds, many of them would immediately cash-in these investments. So forget the financial press – you will not learn anything interesting from reading it. 14.

Television Then there is television, the ultimate Big Brother control tool and money-making machine. Tens of thousands of hours of junk programmes are produced for the Thralls to sit in front of and watch. Could you possibly imagine saying to someone a hundred years ago that they would have a way of making people sit still in front of a box, for hour after hour, as they willingly allowed themselves to be indoctrinated? They would not believe it. The average amount of television watched by the Thralls is 3.7 hours per day. That is the average. You can now add many hours a week of ‘Internet surfing’ to that total. 15.

What is on this box? Well, it is ‘entertainment’ mostly. After a hard day’s labour in Wonderland making other people rich, the Thralls need to be ‘entertained’ by trivial reality shows, soap operas, car chase movies, hilarious ‘sit-coms’ and suchlike. They sit in front of that, night after night. They also watch adverts. Thousands of adverts a year, hammering messages into their brains about how they should want this or that product.

16.

It is a perfect set-up. Their desire to consume keeps them slaving in Wonderland to earn enough to buy more consumables. They come home and watch indoctrination messages about how they should want more products. They fall asleep exhausted (and often drunk or stoned) ready for another hard day on the hamster wheel.

17.

The advertisers and companies selling them this junk are laughing at them! So are the banks and loan companies who are up-fronting the money for them to buy more than they can afford. 18.

19.

Welcome to the seamless con which is Wonderland.

Films and Television Dramas Films and television dramas also often feature a brainwashing message designed to keep you asleep and dreaming.

20.

As an exercise, when you next watch a film, television drama or (in particular) soap opera, see how many of them have one of the following messages: 21.

1.

Life is a hopeless struggle. No matter what you do, you just cannot get ahead.

2. Being poor is good. Although it might be ‘nice’ to have a little more money, we are happy because we’re poor. Getting more money only brings big problems of jealousy etc. 3.

Poor people are decent through and through, rich people are evil to the core. 44

4. Being rich is awful. It causes misery and jealousy. Rich people are cold, uncaring and greedy. Rich people are corrupt and cheat their way to the top. 22.

Check to see if it features one of these story lines:

1. The life of a depraved/wasted/diseased person or an alcoholic, drug addict, rape victim, AIDS sufferer, battered wife, criminal, murderer, victim, psychopath, serial killer, bent cop or mentally ill person. 2. Death, disease, murder, mayhem, destruction, crime, rape, drugs, war, failure, massive disaster possibly involving the destruction of the entire planet. Many dramas you see at the cinema or on television will be concerned with one of those themes, and this has an effect on your subconscious. The effect is simultaneously to block your desire to escape whilst making your own drab life seem not too horrendous when compared with all of this disaster.

23.

Notice that aspirational adverts are rarely, if ever, about encouraging you to become truly wealthy. Their manipulations are aimed at a far lower level called Thrall-rich. This is the illusion that if you have certain chocolates to pass around at your ‘dinner party’ you will be seen as wealthy; that if you buy a cheap leather 3-piece suite, your friends will envy you and think you are rich; that if you drink this cheap, fizzy wine you will be in the ‘wealthy set’. Once again, they are laughing at you. The objective is to sell you goods and services which allow you to fool yourself into believing you have ‘made it’.

24.

25.

The very last thing they want is for you to really escape and really become wealthy.

It is worth mentioning that media people, film directors and suchlike tend, on average, towards the left end of the political spectrum. There are exceptions of course, but in general their hearts lean towards collectivism. This is reflected in their output. 26.

A Case Study - Titanic The 1997 film ‘Titanic’ was a superb example. It majored on the following entirely incorrect, but typically collectivist and Wonderland ideas, and hammered them mercilessly into the audience: “Being rich is bad. It is a worthless thing. All rich people are evil. They are either crooks or snooty aristocrats who inherited their money.” 27.

This film was teeming with wealthy people and we are assured that not a single one of them was worth saving. They are bad through and through – totally corrupt and downright evil or even psychopathic in the case of Rose’s fiancé. His overriding preoccupations are extortion, violence towards women and cheating in the most caddish fashion. He is the stereotype of the ‘evil millionaire’ without a single redeeming feature. He is the melodramatic sawmill owner, twirling his moustache in glee as the helplessly roped girl inches closer to the spinning blade... 28.

Scene of rich man trying to buy a place on a lifeboat with a fistful of money. Cash flung back in his face by noble, poor and decent sailor: “Your money’s no good here, mister!” 29.

The film shows us that rich people are devoid of compassion or decency. They are bent solely on saving their own skins. 30.

Scenes of struggling poor people locked behind doors by the cigar-chewing evil rich as the waters slowly rise... “Let the scum drown! First Class passengers only if you please, 31.

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this way for the lifeboats ladies. Back you filth! We’ll get to you when all the first class passengers have been seated...if there are any places left...!” We are reassured that being rich is no fun. In fact it is a crashing bore. The rich are incapable of enjoying themselves. They sit around looking terminally bored, sipping champagne with their fingers cocked at just the right angle, talking trivia and trying to outdo each other. Their children are stilted and restricted by having to learn ritualistic table manners. 32.

Scene with Rose looking horror-stricken towards upper-class little girl at dinner learning how to sit properly. Thinking “Oh no! This is just too, too awful. How can we torture our children like this? What monsters have we become with our money and fine ways? There must be something better. Oh how I long to be poor and free. If only I could find a quaint, preferably Irish, poor person to sweep me off my feet and teach me the true meaning of life. Those poor folk are so wise and so happy...” 33.

Meanwhile, back in third class, the message is hammered home that being poor is good. To be poor is to be happy. Poor people are noble, brave and wise. They think not of themselves but of others. Sacrifice and self-immolation are good, lofty standards to hold. 34.

Scenes of noble poor folk sacrificing their place on the lifeboat to other, more deserving people whilst evil rich men are trying to sneak onto boats reserved for women and children, even grabbing babies in an attempt to cheat their way to safety at the expense of others. 35.

The poor are good through and through. There is not a rotten apple in the entire basket. The poor suitor (Jack) would sacrifice his life so that his love (Rose) might live. The rich suitor would abandon his love so that he might live.

36.

Poverty is Fun! The film leaves us in no doubt that being poor is tremendous fun. Really terrific. An absolute riot. Poor people really know how to enjoy themselves whilst the rich just pretend.

37.

Scenes of quaint ‘character’ Irish folk dancing wildly on the tables below decks and knocking back the Guinness, whilst russet-haired Irish beauties lift their skirts in time with the joyful beat of the Gaelic drum. Beaming ragged children are whirled into the frantic dance, careless of the fact that they have not eaten for two days. Compare with any scene of ‘poor people enjoying themselves’ from A Christmas Carol or Mary Poppins – they are all the same. 38.

Meanwhile, in first class, in what can only be described as a funereal atmosphere, women are dabbing their sated mouths with delicate silk handkerchiefs, unable to cram down another morsel of caviar, whilst the men politely suggest that they leave the ladies and step outside for a cigar and fine brandy. 39.

The screenplay writer even changed history by implying that it was rich people’s greed which caused the disaster. Apparently it was not caused by the captain’s ineptitude or the inattention of the lookouts (they were humble, common sailors, so they cannot possibly be to blame if you are a collectivist by inclination). 40.

Finally on the subject of Titanic, here is an interesting question. Why are we obsessed with this 100+ year-old story? Of course it was a terrible disaster and 1500 people were 41.

46

killed, but millions have died since in a variety of nasty ways and so it is not the number of souls lost which ensures that this story will never die. There have been countless disasters since in which about 1,000-2,000 people have died. (A ferry sank in Egypt a few years ago with the loss of 1300 lives. Media coverage? Virtually zero.) The reason for its fascination stems from exactly the same anti-progress, collectivist philosophy which skewed the film so far to the left. The message (and the fascination) is this: 42.

“Man is an impotent worm. He is arrogant. He thinks he can outsmart mother nature. His so-called 'marvellous' machines and inventions are so much match wood and tin in the face of nature. How dare he think that he can cross the Atlantic and conquer God’s oceans? Look what happens to those upstarts. One iceberg and their plans and dreams are smashed. Such is the fate of all men who fly, Icarus-like towards the sun. Their wings will melt and they will crash to earth.” And here is the knock-out punch… “So let this be a lesson to any Thrall who might strive to conquer, to fight, to dare and to win. You cannot escape from Wonderland!”

43.

The Glorification of Failure The story of Titanic is a story of failure – man’s arrogant attempt to try to dare and to win only to receive a well-deserved slap down from old Ma Nature. This is the sole reason for its longevity.

44.

Why do people like to watch failure? Because, sad to say, many people are failures and watching other people fail makes them feel safe and not alone.

45.

Thralls love nothing better than to huddle together in a warm, vapid mass of commonality. If they can watch a disaster movie together, that is a bonus! 46.

‘Failure’ just means they have not done with their lives that which they could have done. They are living a life which is a pale shadow of the glory it could be if they would only dare. 47.

In any great endeavour from Titanic to the Space Shuttle there will be ‘failures’ – that is, stepping stones on the road to success. The bigger the disaster, the more it means we are striving for something big. 48.

Small minds set small targets with vast safety margins – accidents are rare, progress is minuscule. Big minds have big ideas with huge agendas. Large scale projects involving the unknown (e.g. crossing the world’s oceans, exploring space) carry the risk of setbacks and disaster. 49.

50. Of course Titanic was brilliantly filmed, hugely enjoyable and made some valid historical points. The society of 1910 was class-ridden and elitist. Many third-class passengers were trapped below decks and proportionately more rich made it than poor. We know all that. But the fact that in this film the rich are so irredeemably and uniformly evil, and the poor so uniformly good and decent, leaves no room for surmise regarding the director’s political leanings and the desires of the viewing millions.

The last scene is entirely fictitious, not historical. The fact that the entire film leads up to and culminates in the final gesture of Rose, as an old lady, throwing the priceless

51.

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necklace into the sea confirms our worst suspicions. What is the real significance of this gesture? “Money is worthless trash to be flung away by the million. It is worth less than an eighty year old memory of a brief shipboard romance. Get rid of it. It is a dead weight around your neck. Only evil can come from it. Toss it into the ocean. It belongs there, at the bottom of the sea where no person can be corrupted or tainted by its evil influence.”

52.

That is the message in the film. That is the theme which ran centrally throughout the plot. This is the ideology which the scriptwriter and director selected for our special attention. Worse, this is an entirely fictitious storyline, invented especially to run alongside the factually accurate historical details.

53.

Needless to say, the broke and powerless Thralls love this stuff. Here is an actual review which someone placed on an Internet film review site: “The ending, when Rose drops the necklace into the ocean, sending it back to the Titanic is a nice finish. And I think the treasure hunters in this movie have learned something in the end. Maybe more people will learn some day. Let’s hope.” 54.

Learned what, exactly? Learned to stay at home and never to go looking for adventure and ‘treasure’? Learned that wealth is only evil and that ‘treasure’ is only corrupting? 55.

56.

Yes, that is exactly what she means.

57.

Welcome to Wonderland.

What to Do? There are several practical things you can do to begin the break free from media control. 58.

Firstly, stop buying newspapers. If we are very lucky, in the near future, all newspapers will go broke as their circulations are all falling year on year. People are now getting their news from a variety of sources, most of them more reliable and less biased than newspapers. The national dailies are struggling to make an on-line model work, meanwhile they are losing circulation. That is very good news. Removal of newspapers removes a steady drip-feed of Thrall poison from the system. 59.

TV, radio and newspapers thrive on what they call 'news'. This is rarely a straight, factual presentation of some important incident. More often it is a hand-picked bad news story chosen for its maximum depression value. They also delight in cutting down tall poppies (people who have created and achieved great things). They particularly relish putting the scythe through poppies they have hand-reared. The media builds people up, then cuts them down again.

60.

Ask yourself when you last read a newspaper story in praise of (say) a top industrialist or creative person. Still thinking? Now ask yourself when you last read a story smearing such a person and dragging them into the gutter via some cheap, sleazy journalism? 61.

62. Journalists are merely playing to the lowest common denominator in the general public. It is what they do for their money and what they are trained in – identify the lowest value, repackage it, and feed it to the masses. The message is this: “Do not use your virtue to create values. All people who succeed are corrupt and flawed. Join with us to pull them

48

down to our level. Savour the thrill of seeing them hurt, ruined or destroyed. You are powerless, but we will help you get power to destroy others.” All of this could be stopped instantly, of course. If tomorrow morning, people refused to buy another trashy newspaper ever again, the vast empires of envy, tittle-tattle and hatred would go bust. But the Thralls are hooked on a daily fix of negativity and sleaze and cannot wean themselves away. It is not surprising really. Many people have tedious, mundane and pain-filled lives. Newspapers allow them to live vicariously through other people (soap stars, pop idols, sporting heroes, etc.) and the disaster stories make their own lives seem less painful. 63.

64. Imagine the pain of reading day after day about other people's success and how well they were doing, how wealthy they were becoming and how fulfilled their lives were! It would be unbearable to many.

Stop Listening to The News! Save yourself the daily drain of energy, enthusiasm and hope which the poison of the 'news' bulletins causes to your delicate psyche. Realise it is not ‘the news’, it is carefully selected, edited and tasty ‘sheep bites’ chosen for Thrall consumption. The bites are selected for maximum emotional appeal and feature disaster, grief, loss, destruction, crime and fear. The effect of listening to this is very insidious. It is a steady drip of corrosion into your psyche. The cumulative message is that people are rotten through and through and the world is going to hell. What will that do for your desire to win, to achieve, to put your dream out into the world? 65.

Many people comment that when they listen to the news a lot or buy a paper they feel depressed for quite a while afterwards. As an experiment, The Author once avoided all news for two years and felt a great deal better. If anything really important happens (e.g. 9/11) you will rapidly hear about it, and so there is no loss. Try this experiment for yourself. Be strict. Do not even read the headlines on newspapers as you walk into a shop or garage. 66.

If you really must listen to the news, restrict yourself to one quality bulletin a day. If the world is coming to an end you will hear about it without turning on the news every hour. 67.

Sit down and honestly work out how many hours of ‘entertainment’ you allow yourself each week. Add up the television hours, the radio, newspaper reading, the Internet surfing and films. Now add in extended meals out, time in the bar and time spent otherwise entertaining yourself. The object is not to remove entertainment from your life. The object is to dramatically reduce it (particularly the Thrall versions like soap operas and cheap TV) and use that time to make yourself a fortune and actualize your dream.

68.

3.7 hours a day (the average television viewing) equates to 1,200 hours a year – an amazing thirty 40-hour weeks a year. That number is very hard to believe but it is true. What do you think you could achieve with thirty 40-hour weeks completely devoted to your dream? Halve it and that is still 16 full working weeks a year devoted solely to the practice of becoming wealthy.

69.

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Turn Off Adverts! Only a lobotomized Thrall would actually sit in front of the television and watch the adverts. If you must watch some television, reach immediately for the mute button and press it as soon as they come on. Keep an educational book handy and read a page or two during the commercial breaks. 70.

With any adverts you see (including billboard adverts) start to wake up teasing out the basic message from the clever imagery. Boil it down to fundamentals. Habitually say to yourself something like: “Ah yes, buy that aftershave and dozens of beautiful women will fall at your feet,” or “Ah, I see, buy this cheap sofa and you will enjoy total freedom from all of life’s problems,” or “They are saying that if I drink this poisonous alcoholic beverage I will have lots of very good friends and be admired.”

71.

72.

This is a very powerful exercise and one which will free you from manipulation.

Analyse films. If you watch films, do not allow yourself to get totally drawn in. Keep part of your consciousness aloofly to the side to give you an overview of the message they are trying to put across. Use the example of Titanic above as your template. Most films are little more than a collection of stereotypes bolted together around a thin storyline. Stereotypes are one way of solidifying Wonderland – the endlessly repeated memes such as the nerdy computer-geek; the wise, incorruptible black police chief; the evil serial murderer; the vulnerable woman; the karate-chopping, ‘good-as-any-man’ woman, etc.

73.

Try to analyse any film you see in one sentence. E.g. for Titanic it would be “Evil capitalists cause the death of 1500 innocent poor people in their greedy rush for even more wealth.” 74.

Having condensed the film down to a sentence, extract the meme – the unit of Wonderland which they are feeding you. For Titanic it would be: “Do not fight, dare and try to win. It is evil and you will fail anyway. Money corrupts you so do not strive for it.” 75.

Be highly selective and critical of news. Most ‘news’ is provided by self-serving organisations with an agenda. This means they put a spin on the news. Even selecting the news items is a spin, of course. If you must watch the news, hop around the news stations and include some foreign channels such as Al Jazeera. You will be astonished at the difference – it is almost as if they are reporting from different worlds. In this way you can build up a more complete picture of what is going on. 76.

Try not to have opinions. This is a hard one. Realise that (unless you are a real expert) you know as close to nothing as makes any difference about this or that particular news item. Your response to news (which does not directly and immediately affect you) should be one of opinionless curiosity. It may be true it may not be true. These people may be right, but they may be wrong also.

77.

It is a huge ego-trap to be stuffed full of opinions on everything in the news. Resist at all costs the temptation to voice them. If others voice their opinions, do not challenge them. They are merely regurgitating Thrall-fodder they have been fed from the media and their egos are totally identified with ‘their’ views. A few days ago they could not have pointed to the relevant country on a map, but now they are experts full of emotionally charged opinions. Answer their assertions with a bland: “Yes, you may be right.”

78.

79.

Acting in these ways sets you on the road to liberation from control by the media. 50

Grade Sixteen: Big Corporations and Advertising To become wealthy, your income must exceed your outgoing for a long enough time that you accumulate a surplus. 1.

One of the biggest factors keeping the Thralls poor is that they are spending too much money. Usually they spend more than they earn and so they are getting poorer, not richer. 2.

The main reason they spend too much is because they are allowing themselves to be conned by business and advertising into buying things they do not need. 3.

Big corporations want you locked into illusion, consuming products. The more of their products you buy, the more money they make and the more powerful they become. 4.

Their advertising (desire-generation) is aimed at keeping you asleep. They do not care much if their products work, are harmful to you or ruinous to the environment. Just don’t… whatever you do… wake up and see their cons. If you ever did that you would stop buying their trash. 5.

This is not a conspiracy and it is not personal. They just want your money. The more of your money they can get, the more fun and freedom they can enjoy. You, meanwhile, will slave your life away amassing a huge pile of junk, most of which will be dumped in the skip when you die by house clearance specialists.

6.

The Advertisers There are tens of thousands of people out there who dedicate their whole lives to extracting money and values from you – and they get paid handsomely for doing it. We are talking about the advertising industry, of course. 7.

You should understand that they are very, very good at what they do. Some of the best, the most brilliant, the most imaginative and creative minds in the world are employed by this industry. They have Masters degrees in psychology; they know the techniques of persuasion; they understand how to use images and sounds to manipulate human emotions. 8.

They are top pros – please do not underestimate their skill. The next ‘lame’ advert you see on television is most likely to be far from lame. Every tenth of a second has been carefully crafted. Every camera angle, every shot duration, every colour, every actor/actress has been painstakingly selected to meld into a seamless whole which is the advert. And it has but one aim – to get the target audience to part with their money. 9.

Advertising works. We know this because they are fiendishly expensive and if they did not work, then nobody would waste their money on creating them. 10.

You are exposed to tens of thousands of advertising messages a year. Often you will see 100+ adverts in a single day. That really is extraordinary when you think about it. You probably think you are superior to most mere mortals and are not affected by adverts. You may think they are for the Thralls. You would never be influenced – in fact you hardly notice them and wonder why they bother putting them out.

11.

12.

This is a classic example of underestimating your enemy – with fatal consequences.

Advertising is just one (rather minor) tool of control – and you are controlled by it. If you doubt this, go to your refrigerator and open it. Then check the larder. See all those 13.

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brand names? What about your clothes, your ‘trainers’ (the very fact that half the population is walking around in £100-a-pair tennis shoes should tell you something!) your car, your mobile telephone... It is most unlikely that you have ‘any old’ mobile, ‘any old’ TV, ‘any old’ car etc. Where do you shop? Any old supermarket? Maybe, but you are probably brand loyal and have a favourite.

14.

What car do you drive (or aspire to drive). Any old car with all the panels the same colour? Unlikely. Car adverts in particular are carefully honed to appeal to a sub-sub niche, e.g. “A/B aspirational women aged 29-34.” Each frame of the advert is crafted to tug the strings of that particular puppet. Sure, that advert may go over your head, but what about the other 9,999 you will see? 15.

You are steeped in a river, a flood, a tidal wave of images created by top professionals who know what they are doing. And remember – it is not personal. They just want your money. They are there to extract your cash and you are a helpless pawn in their hands – until now. 16.

This is not to suggest that you should never buy goods or services. People also have a legitimate right to try and sell us their products. You, however, are going to break away from the Thralls and join the Beyond Wealth initiates in a glittering, wealthy, happy and free life. 17.

Who cares what the Thralls do, how many adverts they sit and stare at, how drunk or stoned they are, or how much they stack their homes full of consumer trash to ease their misery? These teachings are concerned with helping you to break free from this insanity. You can do this, but it is going to take… discipline. 18.

The Simple Agenda These people want your money. They want your life-efforts handed over to them. Why? Because they can then spend your life efforts on themselves. 19.

If you work 100 hours to buy a product which takes 3 hours to produce, then you have just given someone 97 hours of your life – effectively you have slaved for them for that length of time, just like the slaves did in ancient Egypt. This is the name of their game. This is what they want. 20.

21.

How do they get it? They need an endless queue of shuffling, lobotomized Thralls who: 1. Will sit mindlessly in front of their brainwashing image loops for hours. 2. Are so ill-disciplined and unaware that they allow a ‘need’ to arise in them without the slightest thought about how they have been manipulated into ‘needing’ this item or service.

3. Will shuffle off like the good, dutiful little Thralls they are, and buy the item or service, ideally on credit. Again they are like children. Show them some sweeties and they will rush to grab them. 22. Years and years (literally) of your life are thus squandered in working (usually in a job you barely tolerate) in a desperate scrabble to generate enough money to fill your life with consumer rubbish. After a few years it is literally rubbish. The Nintendo Games console and ten games (total £900+) is now being picked over at the car boot sale or sold on eBay 52

for a tenner. The 159 VHS video tapes at £10+ each which you bought and only watched once – now 15p each if you are lucky. You are, right now, probably repeating the mistake with DVDs and will repeat it again with Blue Ray. The new car? It lost £8,000 the minute you drove it out of the showroom. Yes you got some use out of it, but a few years later you are truly horrified to be only offered £4,000 for something that cost £26,000. The ‘new kitchen’; the ‘new suite’; the expensive holiday; several mobile telephones, fancy devices from Apple with ‘i’ in front of them; the new flat screen television – we could go on forever and even if all of this is not exactly your story, a lot of it probably is. The countless thousands you have spent (maybe tens of thousands?) on stuff you just thought, for some incomprehensible reason, you had to have. Most of it is now worthless junk clogging up your home and your life.

23.

24.

Now say you are aloof from advertising pressure!

You have been duped by the advertising masters of Wonderland – and you have bought the dream. A lot of your angst and pain probably comes from not having enough consumer trash! You would like more because the adverts have stimulated you into wanting more. You are dissatisfied even though you are richer than almost all human beings ever to have lived on this planet. You probably want wealth so that you can spend more and more money on ‘things’. 25.

If we estimate that in total 15 billion people have lived since the dawn of humankind, you are, right now, in the top wealthiest 0.01% at least! The reason you are not satisfied is because you inhabit Wonderland and it tricks you into believing that you should have more. 26.

This is where your discipline comes in. To escape this particular hellish corner of Wonderland you need the discipline to do the following two things – at least. 27.

Minimise Your Exposure to Adverts – Now! 28.

This was touched upon under the section on ‘media’.

29.

It is impossible to make this zero of course, unless you become a hermit.

In particular, avoid the most persuasive type. These are the ‘indoctrination loops’ they play over and over again to the Thralls who watch television and films. Notice something about television adverts? The volume is 20% higher and the colours are fully saturated. That means louder and brighter. If you know your NLP, you will know what is going on. If you do not, it is not rocket science. It is called brainwashing. Loud and bright gets the attention of both children... and Thralls. 30.

If you must watch television (a habit you should work hard to eradicate) then become disciplined about turning off the adverts when they come on. At the very least, mute your TV. Only a totally mindless Thrall (of which there are millions) would actually sit in front of a television set watching the adverts! 31.

Do you enjoy the cinema? Next time you are there look around at the Thralls as they stare mindlessly at the screen when the (endless) adverts come on. It is a scary and surreal experience. 32.

Never, ever sit there flipping through colour supplements or catalogues to see if something grabs you and stimulates your greed. 33.

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Stop! Check! Do You Really Want This? When thinking of a purchase, have the discipline to triple-check with yourself if this is something you really need and is not something which is largely to do with image – getting one up on others, imagining you will look good, imagining you will feel good. This is illusion. You will not look good and feel good for more than half a day. That is an expensive half a day. 34.

Check with yourself if you really need the ‘latest’ anything – phone, car, TV, Hi-Fi, MP3, i-this or i-that, computer, DVD, kitchen, sofa, bedroom furniture, bathroom, conservatory, swimming pool or holiday. All this is fine if you are loaded down with so much cash you have not the faintest idea what to spend it on. If that is the case, the things you buy are not really controlling your life because they need virtually none of your effort to get them. But that is rarely the case. 35.

Most people are flat, stony broke and maxed-out on every credit card they own and have borrowed to the hilt from any fool stupid enough to lend them more money.

36.

37.

They need a lot of money to buy all this junk.

This is not a call to live monk-like with your robe and begging bowl. We are talking about FREEDOM – your freedom. Buying into this ludicrous dream is costing you your life – literally. So you must try and snap out of this delusion as fast as possible. 38.

The action required here is simple – stop buying stuff you do not need and which you cannot afford. 39.

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Grade Seventeen: Religion and Spirituality 1. This

section of the teachings concerns the negative effects of the larger world religions.

Adherents accept a more or less rigid adherence to a set of beliefs, dogmas or creed usually with its associated written materials (the ‘Holy Books’) which are believed to be divinely inspired and possibly even infallible. These teachings do not apply to spirituality. Spirituality and religion are usually negatively correlated. The more religious you are, the less spiritual you are likely to be and vice-versa. There are exceptions of course. 2.

Religion is discussed here because it is virtually impossible to be free, wealthy and empowered if one has signed up to (and actually believes) a major religious system. 3.

The Four Existential Truths The world can be a painful place. Religion buffers us from the pain of four existential truths. This is the main reason mankind clings desperately to these illusions and all variations of them. 4.

There are four important truths about existence which you need to know, absorb and fully accept before you can live a happy, empowered life, here on earth. They are not easy truths to accept, but they will set you free. 5.

The First Truth. The universe is essentially Meaningless with a capital ‘M’. This is meant in the wider “what is it all about?” sense. It is futile to demand a reason for the existence of the universe, or to postulate a disembodied consciousness which created it. Questions such as “Who created the universe?” are entirely devoid of meaning. The universe is, by definition, everything which exists. There is no ‘outside.’ Time, also, is within the universe. It is, in fact, a characteristic of the universe and cannot exist independently of matter. Questions such as: “What was there before the universe?” cannot therefore be asked at this stage of our evolution. 6.

It is therefore wise to completely abandon any search for Meaning because such Meaning, if it exists, is entirely unknowable to humans at this stage of our development. Do not waste any significant time on this pursuit. Pondering it for light amusement is acceptable. 7.

We humans create our own meaning (with a small ‘m’). This is what we do. These smaller meanings are what keep us functioning, so they are important. 8.

We desire to know that our lives matter. We seek significance and this is the emotional experience of the will to life. We seek to understand how our lives serve a bigger context – hence the religious desire to ‘serve God’ of course.

9.

We can obtain meaning by having an inner, rooted sense of significance and worth (sometimes called ‘self esteem’). It can be attained by service to, and acceptance by, others in society. It can be attained by the creative process. It can be attained when we see ourselves mirrored in others. It can be hinted at in the answer to the question: “Does it matter if I live or die?” 10.

The Second Truth. You are born alone, you die alone. Of course, you meet and interact with people throughout your life, but nobody – not even your life partner of fifty years, knows very much about what it is like to be you. They know one millionth of your

11.

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thoughts, feelings, hopes and aspirations. Your communication with others is little more than the crude banging of a jungle drum, good enough to grunt out a few exchanges of raw information, but entirely hopeless at transmitting the finer nuances of the essential You. You are alone in a small fishing vessel, floating on a dark sea at night. Nobody will ever visit your boat, but it is comforting to see the lights of other friendly boats, bobbing in the darkness alongside you. The very best you can hope for is to have a few friendly boats by your side, with perhaps the odd shouted word of encouragement from the unseen captains of these vessels.

12.

13.

The Third Truth: You, and everyone you love or care for is going to die. Fact.

Man has existed for an estimated two million years and there have been about 15 billion of us in total. Not one has cheated the grave, despite fables to the contrary.

14.

You will not cheat death either. Sorry. Within about 120 years, every single man woman and child alive on the planet today will be dead. There is no mechanism for surviving death, despite our most fervent wishes. Our attempts to invent survival mechanisms (reincarnation, heaven, immortal soul, etc.) although understandable, are rather sad and desperate. 15.

When you die, you will live on for a short while as a shadowy memory in the minds of a handful of other boat captains. One millionth of what you were will exist in some small corner of their clutter-filled lives. One by one, their boats will sink too. Some day, there will be one last boat whose captain is the only person alive on the planet ever to have known you. That boat will also sink, leaving nobody – not one single soul, who ever knew you personally. You will be utterly forgotten. 16.

You cannot take so much as a paper-clip with you. All of your worldly possessions will be divided up amongst the living. Your precious letters, ornaments and knick-knacks will be dumped, burned in a large house-clearance bonfire or given to a charity shop. Anything of value you own will be sold and the money divided according to your Will. You will be remembered hourly, then weekly, then monthly, then yearly. Then...not at all. 17.

Exactly the same fate awaits everyone you love and care about. Your children, your significant other, all of your friends and everyone you have ever met or known. 18.

Any lingering belief you have about surviving ‘somehow’ is mere wishful thinking. You will not. Perhaps you hope that ‘they’ will invent immortality, just in time to save you. Alas they will not. Perhaps you think that you are somehow special, and will cheat death? This is a comforting delusion. Perhaps you believe you will go to heaven and live with the angels? That is just sad. 19.

This knowledge is both deeply humbling and hugely empowering. It means that you have to seize control of your life right now because you only have a little time left.

20.

21.

The Fourth Truth: You are the sole director of your own life and destiny.

This follows from the other three. There is no supernatural ghost directing your life. You are not influenced by another mystical dimension, because there is no such thing. You are all alone, and despite your kicking and squirming, your evasions, lies, hopes and selfdeceit that leaves just one person at the helm of your ship. You. You are all alone on the bridge as your ship plunges forwards into icy and hostile seas; rudderless, directionless. Instead of seizing the spinning helm, what are you doing?

22.

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You get to your knees and pray that some ghostly spirit will seize the wheel and point the bow to a safe harbour for you.

23.

You long for one of the other boat captains to leap aboard your vessel and stand by your side, guiding you and keeping you safe from the rocks. 24.

You analyse each crashing wave, searching for its ‘meaning’ and ‘significance,’ trying to discern patterns in the waves, the gusts of wind and the lashing rain, hoping it is all for some higher purpose. You play childish mental games with yourself, promising to be a good boy or girl, if only the wind will drop and the seas become calm. You throw charms and amulets at the waves; go to your cabin and light incense in front of a picture of a still ocean; do tarot readings to discern which wave will hit you next; read your palm to see if drowning lies in your future. You get out your crystals and try to ‘channel’ wave-reducing ‘vibrations’ towards the ship; you scream to a long-dead prophet to stretch out his merciful hand and stay the elements. 25.

Meanwhile above the moaning wind, you scream: “Why me? Why me? I am special. Other people drown, but not me, oh please, unknowable ghost, not me!”

26.

And all this time, your unguided ship tosses about on the stormy sea for want of a captain...

27.

So much pain. So much angst. The pain of our own death, the agony of an infinite, meaningless universe, the terrible, terrible loneliness and the horrifying responsibility of command. Is it any wonder that we seek buffers – any illusion will do – to save ourselves from the truth? We will believe anything – anything rather than face this pain. This is where religion feeds upon our pain by offering illusory solutions. 28.

The Truth Will Set You Free In reality these four truths are hugely empowering because they release us. They allow us to flourish in this life, on this planet. We can be courageous and go into battle, aim for victory and shoot for glory. 29.

30.

Religion seeks to buffer us from these existential realties.

Religious people are often the most deeply asleep of all Thralls and it is close to impossible to awaken them. They have bought into maybe the biggest con trick ever perpetrated on the human race. Their natural awe and wonder at the mystery of the universe, coupled with a deep sense of spirituality are hijacked in the service of rigid dogmatism. 31.

Religion is a primary tool of control over the Thralls who are called ‘The flock’. The flock are instructed to hand over their life values to ‘The Master’ in return for compensation when they die. The values they hand over are money, respect, kudos, time and much else besides. Meanwhile you attempt to live by their artificial code of ‘morals’. 32.

'Moral', as stolen by religion, means never lying, cheating, stealing and so on, but in the context of obedience to an illusory supernatural being, not because these actions are damaging to your human life or values. And 'goodness' is a kind of cloying, sacrificial, simpering act in which you pretend that the values of a total stranger are superior to your own values, and struggle to act accordingly. Meanwhile you fight the gloomy depression which settles on you whenever you engage in such a distorted act as exchanging a higher value for a lesser one. 33.

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The primary duty of a religious adherent is obedience. This is usually obedience to a non-existent invention of man called ‘God’. In reality the heads are bowed to real live humans who set themselves up as the priesthood.

34.

Secondary duties are servility, humility, altruism and destruction of pride. The message is: “Sacrifice your life values and be happy about it. Do not complain.” 35.

The ‘priests’ manipulate the ‘flock’ by telling them simple children’s stories in order to extract values of money (salary) and kudos (respect, admiration). Many sincerely believe what they are preaching, many do not. 36.

You are unlikely to succeed in your desire for wealth, power and freedom if you are religious. You will believe totally in that corner of Wonderland. To you, it is real and nothing will shake that delusion. Please recall the difference between ‘religious’ and ‘spiritual’ – they are often polar opposites. 37.

You cannot seize control of your destiny and set out to live a life of positive power, with pride in what you do, if you have signed-up for a belief which has as its central theme obedience to something which does not exist. If you intone mantras of humility, sacrifice, duty and subservience one day, you cannot go out with pride, independence, power and industry the next – not and remain sane, that is.

38.

Religion –v– Spirituality Religion has hijacked spirituality and twisted it for its own nefarious purposes. A deep sense of wonder and awe at the miracle of life, the universe and our place in it is not only laudable it is absolutely essential if you are to transcend ego. This is not ‘religion’ which is a stagnant, codified set of ritual observances and prescribed beliefs with only the faintest echo, if any, of the original, brilliantly awakened mind which gave birth to it. 39.

If you are lost in a hall of illusion, your rational mind is in jeopardy – and this is an essential tool if you want to become a wealthy man or woman. It cannot thrive on a diet of illusions, fairy-stories and falsehoods. Such food is poison and a part of your mind withers and dies every time you allow such exposure. 40.

The High Priests of religion know exactly what they are doing. Their goal is the enslavement of the flock, not our freedom and enlightenment.

41.

Many religions defame and defile man whilst masquerading as saving us. They proclaim that we are weak, we are sinful, we are dirty, greedy and lustful. We should hang our heads in shame. We cannot do anything for ourselves. We are utterly powerless without God. We exist, not for our own ends, but to serve an illusion. Our place is in the dirt, heads bowed in supplication. 42.

43.

Blind, unquestioning faith and obedience are the highest virtues espoused by religion.

This leads to the suppression of hundreds of millions of tortured souls, wracked in guilt and agony. It locks them into starvation and poverty. It causes bloodletting and fanaticism on a truly horrendous scale. 44.

Religions mostly all work on the same set of principles. Sacrifice your power, energy and talents to the 'priests' and 'church' in return for a direct line to the force which is ruling

45.

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your destiny. Your sacrificed power, time, energy and money will be gratefully received by the people (not gods) running this illusion. 46. Religions debase mankind and destroy pride. They corrupt altruism which is another good and decent value (properly understood) by yoking it to the service of a powerful elite. According to the religio-statist mantra, your purpose is to toil under the yoke of human servitude until every mouth is fed, every child is clothed and each human being has the ‘basics’ of life. No matter that this is an impossible task, you will labour until your back is broken and you can turn the wheel no more. Your reward will be waiting for you in heaven.

You will not even be granted pride in a job well done. Pride is sinful. Your task is to labour for no reward – not even satisfaction. You are not even permitted to see the results of your efforts. These will be distributed by the ‘priests of collectivism’ to the ‘needy’ and you will not be consulted or shown the outcome of your labours. You must not think of what you want. This is ‘selfish’. Instead you must constantly search out the needs of others and strive to fulfil them. It is critical that you understand the difference between a scam-artist imposing these values on you so that they might profit, and any inner sense you might develop for wanting to help those less fortunate than yourself or create something of value to others.

47.

Lovingkindness According to Beyond Wealth teachings, this stage of genuine loving-kindness can only be voluntarily reached, it cannot be imposed through force, threats or guilt. 48.

Once again mankind’s natural care and generosity are polluted by the guilt-inducing admonitions of religion. Sacrifice becomes a duty. Caring becomes a tedious chore. Love becomes a bargaining chip to get into heaven. 49.

Our purpose on earth is not to grovel at the feet of an illusory god and his selfappointed representatives. We exist for our own sake, not for the sake of others. Our highest, most noble purpose is to seek our own happiness. Our natural compassion and feelings of interconnection compel us to help others along the way and this brings real contentment. This is one of our finest selfish pleasures, but this is not our duty. It may not be demanded of us. 50.

No person has the right to place a mortgage on another’s life, neither does anyone have the right to demand the smallest portion of another’s estate. 51.

Our nature is basically good and decent. The correct way for us to interact is as traders – each creating values and trading them non-coercively. In this way society advances beyond measure and the lives of all people improve dramatically. In contrast, religions and governments use a combination of bribes, threats, extortion and outright force to confiscate your life efforts and redistribute them to others, buying kudos for themselves as they do it. This destroys altruism at its root. 52.

We gain our reward here, on earth. It is here that we take our pleasure and pursue our happiness. Reject outright any fantasies about an illusory ‘paradise’ where you will collect your heavenly reward. This is such a blatant confidence trick it would be laughable were it not for the misery, evil and destruction it causes world-wide. If you had never heard it

53.

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before you would laugh loud and long and call the person uttering it a fool to his or her face. Always strive for control in your life. Do not give your power away. If you are weak, someone else will snatch control of your life from your faltering hands. Remember, this is the Pharaoh principle – the more slaves another human being can command, the greater their personal power. If you have little interest in seizing control over your own life, then someone else will quickly sign you up for their self-serving project. 54.

Mankind is a glorious, positive, goal-oriented species. We are capable of almost anything. We will conquer space. We will conquer disease. We will conquer all diseases. We are brilliant. We should be proud and stand tall. We do not need the help of dead prophets, piles of rocks, animal entrails, wooden crosses, the sun god, spirits, angels, ‘holy’ books, illusory pan-dimensional beings, astrology, tarot cards or Ouija boards. 55.

56.

We can do it alone. Indeed we have to, since we are alone!

Deluded and Terrified People who sign up for religion are not bad people. They are asleep and deluded, just like almost everyone in society. They are also terrified, whilst simultaneously desiring the benefits of religious membership. These include a sense of community; human warmth; friendship; an ‘approved’ outlet for their nascent spirituality; a ‘safe and simple’ set of beliefs which will not tax their minds; a ‘holy’ reference book dictated by God himself which has all the answers to life’s complex questions; feelings of being right and knowing the truth and that the disbelievers and ‘wicked’ people will all be punished; moral direction without any grey areas; a rationale for their poverty, as money is evil; a rationale for their powerlessness, as everything is part of God’s plan; protection from existential angst and an analgesic for the pain of our own mortality since this life is a mere dress rehearsal for a glorious afterlife. There are many more benefits of membership, which is why approximately two billion people worldwide have joined the branches of the various religious cults. 57.

One of the worst aspects of religion is its insistence upon obedience. This undermines our free will and independence. The primary directive is obedience to God’s will. This translates as obedience to his temporal representatives on earth, of course. Such obedience encourages weakness. You are actively encouraged to seek guidance and help not from your own resources but from an illusory external spirit. This leaves you weak and powerless – which is precisely the point. Rational enquiry is actively discouraged. Disbelief will render you an outcast at best, or subject to the death penalty at worst, depending on the brand of fanaticism to which you have signed up.

58.

Religions encourage in-group, out-group hatred and violence as each believes they hold ‘the’ truth and will often fight to the death to protect it. 59.

Many, if not most religious people are kind, generous and well-meaning of course. If they do not believe too strongly in the illusion (and most do not) they can gain all of the benefits mentioned above, but suffer little of the downside. 60.

61. There is nothing ‘wrong’ with this – unless your purpose is to wake up and be wealthy, powerful and free in which case you will be stopped dead by your religious beliefs, if you have them. Religions are just more Wonderland illusions for entertaining and controlling

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the Thralls, no better and no worse (except in rare extremes) than a dozen other such illusions. Reclaim your spirituality! You do not need a dead, dogma-driven religious structure to allow you to reconnect with the god within. Indeed, such a structure is highly likely to prevent you from so doing.

62.

Let your awe and wonder envelop you. Be astonished at the immensity of the universe and the fact that it exists at all. Find your inner light and let it shine. If you choose to call it God, so be it, but do not abase yourself before it, pray to it, or demand help from it.

63.

Do not let a single person, let alone a self-appointed ‘priesthood’ stand between you and your version of the truth. You do not need anyone to mediate the truth for you, you can discover it for yourself in quiet contemplation or meditation. 64.

Start seeing religions for what they are – entertainment designed to amuse, baffle and control the Thralls. They have little, if anything to do with spirituality. 65.

You want to become a wealthy man or woman? Reclaim your power from those who have taken it from you. Laugh when they suggest you sacrifice yourself to them. Unmask their manipulations when they try to trick you out of your life efforts for their aggrandisement. Stand tall if they tell you to bow your head. Get up out of the dust. They want you there, kneeling and bowing in supplication, shame and weakness. Do not give them that pleasure. 66.

If God existed he would want you standing proud, walking tall, striding into the world with positive power, being all you can be, fighting, daring, winning, loving, sharing, helping. He would not want you on your knees mumbling incantations. He would not want you whining and begging to him for favours. He would not want your dreary, hypocritical lip service belied by your actions. He would not want you wracked with guilt, feeling sinful and dirty, struggling to fathom his ‘mysterious ways’, hating your religious opponents, sneering at the ‘fools’ who do not know the truth. 67.

68.

He would want none of these things. In your heart, you know this.

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Grade Eighteen: Friends and Family A critically important factor in your success is the nature of the people you surround yourself with.

1.

It is hard to succeed in life as a complete loner, without support. ‘Hard’ becomes impossible if those around you are actively trying to undermine your plans for wealth, power and freedom.

2.

You need to make a careful inventory of your friends, family and most importantly your ‘significant other’ if you are in a relationship. 3.

Your partner will have the largest effect upon you. If they are not on your team it will be extraordinarily hard to succeed. A health warning: many people who change and go for wealth and freedom end up divorcing or leaving their partners. 4.

The reason for this break-up rate is simple. When your partner got together with you, they selected you more for your solid, dependable characteristics than for your risk-taking, wealth seeking, freedom-loving attitude. If you suddenly change from home-loving to freedom-loving, this will bring about a mismatch in your partner’s world-view. This will cause fear which can lead to anger. 5.

Your partner wants you how you were – dependable, bringing in a regular, safe wage, looking after him or her or at least contributing regularly and dependably. They will not take kindly to your bid for freedom, not least of all because a desire for freedom in one area (financially) can, they think, spill over into a desire for freedom in other areas – freedom from them. They are correct in their suspicions. 6.

Their fear will make them highly nervous about any risks you might want to take to achieve wealth. The result is that they will persuade you, cajole you and nag you to play it safe, not to take a risk, to stick with what you know. 7.

If you persist in your escape plans they may ‘up the ante’ and become argumentative, aggressive and even violent. This is their deep fear in action. They are terrified of losing what they have. They do not share your vision of wealth and freedom. For them safety is everything. They will choose safety and boredom over adventure and riches any day. There is no contest in their minds. 8.

If this is your story, sadly you only have two choices. You must understand that it is possible, but most unlikely that you will persuade your partner to join you in your bid for freedom. The best you can hope for is if they are willing to stand aside, not interfere and let you get on with it. The two remaining options are to abandon your plans or to abandon your partner. These are hard truths, but true nonetheless. You must either settle for a life of safety and mediocrity, or lose the stability of a possibly good relationship and shoot for glory. Only you can make this choice, but try to spare yourself the heartache of a protracted, lengthy attempt at persuading your significant other to your viewpoint. If they are not on board fairly immediately, they are unlikely to be persuaded. 9.

Family Now let us turn to family. Here, a lot depends on how close your ties are to them. If not very close, they are unlikely to affect you much. If your ties are close then you need to be aware that they will most likely not take kindly to your plans. You will be on the receiving

10.

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end of a lot of well-meaning, ‘friendly advice’ about the danger of taking risks. You will hear stories about people they know who lost everything on this or that venture. Friends and family want you, bless their hearts, to be like them. This means, in Wonderland. Do not rise above your station. Just be a robot – like them. Obey orders. Do not stick your head above the parapet. Do not be different. Get a safe job. Settle down. Forget your dreams. Support us. Feed us. Look after us. 11.

You may wonder about the motive of these people. If they truly cared about you, surely they would support your dream? Consider yourself lucky if they do. Their motive in making you play safe is quite easy to understand. If you become wealthy and free, that means they are out of excuses for making this happen in their lives. People are faced with two choices – do what it takes to be a success, or do what it takes to reduce the successful down to their level. The second route is far easier than the first, and this is why many people opt for this. It is why the tabloid newspapers delight in stories about once successful people now losing everything. This is what the Thralls want to hear. 12.

Understand that your friends and family are not evil. Hopefully they do not want to hurt you. All they want is to spare themselves the pain of having someone like you act as a shining beacon and showing them what is possible. For then they would need to take action too – and they do not want that. People crave comfort, security and routine. As a general rule, if you rock this boat you will pay a price. 13.

Jealousy When you succeed you will also immediately attract jealousy. People do not want to make the considerable effort it takes to become wealthy. They want the money but for free. This is why they do the lottery. If someone close to them becomes wealthy they will start to attack them, either claiming it was luck, or hinting at some secret advantage, or suggesting wrongdoing. 14.

The truth (that you became wealthy through hard work and skill) is unbearable for them because the route to their own fortune has just been disclosed. Now they have no more excuses in life. Better to pretend the route is a fraud, or luck, or does not apply to them. That way they save themselves the effort of trying.

15.

16.

These are hard truths to hear, but you need to be warned.

There are friends and family who will support your dream if you are lucky. You must cleave to these people and make them your allies. They will share in your fortune when you make it. Sadly these people are rarer than the former type. 17.

You need to take action. Ruthlessly assess your friends and those you ‘hang out’ with. Where are they going? What are their principles and guiding virtues? Do they support endeavour, industry, wealth? Or are they lazy, poor and always on the lookout for easy handouts? Gently float your plans past them in a very casual way. What is their reaction? Supportive or hostile? A lot more will be said about this important area later when we discuss Type B people in the next chapter. 18.

Realise that you may need to leave all of your friends behind. Realise that you may need to change your partner. With luck you will have a supportive partner and enthusiastic friends, but be prepared to change both.

19.

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Grade Nineteen: The Type ‘B’ Person This is a long section on a highly important topic – the people you surround yourself with. This may be the most important few pages you have ever read in your life.

1.

It is virtually impossible to become wealthy as an isolated individual. You need to recruit others to help you to realise your dreams. 2.

However you must choose wisely. There are many people in your life who wish to take your talents, energy and money. They have become highly skilled at doing this, so in order to thrive you must be able to identify and eliminate such people from your life. You may need a little ruthlessness to do this. 3.

Without this ability, you are very exposed and can be taken advantage of. You could lose a very great deal of your wealth and life-energies if you are not careful to avoid being sucked into these people’s manipulations.

4.

These people will be called ‘Type B’ people for the purposes of this discussion. This is in contrast with a productive, honest and open Type A person. If a Type A person decides to become wealthy then he or she does this by open trade with others and does not seek to leech unearned values. 5.

The intention here is to identify type B people so that you may expose and avoid them, it is not to demonise them. We identify to protect ourselves, just as we did with government, religions, the media and advertisers. We do not sit in judgement, blame or try to change these people. They are not evil. They are how they are due to their conditioning. 6.

7.

There are no evil people – just people acting in evil ways.

This distinction is important. Once you start talking about 'bad people' as opposed to 'people behaving badly' you fall into the trap of splitting people into good and evil. From there, it is a short step to violence. 8.

All human actions are an attempt to serve life, even if they end up destroying life. All any sane human is trying to do is to get his or her needs met. Sometimes, like the Type B person, they do this in very distorted and harmful ways. We are all tempted at one time or another into faking or cheating or using force to attain that which we desire.

9.

What we call an 'evil' person is really someone who habitually, chronically and probably subconsciously uses anti-life strategies in an attempt to gain pro-life values. They are often deeply unconscious.

10.

Second-Handers Whilst not evil, there are millions of people engaged in parasitical Type B behaviour, slowly leeching life values from their ‘hosts’. 11.

These people are the 'second-handers.' They are people striving to get the pro-life values they need. It is just their strategy which is wrong. It is the strategy of the parasite.

12.

They have worked out, many years ago, that gaining true values from reality is very hard work. It requires constant effort, focus and will.

13.

They think they have found a way to bypass all this hard work and effort. All they have to do is fake it, lie, cheat, entice, cajole, frighten – do whatever it takes in order to get

14.

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Type A people (for only they can produce values) to hand over the values for free, to the Type B person. 15. Please read that paragraph again because it contains the important sentence 'for only they can produce values'. Type A people produce, Type B leech – and it is this truth which renders the parasite utterly powerless for he or she is a dependant. 16. The parasitical strategy is doomed because it is a requirement of human nature that we do this work for ourselves, thus Type Bs are always left defeated, unhappy, depressed, angry, violent and many other negative things beside. Values gained through cheating, lying, manipulation or outright theft, are just illusions. If you doubt this, ask yourself, did you ever hear about a truly happy, contented and fulfilled career criminal or gangster? Think of someone you know who fits the description 'manipulative.' Is this a happy person? Think of people on benefits who routinely live by the efforts of others. Are they happy? No, they are not. Frequently they are angry and depressed. 17.

You must learn to recognise these dangerous men and women in order to protect yourself from the mayhem they will cause in your life if you let them anywhere near you. They are often slick, plausible, friendly and highly manipulative – they are not that easy to spot, unless you have been tipped-off. Soon you will have the power to unmask them. 18.

We are not trying to identify robbers, rapists and serial con-men here. The Type B is far more subtle and can often present as charming, affable, amusing, likable and personable. This is no accident. These 'people skills' are their main weapon – an essential tool for manipulating Type A’s. 19.

The Type B Person Let us now take a glimpse into the psyche of those who would keep you enslaved for their own ends.

20.

21. These people are not, in the main, robbers, muggers and rapists. They are more plentiful than these aberrations. We are talking about people who habitually use parasitical strategies to get their needs met.

These people are highly dangerous to you, your life, your happiness and your financial well-being. You must learn to recognise such people, unmask their strategies and refuse, point-blank to become a victim or 'host'.

22.

Type B’s Require a Host Here is the biggest human secret you will ever learn: just like all bullies, these people are powerless, whilst seeming to be frighteningly powerful. 23.

They are powerless because without you, or people like you, they are utterly helpless. They derive their power from you. If you refuse to give it, they are impotent.

24.

25.

Their primary orientation is towards other people, not towards the outer world.

Without people (victims or ‘hosts’) they are cast adrift, completely unable to function. Deep down, they are the frightened ones for they are staring daily into the abyss, buffered from oblivion only by an illusion which they have used to fool their victims.

26.

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Let us take a look at how these people operate. To understand the psychology of a Type B, you first need to understand that they have needs – exactly the same needs as you have, in fact. 27.

They want to have their needs met, just like you do – their physical needs and their emotional/spiritual needs. But here is the key: The Type B person needs values but does not want to expend the effort required to achieve them.

28.

Their strategy is simple – they will seek out a 'host' who will provide the values to them, free of charge or effort.

29.

It is important that you understand then, that a Type B is primarily oriented towards other people, not to external practical matters. They are 'people' people. They thrive on their contacts, their friends, their circle which they forever seek to expand. The larger the circle, the bigger the safety net and the more potential victims there are to suck values from. This does not mean that anyone with a lot of friends is a Type B person or that you should be a loner. 30.

The Type B Target 31.

What 'hosts' do Type B people seek out?

Not any old people. The Type B is searching, radar-like, trying to lock-on to a Type A productive person. Now here is the trick: how do you get a Type A productive person to hand over values to a Type B, second-hander? There is only one way (apart from force). 32.

The Type B must first trick the Type A into thinking well of the Type B. How to achieve this? Easy. Steal his or her morality. If you like, seize the moral high-ground.

33.

The moral uncertainty of some Type A people can be quickly spotted by the Type B. Only force can get an unwilling victim to hand over values, and force is outlawed in society. Only governments can use it to extract values from Type A's (e.g. via taxation). Instead, the Type B seeks victims who will give him or her permission to loot them. This knowledge is of vital importance if you are to survive an encounter with a Type B. 34.

To summarise thus far: a true Type B has one primary skill. He or she is an expert at scanning for and locking onto Type A, productive, rational people who have been so corrupted by society, religion or philosophy that they are uncertain of their moral ground, and if they feel a little guilty about their virtue, so much the better. Such a person makes an ideal victim or host. When the Type B has finished, the target will willingly sign over any values asked of him or her. 35.

To continue with the shake-down, the second-hander must get the Type A person to view the Type B as superior. Not equal, but superior. To do this, the Type B must play tricks with the Type A's sense of morality and right/wrong.

36.

Someone You Know? Before we continue with our exploration of the Type B person, be aware that this might be a little painful for you for two reasons:

37.

1.

You might recognise aspects of yourself in these pages – the ‘ouch’ experience.

2. You might have an 'aha!' experience as you suddenly realise that someone close to you fits this description perfectly. It might even be your partner or a close relative. This 66

can be disconcerting because once you have identified such a person, there is no going back. They are forever unmasked. 38.

The health warning is that this knowledge can be a relationship destroyer.

The Type B Arsenal Type B’s have an impressive array of weapons at their disposal. Having identified a victim (remember, much of this is subconscious) they will just go through the weapons one after the other, in quick succession, probing for vulnerabilities, searching out weaknesses. Once the right weapon is identified, the Type A will be subjected to a relentless assault until he or she either gives in and becomes a willing host, or manages to escape. If the latter, the Type B dispassionately moves on to the next target host from their extensive contact list of such people. Typically they are working several 'marks' at any one time, and so it is no problem to them if you wriggle free. It can become a big drama if you have been a willing host for several years and then try to wriggle free. The Type B will fight to retain your valuable services. 39.

Here are just a few of the weapons they will use. You may have the disquieting feeling that you recognise someone 'near and dear' to you in this description.

40.

Weapon #1: They seek to pretend to have equal status to you. E.g. “I'm good with people, you're good with things.” Translation: “You're so good at facing reality and creating the values needed for survival. I'm just all fingers and thumbs when it comes to that practical stuff, but I am really excellent at chatting to people and getting them to like me. So we're equal. See? You're good at one thing, I'm good at another.”

41.

Weapon #2: Seizing the moral high ground. A true sign of a Type B is if they imply that they are morally superior. E.g. “Running a lumber yard is necessary, I suppose, but there is so much suffering in the world. I feel so very strongly we should be doing more to help those less fortunate than ourselves. After all, does the world really need more wood?”

42.

That would be a typical Type B double-whammy, beautifully executed. In one sentence they have seized the moral high ground and subtly undermined your own pride in your achievements. Their case is also sufficiently nebulous to make it difficult to argue with. Your protests can sound like “I do not care about the suffering in the world, I only care about timber.” 43.

Weapon #3: Needle at the vulnerabilities of the Type A, or create new ones which the Type A had not realised existed. E.g. “Yes, psychiatry is very interesting and I'm sure you make a lot of money from it, but don't you sometimes wonder if you are doing more harm than good?” 44.

This is an 'Amber Warning' type of comment. Be on alert if you hear this sort of thing. Start getting used to translating it in your mind. This 'innocent' question, translated, becomes: “Psychiatry is not very interesting. You do it just for money, don't you? I want to needle a little at your fear and insecurity that you might not be doing a good job. It is just a guess, but it is my first stab at you. I feel confident that you will have some insecurity which I can exploit.” 45.

As a check, ask yourself why any well intentioned person would ask such a question? They would not. Such a person would say something like: “Psychiatry is something I know little about I'm afraid. Tell me what it is which attracts you to such a profession? Is 46.

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it your desire to help people to live happy and fulfilled lives? Tell me about some interesting cases you have handled.” Weapon #4: Through careful, 'innocent' questioning over a protracted period, the Type B person seeks to answer one important question: “What do you feel guilty about?”

47.

Once they have discovered this, they are home and dry. They will use your guilt against you. So, the Type B is not interested in what joy the steel magnate feels at seeing the rolls of red-hot sheet pour from the press. No, they want to find out if he is guilty about the environmental damage, or perhaps the health of his workers, or maybe the unfair competitive advantage he has over his Japanese rivals. The ex-wife strives to discover how guilty the ex-husband is feeling about lack of contact with the children – and uses this information to extract values. The husband discovers that his wife is guilty about not being a perfect housewife, cook and mother, preferring instead to study for a degree. He uses this fact to get at her in subtle digs and sneers; the intention being to get her to work harder, faster and longer – producing values for him. 48.

Warning: A one-off or occasional manipulation does not make someone a Type B person! We are all guilty of this in moments of stress and anger. What you are looking for here is a consistent pattern. If you have a Type B in mind, you should, by now, be nodding sagely to every weapon and be thinking: “Yes, that’s Brenda alright” or “Wow! That’s spot-on for David.” The giveaway is consistent, habitual use of these weapons.

49.

50.

Weapon #5: Inversion of your moral code. If you are mostly a Type A person yourself, you will have the virtues of rationality, integrity, pride, independence, productiveness, honesty and justice in some measure. To spot a Type B, look for the inversion of these virtues in the things they say. Thus: Rationality: “Reason is impotent. There are more things in heaven and earth than reason. You can't deal with people using reason. Emotions are more important than reason.” They will also attack the tools of reason. Logic: “a mere linguistic convention.” Sense perception: “Unsound and prone to error.” They elevate irrationality and mysticism as 'higher' knowledge over your rather coarse and brutish rationality.

51.

Motive: Your reason is the sole weapon which you have to unmask this parasite. He/she must attack your reason at source and make you doubt it. 52.

Integrity: “Sometimes you have got to give a little on your principles. Principles are made to be broken. You are so inflexible. Getting the result is important, not how you got there. Integrity is okay for saints but it gets you nowhere in the real world. You weren't very principled when...(gives example) You are only principled when it suits you, so why make a fuss over this, right now?”

53.

Motive: Integrity is loyalty to rational principles. Such principles do not include supporting freeloaders. The Type B must get you to see that integrity is malleable – that circumstances alter these 'rigid' principles of yours; that the very word ‘freeloader’ is a boorish linguistic convention. Type B’s are always moral relativists.

54.

Independence: “We are all in this together. We have to look out for one another. Independent people are greedy and selfish, only looking out for number one. To each according to his need, from each according to his ability to give. Communism is an excellent system but it just hasn't been tried properly in practice – Russia and China did 55.

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not practice true communism. Everything you achieved, you did off the backs of others. You are just a small cog in a big machine.” Motive: Obvious. The Type B is a parasite. Nothing makes her more fearful than the virtue of independence. If you become independent, you cut her loose. She is incapable of being independent. She must get you to believe that independence is a selfish evil which only a self-centred glutton would subscribe to. She must get you to believe that sharing is the way. Sharing with the less fortunate. Sharing with her in particular. They must at all costs smash your independent spirit. 56.

Honesty: “A little lie never hurt anyone. The truth can be more painful than a lie. You’re always trying to work out the truth of the situation. The truth is – there is no truth. Life is what you want it to be. So are facts. What is truth anyway?” 57.

Motive: The Type B uses smoke and mirrors to dazzle and confuse you. The last thing he wants is for you to see the truth of any situation. You might realise the truth of your relationship with him – that he is a parasite and you are a provider. 58.

Pride: “I really hate people who trumpet their achievements. Take that bigheaded Jack at the party the other night...” “Pride is a sin. You should keep quiet about your accomplishments otherwise people will think you are bragging.” “Everything is a team effort and so no one person can justifiably be proud – everyone did their bit.” 59.

Motive: Destruction of your joy in your achievements. Whilst you are a proud man or woman, you cannot be manipulated with altruism. This means you cannot be made to sacrifice your values to the parasite. They will extort you to ‘rise above’ pride.

60.

Justice: “You’re always so righteous. Stop judging people. Others didn’t have the same chances as you. It is easy for you, you are bright and clever and probably good with your hands. Others find it far more difficult. Who are you to judge?”

61.

Motive: It is very important for the Type B to smear your notions of right and wrong and good and bad actions. Everything must be reduced to a uniform shade of grey. Notice also the emphasis on luck, not skill and application. To a Type B person, wealthy and successful people are just 'lucky' – it is something which just happened, randomly 'to' them. This evasion on their part protects them from the awful reality of the truth – that wealth, happiness and success happen as a result of squarely facing reality and applying oneself.

62.

Productiveness. We have covered this already. It usually manifests itself as a sort of whining apology that they are so useless at the 'practical' things in life. They love to boast that they cannot boil an egg and do not know which end of a screwdriver to hold. This is all delivered with a subtle smear against those who can and do. Their 'helplessness' is often designed to trigger your natural desire to help. They need to keep you productive but destroy your joy in your productiveness and make you believe it is an evil, not a virtue. 63.

Motive: To make it appear that some are just randomly handed the gift of productiveness and others not. It is therefore the duty of the productive to 'share' their 'lucky' bounty with their disadvantaged fellow men and women.

64.

So how do you discriminate between such a person and someone who is genuinely affable, likable etc.? Here are a few differences between Type A and Type B: 65.

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Reason The Type A person prefers to use reason to guide his or her actions (this does not mean they have no emotions!). In sharp contrast, the Type B person sneers at reason and will take any opportunity to distort it or to devalue it. 66.

Any attempt you make to argue logically with such a person will be either dismissed or forcefully and viciously attacked. Reason is like a shining light – these people wish to lurk in the shadows and truly fear the illumination which reason can bring. Reason in this context means an orientation towards reality and a desire to understand, not a nerdish insistence upon arguable ‘facts’.

67.

68.

This might be a typical conversation between an A and a B:

A

“So I'm trying to understand why you are so angry right now.”

B

“Yes, that is typical of you – always trying to understand.”

A

“What is it right now, that you are angry about?”

B “What? You haven't worked it out logically. Hah! I thought you were the great logician. Haw, haw.” In this invented and hence somewhat artificial exchange, notice the wilful refusal to move towards understanding and clarity. Instead the response is a deliberate sneering attack on the very foundations of reason itself. 69.

There is a reason for this. The Type B must control the Type A as this is his/her source of parasitic values. Please read that again. This is serious. 70.

To do this, reason must be ridiculed and destroyed lest the Type A unmask the dynamic of the Type B.

71.

72. Type B people are almost always mystically inclined. Since they have eschewed the only proper way of gaining values (through their own rational efforts) they are forced into the only alternative.

Warning Sign: Mystical and wilfully anti-mind and anti-reason. Trying to hold a rational discussion with such a person is like wrestling a slippery eel. You will feel frustrated and angry. You will feel your energy slipping away in a 'hall of mirrors' maze of confusion and illogic. You will know what a vampire attack would be like, if such creatures existed. Your energy and life will be slowly drained away.

73.

Independence The Type A's primary orientation is towards external reality, not to other people. They work out how they can achieve their needs by engaging their rational mind with the problems of the world (inhabited by people, of course).

74.

In sharp contrast, the Type B is entirely focussed on other people, for this is how they gain their values. They are true second-handers and would literally die without a group to leech values from. Their focus is social climbing, getting 'in' with the 'right' people, learning to manipulate and control individuals and groups. 75.

They are skilled at subtle wordplay, innuendo, office politics, backbiting, currying favour, worming their way into positions of importance, being in the right place at the right time.

76.

70

The very thought of the word 'independent' makes them shudder in terror. Independence means that they would have to stand on their own two feet, create their own values, make their own way in the world. In order to control you, they must attack your independent spirit. Thus a conversation might go something like this: 77.

B: “You're so selfish. All you ever think about is you, you, you. What is it you are doing locked away in that office that is so important, anyhow? I think you’re really scared. Scared of relationships, scared of other people – that is why you like your own company so much. If you spent more time with others you would be exposed for the shallow hypocrite which you are.” Such people are 'party animals.' They are never more comfortable than when surrounded by a (preferably sycophantic) crowd, for they truly cannot bear their own company and feel depressed if left alone even for a short time. It is a strong indicator of a Type A that he or she is perfectly happy with their own company, if circumstances conspire to make this happen. It is a strong indicator of a Type B that they are almost terrified of being left alone – and for good reason. To be left alone leads eventually to death for such a person and they subconsciously realise this. 78.

Warning Sign: Sneeringly contemptuous of your need for solitude, independence and privacy. Constantly craving company and attacking you for not wanting to come to this or that function, party etc. Insecure. Cannot bear to be left alone. Will use guilt and other manipulation tactics if you threaten to leave them, even for a short while. Cannot stand the thought that you have any secrets from them or might lead any kind of independent life.

79.

Integrity The Type A person knows what methods produce values and so strives, to the utmost of his or her ability to remain loyal to rational principles. The Type B person considers such principles to be 'rigorous,' 'inflexible,' and 'stuffy.' To him or her, 'principles' are entirely flexible and malleable. They are whatever you want them to be today – and tomorrow they are something different. Life is a matter of expediency. This is precisely the morality you would expect from an opportunistic hunter of course. Typical Type B comments in this context would be:

80.

“Stop being so stuffy!” “Lighten up!” “Everything is so serious to you.” “Go by your feelings. Do whatever feels right.” “If it works, go for it!” They are often whim-driven, impulsive and incapable of planning and executing any long-term strategy. Why? Because they have no need of this any more than a huntergatherer has. They have found several Type A people to handle all of this tricky stuff for them. Their motto is “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow ye may die.” In fact, there is no tomorrow for such a person, only an endless today during which they will be provided for... somehow. 81.

Another very strong indicator of a Type B is that they have no long-term goals and strategies. Asked what they might be doing in 5 or 10 years, they will stare at you blankly. 82.

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Such a question is almost meaningless to them. The answer depends upon who is around to provide for them. What little long-range planning a Type B does is confined to ensuring that they have enough victims lined up well into the future.

83.

Warning Sign: Laughs at values, particularly those held consistently. Will tell you to 'lighten up and stop being so stuffy.' Prefers to live moment to moment and will become bored or agitated if you try to discuss long term plans – they have no need of them. Will do whatever 'works' regardless of morality. To them the moral is the expedient.

84.

Honesty A Type A person completely rejects unreality and illusion. Type B’s wholeheartedly embrace it. Why? Because unreality and mysticism buffers him from the pain of the awful truth – that he is a parasite. To avoid this truth, he will twist and turn. 85.

Their main strategy is faking reality, in any and every way possible. Their objective is to busk their way through life on a wing and a prayer hoping that their convincing veneer of lies, charm and pretence will be enough to achieve the immediate value they seek. 86.

This might be unearned praise for a job they did badly, but covered up enough to receive an accolade. It might be unearned love from a partner who has not yet seen through the shallow illusion which they have presented.

87.

They might say: “Perception is reality. What you appear to be to other people – that is what you are.” “You've got to fake it to make it.” “I don't want to know! Don't tell me!” Warning Sign: They lie habitually, often about things which make no difference. They have lost any discrimination for what is true or false – they no longer even know they are lying. They are image-obsessed. They care about their looks, their image, how people see them. They care little about what they really are. Often, the car they drive, the clothes they wear and their line of patter all add up to one big lie. The warning signs come thick and fast. You discover that this fact is not true and that statement is a lie. At first you give them the benefit of the doubt but you keep catching them out in endless small fibs and distortions. When challenged, they pile lie upon lie and become angry and accusatory if challenged. They vilify you for your lack of trust, and their lies become wilder as they attempt to shore-up the crumbling edifice. Being an honest person, you justify and forgive. Eventually, the awful truth hits you... 88.

Justice The Type A person judges (selects) men and women according to their virtues. He knows we must select amongst people and to do this, we must judge (choose). Errors in this department will cost us dear. This form of judgement (choosing) is different from the other use of the word which means to label someone as (say) fat, ugly, stupid etc. 89.

90.

To the Type B, all people are potential fodder to be used.

91.

This person does not discriminate between good and bad actions in people. 72

The Type B is constantly looking for certain people – Type A’s who are philosophically and morally confused and who can be manipulated into handing over values for nothing. 92.

93.

They are looking for hosts.

They will reject outright the strong Type A, for this person will have seen through the illusion and cannot be manipulated. They will likewise avoid other parasites for the simple reason that they produce no values. The target is the Type A who has been corrupted and softened mentally by societal pressures, upbringing or religion into believing that it is acceptable to have their values confiscated and given to the 'needy.' Often the Type B’s are in favour of leniency for criminals and harsh sanctions for the productive. 94.

95.

Here are some Type B comments:

“Who are we to judge? Let him who is without sin...” “I get along with everyone.” “The real criminals in this world are the capitalist bosses, not those poor people currently in jail.” “He can't help it. I can't help it. They can’t help it.” Warning Sign: This person seems undiscriminating. He counts amongst his pals, several obvious villains who he will justify by some comment like: “Oh, Steve's not so bad once you get to know him.” He will often surprise you by supporting an immoral act and then later, attacking a moral act. 96.

She might appear to be big on justice – but look closely. The only 'justice' she wants is sanctions against Type A people who refuse to become hosts for parasites. Thus her particular scorn is reserved for honest business people, inventors, industrialists and heroes (e.g. astronauts, loan yachtsmen, explorers etc.) You will hear comments like: “They never really landed on the moon, you know.” or “Anyone could swan-off around the world on a yacht if they had daddy's money, like that guy did.” Conversely they will often support immoral actions: “They wouldn't have to lock up that guy for stealing if the government paid him a decent living handout.” 97.

Productiveness The Type A person harnesses nature to provide for his or her needs. The Type B person harnesses other people. The difference could not be more striking. Please remember that we are all dependent upon each other. The Type A is not a ‘loner’. The difference is, as you should now realise, the habitual and primary orientation of the Type B towards other people to provide unearned values for him or her. 98.

Type A people constantly seek to educate and train themselves in the use of tools (physical or intellectual) which will allow them to use the natural environment more efficiently; either that, or honestly trade their skills and values with others who can do so.

99.

The Type B is contemptuous of such people. Their sole focus is on other people – hosts who can be persuaded to provide for their needs. Type B’s are in favour of tough laws which strip money from the productive and make it available in free handouts to the needy. 100.

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You might think parasites would praise the productive (since the productive stand between them and annihilation). The reason they do not is because of the pain which productive people cause them. Such people remind them of their parasite status.

101.

For example, if you have ever loaned money to a family member or friend, you might have experienced ongoing hostility from them, bordering on hatred – the exact opposite of what you might expect for your generosity. This is because you are effectively saying to them: “You are incapable of producing what you need to survive through your own efforts. I, however, am more than capable and have even produced a surplus which I hereby lend to you. By implication then, I am superior to you.”

102.

They deride productive people whilst being utterly dependent upon them. They wish to make productive people feel worthless, to destroy any pride they might have in their productive ability. 103.

104.

They might say things like:

“Work always comes first for you, doesn't it? Is all you ever think about.” “That's not a proper job!” “Your are so clever! I wish I could do that. Thank goodness I have you to provide for me, otherwise I don't know what I would do.” Warning Sign: This person will vilify the productive in general, although sometimes use wheedling false praise on their host. Similarly they will praise those who seek or get the unearned. They love social programs in which the 'little guy' is artificially rewarded or promoted without reference to their ability. It would be most unusual for such a person to have an obviously productive job. They are more often found in nebulous service industries, local government, politics, advisory and consultancy roles, etc. (it hardly needs saying that not all or even most people in such professions are Type B people!) They will be in a job where they can hide away and pretend that they are engaged in something important and worthwhile whilst ‘paper shuffling’. The job will also have a certain amount of 'image' associated with it. 105.

How to Identify a Type B Person You need to be careful here. Most people are mixed – some Type A strategies, some Type B. We are not on a crusade to ‘out’ the potential Type B’s! Also remember the adage – when you point a finger at someone there are three other fingers pointing back at you!

106.

That said, here are some signs of a possible Type B: you feel tired or ill at ease around such a person; they almost seem to suck energy out of you. They always seem to want something – often you are unsure exactly what. They seem ‘hungry’ somehow. When you argue or discuss with them, you feel uncertain and confused. Nothing seems to make sense. Things you know are true are called into question; the subject is frequently changed; you feel you are on quicksand. 107.

The Envious Man Another name for a Type B person might be Homo Invidius – The Envious Man. Here are seven characteristics of such a person. Then you can judge if he or she is dangerous to your life and values: 108.

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109.

1. They are the product of impotence and inferiority.

Everyone feels impotent at times; everyone feels inferior at times. The Type B is overwhelmed by such feelings. What emotions does he or she feel? Simple. Just look into yourself when you are feeling inferior or impotent, and multiply this by ten times and make it permanent. You feel anger, you feel hatred. You want to destroy the smug, successful people around you. You want to get your hands on what they have – at any cost. You want to smash something and grab 'your' share of the loot.

110.

111.

2. They focus on destruction, not acquisition.

In order to build, create and produce you need to hold what is known as the 'benevolent universe' premise. This is not the same as unwarranted cheerfulness or optimism. It is an unshakable belief that the universe is auspicious to life and that all sorts of achievements and growth are possible to you, assuming you act correctly. Pain is viewed as a temporary exception to a happy, successful life. Setbacks are speed bumps on the road to a better future. Most importantly, you believe that we humans are efficacious – that we are powerful and can achieve. The benevolent universe premise also holds that humans are basically good and strive to serve life, and that evil actions are exceptions, not the norm. Furthermore, evil actions are misguided attempts to serve prolife values (to get one’s needs met). 112.

Malevolent Universe In contrast, Type B people hold the malevolent universe premise. This, as you might expect, is the opposite view. They believe that the universe is basically a 'bad' place intent on destroying man. They believe that people are basically evil at root (wild beasts reignedin by a thin veneer of civilisation and held in check by naked force or the threat of it) and that any good they see is an illusion – people are pretending to be good just to gain something. They see pain as the normal lot of man, with any happiness being a temporary aberration, quickly to be swept away by more pain. Life is a state of pain, misery and suffering.

113.

Not surprisingly, they view life as a dog-eat-dog existence where you have to use force to grab whatever values you can or to defend yourself from the marauding mob. This leaves Type B people passive, resigned, depressed and defeated. If someone holds the malevolent universe premise they cannot possibly create values – the universe is against them, so what would be the point of even trying? So they are left with just one action – destruction. Every creative act is a slap in the face to their belief structure. Every act of war, disease, destruction and mayhem bolsters their belief system. They almost cannot bear to see creativity or success yet rely on it utterly for their survival.

114.

115.

3. They see both virtues and faults – but they acknowledge only faults.

Their conversation will consist of one long moan, given half a chance. They delight in repeating bad news – the more horrific the better. Their sentences will often start with “Did you hear that dreadful news story about the...” On the face of it, they are presenting as being shocked and appalled by the story. In this way they gain some kudos for being 'caring' and 'sensitive'. In reality, they are adding to the destructive effects of the story and relishing the additional pain and disharmony they are causing. This is power, you see. 75

When you affect another's emotions, you have power over them – you are manipulating them. Type B people love to manipulate. Type B’s will rarely, if ever, offer you praise. At very best you will get a grudging acknowledgment, followed quickly by a fault: “That was okay, I suppose, but look what a mess you have made here...” 116.

4. Their envy is unappeasable.

This is such an important point. No matter how many kindnesses you show to such a person, the result will be to entrench their hatred of you and increase their anger towards you even though they may disguise this. Why? Because with every generous act, you demonstrate your efficacy and undermine their primary belief – that the world is a chaotic, unintelligible, frightening place where efficacy is impossible. A true sign of a Type B is their reaction to any help you offer, assuming they have asked for help. If the reaction some time after receiving the help is hostility, contempt or anger, you have a cardcarrying Type B on your hands. 5. They experience pleasure at the misfortunes of others. Type B’s love reading newspaper stories about once brilliant people falling from grace or being exposed as weak. They love to read celeb tittle-tattle about this or that star being seen out drunk, or with a bad hair style. Similarly they devour biographies as long as the book 'exposes' the dead star as a fallible, evil or rotten person. They do not enjoy biographies which praise the dead person. One of their favourite expressions is “pride comes before a fall.” Be on high alert if you are with someone and they appear to take pleasure in another's misfortune. 117.

118.

6. They do not seek to emulate you.

Sometimes they will talk about how much they admire you and how they want to emulate your success, but never actually do anything to achieve this goal. You are an anomaly to them. 119.

You seem successful, happy, balanced. What secrets are you holding back?

Not taking the action required for success has two benefits for them. Firstly their malevolent universe premise is saved (you are just another corrupt, weak, powerless human, just like they are) and secondly they now have the means, through your own guilt, to control you. So be clear – crude envy is not the same as a desire to emulate. If someone says (and means) “I wish I could serve a tennis ball like Pete Sampras” this is a positive desire to improve a skill, not an envious statement. 120.

121.

7. Appeasing or apologising invites more envy, more hatred.

Faced with such a person, we learn EAS – Envy Avoidance Strategies. We will apologise for being big headed or proud. We will hide our true achievements – play them down. This is just what the envious person wants. Remember, all of their power flows from you. They constantly search for your weakness in order to have a lever to control you. Here you are giving them the keys to the truck! You are announcing, loud and clear, that you feel guilty about your abilities and achievements. They will seize this with both hands.

Self Defence Techniques 122.

Let us now turn to what we can do to defend ourselves against such people.

First the Type B needs to get a foothold. They will often do this by running a 'sucker test' – this is a quick test to see if you are susceptible to manipulation. This might be a 123.

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quick comment to check out your guilt threshold. Let us say you are a doctor, they might make a comment such as “Isn't it a shame there are so few medical facilities in the third world, whereas we, in this country have so much?” In itself, it seems a harmless observation, but in reality it could be a sucker test. They will listen carefully to your response, senses finely tuned for any hint of guilt. 124.

Technique #1 The self defence technique is to expose their true motive. You must respond quickly with a comment such as “I’m puzzled – what exactly do you mean by that? Is third world medicine something you have a particular interest in?” If they are a Type B, they will twist and turn and try another tack or hurriedly back down and move in on another mark. Keep harrying them to explain themselves clearly and unequivocally. Do not let them off the hook with ill-defined concepts, loose talk and half truths or innuendo. The number one weapon you have is the spotlight of truth.

125.

Another test might be something like: “I'd love to go on a holiday like that, but there is no way I could afford it...” Again, it seems (and could be) innocent, but the way the question is left hanging in the air reminds you of a fisherman dangling a hook. They are waiting to see if you can be suckered-in to 'helping' them go on holiday (or whatever). The defence technique here is silence or a bland: “Yes, I can see that would be difficult for you in your current situation.” 126.

Technique #2 Please remember that the Type B person's power derives from you and so the self defence techniques are often nothing to do with blocking an attack. They have much more to do with holding on to your power. One thing to be aware of is the 'benevolent projection.'

127.

Because you are (hopefully) mostly a Type A person (we are all mixed), you mainly hold the benevolent universe premise. This means you have a weakness – the tendency to project benevolence onto the Type B standing in front of you. Put more simply, you are strongly inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt – over and over again. You are childishly naive when faced with their manipulative strategies and you can hardly believe that they are anything less than 100% honest. The defence technique here is to be more willing to raise your guard and to be more alert to the little warning bells which are going off all the time. Do not ignore them – act upon them.

128.

Technique #3 Type B people are in camouflage. They may present as loving and caring people, often overly so. Your defence technique is to learn discrimination. Do not take what this person is saying at face value. Be cautious if they seem overbearingly kind and caring. 129.

Discrimination allows you to differentiate between a Type B and a person who is genuinely warm and caring. The latter will be far more subtle in their presentation and will almost certainly walk the talk. Type B’s talk only – there is no positive action. Type B’s will whine about the poor, but will not give so much as a penny to their aid. A genuine

130.

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person is usually the opposite – they give generously – and rarely, if ever, mention it. So be careful – 'nice' people may be Type Bs in camouflage.

Technique #4 You are prone to see such people as irrelevant or unimportant, thus you diminish the real danger they pose. Again this is an error you are prone to, not a power possessed by the Type B. They are in fact devious and dangerous. This is the same advice as not underestimating the speed, strength and wildness of a tiger and believing it to be harmless, cuddly and cute. The Type B is powerless to create values (he or she must rely on you for that) but he or she is not powerless to destroy. In their fury at not getting their own way, they can and will attempt to destroy your life, your happiness and your values. 131.

The ‘take home’ here is not to underestimate your enemy.

Technique #5 This is a big one. The Type B's primary weapon is guilt. They will constantly probe you for things you feel guilty about and then exploit them mercilessly.

132.

133. The defence technique is as follows: do not accept unearned or exaggerated guilt. You are not responsible for the world's poor, the enslavement of the Negro in previous centuries or the horrors of Nazi Germany. The fact that you have some money should not cause you a flicker of guilt about those who have none (note this is about guilt not genuine kindly concern maybe leading to assistance); the fact that you are free should not cause you to feel guilty about the enslaved. The fact that you are happy should not cause you to feel guilty about those who are miserable. If someone tries to manipulate you with guilt, throw it right back in their face. Also, name what it is they are trying to do: “I am wondering why you raised that point? Are you trying to make me feel guilty about my money?”

Naming the truth always phases a Type B – they do not like it one little bit. Sure, you have things that maybe you feel a little guilty about – welcome to the human race. Just make sure that your guilt is in proportion to what you have done. By the way, guilt has no real place in a balanced psyche. Replace guilt with a proper concern to act better than you did last time, when faced with the same situation. 134.

Technique #6 135.

Banish your moral uncertainty!

There is nothing the Type B thrives upon more than your loose, liberal, wishy-washy morals. They love the fact that you are so uncertain, even about obvious things. They will worry away at the sore until it opens and bleeds. This is a big chink in your armour and you must seal it quickly.

136.

You need to know several things and believe in them consistently. Let us call this your credo. This is not slavish adherence to somebody else’s creed, it is fidelity to your own values.

137.

Here are a few suggestions: you need to know that the universe is a benevolent place for life; that we humans are efficacious; that you can succeed and prosper, despite setbacks; that humans are basically good; that the world is intelligible; that mankind

138.

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survives by a certain methods and that attacking those methods is to attack human life itself; that mankind attains values through right effort; that evil cannot triumph – because it draws its power from good. The Type B will attack, smear and ridicule all of these, using innuendo, false logic, convoluted argument, mystical pronouncements and any other weapon they can. Their intention is to shake your belief. They will point to the vilest scoundrel they can find and say: “Look! There is your hero. See how he is lower than the gutter!” They will attack the human species: “Man is dust, man is impotent. We can know nothing. Our logic and our minds deceive us daily. All man's strivings are but hubris and pride.” Or: “If global warming (nuclear war etc.) happens it might wipe out all human life and maybe that would be a good thing.” If you ever hear someone saying something like that – run a mile! If they are not routing for their own species, all hope is lost! Above all they will sneer at and attack your virtues. Your only defence is to stick closely to your principles and values. 139.

Compassion for Type B’s 140.

Finally, pity the poor Type B. Think of Gollum in Lord of the Rings!

He or she lives in hell. Evasion is very hard work. Pretending that 2+2=5 is a strain. Attacking pro-life principles causes deep anguish and despair (because deep down we are all pro life). Living as a 'not-man' by leeching from the productive causes huge stress to the organism. Pretending, lying, manipulating, currying favour, probing for weaknesses, hurting others, destroying the creative – all take a terrible toll on the perpetrator. 141.

A final warning is that the current society you live in is giving out a strong Type B message daily via the media, politics and entertainment. You are surrounded by partial Type Bs and you will almost certainly know several fully fledged Type Bs. If you have not done so already, you must get these people out of your life, whatever the cost. Get the vampire off your neck – fast.

142.

143.

Here is how one person described his encounter with the dark side:

“These things are so hard to pin down. But the main thing was how I was feeling – and that was  that I felt stealthily attacked by very subtle comments, silences, actions, non‐actions, secrets and  unfulfilled promises. I'd like to think I'm pretty robust but ended up questioning my own sanity  and  having  to  seek  therapy,  talking  endlessly  about  it  for  hours  on  end.  Also,  my  work  performance almost completely evaporated and I ended up barely functioning, eating or sleeping  for three months. It's as if my world was closing in on me.“ 

In concluding this long and important session, we will begin where we started with the assertion that you will need a strong circle of support if you are to realise your dreams. Nobody does it alone. This makes your judgement (choosing) even more essential in deciding who you surround yourself with. Are they mainly Type A’s or Type B’s? Think of your circle of friends. Are they self motivated, positive people – or are they negative losers who subtly undermine your position? It is hard, almost impossible to succeed when surrounded by negative people, but having the love and support of positive people can be a total blessing.

144.

Rally the support of those who are ‘on message’; those who love and care for you and support your endeavours. Ruthlessly expunge all parasites from your circle.

145.

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Since this is a book about wealth, ask yourself if the people you associate with are comfortable with your financial aspirations or if they will seek to subtly undermine you or leech values from you. Values freely given and freely accepted do not fall under this heading. 146.

You are who you associate with and it is within your power to change your circle of friends and your intimate relationships. Ask yourself if it is now time to move on from the old crowd. There is no right or wrong answer – only you can judge.

147.

You can no longer say “I didn’t know”. You are now an expert on the Type B personality and how to avoid them.

148.

149. That concludes the section on the forces arrayed against you. To remind you they are governments, religions, the media, big business, friends and family, and Type B people.

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Grade Twenty: Can Everyone Become Rich? Having examined some of the dark forces arrayed against you let us now return to the subject of destructive memes. Another common meme is this: “Only the lucky few can become wealthy. It is not for everyone.”

1.

This can be used as an excuse for inaction. If it is very hard and very rare to make serious money, this can make you give up before you start. 2.

Most people think: “No. It is not possible for everyone to be rich. In order to get rich you must exploit other people. You must somehow trick the masses into handing over their money to you. If you can trick or con a hundred thousand people into giving you £10 each, then you become a multi-millionaire, but they are all poorer to the tune of £10.” This was exposed earlier as the ‘finite pot of wealth’ meme. 3.

Most people think: “The rich get richer off the backs of the poor working stiff. Wealthy people take advantage of the 'workers' and leech their life-values from them in order that they might become 'fat cats'.” There is some truth in this, but not as much as you might think. 4.

Most people think: “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” There are plenty of examples of scam-merchants and exploitative bosses of course. There are also lottery winners, millionaire drug-dealers, successful criminals (not many), currency exchange billionaires and those who inherited a fortune. None of these people earned their wealth by creating values, but these are the exceptions. 5.

You should not care about these people or let them divert you from your chosen course. The truth is that ‘everyone’ can become wealthy – because ‘everyone’ is wealthy at the moment and can become a lot more so.

6.

We are talking about first-world citizens here. The proof of this is to pick a date from the past. Any date. A hundred years ago? Two hundred years? Five hundred years? A thousand? You pick the date – it does not matter. Now let us interview a typical citizen of (say) 300 years ago and find out how they live. 7.

The Past Was Not Pleasant The first thing to forget is any notion we might have of pleasant halcyon days with pretty maids clothed in white, dipping their indolent fingers into gently babbling streams watched by men lazing in the sun before maybe chucking another pitchfork of golden hay onto the wagon. If you travelled back to any time more than (say) 100 years ago, you would be aghast at the appalling squalor which passed for 'life'. It is beyond comprehension. For every ten babies born, eight died – often killing the mother too. Life expectancy was about 40 years. No running water, no electricity, no heating, no decent artificial light apart from guttering candles and stinking oil lamps. People existed on an unhealthy diet which seldom varied and comprised a disgusting gruel with a lump of bacteria-ridden, fatty meat floating about in it, a chunk of stale, dense bread and some thin rancid ale. 8.

In towns, people lived amongst their own filth and sewage; they rotted in their crude, course clothing (no soap, no hot water, no disinfectant) which had to last a generation, not a few months like at present. Crime and banditry were rife (no police). 9.

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Medicine was crude, barbaric and largely ineffective so people died by the millions from minor diseases. They died in terrible agony too – no pain killers other than a tankard of rum. Dentistry barely existed and so most people's teeth were rotting, painful stumps. If you couldn't make a living, you starved to death – and they did starve in their millions. Further north, in a bad winter people just froze to death in their tens of thousands. Whole families huddled together in a frozen tableau in their stinking crude hut made of twigs and daubed with mud. 10.

Work was a mind-numbing, back-breaking, soul-destroying tedium which never varied for year after dreary year until death seemed welcome. Twelve hours a day, seven days a week bent double in a muddy field of turnips (or equivalent).

11.

People were donkeys. Mere beasts of burden. They slaved from the crack of dawn until well into darkness in the sort of physical labour few could handle for an hour nowadays, let alone a lifetime. They toiled in rain, sleet and snow. There was no respite. Even this level of toil was hardly enough to put more than a few greens and potatoes in the family pot. Many a mother watched her infant children starve to death in front of her eyes for want of a few vegetables or a morsel of bread. There was no birth control, and so women were pregnant most of the time. The unrelenting toil in the fields, the miscarriages and constant pregnancy ensured that few women survived past forty. Those who did, often looked twenty or thirty years older to our modern eyes. 12.

Let us ask one of these women from 300+ years ago what 'rich' means to her. She would reply that if she could feed her family one decent meal a day, keep the rain out of the hut and only work (say) ten hours a day, six days a week, then this would be rich beyond her wildest dreams. If you were to ask this person if everyone could become this rich, she would answer “No. That wouldn't be possible.” Nothing would shake her from this conviction. She could not possibly imagine being so wealthy herself, and for everyone to be this wealthy? No. It just couldn't happen. 13.

Now think of yourself for the moment. You can feed yourself and your family for about one hour's work a day, if you eat sensibly. You are wealthy beyond this person's wildest imagination. And almost everyone in this country is at least this wealthy too.

14.

The First Big Wealth Revolution Then along came the industrial revolution, about 1775. Nowadays people moan about how 'awful' the industrial revolution was. All that 'child labour' and people 'forced' to work in factories. And there were no guards on the machinery and no hot water in the washrooms. How dreadful! It never should have been allowed! We even hear the factories were cold sometimes! But that is from our modern, cosseted perspective and completely misses the reality on the ground. 15.

People were desperate to get into the factories. They had a burning passion to work there, to which our lazy, indolent, well-fed modern psyches can only dimly relate. They queued and fought for a chance to prove themselves worthy of one of these new ‘cushy’ ultra-highly paid jobs in the safe and warm factories. 16.

The factories were surreal luxury compared to what had gone on before. Here was a chance to make enough money to feed the entire family by working a mere eighty hours a week. This was an undreamed of opportunity. 17.

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These people could hardly believe their luck working 'just' eighty hours a week. What is more, it was indoors! In the warm! No rain, no snow. You cannot imagine how unbearably awful it was toiling in those fields in the cold and rain. We fondly think of peasants in the field in the glorious July sunshine, indolently chucking another pitchfork of hay onto the hay-rick before stopping for another cider break and a romp with a saucy lass. It was not like that. 18.

The new factory work was regular. Before the industrial revolution, nothing, but nothing was worse than getting laid off if the harvest was bad, because that meant you and your children died. 19.

Although boring, the new factory work was not arduous compared to what they had done before. If you had to do this factory work you would keel over after about an hour and start bleating about coffee breaks and repetitive strain injury. But that is because we have all grown soft beyond belief compared to these people. To them, it was sheer heaven. They did not care about the lack of guards on the machinery (they were careful – something we have forgotten how to be in our safe, compensation-culture world). They did not demand fire escapes, pregnancy leave, maximum and minimum temperatures, regular breaks, five week holidays, disabled toilets, crèches and baby-changing facilities. All this was to come much later. 20.

Here is the important point. The industrial revolution was created by genius heroes who became deservedly extremely wealthy. They achieved this by creating values (e.g. the steam engine). This is how you are going to get guiltlessly wealthy too.

21.

Whenever values are created, everyone becomes a little wealthier. The person who created the values becomes very wealthy. This is just as it should be. The rest of the population become a bit more wealthy for zero extra effort – another critically important point. 22.

One hundred years before the industrial revolution, the average peasant was working 90 hours a week for the equivalent of ten turnips and a sack of potatoes. One hundred years later, their descendants were working 70 hours a week for meat, potatoes, two veg and probably a tasty pudding thrown in for good measure. They became wealthier. And here is the thing… they did nothing to achieve this, in fact they did a lot less than their ancestors.

23.

This is such a vital key concept that it is worth stating it again – the 'workers' did nothing extra in order to be made wealthier by the creators of the industrial revolution. They merely claimed their 'share' of the extra wealth which that revolution produced. It was created for them by the inventors, industrialists, and yes – capitalists who in turn became extremely wealthy. The workers, in fact, progressively did less and less as work became easier. 24.

Everyone Gets Richer Creating values makes everyone wealthy as we have seen, it does not suck the wealth of the poor or leach off the less fortunate. It does precisely the opposite. Remember the earlier example of inventing the car? 25.

Without the new machines created by these heroes, the 'workers' would still be grubbing in the fields for turnips twelve hours a day. Take a look at any country which has not yet had such a revolution. Without exception, the populations of these countries are 26.

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still enslaved in numbing poverty and harsh physical labour. The people are worn out and old before their time. Let us move forward in time and talk to our factory worker of 200 years ago. Firstly, let us ask her how life has improved since her great-grandfather's time (say 100 years before). She will passionately describe how brilliant life is now compared with how terrible it was when her Gran and Gramps were young. She will bore you all day with their old stories of bare-footed five year olds out in the frosty fields for ten hours a day, and how a family her grandmother knew froze to death in the winter of ‘23 (that's 1723, of course). 27.

She is, of course, already richer than the 'impossible' level of riches dreamed about by our woman from just 100 years previously, and so are most other people she knows. But let us ask her what 'rich' means to her, now.

28.

She would say that to have a brick house and to be able to eat meat three times a week whilst working for just sixty hours a week would constitute undreamed of riches. She would also like a new dress once every couple of years. Now that is luxury for you. Only 'toffs' get to live like that. Shall we ask her if everyone could become that rich? It is hardly worth asking, is it? Her answer would be a shrill laugh. No. it is impossible. There will never be a day when everyone will be that rich. 29.

The Real Heroes But along come more men and women of imagination, enterprise, daring and skill. They improve the machines. They make them faster, more efficient. The age of steam matures. On the farms, people are liberated from back-breaking toil. The tractor can do the same work in one tenth of the time. In the factories the machines become safer, faster, better. The factories are now heated and lighted with the new 'gas light'. Now factories can run all night, too.

30.

People work fewer hours (for the same or greater wealth). The jobs are less arduous, less dangerous. There is no need for child labour. Not because the bosses magnanimously banned it out of altruism, not because activists fought for children’s rights. This is not what happened. The workers became richer and so did not need to send their children to work. For the first time in history, ordinary children were freed from premature enslavement. Read that again – for the first time in the two million year history of humankind! 31.

Now they had time to go to school where they learned the skills required to become the next generation of value-producers.

32.

33.

Again, it is important to realise that the workers received all this for free.

They did not contribute one jot of extra energy, neither did they contribute brain power or ideas – they hitched a ride off the back of the creative geniuses who made all this happen. 34.

Indeed, their work load became progressively lighter and their lives progressively wealthier, due to the brilliance of the designers and inventors who justifiably became wealthy men and women as a result. These were the people who created values (e.g. new machines like tractors) which made everyone wealthier. There was of course a downside to all this, the social upheaval costs were sometimes horrendous and some industrialists 35.

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were shockingly exploitative – but the net benefit to humanity was incalculable and positive.

Life in The 1800s Let us now interview the factory worker from the 1800’s. Has life improved? You bet! He will talk for hours about how his old mum did a sixty hour week and only had meat every now and then and one weekend off in four. How the factory was so cold in winter you could see your breath. How there was no lighting and so people ruined their eyes by working in the gloom. Things are much better now. He is already richer than the 'impossibly rich' scenario painted by his mother, and so are most other people he knows.

36.

What does he consider 'rich' to be? Well, he can now easily feed his family, so 'rich' means luxuries. Sugar, cakes, confectionery, decent cheese, fine ale, wine. Oh yes, and gas light in his home, now that would be something. And a bicycle, or maybe his own horse and carriage if he really makes the big league! He has also heard that some homes are heated in every room – but that is an impossible luxury so he hardly likes to mention it. The toilet is still a hole in the garden, so 'rich' would be one of those new flushing toilets, plumbed-in. This would still be an outside toilet, of course. He would also like to work shorter hours. Say fifty hours a week? Now that would be nice. Having your own carriage? Now that is real money. Could everyone be this wealthy and have a carriage to ride around in? He laughs. “No mate. No chance. Why, if everyone had a carriage you’d need a big 6-lane road running right around London and it would be jammed with carriages morning and night! Only the rich get to live like that!”

37.

Life Today Let us fast forward to the present day. The vast majority of people today (in the 1st world) are impossibly, fantastically wealthy compared to 100, 200 or 300 years ago and beyond. People from these previous centuries would have been astounded at the level of wealth enjoyed by us – even those without jobs. We are well fed and nobody need go hungry. More money (far more) is spent on confectionery, snacks and junk food than is spent on 'real' food. We are so well clothed that purchases of new clothing are determined by boredom and fashion, not necessity. Most people have wardrobes and drawers stuffed to bursting with clothes they never even wear. 38.

Can you possibly imagine that! Even a single-parent mother on income support will move heaven and earth to ensure that her child has the correct logo on the back of his jacket and an acceptable brand name of trainers. Not to mention the latest mobile phone and a new console with all the games. Try explaining that to the starving woman from 1720. Single parent mothers in those days died in the gutter, or prostituted themselves for a crust of bread.

39.

We have cars, telephones, radios, computers and television. We take foreign holidays and our houses are well-furnished and warm. They have lighting, hot water (an inconceivable luxury just 100 years ago) and are dry. Today's 1st world poorest are living like the wealthiest landowners of 300 years ago when you factor-in everything like transport, medicine, utilities and so on. 40.

41.

So now comes the important question. “What does 'wealthy' mean to you?” 85

The answer is likely to be something like this: “Enough money to be able to give up work altogether, to buy a decent house and car outright and to absolve me from all money worries forever.” 42.

Now slot yourself into history's time-line. Do you see the continuity? Are we at the end of the line for humankind? No more inventions, no more ideas? No more progress? Is this it? Do we all just work forty hours a week for our current (excellent) standard of living? Progress is accelerating, not slowing down. This is what happens when you free-up hundreds of billions of productive 'think hours' by liberating the population from tedious manual toil.

43.

If you create values which others want to buy, this will make you wealthy in today's terms (we are all fabulously wealthy in yesterday's terms). This means that you can give up work altogether, and enjoy an excellent and meaningful life. You will also be freed to fulfil your potential as ultimately, this is the only thing which brings happiness and longterm satisfaction. It hardly needs mentioning that ‘giving up work’ and ‘fulfilling your potential’ were fantasy luxuries at any previous time in two million years of human history. The fact that you can even think about this shows you how far we have come.

44.

The rest of the people (as they have always done, and always will do) will struggle along behind you at the 'standard' level of wealth, locked into Wonderland and allowing their life-efforts to be looted from them. They will all get slowly wealthier (for zero extra effort) as a result of your creation of values – but that is okay. In fact it is a bonus as we care about the wellbeing of others. 45.

If enough people of creative ability can escape from Wonderland, they will continue to invent and design. Who knows what they might come up with? Certainly there is no shortage of energy in the universe, or elements, for that matter. The larder is getting a bit empty here on planet Earth, and we certainly have to take environmental matters into consideration, but again it is creativity and genius which will solve all of these problems – not a return to some illusory agricultural idyll. Also, those in the third-world will not be in a position to provide solutions to these pressing problems. Their poverty prevents them from having the required time or resources.

46.

The Future What will 'wealthy' mean to someone from 2100? Well one thing is for sure, he or she will look back on us sad peasants with pity and disbelief! “Poor them. They were confined to Earth, you know. No starships in those days! They died of cancer and AIDS – horribly. They all worked most of their lives in dull, routine jobs, typically 40 hours a week – can you believe that? And, amazingly, their life expectancy was just 75 years! Incredible! How did they stand it? Didn't they ever question their sad state of affairs?” 47.

48.

So let us ask: “What do you consider to be wealthy, Mr future-person?”

“Wealthy? Well, I wouldn't mind one of those new x-4rg star cruisers. They're really something! Also, I'd like to own my own planet one day and design it to my own specification like a lot of my wealthy friends have done. That would be neat. I've already had the 150 year life extension therapy, but there's a new one out which can let you live to 300 years old. It costs a fortune and only the wealthiest can afford it. But I guess I'm dreaming. Other people get to be that wealthy, not me.” 86

49.

Let us ask one more time: “Could everyone be that wealthy, one day?”

“What?! Are you kidding me? No chance!” To become wealthy in today’s terms you will need to create some values. You do not have to invent warp-drives, anti-gravity or a new energy source in order to 'create values'. Most people get wealthy by creating small, incremental values. They make life just a little better for everyone, and hence make themselves richer than average.

50.

The wealth you control is limited by your vision of value creation. Everyone seems to hate Bill Gates of Microsoft (a billionaire). But Bill Gates guiltlessly built wealth through the honest creation of values. Nobody is forced to buy his products. People buy them because they are exactly what they want until someone else comes along with better. 51.

You do not have to start Microsoft Corporation in order to become rich. Just a modest creation of values can make you a multi-millionaire. A small invention. A new service or product or a twist on an old one. A well produced original course, concept, DVD/CDseries or book or manual. That is all it takes.

52.

Trading existing values is unlikely to make you wealthy. At best, it can make you wealthier than average due to your trading skills, but rarely will it make you rich.

53.

We are all already 'rich'. We are all going to be 'richer', the fun of life is getting there before everyone else! 54.

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Grade Twenty-One: The Road to Financial Freedom 1.

Most people are broke, powerless and stuck.

They have been that way for many years, often for all of their lives. This is not unusual. It is very hard to escape Wonderland without a guiding hand. 2.

Your first wealth objective is to become financially free. There are four steps to achieving this. Most pass through these four levels or stages en route to financial freedom. 3.

Level One 4. Outgoings exceed income enough to constantly decrease one’s overall assets such that financial disaster is imminent. 5. Your situation is as follows: your outgoings constantly exceed your income; you are falling further into debt with every month that passes. To prevent disaster you are forced to borrow more and more, probably at ever higher interest rates. You are close to being at the limit of what people will loan you, and many creditors are pressing. You cannot see any way out of your financial situation and are frightened by what the future might bring. You are in a certain amount of denial and probably do not have an exact idea of how much you owe, and to whom. You hope that ‘something’ will turn up to save you. Meanwhile you plod onwards getting ever deeper into the mire. Life is not fun. There is never enough to pay the bills, let alone enjoy some of the good things in life. Your lack mentality prevents you from contacting your deeper self and you have few thoughts, if any, of helping others or putting your light out into the world.

Here are some examples of people at this level. 7. The man who works 50 hours each week, makes £1,000 per week and spends £1,200 each week. (Disaster might be a year or so away.) 8. The woman who works 10 hours each week, makes £100 per week and spends £125 each week. (Disaster might be a few months away.) 9. The millionaire who makes £100k a year interest and spends £250k a year. (Disaster might be a few years away.) 10. The following people are not at this level: 11. The man who has ten million in gold under the floorboards, has no income or job and spends £200k a year of his gold. His overall outgoings exceed his income but disaster is not imminent. He can live for the rest of his life running down his capital like this. He is, in fact, financially free. 12. The 70 year old woman who has savings of £400,000 from the sale of her parents’ house and spends £40k a year from this (£20k of interest and £20k of the capital). She has no job and no income. Her overall outgoings exceed her income from interest but disaster is not imminent. She can live the rest of her life running down her capital like this. She is, in fact, financially free. 6.

Level Two Income matches outgoings and your capital base is static. But to maintain this state you must work. 14. Your income almost exactly matches your outgoings. Putting this another way, you spend every penny of your salary, but do not borrow more than you earn. You probably 13.

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have debts, but these are being serviced by your income and you are not drifting further into debt. You are still a slave because you must work to sustain this lifestyle. There is little left over for savings and people in this situation usually have no savings. Your life is static. You are neither moving ahead nor falling behind. You are likely to be working very hard to service your chosen lifestyle and so once again there is little time left for making a contribution or working on your dream. You are also vulnerable. Redundancy or a change in fortune would make you exposed as your outgoings are likely to be high. Here are some examples of people at this level. 16. The man who works 50 hours each week, makes £1,000 per week and spends £1,000 each week. 17. The woman who works 10 hours each week, makes £100 per week and spends £100 each week. 18. The following person is not on level 2: the man who earns £10,000 a month from his investments and spends £10,000. He is on level 4 – financially free. We ignore inflation for these definitions. In any case the definition holds. As long as he gets £10k and spends no more than £10k without needing to work, he is financially free. Inflation means he must choose an ever simpler lifestyle or get more money to top-up the loss and maintain his lifestyle. The reason he is free is because he does not need to work for the income. 15.

Level Three Income exceeds outgoings and your capital base is increasing. But to maintain this advance you must work. 20. Your income regularly exceeds your outgoings and so you save regularly. Your expenditure is under control. If it was not, your outgoings would match or exceed your income. This implies you have financial discipline. You are contributing towards a better tomorrow and leveraging the awesome power of compound interest as a ‘silent 24-hour worker’ under your command. You have mastered greed and it no longer drives you. It is highly likely that you have transcended ego to a certain extent and are not so motivated by status. Here is why: if you were motivated by ego and status, your excess salary would be consumed in buying the latest toys and showy status symbols. However you still must work to sustain your lifestyle, and so you are also a slave. Anyone who must work is a slave, no matter how much they enjoy their job. 19.

Here are some examples of people at this level. 22. The man who works 60 hours each week, makes £500 per week, spends £400 and saves £100. 23. The woman who works 10 hours each week and makes £1,000 per week. She also has unearned income of £500 a week. Total £1500. She spends £1200 and saves £300. 24. Important: The following person is also on level three: the man who is not currently working, has £10,000 saved and is spending it at the rate of £1,000 a month. He is merely taking a holiday from work (albeit a year long holiday). He is no different, in principle, to the man who takes a day off work without pay. Both still must work (and hence fit the definition) – they are just deferring the work for a while. 21.

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Level Four People at this stage have attained financial freedom. They have enough income, without having to work for it, to cover their chosen lifestyle for life, barring dramatic changes. 26. This means that without working, your income is likely to exceed your outgoings for the foreseeable future – ideally for life. Obviously disaster can strike anyone and wipe out their finances, but barring highly unlikely disaster scenarios, you are set up for life. 25.

Here are some examples of people at this level. 28. The monk who can easily beg £20 a day which meets all his needs, and he spends his days in meditation or good works. 29. The thirty year old man who wants to live simply, £10k a year will cover it. He deals in property and makes a windfall of £600k. He is most unlikely to run out of money if he only spends £10k a year. 30. The 50 year old woman with ten million in investments who gets £200k each year in interest and spends it. She would have another 50 years even if the interest rate was 0% meaning she had to eat into her capital. 31. Just to make certain you have understood, the following people are not financially free: 32. The man with £300k who spends £30ka year. He is only free for the next ten years or so. He is, in fact, taking an extended, ten year work break. 33. The woman who works in a job she would rather not do, makes £50k a year and spends £50k (or even if she spends £25k!) Her income covers her lifestyle but she has to work for it. Hence she is not financially free 34. Which level are you on? Take some time now to decide. Be ruthlessly honest with yourself. Knowing where you are is the first step to freedom. 27.

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Grade Twenty-Two: The Four Stages of Wealth As you saw in the previous section, there are three stages of relative poverty culminating in a fourth stage which is financial freedom. 1.

Hopefully you will agree that stage four, financial freedom, is not wealthy it is merely free. You have been released by the master and you need never work again. 2.

3.

We will now examine the four stages of wealth.

Wealth Stage 1 The first stage we will be looking at together is becoming completely debt-free, including your mortgage. 5. This is the most basic, essential task for every thinking humanoid (that means you) to complete as a matter of extreme urgency. 4.

If you are unable to do this, then you are making the following statement: “I came into this world with nothing. Despite countless years of work and striving I have been unable to create a single penny of surplus. My entire life's efforts produced a negative balance, not a positive one. Because I failed to make enough to support myself and family, I borrowed the efforts of others and spent them on my own comfort. I will probably die without even being able to repay these people.” 6.

7.

What a statement! What a way to live a life!

8. In case you had the slightest doubt, this is not a life of power and passion. This is the life of a poor, helpless, weak invalid who cannot even feed, house and clothe him/herself by his or her own efforts. And this, in the wealthiest society since humans first walked the Earth!

So stage one – the absolute minimum stage – is to become completely debt-free. When you are entirely debt-free (including mortgage) you are one rung up from the absolute lowest on the ladder of poverty. You are still a flat-broke Thrall with little personal power and little freedom. 9.

The reason is that although you are debt-free you still must work for your food, clothing, telephone, petrol, gas, electricity etc. just like all the other Thralls. You are still not financially free. You have absolutely no choice about working. Your only choice is which master to slave for. After 40+ hours of slavery, you do not feel much like being creative or fulfilling your potential. So consider yourself one up from a beast of burden.

10.

By the way, you are most unlikely to be doing anything worthwhile for those 40+ hours of slavery. You may be a doctor, nurse, teacher, farmer etc. but most likely you are costcontrol accountant for ACME Bin Freshening Ltd, or something similar. One of the countless millions of Macjobs which are the equivalent of digging a hole in the morning and filling it in again in the afternoon. You can check this for yourself by asking yourself these simple questions: 11.

“Given a chance, would I do this job, or would I do something else if I was offered a 50% increase in salary?” 12.

Or try this: “Would I be thrilled and delighted if my son or daughter announced they wanted to be just like me and do exactly the job I’m doing?” 13.

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14.

Or this: “If I won the lottery would I bother to turn up for work tomorrow morning?”

Gaining Your Certificate of Freedom - Wealth Stage 2 The next step (step two) after becoming debt-free is to become financially independent – level four from our previous chapter. The most powerful control that Wonderland exerts over you is money. Take their control away in this area and you take a giant leap towards freedom. Becoming financially independent is a massive start. 15.

To achieve this, first you decide on whatever minimum level of existence you can live with, then you work out how much money you need per year to maintain this level. Then you amass enough capital, invest it, and use the interest (etc.) to pay yourself this amount each year. 16.

For example, if you need £20,000 minimum a year to survive, then you need roughly half a million ‘in the bank’ (i.e. invested) allowing for tax on interest paid. At 5% interest that will net you about £20,000.

17.

18.

If you need £40,000 a year, then you need a million ‘in the bank’.

These are just approximate figures to give you the general principle. Later teachings will go through this in greater detail.

19.

It is tempting to think you have made it when you have a million. Maybe in 1950, yes. But today?

20.

Even with a million you are still broke. All you have done is to un-manacle your arms and legs from the cell wall, and walk away a free man or woman. You have reached level four from the previous chapter – financial freedom.

21.

You are merely free. Nice, yes, but touch the capital and you immediately become a slave again.

22.

23.

You are not rich, fulfilled, actualised or anything remotely like these things.

24.

You do not have money to actualise your dream or to make the world a better place.

You have merely been handed your certificate of freedom by the master and are walking away from the plantation into the unknown. Your lifestyle is the bare minimum required for a civilized existence. You have a modest house, a small car and a few sticks of furniture. You can eat (but not in good restaurants). You can buy clothes (but not the best). You can go on holiday for two weeks (a package holiday, nothing special). You cannot invest a lot of money in your dream. In short, you are bumping along in a middling sort of life without being a slave. 25.

With your ‘Freedom Figure’ (say a million) under your belt, you are now a free man or woman. You have probably never been free before. There will be a certain amount of blinking in the sunlight and gazing in awe at the world about you. Then it is time for the “three P’s” – Power, Passion and Purpose...

26.

It will be time to ask yourself: “What is my special mission here on earth? What am I uniquely going to achieve? How am I going to aid my fellow human travellers?” 27.

28. As long as you are an unhappy wage-slave, you have no time even to consider these questions, let alone do anything about them. You just spend your days locked in Wonderland living a Thrall life just like everyone else.

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In short, without your freedom you are a powerless slave in Wonderland. You may want a better world, you may want to contribute to the wellbeing of others, you may want to pursue your dreams of happiness, but you are bonded in slavery and your life is leaking away, year by precious year. 29.

Yes, you can do a little here and there at evenings and weekends, if you are not too tired. If you are lucky enough to be in a job which allows for you to make a positive contribution, then that is great too. But most people are not in that situation. 30.

With a million pounds you are just starting on life's real journey. Whilst not small change, a million pounds is a very modest amount of money – just enough to buy your freedom at the time of writing this.

31.

The ‘Silly Toy’ Phase - Wealth Stage 3 Stage three. This is where you accumulate about two million pounds excluding the value of your residence – the exact amount varies from person to person but it is about this much. 32.

Why two million? Well, you need about one million to make you financially independent as discussed in stage two above. Then you need another million to buy yourself lots of silly toys so that you can get all of this garbage out of your system! With a spare million, most rational people will rapidly run out of 'toys' to buy. 33.

You want a decent house (nothing silly)? Done. Interior designed? Okay. A Porsche? A Merc? A 4x4? Have all three. A sensible boat? No problem. Suits, dresses, shoes? Small change. We have not spent a million yet! Maybe you are now struggling. A Rolex? Done. There is still change unless you are being silly about the house you want! 34.

The point is that unless you are stupid and/or greedy, a million in spare cash will sort you out for everything your heart could desire. Only a lottery winning fool would have six Rolexes up each arm and ten cars. 35.

There is nothing sadder than someone with money, trapped at the toy stage. It is as close to an obscenity as it is possible to imagine. Just think! All that money, all those possibilities, and… you buy shiny jewellery and ‘designer’ clothes! That is the limit of your vision? You make an extra £60,000 so you ‘treat’ yourself to the latest 4x4 with all the toys. Is that the best you can do? You make another £100,000 and add three more cars to your collection. Surely you are greater than that? 36.

So the point is to get through this silly phase as soon as you can. You have been trained from birth to believe that ‘being rich’ is all about driving around in exotica, wearing designer clothes, buying trinkets and baubles with names like Gucci and Faberge and eating at outrageously expensive restaurants etc. These businesses and the people running them are laughing at you, as we discussed earlier. 37.

All of that is frippery. It is a bit of fun, yes, but hardly the purpose of a noble life, don’t you agree? 38.

If, reading this, you are still firmly stuck at the “Gimme a Mercedes and Rolex” level, you have a long, long way to go. 39.

40.

Notice that even with this money (two million) you have achieved nothing of value.

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All you have done is to become a free man or woman and bought yourself some toys. Toys that will all end up as scrap a few years from now. 41.

Being All You Can Be - Wealth Stage 4 Why would anyone want more than two million? After all, being debt free, never having to work again, living in a decent house with all the toys is most people’s absolute pinnacle of desire – truly undreamed of luxury. 42.

Why do very wealthy people get up in the morning? Why don't they all just give up? After all, they have got loads of money. Are they just greedy people who cannot get enough? 43.

Some are, but some have all passed into stage four – the real point of life. The point which few ever glimpse because most people spend a lifetime in a panic-stricken struggle to raise enough money to pay the mortgage and the gas bill.

44.

So what is stage four? It is nothing less than the purpose of a powerful life; the real reason that we exist. The noblest struggle in which a man or woman of integrity can engage. It is nothing more or less than the struggle to be all you can be as a person. To live a life of power and passion (those words again) in the pursuit of your dreams. 45.

Your dream does not have to require money to fulfil it, but it does most of the time. You should look very suspiciously at someone who claims they do not need money to fulfil their dreams. The test is to offer them a cheque for a million to see if that would aid the realisation of their dream a little. Unsurprisingly, it often would! 46.

You Are Unique Every person is unique and has, if they did but realise it, a special set of talents and abilities not possessed by another living soul in that exact combination. The purpose of a powerful life and the thrust of Beyond Wealth teaching is to become free (debt-free; financially independent; play with some toys) and then to follow your dream. Most people achieve none of these. Just think about that for a moment – most people never even become financially free! Astonishing. 47.

So what is the purpose of gaining money in excess of two million? What is it for? This is your power, passion and purpose money. This is the money which you need to realise your unique dream and move Beyond Wealth. And here is the real key… Your dream, if it is to bring you lasting happiness, must be something which meets the true needs of your fellow men. 48.

This is not altruistic selflessness or ‘feel good’ rhetoric. Far from it. It is rational selfishness. You are here on Earth to pursue your own happiness, not the happiness of others. But as it happens, we are ‘wired’ by a million years of evolution to be unhappy when our fellows are suffering and happy when they are happy too. That is just totally perfect. Once we realise this fact, it means that we can actively pursue our own happiness knowing that our efforts can bring joy to others too. 49.

Once you are free from the crippling burden of debt and then amass enough funds to give you the very best chance of releasing yourself from Wonderland, then (and only then) is your creative spirit released and your true, inner self allowed fully to blossom.

50.

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The excess money is for following your dream with power. The more money you have, the bigger the dream you can actualise.

51.

The limits to our dreams are often self-imposed by your poverty-stricken lack mentality. 52.

The goal is to be all you can possibly be. This is enough. This single goal encompasses all others. There is no 'retirement' – you cannot retire from life until you die. The 'retire at 65' mentality is for the unconscious Thralls not for you. 53.

54.

You will pursue ever larger dreams and goals – this is how to live a powerful life.

55.

What is the alternative to this superb and inspiring vision of a powerful life?

To 'retire' at 65, flip magazines and do a spot of gardening? To take a day-trip to the seaside? To watch a bit more television? To catch up on some novels?

56.

57.

Is this the noble human purpose? Hardly.

Of course it is hard to dream when you are tired. It is tough to have passion when you are struggling to pay the electricity bill. This is why you must take a stand right now and vow to break free of the treadmill.

58.

There is a limit to what the printed word can do to inspire you. It is hugely important that you arouse from your slumber and see that time is running out for you and you need to act now.

59.

Ultimately though, if you think this is too hard and you have no fight left in you, there is only one course left to follow. Resign yourself to a life of third-rate mediocrity. Accept that you will never achieve anything great. Admit that you will die broke and embarrassed. Abandon your dreams. Stop talking about becoming rich and achieving great things – these are just meaningless words which you do not believe in; you are deceiving yourself and making others laugh at you behind your back. Settle for less. Be like everybody else. Sink into the enfolding arms of the warm masses. Lose yourself in Wonderland. There is some comfort there. Mediocrity is reassuring. 60.

61.

If this last paragraph fills you with dread then you know the alternative.

62.

Fight!

Fight with every ounce of your strength and determination. Vow to yourself that one day soon you will escape from your shackles, that you will put your power out into the world, that you will achieve something of note; that you will break free of the slavery you have been subjected to; that you will become wealthy and use the money in the pursuit of your unique dream; that you will leave the planet a better, a richer, a more wonderful place than when you arrived all those years ago as a new-born infant. 63.

64.

Is it possible? Yes it is!

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Grade Twenty-Three: Levels of Consciousness How you approach wealth and what you do with the money is highly dependent upon your level of consciousness. Refer to the diagram at the beginning of this book. 1.

There are five levels of consciousness and five associated traps which lie in wait for the unwary. 2.

This is the path you must tread, with its pitfalls, if you are to be happy, wealthy, powerful and free. The path will now be described to you. 3.

Level One: The Victim Level of Consciousness People usually begin their journey trapped in Wonderland. They are poor and powerless with no idea about how to become free, or who is enslaving them, or what tools they need to break out of serfdom. This is known as the Victim Level of Consciousness. Its dominant emotion is fear. 4.

Others are viewed with hostility and envy. The victim has a chip on his or her shoulder and moans that the world is not a fair place. They hate others to succeed and they seek to drag everyone down to their level. This is the energy the tabloid newspapers feed from.

5.

Their own ignorance and fear, coupled with the serious weight of external forces bent on extracting values from the Thralls (described earlier), ensures that they are pushed down into The Poverty Trap. 6.

The Poverty Trap In this trap, all income and significant amounts of borrowed money is spent on living, with any surplus spent on perceived ‘luxuries’. These luxuries are usually illusions sold to them by the con artists operating in Wonderland. Put more simply, they have bought into somebody else’s notion of ‘the good life’. Unaffordable amounts of time and money are spent on ‘entertainment’ for this anesthetises the pain of their hopeless lives. 7.

The following prescient quote from George Orwell’s 1984 captures this state very well. He is talking about the Proles which is a similar concept to Thralls (and he was writing in the 1930s): “There was a whole chain of separate departments dealing with proletarian literature, music, drama and entertainment generally. Here were produced rubbishy newspapers containing nothing except sport, crime and astrology, sensational five-cent novelettes, films oozing with sex, and sentimental songs which were composed entirely by mechanical means. The Lottery, with its weekly payout of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the Proles paid serious attention. It was probable that there were some millions of Proles for whom the Lottery was the principal, if not the only reason for staying alive. It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant. Where the Lottery was concerned, even people who could barely read and write seemed capable of intricate calculations and staggering feats of memory. There was a whole tribe of men who made a living simply by selling systems, forecasts and lucky amulets.” That is hauntingly reminiscent of some aspects of society today. 8.

In the Poverty Trap, the Thrall is diverted from attaining financial freedom. They are massively in debt and a significant portion of their income goes towards debt servicing. In order to numb the pain, they buy all of the latest high-price toys and gadgets, usually on 9.

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finance. They have no time or even inclination to realise their true potential. They do not even dimly suspect that they might have any such potential. This is a very bleak state to be in. Money is sought mainly for security, for victims feel very afraid. Their lives are squandered in a desperate scrabble for the basics; trying to get enough money to pay the bills. They cannot see any further than the next shopping trip or the next bill that needs paying.

10.

If such a person becomes financially free, they will use the money in pursuit of more security because their fear is not assuaged by becoming wealthy. Their lives will be wasted in building ever thicker and higher castle walls. 11.

The Ego Level of Consciousness 12.

The next level up is ego consciousness.

As the name implies, the person is driven by their need for status, respect, security, admiration, comfort and lifestyle.

13.

At the higher levels of ego, the person desires to put a dream out into the world, but this is usually in pursuit of more status and respect, although it can edge over into Beyond Wealth as the person contacts their inner self and learns gradually to drop the ego. 14.

The ego level of consciousness can manifest at any degree of financial freedom. A person can be at level 1 through to level 4 (financially free) and still be driven by ego consciousness. They can also be at the first three stages of wealth creation discussed in grade twenty-two.

15.

In this mode all resources are harnessed to satisfy an endless and insatiable round of ego needs (acknowledgement, respect, status etc.). Wealth is sought to gain financial freedom, but not in order to be free to follow a dream, but because the ego feels diminished by being a ‘mere’ employee. They seek freedom from this state as soon as possible so that they can be ‘the boss’. 16.

17. If it is not achieved, the person will engage in power politics and strive to climb the corporate or social ladder. The overwhelming desire is to be someone, to have others look up to him or her. They will be the arrogant boss, the insufferable department head, the brash sales executive and many similar archetypes.

If they do achieve financial success, they will use all of the cash they can get their hands on in the service of one aim – status. They will have the latest and newest car and preferably three. They will have the up to the moment generation of mobile; the very latest television; a ‘designer’ kitchen, a very expensive Hi-Fi system. They will normally have a collection of expensive objects – cars, paintings, Faberge eggs. 18.

They will often have a holiday home, a boat, an aeroplane – whatever the budget will stand. These objects are symbolic tokens used to display status to self and to others. 19.

Because they move in wealthier circles they are always jealous of those above them in the pecking order and so they will redouble their efforts to get even more money. No amount of money is enough. If they were to become a billionaire they would be envious of someone with ten billion. If they had a five million pound yacht, they would be hankering for the ten million pound model. 20.

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Their nemesis is The Ego Trap. When ensnared in its vice-like grip, they are doomed to squander an ‘adolescent’ life playing safe or playing with toys and accumulating status possessions. They will also often be empire builders, but only for ego purposes. They have few thoughts of helping others or making the world a better place. Their motivations are safety, pleasure and status. 21.

The Wisdom Level of Consciousness 22.

The next level up is the wisdom level of consciousness.

Here we have the beginnings of awakening as the person turns inwards, not to seek to gratify ego desires, but in a sincere endeavour to contact their inner spirit or sense of being. This is the real You we touched upon earlier. It is what everyone seeks, although most do not know it. 23.

Since childhood, this essential self has been obscured behind the veil; overlaid with thick levels of the protective shell called ego. There it has lain dormant all these years, a flickering light barely glimpsed. In rare moments it has flared up and shone brightly, but it was quickly suppressed, either by the person’s fear, or by the slings and arrows of a harsh world.

24.

But for the seeker, the light is not to be denied. People at this level of consciousness instinctively strive to scrape off the layers of mud and reveal the diamond buried within. If they are unfortunate, they will get diverted from this task by one of the major religions. If they are careful they will avoid this and find their own path to enlightenment. 25.

Such people want money mostly to buy the space need to explore their inner world. Although this can be done in the maelstrom which passes for many people’s lives these days, you have to be very dedicated to achieve enlightenment this way. It is far easier if you are free from the need to work, and can take yourself off somewhere quiet to meditate and reconnect. This is, of course, why monks typically take to monasteries.

26.

The object of this exercise is to learn how to be. Without striving, without judgement, without ego. With practice, anyone can reconnect with their real self – the light within. The seeker experiences a gradual awakening (although it comes suddenly to some). At the higher end, the seeker comes to realise that everything is connected and there is nothing to strive for. Those are very deep truths. More commonly, seekers have a smaller awakening which results in the diminution of the ego and an associated massive reduction in suffering – for most of our suffering arises from the ego with its ‘stories’. 27.

There is no hard and fast route to take here and no prescribed outcome, for we are in the realm of true spirituality and there are as many pathways to this as there are people on the planet. Suffice it to say that any wealth attained over and above that required for this lifestyle will be spent on aiding fellow travellers and not on status possessions. Such a person is moving Beyond Wealth.

28.

Even at this level there is a trap. It is called The Seeker Trap. Being ensnared in this trap results in a dissipated life spent lost in the complex labyrinths of the psyche. An endless series of ‘gurus’ will be followed, and countless courses and systems trialled. Service to others is incidental; improving the world is not a key motivational factor. In fact the ego can be quite dominant here as it seeks enlightenment in order to be better than others, or feels it has all the answers and that others are fools to believe what they do.

29.

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Such people live to meditate rather than meditate to live. They do not act, often believing that action is ‘worldly’ and hence unspiritual. There is also a serious danger of attraction to various drugs in order to enhance the mystical experience.

The Transformative Level of Consciousness 30.

The highest level of consciousness considered here is called the transformative level.

At this level, ego has been virtually destroyed, although be aware that it is very hard to eradicate the final vestiges of ego. 31.

32.

With ego out of the picture, lovingkindness can shine through from the essence of self.

The pure self looks outwards, not inwards. It shines like a beacon on all within its field. The attention is placed on others and their pain and suffering. The alleviation of this suffering becomes the goal of the Beyond Wealth initiate. 33.

Such a person can live a comfortable life, but all wealth creation efforts over and above this are directed at social projects held dear by the initiate. Such projects (big or small) are always concerned with improving mankind’s lot in some way. 34.

We are not here discussing pure Buddhist enlightenment as this is a very rare thing. We are discussing the higher levels of wisdom which many, many people attain. It is not an especially rare thing and it is well within your grasp, if you will it.

35.

Because we are not discussing pure enlightenment, it is worth repeating that the initiate gains selfish pleasure from helping others. Thus he or she is free and happy. If you met such a person, you would immediately know they were somebody very special. You would be drawn towards them. 36.

37.

This state is attainable by you. It leads to true contentment.

Yet even here there is a final trap for the unwary. It is called The Spiritual Trap and is well known in religious circles as the sin of spiritual pride. Once again the ego sneaks back in to confound us. We feel superior to other mere mortals. We are doing great works, whilst they (poor fools) are bumbling around in a pile of trivia. Can’t they see? If only they were as wise as us... 38.

Beyond Wealth 39.

Beyond Wealth is a status which has been gained by millions. You too can achieve this.

Do not be put off by the earlier descriptions. Enlightened masters are naturally in this stage, but you do not need to be such a master to reach it yourself. 40.

To arrive at this stage is not easy for Thralls deeply asleep in Wonderland. You must first wake up to the realities of Wonderland. Then you must attain financial freedom. Finally you must strive to reduce the ego as far as possible. Only then can the real You shine out. This will give you true direction, telling you why you are here on earth and what particular contribution you are here to make. 41.

When you reach the status of Beyond Wealth you will be free, happy and directed. Each day you will do work which brings you immense pleasure and helps other people. You will truly be living life for the first time. You will look back on your Thralldom with shocked amazement, wondering how you could ever have allowed yourself to sleep for so long.

42.

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You will walk out into the sunlight as a free man or woman, ready to craft your life of power, passion and purpose. 43.

44. Finally it is worth noting that a very small number of people manage to get to Beyond Wealth without achieving financial freedom. This is rare because without money, the pressing needs of life divert you from any inner calling (even the Buddha was a wealthy prince whose money gave him the freedom to explore the nature of existence). These are the ‘humble saints’ amongst us. People doing very mundane jobs, living very simply and yet deeply touching everyone they meet. Their lives are wonderful examples of love in action. Because they do not have money, their actions are usually strictly local and limited but that does not detract from their power.

Such people are very rare because it requires a special presence to be like this whilst still struggling for survival in Wonderland. The well-trodden route which most people take is to start in relative poverty, then free themselves from wage slavery. They usually then become ensnared for a while in ego as the money allows them to puff themselves up. Many remain forever entangled in The Ego Trap. Those that pass through this stage turn inwards in contemplation, meditation or other soul-searching before emerging into the sunlight of transformative consciousness and Beyond Wealth. This is not the only route, but it is the most common. 45.

So spend a few moments now to think which level of consciousness you are currently at. Be honest with yourself. There is no shame in starting the journey from where you are currently. Indeed, it is impossible to start from anywhere else. 46.

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Grade Twenty-Four: Overcoming Fear 1.

Fear is your mortal enemy.

It was forged in the long-ago mists of time as a very basic emotion having three dimensions – flight, fight or immobility. Each was a powerful survival strategy which helped to protect against life-threatening danger. 2.

These days we have so little need of fear it could almost be removed, apart from the very rare times we are in physical danger. 3.

Some small fear is possibly useful; most of your fear is not. It is what is called ‘maladaptive’. 4.

The fear that was designed to make you run from a sabre-toothed tiger, has now been hijacked to make you make you run and hide from a miniscule potential loss of face or self-esteem or loss of small amounts of money. 5.

The fear that immobilised you as a survival tactic when faced with mortal peril, now immobilises you at the thought of a job change, starting a part-time business, going to a party or giving an after dinner speech. 6.

People are riddled with fear; controlled and utterly dominated by it. The result is that people are highly risk-averse. The ultra-safe society we have created has not helped in this respect. People expect, even demand total safety. At the slightest hint of personal injury (emotional or physical) they run to lawyers for compensation and bay for tougher laws to ensure such a thing can never happen again.

7.

The result is that we have created a society where almost all danger has been removed. The most dangerous thing people do is to drive a car or cross the road. 8.

Despite the almost complete safety of our societies (for the first time in the history of humankind) we are more fearful than ever. We fear crime, pollution, food additives, terrorism, gangs, environmental disaster and epidemics. 9.

10.

At the safest time ever, we are the most fearful ever.

This soft, risk-averse, fear-riddled attitude is absolute death to your search for wealth. To make serious money you will have to take some risks. Risks with time and risks with money. 11.

12.

The greater the wealth you seek, the greater the risk.

Many people are not prepared to take even the smallest risk to make their dreams come true. They want it all for no risk, no outlay and no effort. The result is that they stay poor and safe.

13.

14.

The world is filled with nice, safe, dead people.

If you want wealth you must develop a warrior mentality and overcome your fear no matter what it takes. It is highly likely that you have been brave at some point in your past. Think about that time. Use the energy of it to propel you forward.

15.

We are not talking about being rash or foolish. We are talking about carefully weighing up the pros and cons of a course of action and then boldly stepping up to the plate and swinging the bat.

16.

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If it is just fear that is holding you back from the success you seek, strive to conquer this and push forward. Growth is everything. Fear stops you growing. Every time you overcome one of your fears, even a small one, you grow. Every time you succumb to a fear, you die a little. 17.

Huge Rewards 18. What can you lose, really? Not very much. What can you gain? Everything you ever dreamed of: the lifestyle you always wanted; absolute financial security; the chance to make the world a better place. To achieve this you must be prepared to take a risk or two.

One of the few ways of becoming wealthy is to start a business. This involves risking time and money. Many people contemplate this in the shower, but by the time they have towelled off, fear has driven them to play safe and stay in a mundane job.

19.

Here is a key life strategy: take bold decisive action and then let go of the outcome. Be non-attached – this is the key to overcoming fear. Ultimately all life projects are ‘failures’ because they are created in a transitory world. This fact stops you worrying about ‘failure’. 20.

Non attachment does not mean you do not care. It means you are open to learning from the results and are not attached to one particular outcome. 21.

When you are attached, you feel fearful if the outcome looks like it may not happen. This freezes you and stops you making corrective manoeuvres. When you are nonattached you can observe the outcome impassively and make suitable corrections for the next attempt.

22.

So much of your life-energy is wasted in endless debate, procrastination, agonising and worry about the effects of your decisions.

23.

If you would only take bold, decisive action, then something almost magical can happen. The way opens up for you and the problems and obstructions melt away. 24.

The transition may not be smooth, but most of your fears will be unfounded, and many of your anticipated problems will not happen. Those that do will not be ‘problems’ at the time. Problems are generated in the mind when it anticipates future events. A powerful insight is that you almost certainly do not have any problems right now, this microsecond, as you read this. All of your fears and problems are mind-generated as it starts to worry away at the future. 25.

What is really going on is subconscious resistance to change. We really do fear change, for good survival reasons. But in order for you to have a joyous, wealthy life, you need to embrace change and welcome it into your life. You need to be constantly at the cutting edge of your fear – neither too comfortable, nor scared witless. 26.

Ask yourself what is the worst that can happen? Is that so bad? How likely is it, in all honesty, to happen? 27.

Do you fear starting something because you may be ‘found out’ – that is, found wanting? Fight through this. 28.

Do you feel superior to others and think maybe they will not understand your great vision? That is simple fear of others and their opinions. It comes from being ego-attached 29.

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to your opinions and ideas – making them part of who you are, your story, rather than a means to an end. Do you fear the criticism of others? This is the fuel you need to spur you on to greater things.

30.

Does your fear force you to close down and become more insular, staying with the safe and known? The very opposite is required to succeed – you need a fearless outwardlooking temperament which embraces change, difference and challenge. 31.

Do you fear incurring the displeasure of others? This is inevitable if you succeed. At the very least some people will be jealous of your success. 32.

Do you tend to settle for what you have, not wanting to make waves? This is your fear at work – fear of others not liking you. A major key to removing fear is to stop caring what others think about you. Here is a key insight: they do not actually think of you very often. 33.

Do you fear being alone, a rugged individual? This is the deepest fear of all. We long to have others take care of us, to nurture and protect us. This is the desire to be a child again. This is one of the fears which religions play upon. You are all grown up now. Your parents can no longer protect you. There is no personal, loving God watching over you. It is time to face the world with courage.

34.

Many people are timid and completely risk-averse. Their quest for safety comes way above their desire for pushing the boundaries and living a powerful life. 36. Do not let your desire for safety overwhelm your desire for growth. Push forward through fear. Recognise it for what it is, an ancient system to warn us of mortal danger, honed in the Pleistocene wilderness many hundreds of thousands of years ago. Do not let it rule you today. 35.

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Grade Twenty-Five: Discipline There is one crucial character trait which marks out those who are likely to succeed from those who will just sink back into the enfolding arms of Morpheus. That trait is discipline. 1.

Successful people know that they must sacrifice something today in order to achieve a lot more tomorrow. Unsuccessful people want it all today, with no effort. 2.

In many discussions with other multimillionaires, this was the word they used most frequently when trying to explain their success. This was the key concept which differentiated the rich from the poor; the successful from the failures. 3.

The truth is that without discipline you are never going to have what it takes to escape from Wonderland.

4.

Without it, you are doomed to become one of the failures in life. ‘Failure’ is not a judgement. These people are failures by their own admission and definitions. If you were to ask them if they feel they have succeeded in life, or failed, they would confess to having failed, although they would blame factors outside of themselves for their failure. They are partially right – but they never took the time to identify those ‘outside factors’ as the meme and con-artists bent on keeping them in Wonderland. They wasted their lives in bondage to the system, never even glimpsing that freedom existed, let alone challenging it and making a bid for freedom! 5.

With discipline, you have a good chance of rising above the crowd and retiring early as a wealthy man or woman. And wealth gives you freedom to be all you are supposed to be. 6.

It is essential to avoid reaching retirement with nothing. If you reach retirement as a pauper relying upon charity, having lived a life of quiet desperation, locked in servitude, frustrated, never having achieved anything much of note, not really having had a good time (apart from the odd high point), never having dreamed, never beaten a real challenge – then your life is a failure by any standards, but certainly by your own. 7.

If you are happy in your powerlessness and poverty, then none of this matters. There is comfort in Wonderland. You do not have to think too much. You do not have to act to change things. All you need to do is just go with the flow. Be like the rest of the Thralls, obey orders, be a nice, tame, compliant milk cow. 8.

If this is not for you and you want to make some escape plans, then here is an important question: “Are you a disciplined person, in general?” 9.

The Disciplined Mind There are many indicators of a disciplined mind, no single one of which is essential, but put together, they start to add up to a pattern. 10.

Can you get up in the morning? Are your shoes clean, your hair and teeth brushed? Is your house tidy? Are your personal papers (gas bills, bank statements, etc.) filed in some sort of reasonable order? Do you turn out a good job of work, even when nobody is looking? Do you ever get drunk? (No disciplined person would ever get drunk! Alcohol is one of the many drugs used to anesthetise the masses and keep them compliant). Do you use recreational drugs? Is your car reasonably tidy or a junk yard on wheels? 11.

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There are many more indicators. It is up to you to look at your life and make an honest assessment of your level of discipline or lack of it. This is not judgement. You are free to live how you want to live, including in a filthy squat, unwashed and doped-up or drunk half the time – it is your life. But if you want a life of power, freedom and wealth, then you will never get it if your life is anything like that which has just been described. 12.

What is Discipline? 13.

One definition is being strict with yourself.

It is not a pleasant thing because it spoils your immediate gratification and enjoyment. But the long-term benefits and rewards vastly outweigh the greedy, thoughtless and shortterm gratification of our desires.

14.

Another definition might be 'gratification postponement.' Not eating the whole jar of sweets right now. Eating some and saving the rest for the next few days. Not because it is 'naughty' to eat all the sweets. Not because it is 'wicked or sinful' to eat all the sweets and God will be displeased. It is because if you eat all the sweets now, your enjoyment will be, say, ten units. But if you eat some now and save some for later, your enjoyment will be twenty units. We delay gratification for purely selfish reasons. 15.

16. Disciplined people save money. They do not spend every single penny they have in their pockets on goodies to gobble up right now, as fast as possible. They do not then rush out and borrow more money to buy more goodies to consume because they cannot wait until next pay day. Such people are eating all the sweets in one sitting, then borrowing sweets from their friends so they can eat those too! What would you say to a child who did that? Why, what a spoilt and greedy child that would be, don't you think?

One of the keys to a successful life (however you define it) is the ability known as ‘gratification postponement.’

17.

The Power of Delayed Gratification The name speaks for itself and successful people learn this ability and its advantages quite early on in life. At its most fundamental, it is the ability not to eat all the ‘sweets’ today, in order that you will have some left over for tomorrow. As you grow up, it manifests itself in several ways. For example: 18.

1. As a child: Your ability to delay playtime until you have completed all of your homework. 2. As a teenager: The ability to postpone the advantages of cash in your pocket right now by leaving school and getting some mundane job. Instead you do further study so that you might enjoy a higher salary later on. Every hour of study you do gears up through your life to an effective rate of thousands of pounds for each study hour – but paid later, not right now. 3. As an adult: The ability not to spend every penny of the money you earn on goodies, but instead to save a percentage so that it might grow and you can enjoy more goodies later on. The point is not to deny yourself forever and always postpone pleasure, possibly even until you die. The point is to enjoy today with all of its richness and pleasure, but to

19.

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master the trick of gratification postponement for a percentage of life’s pleasures. And this has only one, entirely selfish aim – to enjoy more of life’s pleasures tomorrow. 20.

The object is to be wealthy, happy, free and empowered in THIS life on THIS planet.

Saving – a Sign of a Disciplined Mind The savings habit is an absolute give-away sign of success or potential success. To save takes discipline – the discipline not to spend every penny you earn, but instead to put a little by.

21.

22. Most people do not save. They cannot manage the trick of postponing the gratification which the immediate use of their money will bring; consequently, they are always broke and struggling for cash.

And that means they must submit themselves to the bondage of their masters (e.g. by working in a poorly paid job for most of their lives) in order to feed their spending habits. Truly they are addicted.

23.

Disciplined people save money from a position of 'enlightened self-interest' or selfishness, by another name. It is important that you realise this. You are doing it for you, nobody else. They know that if they take some pleasure now (spend some money), then postpone the rest of the pleasure for a later day, they will get far more pleasure in total than if they spent all the money in one go. Everyone knows this. It is something we all learn at about age eight.

24.

But disciplined people apply this knowledge – it takes will-power not to spend everything right now – undisciplined people just cannot keep their hands out of the sweetie-jar. In practice, this means that every time they get some money they immediately think of something to spend it on.

25.

Modest saving over your lifetime – just 10% of your wealth – means you can retire with a quarter of a million in the bank.

26.

Not saving means you retire penniless and with a few pieces of useless junk which would not fill the average skip. What a difference! 27.

The key factor at the root of many people’s poverty and frustration is indiscipline, rather than lack of opportunity. 28.

Put another way, successful people are disciplined – and that is just another way of saying they are able to postpone their pleasure temporarily whilst they get their sleeves rolled up and do what needs to be done. 29.

30. Discipline often means doing what you don’t particularly want to do right now, in order that you can gear-up your efforts and enjoy a better future.

That future comes around fast, and those ‘lucky’ disciplined people who were able to keep their hands off the sweeties, are soon able to enjoy their reward. Meanwhile the illdisciplined look on in envy at those ‘lucky’ people with spare resources and are often bitter about the ‘unfair’ state of the world in which some people seem to have all the luck and others have none. 31.

They almost certainly then vote for politicians who promise to steal money by force from people with ‘too much’ and distribute it free to the ‘needy.’

32.

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Discipline Brings More Than Just Money 33.

Discipline produces success even if your idea of success has nothing to do with money.

If you want to be a concert pianist or painter or an inventor, then to get there you must postpone immediate trivial pleasures such as watching television or going out to a bar. Instead you must practice the piano, study painting, or read books about great inventors of the past. Even if your definition of success is to be at peace with the world and to be in a blissful connected state with the universe, you must first practice the long hours of discipline required for meditation, and practice the minute-by-minute discipline of mindfulness by pushing out the constant chatter of thoughts from your mind. A Zen monk, for example, could be said to be almost perfectly (and perhaps excessively) disciplined. 34.

35.

Unsuccessful people are often ill-disciplined for two main reasons:

1.

They rarely think of the future or plan for it. They live only for today.

This is exactly how most people are – trapped in Wonderland. Like a fish in water they are unaware even of its existence. Day to day, week to week, life drifts by in a dream.

36.

Self-development guru Jim Rohn’s secret of happiness is 'enjoying today whilst planning for a better tomorrow'. 37.

Living for the moment (enjoying today) is only half of the story. You can only enjoy today because of the plans you made or work you did ‘yesterday.’ 38.

Similarly you can only enjoy ‘tomorrow’ because of the plans you make or work you do today. This includes simple pleasures like a day walking in the countryside listening to the birds sing. You can only do that because 'yesterday' (last month, last year, etc.) you worked hard enough and saved some money so that you could take time off. It is obvious that you can only eat today because of the work you did yesterday, unless you have set up your life to sponge from others like the Type B people discussed earlier. 39.

2. They spend every single penny they earn (and usually more) on pleasures right now, today, and do not put anything away for the future. 40.

This is like being given a week’s worth of sweets and eating them all in one sitting!

Disciplined people use their time and talents to create present and future wealth for themselves. This is your escape route from Wonderland. This means getting out of the armchair and doing something. This is hard. This takes effort and it takes will-power. 41.

Undisciplined people watch soap operas three times a week, go to a bar often (a net outflow of money), go out for meals (outflow), buy all the latest gizmos (massive outflow) or generally fritter away their time, money and talents for thirty of forty years. 42.

They are then astonished at being broke when they retire. Not only that but their entire working life has been as a wage-slave doing some ‘job’ that they barely tolerated and which helped someone else to get wealthy. 43.

There is nothing wrong with watching television sometimes, going out for a beer now and then and having the odd meal out. These are pleasures. This is ‘sweets now’. Then, you turn the television off and get to work on projects which will make you wealthy and lead to your freedom and happiness. You stay in several nights and work through until midnight on the same thing. This is investing time in your future, and is an identical concept to investing (saving) money for your future. 44.

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A disciplined person does not spend all his/her time in trivial pleasures. They save some for the future. Time is funny stuff. You cannot put it in a box and save it for a future day, say the end of your life, and then bring it out and get extra days of life. The rule with time is that you have to invest it straight away. It multiplies and produces money in the future. You use this money to buy time from other people. For example, the money releases you from the need to work, and so that gives you a whole lot of time – hopefully much more than your original investment of time to get the money in the first place. Or, you use the money to pay someone to work for you and that frees up a whole lot of time for more important things.

45.

So the analogy is exact. Undisciplined people squander all their free time now on trivial pleasures (eat all the sweets) and get, say, 100 units of pleasure. Disciplined people use a little of their time for pleasures (eat a few sweets now), then invest their time for the future. This multiplies many fold and frees up large amounts of time in the future. The net result is that they get (say) 1,000 units of pleasure in total over the years. This is their reward for being disciplined. 46.

The Rot Starts Early Any failed or mediocre life is permeated from top to bottom with lack of discipline, and it starts early. Here is a life report from one such man who admitted he was a failure (by his own definition of success): 47.

Failed at school because of lack of discipline (always played around instead of working; always out with the mates instead of doing homework). Due to poor school results, he got a mediocre job. He never had a decent pay rise because lack of discipline meant he was often late for work and rarely did the job properly; always clock-watching and never went the extra mile. Never saved a penny – always spent the lot (and more) as soon as it came in. 48.

Never invested time for a better future, 'spent' the lot on trivial pleasures. Always in debt, never solvent – it takes discipline to control your finances. He eventually retired – broke, bitter, disillusioned...and surprised at his poverty! 49.

Do not let this happen to you. Everyone has a sense of discipline. Without it, you would never get out of bed in the morning. Discipline is exactly that voice which says to you after the alarm has gone off: “Right, come on, up you get!” Without that, you would just lie in bed all day. The trick is to start cultivating that sense of discipline – that small voice which nags away at you. You need to make it habitual. Do not suppress it. Listen to it and follow it. This is the difference between success and failure. The 'secret magic formula' of getting rich can be encapsulated in the quality of self-discipline. 50.

As a trivial example, if you were disciplined enough to go out cleaning windows on a Saturday (or a few evenings a week) instead of frittering away your time, then after ten years of doing this and investing the money you would have a hundred thousand in the bank! This is not an exhortation to start a window cleaning round, but to prove that you do not need to start a stock broking business, or open a chain of restaurants to make money. A simple piece of self-discipline in a lowly profession makes you a 100k in ten years, 200k in twenty years! Imagine what would happen if you really applied your talents! The 51.

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only thing which stops people doing this is lack of self-discipline, or to give it its common name – laziness. With discipline you can achieve more in the next five years than you have in your life so far.

52.

Be Disciplined in Small Things Your future wealthy and free life is governed by a series of choices which you make from here on in.

53.

Little choices. Hourly, daily, weekly choices. Most people always choose the 'sweets now' option. This route leads to failure and continual enslavement. 54.

Every little choice they make is an 'instant gratification' choice – to watch another hour of TV, to sleep late again, to go down to the bar again, to have some more entertainment, to lie in at the weekend, to eat some more, to buy some more toys, to book a holiday they cannot afford, and so on.

55.

Life is incredibly short. If you are over forty will know this already; if you are between 30 and 40 you will be glimpsing the truth of this, if you are under 30 you probably still think you are immortal. But the rewards of life come to the doers, not the talkers. This is so true. You receive riches from life in direct proportion to the amount of effort you put in. True again.

56.

You want to be wealthy? Of course you do – and rightly so. But there is no 'miracle' short cut to wealth – basically, it is about getting out of the chair and actually fighting, daring and winning against the system. Breaking free from slavery – not letting them control you. 57.

It is a fight now, just as it was a hundred years ago, or a thousand years ago, for that matter. The rules have changed, but the game remains the same. 58.

You need a better life and more money? Here is an important key to wealth: life does not respond to needs, wishes or desires. It laughs straight back in your face. Only your disciplined effort right now will plant the seeds of future crop which will meet your needs. 59.

To complain that your needs should be filled right now is effectively to say: “I have needs. Someone else should work so that my needs might be provided for.” 60.

That is a pure Thrall statement – it is exactly what those in control are attempting to achieve, getting you to slave for them so that they can do less. 61.

What would the soil say to your statement “I need some corn”? Why, the answer would be “Bring me your seed!” The soil would not care a finger snap for your needs. Who cares about your needs? Nobody. Furthermore the seed is not enough, is it? You must also plant, tend, water and hoe it. 62.

These activities can be summed-up by the phrase 'disciplined effort.' Effort means the sweat of your brow; discipline means meticulously and regularly applied. A little each day. Gradually. This is how the rewards build up over the years. Not in a rush. You don't hoe, weed and water all in one day and expect a bumper crop the next. No, it does not work like this. You hoe a little one day, weed the next, water when it is dry, then go right back to hoeing.

63.

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If this sounds like hard work then welcome to the real world. But at least you get to be wealthy and free this way. Trapped in Wonderland you might work a little less hard but the rewards are pitiful. 64.

Nothing Comes From Nothing 65.

Plant nothing, and get...nothing.

66.

Spend all your money and save nothing, later in life you have...nothing.

Fritter your time away in trivia instead of learning – then, when you really need a skill or knowledge for that important money-making project – you reach into your bag and pull out... nothing. 67.

Work to the clock and never go the extra mile – when 'pay rise day' comes around then expect... nothing.

68.

What is the magic solution for growing an instant crop? The crop you need now because you are hungry now and couldn't be bothered to plant the seed and do the work? Farmer Giles would scratch his head and say: “I can’t think o' one, m'dear.”

69.

There is no magic solution. There is a long term solution and that is to learn the habit of discipline and make it your master. It can be done. It is highly likely that you are already disciplined in some areas of your life – you just need to extend this to your wealth creation efforts. 70.

Start with the small things and build up gradually until you become a powerful, selfdisciplined person.

71.

Successful people are disciplined. They choose some pleasure now, but will then choose hard work and effort over further immediate pleasure – this sows the seeds in order that they can reap a richer future harvest. They become successful and wealthy people. 72.

73.

Are you willing to give this route a try – now?

This is a practical book. You need to make a start now, today, to change things. Pick one area and change just that, otherwise it is too overwhelming for you. Pick your car (say) and get that cleaned up – you will feel so much better and it will give you the impetus to change in other ways. 74.

This is not a moral lecture. It is about saving you from spending the remainder of your life in grinding poverty and in slavery to the system. You were told it would not be easy to escape.

75.

Wonderland has been painstakingly constructed over hundreds of years (thousands, maybe) with one aim in mind – to trap poor Thralls like you and extract your life values. You think you are just going to walk out without resistance? It isn’t going to happen. You will have to fight, scrabble and claw your way out one step at a time. And it starts right here, right now. 76.

If you cannot face your ill-discipline and make some small changes then you will just sink straight back into the welcoming arms of Morpheus. Sleep well. Years will pass before you raise a bleary eyelid once again. By then you will be too old because the stark truth is….time is running out for you to escape. You do not have forever.

77.

Every year you spend in slavery is a year you do not get to spend in wonderful, empowered freedom. How many years have you lost so far? How many do you have left?

78.

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Grade Twenty-Six: Precious Time Time is running out for you. When are you going to wake up and have a real shot at wealth, freedom and power? 1.

2.

Time is too precious to waste.

3.

To realise the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed an exam.

To realise the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.

4.

5.

To realise the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.

6.

To realise the value of ONE HOUR, ask the loving couple that is waiting to meet.

7.

To realise the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train.

8.

To realise the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.

To realise the value of ONE HUNDREDTH OF A SECOND, ask the athlete who just won a gold medal in the Olympics.

9.

10.

Treasure every moment that you have. Make it work for you.

Time waits for no one. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That is why it is called ‘the present’. 11.

12.

Stop thinking “one day...”

Stop waiting for your boat to come in, for your circumstances to change, for your children to grow up, for your job to get better.

13.

14.

The time for action is now.

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Section Two The Ladder of Wealth

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Lesson One Congratulations on passing the twenty-six grades of the first section of the book. If you have taken the teachings on board you will have clarity about the following things: 1. Total honesty about your situation. What The Author calls ‘broke and powerless’. 2. Knowledge that you inhabit Wonderland – the society which surrounds you. It is a giant ‘construct’ comprising belief systems and ‘memes’. It is largely illusory, but it feels very real. 3. An understanding of the dark forces arrayed against you, preventing you from being all you might be. These forces are: government, religion, media, big business and advertising, friends and family and type B people. 4. You have a burning desire to break out into the light of freedom and maybe feel a little angry about what you have allowed to happen to you so far in your life. 5. You know about the two major internal forces of fear and ignorance which have held you back so far, keeping you trapped in Wonderland. 6. You know about Thralls and have probably been one up until now. Thralls are destined to be born, to work, to entertain themselves and to die after being drained of their usefulness. 7. You have thought about your ‘why’ – the reason you want to become wealthy. The ‘why’ precedes the wealth. Without a valid ‘why’ you cannot become a wealthy and contented person. 8. You know that wealth in itself does not bring happiness – it is the use of money to put out a positive dream into the world which brings happiness. 9. You have smashed the ‘finite pot of money’ illusion and know there is an almost infinite amount of wealth available and that getting it need not negatively affect others. Rather the opposite. Wealth attained in the service of others enhances everybody’s life. 10. You are now aware of the secret link between wealth and happiness. Money itself is neutral. It is what you do with the money which adds to, or subtracts from your happiness and the wellbeing of others, and remember, it is happiness we want, not just money. Money is merely a tool. 11. You understand the concept of financial freedom. This is defined as: Enough income, without having to work for it, to cover your chosen lifestyle forever (barring dramatic changes). 12. You realise that power has a bad press but that power can be a tremendous force for good. You want to become a powerful person. 13. You understand that due to the deep unconsciousness of your fellow travellers, being a Thrall opens you up to exploitation. You need to know there are dark forces arrayed against you. You need to unmask them so that you are not damaged. 14. You realise how your schooling most likely programmed you for Thralldom. 15. You have unmasked the Type B people in your life. 16. You know that everyone can become rich, not just the few. 17. You know about the four stage of financial freedom. 115

18. You know about the four stages of wealth. 19. You know about the five levels of consciousness: Victim, Ego, Wisdom, Transformative and Beyond Wealth) and the four associated traps: The Poverty Trap, The Ego Trap, The Seeker Trap, The Spiritual Trap. 20 You know that overcoming fear and attaining a disciplined mind are essential prerequisites to becoming wealthy. Armed with this knowledge you are now ready to begin your journey to wealth. You have been unable to do this before because you have been disarmed intellectually and morally by the forces of Wonderland. Now that you can see clearly, the brakes should be released allowing you to accelerate towards your goals.

Welcome to The Ladder of Wealth The remaining sections of this book are written in a somewhat different style to The Teachings which comprise the first half and this needs a word of explanation. The Teachings in the first half of the book were written solely by The Author with a view to making them timeless as far as possible. The majority of The Teachings should still have resonance if they are read (say) fifty years after they were written. In contrast, The Ladder of Wealth is written by The Author, drawing on his own experience of becoming a multi-millionaire and also drawing on the experience of two other multi-millionaires all of whom bring their considerable knowledge of making money to the task of helping you to break out of poverty and into wealth. The writing style is therefore rather different.

No Silver Bullet When we started to put this section together an immediate problem became apparent. It would be impossible to suggest exact routes to making money for two reasons. Firstly these routes would become dated very quickly and later readers of the book would find them laughable. For example, imagine if you read that one of the simplest ways to make some fast money is to sell discounted typewriter ribbons! This would seem ludicrously old-fashioned to you and you would be likely to stop reading, secure in the knowledge that the advice in this book was ‘old’ and not worthy of further attention. At the time of writing, typewriters are long obsolete, but the temptation now is to talk about selling domain names or eBay trading or any one of a hundred currently fashionable Internet ideas. But within ten years (let alone fifty!) these will seem very quaint. They will sound like “Become a Windows 95 Troubleshooter!” or “Create Information Cassette Tapes and Sell Them!” or “Mechanical Adding Machine Repair For Fun and Profit!” The second reason we could not discuss specific business ideas is because there are, literally, millions of such ideas, any one of which could make you a fortune. As an example we have just heard about a company turning over three billion dollars a year in... are you ready?... selling mink pelts! There is obviously vast profit to be made in this area and yet the team could have written a hundred business ideas an hour for a month and not come up with this one! As an example, here are just a handful of ideas which the team personally know have made life-changing money for the people behind them. 116

1. Creating a new brand of lime pickle to go with Indian Food. 2. Selling DVDs of financial freedom seminars. 3. Writing a best-selling novel. 4. Trading the FOREX. 5. Scrap copper. 6. Solar energy installation. 7. Dealing in repossessed property. 8. Renting out mailing lists. 9. Writing and selling a guide on penny share dealing. 10. Videos on preparing raw food. As you can see there is virtually no similarity whatsoever between those ideas and yet all have made small fortunes for those running them. We could have filled up this entire book with thousands of such ideas and so you can see the pointlessness of singling out any one way and saying “this is how you should make your money.”

Fast Pace of Change You also know by now that the world is a rapidly changing place, the ultimately fluid hunting ground for the aspiring entrepreneur. Nothing stays the same for five minutes let alone five years. Making money is all about scanning for the opportunities, rolling with the punches, being ready to adapt and change in a heartbeat. Having said that, unless you are reading this book many years after it was published, you should have received one or two specific up to the minute business plans with it. These plans we can constantly change and update to keep with the times, whilst leaving the book as timeless as possible. This part of the book frequently does mention specific sums of money. If these seem dated to you, just index them up to the current value of money and all the principles are still valid. We hope you are ready now to put your first foot on the ladder of wealth. It starts with you being broke and powerless and ends with you having up to one hundred million pounds to put your dream into action. And even that is not the limit! You can shoot for a billion if that is what you want. We limited it to one hundred million for two reasons. Firstly if you want more than this it will take you many years and probably a working lifetime unless you get very lucky. Even ten million is a five to ten year project from a standing start. For your interest, five to ten million is the typical average wealth level of The Author and this team and so we do not feel qualified to tell you how to go for a billion, although we do give some pointers towards a hundred million. Remember, ten million pounds or dollars would give you: 1. Total freedom from wage slavery for life. 2. A very comfortable lifestyle with the house, car and all the toys you could want.

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3. About seven or eight million left over for your power, passion and purpose money. This is the money to put your unique dream out into the world, move Beyond Wealth and further the human project. The only reason you would want more than this is if your power, passion and purpose required a very large amount of funds. E.g. if you wanted to eradicate AIDS from the world you would be talking about hundreds of billions.

Making a Start So are you excited to make a start on the ladder of wealth? It has twenty-two steps. You only need to climb as far as you want, although the first 9 steps are non-optional if you want to become a wealthy man or woman. Here they are. Each will be covered in the chapters that follow: 1. Understand the entrepreneurial mindset. 2. Manifest the creativity factor. 3. Work out how much you are currently worth. 4. Calculate your Freedom Figure. 5. Get out of debt. You are now debt free but with your income matching your outgoings and you still have to work hard to stand still. 6. Get into the savings habit. 7. Stop spending! 8. Discover and activate your dream. 9. Set your goals. 10. Realise there are only 3 ways to get wealthy and only one of these really applies to you. 11. Choose the lifestyle you desire. 12. Internalise the wealth formula X + Y = Z. 13. Work your niche. 14. Choose the ideal business. 15. Use the 12-piece jigsaw as a guideline. 16. Make £10,000. This might be seed money for a project. 17. Make £100,000. 18. Make a million. 19. Pause and ask yourself “Do I have enough?” 20. Make ten million. 21. Make one hundred million. 22. Review the concept called ‘Beyond Wealth’. The skills and knowledge and techniques required to make £10,000 are very different from those required to make ten million. This, by the way, is why many people do not get past a million. They were not prepared to adapt and change. So if you are ready to make a practical start on your wealth project, let us begin. 118

Lesson Two: The Entrepreneurial Mindset To make a lot of money it is not enough just to want it. Everyone wants money. If it was free and easy people would have billions. But life is not like that. One thing you can know for absolute certain is that it is ‘above averagely’ difficult to make a million. How do we know that? Because the average person is broke. If it was easy to make a million, they would have done it – easily. To make above average money, you need above average qualities. This is not what people want to hear. For example you need discipline, focus, energy, the work ethic, time, ability to fight your fear, willingness to risk and a dash of luck (but not as much as you might think). The good news is, you have all of those qualities. If you take them one at a time it is highly likely that at some point in your past you exhibited that quality. There was a time when you had energy. There was a time when you had the work ethic. There was a time when you had discipline and focus. To become wealthy you now need to draw all of these qualities together and apply them to the task at hand. The task is to become wealthy, and one of the very few ways of achieving that is to be ‘in business’ in some form or other, even if it is a one-man/woman show. Apart from luck (winning the lottery or inheritance) there are precious few other ways. This makes your task very easy. You only have to look in one place for the money – in business. That means trading goods or services with others for a profit. To do this you need one key skill which has not been mentioned so far – the entrepreneurial mindset. This mindset is best described as a constant radar-sweep for money-making opportunities. The question on your mind should be “Where is the money-making opportunity?” Putting it more simply, you need to be often thinking “How can I make money from this?” Ideally you need to apply that to your dream, hobby or passion. If you are interested in something, and can make money from it, that is close to heaven. If not, you need to find a way to make money which accords with your values and which you are interested in. This cannot be a ten year unbearable grind as you will not stand the course.

The Creative Twist to an Existing Idea If someone else is making money you should take a great interest. How can you make money from it too? Can you apply a little twist to the idea and run it yourself? Can you bring it from one market or country to another and make it work there? If you are in employment, is there a service or product you could supply on a freelance basis to your company? You have amazing ‘insider knowledge’ not available to others; this is a perfect example of a situation in which you ask “Where is the money-making opportunity?” If you are just starting out, look at small classified adverts, even adverts in shop windows. Who is making money? What are they selling? Could you do this? What needs are there unfulfilled? Can you service these and make a good profit? 119

Have you been frustrated recently by bad service? Have you been unable to get a competent and reasonably priced gardener, plumber or tree surgeon? Those are ‘radarscan’ opportunities. Real wealth creators are money-focussed. They do not care about whether they have the skills or knowledge – just show them the money and they will be in there. Skills and knowledge are easily hired in. That is one of the key secrets of the really wealthy.

Example of The Wealth Scan Here is a true story known personally by The Author. One day, whilst walking through an airport terminal, a wealthy businessman wanted to cash some pounds sterling into dollars. There was a machine on the concourse which allowed you to insert sterling and receive dollars – less 10% commission. He was outraged at the 10% cost. He turned to his second in command and said “Find out where to get these machines made. I want ten in every airport in the country.” A year later he was the biggest UK operator of these machines and he was making 8% per transaction. This amounted to millions. The story is interesting because it shows the entrepreneurial mindset in action. Everything this man touched was a potential money-making operation to him. He saw someone else making a massive profit and his reaction was: “How can I make the same profit too?” This should be your mindset also. Notice he knew nothing about how to make such a machine, how to supply it with currency, how to operate it or how to get permission to have them at airports. He did not need to know any of this because he knew that someone else would sort out all of these details. All he cared about was getting a share of what was obviously a profitable idea. His twist? He located his machines in the airport car parks! Opportunity surrounds you. In fact it overwhelms you. The question should not be “I don’t know what to do. What should I do?” The question is “How do I quickly eliminate 99 of these 100 exciting opportunities which are staring me right in the face so that I can home in on the quickest and easiest one for me?” Faced with opportunity, the average person feels a huge wave of lethargy and apathy rolling over them. All of their energy dies. They cannot be bothered to pursue it. At the first, tiny hurdle they give up.

Do Something Properly You could make a fortune from anything you touch by following one simple piece of advice, which is: do it properly. Why is this so powerful? Because most small businesses are run by rank amateurs who produce poor products and services. All you have to do in order to steal 50% of their business is to do what they are doing, but do it well. Run a garage where you actually fix the problem, on time and at a decent cost. Run a plumbing service where you actually turn up, on time and fix the problem. Run a printing works where you actually print the job properly and deliver it when you say you will. The point here is not to suggest you actually run these businesses (but you could, and with no prior knowledge or skill). The point is to underline the fact, as if you did not know, that 120

it is hard to get decent service and products these days. Anyone who offers these is instantly in business making good money. What opportunities are right under your nose? One property tycoon suggests walking around your local streets, on foot. He guarantees to be able to spot a hot property opportunity anywhere in the country using this method. It may be a plot of land which could be built on; one house which could be converted into two; a garage which could be knocked down and an extra house built; a pathway which could be widened to provide access to a locked-in plot, and many similar ideas. The point here is that people do not bother to look right under their noses.

The Entrepreneurial Formula The entrepreneurial formula is simple. 1. Be constantly scanning. 2. Always ask: “Where is the money-making opportunity?” 3. Who is making money and how? Can you improve on what they are doing? 4. What do you love to do? Can you make money from that? 5. Do not let your imagined poor subset of skills hold you back. The real money-makers only have one skill – making money! There is an army of experts out there all keen to work for you and make your dream a reality. Hire them in. Offer them a slice of the action. Get them working on your project. 6. What do people need but are not getting? Can you supply it? 7. What opportunities are there where you are now? At your work, near your home? 8. Start acting. Get your sleeves rolled up today and make things happen. Investigate some ideas, try out a few things cheaply, have a go. Business is great fun. 9. What can you buy and sell for a profit? 10. What service can you provide for a profit? If you make the entrepreneurial mindset a part of your psyche you will be astonished at how much opportunity is right under your nose. You will be overwhelmed in fact. The hard part is not uncovering opportunities, it is in selecting the one which will suit you best.

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Lesson Three: The Creativity Factor This question is often asked by the aspiring wealth-seeker: “Is there one single factor which makes the difference between earning a fortune and just pulling down a living wage?” It is always hard to come up with a single factor because there are so many candidates. Here are just a few: 1.

Passion.

2.

Energy and enthusiasm.

3.

Hard work and discipline.

4.

Focus and staying power.

5. Ability to take defeat and come up punching for a second, third or even fiftieth round with life. 6.

Sense of humour.

7.

Being big-picture focused but also mindful of the smaller details.

8.

Willingness to learn all the time.

9.

A positive mental attitude.

10.

Knowing where you are trying to get to.

These are the top ten – apart from the one which will be disclosed here, and that is creativity. Creativity is what makes all the difference between making very large sums of money and just a mediocre salary. The reason is that people pay you in life for your ability to solve their problems. The bigger and more complex the problem, the more money people will pay to get it solved. Really big problems can only be solved by highly creative solutions. If you can come up with a creative solution, you will be able to charge a lot of money. If you spend your days solving trivial problems which have been solved a million times before, then you will merely be paid a living wage. Please read that paragraph again as it contains a key wealth point for you. Mundane problems are easy to solve. Anyone of average intelligence can provide a solution and so the fee they command is quite small. Your garbage men get paid for solving your garbage problem. This is not a very challenging problem. They just load the garbage into a vehicle, cart it away and dump it in a hole in the ground. If you can walk, talk and lift a bin, you can ‘solve’ that problem. That means most people in the country could solve the garbage problem if they had a mind to. The result is that garbage men do not get paid much. But still they get paid, because they are providing a solution to a problem. Let us take another example. Your garage is paid for solving car maintenance problems. That is a more specialised task and few people nowadays try to fix their own vehicles. You pay your garage a reasonable amount of money to sort it out for you because good car mechanics are worth paying. Notice you do not pay very large amounts of money, usually, and the reason is that millions of people could, in theory, learn to be a competent car 122

mechanic and so there are plenty to choose from. Another way of saying this is that the competition is stiff. In the case of expensive cars (BMWs, Mercs, Porsche, etc.) you pay a lot of money. That is because a good Porsche mechanic is far rarer than your average mechanic from the local garage. See the progression? The fewer the number of people who can solve your problem, the higher the amount of money they can command. Forgetting subsidised health for a moment, what money can a top brain surgeon command? Or a top heart specialist? What would you pay if you had a heart problem which threatened your life and there was only one woman who had the skill to fix you up? If she asked you, you would give her everything you owned in the whole world. Or would you rather pay £1,000 and have some junior, inexperienced, third-rate heart surgeon do the work for you?

Big Problems = Big Payments The top money comes from solving big problems which affect the lives of millions of people. The problems do not have to be exotic like heart surgery. In fact most of the ‘megabuck’ problems are very mundane, boring and sometimes even dirty and unpleasant but the solution is creative. For example, look at the vast sums made by the supermarkets. Now on the face of it, how hard can it be? You just buy food at a low price, sell it at a higher price and bank billions a year. That is not too tough. But really, an operation like Tesco is a huge multi-layered set of interconnecting problems – dozens of them; hundreds of them; thousands of them. Only the most creative, the very sharpest brains are capable of providing solutions which allow a company like that even to exist, let alone thrive and prosper. People who can solve these problems are paid millions for their creative ability. In case you had never considered it before, here are just a tiny handful of mind-boggling problems which face you if you decide to set up your own supermarket chain like Tesco: 1. How do you attract, motivate, train and retain three hundred thousand employees (yes, you read that right) in what is after all, a mundane, minimum wage, shelf-stacking and till-operating job? 2. How do you ensure that each store is always staffed correctly, with the right mix of trainees and experienced staff, through times of sickness and absenteeism? How do you ensure that staff in Leeds respond to customers the same way as staff in Poole? 3. How do you ensure absolute safety for customers in your stores? That covers a thousand different danger areas from securing overhead light fittings, to procedures to be operated in the event of a spillage. 4. You need to source 48,000 different products from 16,000 different world-wide suppliers. 5. You need to always be in stock (but not overstocked) with each one of those 48,000 products. Each time one is out of stock means several thousand angry customers. (“What do you mean you don’t have any Robinson’s Fig & Cucumber Marmalade? You had it last week. Can’t you people even reorder when you run out? What kind of shop is this, anyway?”) 123

6. Each one of those 48,000 products needs to be of an absolute consistent quality and freshness, time after time. 7. You need to chop your costs right to the bone in order to take on Sainsburys, Morrisons, Iceland, Aldi and Safeway. Most shoppers buy on price – which is strange because food is arguably the most important thing you buy. But no, the general public will spend huge swathes of their cash on cigarettes, alcohol, nights out, gadgets and flat screen TVs, but want the cheapest, poorest quality, cut-price junk food they can get their hands on. If your competitors are even 1p cheaper than you, shoppers will desert you en-masse. This means you have to be the toughest kid on the block when it comes to screwing your 16,000 suppliers into the ground – but you also have to keep them motivated, profitable and interested in supplying you. 8. You need to be able to take several forms of payment, right there, at the till – without delay. 9. You need to minimise check-out waiting times regardless of staffing levels. You can rarely, if ever, predict how busy the store will be, and therefore how many check-out staff you need. 10.

You have to handle theft, which is an epidemic in most stores.

Not to mention: Disabled facilities; fire precautions; environmental impact (e.g. trolley dumping) vandalism; staff security against irate customers; lost children; toilet facilities; customer complaints; customer fraud; continuation of power for your freezers; car park security; environmental activists; prevention of sales of alcohol, cigarettes, knives and pharmaceuticals to under age customers... This chain of supermarkets is nothing more than a set of complex, interlocking mega problems which only the bravest of hearts would try to solve. So, the people who can envisage all these problems and more, and yet put into place a structure which solves them will, quite simply, make hundreds and hundreds of millions of pounds. And quite rightly so.

Big problems + creative solutions = megabucks. Staying with large problems for the moment, consider privatisation of the railways. This is surely one of the largest, most intractable problems in the country – how to get a regular, clean, efficient and cheap rail service. It is worth thinking for just a few moments about the sheer scale of this problem. Next time you are tempted to complain about a late or dirty train, spare a thought for the immensity of this problem. Here is just one tiny example. In the morning, everyone wants to travel to London. So you need five hundred trains, ready and waiting at various locations around the country, stacked ten deep for people to get into the capital. In simple terms, come ten o’clock in the morning after the rush hour, all 500 trains are stacked ten deep in sidings at Paddington and Waterloo. What do you do with them? Leave them sitting there all day ready for the return rush hour at 5pm? That is not a very good use of a twenty million pound train. Using it only twice a day will guarantee bankruptcy! You want to keep the thing running all day and night, if possible – but how? Well... If you could come up with a creative solution, you would make a fortune. That one has been worked out already, of course. 124

Anyone who takes on problems of this magnitude will make tens or hundreds of millions at a time. How do you absolutely guarantee to have a driver ready, on time, for each one of the fifty thousand departures each day, without overstaffing? Think of the consequences of not solving this problem! A train full of passengers just sitting at the platform. How do you reconcile passenger safety with the realities of high-speed travel on outdated track? How do you combat an epidemic of ticket fraud without using Gestapo-like tactics which make your honest customers feel like crooks? How do you ensure your drivers are fit to drive without seeming overly paternalistic and administering breath tests and drug tests? How do you manage the media, who are always out to get you? What do you say when a rail disaster occurs due to (say) a driver high on drugs when you had a test available, but elected not to use it to avoid alienating the unions? It goes on and on and on. The problems are huge, but the rewards are vast. Hundreds of millions of pounds – even billions are on the table for anyone who can come up with some creative solutions to problems like this. On a smaller scale, any money you have ever made (not won, or inherited, etc.) in your life came about as a result of your ability to solve someone else’s problems. Problem: “I need a good hot meal right now for about five pounds.” Solution: “Allow me to sell you some tasty fish and chips.” Problem: “I need a clean car but don't have the time to do it myself. Anyway, I can’t stand that job.” Solution: “Allow me to valet it for just £35.” Problem: “I need social interaction, somewhere to relax after a hard, stressful day and an intoxicating liquid which will numb my senses and make me feel happy.” Solution: “Welcome to the Dog and Ferret sir. Can I suggest a pint of Old Peculiar and a double whiskey chaser?” Problem: “My wife doesn’t fancy me anymore...” Solution: “Lawks ‘ave mercy. You’re a big boy, aren’t you? Come here, dearie...” You get the idea... Problems beg to be solved. The person who comes up with a solution can make great money. Creativity can also pay huge dividends in the arts. If you create a top selling song, or a best-selling novel, or a film then you can be paid ongoing royalties for life. Author J K Rowling is worth over one billion pounds all from creating Harry Potter.

Create Don’t Just Copy People rarely create. They just want an easy solution. In their hunt for this illusion they merely copy an existing idea which maybe ten or a hundred people are currently already running. They do not make the slightest modification or improvement to the idea. Why do people do this? The answer is not that the people are stupid. The reason is that people are very lazy. This must change for you if you are to become wealthy. Here is a key wealth point. Making money is about exchanging values. 125

As an example, consider this book. Assuming you purchased it, then it was a trade of values. You handed over a sum of money and hopefully you received something of at least equivalent value, hopefully of greater value. In this case, it is life-changing information. If you receive far greater value than the amount you paid for the book, then you will be really pleased, and so will the publishers. You see it is possible to have two extremely happy people engaged in a business transaction – and certainly this is a prerequisite for becoming rich.

The Super Transaction This is called a 'super-transaction', and both parties have to be happy for this to occur. If you only make the customer happy by (say) giving him your products for free, this is not a super-transaction because you are not getting equivalent value, and you are not happy. Similarly if only you are happy and your customer is displeased, this is not a super transaction either. In order to get rich you need to offer superb, unbelievable value for money. In other words, the customer must be delighted to pay the asking amount for the product or service. We are talking here about getting rich, not operating one of the tens of thousands of dull, pointless 'make a living' businesses. Now here is the key point which could make you seriously wealthy... to achieve this super transaction status, you need to create, not copy. Many wealth seekers do not want to be bothered with creating a new product or service. Thinking takes effort. They merely want to copy something. They want to be told exactly what to do so that they can carry out the plan like a slavish automaton – like a Thrall, in fact! Most people would rather copy than create. Why? Because they see this as easy and lazy. To create something takes an effort of will and discipline and so lazy people follow the simple route and just blindly copy. This does not mean it is lazy to see an idea working in one market or country and copy it into a different market or country – that is creative (but not as creative as coming up with your own, unique idea). The copiers see five people doing an idea in one market, and so they just become the sixth or the tenth or the fiftieth to do that identical idea in an identical market in an identical manner. Have you ever been abroad in a tourist area and noticed that almost every shop in the tourist strip sells an identical array of leather belts, wallets and handbags for example? That is laziness in action. When you copy, you are merely picking up the scraps from other people's tables. Also, you cannot give superb value for money and make money (the 'super transaction'). Why? Because of the competition. Everyone is doing the same idea and so the price comes down. If you just copy, you will only ever make a modest amount of money – you can make ‘a living’. This book is not about that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with making ‘a living’ if that is as far as your imagination takes you. What do you think is the result of setting up the sixth mediocre take-away Pizza shop in your town? “Strange, you know... there just didn't seem to be the business around.” 126

Do not take away from this section that you need to be a creative genius to make a million. Neither do you have to shoot for a hundred million. You can make serious money by just having a small creative twist on an existing idea – or harnessing the creative power of someone else and using it (with their blessing) to make a very great deal of money for yourself. Remember the story of the foreign currency machines? The only twist he added was to put the machines in the car parks rather than the concourse. That simple idea made him millions. You can bring an idea from one market (or country) where it is working well, and set it to work in another market or country. You can take an existing idea and make it slightly better. You can bundle several good products together to make a super-product. You can harness the creative ability of others who only want a modest sum for their efforts – whilst you make millions. Whatever you do, please understand it is most unlikely you will become wealthy unless you get your creative brain going. Do not imagine you have no such ability – you do. You can almost certainly recall times in your life when you were creative – so get it working again for you now.

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Lesson Four: Your Net Worth You need to know two things before you can start to aim for financial freedom. 1. Where you are right now, financially. No pretence. No hiding. 2. How much you need to live on and hence how much you need ‘in the bank’ (this is called your Freedom Figure). If you bought this book twenty years after it was published, at a local charity shop then you are out of luck at this point because with it came a free CD called Wealthplanner containing some simple spreadsheets. If this is you, a ‘CD’ will be that almost forgotten, old plastic thing which was used by some primitive people two decades ago to store data! However, you do not need the CD as we will show you what to do using good oldfashioned pen and paper – assuming they still exist! If you have a computer: it is time to get out your ‘Wealth Planner’ CD-ROM you should have received with the book and fire it up. Be sure to read the ‘Readmefirst’ file first. In this chapter we will be using the ‘NetWorth’ program, the ‘FreedomFigure’ program and the ‘BorrowSave’ program. Read the instructions on how to use them in the ‘Readmefirst’ document. With the ‘NetWorth’, all we are interested in are the columns that list your assets and liabilities resulting in a ‘net worth’ figure in the appropriate box. When you have done this you now know where you are financially. If you do not have a computer or you got the book in a charity shop in 2050: Don’t worry, we have not forgotten you! Take a blank piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. At the top of one side write ‘Assets’ and on the other side, ‘Liabilities’. Now, think about all of your belongings and put a realistic value for them under ‘Assets.’ This is the value you would realistically get for your possessions if you had to sell them and move away. Do not use the ‘as new’ figure. Include your house at its current market value. Next, work out all of your debts and put them under ‘Liabilities’. Include everything you owe including what you owe on the mortgage. Remember: use realistic second-hand figures for your assets, not ‘shop new’ prices. Now subtract the liabilities (what you owe) from the assets (what you own) to get your ‘Net Worth’. Please note, we are not asking you to write down your monthly outgoings or your monthly income here. We are only looking at your capital situation. Here is an example which should clarify things...

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ASSETS

VALUE

LIABLITIES

AMOUNT

House Value

£295,000.00

Mortgage

£187,000.00

Car

£3,900.00

Car Finance

£1,800.00

Furniture

£4,000.00

VISA card

£2,600.00

Caravan

£9,500.00

Loan #1

£2,000.00

Savings at bank

£400.00

Loan #2

£3,000.00

Gold

£8,000.00

Loan #3

£1,000.00

Lloyds Bond

£12,000.00

Shares

£6,000.00

Other savings

£3,500.00

Kitchen equip

£1,900.00

Hi Fi etc

£1,500.00

Piano

£3,000.00

Misc other items

£2,000.00

TOTAL ASSETS

£350,700.00

TOTAL LIABILITIES

£197,400.00

NET WORTH

+£153,300.00

You can see from the above table that everything you own adds up to £350,700.00 and everything you owe adds up to £197,400.00 and so if you were to sell everything and settle-up today, you would be left with the difference; i.e. £350,700.00 less £197,400.00 which our calculator says is £153,300.00. Now do this for yourself using your own figures. It shouldn’t take long. No need to price everything up to the nearest penny. Just imagine you are off to Australia with nothing but the shirt on your back and a knapsack. Before you can leave you have to sell everything and pay off all your debts. Finished? Excellent. Now, you have just created a ‘Balance Sheet’ of Yourself Ltd. ‘Balance Sheet’ is one of those accounting terms you have probably heard at some time. It is a ‘snapshot’ of what a company is worth at a given time. Well now you have a snapshot of your own life, you know exactly where you are right now and how much you are worth. Please do not be alarmed if the figure is a negative (i.e. you owe more than you own) as this is quite common these days. We know you are broke whether the figure is -£50,000 or +£50,000! The next step is to work out the capital amount you need to buy your certificate of freedom from the master. We will look at this next

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Lesson Five: Your Freedom Figure Now you need to work out your ‘Freedom Figure’. This is the amount you need ‘in the bank’ before you can give up work and be a free man or woman. This is the amount that buys your certificate of freedom from the master. If you have a computer: Using the ‘Freedom Figure’ spreadsheet on your Wealth Planner CD then enter your essential monthly outgoings in the column and fill in a couple of other figures and out pops your Freedom Figure automatically. The beauty of this (as well as its simplicity) is that you can play around with your monthly outgoings and your freedom figure will change accordingly. If you do not have the CD: what you need to do is a 3-step process starting with another small calculation. Step one is to work out your total monthly outgoings and multiply that by 12 (obviously to give you a yearly figure). Here is an example:

ITEM (monthly, remember)

AMOUNT

Mortgage

£1,632.43

Car expenses

£254.00

Gas

£45.00

Elec

£32.00

Phone

£63.00

Council Tax

£165.00

Water

£49.00

Food

£400.00

Misc

£120.00

Spending money

£360.00

Caravan site fees

£67.00

Caravan insurance etc

£34.00

Life Insurances

£100.00

Cat

£25.00

Course Fees

£100.00

Loan repay

£100.00

TOTAL

£3,546.43

In the example above the total monthly outgoings were £3,546.43 per month. To find our yearly outgoings we simply multiply this by 12 = £42,557.16 130

Step Two is to work out the multiplier and this depends on the current interest rate (i.e. what you can sensibly get on your money in long-term savings). The Multiplier = 100/current interest rate. Example: If currently you can get 5% on your money then the multiplier is 100/5 = 20. One more example should give you the idea: Currently let us say you can get 6.3% on your money. Your multiplier would be 100/6.3 = 15.9. Step 3 is the final step to find out your Freedom Figure by multiplying your yearly outgoings (as calculated in step 1) by your multiplier (as worked out in step 2). Example: Yearly outgoings are £42,557.00, the multiplier is 20 (interest rates are about 5%) so your Freedom Figure is 20 x £42,557.00 = £851,114.00 That is the amount ‘in the bank’ you would need to get £42,557.00 per year interest at 5%. Nothing complex about that, is there? Example: Your outgoings are £31,000.00 and you can currently get 7% interest. So your multiplier is 100/7 = 14.3 and your Freedom Figure is £31,000.00 x 14.3 = £443,300.00. All we have said there is that if you had £443,300.00 in savings at 7%, you would get £31,000.00 a year interest and that is exactly what you need to live on. This would set you free. (To keep the calculations simple we have not allowed for taxation.) We sincerely hope you do this exercise and that you find your own Freedom Figure very illuminating. This is the start of your plan – something to aim for. And please do not think you can rely on a pension to support you when you eventually give up work – not unless you have a serious amount of money invested. (That is one million pounds or more.) As an approximate rule of thumb you will probably find you need between £500,000 and one million pounds ‘in the bank’ in order to buy your certificate of freedom. Remember, this ‘certificate’ means you need never work again as long as you live. It does not mean you are wealthy! You are merely free. For simplicity we have not included taxation here. The effect of tax is to increase the amount of your freedom figure. A good approximation at the time of writing is that one million is about what you will need to live comfortably without ever working again.

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Lesson Six: Getting Out of Debt Now that you have calculated your net worth and your Freedom Figure, it is time to learn that your first real step on the road to wealth is to become debt-free. And we mean completely – including mortgage. We are all agreed that one of the main secrets of becoming wealthy is first to become debt-free. Each of us could write a book on how long it took us to learn this simply stated fact. When we were broke, wealthy people we knew kept telling us this 'secret' but we refused to listen. We are talking here about consumer debt of course, not high-finance required to build a corporation or money borrowed at low interest which is leveraged to bring in way more money than the interest payments on the loan. Consumer debt is money borrowed to buy ‘stuff’ which you imagine you need. Usually it is ego toys to earn you status. You are not alone. A quick calculation reveals that between us we have spent £11.5 million on status toys, so we are not taking the moral high ground! But we all agree we only started to make serious money when we first got out of debt. This is not a moral question, it is one of time and money. If you are in debt then quite a large proportion of your talents and efforts are spent in debt service; that is, earning enough to pay the interest. Many ordinary people we meet are paying out over fifty percent of everything they make in debt payments. Why do you think banks and other money lenders are so wealthy? Now imagine the freedom and energy released if you worked half as hard as you do at the moment; i.e. if you had no debts to service. That would free up a massive amount of time for you - time which you could use to become wealthy.

Excuses For Being in Debt Most people think their debts are special and unavoidable. They are wrong. Most people think that they, particularly, are unable to pay off all their debts. They are wrong. Most people think it is normal or even good sense to be up to their ears in debt. They are wrong (and stupid!). The first step on the practical road to Beyond Wealth is to rid yourself of all consumer debts. And that means all. Then, you never, ever borrow any money again to spend on silly consumer trash and ‘lifestyle’. Unconvinced? Check out these astonishing figures.

An Example Five thousand pounds is not a lot of money, you will doubtless agree. Certainly you would be pleased to receive a cheque for this amount, but your euphoria would be short-lived. In the past, you have almost certainly spent £5000 in one or two hits. A second hand car, or a new washing machine plus a 3-piece suite would cost about this. And you have probably borrowed the money to do this, even if it was ‘on the card’. So ask yourself the following question: 132

“What would be the difference, (ignoring inflation), to your net wealth after ten and twenty years, between saving five thousand pounds, or borrowing five thousand pounds to spend on some junk you really 'need'?” Without working it out, have a quick guess. You can check this for yourself on the WealthPlanner CD. Use the spreadsheet BorrowSave.xls. If you do not have the CD it is just a simple interest calculation. Well, if you borrowed £5,000 at 9% APR, and didn't repay it, after ten years you would owe about £11,836.00. After twenty years you would owe £28,022.00! Scary but true. If you saved it at a mere 6%, and never drew out the interest, after ten years you would have £8,954.00. After twenty years you would have £16,035.00! The difference between these two figures represents the net change in your wealth. If you borrow £5000 and spend it, then after ten years you are £20,790.00 worse off than if you had saved £5000. After twenty years you are a whopping £44,057.00 worse off than if you had saved instead of spent it! Stated another way, if you saved it instead of borrowing it, you would be £44,057.00 better off after 20 years! Can you believe those figures? That five grand’s worth of junk is starting to look pretty expensive now, right? Okay, that is a bit artificial because in practice, inflation erodes your savings, and you normally pay off a loan at a certain rate. But the principle remains the same. The difference between saving money and spending money has a vast effect on the 'bottom line' after only a few short years. We could openly weep at the amount of junk we have bought over the last thirty years. This junk cost us hundreds of thousands of pounds each, and it is all on the scrap-heap. This is stuff we 'really needed’ at the time – you know, the latest HiFi, a new flat screen TV, a new car, an expensive holiday etc. etc. We are not saying you have to be like Scrooge and save every last penny. You should enjoy life whilst you can, and have fun. If a new car represents 1% of your disposable income, go for it! If it represents 100%, then forget it! We can tell you it is a really terrific feeling to wake up every morning knowing you do not owe a cent to anyone. It is truly liberating. Much more fun than owning all that junk. Anyway, when you are debt-free, you do not have to spend all that money servicing that horrible burden of debt. This makes you much richer and you can buy far more stuff than ever you could before – if that is the extent of your vision.

Not an Easy Road To become financially free and then wealthy is not a trivial matter. This is why only a small percentage of people achieve it. Neither is it impossible or even ridiculously difficult – that’s why millions have done it. We would call it ‘moderately difficult’. Attaining your financial freedom will probably take a few years depending on how much money you want. Some have done it in less, but very few. It takes this long to learn how to do it. This means that you must love whatever it is you are going to be doing to make this money. This cannot be a several year prison sentence. It just won't work.

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You cannot mortgage your present for some future benefit years down the line. You cannot do something you hate whilst persuading yourself that it will be worth it in a several years from now when you have the money. To make a few million you need absolute dedication to the task at hand. This means love for your work and belief in what you are doing. It means having a big enough ‘why’. If you can achieve this you will have an engaged and happy working life and make a lot of money. But it all starts with becoming debt-free. To do that, you are going to need to generate some anger about the pathetic situation you have allowed yourself to get into.

What is ‘Debt Free’? Here is what we mean by ‘getting out of debt’. And remember this is about consumer debt, so for the moment forget your mortgage (although that will need paying off too as soon as possible) and ignore any loans you have for investment purposes. The rest of your debt (bank loans, credit cards, loans from family and friends) is consumer debt and your aim should be to get entirely consumer debt-free. Being consumer debt-free is a vital step in the direction of gaining real wealth and personal freedom. When you are in debt, a certain proportion of your income (= your time = your freedom = your life) goes into servicing that debt because you always have to pay interest on any loan. When you start to look at big debts (like mortgages), then a great deal of your money (= time = effort) goes into servicing this debt. Eventually you should aim to get rid of your mortgage too – but only because servicing this debt makes you un-free. You have to work to make the money to pay this mortgage. You cannot be free when you are in debt because you have to work for a certain length of time each week to pay off the interest on the loans. In contrast, when you have money in the bank, every £1000 you have buys you roughly ten hours of precious life per year (assuming you get £100 interest per year, and you pay yourself £10 an hour). £10,000 in the bank buys you 100 hours per year (about two and a half working weeks) of freedom. £100,000 buys you a massive twenty-five working weeks a year of freedom. This is the way to look at it. The fact that you bought this book almost guarantees that you are in debt. If you have been in debt for quite a while you may be getting pretty fed-up with it. Maybe you feel depressed and even trapped? Sometimes you don't know which way to turn to make ends meet – to pay the next bill. It seems that just when you see light at the end of the tunnel, along comes another unexpected bill or expense to knock you back down to the start. It's a bit like snakes and ladders after a visit from a ladder thief! You also probably do not know exactly how much you owe (although you probably think you know). You almost certainly do not know how fast you are slipping into debt or how much you need to live on each month, and by how much your income falls short of this amount. 134

Very few people have the discipline to sit down for an hour and write out their outgoings (gas, electricity, mortgage, food, car, insurance, etc.) and compare it with their income Do not despair! You are no different from the seven million other people in this country who are seriously in debt. Can you pay off your debts right now? No. Are you slipping further and further into debt with each month that passes? Probably yes. Are you scared to look at the figures? Some people shove bills and final demands into dark cupboards hoping that the ‘invoice fairies’ will take them away in the dead of night! They dread the arrival of the postman in the morning, because he might bring another bill or final demand. Some people become so depressed by their debts that they go out and buy something expensive to cheer them up. On credit! When their credit cards reach their spending limit they accept a higher limit – and spend that. Then, when they have spent up to that limit, they take out a bank loan to pay off their card. Does that sound sensible? It might, except that they add another few thousand onto the loan in addition to the amount they need to pay off their other loans. They use this extra money to buy a few things they 'need'; you know, really essential stuff like a new Hi-fi and a leather sofa and a holiday. Stuff you cannot live without... Does that sound pretty dumb so far? You haven't heard anything yet!

It Gets Worse They then used the credit card (you know, the one they paid off with the loan) over the next year, until they are once again at the limit of their spending. So now they owe the card company exactly what they owed them a year before, plus a £5000 loan at some horrible rate of interest. Does this sound a bit like anyone you know? Meanwhile, a 'friend' advises them that they are crazy to pay the kind of interest charged by the credit cards and that the cheapest source of finance is another bank loan. So off they trot to the bank manager with some invented story about needing money for a new kitchen extension, or some such yarn. The bank lends them the money as they are ‘good’ customers with an excellent credit profile. After all, they had several credit cards and made regular large lump sum payments to clear the debts on them... The money is duly transferred to their current account. Now... what to spend it on? Well, they were not completely stupid (!) so they pay two main credit cards £2000 each; that does not leave enough to pay off the first bank loan, so they may as well spend it on some more goodies. So, over the next six months they spend the lot on various 'essential' bits and pieces. They justify this to themselves (as one does) with memes like this: “For God's sake man, you're going to be dead a long time. Enjoy life, now, whilst you have the chance.” Or a slight variation on the theme: 135

“If you can't even treat yourself to a (fill in some non-essential consumer trash) then what’s the point of working?” Or: “You work hard. It's about time you treated yourself to something which will give you pleasure. After all, what's it all about? You can't take it with you.” Does this sound a little bit like you? Here is how one person described it: “I became so thoroughly sick and tired of being in debt that I decided one morning to become completely and utterly debt-free. Does this sound crazy? To just wake up one morning and decide that you've had enough – that you've reached the end of the line, that you can only be pushed so far?” Are you angry for allowing yourself to become so bogged-down, so tied up in money worries that you can't move. You need to become really angry. Angry that you have not really enjoyed life (despite buying lots of expensive toys) for years. And angry that you have been so conned by the 'system' that you believe that this is normal, even okay. All of this is being mentioned just in case it sounds even a teensy-weensy bit like...YOU. If so, you need to blast your way completely out of debt (it is not easy) until you became entirely free from debt and do not owe a penny to anyone. Then you must vow to never owe anyone money, ever again (apart from investment debt). Here is the ‘top secret’ (!) method... STOP SPENDING! EARN MORE! You will need three weapons in your arsenal to achieve this. And you will need only these weapons to get out of debt (and into wealth). They are: 1. KNOWLEDGE 2. ANGER 3. GRIM DETERMINATION The first weapon 'knowledge' you are getting in this book. All you have to do is to read and follow the advice and act upon it. The other two essential weapons, anger and grim determination, are non-transferable directly from us to you, although we hope that we can stimulate them a little.

Getting Angry If you want to be free from your debts, and get wealthy, you have to get angry. You have to be thoroughly fed-up with waking up every morning with that depressed, sinking feeling. You must be sick of dreading the arrival of the morning post. You must be hopping mad that you never have enough money, even for the essentials of life, let alone the luxuries. And whilst we are working ourselves up into a lather, here are some more things to be angry about: ¾ Being stuck in a boring, lousy job which you hate because you need the money to pay your debts, and you are too scared to change in case anything goes wrong and you end up in more debt. ¾ Shuffling bills around until you find one small enough that you can actually pay! 136

¾ Hiding bills in dark cupboards and hoping they will go away. ¾ Having to live on charity and state handouts. ¾ Borrowing money from friends. ¾ Feeling completely out of control of your own finances. Basically, not even knowing how much you owe. ¾ Knowing you are sinking, but not knowing how fast. ¾ Being jealous and resentful of other people who seem to be surviving without all this stress. ¾ Trying to get a job (or better job) and failing. ¾ And most of all, feeling angry at yourself for allowing yourself to get into this mess – because that's what it is, a total, self-imposed mess. Feeling a bit angry yet? Hopefully yes. You will need lots of anger to get yourself out of debt and into wealth. You have to start thinking something like: “Right. This is it. I've just about had enough of this stupid, pathetic way of going on. Things are going to change – starting right now!” If you do not feel angry enough, then you probably will not succeed in becoming debtfree, or wealthy for that matter. Why is this? Because if you are not angry then it isn't hurting enough yet. You have got a few debts, yes. Sure, you would like a bit more money, but you have a mild, wishy-washy approach to this situation, and you do not really care that much if the situation changes. Perhaps you have a vague, wistful, half-hearted desire to see your debts paid off, but they are not really hurting you. Perhaps you think it would be 'nice' to be debt free, or 'nice' to have more money, but you cannot really be bothered to take the decisions required to bring this goal to fruition. This is a truly hopeless stance. It has got to hurt before you get angry.

Alcoholism There is a close parallel to alcoholism here. No amount of counselling, knowledge or advice will convince the alcoholic to give up drinking until he or she reaches their own, private 'rock-bottom', and they think to themselves: “Thus far, and no further”. At this point, some of them truly start their fight with grim determination. It is exactly the same with debt. You cannot blast your way out of debt with a wishywashy, half-hearted attitude. It is a bit like trying to knock down a double brick wall by limply throwing the odd wet sponge at it now and then. At best you will succeed in paying a few old bills in a fit of enthusiasm (like giving up drink for a day or a week) before lapsing back into your old spending habits once the enthusiasm has worn off. After all, it is no fun paying bills – in fact it sucks. You have to be so totally disgusted with the way you have been carrying on, that you become determined to fix this problem now, once and for all. 137

What are the penalties if the alcoholic never finds what it takes to beat their problem? Simple. They spiral downwards, relentlessly, until they die – usually early. And they do die, in their tens of thousands. Why? Because, ultimately: There is no 'safety net' in life It is down to the alcoholic to want to change, and many of them do not want to change. It is a well recognised fact that many alcoholics are actually attempting to commit suicide the slow way, and you cannot really stop someone from committing suicide if they are determined. Depressing, yes, but this is important stuff and relates exactly to your own debt problem, or lack of wealth. It is a vital part of your wealth training. Now then, what is the penalty for not sorting out a debt problem? Well, eventually, you spiral down and down until you hit rock-bottom. A bare existence, living on minimum state benefit, unable to feed and clothe yourself and your children; no self-respect; without power, miserable, unhappy and trapped. Some people reading this might actually be close to this position right now. Others will be closing in on it, and yet others will be spiralling slowly downwards.

Self Respect It is all about self-respect really. People only get angry with themselves when they look at their own lives and find that the way they are living does not meet their own standards of self-respect and decency. If you are happy, or even neutral about living in a two-room, high-rise flat with five children and never having any money, then you do not have a problem. But if this conflicts with your own standards (not somebody else's), then you should start to feel angry about it. It is true to say that the alcoholic follows the same path. He or she will drink quite happily, if a little guiltily, over many years until things start to happen which conflict with their own self respect. For example, they might be unable to remember what happened the previous night, or be too drunk during the day to cope with their normal life. Then, when they sober-up, they start to worry about this temporary dip below their normal standards. If this happens often enough, then hopefully they will start to fight. You too must stand up and fight. But mere words on paper cannot pull you to your feet and get you punching if you are not ready to climb into the ring. If you cannot fight at this stage of your life, then remember what you have read in these pages. There may come a time in a few months or years when things do get bad enough, and you want 'out'.

The Debt Declaration Your fight starts with completing the task below, but only if you truly believe it. If you cannot honestly sign the declaration, then you are not yet ready to be debt-free (unless, of course, you are already debt-free). Signing this declaration is an acknowledgement to yourself that you 'have a problem', but also that you are ready to do something about it. Photocopy it and sign the copy.

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DECLARATION Yes, I am angry. I am totally fed-up with this stupid, pathetic mess I have got myself into. I am furious that I could allow myself to get into this state. Well, I have had enough. My sworn mission is to clear all of my debts as soon as possible, and then live debt-free for the rest of my life. SIGNED..................................................................... Do not sign this declaration unless you truly believe it.

The Great Credit Card Scam That is just step one. Words are cheap. Are you a man or woman of action or are you all talk? Here is your first action task:

Destroy Your Credit Cards......NOW! Oh how simple this task is to write down – but how hard it is to put into practice. You could complete this task in the next minute, and then sail through the rest of this chapter – but we bet you won’t. If this section applies to you, it will take all our powers of persuasion to get you through this step. If you do not have any credit cards (Visa, Electron, Amex, Mastercard, store cards, etc.) then you can move right past this section because you have passed this level. However, if this does not apply to you then reread the instruction in bold typeface above. What does it say? It says: “Destroy your credit cards....NOW!” There can be no 'ifs' or 'buts' to this step; it is quite simple. All you do is go to your wallet or purse right now, and remove your credit cards – all of them. Then you take a pair of scissors and you cut them in half, one by one. There are no excuses for not doing this right now. This will not stop you making excuses about why you think this instruction doesn't apply to you, but nevertheless it does apply to you, and you cannot pass beyond this stage until you have carried out this instruction. Why is it so essential to take this drastic step?

Reason #1 The first reason is that credit cards let you spend money you do not have. Money you have not earned. Money which is not yours. Money you do not ‘deserve’. Is that clear? Here it is again in case you missed the point... You do not have the money indicated by your 'spending limit' (e.g. £3000); it belongs to someone else. It belongs to the bank’s customers. It has been deposited there by someone 139

else. It is someone else's money, not yours. You did not earn it or pay the price to get it. Only this allows you the right to spend money. You have no right to spend money owned by someone else. You can invest money owned by someone else of course. In this instance they have temporarily given you stewardship of it. You will make it grow for them and for you before returning the sum in full plus interest. Consumer spending is different. Remember the greedy child who cannot keep his hands out of the sweetie jar? This is what you are doing when you spend someone else’s money on consumables. The banks let you spend this money so that they can charge you a truly extortionate rate of interest on the loan. They do this so that they can make lots and lots of money out of your childish greed. Yes, childish greed. Like a child who cannot stop eating sweets, you are not satisfied with having spent all of your own money. Your eyes are big and wide. You are gazing hungrily at other people’s money and thinking how you can have that, too. This is not said to be rude or offensive. It is said because the only way out of debt is if you get angry enough to make it happen. The hard truth is that you will pay any price for your greed. You will pay extortionate interest rates, you will mortgage yourself for years – just as long as you can satisfy your greed right now. Is this not the truth? Credit card companies really hate people who pay off their bill, in full, every month. They get truly annoyed with this because they only make lots of money from the people who do not pay off their bills each month. These are the people who get stung for massive interest payments. Make no mistake about this. The credit card companies (= the banks), make hundreds of millions of pounds from consumer debt each year by borrowing money from one group of disciplined people (e.g. those with deposit accounts, or other savings for example), and then lending it out to another group of greedy children at a vastly higher rate of interest. They also charge the stores a stinging 2% or so on every transaction you make using your card. The suckers then rush out and spend the money on a heap of consumer trash which they consider absolutely essential - electrical goods, holidays, new furniture, ‘designer’ clothes and silly baubles and trinkets to amuse their childish minds with. Then they spend the next several years struggling to pay back the credit card company.

Reason #2 Spending money on credit cards does not seem like spending 'real' money. This encourages you to go out and buy things you would not normally buy if you had to hand over a large bundle of £50 notes for the same item. You know this is true, don't you? If you own a credit card, you know that it is the easiest thing in the world to be tempted by some major purchase, and go for it on the spur of the moment – whipping out your plastic with an impressive flourish. It is called 'instant gratification of desires' by the marketing 140

people who know exactly what they are doing. Unfortunately, the gratification soon wears off, but the debt lingers on... The Thralls want the approval of other Thralls. They even want the approval of total strangers like waiters and store assistants. They want to buy a lot of expensive things and then produce their credit card with a flourish. The card becomes a symbol of their purchasing power, their strength, and (for men) their virility. It is truly pitiful really, isn't it?

Reason #3 It costs you much, much more to buy with plastic, unless, of course, you pay off your card in full each month. If you do this, congratulations, but you are still highly susceptible to expensive impulse purchases. Why does it cost you more? Because you are not spending your own money – you are spending someone else's. They charge you for this privilege – about 1.5% a month (= 18% a year!). Obviously interest rates vary, but the cards charge you roughly double the amount you would pay if you borrowed money on a bank loan – and that is expensive enough. No wonder they love people who buy with plastic and then only make the minimum (broke person’s) payment. As mentioned earlier, the credit card companies actually charge the shop too – so they get their cut at both ends. The shop pays about 2% of the purchase price of the item. So on a £400 item, the credit card company get about £8 from the shop. This forces up prices, of course. We all pay more.

Reason #4 If you were given the money – you would spend it. This is just human nature. If you had a windfall of £10,000, within a very short time indeed you would have dreamed-up how to spend every last penny of this money – on stuff you 'need'. Same with £50,000.00? Almost certainly. And probably the same with £500,000.00. After six months, that £10k or £50k would all be gone. Well the same thing is happening with your credit cards. Your 'credit limit' is money which has been earmarked by the bank for you to spend. They want you to spend it, because they are little more than outwardly respectable loan-sharks. Who amongst us can resist the temptation to spend money which has been placed at our disposal like this? Suddenly you realise that you 'need' all sorts of things, and so you start buying. You could easily write down a list of things you ‘need’ right now. The kitchen is looking a bit tired. The car needs updating. The furniture and carpets could do with an overhaul. Your wardrobe is looking dowdy and so ‘yesterday’… Then there is a ‘well deserved’ holiday, some new curtains, a new television and stereo, a better computer… Pretty soon you are up to your credit limit, so what do the credit card companies do? Write and point out that you have probably spent enough money now and that you should be concentrating on paying off your huge loan? 141

No! They write and ask you if you would like to borrow more money. They recognise a greedy and ill disciplined child when they see one and rub their hands with glee.

Excuses For Not Cutting up Your Credit Cards – Now! Everyone thinks they are a 'special case'. You, uniquely, out of the entire population of the country – you need your credit cards and could not possibly destroy them. Sure, you see the sense of this chapter – but it does not apply to you. Here are the most common excuses, for your amusement: “Surely if I pay my card off every month, in full, then I am effectively getting 'free credit' for a month. I'd be crazy not to make use of this free credit.” This is correct. But hardly anyone genuinely, unfailingly pays off their cards each month. The people who do are ultra-cautious, highly stable, sober and serious citizens without a single debt to their names – a rare breed. The vast majority of ordinary mortals do not have the discipline to do this. And anyway, you are still left with the temptation of buying something on impulse just because you have your card with you. Needless to say, the people who pay off their cards each month, never act on impulse! “My credit card helps me to spread the cost of major purchases over several months. Surely this makes sense, even if I am paying some interest?” That sounds a bit like a credit card advert, doesn't it? The thinking behind this logic is totally wrong – but typical Thrall-think! If you possess the money to pay for this 'essential' purchase outright, then you should be doing just that – buying it outright. Why pay interest? If you do not possess the money for this major purchase, then you should not buy it. This applies to everyone, but particularly to those people who are in debt already. You are just being an impatient kid who wants what they cannot afford or wants goodies they have not earned. They cannot wait. They stamp their feet impatiently. They want it NOW! And still you are left with the temptation to use that card for nonessential, impulse purchases. (We live in the age of the £500 impulse purchase.) “My credit cards are a lifeline. Some weeks when money has run out, they are the only source of funds at my disposal.” This is a really dangerous game, and absolutely typical of the 'loan mentality'. Effectively, you are saying that every month, you are forced to borrow money from a loan-shark, at extortionate rates of interest, to meet normal household bills, because your usual source of money (salary, etc.) has been spent. This means that you are on a steep slope towards heavy debt. You, of all people, need to destroy those cards right now. Then you would be forced to sort out your finances. Please do not say that: “It’s all right for you to talk, I cannot sort out my finances.” Listen. Every person on the planet has to sort out their finances. It is a basic adult skill to learn not to spend more than you earn. It goes along with learning to drive, having decent table manners and being able to talk to strangers.

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Admission of failure in this department makes you child-like. Get to it right away and stop complaining! “I take your point, but I really need credit-cards for flexibility such as buying petrol, and entertaining clients.” Wrong! The only time where not having a credit card can be a nuisance is when you are trying to hire a car or maybe buy an airline ticket. If you regularly hire cars, then make an arrangement with your local hire company to open an account. Not being instantly able to hire cars is a small price to pay for being credit-card free. And of course it is possible to hire a car and buy a plane ticket without a credit card, it is just a little harder (you may have to take your passport and leave a cash deposit for the car and buy the ticket in advance using a cheque of bank transfer.) Buy everything else with cash for preference, followed by cheque as the next best. If you buy lots of petrol as part of company business, then get them to issue you with a company credit card just for petrol. This is okay because they have to pay it off, not you; and you cannot buy anything other than legitimate company purchases on it without getting fired. Also a side bonus is you cannot be tracked, monitored and spied upon when you pay cash. You have nothing to hide of course, but each time you use your credit card, your purchase is logged. Few realise that the government can now build a profile on every citizen created solely from their travel movements, spending habits, etc. Credit cards are the single biggest source of temptation for you to overspend – and of course, overspending is the only reason why anyone is in debt. They have spent more than they have earned. You must destroy those cards right now if you want to become debt-free. It is an amazingly liberating experience to cut all your cards up. Go on, try it! You will feel great.

Cut Up Your Store Discount Cards Too! You may wonder why we suggest getting rid of discount cards? These are the cards which allow you to save (say) 10% on everything you buy in a particular store. They sometimes charge an annual fee of about £25. They are not credit cards, and obviously you will expect to save at least £25 in a year, otherwise you would not sign up for one. These cards are dangerous (although not in the same league as normal credit cards) because they encourage impulse purchases. When shopping at that store, it is very easy to buy something you did not intend to buy, just because you are getting 10% off. It is such a bargain! Not surprisingly, this is exactly why the stores issue such cards. Owning one of these cards is almost a guarantee that you will either: a)

Forget all about it, and so have handed them £25 for a piece of useless plastic.

b) Spend far, far more than you would have in that store, just because you are getting 10% off! There is only one excuse for having a card like this, and that is if you are 'in the trade'. For example, if you are a plumber or a builder who goes to a builder’s merchant almost every day, then it makes great sense to have a card. If this is not you – forget it! So now, we come to the crunch. This step is really quite simple. Just go and get those cards, right now, and snip them in half. You will destroy a major 'money sink' in your life, 143

you will also destroy a bit of your ego, no doubt. Note, you should not destroy your ATM cards, ‘debit’ cards or 'cheque guarantee cards'!

Have You Got What it Takes? Maybe you have fooled yourself by thinking that you do not have to destroy your credit cards – oh no, that is a bit drastic. After all, it might be handy to have them ‘one day’. What you will do is just cut back a bit and that will do the trick. Forget it! You are self-deluded – and delusion is the key component of debt misery. You fool yourself that you really ‘need’ all the goods and services you buy which gets you into debt in the first place. You trick yourself into believing that you can afford it by not sitting down and seriously looking at your income and outgoings but instead doing a ‘quick and dirty’ calculation in your head. In this way, the same money gets spent two or three times. Result? Disaster. You delude yourself that you will ‘cut back’ on your spending like overweight people delude themselves they will go on a diet, or alcoholics delude themselves that they will drink less. You really cannot progress past this point if you are in debt but still have a wallet-full of credit cards. All you can do is read and pretend. What do we mean by that? You become one of those people who buy self-help books and courses because it makes you feel that you are doing something when all you are doing is reading and perhaps talking about getting debt-free and wealthy. It is a kind of armchair hobby for you and you have not the slightest intention of actually doing anything to improve your financial status.

It’s All About Action The purpose of any self-help book (like this one) is to propel you into taking firm, decisive ACTION, not to sit around reading it for light relief. People do not like this very ‘in your face’ approach to debt. They are used to being tiptoed around. What they want is messages like “You’re in debt – but it’s not your fault.” Or even worse they want mysto-quickfix answers such as:

Attract Wealth to You Like a Magnet! Tap in to the Awesome Wealth-Creation Power of the Universe! Live an Effort-Free Life! The Zero Effort Money Flow System! The Lazy Man’s Way to Riches! Why do you think this stuff sells so well? It is what people want to hear. The ‘safe and simple’ messages which lull them more deeply asleep and lock them tighter into Wonderland. The publishers are delighted to oblige of course – it is a hugely profitable industry. 144

This book cannot drag you from your ringside seat and get you out there punching if all the fight has gone out of you. If you are a limp, deflated and defeated shell of your former self, all you can do is throw in the towel and maybe let someone else take care of you. It is comforting at least. But if you have a spark left in you – a little fight in the old dog yet – then you need to get out there and punching. Is it easy? Of course not! ‘Easy’ is what the Thralls want. Is it quick? No. You took years of mismanagement and carelessness to get yourself into the sorry state you are in now. It is going to take time to get out. Is it fun? Not really. Who likes paying down debt? It is about self-respect. Either you want it badly – or your self-respect vanished years ago and you have no intention of hunting it down. Please know that where you are right now is your choice. You got yourself there, you can get yourself out. But only if you want to. Yes you have been a Thrall, controlled by your programming, but you do not have to remain one. So that is the message on debt. There are two components to becoming financially free. Getting out of debt (because debt equals slavery) and then making a lot of money. The correct order is: 1. 2.

Get out of debt. Make a lot of money.

Many delude themselves that to get out of debt they must first make a lot of money. Or putting this another way, they say something like: “When I make a lot of money, then I’ll be able to pay off my debts and live on easy street.” Although this is true for some, it is not true for most, and maybe you find that surprising. Here is why... Getting out of debt is a discipline. It takes quite a lot of energy, discipline and focus – qualities which are almost totally absent in the Thralls (which is why they are in debt in the first place of course!). It is a tough call, this ‘getting out of debt’ business. You have to face yourself square-on. You have to sit down with the figures. You have to come up with a plan and stick by it through thick and thin. You need will-power. All of which is superb training for – you’ve guessed it – starting an ultra profitable business which will make you millions. Hopefully you can see the truth of this. But if someone is in debt and they believe their escape route is to make a lot of money, this will rarely work out for them because the same ill-discipline which got them into debt in the first place is carried over to their money-making efforts with disastrous results. So they may attempt to start a business, but they will lack the discipline to get out of bed in the morning and do what needs doing. They will lack the focus to keep an eye on the figures and make sure they are profitable. They will lack the self control to not dip into the meagre profits to buy a flashy car or expansive toy. Most times they will not even get that far. They will dream and chatter and chatter and dream about this or that scheme they are going to run which will be the ‘big one’. 145

That is why ‘business opportunities’ sell so well. Most of the buyers are (let us be honest) lazy dreamers drifting from one scheme or idea to another but utterly lacking the discipline to make anything happen. So being in debt is actually good in one respect. If you can learn and hone the skills required to get out of debt, this will make you a ‘lean and mean fighting machine’ when it comes to running you own business. And running a business is what is going to give you your best shot at a fortune.

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Lesson Seven: Start Saving Regular saving and investments are excellent ways to gradually build a secure future. Maybe even more importantly they are a sign of discipline and belief in yourself. You can even become fairly wealthy doing this, if you start young enough. But the best and fastest way to get rich is to invest in yourself – that is, your own business. This should be done alongside your regular savings and investment program. Let us look at a few figures (we will assume throughout that inflation is 3% over the period – it is the comparison of the figures which is important). Supposing you save £200 a month at say 7.5% annual interest. After 10, 20 and 30 years, this will be worth £30k, £78k and £155k in real terms. In other words, modest inflation has been taken into consideration. Now if you invest the same amount in the stock market, you can expect to get about 10% year in, year out on your money (amazingly this even includes ‘crashes’ unless they are serious. It certainly includes sharp downward corrections). This does not seem spectacular, but few amateurs can do better than this, and most professionals would be pleased to achieve this year on year. Now here is the important point. Those few extra percent make a big difference to your future wealth. Here are the figures for 10% growth over 10, 20 and 30 years with inflation factored in already: 10 yrs – £35k 20 yrs – £105k 30 yrs – £242k That is a significant difference. If you do a little better than average on your investments and make 12.5% year on year, then the figures increase dramatically again: 10 yrs – £40k 20 yrs – £142k 30 yrs – £393k Here is the key ‘take home’ on this: by investing a mere £200 a month, year on year in the stock market, you can retire after 30 years with something between £242,000 and £393,000 in today's money unless you get really unlucky and a mega crash happens the very moment you want to sell your shares. The actual figure you retire with is much larger than this, but as mentioned, we have accounted for modest inflation so that you can see what the money will really be worth. Savings rates go up and down of course as does inflation. At the time of writing they are both very low, but this does not matter. It is the habit of saving which is so vitally important. It sends a signal to your subconscious that you are investing in yourself and your future. Spending everything now sends a signal that you do not care about the future and you are just living for today.

Comparison With Running Your Own Business Now here are the really exciting figures. When you run your own business, as an absolute minimum you would expect to make 20% return on capital, year on year. It is not really worth being in business if you cannot achieve this. 147

So let us take a look at how the figures stack up if you run a business: 10 yrs – £62k 20 yrs – £365k 30 yrs – £1.8million By the way, that is for investing just £200 a month in a business which is a pitifully small amount. Most businesses do not work like that. You invest a lump sum (say £20,000) and then get that capital working for you. If you were to invest £20k and make a smallish 20% return on your investment, year on year, you would make: 10 yrs – £123k, 20 yrs – £766k, 30 yrs – £4.7 million! And 20% would be not an exciting return. Obviously we have not taken taxation into account. So perhaps the most interesting comparison is between putting £200 a month into a savings account, and £200 a month in your own business. After 30 years, the savings account yields £153k and a successful business yields £1.8 million! We cannot imagine which it would be best to do... Of course, £1.8 million after thirty years is not exciting (it is only £60k a year). But the above was not a real business. It was a ‘pocket change’ business for illustration purposes only. The Author made three million in 2-3 years from just one of his businesses. Others have similar experiences.

Risk/Reward There is obviously a risk/reward factor here. You are fairly safe with the savings account, somewhat less safe with the stock market and banks (as 2008 showed us!) and you have the potential to lose the lot if your business fails. So, in reality, you should do all of these things: save regularly in a high interest account; save regularly in a stock-market vehicle, and invest some 'risk money' in your own business venture. This latter project is what will bring the big rewards if you are successful and is essential if you want to make a million or more. Obviously it is up to you to decide how much you can afford for each. Here are those figures for comparison based on 3% inflation and investing £200 a month: 10 yrs 20 yrs 30 yrs Savings Acct (7.5%)

£30k £78k £153k

Stockmarket (10%)

£35k

Lucky stocks (12.5%)

£40K £142k £393k

Yourself LTD (20%)

£62k

£105k £242k £365k £1.8million

Saving For a Better Tomorrow The task for this chapter involves getting you into the savings habit with the added sideeffect of getting you out of your lobotomised Thrall spending habits. Yes it may not be 148

easy to get a high return on your savings at the time you are reading this, but that is not the point of the exercise. If you already have one or more savings accounts, into which you deposit money regularly (no matter how small the amounts), then you can consider yourself to have completed this task already. Well done! However, if this isn’t you..... This task involves going out today, now (or at the first available opportunity) and opening a savings account. It does not matter how much money you put in it but make it £100 minimum. It doesn’t matter if you think you haven’t got £100 to spare. It doesn’t matter how you do it, just go and open that account, today if possible. There are lots of accounts to choose from. Do a bit of research first. The object is to save money and allow interest to accumulate, not to use a savings account as an extremely temporary deposit for money until you think up something to spend it on!

Real –v– Pretend Savings Accounts  Why is it important to have a real savings account, rather than a pretend one? Because the Thralls use 'pretend savings accounts’ as follows: 1. They are spending more than they earn but are unable or unwilling to address this, their real problem. So they open a 'savings' account which gives them ‘instant access’ to their money. 2. They do this so that they can pretend to themselves that they are saving money on a regular basis. 3. They then proceed to use this account like a child would use a pocket-money savings scheme. In other words they indulge themselves in a long string of trivial deposits and withdrawals. Typically £50 in, £40 out; then £75 in £80 out; then £10 in £11 out etc. Stand behind anyone using an ATM machine and notice how trivial the withdrawals often are – £10 or £20. After a year or so of this, they let the account lapse with a sum of £1.97p still remaining! They behave like this because they are little more than children who are totally incapable of having any money without dreaming-up something to spend it on. And that comes from allowing themselves to be endlessly indoctrinated by the adverts aimed at controlling the compliant Thralls. At this advanced stage of your training you must realise that such behaviour is totally beneath your contempt, and certainly you will not indulge in it yourself.

Why Save? There are two reasons for having a savings account. The first is to break you out of the spending habit where every penny you earn must be spent on something you ‘need’. The second is to allow you to accumulate money, such that the exponential effect of interest earned will eventually significantly multiply your money. Also, having a sensible savings account is a buffer against disaster and makes you feel more substantial. But be hyper vigilant, particularly around your life partner who may nag you to spend it as soon as you have a few hundred.

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This is just a minor part of your wealth journey. It is hard to become a wealthy man or woman merely by saving – but you will be amazed how much difference it makes! In a curious kind of way, the savings habit can almost double its effect. If you spend £1,000 on consumables and you borrow the money to do it, then within five years you are maybe £1700.00 in the red. But if you save the same money then after five years you are maybe £1500.00 in the black. The difference between these positions is significant. In fact let us take a brief look: Action

After 5 Years You Will Have

Do nothing and start with £0

£0

Borrow £10,000 for junk

-£17,000.00 + some old junk

Do nothing with £10,000 you have

£10,000.00 (no change)

Spend £10,000 that you have

£0 + some old junk

Invest £10,000 that you have

+£15000.00

Once again note the huge difference after five years between borrowing £10,000 for junk and saving the same amount. It is £32,000! So go out and make a start by opening this account. You should make a solemn vow to yourself that no matter what happens, no matter what 'emergencies' occur, no matter what 'essential' purchases arise, you will not touch this money in under five years. Set up a standing order to pay a regular sum each month into it. Avoid ‘instant access’ accounts for obvious reasons. Do not worry if things like savings account seem part of Wonderland. They are, of course. In fact, you need to be clear here. Everything around you – the entire society you inhabit – comprises Wonderland. 99.99% of the people you meet are in Wonderland. When you drive a car down a street you are trapped in Wonderland. When you use a bank, you are using part of Wonderland. This book was printed by a printing company trading in Wonderland. You paid for it with Wonderland money, through the medium of a Wonderland institution. None of that matters. To escape from Wonderland we need to wake ourselves up as far as we are able, then we can float above its outer form. If you do not think you can complete this relatively simple task of opening an account, then Beyond Wealth is not really for you because you are not a serious person – you are an armchair dreamer.

Privacy Now, a word of caution. Do not tell anyone about your special account, even (or particularly!) your spouse or life-partner. The more people who know about your secret stash of money, the more people will be able to dream-up ways in which you (or rather ‘they’) should use that money. Every time a minor financial crisis occurs, they will be saying to you: “Oh, but what about that money you have in that account? We really ought to use it at this stage, after all, that is what savings are for – a rainy day. Hey look! It’s raining!” If you do not believe this, find out the hard way. 150

Everyone has the absolute right to privacy in their financial affairs – and that means you. It is a good idea to learn to be fairly tight-lipped about your finances. There is a very good reason for this. The more people who know how much money you have, the more people will come and try to take it away from you! You will not regret acting in this manner, but you will almost certainly regret it if you do the opposite. You do not need millions in a Swiss account for this to apply to you. The principle applies equally, or possibly more, to an account with a few thousand pounds in it. Many people feel threatened by you if you have money. This is the motivation behind them getting you to spend it. If your spouse finds out about your secret account which might have as little as £1,500 in it, they may feel threatened and jealous. They may wonder what you are 'up to'. They may demand answers. They may wonder what other money you have which you are hiding from them. You should avoid this scenario! Remember, we are talking here about your financial freedom, about your wealth and your power. So start your 'secret' savings account, and put whatever you can afford into it. This might be as little as £50 a month, if that is all you can manage. You should choose an account which makes it difficult for you to withdraw your money. If you have to give (say) two weeks’ notice of withdrawal and suffer an interest penalty, you will think two or three times about dipping into the money in order to buy more rubbish which you do not really need. After opening this account, you should deposit as much money as you can, every week or every month. Ideally this should be money that you would normally have spent on more consumer junk. Small amounts (£20 and above) are fine. You will be absolutely amazed at how quickly this money builds up. Very soon you will have an account with hundreds of pounds, then thousands. You might find this hard to believe, but it is true.

A Word on Being Maxed-Out Many people come across an idea for a neat little business they would like to start but… they need a few hundred or a couple of thousand to get going. Almost every business needs a few hundred at least (and usually a few thousand), when you are starting it. Just to get yourself some headed notepaper and some business cards will cost something. Even a window-cleaning round requires you to get insurance, a bike, some ladders, a bucket, a squeegee and so on. You get the idea. The point is this. Countless numbers of such people have, quite literally, no spare money whatsoever. They couldn’t raise £300 if their lives depended upon it. They see the potential of the business, they want to start the business, but they are totally tapped-out. They are maxedout on every credit card they own; they have a maximum bank overdraft; they have borrowed up to the very last penny on their house (usually to ‘consolidate’ loans they have

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previously taken to buy more junk); their monthly outgoings exceed their income by a considerable margin. All this means that when opportunity comes a-knocking at their door, they have to slam it shut – they have no options; they are maxed-out with no place to go. And what have they spent it all on? Well we have covered this several times already. It is the usual ego-driven status consumer junk. Their houses are usually stuffed full of the latest rubbish. Ten years from now, none of their possessions will fetch more than a few pounds at a garage sale. When you ask them if they have £500 to invest in a business which could make them wealthy and free them forever, they look doe-eyed and helpless. They have spent the lot. They have to walk away from a fantastic opportunity. Do not let this be you. Your savings account is for one thing only – your financial freedom. It is not, repeat NOT for spending on consumer garbage created to titillate and hypnotise the Thralls. I hope the point has been made loud and clear.

Other Vices Finally, if you smoke and/or drink take out your WealthPlanner CD and fire-up the spreadsheet called smokedrink.xls. Type in the number of cigarettes you smoke and the amount you drink – then weep! In case you do not have access to this spreadsheet, here are some highlights. If you smoke 15 cigarettes a day and drink a modest 20 units of alcohol per week (about 10 pints or ten large glasses of wine each week) then if you saved the money at 6% instead of spending it, you would have £64,000 after ten years; £159,000 after twenty years; £306,000 after thirty years and £550,000 (i.e. half a million) after forty years! Thirty years may seem a long time, but it is only age 16 – 46! Forty years is age 16 – 56, still ten years off retirement age and with half a million in the bank! Hopefully this chapter has really made you think about saving and the sort of thing you squander your money on at present.

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Lesson Eight: Stop Spending! The two keys to getting out of debt are to stop spending and earn more. In a recent episode of a radio programme on personal finance, people were phoning in to ask for help with their credit card debts. It was a real eye-opener. One man had run up £37,000 on credit cards and another had £46,000! Totally extraordinary. Several were looking for ways to run out on their responsibilities for paying their debts. They were investigating voluntary arrangements, bankruptcy, tiny errors in the issuing bank’s contract and so on. Let us be perfectly clear here: 1.

They had spent every single penny they earned and had been entirely unable to create a surplus to put by for a rainy day.

2.

Having spent every penny of their salary, their greed was still not sated. There was a lot more consumer junk they just had to buy. So… they borrowed the surplus of other people – and spent all this too.

3.

Finally, they wanted to walk away from their debts so that they did not have to repay that surplus created by others and loaned to them in good faith and trust that they would repay it. Effectively they were looking for ways to steal it.

What a life! What a way to be! Hopefully you are not like this – a spoiled, greedy little child who cannot keep their hand out of the sweetie jar. Someone who eats all of their own sweets, then ‘borrows’ sweets from other children and gobbles those down too. Then whinges and whines that they ‘cannot repay the debt’ and begs to be ‘let off’ – so that they can do it all over again. What a miserable excuse for a Thrall! Is getting out of debt rocket science? No. If you are up to your ears in debt, this is the thing which is destroying your life. It is like a cancer – a disease. It eats away at your wellbeing. Each day brings more fear – fear of another bill you cannot pay, fear of foreclosure, maybe even losing your home. Yes the lenders are also to blame as they make it very tempting for people to borrow more money. Really, they make this ridiculously easy for us. Each day another mailing lands on your mat offering you thousands of pounds in loans. And it is blatant. Years ago you would never get a loan offer which suggested you spend it on a car or holiday; these days they accompany the offer with glossy pictures of people lying on beaches! They have headlines like: “Have that holiday you deserve.” Deserve? You deserve an exotic holiday when you have created the cash to fund it, and not a moment sooner. It is truly scary to know that this sounds almost old-fashioned! It is also frighteningly easy to release equity from your house these days – and many people are doing it, leaving them mortgaged up to the hilt and paying a huge amount each month. When interest rates rise (as they will) these people are going to be in serious trouble. Their £600 a month mortgage repayment could suddenly go to £700, £900 or more leaving them unable to pay and facing repossession. This would not matter so much if they were releasing equity to get into a business, or buy an investment property, or whatever. But this is not what people are re-mortgaging their 153

homes for. They are borrowing tens of thousands and putting their financial futures on the line for cars, holidays, clothes and sofas. If you doubt any of this, watch some daytime television. It is wall-to-wall loan adverts, all with ‘aspirational’ selling pitches – cars, holidays, boats, clothes, trinkets, watches etc. Why are these adverts on during the day? Think about it! Who is at home during the day watching television? The out-of-work, the broke, the unemployed. They watch these adverts and then they want the stuff that is being pitched to them. More importantly, they want it with no effort on their part. They want the money which others have created and they want to spend that money. Do you get that? Have you heard it explained that way before? Also check out any cheap, tabloid newspaper and look in the back. Apart from the endless pages of mobile phone adverts, the other sort of advert which dominates is adverts for loans. Those, and the ‘clear your debts’; ‘remove County Court Judgements’; ‘erase your bad credit’ adverts which want even more of your money for their dubious services.

Pure Greed Here is the big reason why people are re-mortgaging their homes. You see, what they have done is spent, spent, spent on all the usual things. They are maxed-out on about 5 credit cards; they have taken the maximum bank overdraft; their greed has also usually made them borrow from family and friends. And now they are totally bankrupt. Their debtservice amount is over a thousand per month and that is before food, gas, electricity etc! There is just no way they can pay this and they are going down fast. So… they have a ‘bright’ idea! Borrow loads and loads of money against the house; pay off all their debts, and (of course) “Have a nice little bit left over for that new kitchen we’ve always wanted and a holiday for us and the kiddies.” Sound familiar? So they have their nice little holiday, get a new kitchen and they get a tacky new sofa and they pay off all their debts. But… the greed kicks-in soon afterwards and they start to spend on their credit cards again, only this time they have larger credit limits because they have been ‘good customers’ in the past and paid off large amounts of money. So they spend, spend, spend again. Within a year they are maxed-out once more, only this time they also have a thumping mortgage and no equity left in their property. And millions of people are in exactly this situation. It all comes from wanting it now, not later, and wanting it with no effort, preferably with other people’s money, which they often do not pay back. What a life! Yes, the banks and loan companies push this cash in our faces, but… you know what? You are an adult not a child. If a weird looking stranger offers you a packet of sweeties and a ride in his car, you don’t have to take it. You have autonomy and choice. You are not a slave to any advert which tries to trap you into debt (there is big money in lending money – it has been going on for thousands of years). If you can say no to drugs, you can say no to debt – for debt (or rather spending) truly is a drug. People use it to give them a 154

small ‘rush’ to make up for the drab monotony of their lives. True. But like a heroin fix, the ‘spending rush’ does not hit the spot for very long and soon you need more… and more… and more. More shopping, more stuff. It accumulates and weighs you down. Look at your house. It is stuffed full of junk, isn’t it? Every cupboard you own is full to bursting. Is every drawer in your house (or flat etc.) full as well? What about the shed and/or garage if you have either? Full? Even the loft has a load of junk in it, doesn’t it? No matter how big the house, whether it is 1-bed or 8-beds, it is stuffed cellar to roof with junk. And all that junk costed big money at some point. It is worth virtually nothing now. You could just throw the entire lot into a skip. But when you bought it, it cost £10 here, £100 there. £1,200 for that item; £600 for that item. It all adds up to tens of thousands over a few years. And most people are still paying for that junk – the junk they bought years ago. The junk they really needed but now never even look at.

Stop Spending! So the take home here is to stop spending. This requires discipline – a word that has been mentioned several times already. A word which runs through your wealthy life like letters through a stick of rock. Can you do it? Can you make a large alarm bell go off each time you reach for your money to buy something? Remember we are talking about you being broke here. If the item you want is small change compared with your capital base, then this is no problem. You do not have to be like a monk. This is about getting out of debt. If you are not in debt, it does not really apply. Get angry, Start saving. Stop spending. How hard can it be? Now let us make a start on this business of getting wealthy. Where does it all begin? We cannot just plunge-in to this tricky task and expect to succeed without thinking about beginnings. Having got yourself out of debt (or being well on the way) your wealthy life starts with a dream...

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Lesson Nine: Finding Your Dream How to Discover Your Dream Earlier we discussed how hard it is to become wealthy without a big enough ‘why’. It is certainly hard to be happy if you do not have a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Spending some time discovering your dream can give you a big enough ‘why’ to get wealthy and also bring meaning to your life. Having meaning is a significant contributor to your happiness. It is almost certain that you are not doing what you love to do. It is equally certain that you are not putting your dream out into the world and probably are not even aware you have one. You are likely to be working in a job you barely tolerate, for a wage which hardly meets your outgoings. How did this come about? The answer is that you were probably side-tracked as a youngster – shunted off the main line into an insignificant branch line. And there you are, right now, rusting in the sidings...

Side-tracked You probably had the glimmer of a dream when you were a youngster, but this was soon knocked out of you. Your parents and teachers undoubtedly called your dream “unrealistic”. Then, to the sound of a points-lever being pulled, they suggested to you that you get a 'practical' education in order that you might follow your dream at a later date. There was probably no malevolence here; you need to remember that your parents, and all preceding generations, did not have the luxury of fancy ‘lifeplanning’. The name of their game was survival. To survive you needed money. To get money you needed a steady job. To get a good job you needed a good education. They pulled those levers on you for the best of intentions, but the result was probably a disaster for your fledgling ambitions. This message was reinforced by teachers, friends and careers advisers, until by the time you left full-time education you were almost certainly way off the main line and heading down some insignificant branch line. Throughout these years, you learned the trick of suppressing your dream. You could not maintain this dream in the face of such ordered opposition and so you buried it in a secret place within you. Then the pace of life started really to heat up, and problems came at you like a pack of hungry jackals. No time for fancy, childish dreams now. All of your energies were involved, and probably still are involved, in fighting off the pack of slavering dogs. 156

Dreams are... well… for dreamers. There is a life to be lived, food to put on the table, a mortgage to pay and other people to worry about. If you even remember your dream (unlikely) you probably fool yourself into thinking you will pick it up ‘later’, when the family has grown up, when you are retired. The tragedy here is that most people's dreams become so deeply buried they not only forget what they are, but even forget that they had a dream in the first place. Certainly, few people can put a name to their dream. Instead, they sit in the sidings, rusting away, perhaps (if this is not pushing the railway analogy too far) hoping that some bright, gleaming locomotive will arrive one day to pull them to safety. To be fair, we are not well equipped to get in contact with our dreams and to plan a glittering, fulfilling and exciting life for ourselves. We humans have only existed for around one million years, perhaps two million at the absolute maximum. For most of that time, we lived short, brutish lives which were wholly obsessed with generating sufficient food, water and shelter for our basic survival. Few people lived beyond 35 years old. ‘Life-planning’ was not an issue which occupied the thoughts of men and women prior to a few hundred years ago. Even in more recent times, the wealthy had few choices. The son of a rich family joined the army, became a priest, or took over the running of the family business. Daughters sat around waiting to be married off. In general, they were not full of angst regarding their special purpose on the planet. Such thinking is a luxury, brought about by material wealth and the increase in health and hygiene. We live longer. We are all richer. We have the luxury of being able to consider our true purpose and the ‘meaning’ of our lives. We have the leisure time to be unhappy if we do not fulfil that purpose or find that meaning.

Living a Meaningful Life Each person is a very special, unique individual. Everyone has a passion – if only they could discover it.

If you wish to put your faith in something, you could do worse than believing that if you will only follow your passion – your dream – then everything will be all right. It will work out. You will make enough money to live on, perhaps even get rich, but more importantly you will have a joy-filled and truly meaningful life. The alternative is to live a life like our primitive ancestors – gruelling, desperate, toilfilled days devoid of meaning other than brute survival. The difference is that they had no choice. You do. Let us say a word or two about 'meaningful.' Do you equate the words 'meaningful' and 'dream' with something hugely important, of tremendous significance to mankind? For example, do you think that a dream in order to be meaningful has to be something like this? ¾ Invent antigravity. ¾ Cure cancer. ¾ Write a book which will profoundly change the lives of all seven billion people on the planet. 157

¾ Create a world-changing philosophy. ¾ Eradicate poverty, disease and hunger from the world. ¾ Overthrow the government, and start an entirely new political system invented by you. ¾ Write a series of symphonies which make Mahler and Mozart look like amateurs. ¾ Climb every mountain; ford every stream; follow every rainbow. In other words, are you seduced by the belief that your 'meaningful dreams' have to be grandiose, otherwise they are not worth pursuing? Do you believe that small dreams are for small people and that only giant dreams are worth having? That is not true. Your dream can be any scale from gigantic to modest, but if you are to grow it should be something just at the cutting edge of your fear zone. You can help people and make the world a better place on whatever scale you want. Big dreams command a big price tag (save the whale, cure AIDS, feed the hungry) more modest dreams command a smaller price – but the key point is to discover your dream so that at least you have the option of following it. If your dream resonates with a lot of other people, the money to make it happen will come. If you are a bit of a lone voice, or ahead of your time, remember the other option which is to work in a job (or business) which brings you pleasure, and to use all of your spare time and resources following your dream. That can lead to a very happy life. It is worth reiterating that you do not have to become wealthy to be happy.

No Approval Required It is your dream that counts, not somebody else's definition of what constitutes a valid dream. You do not need to get your dream countersigned by society and have them approve it as big enough or important enough. The dream is for you. It should bring you happiness to fulfil it. If you are making money from your dream and others are also benefiting, then this is just perfect. You are doing it because you want to do it and that is the only reason you need. If you want to make money from your dream, then it will have to benefit others as well, for it is a very rare authentic dream which has no positive impact on the lives of others. Big, planet-changing dreams are allowed, of course! Just make sure it really is your passion and not something you are claiming to believe in for one of these three erroneous reasons: 1. It is so big you know you will never do it and so there is no point in making a start. In other words, your grandiose passion is little more than an excuse for inaction. 2. This is not really your passion, but you think it sounds grand enough, altruistic enough, or worthy enough to be allowed under society's definition of 'meaningful.' in other words, you feel that small dreams are not allowable, are too insignificant and make you look selfish or trivial. You also maybe seek the kudos which comes when you tell people about your grand dream. 158

3. Your dream is merely one, grandiose strategy for filling your need for (say) approval – you could fill that need far more easily than via this complex and unlikely scheme you have envisaged. When you get in contact with your passion, and follow it, remarkable life-changing events will happen to you – sometimes not exactly what you might expect! Okay so how do you uncover your dream?

Your Job From Heaven Here is an amazingly powerful method of helping you to realise what your dream might be. This originally came from the author Barbara Sher who has written a number of excellent books on life-planning. Take a blank sheet of paper and on the top of it write: 'My Job From Hell.' Now fill that sheet of paper with a detailed description of your total job from hell. Describe the nightmarish work environment; write in detail about the dreadful people you will be working with and the awful tasks you will be performing. You will hardly be able to stop writing! You will take a ghoulish glee in putting down every awful detail. You will run out of paper and ink long before you run out of ghastly details of that job. This exercise gives you a fantastic opportunity to glimpse your creative potential when you are not running hard against the brakes of the subconscious mind. Please do this exercise, and do not just read about it. You will be impressed by its effect. The next part of this exercise is to take your Job From Hell and write the exact opposite of everything you have put down. For example if you have written “I work in a dark, noisy, fume-filled factory, with loud music blaring all day over loudspeakers,” you might rewrite this as follows: “I work in a light, quiet airy office,” or “I work outdoors in the peaceful countryside.” Another example should suffice. If you wrote “Each day is identical, I produce an endless stream of identical widgets, and never receive any praise or thanks for my work,” you need to rewrite this as follows: “Each day I work on something different, no two projects are the same and I receive a huge amount of praise, admiration and respect for my work.” What you are doing is using the 'job from hell' as a method of bypassing the subconscious mind. Effectively, you are finding out what you don't want, and reversing it to produce your ‘job from heaven’. If you had just tried to write out your ‘job from heaven’, the subconscious would have kicked-in and told you that it was impossible, that you could not have it and that you did not deserve it. Try this exercise – you will be surprised!

The Fear of Finding Your Dream Consider the 'you' of today. This is not a criticism, but you probably live a fairly dull routine without much excitement. Do you have any real plans, or are you just jogging along, letting life happen to you? You are probably in a job which has nothing whatsoever to do with that quirky, brilliant 'you' inside. 159

Remember? The one which got suppressed all those years ago? The one that was shunted onto the sidelines? Start trying to uncover that buried desire – and do not let 'shoulds' and 'oughts' get in your way! Try, just for once, to listen to yourself without immediately leaping in with habitual negative thoughts about the impossibility or impracticability of your dreams. Even if your dream seems crazy, at the very least it will point you in the right direction and perhaps trigger a more realistic dream along the same lines. Remember, the purpose of a dream is to get a deep need filled in you – the dream is just a vehicle or method for getting your needs met. So when you ask the question, “what are my dreams?” you are really asking “what are my deepest needs?” Our deepest needs are often to do with peace, love and making the world a better place. This is why Beyond Wealth teachings are so powerful. When you get in touch with the real You which was mentioned right at the start of this book, the ‘why’ of getting wealthy is transformed from getting a big house and a fancy car into a deeply fulfilling desire to create something beautiful, to bring peace, love, joy and security to yourself and others. It is your deep needs which have been suppressed all these years, often (particularly for women) by thoughts of sacrificing your needs to the needs of others or total lack of belief that you deserved to find your true calling. So what better time than right now to examine what it is you really need, what it is you are really on the planet for? Out of countless thousands of generations of humans, you have the luxury of being born into a time and place where you can decide how to live and what to do. That is scary, but also amazingly exciting.

Fight The Fear of Success Finding your dream can be a scary process. Suddenly, there are no more excuses. You are faced squarely with the terrifying knowledge that you have a passion and that you long to follow it. You will be sharply reminded that you have buried this passion for a great many years and there may be some remorse there. The next step is, of course, action. But most people are frozen by fear when faced with the decision to change their lives so dramatically. One of the reasons we keep our passions submerged is because we know that once we ‘release the beast’ we will never be the same again, and our comfortable, boring routine will be upset. Big change is frightening, which is why people habitually choose safety. Here is another great Barbara Sher technique for overcoming this obstacle. What you must do is: 1.

Vow to take action towards realising your dream, right now. But...

2.

You only have to do this for one hour.

Set your alarm clock for exactly one hour from now, and then spend the next sixty minutes (not a minute longer) in the active pursuit of your dream. For example you could call some people to arrange a meeting; do a spreadsheet analysis of the profit and loss on a proposed 160

business idea; book yourself onto a course – do any one of a thousand things to make a start on your dream. That is all we are after at this stage – a start. This is a brilliant technique and deceptively simple and powerful. It gets you moving towards your goal and overcomes the fear and insecurity associated with starting out on a huge life-change. It also programmes your subconscious mind that you are serious about this change. It is not just talk.

When the decisions are clear, the way is easy.

Your Dream Business As you know, one of the very few ways of becoming wealthy is to run your own business (even if this is a one person show). So how does this link in with finding your dream? The link is that you should not start just ‘any old’ business with a view to making a ton of money. It will grind you down if you are not passionate about it. Sure, you may do better than average after ten or twenty years. You will probably have a bigger house, a better car and a salary of fifty percent above the average. But that is scant compensation for half a lifetime spent fighting to make it in something you despise or barely tolerate. It is probably not the noble purpose of your life to run “Precision Pipe Bending Services” for the next twenty years. Let us pause for a moment and ask how did this company start? The answer is: in the same way as tens of thousands of others. Joe was working shifts at the local diesel generator manufacturing company and had been for ten years. They buy in lots of components, some of which were copper pipes pre-bent into intricate shapes ready to fit into the generators. The supplier became unreliable; prices went up, quality went down. Joe and his mate Steve started bending pipes in his garage at weekends and making up the shortfall. Soon they were the sole supplier and making good money. Fast forward a year and they have left their jobs to run Precision Pipe Bending Services full time. They have two more clients and are breaking even after buying some specialist bending equipment. Fast forward ten years and PPBS turn over a million a year with fifteen staff. Joe and Steve have decent cars and are both about to upgrade to a 4-bed ‘executive’ home. After twenty years, PPBS turns over three million and Joe and Steve are both doing quite well – but twenty years have passed in 10 hour days, 6 day weeks and they are getting pretty tired. Here is the problem: neither one of them have ever been that interested in pipe bending. It was just something they sort of fell into as young men to make some better than average money. Neither of them are very happy – they are ‘okay’. They hope to retire one day and maybe sell the business. Until then, they keep working sixty hour weeks to keep it competitive. The scary truth is that 90% of businesses are run by people who do not care that much for the goods and services their businesses provide. What does that tell you? These people are not passionate about their businesses and that does not make for a happy life. You should aim higher than this. Be careful what business you start. Start dreaming about making a ton of money and doing what you love to do. Does this excite you? Do you think you have the fight to make it happen for you? 161

Rediscovering The Real You If so then you have probably felt that something was ‘wrong’ for quite a large part of your life. Maybe going back to when you were a little boy or girl. Did something in you protest even at that tender young age? Did you want to be something greater than this mediocre world was imposing upon you? The little boy or girl you once were, never disappeared – they just got forgotten about. You can still hear their cry sometimes though. When you are stuck in traffic on the way to work, do those faded dreams come back to haunt you? Did you want to be a world explorer, a famous writer, sing in a band, paint, dance, live in a lighthouse, be a beach-bum, fly planes, play football all day, be an actress, invent something wonderful, just ‘be free’ or maybe just have the time to be a great parent, partner or friend...?

Day Dreaming Take some time to day-dream for a bit. There is nothing wrong with this. It is only when you want something badly enough that you get motivated to achieve it, and it all starts with a dream, as we shall see. Your ‘true self’ is buried deep within and its cries are muffled by layer upon layer of social conditioning. This conditioning is just one facet of Wonderland which entraps you. You have been corrupted by the world. Your ‘fanciful’ and ‘unrealistic’ dreams have been derided and then erased by society. You have been fashioned into a slave of society or a creature of Wonderland – a good, compliant worker drone who can be sacrificed to keep the machine going. Just another ‘Duracell battery’ to be plugged-in to the machine to provide your thimble-full of power to keep the whole show rolling along. If you want to live your dream full time you need freedom. To gain freedom, you need enough money to escape wage slavery (your Freedom Figure), but this is deemed to be just another ‘pipe-dream’ by many around you. The accumulation of wealth is our main concern here, but it is only a means to an end.

Money = Freedom = Choices If you do not have a dream (let us call it a passion) it is hard to become a millionaire other than by winning a game of chance such as the National lottery. To make this kind of money you need to be highly focused, and you cannot be that if you only have a half-hearted interest in what you are doing. You know this is true. Just look at some famous multimillionaires who still keep working ten or twelve hours a day, even though they do not need the money. Why do they do this? Because they have a passion for what they do! They would probably do it without payment. Dreaming is a type of visualisation.

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It is visualisation plus passion. These are the things that you really want to be, to have or to do. If you do not achieve these things over (say) the next ten years, you are going to be seriously disillusioned and upset. You should be able to write a list of six important things you would like to be, have or do. If you cannot think of a single one then you are most unlikely ever to live a life of power and passion. Also, your chances of making big money and escaping from Wonderland are vanishingly small. This is blunt, but also it is a major reality check. Can you think of a few things about which you are passionate? One or two things which you care deeply about? Just one would be a start...

The Blank Slate Many people who try this exercise look inside themselves and find a big, blank nothing. They shrug helplessly and say something like: “That’s always been my problem – I don’t know what I want or what I’d like to do.” Do not beat yourself up if you cannot immediately think of something. It is hard to dream up a better life for yourself after the decades of the negative conditioning you have allowed yourself to accept. All those years spent under the control and influence of Wonderland have taken their toll upon you. You have been deeply asleep for many years. How often did your teachers, parents and friends encourage you to dream and ask you to share your vision with them? Approximately never? How often did someone shoot your fledgling dreams down in flames or pour scorn upon them? How often did they tell you to “get serious,” or “stop dreaming”? Small wonder that your dreams are no longer on public display to be ridiculed.

The Future You Here is a little exercise which might help you get in touch with your dream. Imagine walking into a room and meeting the 'you' of ten years from now. What will you be wearing? Where will you be living? What will your lifestyle be like? What car will you be driving? Will you be running a business? If so, how successful will you be? What will your net worth be? How will you be contributing to the wellbeing of others? You really only have three choices here about how the ‘you of the future’ will look, and this is where the power of this exercise lies: 1. Somewhere in between how you are now, and a depressed, broke and scruffy tramp. 2. An exact clone of how you are now – absolutely nothing has changed in a decade except you have got a little older, a little fatter and a little slower. 3.

A happier, wealthier, healthier version of the ‘you of today.’

Only a suicidal depressive would visualise number one! Number two is effectively saying that nothing will change; you will not grow over the next ten years, you will not get richer, 163

happier, wiser, healthier – anything. The 'you of tomorrow' will be an older clone of the 'you of today.' So that just leaves number three, and if you selected this it remains for you to back this glittering vision of the 'future you' with all the force of your imagination.

Thinking Back Try to remember what you loved doing as a child. Write it down. This is probably not what you are doing as an adult, but it is a pointer in the direction of your dream. If you loved to climb trees, maybe your dream work is outside rather than in an office. If you loved to colour with crayons, maybe you long to be in an artistic endeavour. If you loved to write stories, maybe you yearn to be a novelist. You get the idea. Use your ‘childish’ passions to point to your adult dreams. Do not be afraid. You can follow your dream part-time to begin with. Take that watercolour class; go to that writing weekend; go on a forestry maintenance week – just have a go at something which calls to you and stop putting it off until tomorrow. Stop saying “when the kids have left home,” “when the redundancy money comes in,” “when Bill has recovered from his knee operation”. Stop being so afraid. What have you got to lose by trying, right now, today? Nothing. Soon your part-time passion could become your full time career. Then you will be in heaven – doing what you love. It bears repeating: when you do what you love, you will never work again.

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Lesson Ten: Goal Setting It is very likely that you have read something about the importance of setting goals before. It is very likely that, despite this, you do not set goals. Why is this? It is not ignorance. Everybody now knows the importance of setting goals. Fifty years ago, this was a startling new idea. No longer. It has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that people who set written goals lead richer, happier, more fulfilling lives than people who merely drift through life, rudderless. Everybody knows this, but still they do not do it. It is not the difficulty of the task. Writing out ten goals is not a particularly arduous job – in fact it is quite enjoyable and only takes an hour maximum. Yet 99% of people never write a goal in their entire lives. Why do you think this is, since the task of writing out your goals is so easy and the rewards so obvious? It is not even the difficulty of pondering what it is you ultimately want out of life – just ease yourself in with some simple goals, say to move up to the next bigger house and to earn an extra ten thousand pounds this year. Leave more complex life-goals (“What is my real purpose here on earth?”) until you are happier with the whole goal-setting process. No, for people to miss out on such an obvious and easy technique there must be something else going on – some deep-seated psychological block somewhere. That block is the subconscious realisation that every goal has an associated price tag – that it does not come free. It does not “flow freely from the wondrous bounty of the universe.” There is a price to pay in order to achieve each goal. This knowledge evokes two responses in most people: fear and laziness (this last is also called inertia). To set a goal means to set yourself up for change. Any goal that you can think of, large or small, reduces to the statement: “I hereby promise to change in the following way...” People fear change – it is the unknown. Fear immobilises. Fear stops you dead in your tracks. It is safer to stay well within your comfort zone. Next comes our old enemy laziness, or inertia; and this is the real reason people do not set goals. Above everything else, a goal is a written contract with yourself to do something. To achieve even the smallest goal requires discipline, work, and focus; all three in some measure. Despite popular DVD programs like The Secret which talk about ‘attracting wealth’, people know deep in their gut that you do not get something for nothing in this world. Since most people are very lazy, how do you think they react when faced with a contract containing the words discipline, work and focus? Why, they break out into a cold sweat. Their hands tremble and seem unable to grasp the pen. They go to write their goals, then draw back, then go to write again. Suddenly, they feel faint. The pen slips from their numbed hand and clatters to the floor. They feel tired. Perhaps it is time for a lie down? They will sign that contract one-day real soon now – perhaps tomorrow... 165

This is why people do not set goals. They still want all of the rewards and goodies which would have come their way had they set goals and applied the required discipline, work and focus. Oh yes, they want all of these things, but they want them for free. They seek a short-cut to reality, and now embark upon a path which leaves them prey to the mystical ‘attract wealth’ gurus and ‘instant wealth’ business opportunities.

Infinite Bounty of The Universe The packaging varies, but the message is the same: “The universe has an infinite store of wealth, bounty and benevolence – there is more than enough for all. Just tune your mind into the pulsating rhythm of the universe using the following method (CD set £49.95, manual £29.95, course £199.70) and manifest your share of this infinite bounty.” A recent weekend course advertised in a brochure is called: “Channelling Chakra Energy to Manifest Abundance in Your Life.” People love this message. They sign up for it in their millions in one form or another. They think: “Why bother to sign that stuffy old contract with all those tedious ‘work, discipline and focus’ clauses? I could ‘channel’ it all for free!” And so a few more irreplaceable years slip by. They buy the books; their collection of boxed CD and DVD sets grows. Yet they remain as broke and powerless as ever. How odd! “Hmm – perhaps another seminar will help me re-tune my cosmic receiver.”

Making a Start So let us leave all this feel-good mumbo-jumbo behind and get down to the serious business of becoming wealthy. You claim to want to be a wealthy man or woman and yet apparently you have been 'too busy' to set your goals this year. That is about to change because right now you are going to write yourself some goals. You need to be specific with your goals as this allows your brain to latch on to something concrete. If you want more money, you need to know how much and by when. If you want to help others, you need to state specifically how, and what level of money is needed to make it happen. Realise that many of your dreams can be achieved just by raising your game by 10%. That is often all it takes. Just doing that alone will mark you out as a winner. Most people do 10% – 20% less than is expected of them rather than 10%-20% more. Do not be cheap with your goals and do not be grandiose. If you want a million, set the goal for two or three million just to be sure, but do not set it for a hundred million if that’s not what you want and you are not prepared to pay the price. Buy yourself one of those little credit card wallets at some point in the near future. The ones that hold about 10 credit cards. You can even use the one which used to hold your credit cards, now you have cut them up! When you have written out your goals, you should keep the cards in this wallet and carry them with you always. Normally, goals are written on a sheet of paper – fine if you live alone – you can leave the sheet lying around to remind you of your goals. But if you have 166

a family, or people coming to visit you regularly, then you do not want these people to see your private dreams. So what happens is that you tidy that piece of paper away in a drawer – and there it stays for several months, forgotten about! This card idea means that you always have your goals with you, and they remain private. Unusually, you are going to be told the first four goals you should write.

Goal One – Your Passion The first goal should be something which you cannot complete in your lifetime. This makes you dream big. It makes you realise what is important to you, and what you are about as a person. As Charles Noble says: “You must have long-range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-term failures.” You might be very surprised at what you eventually write down for this goal – it might bear no relationship to what you are doing at present. As an example, if you are a writer, your goal might read: “One day, every educated adult on the planet will have heard the name John Doe, and have some idea about my philosophy.” Or: “I will create the country’s largest chain of dog rescue kennels.” Or: “All homeless people in London will have access to a temporary night shelter.” Or: “No child will go without education in (insert country)” Or: “I will start and run a meditation retreat.” This goal is to do with your power, passion and purpose – the real reason you want the money. If you do not yet know this, keep a blank card in your wallet to symbolise your current ignorance on this matter. This goal card is the most important one of them all.

Goal Two – Your Financial Goal The next goal should state an exact amount of money which you will one day have. Again, this is a lifetime goal and should not carry a date. Example: “One day I will have a net worth of 100 million pounds”. This goal quantifies your dreams of wealth and sets an ultimate target. But before you write this particular goal, think very carefully about the price you will have to pay, and if you are willing to pay it. For example, achieving a net worth of 100 million pounds will have the following consequences at least: 1. You will have very close friends. You just will not have the time to nurture and sustain all those buddy-pal relationships. All relationships have a ‘time-overhead’. 2. You will be attacked, ridiculed, smeared and hounded by the gutter press and media. Their sworn mission will be to drag you down – to find some dirt in your background, some chink in your armour which they can then use to destroy you. Why? Because their readers want you destroyed and their readers are their customers. Why on earth do these readers want you destroyed? By this stage of your initiation, you know! The Thralls detest successful people because they act like shining beacons, lighting the steep, rocky pathway which leads from a life in 167

the sheep pen, to a life of heroic excellence. A successful person, by merely existing, causes the average Thrall to think: “This is terrible! If this ordinary person can make a success of their life, that means... perhaps I could improve my life too. Well I guess I now have two choices. I can apply the energy, discipline and focus required to follow their path to excellence. Or... I can scour the gutter press for evidence that this person is corrupt, lower than me and really belongs in the sewer. Hmm... now which is the easy path...?” 3. You will not be able to sustain a standard family. You might have children, but you will be a remote, absent figure. Your family will not be able to rely upon you to attend weddings, funerals, birthday parties, concerts and plays. Sometimes you will be there, most times you will not. 4. Most people you meet will be consumed by cancerous jealousy and hatred. They will also not know the price you paid. They will think, and sometimes even say to your face, that you were ‘lucky’. 5. You will work 12 hour days, 360 days of the year. You will eat, live, sleep and breathe your business. Every second spent away from the office or factory will seem like agonising torture. Read Atlas Shrugged and study the character of Hank Reardon. The company of others, even friends and family, will seem dull and you will be filled with an overwhelming craving to tear yourself away and return to your empire. 6. You will be sued, attacked and will receive death threats, many of which will be credible. You will require several full-time office staff to reply to the sacks full of whining, begging letters you will receive and to field the hundreds of weekly calls from charities. To sum up, the world will simultaneously be trying to destroy you and beg from you.

That is just a tiny example of the price you will have to pay in order to get £100 million. Too high a price? Do not write the goal down. You learned something. You do not want £100 million because you are not prepared to pay the price. Sure, you want it for free – who doesn’t? Do not commit the gross error of writing this goal (or any goal) in the hope that you will attain it by mystical methods; that somehow God, or the ‘bountiful universe’ will cause this money to ‘manifest’ or ‘flow’ to you. It will not. This is Wonderland fodder for the gullible masses. Wake up and stop dreaming! If you want to become wealthy you must take the concrete actions required to make it happen for you. Perhaps you think £10million will be easier? Yes it will, but still you have a huge price to pay and you must decide now if you are willing to pay it. You will suffer a milder form of all of the consequences 1-6 above. You will lose every single one of your current friends. You will work 10 hour days, 340 days of the year. You will be a driven man or woman. Most, if not all of your other hobbies and interests will be sacrificed to this goal. You enjoy sailing, skiing, flying? Forget it! You will not have time. You always wanted to write a play, learn jazz piano, study water-colour painting? These will have to wait. All of your energy, talents and time will be devoted to achieving your goal of £10million. If you do not want to pay the price do not write the goal. 168

Save yourself some heartache. You have learned something important. You do not want £10million; leastways, you are not prepared to pay the price for it and that leaves you fresh out of trump cards. You only hold the four jokers – 'prayer', 'luck', 'bountiful flow of the universe' and 'hope'. So before you write a figure on card two, spend a few moments considering if you are willing to pay the price. If not, then you are deciding right now on a life of relative poverty. At least you decided. That is far better than drifting into it and then wondering what went wrong. If your financial goal is less than three million you will not suffer most of the problems listed above. Do not let this limit your goal though. If you really want a hundred million, go for it, just know what the price is and be willing to pay it. The rest of the cards are for specific time dated goals.

Goal Three – Your House On card 3, write a goal to improve the house in which you live – in other words, to move to a better house. Visualise this new house as clearly as possible and then write a goal in the following type of style: “By January 1st 2015, I will have moved into a four-bedroom, detached house in large grounds located in the Poshbury area of Richville.” Obviously you can add, change or embellish this goal and date to suit yourself.

Goal Four – Your Action Plan Card four is special. Thinking about the goal you wrote on card two for the moment, on card four you need to answer the question: “What one thing can I do right now, today, which will take me a step closer to this goal?” It could be a simple thing like a telephone call, but write it down as a goal: “By the end of today I will have................. which will advance me one step closer to my financial dream.” When you have completed the goal on card four, you write yourself out another card which answers the question: “What is the next thing I need to do in order to take another step towards my financial goal?” On the remaining cards, write out your other goals. Just ask yourself what you want out of life, and write it down. This is a book about wealth, not relationships, but these remaining cards are the place to add goals about your personal relationships, self improvement, health and so on. Keep these cards with you at all times in one of those little wallets. Read your goals every day – the results will astound you. If you have not written your goals within one hour of reading this then it is almost certain that you will never write a goal in your life. The consequences of this are too awful to contemplate. You will live your life to about one tenth of your ability and potential. That would be a terrible waste of your talent. Do not let this happen to you. Let us leave the final word to the late, great Jim Rohn: “Goals. There’s no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There’s no telling what you can do when you believe in them. There’s no telling what you can do when you act upon them.” 169

Lesson Eleven: Activate Your Dream Having written some financial and other goals and done some work on uncovering your dream, here is a proven technique to help you get started on creating the life you are longing for.

The 4-Step Activation Method Ask yourself the following questions: “What do I need to achieve in the next 12 months in order to make my future dream a reality?” “What do I need to do in the next month to start myself on this journey?” “What can I do by next week to prepare myself for the journey?” “What can I do right now, today, in order to start this process off?” Please make a point of taking a few minutes out to actually answer these questions. Do not just keep reading. You cannot become wealthy by merely reading about it. You must take action. Do you see how this 4-step technique works? You need to dream, but this is not enough. Like children’s shoes, dreams come a size too large so that you can grow into them – and this means that dreams are too large to realise all at once, all in one hit. Our minds are finite, and so all large projects must be broken down into bite-sized chunks otherwise we become discouraged by the scale of the endeavour. This is one of the secret keys of successful people. They are undaunted by large projects, because they have the knack of breaking them down into simple steps. Each step is manageable in itself, and can be completed in anything from a few hours to a few weeks. One of your ‘life projects’ is to get wealthy, and you cannot do this all in one hit unless you win the lottery. So you need a plan of action. In contrast, it is useful to analyse the situation of people who are stuck, both monetarily and in spirit, if only to allow you to avoid these errors. This is based on experience of two decades of helping both winners and temporary losers in the game of life. The term ‘temporary loser’ is used because if they could only wake up from Wonderland control, they could become winners too.

The Temporary Loser Mentality The temporary losers (Thralls) are frightened. Their lives are dominated by fear. They see the world as a scary, threatening place and crave security, dullness and mediocrity. They long for every day to be the same as the last and become scared and upset if even a small change breaks the monotony of their days. This is the ‘malevolent universe’ idea. It is the orientation that the universe is, at root, an evil, dangerous place and that protection and safety are the most important values. These people lack visualisation ability. If asked to visualise their future self, they would stare at you blankly. They are not pretending. They do not even understand what you 170

mean by this exercise. If you force them to try, they will come back with nothing more than a helpless shrug. Assuming that you could drag some sort of dream out of them (for example wanting to be worth a million pounds ‘some day’) then they would be wholly incapable of working backwards from that point to the present, and suggesting actions they might have to take, starting now, in order to make this come about. Again, they are not faking. There is now… there is the future… and in between, a yawning, fathomless chasm – a blank. Even if you were to do it all for them and break the task down into easily manageable chunks, even write the steps out for them, 1-20, with a check box next to each one – they absolutely lack the discipline even to start on the task, let alone complete the steps. At the first minor problem, or negative comment from a friend, they will give up. In any situation which requires a choice between working for a better future, and instant gratification now, they will unfailingly choose instant gratification. They always choose a movie or soap-opera over a thinking session; a beer at the bar over planning for a better tomorrow. But this is not you, hopefully. If you recognise yourself here, then do not worry because it is possible to change and get out of this 'stuck' pattern you have been in. You need to develop the habits of a winner. You want to enjoy today, but have an even better tomorrow waiting for you. To do this you must model yourself on winners – people who have achieved something in their lives. This is why you are reading this. It is written by someone who has ‘been there, done that’. It is truly hopeless trying to learn about wealth from broke people. The term 'loser' is not meant in the usual derogatory sense. By a 'loser' we mean someone who, by their own definition of winning and losing, is, for the moment, falling well short of where they want to be. By a 'winner' we mean someone who, by their own definition of winning and losing, is pulling ahead of the game and achieving that which they set out to achieve.

The Habits of Successful People This is how winners operate: 1. They are brave. Like all human beings they feel fear, but have mastered it to a manageable extent and are able to rise above it in most cases. Whilst they acknowledge that there are frightening people and places in the world, in general they view the world as a benevolent place, full of great opportunities and wonderful people. This is a vital ‘benevolent universe’ principle for you to cultivate but it is hard to have this when still trapped in Wonderland. Winners view the world as mainly benevolent with some bad bits. Losers see the world as mainly malevolent with some good bits. This is a critical difference in viewpoint. Where do you stand? 2. They are good visualisers. They have the ability to imagine the future, often in glorious Technicolor detail.

3. They have high self-esteem, and know that they are worth more than they have at present. They are not some milk-cow to be exploited by greedy, dictatorial governments or 171

taken advantage of by Type B people. Life to them is an exciting adventure to be lived to the full. In contrast, losers view life as a terrible chore to be somehow 'got through' with as little pain as possible and leaving as small an impact as possible. They attempt to creep unnoticed through life and hope to die without leaving a ripple on the pond. It is a timid, subservient and self-effacing life. Often such people mask their timidity with a patina of spiritual loftiness. 4. They are intelligent, rational and logical. If they have a dream of the future, they know the secret technique for making this happen. Today's dreams are tomorrow's realities. They know that large projects cannot be tackled by finite human minds unless they are broken down into manageable, bite-sized pieces. They are able to work backwards from a future dream to the present day, and to list the logical steps required to make that dream come true. 5. Having written down the steps required to achieve their goals, they know what is required next. Action. Up until this point, all of their plans amount to little more than ethereal hot air. It is action which grounds the circuit and allows the current to flow. They know that the journey will be long and hard. Any worthwhile dream will involve hard work, concentrated effort and some suffering. Waking up from Wonderland control is not easy. They need one more quality which we have discussed already. Discipline. This keeps them going during setbacks, when the list seems too long, when others heap derision upon their efforts and when nothing seems to be working out. Here are some more pointers from the successful.

Five Tips to Turbo-Charge Your Dream 1. Dream of a brighter tomorrow! Your yearning power is more important than your earning power.

2. Be rational! Mysticism is your mortal enemy. Do not get suckered into magical thinking where you believe money will be ‘attracted’ to you without effort. There are obvious, logical steps between here and realising your dreams. Write them down in bitesized chunks and follow them like a route map. Praying, hoping and chanting will not get you where you want to be. Neither will ‘attracting the energies of the universe’ or any other mystical snake-oil designed to put you off track and have you waste your life energies in the pursuit of a phantasm. 3.

Act! All is dust without action. Action is the key.

4. Be disciplined! Life is tough. Fight! Others want you to fail. Ignore them! The world often seems to go one way. Go your own way! People will spout rubbish and try to put you off your dream. Don’t let them! (Remember, they want you in Wonderland!) 5. Start today! Procrastination is the thief of time. Winners start right now. Losers chatter to themselves that they will start 'one day real soon.' It never happens. They have a good idea in the car, but by the time they have pulled into the drive, the idea has been forgotten. You are now poised on the threshold of starting on an exciting new life-path. You have nearly all the tools you need, so let us now complete the practical instructions on getting wealthy. 172

Lesson Twelve: Three Ways to Get Wealthy There is no 'magic' road to riches, so we advise you to stop looking. There are, in fact, only three ways of making a great deal of money. Here they are: 1.

FORCE: Steal it (or other major crime).

2.

LUCK: Be given it for free, e.g. inheritance or the lottery.

3.

EFFORT: Run your own business.

It goes without saying that we do not want to be using the first method. As it happens, crime rarely pays anyway. A recent survey of criminals showed that if you include the average amount of jail time, the equivalent average salary gained through the proceeds of a life of crime added up to below minimum wage! Method 2 relies purely on luck and hence it is out of your control. It is obviously wonderful if you inherit millions or win the lottery. Do not count on it though! The lottery has rightly been called “a tax on the poor”. It is the ultimate Thrall panacea – giving them false hope and diverting them from the action required to become wealthy. Feel free to have a go for fun, but it is a total waste of time and money as a way of getting wealthy. That just leaves route #3 – running your own show. We hope you did not imagine you could become rich by working hard for someone else!

Only One Real Route to Wealth For the normal person who does not inherit or receive wealth, there is only one option, and that is to start your own business and make a success of it – even if this business is a one person show. The rest of the population are hopelessly trapped wage-slaves who have no chance whatsoever of becoming wealthy. Most employed people can hardly even pay their way, let alone accumulate money because ‘the system’, Wonderland, is absolutely designed to ensure their poverty. The entire system of employment works on the principle of bosses paying the absolute rock-bottom minimum wage which they can legally get away with. We are not condemning the capitalist system, in fact we fully support it. We are just pointing out to you the consequences of being on the wrong side of it; that is ‘employed’ rather than ‘freelance’. In a free market, the people scramble over each other to work for lower wages just to ensure that they have got a job. In a recession this tendency increases. This is the consequence of being a follower, not a creator. For you, this means that regardless of how skilled you are or how professional you are, unless you are unique and indispensable there is always someone waiting in the wings to grab your job at a lower rate. Therefore, by definition, you are being paid the absolute minimum which can possibly be paid to you. This is exactly as it should be. To demand more than you are worth on the open market is nothing less than a plea for charity, alms, special favours or ‘pull’. Free markets do not tolerate this. Only bureaucratic government can cause such distortions.

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Being Your Own Boss Contrast this minimum wage with being self-employed, or running your own business. When you are your own boss, you pay yourself the absolute maximum amount of money you can – and that can be quite a lot. Faced with this one fact alone, you have to be slightly mad to want to work for someone else! The most common reason people give for pulling this stunt is “security”. But ask yourself how much job-security is there nowadays? Another reason people give is that they “don't know” what business to start. If you have ever thought of running your own show, or are already running a small business and struggling away, then here is a golden nugget of advice: there are lots of businesses you could start, but you need to be highly selective about what you choose to do. If you really, truly want to run a Hoover spare parts shop then go ahead – it is a free country! The vast majority of small businesses are totally mind-bogglingly dull, dull, DULL. How the owners drag their weary bodies out of bed each morning to unlock their “Just a Bite” sandwich shop, or “ACME bait and tackle,” we really have no idea at all! We are often amazed whilst driving along the street to see the sordid collection of drab, dull little shops and premises, all slaving away to earn a modest crust.

The Point of Running a Business If you want to be wealthy you have to start a business, but you need to realise that the object of running your own business is to make big money, work less hard and enjoy it! There is no point in running some dreary little shop in some rundown area, working twelve hours a day doing something you hate just to be slightly better paid than average – if you are lucky. 'Being your own boss' is not compensation enough for running this type of business. It is also small beer and not worthy of you. You should not have to slave for fiddling small change. For example, on a nearby industrial estate there is a sandwich lady who runs around with a small van: “Tasty Bite” or similar. She makes great sandwiches, but she gets up at 5.30 a.m. to make them, ready to take around the local offices for 9 a.m. – 10 a.m. Furthermore, she sells about 50 sandwiches each morning, at an average price of £2.00 each. Even if it was all 100% profit (which, of course it isn't), she is making £100 a day at most – probably more like £35 after fuel, tax, insurance etc! You have to be mad or desperate to get out of bed at 5.30 a.m. and work six or seven hours for £35. But she is happy because she is 'running her own little business'. We want to emphasise that it is not enough to be running your own 'little business'. This is just a rather small-minded ego-trip. Not even a big ego-trip, which would be more understandable. Most people in business are on an ego-trip by the way. This is because they are trapped at the ego level of consciousness. The ideal scenario is to run a business which makes good money for relatively little effort. Remember that although running a business should be fun, it is (except in rare circumstances) only a means to an end which is your financial freedom. There is no fun whatsoever in running the same, tired old business for thirty years which just about keeps 174

you solvent or maybe puts you a touch ahead of the game. The point is to make enough money to free yourself from the need to ever work again. That is your financial freedom goal, remember? When you have enough money so that you do not have to work, then suddenly life becomes tremendously exciting, fun and challenging. For those not in this situation, life is tedious, boring and a drudge. After you have your freedom, you can make even more money to put out your unique vision into the world – this is what you were born to do, and it almost always involves either helping others or helping the planet (which is helping others indirectly of course). The vast majority of people are trapped at consciousness level 1 – fear driven. They are swamped by lack-mentality and spend their lives frantically grubbing around for cash to pay their basic bills. A minority of people make it to the level of ‘normal’ businesses which, as has been said, are mostly ego based. They want to be the boss, to feel top dog, to buy ego toys and show them off. Most of these people never escape from this trap. A tiny handful move Beyond Wealth. They are financially free and are using the money to actualise themselves. That means working on a project (and yes, this can be a business) which is genuinely making the world a better place. This is true happiness.

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Lesson Thirteen: Choosing Your Lifestyle This is hugely important. Before you start on the path to wealth you need to know what level of lifestyle you are aiming for. Without this you will flounder helplessly. Many people spend decades getting rich and when they arrive they have absolutely no clue at all about why they are there. This may surprise you, but very often they wake up to find the wealthy lifestyle they are leading (big house, gardeners, chauffer, etc.) does not suit them in the slightest. Often they are more miserable than when they were broke. So you need to put some thought to this now. To assist you we have put together a selection of lifestyles to help you choose. It is perfectly possible that you do not know which to choose at this point on your journey. You may be attracted to the ‘super rich’ lifestyle without any real notion of what this is all about. It may be just another Wonderland ‘meme’ which you have picked up unconsciously and woven seamlessly into your belief system. It will come as no surprise to you to learn that the Beyond Wealth lifestyle is the one you should be aiming for, but this cannot be mandated. That lifestyle will only be attractive if you are at that level of consciousness. This book gives you the wealth principles and it is up to you what you do with the money. Here are the seven main lifestyles...

Lifestyle 1: Broke and Embarrassed Right away from the title you will realise this is not a lifestyle you would actively select for yourself. We include it here in case you or someone you know is living it by default. All lifestyles come with advantages and disadvantages by the way. Broke and embarrassed is a very poor way to be. In the ultimate age of plenty, this person has selected poverty. Lurching from pay cheque to pay cheque or living on handouts, they can barely pay their way through life, living virtually at the bottom of the heap. They live in the worst area of town; if they have a car it is old and falling to pieces; they default on their bills and responsibilities (hence the ‘embarrassed’ bit); they have no spare cash, no savings. They eat cheaply and poorly, clothe themselves cheaply yet always have money for their drugs – usually some combination of recreational drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Their lives are spent slaving, scrounging and ‘entertaining’ themselves. What could possibly be the advantages of such a life? The answer is easy. Total abnegation of responsibility and the avoidance of the difficult task of getting ahead. In boxing terms they have thrown in the towel. They are quitters – and there is an advantage there because nobody asks you to get up and go out into the ring and start punching again. Such a person is overwhelmed by fear and lack-mentality. They have no self-belief and are envious and angry. Needless to say they are completely unaware that they have a gift to give the world and they have zero spare time or cash to actualise it in any case. It goes without saying that if this is even slightly your story you must take urgent decisive action to change this.

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Lifestyle 2 – Broke but Paying Your Way in a Job You Dislike In this scenario the person’s life is much more together. They are not in terrible debt and they are not sinking. They usually have debts but their income is enough to service these debts and fund their rather minimal lifestyle. To earn this money they have to enter into bondage to The Master, who will gladly put them to work for not very much money. At best they are neutral about their job, at worst they despise and hate it. So their serfdom comes with an added sting of having to drag themselves through hour after weary hour of toil with no real end in sight. This would describe the vast majority (maybe as high as 70%) of the people in the country. Such people are the bulk of the wage slaves who keep the Wonderland circus rolling along. They have almost no spare time as they are exhausted at the end of the day. They usually only have time to eat and then flop down in front of the television for their daily fix of ‘entertainment’ and brainwashing. Very little money is saved. To assuage the horror of their lives they spend all of their spare money on what they are pleased to call ‘luxuries’. In this way they comfort themselves that life is not too bad.

Lifestyle 3 – Broke but Paying Your Way in a Job You Like This is a very special and different version of the lifestyle above. Here is a very important point. Some gurus say “Follow your dream, do what you love and the money will follow”. This is a great situation to be in if you can swing it, but it is fairly rare. The ultimate life is to have enough income coming in either free from work, or doing work you love. There is a true saying which was mentioned earlier: “If you do what you love, you will never work again.” But... it is a challenge to find something you love to do and which will make you a lot of money. Far from impossible, but not easy either. For example you may love to horse ride, or paint in watercolours, or write novels, or dance, or meditate, or look after kittens or... but you can see that unless you are very good at these things it will be quite tough to get rich from these (and ten thousand similar) pursuits. Does this mean you have to give up either great wealth or the things you love to do? Not at all. You get to choose one, the other or even both. Lifestyle three is an example of choosing what you love over great wealth and this is a very viable option. You find a job you quite like (that is easy) and which pays you enough to live on. Then in your spare time (evenings and weekends) you paint, write or cuddle kittens. This can result in a happy, if rather a small-scale and relatively powerless, life. Please note that in theory, this lifestyle could be enjoyed by the person in lifestyle 2 (in a job they hate) but in practice it is far harder. You can probably see why. After a day spent at the coal face you will be tired both physically and mentally and will seek anaesthesia rather than creativity. It is hard (but not impossible) to slave in a job you hate then come home full of creative energy to do what you love. To complete this thought, how can we have the money and not do the things we love? That is easy – we deny ourselves the kitten-cuddling and go flat out to get rich. This can work as long as it does not take us forever to get rich and we can pick up the kittens in a few years. The danger is obvious – we mortgage all of our present creativity and joy for a future which may or may not come around. We get stuck working for twenty years in Precision Pipe Bending Services Ltd. 177

Finally, how can we have the money and do what we love? There are two ways. The first is to find a superb money-making venture which also gives you amazing joy to be involved with. This is heaven. The second way is to be involved in a money-making venture which although enjoyable, is not your life-calling. Then you use your spare time and money to build your dream and do what you love. This bring us on to:

Lifestyle 4 – Ego Toys This person is working hard and probably making quite good money. They may save a little but all of the surplus is spent on consumption aimed at enhancing status and ego. You know the type – you may even be the type! They have a decent house, nicely designed, a top of the range car (or at least a new one), they take exotic foreign holidays at huge expense, the wardrobe is full of ‘designer’ clothes, they have a £3,000 watch on their wrist – and so on. All good fun and this lifestyle is far more pleasurable than our first two, but this person is caught in the ego trap and is still a slave who must work in order to support this lifestyle. Once again very little thought is given to a dream, a special ability they have, a way of helping others. Money may be given to others, but this is usually more ego – the ‘benevolent uncle’ syndrome.

Lifestyle 5 – The Seeker This person has made enough money to live a minimal lifestyle either without working, or by working maybe a little. They do not need much money because they are on a spiritual journey. They will spend a lot of free time in meditation, reading, learning or sitting at the feet of their guru. This lifestyle is very sustainable and can lead to happiness. It is arguably the best lifestyle we have discussed so far. It has the advantage of (usually) making you a better person. But there are two disadvantages. The first is that it is rather weak and powerless, unless you are a major or minor spiritual teacher. Every hour spent in self-contemplation is an hour lost for helping others. The more deluded believe, of course, that their ‘vibrations’ pass through their sitting room walls and make the world a better place! This is known as a cop-out! It is an insular, inwardly reflective life which can lead to The Seeker Trap. This is all very comforting, but there is great need in a world crying out for help whilst you are sitting on the cushion contemplating the eternal verities. The trap is that of spiritual pride. It is very easy to imagine that you are better or more holy than others. This leads you to feel superior to, and increasingly disconnected from, your fellow travellers.

Lifestyle 6 – Financially Free and Glimpsing a Way Forward Often we pass through several of these lifestyles before settling where we are most comfortable. In this lifestyle the person is debt free and comfortable. He or she need never work again as they have sufficient capital to live off the interest (or have some other unearned income). 178

They spend a certain amount of time and money playing with toys, entertaining themselves, taking holidays, shopping and suchlike but increasingly they are dissatisfied with life and are bored. They are looking for a way to live a more meaningful life. The amount they give to charity has increased recently (this can often be a proxy for really helping others) and they are on the lookout for a way to do something meaningful. They are on the threshold of full awakening into a Beyond Wealth Lifestyle.

Lifestyle 7. Beyond Wealth The final lifestyle lies Beyond Wealth. Here, money is not an issue. The Beyond Wealth initiate has all he or she needs. Such a person will live comfortably but not extravagantly. They have realised that extra money does not bring increased happiness – unless that money is used in the service of ‘the mankind project’. In short, that means helping other people or the planet in some way or another. They are in touch with their dream and are realising this in their daily lives. They are likely to be on a spiritual path also, which transcends ego. These people are notable for their modesty and lack of ego. They will have virtually no ego toys and do not crave status, acknowledgement or respect. They are their ‘own people’ moving powerfully ahead with their life projects. They have largely woken up from most of the illusions of Wonderland and are usually very free thinkers and almost impossible to manipulate and control. The pursuit of wealth is a goal they have left behind. Their higher consciousness takes them beyond this goal, hence the title of this book Beyond Wealth. Their primary focus is helping others. They are happy, fulfilled and making a difference. This is not some exalted state attainable only by grand masters. There are millions of such people and it is a state achievable by you.

Where Are You? So take a few moments to go through those lifestyles and note where you are and where you want to be. The trick here is to be honest about where you are and then to follow your own heart to decide where you would like to be. Obviously we are guiding you firmly Beyond Wealth, but this may not be for you right now. No shame in that. Store it away in your mind until you are ready to attain this state. Meanwhile, if you cannot see further than a fancy car and bigger house, do not try to force it – make these things your goals. In other words, do not write goals because you think you ‘should’. Write goals from your current state of consciousness, knowing that this is likely to change and grow as you progress. Each one of us passed through the ego toys phase of wealth, so you will be in good company if you cannot see further than that for the moment!

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Lesson Fourteen: X + Y = Z Here is a brilliantly simple concept and one which is often overlooked by those seeking to become wealthy. It is based around the following formula:

X+Y=Z Where... X = the amount you are willing to put into the deal. Y = the percentage gain you want over the period. Z = the amount you want out of the deal over the period. This will be explained fully in a moment, but for now you need to understand that the golden rule associated with this formula which is... You get to choose TWO out of THREE of the variables (X, Y or Z) but you DON’T get to choose the final variable. If you choose X and Z (those are the two most commonly chosen) then you don’t get to choose Y – that happens automatically. If you choose X and Y then again you cannot choose Z as this drops out of the sum automatically. Looking at the formula, you can see this is just common sense, however it is completely ignored by most people as we will see. Before examining that, let us be clear what we mean by the terms X, Y and Z although hopefully this is clear to you already.

X This is the amount of money you are willing to put into your money-making venture. Example: If you save £5,000 in a high-interest account, then X = £5,000. Example: If you sink £20,000 into a franchise, then X = £20,000. Example: If you put £35,000 down on a buy-to-let property then X = £35,000. Hopefully that is now very clear. It’s the cash you put in from your own pocket, hoping it will multiply and bring you a profit. Another important thing about ‘X’ is that you cannot make serious money without investing. X has to have some value. Put another way, you have to be in it, to win it.

Y This is the percentage gain you expect or need to get over the period in question. Example: If you can get 6% on your savings, then Y = 6% a year. Example: If you expect to make £10,000 a year for five years (total £50,000) on your franchise and then get out, Y = 50% a year or 250% over the five years. Example: If you intend to keep your property for ten years and hope it has doubled in real terms, and that you make 10% a year on your money in rental, then your expected return is £35,000 + (£3,500 x 10) = £7000 or 200% over ten years (20% a year).

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Z This is the amount you want out of the deal over the period. Like the amount you put in, it is a flat figure. Example: If you want to make £1,000 a year from savings then Z = £1,000. Example: If you want to make £50,000 over 5 years from a franchise, then Z = £50,000. Example: If you want to make £70,000 in ten years from property, then Z = £70,000. That is all quite simple, as you can see. You may be wondering if it is even worth mentioning as it is so obvious. It is worth mentioning because many people pay no attention to it whatsoever, with the result that they have utterly unrealistic expectations of how long it will take them to get wealthy. The most common problem comes in the selection of X and Z. People are very good at selecting these two. For example, if you ask someone how much money they would like (Z) they can usually answer fairly quickly. Let’s say the answer is a million. When asked how much cash they have which they are willing to invest in (say) a business venture to make the million, again they will readily answer. Often it is about £5,000 – and that is reluctantly offered. Remember, most people are totally maxed-out and £5,000 represents ‘fear money’ to them. Okay, remember the rule? You get to choose TWO out of three, but you can’t choose the third? So this person has chosen X and Z which means he or she cannot now choose Y – that drops out automatically. We need one more piece of information from this person – how long do you want to wait for the million? Let’s say they answer ‘five years’ which is fairly typical. After all, they’re not greedy! So all we now need to do is plug in the numbers. £5,000 x Y = £1,000,000 in five years. From that you can easily see that Y is 200 (or 20,000% if you prefer). It is 4,000% a year!! A truly staggering return on investment and one which is virtually impossible to achieve. You can see that this person is living in fantasy land. There is almost no chance that they will make 20,000% for each of five years! Suppose we give them the bad news that they must put in a massive £50,000. Will that do the trick? Let’s see... £50,000 x Y = £1,000,000 in five years. So Y = 20 (or 2,000% if you prefer – 400% a year!) Hopefully you will agree that 400% a year is super-impressive and way past what most businesses and investments could hope to achieve. It gets a lot less if you compound the figures year on year, but hopefully you are getting the message which is: do not pick unrealistic combinations of X and Z. Do not say you have £1,000 spare cash and want to make £300,000 in the next 24 months. It is most unlikely to happen. If you pick the amount of money you want and then pick a realistic rate of return, that dictates how much you must put into the deal. Example: If you want £50,000 in 12 months and you reckon you have a wheeze to triple your money (300% a year – which is going some) then you’ll need to put in £16,600 or thereabouts. There’s no point in turning up with £500. 181

Example: If you have a nifty scheme to quadruple your money in a year (again, that’s really going some) and you have £3,000 in spare cash then guess what? Z (the amount you can make) is just £12,000 in that year. So please keep this simple formula in mind when contemplating any money-making venture.

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Lesson Fifteen: Working Your Niche We have introduced you to the idea of running your own business. Here is a little tip to help you decide what to do. There is a fortune to be made from niche marketing. Every business is a niche, or course, but some are absolutely huge and some are tiny. A niche is a specific, specialised market with lots of fanatical buyers and only a few specialised sellers. The buyers tend to buy again and again and again. You need to narrow your market down to a particular niche. Do not make the mistake of trying to sell to everybody; you cannot, because not everybody will want to buy no matter how great your product. Think how huge the Coca-Cola market is and yet even they do not sell to everybody – by a long way. You are looking for a market that is not fully exploited. This will be your niche and can be in anything from gardening and sports to business opportunities and software, so long as people want to buy it. Properly worked, your niche could be the equivalent of a pure seam of gold in a gold mine – you can follow that seam for years and mine its rich content. Now if you had this seam of gleaming gold, would you pick away at it only for long enough to extract a few nuggets before deciding that you had had enough and search for another mine? No! Great wealth is staring you in the face! You would extract every last scrap of gold that you possibly could from that seam before you even thought about looking elsewhere. Yet this is what people often do with their niche (seam of gold); they work it to a shallow depth before they give up and try and find another niche to make money from. They then stand amazed when a new prospector comes along and makes a fortune from their abandoned gold mine. The trick is to find your niche, work it to its full depth and to concentrate most of your efforts only on this one rich seam whilst simultaneously planting a few other seeds to see how they grow. Do not dilute your efforts by diverting serious time and attention to other niches; you will be throwing money away. Plant lots of seeds, yes, but spend only a small percentage of time nurturing them and keep your main focus on the working mine. Only when you have completely exhausted ‘the mine’ should you abandon it and search abroad for further riches – and here your seeds will come in handy.

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Lesson Sixteen: Choose The Ideal Business You now know that in order to become wealthy you must start your own business. How do you decide which business? Look for a need – there are plenty of those. People are lazy, lazy, lazy – they want others to sort out their problems. They will pay you to sort out their problems. The 'problem' can be entertaining their children on a Sunday, keeping their house warm, feeding themselves, getting fit, having the grass mowed or any one of ten thousand others problems. Pick your problem (need). Find a solution. Find a creative solution. Find a new solution. Just a small amount of creativity is required. You do not need to invent anti-gravity in your back shed. Finding a solution requires that you....think. Most people drift through life on a survivallevel of consciousness. They rarely engage their rational mind and set it to work on a task. This is why there are so many opportunities. The field is wide-open for you to come along and scoop up the cash they are offering. If you fill a need in a creative way, and enough people have that need (you must have a sizeable niche market) then you will become very wealthy. You are a human being. It is your nature to survive by using your rational mind. You must think and then act in order to survive. You must engage your brain – food does not just come to you. Humans are not grazing animals. Lunch requires planning. You must scheme. You must plan. You must act. Thinking – acting; thinking – acting. This is the way we function. This is how we survive as a species. Only in our current collectivist society do we allow people the luxury of nonthought and to escape the consequences of their self-imposed blank-out. In the countless millennia of human history, it is only in this century that we buffer people from the consequences of their non-action; their laziness and their stupidity. In any other century, the 'wake-up' call would have come, and swiftly!

Thinking and Acting What does that mean for you? The 'thinking' part means taking the trouble to look around you and open your eyes to the countless opportunities there are. If you cannot do this then the consequences for you are a life of third-rate mediocrity. You will never rise above the common herd. You will be normal in every respect. A normal house, a normal car, a normal (= zero) bank balance. Becoming wealthy needs your concentrated, ongoing, focused effort. It is not a plaything to divert your attention for five minutes. Next, you need action. Most people cannot master this one – it is far too hard for them. You see, we live in a physical world which has a tendency to decay into a random warm soup of molecules. This is entropy at work. Only energy, such as that supplied by living creatures, can temporarily reverse this process and build structures. Food, clothing, shelter, 'toys' – all require energy to make them exist. All require human action. Without action, everything is dust and decay. Thinking is not enough. To complete the equation, you need action. YOU MUST DO SOMETHING. 184

Here is the 'startling secret' of success in business. 1.

Think.

2.

Act.

Most people do neither (in a concerted, meaningful way of course). Some act without thinking. No good. Some think and never act. No good. The winners, the rich, the successful all think first (come up with a creative solution to a human need) and then they act (put that idea into a real, tangible program of action). This is what you must do if you wish to join them. Is this too hard for you? Then please, do yourself and everyone else a favour and stop talking about 'one day' becoming wealthy. This is a delusion because you are not prepared to pay the price. The price is thought followed by action. If you do want to become wealthy, then start now today. Look around you – particularly if you are employed. Every company has a long list of 'needs' which it cannot fulfil due to: 1.

Limited imagination of the directors, owners or managers.

2.

Laziness.

3.

Lack of time.

4.

Lack of resources.

5.

They see this opportunity as small beer and not worth bothering with.

The reasons do not matter. This gives you an opportunity. Countless thousands of new businesses are started each year by the workers at a firm realising that the customers had a need which was not being fulfilled by the present operation. They spotted this need, and set to work straight away (action) to fulfil it. The thing to avoid is getting trapped in a business for thirty years doing something you hate. If the business you are contemplating is not your ultimate dream, then that’s fine – you just need to use it as a vehicle to make maximum money in minimum time to propel yourself towards financial freedom – then you can put your dream into action.

Which Business to Start But what business should you start? Many people rush into the first idea that comes their way and end up regretting it. Remember most business owners have bought themselves a high stress, minimum wage job. Here are some key things to consider when choosing your business, you might not be able to tick all the boxes of course: 1. The ideal business sells to the world, rather than a single neighbourhood or even a single city or county. In other words, it has (in principle) a global market. This does not mean that everyone is a potential buyer. Remember we work in niches? But your niche should ideally be global. Today this is more important than ever, since world markets have now opened up to an extent unparalleled in your lifetime. How many times have you seen a retail store that has been doing well for years then another bigger and better retail store moves nearby, and it finishes off the first store? The smaller and more local your market, the smaller the profit you can make and the more vulnerable you are to change. And change is the norm now, not the exception. 185

2. The ideal business offers a product which enjoys an ‘inelastic demand.’ Inelastic refers to a product that people need or desire almost regardless of price. You should sell to people’s desires, not to their needs. People will pay far more to have their dreams fulfilled than they will for the basic necessities of life. Low margin, high volume businesses are a nightmare and you should avoid them – leave that to the big boys with vast resources, deep pockets and a suicidal tendency to slug it out in a price war. Instead, seek lowish volume (but unlimited global marketplace) high margin products. 3. The ideal business sells a product which cannot be easily substituted or copied. This means that the product is an original or at least it is something that can be copyrighted or patented. The world is bursting with people who are prepared to cheat and steal their way to a fortune. Creation takes sincere effort. Copying saves a lot of bother. These plagiarists live by the motto: “Hard work pays off tomorrow, but laziness pays off today!” So if your product is easily copied, for almost zero cost, then there will be a long queue of people lining up to copy your work. The ideal business should not sell any products which can easily be reduced to a bit-stream as these are easily stolen and sold or given away on line as downloads. Sell a seminar rather than an e-book. 4. The ideal business has minimal labour requirements (the fewer personnel, the better). Today's example of this is the much talked about 'Virtual Corporation.' The Virtual Corporation may consist of an office with one or two employees, where literally all manufacturing and services are farmed out to other companies. The ultimate business consists of just you and your laptop. 5. The ideal business enjoys low overhead. It does not need an expensive office or factory; it does not need large amounts of electricity, advertising, legal advice, high priced employees, large inventory etc. This is why most businesses fail – they are crippled by the high overhead at a time when they are struggling to make a profit. 6. The ideal business does not require big cash outlays or major investment in equipment. In other words, it does not tie up your capital (incidentally, one of the major reasons for a new business failing is under-capitalisation). Because the world is so rapidly changing, you do not want to be involved in a business which requires a large capital investment. The days of investing £250,000 in (say) the latest 5-colour printing machine and hoping to pay it back over ten years, are gone. Ten years is a lifetime. Anything could happen next year, let alone a decade away! Besides, this is all ‘jam tomorrow.’ Why should you invest a fortune now and hope to get it back next decade? It does not make sense in this economy. You need to be nimble, flexible, light on your feet, ready to twist and turn with the tide. You do not want to be bogged down with a large number of staff, vast echoing premises and outdated expensive machinery. 7. The ideal business enjoys cash billing. In other words, it does not tie up capital with lengthy or complex credit terms. Many businesses go broke because they cannot get their customers to pay, despite offering an excellent service. You should aim to get your money first and deliver later. The mail order business is ideally suited to this, of course. In most businesses, you do a first-class 186

job and then grow old waiting for them to pay you. This ties up huge amounts of capital as you finance their bad-debts. In mail order and much of retail you get paid immediately. 8. The ideal business is relatively free of all kinds of government and industry regulations and restrictions (and if you are now in your own business, you most definitely will have experienced this). We are beset on all sides by government and bureaucratic jobsworths all limiting what we can do with our businesses. No matter what the industry, their number one nightmare is government tentacles stuck into every crevice of their company. Regulations cover everything from how much you pay your employees (minimum wage) to how you can fire duff employees (basically, you can’t). They cover the number of toilets you have, the width of your doors, the wheelchair ramps and fire escapes you must install, the smoke detectors, the lighting, heating, etc. 9. The ideal business is portable or easily movable. This means you can take your business (and yourself) anywhere you want to. This is the ‘PT’ (Perpetual Traveller) principle invented by the late Harry Schultz and continued by Bill Hill. The perfect business is one which can be run on a laptop. You want to be able to snap the laptop shut, pick up your briefcase and leave town or even the country. When arriving at a distant location, you plug in the laptop, connect to the Internet, and off you go again. The ideal business can be run from a hotel room or a deck chair on the beach. As regulation and bureaucracy move in to stifle your initiative, you just vote with your feet and move your ass and assets elsewhere. To your customers, nothing has changed. They didn't know where you were located in the first place! 10. Here is a crucial one that is often overlooked; the ideal business satisfies your intellectual and often emotional needs. There is nothing as good as being fascinated with whatever you are doing. When that happens you're not working, you're having fun. You must have a passion for your business otherwise you will never drag yourself out of bed each morning to run it. Making money is hard. Making big money is very tough. You must believe in what you are doing and positively enjoy it day to day, otherwise the big bucks will forever elude you. You need to be totally motivated and focused to make several million. You cannot do it if you despise your work and products, or you are bored by them. So first find something you are passionate about, or very interested in, and then find a way of making money out of your passion. 11. The ideal business leaves you with free time. In other words, it does not require your labour and attention 12 hours a day. The older you get, the more important this becomes. Life is for living, not working. You work to make maximum money in minimum time at something you really enjoy. You do not want to postpone all your happiness and enjoyment to some remote future date, perhaps when you retire. It will be too late by then. We work harder and are certainly under more stress than perhaps at any time in the past. We are not digging the fields for 12 hours a day, but most people's lives are a frantic whirl of activity with precious little time for enjoyment. Most people have little peace in their lives. They have a lot of stress, a lot 187

of worry and a lot of angst. Despite working flat out, most people are flat broke too. Something is very, very wrong with the way we are handling the balance between work and real life. There is no point in making ten million if it consumes every waking moment for twenty years, and you have no friends, no family contact and you miss your kids growing up. Many wealthy people have made this mistake. You need to find a way to make a lot of money and have time for other things too. It is possible. 12. Super important: the ideal business is one in which your earnings are not limited by your personal output (e.g. lawyers and doctors have this problem despite being very highly paid). No, in the ideal business you can sell 10,000 customers as easily as you can sell one. Publishing is a good example. This is known as 'gearing.' No matter how high an hourly rate you charge, you will never become wealthy as a consultant, or running any business limited by the hours which you can personally contribute. Examples: Lawyers, psychiatrists, dentists, consultants, doctors; all one-person trades (plumbers, electricians, decorators, etc.) and many others. Publishing is an ideal example of gearing because you write the item once, and then print as many copies as you can find customers, thereby multiplying your effort. That is the complete list. Examine your business (or proposed business) and see how it matches against the check list below. If you are starting a business, check it against this list before starting.

The ‘Ideal Business’ Check List Does the business you are currently operating, or are thinking of operating: •

Have the potential to sell to a global niche market?

•

Offer a product which enjoys an ‘inelastic demand?’

•

Sell a product which cannot be easily substituted or copied?

•

Have a minimal labour requirement?

•

Enjoy low overhead?

•

Not require big cash outlays or major investment in equipment?

•

Enjoy cash billing?

•

Have relative freedom from all kinds of government and industry regulations and strictures?

•

Offer portability or is easily movable?

•

Satisfy your intellectual and emotional needs?

•

Leave you with free time?

•

Not limit your earnings by your personal output?

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Lesson Seventeen: The 12- Piece Jigsaw to Financial Freedom Becoming wealthy is not usually a one-shot deal, rather it is a carefully constructed matrix with several elements. People get this so wrong. They think that just one idea or one lucky break will propel them into the rich league where they can rest without further effort. Nothing could be further from the truth. So let us look together at some of the elements of this ‘wealth jigsaw’.

JIGSAW PIECE #1: Property Property will always be part of the matrix of financial freedom. As we will see it is both a hedge against inflation and the perfect way of having a secure income in your retirement. But not all property is a good investment – in fact over 90 percent of property is a poor investment. Like all investments, property must be chosen carefully. It is a myth that ‘any fool’ can make money out of property – you have to choose wisely. Very few people understand exactly how the property market works. They just notice that over the last 30 years it has gone up in value and so they instinctively think it must be ‘a good thing’. The dynamics of the property market are not as straightforward as many people think. It is important to understand that the property market is not just one market. To talk about the UK property market as if it were one entity makes little sense. London for example could be a different country from the rest of the UK, that is how different London property is. Nearly 50% of property in London is foreign owned. One obvious way to make money from property is to buy a place and rent it out. It is the rental market that has driven the buy to let market. That dynamic has made the difference, aided and abetted by banks willingness to lend money. The hope is, of course, that the property will enjoy a capital gain and that the rental income will more than cover the outgoings. Property will always play a part in your investment portfolio but it is important to remember that the entry and exit costs are high (legal fees, estate agent’s fees, stamp duty etc.) and selling times can be very long, particularly if you need to get out in a hurry. In the ‘easy money’ era many thought they would make a fortune from buy to let. There are still buyers who think they can buy a property, rent it out and it will shoot up in capital value and make them rich overnight. But property is a long term investment – it always has been. The property market is not a market for poor people. In the good times maybe – but in the bad times it can wipe you out. Leverage works both ways – you can make big money and you can lose big money.

Other People’s Money Here is how that works: in the good times you use Other People’s Money (OPM) borrowed at a reasonable interest rate to buy as much property as you are able. The capital gain over the next few years massively exceeds the interest on the money you have borrowed. Eventually you cash out your chips and retire. But in the bad times, money gets expensive and property prices fall. Soon your cash flow is negative and you find you are 189

paying out more in interest than you are getting in rent. If prices fall too much you can slip into negative equity and the bank can call in the loan, leaving you to take the hit. Cautionary tale: At the time of writing, an acquaintance has just lost £4million of his money in the following way. He owned a property worth £12million on which he had £8million financed and £4million of his own money. Right now money is extremely tight, commercial property prices are falling and banks are not lending (most banks are bust at the time of writing). The bank called in his loan on a 30-day clause. Their justification was that they now valued the property at well under £10million and so the loan-to-value ratio exceeded their safety margins. As we will see, this is rubbish and they are playing a greedy game called ‘how to steal £2-£4mllion in 30 days or less’. Their actions meant he had two choices. First choice: raise £8million in 30 days with another lender. No chance of that in the current climate. Second choice: sell the property in 30 days or less and pay off the bank. No chance of that, the market is totally stagnant. Final choice, hand the property to the bank and walk away. This is the choice the bank wanted and this is what he had to do. The bank will sell that property, at their leisure, for between £10 and £12 million thereby pocketing between £2 and £4million for themselves. They are currently repeating this stunt with thousands of properties. Very nasty, but typical of greedy banks who are utterly focused on money. End of cautionary tale.

When to Buy If prices are falling and you are cash rich, this is a buying opportunity. But only buy distressed property at 25% under current market value. There are tens of thousands of such properties in a falling market. So the time to buy is as early as possible in a rising market, or as late as possible in a falling market. The worst time to buy is at the top of a bubble – there is only one way to go from there. It is unlikely that UK property will ever ‘crash’. The fundamentals are just against it. There is still a massive shortage of property. Four million people in the UK are now on the social housing list. That is 1.6million households, so demand is still there. Couples are separating at ever increasing rates and that doubles the number of houses needed. Immigration is massive and the UK population is still rising. There is a pent-up demand but money is still tight and this is what is stemming the flood. If you buy a house for cash and do not rent it – you really are in the property market. There is no other variable on that property but the expected capital gain. You are in the property business because if house values go up you make a profit. If you take out a mortgage for 70% of the property, you need to be clear, you are not in the property market – you are in the rental market. If you fund your mortgage by the rent you receive, then ‘no rent’ means you can say goodbye to your property as it will be repossessed after a certain interval. If this is you, understand that you are not in the property market, you are in the rental market. They are two completely different things.

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You must understand the rental market and you must understand what that market is like in your area. If you have a mortgage of any significance you are in the rental business. And that is what will make or break you. Capital gain is just the icing on the cake.

How Good a Rental Proposition is Your Rental Property? Pretend to be a renter. Go and take a look at the kind of properties you are buying for rental. Look at the competition. See it from the point of view of the people upon whom you totally depend – those to whom you are hoping to rent. What’s the competition like in your chosen market? If you were renting would you rent the property you have bought with a view to letting it out? If you wouldn’t then you have got a problem. Do you need to spend £500 cleaning the walls and replacing the carpet? If so, get on with it! This is a business so get out there and work it. The concept of the armchair landlord makes no sense unless you want to give most of your money away to a full service agency. The basic minimum due diligence you can possibly do is to see your business from your customer’s point of view.

Property Works For You All the Time If you employ people in a business, they work for you some of the time. Property works for you all of the time. The only difference is it does not need bank holidays or time off sick. It is always out there working long after you are too old to work; it gives you a chance to earn money without taking up your time. It will make money 24 hours a day 7 days a week. So why is it that many people end up with properties that do not do that? If you have a lot of lemons in your portfolio someone has not been doing their due diligence. That person would be you. You were probably suckered-in with phrases like “armchair investing” and “it is just a box that makes you money”. Sometimes it is – but most times it needs a bit more TLC than that if it is to be successful. It is not what you ask, it’s who you ask. Do not ask the guy who is selling you the property how much you will get in rent, he or she will most likely tell you what you want to hear; ask someone independent. The easiest way to do it is to just be the person you are going to rent the property to. That’s right, be a potential tenant. You will see your market as it really is not how you think it is. Understand the basics of what you are getting into. Do not worry about the minutiae; do not worry about choosing the curtains or the bed linen. It is not about the cost of purchase – that is not important. It is not about the interest rates or even the mortgage deal – they are not important either. So what is? The rent is the only thing that matters. And that is why you can buy lovely property in Bulgaria for £75k. Is £75k cheap? Similar property in London is a million and half; is that dear? It is relative value that counts. And it is relative to the rent. If nobody wants to rent the property at 6% or more of its value each year then it’s a pup. 191

It is all about who wants it and how much you can rent it out for. Do not try and find the deal of the century. You are far better off finding property that is quality. Do not worry about who you rent to, there is a market for students, business clients and retired people. Do not think “I’d want to live in that” or “I don’t like the look of that house”. It is not for you. You are not going to live in it. You have to buy property that appeals to your market at a price they will pay. The people who want to rent properties, who want to play golf in Spain for example, are not looking at it the same way as you are looking at it – they just want a place to rent. That’s right, in this instance it is a box that makes money. Decide what you want it for. Decide what you are buying it for, i.e. which rental market.

Basic Drivers By 2026 it is estimated 70% of all homes will be for single people. There will be 1 million too few homes to accommodate them. Basic Drivers for the rental and property market are… •

Is there a shortage in the area you are looking at?

•

Is there a need?

•

Is there a desire?

•

Is there the money around?

•

What will it be like 5 years from now?

If you are in an area where there is a glut, the prices will fall. We all know that, but there is another side to this. History tells us that if there is a glut the builders stop building. That will lead to a shortage. Everything is short term or cyclical, if you like. So, you should be buying when prices go down. Not when you see them go up. This “buy low” philosophy should permeate your entire investment strategy.

Your Future and Property What percentage of your total wealth is in the house you live in? Understand this is not property investment, because you live in it. When you buy for yourself you do not buy with the same business criteria as when you buy a BTL. You always pay the top price for starters. How do we know? Because if someone would have paid more than you, they would have got the house not you. Secondly, you do not consider rentable criteria like where are the nearest shops and public transport. Thirdly you buy high maintenance. Thatch roof? Ah how perfect! People say they bought for £400k and sold for £500k but they never tell you how much the replacement windows cost. They never mention the endless hours spent on the garden and the endless list of improvements they have made. Neither do they mention the total lack of rental income on their £400k! Or the hefty mortgage payments they made for ten years.

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Property has the potential for an ordinary person to make a million pounds. As a comparison for swapping time for money, it takes some beating. But it does not mean any idiot can buy property and can make money. Chosen wisely it is one foundation piece of the wealth puzzle.

JIGSAW PIECE #2: Take a Position This part of the jigsaw is all about taking a position big enough that if the market turns in your favour then you hit the jackpot. If property goes down 50% in the next 2 years how does that affect you? If it doubles how does it affect you? If you have no position, the answer has to be ‘not at all’ and you should waste no time worrying about property prices. If gold doubles in the next four years how will it affect you? If you are talking about gold or about property and yet you do not have a position then there is little point in talking about either. If anything goes up (or down) and you are not in it, well, it doesn’t really matter what happens to the price does it? If you’re not in it you can’t win it. Rich people are in everything – they constantly take a position. Poor people constantly talk about taking a position but only to impress dinner guests! In a nutshell – if you know about a 14-1 dead-cert at Cheltenham there is absolutely no point in putting £10 on that horse. The gains are just not worth bothering about. You have not taken a serious position on that investment. Let us go back to property for a minute. If you knew the property you are about to buy would not increase in real terms for 5 years, a lot of people would say “forget it”. If you knew it would never increase (in real terms) most people would back off. Yet if you rented it out and paid off the mortgage with the rent you would own it after 20 years and you now have a valuable asset and one which could pay you an excellent pension for the rest of your life. House prices do not have to go up in value to be a good investment! When a business invests in things like equipment the value goes down overnight. The concept of it going up in value is beyond comprehension for most businesses. But that is exactly what we do. We look to put as much spare cash as we possibly can into things that have the potential to make us a great deal of money. What things? Here are a few examples: gold, silver, stocks, property, business opportunities – anything that can quantum leap you closer to financial freedom. You have to take a position if you want to see the gains. One thousand pounds in gold does not mean you have taken a position! You will feel like a complete fool when your prediction comes true – when gold doubles in value and you are holding a mere £2k. Rich people all have stories of courage and massive gains they have made in a particular sector. They are the kind of stories that keep you up late into the night listening to them with your eyes wide open. Poor people never take these sorts of chances. They are always spending their money on consumer items that lose value the moment they walk out of the shop. Many of these purchases are to make others, or even themselves, think they are rich. Very sad. 193

In contrast, rich people do the exact opposite. Rich people put money aside and then invest that money in areas they hope will go ballistic in the coming years. They win some, they lose some but on the whole, they win.

JIGSAW PIECE #3: Optimization This is the easiest way for almost everyone to boost their income overnight. The jigsaw piece called Optimisation is not about doing something new, it’s about making the most of what you have got. It comes in two shades – reduce your outgoings by cutting your bills or increase the value/price of what you are bringing to the market. Optimize the current bills you are paying. Car insurance, best gas deal, best Broadband deal. Most people are too busy to do that. They are too busy making someone else rich to sort out their own finances.

Product Optimization If you are in business, how do you know you have fully optimised the price of your products? Could you double the price? Remington doubled the price of their shavers. Sales went through the roof. You can do this with any product where the perceived value could be a lot higher than the current price. Are you optimising all of your outgoings and income? You must put aside one day every year and optimise every one of your outgoings and your income streams. Most ordinary people can make a 10% improvement in their finances just by optimisation. That does not sound a lot but if someone knocked on your front door on January 1st each year and handed you £2,000 you would be quite pleased! It amounts to the same thing.

How To Boost Your Investments Returns By 50%+ Tax optimization is a very valuable exercise. Do you use your annual capital gains tax allowance for example? Do you even know what it is? If you put your spare money into savings you will be taxed. As you know, you are allowed to earn so much without paying tax. You are also allowed to earn so much without paying capital gains tax. You can make £10,000 or so in capital gains (depending on when you are reading this) and not pay any tax at all. And yet people insist on making all their money as earned income and by doing so pay tax at their nominal rate on every penny of that income. Everyone should make sure they use their annual capital gains exemption. If you save money and you get interest from those savings you will get taxed on it. But move it over to a capital gains environment and you will not pay a single penny. Once a year sit down and ask, “Am I making my money sweat or am I just giving it away?” 194

That is the springboard for you to optimize your household and business finances. Do not dismiss it is trivial. If you cannot pay attention to these smaller matters you are unlikely to have the focus needed to get rich.

JIGSAW PIECE #4: Plant a New Seed Today One reason why rich people get rich and poor people stay poor is because the rich plant seeds whilst the poor eat their seed corn. The difference between your average successful entrepreneur and the rest of the world is that successful entrepreneurs plant seeds. They plant lots of them in fact, whilst concentrating most of their efforts on their current ‘gold mine’ project. The analogy is that you plant, and you nurture, and you water. Half of those seeds will die despite your tender ministrations. That is to be expected because this is a numbers game. The problem is, if you only plant one or two seeds in your entire life you are so protective about these “little darlings” that you cannot let go. You love them like they are your children. You give them credit and love that they do not deserve because the truth is, many of them should have been abandoned long ago. When you plant seeds on a regular basis then they are just another seed and if they refuse to grow, fine, you let them die and you plant some more. If you only plant one or two seeds you will take huge possession; huge ownership. It cramps your decision making and your ability to act rationally. Make your seed ideas simple to understand.

Deals Should be Easy to Explain If you cannot tell someone about a deal in one or two sentences, chances are it is not a good deal. All great deals are short, sharp and simple to understand. Examples might go like this: •

I’m buying property in Nottingham because there’s a huge shortage.

•

The market collapsed in Birmingham, there’s an oversupply so I’m buying on the dip. I got into the shoe industry because I know a lot about it and can see an amazing opportunity being missed by my employers.

• •

I started selling beach balls down on the beach because nobody else was doing it and there is amazing demand.

All simple propositions. Do not overcomplicate things. Keep it simple, you know where you are. If a deal goes wrong just get out and move on. The mental anguish of holding on to any lemon will ultimately exhaust you. Should you keep a lemon property? Dead easy to answer. Just ask yourself “What is the rental potential?” The value of the property is less important. Ask: “Can I rent it out and for how much?” If the answer is yes, and it will make a profit or at least wash its face, then keep going. If not get out – there are far more things you can 195

be doing with your money. Another question to ask: “Would I buy this property right now if I did not own it already?” If the answer is no, sell it. If you made a mistake when you bought and you are going to lose £20,000 – get out and make that money back somewhere else. Business and property can give you big money – in property terms £20,000 is not a big hit. You see – it is just a deal, it is just a seed. Practice non-attachment. There is nothing wrong with admitting you have made a mistake. The worst thing you can do is stay in there for the next ten years, losing sleep over it, and all that time your money is tied up when it could be making money elsewhere. Do not let these business ideas consume you. These are not your children, they are just seeds you planted. Making money should be fun, not a chore. Let it go, and go and make some money – let us plant some seeds – every month or two you must aim to plant at least one new seed.

JIGSAW PIECE #5: Gold and Silver Nothing gets simpler than buying a lump of gold. A lot will depend on when you are reading this of course but one thing will not change – precious metals are real money, everything else is fake. There is no tax to pay if your gold increases in value either because it is viewed as a capital gain and you will only ever sell enough to keep you under your yearly allowance. You do not get a dividend or a yield cheque. But you haven’t got somebody bleeding you for service charges either. Some people are fearful that the gold will be stolen. They would rather leave their money with someone else like a financial institution! Totally safe there, right? Very few people own gold. Most people are selling gold. Putting it in envelopes and sending it to someone who gives them half its value. Let us look at the value of gold over time and when we as investors should buy: In 2001 gold was $300 an ounce and it remained at $300 an ounce for three years. How would you feel if you invested in something that did not move for three years? The answer is you have got to be in the game; taking a position. You must have a strategy. The best thing to happen once you started to invest in gold is for the price of gold to fall. If it goes down or stays the same you are buying it at the right time. In 2004 it was $400 an ounce. 2005 it was $500 an ounce. In 2006 it was $600 an ounce and 2008 it was $800, 2009 it was $900 and 2010 it was $1100. 2011 it is $1500 and rising. Throughout this entire period governments were selling gold. The banks were selling. They had an agreement about how much gold they would sell. They told us. Why would they do that? What happens to gold when you have a huge amount coming onto market like that? It should go down. It went up.

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Now it has all changed. Governments are not selling gold, the banks have stopped as well – now they are buying. Pension funds are buying gold. If gold can do that, you know it is a solid investment. Gold has gone up and dipped in small troughs over the last seven years but it has gone up overall. Gold has proven itself for thousands of years. A golden sovereign will be worth more in ten years than it is now. Paper money will not. Your savings will likely have decreased in real terms due to inflation. Get into commodities. People need commodities. But if you are new to this, gold is easy to start with.

Gold and Insurance – Where do I Keep my Gold? If you insure gold you will be required to buy a safe and put the gold in it. If you buy a lot of gold, do not put it all in the safe. Hollow out a piece of wood and put it in your garage. It is safer there, than it is in the safe. You do not have to take possession if it scares you. Take possession of at least half of it though. If times get really tough you need physical ‘in your hand’ gold, not a receipt from a distance bullion storage depot.

Buying Gold When Prices Dip Buy on dips. What happens when you cannot catch the dips? The dips are not low, say £840 last week and then £873 a week later, so if you missed a dip it shoots back to where it was few weeks ago. You will get another chance. Gold has been a good investment for the last seven years. It can only go up in value. It originally fell in value because people lost interest in gold due to paper money. Have we reached peak gold in mining terms? We are producing less gold each year than we have ever before. It is getting harder to extract and harder to find. That can only do one thing for the price.

Paper Money Paper money devalues and it is set to seriously devalue in the coming years as governments crank up the presses to buy their way out of the financial black hole. There is hardly a single currency in the world that has not been devalued to a small fraction of its value. For example, the dollar has lost 97% of its value in 97 years – and amazingly, the dollar is one of the better performing currencies in the world. The problem is it devalues so slowly that people do not notice. But stop! Just think back to when you were a child. How much pocket money did you get and what would it buy? That is why after 40 years of pay rises you are not much better off. Your salary keeps going up every year, if you are lucky, but inflation means the purchasing power of your salary has not changed. Ever wondered why you are always broke? It is because of inflation eating away at your salary and your savings. Inflation means that you are not really making a gain – it is only perceived value. When savings in the bank are giving you 4% return, inflation is 4%. If you are getting a 15% 197

return, inflation is at 15%. Inflation, by the way, is calculated, deliberate theft of your money by governments as we saw earlier. So when people say they are living off the interest they are not, because inflation wipes out profit. Gold has kept well above inflation level.

Investment Risk Investments are risks, we have to look at the worst and the best that can happen. For gold the worst that can happen is not particularly bad. The best? It has already doubled four times. It could easily double another four times. Gold and silver will go up massively in the coming years – why? Because governments keep printing paper money. Of course, gold is a two play bet. You are buying gold and playing the gold market, and you are also playing the exchange rate between the dollar and the pound. Gold is the exact opposite of paper money. Paper money has no intrinsic value, it is only because I can swap this paper money for something that it is worth something. But it devalues – just remember what you used to get for your pocket money. An ounce of gold today is worth a new decent quality suit. You can swap an ounce of gold for a suit. Guess what? You could do the same 200 years ago and today. Now take money out of your pocket and ask how much you could buy with that amount ten years ago and what can you buy with it today? Inflation is the elephant in the room – it is one of the biggest government scams of all time and no one seems to notice.

Future Plan You need to have a plan with all of your investments, not just gold. You need to have an exit strategy. When you buy gold you need to know why you bought it and when you would sell it. So when should you sell? One good system that many people use is if they buy something and it doubles in value they sell half of their investment. Because the price has doubled you actually get back all of your money and have the same amount still riding the market. That is one good approach. Another is to let your winners ride, particularly if the signs are good – which they are for gold. What affects the gold price? Many things. It is more than something we turn into jewellery, although the jewellery trade, particularly in places like India, makes a big difference. Indian relatives give gold to the married couple because it is the only thing of value. Here in the UK we give an electric toaster – how stupid have we become that we have forgotten the value of real money? Buying your first gold and silver can feel odd. You send your cheque off to someone you have never heard of and some weeks later a piece of gold turns up in the post. Well you hope it is gold – it could be gold painted lead for all you know! It doesn’t feel right at first, it feels odd. But when you have your first piece of gold, buying the second piece is just a little bit easier. It feels more natural. By the time you have bought your fifth piece it will feel like the most normal thing in the world. 198

The smallest piece of gold you can realistically buy and take possession of is a sovereign. It is legal tender. As legal tender there is no capital gains tax here in the UK. Of course, if you buy Krugerrands (1oz gold coins), that is a currency in South Africa but it is not legal tender in UK and so you pay capital gains tax on any increase in value. A Kruger is one ounce of gold. The bar is 33 ounces. So, if the price of gold were to fall this week, should you sell? You need to ask if you exchange gold for paper money, what are you going to do with the money? No, if gold fell 15% it is time to buy more – that is a dip and we always buy on dips. Any short term downward movement is a chance for us to top up at a lower price. It is hard to do in practice but when you have done this a few times and seen the price come back up and then rise even higher you will soon get the confidence to do this without worrying. Do not get too analytical. Do not get hung up on this stuff, it is not your son or daughter, it is just a seed. It is one piece of the puzzle. As an aside consider buying gold and silver mining shares. If gold goes up 100% then mining shares can go up 500%!

JIGSAW PIECE #6: Managing Risk The only reason you would ever lose everything is because you risked too much on any one deal. Jigsaw piece #6 is all about managing your risk – making sure you never ‘fall off the log’, to use a theme park analogy. Many property investors feel exposed when the market falls because they risked so much on those deals. Someone convinced them that house prices only ever go up and so you should bet the whole farm on a few ‘buy to lets’ that they had never seen. It is never too late to look at your portfolio and say, you know what? I made a big mistake here – I need to reduce my exposure – quickly. Managing risk can mean realising a loss. That’s okay. Again a big difference between rich people and poor people is that rich people are willing to walk away from a deal even if it means taking a loss. Poor people will never do this. That is why they end up with a portfolio full of losing shares. They take the profits on the good ones and hang on to the losers so they end up with a portfolio full of losers. Is that you? Remember that what got you from A-B may not get you from B-C. You probably got from A – B through prostitution, to put it rather less crudely, you swapped your limited time on planet Earth for some paper money. You then deferred gratification and saved some of that money. And that got you got from B – C . Most people will not achieve even this level. Now, the C – D is getting that money sweating for you. You try and manage the risk of this process the best you can. The problem is there is not a single investment that is guaranteed. Property is not, neither is gold or silver – so managing risk is vital. Here are a few tips:

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• Never be a forced seller of anything. If a property has dropped to such a low level and it is such a good buy at that price – don’t sell it, keep it yourself. Understand the lifetime value of everything you buy. Watch interest rates; they can kill you overnight. If you are on a variable mortgage right now you are massively exposed. If interest rates went up half of one per cent how much would this cost you a month? Can you afford that? What if they go up just one per cent? • Ask yourself what is the best thing that can happen and what is the worst thing that could happen? And could you survive if the worst thing happened? If the answer is no, then you should not invest as the gamble is too great. Yes you need courage to become wealthy but this does not translate into recklessness.

JIGSAW PIECE #7: Play Away This is such a big concept. Poor people always want the game to come to them, but it refuses. They insist on playing on their pitch, with their strip, their ball and their rules. Unfortunately the money does not recognise their rules. Even as you are reading this you are trying to take these words into your world. That does not work. To make money you sometimes have to ‘play away’. You have to play on someone else’s pitch, with their rules, with their ball – it feels uncomfortable but that is the only way you will make money. It will never just come to you. The problem is we all want life to fit our view of the world. Every sentence you read, everything you hear, you view it from your point of reference. It is always easier just to add new information to your present viewpoint than to see things differently, to accept change, but that is what you must do. If you are not making the money you think you should, it is probably because you do not ‘play away’ on a totally new pitch, you are rigid in your ideas, you will not compromise, it always has to be on your terms. This is what is keeping you poor. So if you have exhausted the possibilities of your home turf (and check to make sure this is really true) it is time to go and play another game. If it is no longer working for you, stop doing what you have always done, stop getting what you have always got and learn to play away. If you do not have a spare million pounds in the bank and you have been doing the same things for the last 25 years, don’t you think it’s time you should try a different approach? One day a month, look at new ideas. Ask, is it me that’s stopping me from moving forward? Am I the problem? Consider changing just a few things you do. What you have been doing in the last 25 years counts for nothing. What you do in the next 2 years counts for everything. If you change even 1%, how many seeds will you plant how many new ideas will you have put into place? Please play away, try some new things that are out of your current comfort zone.

JIGSAW PUZZLE PIECE #8: Joint Venture It makes no difference whether you are totally broke or worth millions, in the investment world the easiest way to move up is to do deals with people you have never met before. In 200

some ways stocks and shares are a kind of joint venture. You are taking a punt on someone else’s performance rather than just relying on what you can do alone. That is a step in the right direction because you will never get rich on your own, it always comes about in conjunction with others. The TV programme ‘Dragons Den’ demonstrates that some entrepreneurs cannot get their heads around joint venturing. Look at the deals they try to negotiate! They would rather have 70% of nothing than 30% of a multi-million pound business! If a dragon wants to put in £30,000 you know you have got a good idea. You also know they are capable of bringing you to market within 12 months, whereas it would take you five years – or forever. So why wouldn’t you give them the controlling vote on your board? They know a lot more than you do. When you do a joint venture do not be possessive. It is petty minded to be worrying about 10% or 20%, particularly if it is 10%-20% of nothing! That is how you should be with some of your investments. Gamble a bit of money with a third party – take a risk – let them have a controlling say in how things are run. Note: better to do this with people who have a proven track record of making money rather than your broke brother in law. Measure your partners by how much money they have made so far in their lives. Surround yourself with the right people. Note that in business this will rarely be a friend or member of your family. Another way to do joint ventures is to find a business doing a similar thing to you (not identical). You offer them this proposition: if they will sell your product and service to their customers, they can keep half of the profit and give you the other half. This is truly an amazing way to kick-start a business which has no customers at its inception.

JIGSAW PIECE #9: Own a Business You must own at least one business and ideally more than one. Remember this is about the only way of getting rich apart from luck or if you are ultra highly paid. Owning a business has many advantages. The primary ones are the professional look and feel, and the tax advantages. Forming a limited company is an essential way of protecting what you have already made in your life. Form a limited company and you can then remove the risk of having all your assets, property, house etc. exposed. You must get these things off the table from the start. You will never sleep at night if one random law suit could end up in your losing the roof over your head. Never expose the family home when a limited company can protect you from this. Of course there are many tax advantages to owning a company and there are allowable tax deductions on many purchases wholly used for the business. A limited company also gives you a professional look and feel. Often looks count for a lot. If you are thinking of a business idea on which you are not even prepared to spend on a web site and some business cards then nobody is going to believe in it or you. There is no excuse these days for not looking professional. Everything is so easy to get and so cheap. Start at least one new business in the next 12 months. 201

JIGSAW PUZZLE PIECE #10: Know Your Numbers If you do all the other 11 pieces and you do not do this piece you will go bust. Companies and individuals go bust because they do not know the numbers. You have to know your numbers at the end of the month at the least – ideally you should know them weekly. If things are not working you have to know. What is the difference between bankruptcy and solvency? If you can pay your bills this month are you bankrupt? Are you solvent? Cash flow is everything. If you can pay the bills you can survive another month. People say “I don’t know where all the money goes”. What? Well then we want you working for us! You don’t know where the money goes? Come on! You have to know where the money goes. You can always spend more money than you earn, any idiot can do that. Idiots can even lose money on winning propositions. Here is an example: How to invest in a company that makes a 50% gain and still loses you money. Let us imagine you have got £10,000 spare in your existing business. You decide to some shares. Let us also say the shares will make 50% in the next 12 months – guaranteed. Very nice. So you take £10,000 out of your business, less tax @ 40% gives you £6,000 to put into ABC Ltd. 12 months later it has gone up 50% so you have £3,000 profit less tax due, less dealer charges for the broker on both in and out if you sell. So after 1 year at 50% gain you now have £9,000 (without even deducting tax and dealer charges). You have invested in a company with 50% gain – and you have just made a £1,000 loss since you started with £10,000! How can you get around that? Get the company to make the investment so it is all “upstream of tax”. Make sure that the articles and memorandum of your limited company includes investing in stocks and shares and can do anything it likes. If you start a hairdressers do not state that that is all the company can do. So with all your investments – know your numbers – and look for legal ways to lower your tax bill.

JIGSAW PIECE #11: The Money Tree There are two ways of making money. Option A, you can swap time for money once. Or option B you can do something once and get paid many times over. A bit of a no-brainer when it is spelt out like that? What a pity our teachers did not tell us! Oh yes, of course – they didn’t know, did they? Selling insurance is a great example of a money tree. If you sell somebody a policy you get a kick back on that policy – you get something every year, even though you do not do something every year. Copyright is another great way of creating a money tree, if you create music or a great book you own the copyright and you can sell that again and again. It is a money tree. That 202

is why successful musicians can live off their royalties and back catalogue until the day they die. If you can write novels or produce art, again you can do something once and get paid over and over. What do you currently do that you can leverage in this way? What can you do once and then sell over and over? A great example is to produce a book, a course, a manual or a DVD on what it is you do – and sell it to people who may want to do that too! If this does not apply to your job, could it apply to your hobby? Many people are getting quietly wealthy selling simple information products on everything from fly-fishing to bongo drum playing. Most people who stay on the first ladder of financial freedom never create a money tree. They never create something that will continue to fund their lifestyle when they become too old to work.

JIGSAW PIECE #12: Your Unfair Advantage Everybody has something that a lot of other people do not have. It doesn’t have to be unique. It is just something that other people will want and it is exclusive to the knowledge that you have. Sit down and think what you have that other people will want. For instance you could have a mailing list. You may have the names and email addresses of everyone at your club. If you know 200 people at your ‘club’ who are interested in something, it doesn’t matter what that ‘thing’ is – it gives you an unfair advantage. You could sell to that list. It is a very hard concept to get your head around but any group of people are a huge marketing opportunity if you can access them. Given the choice between a hot new product and a hot mailing list you should unhesitatingly choose the latter. Everyone has at least one unfair advantage that they can make money out of, they just do not realise it. We all start off working for the man, which is fine but you slowly have to move into new areas. You do not suddenly leap into a successful business. But you have your weekends and your evenings to start these things. When you work for somebody else, they pay you the minimum they can get away with. When you work for yourself, you pay yourself the maximum you can get away with. So what is your unfair advantage? What do you have or know that you can put to use in the next few weeks? Ask yourself… •

What do I know that I can leverage to my advantage?

•

Who do I know that I can leverage to my advantage?

If you sit down and write this out on paper it will take a couple of hours before you complete it. Do not be tempted to think ‘nothing’. There is almost always something.

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Finally… This jigsaw will work for you this year and next year and every year. If you are not making enough money it is because one or more pieces of this jigsaw are missing from your wealth picture. Work the 12 piece jigsaw on a regular basis. Revisit it and keep working your weakest piece. It is very hard to succeed if we always “re-act”. We must be pro-active to make money, not just re-act to what comes our way. The world is not geared to making you any richer than you are now – in fact the world is very much geared to making you poorer than you are now. You must turn this around. You have to put time aside, sit down and make this happen. You have to be pro-active. No-one can make you do that – you must want to do it. If you spend your life re-acting to events, all the stuff that comes your way is designed to make other people rich. You have just become more cannon fodder, that is why you need to take time off and plan. Every one of the twelve pieces gives you the opportunity to create something you would not have created in a re-active way. Most success comes from energy and focus. It does not matter where you are in life or what you have achieved so far, it is what you are going to do from now that counts. It is not about what you have done in the past – it is about what you do today that counts. Today – not tomorrow – because by definition tomorrow never comes. Remember: clever people do not make money fast – they know too many reasons why it won’t work for them!

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Lesson Eighteen: How to Make £10,000.00 As mentioned earlier, when opportunity comes knocking many people are completely unable to take advantage of it for one main reason – they are totally tapped-out. They have no spare cash whatsoever; literally nothing. They could not raise £1,000 if their lives depended upon it and £10,000 seems an impossible fantasy. You now know that the only way you are going to get wealthy (apart from luck) is to start your own business. This you must do at the earliest conceivable moment. If you have not made at least a start on this within a day of finishing this book, then you are not really serious about becoming wealthy, powerful and free. The serious people will have made a start long before finishing the book. If you are serious – get on with it. But even a tiny business requires some money to get it started. £1,000 is really the minimum amount, with £10,000 being more like it. Obviously some businesses require millions, but we are not discussing those here. We are talking about small, ideally homebased businesses which can be started for under £10,000 and which go on to make you wealthy and free. This chapter is concerned with the very lowest level of wealth – a mere £10,000. But this money is not for buying more things, having a holiday or squandering on trivia – it is a very special chunk of money. It is your seed capital for a business which will bring you everything you want in life. If you can easily raise £10,000 or have it in a savings account already, then you can skip this chapter (but you might want to read the ‘double your way’ system towards the end of it). The following chapter tells you the strategies for raising £100,000; and subsequent chapters discuss a million, ten million and even a hundred million!

Small Change First realise that £10k is a very trivial sum of money. Please allow yourself a little embarrassment and discomfort if you need this chapter, for you are truly broke. And guess what? It is totally your fault. That may not be what you want to hear, but it is the truth. The faster you acknowledge that, the faster you can move forward to making a million or more. Why is this? Because if you believe it is somebody else’s fault then you are admitting that you are powerless. You just have to wait until that ‘somebody else’ (e.g. bosses, society, government etc.) change their ways and ‘allow’ you to become wealthy. That will be a long wait. In The Teachings, The Author exposed the con artists (religions, media, government etc.) not for the purposes of whining and saying “Oh well, there’s no point in trying as ‘they’ will just stop me.” No, the point was to ‘know your enemy’ so that you might triumph over them. So the excuses are over. You are broke because of your decisions and actions leading up to where you are now. Acknowledge it. Accept it. Get over it and move on. So if £10k is such a paltry sum (which it is). How are we (or rather you) to raise it? 205

We cannot give you an exact method as it will not suit everyone and in any case it will become dated before the ink is dry on these pages. For example, imagine if we gave you this advice: “To make £10,000 one of the fastest ways we know is to sell generic typewriter ribbons at half the price of the ‘named’ brands. You can buy such ribbons for 27p each in bulk, and sell them for double (50p or even more!) and still be under the ripoff cost of a new ribbon which can often exceed £1!” You would be disgusted with that old-fashioned, way-out-of-date advice. So we are avoiding the temptation to talk about specific (e.g. Internet based) ideas which are making good money right now. They will be laughably out of date within just a few months, let alone years. However, here is some top-notch practical advice though about how to achieve this first rung on the ladder of wealth.

Stop Spending! Firstly, £10,000 can rapidly be achieved by stopping spending. You can make it even faster by simultaneously earning more. Spend £5k less a year and earn £5k more a year and there is your £10k in under 12 months. Easy. We have discussed ‘stop spending’ already. Please go back and re-read that section. Get a grip of your income and outgoings. You need to know exactly what you are spending and what you are getting in. Very few people know this. They are like children, pretending they can spend their pocket money twice. They are scared of getting out a sheet of paper and writing down their income and expenditure because then they would have to be adult, face reality and see the truth of their bad situation. Far better to just carry on spending for comfort and hoping that maybe something will turn up. Do not let this be you any longer. You need to change. What does stopping spending £5k look like? It is just £14 a day or £100 a week! Most people can do this – if they had the willpower. Many people spend way more than this a day on crisps, snacks, junk food, cigarettes and alcohol. That is a serious point and one worth repeating. Most people spend more than £14 a day directly and wilfully ruining their health yet when they need money to start a business they are tapped-out! As mentioned many times, people spend way more than this on the latest toys. They spend £3k-£5k on a holiday. They remodel the kitchen or bathroom at a cost of £10k+. They have two newish cars on the drive. If none of this applies to you, think of something that does. What can you honestly cut back on? The majority of people do not even turn a light off when they leave the room; or turn the thermostat down a notch, or only 1/3rd fill the kettle when they make a cup of tea. They leave their TV and computer on whether or not they are using them. These and a dozen similar things can save hundreds a year, and reduce carbon emissions if you are into that. Many people are in serious debt, as we have seen. The money they pay back in interest is significant. Often it can be approaching this £5k a figure! So if you have big debts with high interest rates, this is the first thing to tackle. Vow to do whatever it takes to pay off the loan sharks and never borrow from them again. Here are some more tips: 206

• Cut back on meals out, going to the bar, drink, cigarettes, junk food, expensive ready meals and clothes. You do not need any more clothes – probably ever! Have you checked your wardrobe recently? Is it still stuffed full-to-bursting with clothes? Do not buy any more non-essential consumer goods like televisions, mobile phones, tablet computers, Hi Fi systems etc. • Drive just 12 miles a day less on average. That’s 4,380 miles, 110 gallons of fuel and £600 a year saved! People think nothing whatsoever of jumping in the car every time they want to ‘pop out’ for something. Save up your journeys for one big round of errands rather than taking the car out several times. • Do not upgrade your car unless totally on its last legs. Particularly do not do this for status. That is a sad ego trip and one which you will pay dearly for. If you think anyone is admiring your brand new Vauxhall you are dreaming! • Stop going on holidays. You do not need a ‘holiday’! Leastways you do not need one away from home. These are illusions sold to the Thralls. Holidays are stressful, expensive and exhausting in case you hadn’t noticed! Sure you can have fun sometimes but the price per ‘fun unit’ is exorbitant. You can have easily as much fun (or more) staying at home and going for long walks or going on some day trips. If you desire to see more of the world add it to your goal list and go when you have a million to spare. Do not go when you are scratching around for £10,000. You are being conned by the Thrall illusion of ‘the good life’ which includes manipulative images of thirty-something couples strolling hand in hand along white sands lapped by crystal blue water. It is never like that (as you know). Stop being a greedy, gullible Thrall. • Stop ‘upgrading’ your home apart from essential repairs. The Thralls are again conned by ‘the good life’ delusion which includes new carpets and sofas; new kitchens and bathrooms. The time to spend £30k on a kitchen (if you really must) is when you have three million in the bank. Even then, that kitchen is costing 1% of your total wealth! Are you sure you want to spend that on a kitchen? The same applies to bathrooms, driveways, landscaping the garden, new carpets throughout, interior designers, expensive curtains and sofas. This is Thrall-fodder sold to you by big business. People buy this stuff to cover up their emptiness and to gain a quick ego-fix. Notice how the adverts for these things often include an envious neighbour? • Expunge any freeloaders on your ‘payroll’. The most likely candidates here are N’er Do Well ‘children’ aged between 18 and 40! Many times we have seen families desperate for money, but with one or two young adults still living at home. They are either not earning at all (sponging) or whatever they earn they keep most of because they ‘need’ it to take the girlfriend out, remodel the car, pay off a loan or pay down their credit card. They ‘need’ a minimum of £100 a week to go out on a Friday and Saturday because a single round of drinks costs £25 a time. Not to mention their marijuana habit – or worse! If this is your situation you need to lay the law down immediately. The law is ‘pay and do your share or get out’. Sell things. Your house or flat is stuffed full with ‘things’ – most of which you • never use. Start selling it. De-clutter and start making some money from this junk. The bass guitar you played once; mum’s old accordion; your spare books; the second lawnmower; the three tennis racquets – you know the sort of things. Get rid of it all. 207

Lighten up. This is worth doing even if you do not make much from it. You would be amazed how much money you could make on an auction site off-loading the loft-full of rubbish you have stacked away for ‘a rainy day’. • Stop all of your bad habits right now, today. Smoking costs a fortune. So does drinking. Hopefully you do not gamble. Do you have a ‘junk food’ habit? Just £3 a day on crisps and chocolate is £1,000 a year! Hard to believe, but true. Do the sums. • What are you spending on mobile phones and the Internet? Many people easily spend £1,000 a year (£85 a month) on this when you add in everything! • What are you spending on Christmas and birthdays? For many poor people this well exceeds £1,000 a year. • What are you spending on food? It is truly astonishing how cheaply and healthily you can eat if you cook for yourself rather than rely on ready meals. Saving just £15 a week (£2.14p a day) is £780 a year! Again it’s hard to believe these figures sometimes. Let’s add them up: Crisps, chocolate and fizzy drinks

£1,000

Mobile and Internet

£500 (save £500 of the £1,000)

Christmas and Birthdays

£1,000

Junk food

£780

TOTAL

£3,280!!

Smoke 10 a day

£1,000

Drink 3 units a day

£1,500

TOTAL

£5,780!!

Alarming, isn’t it? Nearly six grand and we haven’t even looked at cutting down petrol, gas and electricity use, Sky sports, excessive driving, holidays you don’t need, clothes you don’t need, other impulse purchases and so on. That ten grand is looking easily attainable by stopping spending, don’t you think?

Earn More! Stopping spending is just half of the battle. You can get your £10k in double quick time by earning more as well. Assuming you are employed, are you due a 10% rise? Possibly no, but this is something to consider. And here is a question: if you are not due this rise, what can you start to do right away, today, to make yourself worth more? What extra responsibility can you take on? Many people keep their noses to the grindstone and shy away from any extra work or responsibility. Guess what? They rarely get a rise above inflation. Sheila, on the checkout for fifteen years, is broke and complains about it. She has been passed over for the supervisor’s job (on far more money) several times because she does not want ‘the hassle’. And anyway, there is a supervisor’s meeting every Wednesday that

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goes on until 6.30pm. She will miss her favourite soap opera on TV if she goes for that! Sheila is very typical of many. £3,000 extra a year is about one hour’s overtime a day. That is all. If you are not prepared to do this you are not at all serious about your financial future.

Get on Your Bike! If you are unemployed, why? You had better have a really superb reason such as a major mental or physical disability. Please do not say ‘there are no jobs around here’. Come on! That is a true loser speaking. You do whatever it takes, however long it takes, wherever you have to go to get a job. Not for any moral reasons – this is not a book on morals. The reason is that you claim to want to be a wealthy person. If that is true and not just idle barroom bragging, you need to do whatever it takes to become rich. That starts with getting your seed-corn capital and the quickest way to get this is to start earning. Do you honestly believe that any millionaire would ever have said “There are no jobs around here” when they were starting out?

Change Your Job If for some reason there is truly no potential in your current job, consider changing. Consider getting some training so you are worth more. Remember most people watch 3.7 hours of television or mindless Internet surfing, twittering, facebooking and other such nonsense each day. In one year that is 1,350 hours or the equivalent of 33 full working weeks. That is a startling statistic. Do you think you could get yourself some really great skills if you devoted 33 full time weeks to it? Sure you could. The fact that people do not, means they are non-serious about improving their lot in life. Yes, they chatter about this; they pontificate, whine or brag, but they do not really mean it. Their actions confirm this. Given a choice between night school or more telly, there is just no competition – telly wins hands-down.

Start a Spare Time Mini-Business! If you cannot or will not change your job, what are you doing in your spare time and at weekends? Chillin’ with your homies? All around you people are desperate for paid help. That might be gardening, lawn mowing, DIY, car cleaning, window cleaning – whatever. If you spent each Saturday doing a humble window-cleaning or lawn-mowing round you would make £6,000 extra a year! Add just one evening pulling pints down the Dog and Ferret and the total comes to £7,500. Now these might not be ideal jobs. You may consider them ‘beneath’ you, but unless you have something better in mind like a little weekend brain surgery at £2,000 a pop, it is time to get your sleeves rolled up and get to it – if you are a serious person, not a chatterer. By the way, doing something like this not only makes you money – it gets you into the ‘business’ mode. Lawn mowing is a business. It is £15 per lawn but whilst you are there you notice a bramble or tree stump that needs removing – can you upsell them to that? You are window cleaning and notice the guttering is blocked or damaged – can you help with that? Rapidly that £6k a year becomes £12k a year with very little extra work. These are examples only, you understand. 209

They key concept here is earn it – save it – invest it in a business. What does that mean? When you are broke and maxed-out, the only way out of the hole is to work in the various ways we have suggested. Then every penny you earn, you save (invest) and make it grow. You do not spend it. When you have sufficient money you invest it in (say) a small business which will grow your wealth hugely. Then you reinvest that... and keep going until you are rich. That’s the only way we know, apart from luck and crime. It’s exactly what we all did to make our millions. Please understand that what gets you from A to B will probably not get you from B to C in terms of wealth. In fact you probably won’t even be able to see C from A. So just do what it takes to get you to the next stage, then the next stage, then the next. In a moment we will reveal an amazingly simple system which trains you in this concept.

Too Proud to Make a Start at Getting Rich? Do not be too proud to get rich. If we lost all our money we would do whatever it took to make a start on getting it back. If that means washing cars then pass us the buckets and sponges and we will get cracking. We are not too proud for honest work if that’s the only game in town, and neither should you be. Basic work will not make you rich of course. That is not the intention of this chapter. Honest work will get you started on the ladder and give you an insight into running your own business – which you must do if you are to get wealthy. You do not have to get your hands dirty if you don’t want to. Can you buy, sell or trade something for money? Can you become an expert in a small niche and seek out items at car boot sales or on the Internet and sell them for a profit? An estimated 67,000 people are currently making in excess of £10k a year from home doing exactly this in the UK alone. These are very ordinary people making serious second incomes. Can you join them? We often hear people say “but I don’t know about anything!” Of course they don’t – they are spending 1,300 hours in front of the television each year and that leaves no time to study and become an expert. If this chapter has been a little hard on you, we have done what we set out to do. If you are so broke, in this wonderful era, that you cannot scrape together ten grand then you need a good, hard talking to. Hopefully you have just received it and are willing to do whatever it takes to get your seed money together. A final word of warning which we hope hardly needs saying. Do not spend this money on anything other than making a start on the business which will make you a million. Please remember the warning from earlier about dreaming up ways to spend it as soon as you have a few pounds – and watch your partner too! They can get very twitchy about money in an account just begging to be spent on consumer junk.

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Double Your Way to a Million Here is a concept which is fun, but which also has a serious side. It proves to you what has just been said about what gets you from A to B will not get you from B to C (C to D, D to E and so on). It is called How to Double Your Way to a Million Pounds. This unique system started as a bit of fun, but rapidly became serious as many people began to report their success using the method. The exciting thing about it is that you start from nothing – zero, zilch, nada.

You are not required to put one single penny piece of your own money into this system! It also teaches the vital strategies for becoming wealthy – strategies which change as you get richer. The techniques you use for making pocket change will not work when you come to make the big bucks. Through using this system you receive a vital training in how to make a million, ten million or even a hundred million! The really big temptation is to spend the loot as soon as you get a sizeable chunk. Please try to resist this temptation!

What is The Doubling Method? The human mind is a funny thing. It can't cope with large projects. Instructions such as: “Make one million pounds from nothing,” or “put a man on the moon” are likely to be met with a feeling of defeat and then inaction. The project is just too large – you cannot get your mind around it. But as every software writer, engineer or designer knows, these large projects can only be handled if they are broken down into a series of smaller steps. In fact, “the longest journey starts with the first step” is a very true saying. The ‘impossible’ is achievable if you break it down into 'bite-sized' steps. The advantages of this unique doubling method are as follows: 1. It teaches you to start from nothing. Any fool can make a million, given a 'kick start' of (say) half a million. But it takes guts, determination and real spirit to do this from nothing – flat broke. 2. It teaches you that making money is all about people, marketing and selling. Everyone is in sales. Even if you are employed, you are selling yourself (and your skills) to your boss; day by day, hour by hour. 3. It teaches you that different strategies are required for different levels of wealth. The strategy for doubling £50 into £100 is not the same strategy for doubling £250,000 into half a million, but they both involve selling, or trading (which is the same thing). 4. It teaches you to be fearless because you don't put one single penny of your own money into the scheme. With most ideas you are always worried about losing your 'stake money'. There is no stake money with this system! You really (for once) have nothing to lose by trying this method. When we say nothing, we mean nothing. You will not have to part with one single penny piece of your money. 5. It teaches you the limits of labour. You will rapidly realise that physically working has strict limits and will not get you past step 20 at best. After that (and preferably before) 211

you have to 'get smart' and start trading without adding your labour as a significant factor. Slaves labour – not you, but you haven't realised that yet! 6. It teaches the tremendous power of breaking large tasks into small, achievable, steps. All major life-goals are reached one step at a time. But perhaps best of all, it's FREE and it's FUN! The object is to start with nothing, get 1p and then double your way to way to over one million pounds. Surprisingly there are only 28 steps required to achieve this. They are:

Your Twenty Eight Steps to a Fortune Step 1 Find a penny lying on the ground, or be given it without asking for it. Step 2 1p-2p Step 3 2p-4p Step 4 4p-8p Step 5 8p-16p Step 6 16p-32p Step 7 32p-64p Step 8 64p-£1.28p Step 9 £1.28-£2.56 Step 10 £2.56-£5.12 (Call it £5 to make it easier.) Step 11 £5-£10 Step 12 £10-£20 Step 13 £20-£40 Step 14 £40-£80 Step 15 £80-£160 Step 16 £160-£320 Step 17 £320-£640 Step 18 £640-£1,280 Step 19 £1,280-£2,560 Step 20 £2,560-£5,120 (Call it £5,000 to make it easier.) Step 21 £5,000-£10,000 Step 22 £10,000-£20,000 Step 23 £20,000-£40,000 Step 24 £40,000-£80,000 Step 25 £80.000-£160,000 Step 26 £160,000-£320,000 Step 27 £320,000-£640,000 Step 28 £640,000-£1,280,000

There! You've even got some spare change out of the million – £280,000 to be exact!

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The Power of Stepping Stones If your task were to turn a 1p piece into a million pounds in a fixed period of time, most people (ourselves included) would find this somewhat daunting. However, if you were given (say) £500 and asked to double it into £1,000 this would seem achievable. Indeed, you could probably think of quite a few ways of doing it. The same principle applies to any single step above, e.g. £40 into £80, or even £80,000 into £160,000. If you were asked: “Could you make a million pounds in one year?” you might reply “No way!” But if the question was: “Look, how about if I start you off with half a million. Do you think you could turn it into a million?” Your reply might be “I'll give it shot! Give me the money and let's get cracking!” Certainly this task would not seem a 'ridiculous', 'preposterous' or 'stupid' suggestion would it? You'd have to be a real spineless wimp to say “No thanks. Keep your £500,000; there's no way of doing that. You’re talking pure fantasy.” Right, so this is your task:

To turn 1p into one million+ pounds in a series of steps. There are some important rules which must be followed. Think of this as a game with a tasty prize at the end. If you don't want to abide by the rules, don't play the game. Also, don't ask questions about the rules. The umpire's decision is final!

Rules For The Doubling Method (The actual rules are in bold type. Supplementary information is in lighter type.) Definition: The amount of money you have at any one time (depending on which step you are on) is called 'the stake'. Initially, your stake is nothing. Then it's 1p, then it's 2p, etc. On starting (say) step 16, your stake would be £160. Rule 1. You must find or be given the first coin; a 1p piece. Ideally you should find it in the street or car park, etc. Give yourself at least one month to do so, although in reality you will find it in the first day or week at most. You must not use 1p of your own money. Any money you find after this 1p (during any stage of using this system) can be added to the stake money. E.g. finding a £10 note in the street (assuming you can’t find the owner!) immediately leapfrogs you on step 12 (or can be added to the stake money if you are on a later stage). Rule 2. You must use only the stake money during the current doubling attempt – you cannot supplement it with your own money, borrowed money, etc. You don't have to use all the stake money but you can't use more than the stake money. This is explained further in rule 4. Rule 3. During the first ten steps you must use the actual coins and notes gained in the preceding step. Supposing you are on step 9 and have just doubled £1.28 into £2.56 (say two £1 coins, a 50p, a 5p and a 1p). You must use these actual coins as your stake money for step 10, and not different notes/coins, or a cheque for £2.56. After step 15, set up a separate bank account just for this doubling operation, but this is not a rule, just a suggestion. Rule 4. If your current step results in more than doubling, then you must spend the surplus on yourself and leave only the approved stake money. For example, if you are 213

on step 17 and manage to change your stake of £320 into £700, then you must spend the extra £60 (leaving you with £640) and not carry this onto the next step to make it easier. Put simply – start each step with only the stake money allowed for that step. Rule 5. If your current action results in less than doubling, then you may use as much of the original stake and profit to complete this step. On any one step you don't have to double the money in a single transaction. You can carry out as many transactions as you like until you have succeeded in doubling the stake money. Example: You are on step 18 (£640-£1280) and you manage to do a deal which increases the £640 stake to (say) £900. You may now use that £900 in another deal to try and reach £1280. Rule 6. You must keep a diary of events. Use any notebook. One page per step. Head each of the 28 pages with a title e.g. STEP 11 – £5-£10. On the page you will record the date and method of achieving the step. You will also use it for planning the next step – coming up with ideas of how to achieve it. Rule 7. Throughout your doublings, you will need several different strategies. It's obvious that the strategy for turning £1.28 into £2.56 will be different from the strategy for turning £160,000 into £320,000. Because of this, rule 7 (the most important rule) is: Don't worry about how you are going to manage future doublings. Concentrate only on the current doubling. (Thinking too far ahead will discourage you. Avoid deadly thoughts like this: “Sure, I can double £5 into £10, but how am I going to double £40,000-£80,000? It’s impossible. I may as well give up now.”) Remember: what gets you from A to B probably will not get you from G to H. Rule 8. You will be tempted to break the chain when you get to a reasonable amount of money (e.g. £50,000). This temptation will be overwhelming the more money you make. So here is the most difficult rule of all to follow: You are not allowed to spend one penny of the money (apart from as a stake) until you have one million pounds+ in the bank. Then it's all yours. Most people remain poor for one major reason as we have seen – lack of discipline. This indiscipline permeates their lives from top to bottom. Rule eight is the toughest of the lot. Do you have what it takes to keep your sticky hand out of the sweetie jar? You think so? Imagine you have £100,000 in the bank right now. Can't you think of a lot of 'stuff' you would want to run out and buy? Can you resist this temptation? We'll see... Rule 9. Another tough rule: You must not divert money into the system which you would have got anyway had you not been doing the system. You must always use the stake money to achieve the next step. Essentially then, you must trade to achieve each step, rather than work (in employment) to achieve it. You may take on extra work outside of your normal field of occupation, but be warned, there are strict limits to how far you will get using this approach. Trade; don’t work for an hourly rate. Rule 10. You must use only the stake money, and not 'stolen' or 'hidden' resources. You can use resources that you own and are fully paid for (e.g. a PC, printer, car, etc.) but these should retain their value after you have finished the step (e.g. you can't sell them to raise money!). You should also avoid using anything which is part of an existing business run by you because the hidden costs are being born by that business and not by the system. Ditto for using your car, if the running costs are not being paid out of the stake money. 214

Use common sense. The odd phone call 'on the house' or trip in the car is okay. Running a taxi service using a car you already own, or making 200 copies of a manual on the office photocopier, free of charge amounts to stealing from outside the system.

The doubling system should ideally 'stand alone', ring-fenced from your normal employment and method of making money. Rule 11. This is the snakes and ladders rule. If you 'fail' on a step, you must drop down the 'snake' until you arrive at the step represented by your remaining stake money – and start again from that step. E.g. suppose you are trying to double £5-£10. You buy something for £5, hoping to sell it. You fail and only sell it for £1. You are now back to step 8 (64p-£1.28p). Rule 12. You are allowed to add your labour. For example, you can buy raw materials for £20 (stake money), and rework them into something which you sell for £40. You will quickly realise the limits of this approach, however, and this is a powerful teaching lesson. You can't get rich by working in a conventional manner. HINT: The 'master strategy' which works for every step is as follows...

“Use the stake money to create a value which you can sell for more than it cost you.” Ponder on this, meditate upon it. Herein lies the key to your success. Incidentally, this is the master strategy behind every single company, large or small, across the globe.

Further Notes and Examples In case the rules are not clear, these notes expand upon the basic concept. Rule One: There is magic in finding or being given money. It is quite important that you find this initial coin, and you almost certainly will if you look hard enough. This is step one – finding a 1p piece. Try supermarket car parks! To double 1p-2p and a few further steps, just ask a friend (or even a stranger): “I'm trying an experiment. If I give you this 1p, will you give me 2p?” They'll give it to you. Avoid getting involved in discussions. Invent a reason why you need it. Don't talk about the doubling program. This technique works for the first few steps! Just go up to a friend and say: “Look, I know this sounds crazy, but I'm doing an experiment. Don't ask me any questions, I'm not allowed to talk about it, but if I give you 16p, will you give me 32p? I know you lose out to the tune of 16p, but it's only small change and it will help me prove a point. I'll tell you everything about it when I've finished the experiment in a few months”. Few people can resist this. It only works up to about 32p, for obvious reasons. Any more money you find is regarded as a ‘gift’ to the system and can be added to your stake money. As soon as you start this system, one thing you will immediately notice is that you start finding money all over the place! Rule Two: Supposing you are on step 13 (£20-£40). You see an amazing bargain which costs £30 and could be sold for £80. Sorry, but you can't add £10 of your own money to the £20 stake. You must either haggle them down to £20, or find another strategy. Think of 'outside' money as contamination to the special magic of the 'doubled' money. Don't let outside money taint your stake. Rule Three: Supposing you have just made £2.56 (in step 10). This rule means you can't put it in the bank (or spend it) and then use another different £2.56 (cash or cheque) as 215

your stake money. This breaks the chain. In the initial tentative first ten steps this has an almost magical effect. By then, you'll believe in the system and it becomes less important. It is also tricky to deal in cash over a few hundred pounds. Rule Four: For example, you do better than expected at step 14. Instead of £80 you find yourself with £90. This rule means that you must retain £80 and spend £10 on yourself as a treat. You must not use the full £90 as stake money in step 15, to make this step easier. Rule Five: For example, you are on step 14. You invest £40 and only get back £60 instead of £80. That's okay, you can use all £60 (or less) in an attempt to make the extra £20. If you make more, then rule four applies. You don't have to complete each step in one transaction or 'deal', although the earlier steps will almost certainly be 'one deal per step'. Later steps will almost certainly be several transactions per doubling. Rule Six: This is most important for charting your progress and for planning new ideas. It will also be an amazing document to own once you have completed the system, and will help other people to follow you. Rule Seven: More than anything, this is an exercise in mind power. You can ruin your chances of success if you fret about step twenty whilst on step three. It will stop you progressing. You'll be thinking: “This is nonsense. How am I going to turn £80,000 into £160,000? I can't do that!” And this whilst you are on step five – trying to turn 16p into 32p! As you progress, the next step will seem easy. For example, having successfully turned £5,000 into £10,000, you'll have some good ideas about how to turn £10,000 into £20,000. But you won't have these ideas whilst you are several steps before this – so don't worry about it. Concentrate on the step you are currently trying to achieve, and ONLY this step. Rule Eight: None of the rules can be 'enforced', particularly this one. It's up to you what you do with the money. But if you spend it at any point during the process, then that's the end of the system for you. Don't bother trying to pick it up again from where you left off, because it won't work. The only thing you could do would be to start from 1p again at some future date. This is the most difficult rule. People just can't keep their hands off the money. The second it builds up to more than a few hundred, they 'dip' into it for some 'essential' junk they ‘need’ and ruin everything. This is about self-will and determination. If you don't think you've got what it takes to see it through, don't even start the system. Rule Nine: The money gained must be new money. Money you wouldn't normally have got unless you had started the doubling system. For example, you are on step 10 and struggling for a way to get to step 11. It is not permissible to work a few extra hours down the pub (or wherever you normally work) to get the money. You could have done this anyway, it is not 'new' money. Also, you are not employing the stake money to achieve this step. Supposing you are already running a small business; you are not allowed to use stake money to buy and sell within your existing field of operation (using overheads paid for outside of the system). This is not new money and you are using all sorts of 'hidden' advantages (existing products, customer loyalty, infrastructure etc.) to help you achieve this step. You could have done this without the system. As a rule of thumb, you should trade in totally unrelated areas to your normal employment or business.

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Rule Ten: For example, it is not permissible to buy £40 worth of paper and then use the office colour photocopier to run off art prints which you can sell for £80. Why? Because you are inputting more than the stake money. You are not counting the cost of purchasing and servicing the copier, toner, paper or creating the original artwork. In effect you would be stealing these values from someone else. The correct way of doing this would be to create the artwork yourself (or genuinely be given it, free) and then to go to a copy shop and pay the true price of colour photocopying. Hopefully you see the difference. This rule says little more than “don’t cheat”. Rule Eleven: Supposing you invest £80 and it goes horribly wrong. Instead of the expected £160, you end up with (say) £6. This can happen, don't worry about it. This means that you must consider yourself now to be back on step 11, trying to turn £5 into £10 (again). Rule Twelve: Be aware that this strategy will only work up until about step 20, after which you have to work too long and hard to make each successive step happen. Again, this must be something you're not doing already. Ultimately you will have to trade – buy and sell or start a profitable company with the stake money. Now please reread rule seven.

Hints & Tips •

Don’t discuss this with anyone outside the system. Most people are negative, hopelessly entrenched sceptics. They will bring you down. They will laugh. They will scoff. They want to destroy your confidence. Why? If you succeed, that means they have to do something – and they don't want that. It’s easier to knock YOU down to size.

•

People will only part with money for something of value to them. Anything else is a 'con'. Create values which fulfil needs resulting in honest trade. Anything else is highly likely to fail. You could gamble the stake money (e.g. place a bet on a horse), but because you are not creating values, you are most likely to fail and lose the lot.

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Form a ‘mastermind’ group of four or five friends, all doing the system. Like ‘weight watchers’ meet regularly and compare progress. All members help the slowest member. Discuss/share ways of doubling a particular step. Meet once a week to start, then once a month. Keep telephoning each other. Keep the momentum going. The biggest enemy is losing steam. Some people have done the first ten steps in ONE AFTERNOON and then run out of puff!

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Start thinking positively. Get out of your previous negative habits. Start reaching for the stars. You may not get there, but you sure as hell won’t come back with a handful of mud.

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Make this work for you. Stop dreaming about becoming rich or winning the lottery. The world is there for the taking by doers, not dreamers. Dreamers remain broke.

Now go out and find that first penny! When you do, it will be an amazing experience. You WILL find one, probably today. If you find more than 1p, that catapults you straight to the relevant stage.

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Lesson Nineteen: How to Make £100,000.00 The techniques you used to make your £10k seed corn capital are not so useful when it comes to making £100,000. In fact one thing you will notice as we move up through the ladder of wealth is how the wealth techniques must change with each step. You will find the same thing if you try the ‘double your way’ system. This, by the way, is one of the main reasons people do not get wealthy – the methods they know and love will not get them up the next rung. They need to abandon these old ways and use completely different methods. Then abandon those in favour of the methods needed for the next rung... and the next. People are unwilling to do this because they are petrified of change. They cleave to the known and safe. They managed to acquire a handful of mediocre skills many years ago, and they are not about to abandon them and learn new skills. That seems like a lot of hard work and effort. Or... they lucked into a way of making a few thousand pounds several years ago and now, like laboratory rats, all they can think to do is repeatedly press the lever, hoping for the same modest ‘food pellet’ reward. But abandon these old ways they must, if they are to shoot for the real money. The methods you used to get £10k (e.g. working harder, stopping spending) will not get you £100k – leastways not in under ten years. Presumably you would like to achieve £100k in a quicker time frame?

Working In or On Your Business? One of the leaps you need to make is to bridge the gap between working in your business and working on your business. It is possible to make £100k working in your business. But if you want more money than this (say a million) you will eventually need to down tools and become a strategiser and business manager. This £100k level of wealth is your perfect training ground for that. At £10 an hour you need to work an extra 10,000 hours to make £100k. 10,000 hours is five years of forty hour weeks on top of whatever you are currently doing. Whilst not impossible, you can see this is a long, hard slog. It is best to abandon this as a strategy right now. On the other end of the scale, if you stopped spending to the tune of £900 a month (and that is a very large sum to cut back) you would save about £10,000 a year and it would take you ten years to save your £100,000. Cutting back by that amount is probably very hard and in any case it does not achieve what you want in any sensible time scale. So hopefully you can see that ‘stopping spending’ and ‘working harder’ will not get you where you want to be, even though they worked really well to get your £10k. This is a perfect example of what gets you from A-B will not get you from B-C and beyond. To make £100k you will almost certainly have to start a small business. This must be a business which is not selling your time by the hour – unless you can command very sizeable fees of £100/hour or more. So this rules out our window cleaning round, car washing, gardening, driveway cleaning, handyman services, carpet cleaning and many similar services. There are not enough 218

hours in the day for you to make £100k in any sensible timescale. It would take 3-5 years or more. If you are able to charge three times the average hourly rate, then you can achieve £100k in a year but you also need to live so this probably reduces to £50k saved each year – or two years to get £100k clear. For example if you charge £50 an hour, then 48 weeks at 40 hours a week is about £100,000. If you charge £200 an hour you can make £100,000 in three months. Why do you think lawyers do so well?!

Leveraging the Work of Others If you cannot command a high hourly rate, one way to make this money is to leverage the work of 3 or 4 other people. They do not have to be employed by you, although they can be. Many people want steady work at a reasonable rate of pay. They do not want the ‘hassle’ of getting customers, advertising, providing customer service, handling the accounts or any of that stuff. They want to be told where to go, what to do, and to collect a simple pay packet for doing it. At the end of eight hours they want to clock-off, crack a beer and go and watch the telly. Here is where you could gear-up your simple one-person business which you used to get your first £10k – you know, the window cleaning round or grass cutting service. If the demand is there, you make that vital transition from working solely in the business to working in at and also on it. Put simply you do some of the actual work, but spend at least 50% of your time organising other people to do the work too – and you keep a third of their money.

Worked Example – £100k in Two Years Look at the figures for a simple gardening service (it could be windows, car cleaning, carpet cleaning – any one of a dozen similar things): You work 20 hours a week at £15 an hour = £300 a week. The rest of the time you spend managing others. You run 4 other people, 40 hours a week at £15 an hour and you keep £5 (pay them £10). Your workers are delighted to get £10 an hour with none of the marketing hassle – you will have a large queue of people. 4 x 40 x £5 = £800 a week. Total £1,100 a week with the £300 you are making = £50,000 a year. So there is your £100k in two years. Yes there will be some expenses and overheads but we are talking basic principles here. Also you will have to live so this is more like a four year deal. Please notice something really, really important. Notice how we are struggling to make a fast £100k through selling simple manual services like gardening and car washing – even with five people slaving away! If you recall, earlier we explained how people pay for solutions, but only pay big money for solutions to hard problems and pay a pittance for solutions to easy problems. Remember the bin emptying problem? Anyone can do that – if you can lift a bin and walk, you can solve that problem, so the amount we are willing to pay to have our bins emptied is minimal. This tends to apply to gardening, carpet cleaning and driveway sweeping as well. Most people can do these things – they just can’t be 219

bothered to and would rather pay someone a few pounds to do it for them. But if the fees get too high they will clean their own carpets and wash their own cars. Don’t let this put you off using ‘manual’ methods to make your first £10k – £100k. Just get smart and realise this will not easily make you a million. You would need a team of 50-100 people working for you to do this in two years or so.

Working Smarter A better way is to find a ‘turnkey’ system which is not limited by the hours you put in. A ‘turnkey’ system is something you sell, trade or do which can be repeated like a ‘cookie-cutter’ – preferably on autopilot and which requires almost none of your time to run. In particular, it does not require you to ‘do’ something to make each sale happen (unless it is just a few minutes of course, to handle an order). For example, if you sell a simple manual on how to make money from trading the financial markets, then you write the manual once, and then sell copy after copy. The ‘work’ consists of popping a manual into a jiffy bag and posting it. Such a manual could easily sell for £97. Here’s the exciting part, you only need to sell 1,000 or so to make your £100,000! Compare that with two years of forty hour weeks in some service job alongside four employees. There is absolutely no comparison. £100,000 is 1,000 widgets at £100 profit each. Or it is 10,000 widgets (books, items, whatever) at £10 profit each. For example, if you sold 10,000 items for £20, of which £10 was profit, this would do the trick for you. 10,000 items is about 30 a day so we are not talking ridiculous figures here. 10,000 people is just one in every seven thousand UK residents, or one in every 24,000 USA residents. Again, we hardly need the world to beat a path to our door to make this kind of money. Even better is selling something people want time and again. Many disposable items fit this bill. £100,000 profit a year is a small business turning over, say, £400,000 (about £8,000 a week). Again, not telephone numbers here. Most small shops, take-aways, restaurants, taxi firms and 101 other small businesses turn over about this amount and make about £100,000 a year. On the artistic side, £100,000 is £1 royalty on each of 100,000 items (books, art prints, CDs, DVDs or whatever). £100,000 is making £5 each on 20,000 items which you sell (say) on line. That is 50 items a day. Quite achievable. £100,000 is just 100 ‘projects’ on which you make £1,000 a time. That is two ‘projects’ a week. A ‘project’ can be anything from laying a block-paving drive to installing solar panels and any one of ten thousand similar things. It could be as mundane as buying and selling used cars. Please do not think you know nothing about these (and other) areas. You probably do not. But what you have at your disposal is your ‘entertainment time’ – the wasted 1,000 hours a year which you are currently squandering on trivia’ amusements. With 1,000 hours of study you could become an expert on almost any subject you decided to look into. Most people do not do this because they are not serious about becoming rich. They want it for nothing. 220

£100,000 is just ten projects on which you make £10,000. For example, you might buy and sell houses whilst doing some basic renovation in between – this can easily net you £10,000 a time, probably more like £30,000 a time. Three projects = ninety grand. £100,000 is offering some little service which will net you £5 profit each time. 20,000 transactions will do the trick. That sounds a lot, but many would be repeat transactions. E.g. if only 500 people used your service once a month, that would be 20,000 transactions! £100,000 is selling a tiny business with an annual profit of just £16,000! Hopefully you can see that you need a shift of perspective. You need to start thinking like an entrepreneur. How do they think? That’s easy to answer! They have one main thought which is: “Where is the money?” They are radar-scanning for opportunities all the time. You need to be the same. Whereas to get £10k you needed to roll your sleeves up and get to it, to make £100,000 you need to roll your sleeves down – get off the tools and start managing your business instead of slaving in it. All of this is laying the groundwork for the next step – making a million.

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Lesson Twenty: How to Make a Million The skills that you used to make £100,000 are not the exact same skills you need to make a million, as we shall see. You might be surprised to learn that it is far from impossible to make a million pounds. At the time of writing there are 500,000 millionaires in the UK and 8 million in the USA ($1 million is the equivalent of about £650,000 in Sterling). So how hard can it be? Many of these people need to include their home equity into the equation to make the million mark, which is cheating a little as that money is not really accessible. But still the figures are large. It takes a minimum of three years to become a millionaire from a standing start. It is possible to do it in less, but rare. Apart from winning or inheriting it, there is only one way to make it. That makes life easy. You have to start and run your own business as we have said, even if this is a ‘one person’ business like a successful author or entertainer – that is still a business. If you deal in property – that is a business. If you buy and sell used cars from home – that is a business. You do not need fancy premises or staff to be in the running for a million – but you do need a business. There is perhaps one exception, those ‘captains of industry’ at the very pinnacle of their profession who are paid million pound performance bonuses. Assuming you are not one of them, that leaves just one way. That makes life very simple. The excuses are over. You know how to make a million – start a business. The type of business you should start was discussed in a previous chapter. You also need to be willing to pay the price. That was mentioned earlier in the book. The price is long hours, a devotion to your idea, less time with friends and family and no time ‘goofing off’. If you want the million, you need to get serious. Most people want the million – but they are not serious people. They are flakes.

What Does it Take to Make a Million? Can we get a feel for what it takes to make a million? Yes. It is a company with, say, half a million profit a year for four years. After tax and a bit of messing around, that will leave you with a million in the bank. If the company is any good, it will need to turn over about two million a year to make half a million profit. So your sales are about £200,000 a month or £50,000 a week. Quite high, but not silly. If you were selling double glazing for example, it would only be about two sizeable jobs a day. All of these numbers come crashing down if you are prepared to wait five or ten years for your million. That is not a huge long time by the way. Think back ten years. What were you doing? Probably some job which barely paid you a decent wage. You may still be doing that job, or something very like it, today, ten years later. That time goes by very quickly. If you deal in property you could make a million by doing twenty transactions in which you took £50k a time. So we are not talking fantasy numbers here. 222

Many authors are millionaires. So are many singers. Here the equation is different. You sell a million books or CDs and get (say) £1 royalty from each one. A million is 10,000 items sold at £100 profit each. Or it is 100,000 items sold at £10 profit. Again, not fantasy numbers. A million is something you get paid £10,000 a time for, and you do it 100 times over 3-5 years. That does not sound ‘impossible’. The average swimming pool or conservatory costs £15,000 of which £10,000 is profit! So doing this you could make a million in five years doing just a couple of jobs a month – and many have. A million is having ten people working for you and you make just £400 a week profit from each person. Five years later you have a million. A million is having ten Internet products which make a mere £60 a day each. Five years later you are a millionaire. A million is selling your small business which makes just £150,000 profit a year. The typical price of such a business is six times the annual profit. Such a business makes just £3,000 profit a week (£600 per working day), so it is not huge.

Ten Tips to Making a Million 1. Do something. Do not sit around any longer. Forget television, forget the bar; start taking action to improve your life, even if it is just that first, small step. You will stay broke forever unless you take action right now, as soon as you put this book down. 2. Be rationally selfish. Take 'good for me' decisions. You do not owe anything to anyone apart from your children. They need love, consistency and honesty. They do not need brand name trainers and the latest computer games. When you live your life trying to take 'good for others' decisions, you are playing God and trying to second-guess other people's lives. This is arrogant. 3. Stop believing in something for nothing. Wake up from your childish dream of ‘fast cash’. Stop believing programmes which promise to show you how to ‘attract wealth’ – they are laughing at you. This one tip can save you thousands of pounds and a lot of lost time. There is no such thing as something for nothing. Ditch all of those 'business opportunities' which come your way. 99% of them are scams operated by small-minded people of limited vision trying to cheat their way to a fortune. They are relying upon your laziness and gullibility. Do not support them, and above all, do not join them. The financial loss is minimal to you, but the loss of time and momentum is far more serious. 4. You should have one burning question which you must answer as soon as possible: “What honest value can I create which others will voluntarily buy from me time and time again in order that I might become guiltlessly wealthy?” Only you can answer this question and you must work at it rather than expecting the answer for nothing. Nobody is going to hand you a wonderful, magic pre-packaged business on a plate. It is obvious why. If you had some superb practical 'make a million' business, would you operate it yourself and make a million, or sell a 30-page 'how to' manual for £24.95 to a few hundred hopefuls? 5. When you create values you become wealthy. When you trade equal values you merely survive. There is nothing wrong with survival. Most people do only this. But make 223

sure you have consciously selected this option, and not chosen it by default out of laziness or fear. Most small businesses merely allow you to trade equal values – “You watch my sheep and I'll mend your roof” – and so you will not become wealthy by operating one of the million or so businesses you might think about getting involved in. For example, “I'll cook fish and chips if you repair my car.” At best, you will do slightly better than average due to the division of labour and your superior bartering (battering?) skills, but you will never make a million. This is the main reason the proprietors never get wealthy. They are weary copycats of a hundred near identical businesses. Yet another pizza shop. Yet another print room. Yet another carpet cleaning service. To become wealthy you must create new values and then run with your idea until the copycats grab your idea and rake over the bones of your fortune. Then you have another new idea which creates more unique values and you run with that... These ideas do not have to be earth-shattering; many are just small creative twists on an existing idea. 6. Remember that honest wealth is not gained at the expense of others. In other words, contrary to socialist doctrine, other people do not become poorer as you become richer. By trading with you, they should become a little richer whilst you become a lot richer. Evaluate all business ideas by this standard: “Does this business allow me to trade with others whilst enriching their lives, or am I trying to scam, con, cheat and lie my way to wealth? Am I using smoke and mirrors to pretend there is a benefit to my customers, when no such benefit really exists?” 7. Anything can be justified by the clever human brain. Robbery can be justified: “It's not fair that some people have so much money, I'm just redistributing wealth. In a fairer society I wouldn't have to do this.” Cheating can be justified: “I'm giving people the expensive education they need in gullibility. I am helping them to become less gullible.” Even murder can be justified: “We're all going to be dead soon anyway, so what's the difference?” In view of this ability to justify our evil-doing, you need to keep your business clean and make sure it follows your own impeccable standards. 8. Make yourself wealthy so that you can help others. Operating in the way just described (by creating values which others will want to buy from you) will both make you wealthy and improve the living standards of those around you. Everyone is a winner. But if you have altruism as your doctrine – the idea that you are a sacrificial animal only fit for consumption by others – then you will live a powerless, unfulfilled life as a slave or an interfering, do-gooder busybody. When you have filled your own needs, then you become powerful enough to help others, if this gives you pleasure. 9. Do not listen to broke people. They know nothing about money. If they were merely neutral, it would not matter, but they are not. Your friends, your family, society, the media, religions and the government all want you broken back down to drone status, no matter what they say or how much they protest to the contrary. There is one person you can really trust on this wild adventure and that is you. You doubt this? See the reactions of others when you start making a bit of money and buy a new house or car. This is a general rule about people – there are, of course, exceptional people out there who will support you. They are a rare breed so cherish them.

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10. You must be prepared to pay the price, whatever it is, for becoming wealthy. There is always a price. You cannot get rich for nothing. Most often the price is hard work, tenacity, guts, determination and effort. Little more is needed to succeed in our society because so few people have these characteristics. The rewards are unlimited wealth, guiltless affluence, freedom from stress, power and the feeling of leading a meaningful and worthwhile life. The last of these is the most important, and no lottery win can buy you that feeling. It comes only from creating lasting worthwhile values which enrich the lives of your fellow human beings. 11. Be bold. Have a go! Stop sitting timidly on the sidelines thinking ‘one day’. That day will never come and you will die broke and embarrassed. There is only one life and this is it. Time is running out for you. If not now, when? Stop making excuses about waiting for the right time – that time will never come. If you don’t make a start almost immediately after reading this book you probably never will. Half a million people are millionaires right now in the UK – what is stopping you from joining them?

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Lesson Twenty-One: Knowing When to Stop In the following two chapters we will be looking at what it takes to make ten and a hundred million respectively. But for the moment we will pause and allow ourselves to consider if a million or two is enough for you, and if not, how much will be ‘enough’. The wise person decides how much is ‘enough’ before setting foot on the path to riches. Knowing when to stop is more difficult than making the money in the first place. Many people never manage to stop and they die whilst in the act of accumulating yet more money which they never spend or use in the service of others. The aim of life is to be happy. Money is one way (yes, a big way) in which you can achieve happiness, particularly if that money is used to help others, but never lose sight of the fact that it is happiness you are after as a final goal, not money. If you ever make any real money you will be so caught up in your astonishing success that you will find it very hard to quit. It is like a drug. You will be tempted to work harder and faster to get more whilst the going is good. Then, if you hit a lean time, you will work harder and faster to try and get back what you have lost. In short, you will always be working harder and faster! Knowing when enough is enough is the most difficult wealth challenge you will ever face. Most people do not face this challenge because they rarely make enough to live on and almost never create a surplus. Here is one of life's big questions, and it would help you to try and answer it right now, no matter what your financial situation. The question is “Do you have enough?” Enough money, enough material possessions, enough 'things.' And before you answer a resounding “No – that's why I bought this book!” here are some interesting facts about your current level of wealth. (These statistics are in real terms, not inflated money.)

Wealth Fact #1 You are approximately one thousand times richer, in real terms, than the average ancient Egyptian, ignoring Pharaohs – you are only a mere ten times richer than a Pharaoh. Of course you do not have the piles of gold they had, but that is not the point. The point is what they could and did buy with that gold, which was mainly slave-power. It has been estimated that modern inventions such as the motor car, washing machine, dishwasher, etc. are the equivalent of owning one thousand slaves, making you wealthier now (whatever your level of poverty) than the kings of the ancient world. All the gold they owned would not have bought them a ticket to Australia, or insulin for their diabetes. Are you ten times happier than a Pharaoh? Are you one thousand times happier than the average ancient Egyptian? Are you even as happy as they were?

Wealth Fact #2 You are about three hundred times richer than the average ancient Briton living at the start of the first millennium; i.e. the year AD 1. You are an estimated thirty times richer than the wealthiest king or lord of that era. ‘Richer’ means your access to clean wholesome 226

food, potable drinking water, transport, power, medicine, shelter, clothing and laboursaving devices, to mention only a few things. Piles of gold stacked up in a warehouse are not riches, any more than five thousand unused acres or ten million in a Swiss bank account which is never touched is 'money.' Wealth is only meaningful if it is used.

Wealth Fact #3 You are an estimated one hundred times richer than the average Briton living at about the time of the Battle of Hastings, i.e. at around the start of the second millennium, the year AD 1066. You are ten times wealthier than the richest person on the planet one thousand years ago. (Land ownership is not included in these statistics. The mere ownership of land is not wealth: riches are measured in what the land produces and what that is used for.) Are you one hundred times happier than someone from 1066? Are you even as happy?

Wealth Fact #4 You are fifty times richer than the average peasant living in the year 1500. Life was hard back then, but are you fifty times happier than they were? You are thirty times richer than the average man or woman living in 18th-century Europe. You are twenty times richer than the average person in 1850. Looked at another way, you have the equivalent today of twenty servants working for you. A household with twenty staff would most definitely have been owned only by the superrich. On average you are likely to be five time richer than your grandfather. Are you five times happier than he was? On average, you are likely to be twice as wealthy as your own parents were when they were your age now. For example, think back to the forties, fifties, sixties, seventies or eighties, whichever decade is closest to when you were growing up. Did each family have two cars? Mobile telephones? Dishwashers? Microwaves? Two televisions? Did your mom and dad take expensive foreign holidays, sometimes even more than one in a year? Did they wear expensive ‘designer’ clothes? In the 1930s, which surely is only 'yesterday,' over 25 million Americans had virtually no income whatsoever; only 1% of UK homes had a telephone; only 50% had electricity and nutrition was so poor that six out of ten men who applied for the army failed their very basic medical test and could not join up.

Wealth Fact #5 You are already in the top 1% of the world in terms of wealth. Most people on the planet still live on subsistence farms, carry water from long distances and till the fields with oxen; they are without sanitation, clean running water on tap and electricity. Are you happier than they are, on average? At this point in the proceedings it is worth asking again: “Do you have enough?” Think about it. You are already one thousand times wealthier than an ancient Egyptian, three hundred times richer than someone living in AD 1; twenty times wealthier than the average person in 1850; five times wealthier than your grandfather and in the top 1% of wealthy people on the planet. Do you have enough? 227

This is not a one-shot question, it is a question for life. You need to continuously ask yourself this from now until you die. If the answer is still “no,” then ask yourself a supplementary question which you need to answer, right now: “When do you think you will have enough?” The answer to this question provides one of the keys to your happiness for the rest of your life. People are working harder, faster and certainly under more stress than at any time in history. Labour is not usually hard physical toil, but still the average person is slaving away forty or fifty hours a week to make enough money to make ends meet – i.e. to sustain their 'poor' lifestyle which is twenty times wealthier than the average 1850dweller. Furthermore, they are not very happy. In general, people are overworked, highly stressed and on a treadmill getting nowhere fast. It is the ‘rat-race’ which was identified long ago. Incredibly, although people are all approximately one thousand times wealthier than an ancient Egyptian, they feel broke. Most people are fighting a losing battle against a tide of debt, taxation and expenses which threaten to sweep them away if they do not keep their noses pressed firmly to the grindstone. Despite their huge wealth, in historical terms, many people are anxious and depressed by their 'poverty.'

Visitor From The Past What on earth would an ancestor from 500 years ago make of us if you brought her here in a time capsule? She would see the clean, safe water on tap – it took her one full day each week of backbreaking labour just to get enough water, and that was brackish and flavoured with dead sheep. She would see the stunning abundance of food at almost give-away prices – you have to work just 24 hours a month to buy all the rich abundance of family food you need, she would have to work an average of 160 hours for some basic meat and bread. She would note your clean clothes and the dozens of different sets of clothing you owned – she owned one set and it was constantly filthy as there was no soap and no hot water. She would marvel at your health, your teeth, your longevity – her life expectancy was 40 years, her teeth were rotten stumps and people died all around her from disease and hunger. We could go on about transport (she had none), opportunities (zero), education (crude), entertainment (sitting around a fire and telling wild boar jokes), but she would also be shocked at the level of unhappiness and stress we are all living under. She would legitimately ask why on earth we were all striving so hard when we had everything we could possibly need, and more. Why, she would ask, did we not all feel incredibly wealthy and happy? Ask yourself a few questions: Do you feel extraordinarily wealthy? Are you happy? Do you have an almost stress-free life? Do you have plenty of time to do the things you want to do, or are you always working to hold back the tidal wave? Are you engaged in a constant struggle for more, more, more? If so ... when do you think you will have enough? Because this is the ultimate book on wealth, there is no suggestion here of some kind of anti-wealth, back-to-nature, tree-hugging crusade. Nothing could be further from the truth. 228

No comment has been made about how much ‘enough’ might be. This is for you to decide. It could be £50,000 or £100 million or more. The point is to get you to think about the question, because the answer has profound implications for your happiness.

How Much is Enough? To explain this, here is a blunt statement: Your greed is insatiable. There is almost no limit to what you would want to possess. The only limit is the price you are willing to pay to obtain it, and your imagination. To prove this, let us play a little game in which the bank is open, has unlimited resources at its disposal and you can have as much as you want. No penalty, no tax, no problem. It is yours to have and to spend however you see fit. How about £50,000 in cash for a start? Remember, you really do have an unlimited account, so let us think a bit bigger. How about a quarter of a million? You could buy a modest house with that, mortgage-free. Hopefully your imagination is not quite so shackled and you are already starting to think about a fat banker’s draft for a million pounds. No problem. The money is unlimited. Have what you want – there are no strings attached. One million pounds will buy the house of your dreams, and the car(s) of your dreams. Are you starting to think bigger? Ten million pounds? This will give you all the money you could ever need for the rest of your life. It would take care of your children and your grandchildren. Enough? Remember, it is free. All that is limiting you is your imagination... Let us get serious. Ten million pounds would not even buy you admission to the outer circle of the superrich. To tempt you further, and in case you were doubting that 'unlimited' promise, the banker has just told you that there is one hundred thousand million, billion pounds in this account, earmarked to give away – and you are first in the queue. You can have it all, if you want. In fact you would be doing the banker a favour as he could then close the account and stop worrying about it. What would you do with it? Come on now! Think! You could buy your own country and run it the way you wanted to. You could own and run the entire United Kingdom or America or even (pause for evil laugh...) the world! Why not? Your vision for the world is surely no worse than that of many of our current ‘leaders’? Couldn't you do a better job if you had absolute power? How about being absolute ruler of the planet? How does that sound? But wait... the earth is just one planet in the solar system. How about owning a few other planets too? How about owning Mars, and having the money to teraform it exactly as you want? Your own world, and you as....God. Now perhaps you dropped out somewhere on that continuum, possibly at the one million or ten million level? Or perhaps you were there to the end. If you did drop out, it was because your imagination failed you. You could not imagine having more money or power than this. Now back to reality...

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Our Insatiable Greed The point was to show you that your greed (everybody's greed) is almost limitless if it is made a free lunch for you. Apart from your lack of imagination, the only thing which holds you back from owning the whole planet is something known as 'paying the price'. Everything has a price in time, effort, risk, stress and strain. There truly is no such thing as a free lunch. If you want £50 you have to pay the price (e.g. a few hours work). If you want £25,000 each year, then the price is typically forty hours of your irreplaceable life each week working in a job you barely tolerate. If you want one million pounds, the price is typically 3-5 years of 60-80 hour weeks; moderate stress, little social life, poor family life and some personal and financial risk. That is about the going rate. You may get it cheaper, or it may cost you more. If you want ten million pounds, as you will soon see the price is typically ten or more years spent in the fast lane as an industrialist, entrepreneur, artist etc. The price is active media coverage of your personal and corporate life; ten or more years of 80 hour weeks; permanent stress; living in the ‘white water’ of a constantly changing market place and absolute devotion to your vision to the exclusion of almost everything else. You will have no real friends – you can never tell who your real friends are when you have this level of wealth; you will attract government surveillance – money equals power, governments cannot allow the Thralls to have too much personal power and so they become very interested in you when you make more than ten million. If you want one hundred million or more, the price is everything associated with getting ten million, plus a pack of press wolves, desperate to strip you down to the lowest common denominator. You will have many enemies both personal and political. You will be unable to live anything approaching a normal life. You will not be allowed out on your own without bodyguards, and you will live in a heavily guarded fortress. Most people will loathe and despise you, no matter how much of your wealth you give away to charity as a token gesture. Even if you give away one billion pounds you will be despised and vilified for being mean and keeping the other three billion – most people will just shrug and say “he can afford it.” That is the price, give or take. You may get lucky and make £100 million without problems. You may get unlucky and suffer even more than has been indicated.

What Does This All Add up to? We are ready to pull a few threads together here. 1. You are already staggeringly wealthy compared with at any previous time in history, yet you are running harder, faster and under immense personal stress in order to get more. You do not know how much more, because you have never thought about it. You are also probably not very happy. 2. Your greed is, to all intents and purposes, insatiable. This is not a moral judgement. It is a statement of fact about human beings. What you would like to have is limited only by your imagination, and your willingness to pay the price required to get it. 3. Given that there is a price to pay in time, effort, stress, emotion and risk in order to obtain a given amount of wealth, any sensible person would ask themselves the very basic 230

question: “How much is enough?” Or, put another way: “Do I have enough? If not, when will I have enough?” The purpose of life is not to stack up money in the bank. The purpose of your short stay on the planet is to be all you can be and to live a happy, fulfilled and balanced life. You need money to live a decent lifestyle, and depending on your vision, you need money to help others and make your dreams a reality. More than this you do not need. If it were free, you would take it, of course, and rightly so. But it isn't free. Everyone must pay a price to obtain it. When you ask yourself the simple question: “Do I have enough?” something almost magical happens. Many people describe a feeling of release – a sort of letting go. You might feel that you are finally able to drop a burden which you have been carrying all your life. Whatever you feel, there are surely only three possible answers to this question: 1.

I have more than enough.

2.

I have exactly enough.

3. I do not have enough and am willing to pay the price to get more. I now need to ask myself: “So when will I have enough?” To expand on these three answers:

“I Have More Than Enough” “Now you bring it to my attention, I realise that I have more than enough. I am debt free, and have considerable savings, yet still I am working too many hours a week in a high stress job. A lot of my money actually goes to pay for my high profile lifestyle which is required by the job. For example, I need to live close to my job and housing is very expensive in our area. If I moved, I could get a larger house for half the money but it costs a fortune to commute to work. My children are in private school. We pay a nanny to look after the children because my wife works as well. It's crazy. Why do we do it? Probably because we've always done it. I guess it is just a habit. If I made certain life changes, I could work two or three days a week. We would have to move, and have a simpler lifestyle, but we are both so stressed at the moment, surely it could not be worse? I've realised one thing, I could easily make more money. I just need to work harder, faster or smarter. But I choose not to. That is a breakthrough for me. I choose not to. That is real power.” Could you live a simpler, lower stress life? Could you work less hard and live more simply, doing more of the things you want to do – whatever they are? Sure, you could easily make a lot more money, but how about considering the choice of not doing this? This book is all about you taking one of two choices; to become wealthy and live a powerful life but realising you must pay the price this demands; or to live a simpler more balanced life. This would not be so powerful but the price you would pay is less. There is no right or wrong path. A very quick reminder about power: when you are wealthy you can help hundreds or thousands of people; when you are poor you can only help in a modest way and the help is usually restricted to just a few people. Do not be tempted to quote Mother Theresa here! She had tens of millions of dollars at her disposal to allow her to carry out her good works. 231

You can make more money by working harder, faster, longer, smarter. Nobody is denying your abilities. It is easy. But... why not consider the option of choosing not to do this? This means setting a limit on what you have, saying, in effect, “I have more than enough” and using the time you would have spent in striving for more, to do the other things you have always promised yourself you will do. This phenomenon is known as 'downshifting' and is sweeping across America. Please understand there is no requirement on you to help others or ‘save the world’. You are here to live the life you want to live. If this is not an option for you right now, still you need constantly to be thinking about this option throughout your life.

“I Have Exactly Enough” “Yes, now you mention it, I have exactly enough at the moment. Of course, I would like more, and if it was free I would take it from you with thanks. But I know that in order to get more I need to sacrifice more of my life and I am not willing to do this. There are many other things I want to do with whatever time is left to me. I would rather do those than work harder, faster and take on yet more stress in order to accumulate more money. I am not willing to pay the price for higher financial rewards. Making more money is not difficult. There is plenty of overtime at work, and I could take a second job in the evenings. But I have taken a powerful decision in my life. I have decided that I have enough. I have chosen not to pursue yet more money.” Could you be at peace with your current level of wealth? Taking such a decision frees you from the constant struggle to make more. It frees you from the nagging guilt about not starting your own business, or expanding your current one. It saves you having to buy more books like this and CDs and go on yet more seminars...

“I Do Not Have Enough” “No, I do not have enough. I want more – a lot more. I am willing to pay the price. If that means five years of constant struggle to make three million, then that's what I'll do. I have asked myself the question: “When will I have enough?” and I have an answer. I do not want to struggle in a high-stress environment forever, accumulating cash until I die. I want a five-bedroom detached house in a decent area (fully paid), a brand-new Mercedes, and the equivalent of a million pounds in today's money in the bank, so that will all cost two million give or take. That would mean I never have to work again. I would also like another million to put into various projects I am keen upon. That's enough for me. If I can make three million pounds free and clear, I know I could make ten million. I have no doubt about this. But I have made a choice. I know what I want and I'm going to get it. I am willing to pay the price. I know what that price is, approximately. I also know how much is enough and this lets me know when to stop chasing wealth, and concentrate on many of the great things which life has to offer.” How about you? If you desperately want more and are willing to pay the price, then great! But make sure you ask the supplementary question: “When will I have enough?” You need a plan and an exit strategy, assuming the work you do is not your total passion and reason for existing. We are talking exit strategies here. Exit from the rat-race, as it used to be called. 232

Make Money Until You Drop? Are you going to work at making money until you drop? If so, why? What is it all for? Only a fool would do this without a big reason (such as every penny you make helps to save lives). If you are not going to work until you drop, when are you going to stop, or cut back? This does not mean atrophying, it means you stop accumulating cash. Answer: When you have ‘enough’ – so you need to know what ‘enough’ is for you, bearing in mind the price you have to pay to get it. Also, you need to think about what else you want to do with your life, if anything. And this is a problem for many people. We are all so conditioned to work until we drop that we have given little thought to what else we want to do with our lives. Perhaps now is the time for you to think a little about this? The best way to get wealthy is to start a business as we have seen, but you should not start or run a business unless you have a clear answer to the questions: “What is this business for? When do I get out? When will I have enough?” Running a business as a pure moneygenerator (rather than as a life passion) is all about making maximum money in minimum time, then selling out or closing down and getting yourself a real life. If your business is also your passion, then you might never actually close it down, but it becomes more of a hobby than a driving force which dictates your life.

The Stasis Concept If you run your own business (or are thinking of starting) no matter how large or small, consider the following proposal... All businesses need to expand, otherwise they are dying, so the conventional wisdom goes. But consider this: when you expand your business, two things happen... 1.

You run harder and faster and pile on the stress both for you and your employees.

2. You do not make any more money because you plough every penny back in to fuel the expansion. Worse, you frequently go into heavy debt to fund the expansion. It is all ‘jam tomorrow.’ If you continue this process, you are pinning all your hopes on selling the business some way down the line, and cashing in your chips. This may, or may not happen. Most times it does not happen due to a variety of factors. Markets change, people change. You find you have this huge gaping mouth to feed every month. You wake up one morning and realise you need to make £100,000 each month just to meet payroll and other bills. You run faster and faster, growing all the time. New staff, new premises, new products, new territories, take-overs, mergers; and all with little additional profit because of the expansion drive. Now if this is what turns you on, then go for it. You can make many millions doing, this just as you can lose the lot and go broke of course. So how about running a business which does not expand? A business in which you choose not to make ever increasing amounts of money, even though you could. This is a business which makes a great deal of money each year, but does not grow (in real terms). It changes and morphs, but does not get larger. This concept is known as 'stasis.' 233

For example, let us say you currently turn over one million and make £150,000 profit – the exact figures are not relevant. Your business might be ten times larger than this, or one tenth as large. Let us say you decide always to do this, give or take 10%, and ignoring inflation, for the next few years at least. Supposing you make a deliberate decision not to ‘go large’. Why? Because you have enough, and the price of growing is just too high a price to pay. Suppose you could run this company working three days a week instead of six? Think what you could do with the spare time! Supposing this made you happier, less stressed and a far better manager/entrepreneur during the three days you worked? Could you turn over £2 million and make £300,000? Sure. There is no question, but... suppose you decide not to? You take a conscious decision that £150,000 a year income is enough for you. Yes you would take £300,000 if it was free, but you know it is not free. There is a price to pay in extra hours, extra stress, extra work and sacrifice of your irreplaceable life. What an amazing decision to make! During the course of a typical business year, all sorts of projects arise with the potential to make money – but you turn them all down. Why? Because they would push your turnover above the preset £1 million mark and you have decided not to do this. You are not going to run after every project just because it could make more money for you. The analogy is deciding not to take an evening job down at the local bar in addition to your day job, because you have decided that you already have enough. Could you make extra cash working at the bar? Sure. But the price is long hours and evenings away from the family, and you have chosen not to go for this.

The Money Lever This thought process alters the way you view your business or your job. You now correctly view it as a moneymaking machine. You pull a heavy lever, and out comes a crisp £20 note. You pull the lever again and out pops another. Great! So what are you going to do? 1) Pull the lever repeatedly, morning, noon and night for 30 years, never even counting the huge pile of notes, until you drop dead of a heart attack one day, beside a large pile of ten million pounds in crisp twenties. 2) Sit back and think for a moment. Think to yourself something like this: “I have a neat little money making machine here. It could provide me with ‘enough’ if I operate the lever 8 hours a day, for 3 days a week. Sure, I could operate the lever six days a week for twelve hours a day, and I would definitely get more money, but I am choosing not to do this. I want to do a lot of other things in my life instead of pulling that lever. If I play this right, I can keep this money-machine ticking for many years with minimal effort.” So think carefully about your working life and your plans. Do not just blunder into making money only to look up from your workbench in thirty years to realise that life has passed you by. You are going to live a lot longer than anyone at any previous time in history. It is going to be even easier for you to make 'enough.' Why not have a careful think about what 'enough' might be for you, and then formulate a definite plan to get this, and no more? Meanwhile, you need to do a lot of work on what it is you are really on the planet for, and go and do it! 234

Lesson Twenty-Two: How to Make Ten Million We have discussed wealth at the level of about one million pounds. But what about getting really rich? Say ten million pounds? These days you are not rich if you have one million. Although not small change, a million in the bank would merely allow you to live in modest comfort for the rest of your days. You would have to be careful with money. You could not be extravagant. One million in disposable capital would give you around £50,000 a year in salary after tax, which is a lot less than a good company director gets. If you took this £50k salary, the million would slowly be eaten away by inflation until it was worth just £350,000 in about twenty years. (‘Inflation’, as you now know, is a calculated government tactic to steal yet more money from you, in this case by devaluing it. If a company perpetrated this fraud – for such it is – the directors would be arrested and jailed.) £350k is hardly a king’s ransom. It is barely enough for a decent house. The days are long gone when becoming a millionaire was a crazy dream. Being a millionaire is not what it used to be. A millionaire in 1900 would have the equivalent of one hundred million pounds in today's money! But ten million pounds is quite a lot of money. We could call that rich. With ten million in the bank you can spend about £250,000 a year (£20,000 a month!) and still have modest growth on your capital, but interestingly, you would be in the bottom echelons of the wealthy, knocking for admittance to the fringes of their outer circle. If your ten million were ever reduced to one million, you would be described as ‘flat broke’ by your new circle of wealthy friends. They would talk about you in hushed and sympathetic voices. They would turn away as you walked into a room. This would not be snobbery; just embarrassment and pity for one reduced to such poverty. When you have had ten million, this level of wealth seems normal for you. To be down to your last million really does seem like flat broke – an horrific state to be in! In contrast, when you have an overdraft and exist on a pittance, then a £10,000 win on the lottery feels like a staggeringly large pile of cash – a gleaming mountain of gold. And a million? Well, this seems unimaginable; a sum of money which cannot be held in the mind, it is so vast. It is this sense of perspective which aids the rich person and hampers the poor. Consider this: If you have made a few million, how do you think you view your chances of making it again if you were to lose it? A bit of a nuisance. An irritation. But a ludicrous fantasy? A crazy, impossible dream? Hardly! So do you think people with this attitude manage to make a million again if they lose it? Yes, they do. Often they do it several times over, if they are particularly careless with money. But when you are broke and have never managed to accumulate more than a modest sum of say £10,000, how do you think you view the possibility of making a million or ten million? This appears to be an un-scaleable mountain, the dizzy heights of which tower to infinity above you, a mere mortal. These slopes seem impossible to climb. You cannot imagine 235

how another person could have climbed to that lofty peak, let alone the millions who have done so before you. There are over two million dollar millionaires in the USA alone. How hard can it be? Answer: certainly not impossible. Yet your fear and doubt alone prevents you from following these people. You don't really believe you can do it. In contrast, those who have made it and lost it know with complete certainty that they can make this kind of money again. They have done it once; they will do it again if need be. It is this certainty which allows them to repeat their previous success. Yes, they have some technical knowledge and experience which comes in handy the second (or third) time around, but the real secret is their belief. They believe they can do it. Actually, they know they can do it. The poor person is filled with doubt and indecision; this prevents them from taking action. They are afraid to fail when really, they have nothing to lose. If you are broke, what can you lose? Nothing. But you need to start taking action as soon as possible because your life has a certain amount of inertia. Like a super tanker it cannot be diverted from its course immediately. To change course, the ‘steering wheel’ must be turned by an effort of your will, and then after a few weeks or months, your life will start slowly to change for the better as it settles into its new course. The trick is this; knowing about the time-lag between steering wheel or rudder movement and actual course change, you need to start turning the wheel early. This means as soon as possible, preferably now, today, after you have put this book down.

The Secrets of Getting Wealthy At this stage of your studies you should have five things firmly in mind: 1. You know you want to be wealthy and free. We are not talking about a hundred million here, we are talking between three and ten million. 2. You realise there is a price to pay and that three or ten million will not drop into your lap through luck, chanting, praying or waiting. You know it will take effort, and you are prepared to get your sleeves rolled up. 3. You have genuinely abandoned ‘Get Rich Quick’ rubbish and know they are all fantasies. You realise that to become wealthy will require your consistent applied effort for a sizeable amount of time. 4. You know it is very possible to achieve wealth because millions of others have done it. Whilst it would not be right to call it ‘easy’, this is not some crazy, bizarre dream of little substance. 5. This is not a game for you. You are serious and you are willing to fight. Please go down that list and put a tick mark against all five. If you miss any out, you are reading the wrong book! If you want ten million you need to ask yourself if you are willing to pay the price. We will discuss what the price is in a moment, but realise that if you are not willing to pay the price you need to adjust your mind-set immediately and accept the fact that you will 236

never be really wealthy (luck to one side). You should not waste any further mental energy fantasising about this, or saying “one day...” Just forget it. Put big money out of your mind forever, and be happy with what you have got. This is (seriously) a perfectly valid position to take. You don't have to become rich. It is not essential. Just stop pretending. If you have decided not to pay the price, then fine – just stop talking about it! It is boring and others are probably secretly laughing at you behind your back.

The Price Just to remind you, the price involves devoting a reasonable chunk of your life to the project of making this kind of money. Probably at least ten years, more like twenty. Obviously some have done it in less, but very few. Remember this means that you have to love whatever it is you are going to do to make this money. This cannot be a twenty year prison sentence. You cannot mortgage your present for some future benefit twenty years down the line. You cannot do something you hate whilst persuading yourself that it will be worth it in a couple of decades when you retire. You will not last three years, let alone twenty. That business will eat you up long before then. To make ten million you need absolute laser beam focus and dedication to the task at hand. This means love for your work and belief in what you are doing. This is something worth going for, and a price worth paying for many people. Your focus is almost certainly going to be on the ‘project’ and not on the ten million. Mere money is not sufficient incentive to do what it takes to make it! That may surprise you.

Your Future Plans It’s worth asking what other plans you have, apart from trying your very hardest to be all you can be, to fight to dare and to win? What other plans could you possibly have that are more pressing than this? Flipping mags? Watching some TV? Drinking down the bar? Surely there is only one plan worth having? To be all you are capable of being. To push the limits and keep pushing until the day you die. To drop down dead trying for that next goal – shooting for the bigger dream, helping yet more people. This is a masterful life. A life filled with power. A life worth living. This is not a greedy life spent in the mindless pursuit of ever more money for who knows what reason. As we have said several times, you need a big enough ‘why’ to shoot for this level of wealth. Now the price... We have touched upon this already but it bears repeating. Many claim to be happy to pay the price, but they haven’t thought it through. They are bedazzled by the lure of the ten million and will nod automatically in agreement to any sacrifice asked of them to attain it.

The Price The price is a busy life with little time for standard relaxation of the sort engaged in by the Thralls. It is a ‘full to bursting’ life with your energies and talents directed purposefully on positive goals. It is a focused life in which you work very hard on things which matter. You will be a driven person going from phase to phase of your wealth-building project. 237

You will be endlessly fascinated by life and its challenges. You will take on too much. You will ideally be helping others in some very meaningful way otherwise your project will eventually turn out to be meaningless and your triumph hollow. Your social life will not be good because you will be unwilling to squander the endless hours it takes to maintain the dozens of friendships and acquaintances craved by the insecure. That is the hard truth. Most people will not understand you. They cannot understand why you do not want to waste hundreds of hours chatting about trivia and socialising. Almost the entire world will be against you. Most people will consider you ‘lucky’ to have made some money. To them, money making is a purely random event which happens accidentally ‘to’ someone for no effort on their part. They spend their lives sitting around waiting for this miracle to happen ‘to’ them. When it happens to you, many people will be jealous. You will lose a lot of friends – maybe all of them. There is also a very high chance that your current relationship will not survive. The state and the press are against you too. They do not like the worker drones to have personal power. They do not like strong-minded, wealthy individualists. They will seek to break you down to drone status if you ever threaten to get above your station. All this, and more will be your lot. Still interested? Still want to make ten million? Good. You are our kind of person. You are prepared to fight and win or go down trying. Are you a docile factory farm animal to be milked by the government? No. The very thought makes you angry. Are you prepared to settle for a life of third-rate mediocrity? No. The thought makes you sick. Do you wallow in the warm human soup of vapid companionship? Do you compete with others to see who can be the more ordinary? No? Great! You could have what it takes to make ten million.

The Ten Million Pound Business Assuming you have decided to go for it, there is only one legal way of making this kind of money (apart from luck such as winning the lottery or if you are an ultra highly paid senior banker or top business executive with millions of pounds in share options). As with the million, the one way for us mere mortals to make this kind of money is to run our own business, but there is a new and important dimension to this formula. This single ‘twist’ makes the difference between modest success in your own ‘small business’ and making the ten million which you claim to seek. Firstly an acknowledgement. The following thought stream was inspired by Michael Gerber who single-handedly, has released tens of thousands of business people from slavery and into the clear light of freedom. Please read his book ‘E-Myth’ (this is absolutely required reading) or buy the Nightingale Conant CD series ‘E-Myth Seminar’. 238

E-Myth stands for 'Entrepreneurial Myth’ and Michael blows apart the standard myth that it is good and noble to have your own ‘small business’ if you want to be rich. Here is the inside track on this secret...

The Entrepreneurial Myth ‘Everyone’ will tell you that you cannot get rich working for someone else. This is true with a handful of exceptions (top bankers on huge bonuses, maybe top surgeons or captains of industry). The alternative, they say, is to start your own small business. That is true as well...up to a point. As we have seen this will get you from £10k to maybe a million or two if you play it right. The problem is that most small businesses are little more than a licence for the owner to work for minimum wage or less. Yes they have independence from bosses, but they become slaves to a far more tyrannical master – themselves. Please listen very carefully. We have all been down this path and we know what we are talking about. This experience is not unique to us. Countless thousands of business owners have made this same error. In fact most business owners have made the error and are still making it. They are trapped by their businesses. This chapter should save you wasting ten years of your life finding out the hard way how to make ten million from your business. The ‘trick’ to making ten million involves no extra work for you at all. In fact your personal work load can even reduce. The ‘trick’ is in making the very difficult mental transition from working IN your business to working ON your business. That’s it. There is nothing more to it than that. You can make £100,000 working IN your business. You can just about make a million working IN your business. But making ten million it is very hard to achieve without working ON your business. We would all agree that this is, in fact, impossible. Sounds easy to make the switch? Maybe, but fewer than 1% of business owners manage to do it. That is 1% of business owners, not 1% of the general public. The reason is lack of training and knowledge. They signed up to the E-myth and never looked back. It is time for some home truths.

The Harsh Truth of Running a ‘Little Business’ Here is a portrait of the typical ‘business owner’. They are now entering their twentieth year of being in business for themselves. For most of those years they have worked 10-12 hour days six or seven days a week. When they started, they had absolutely no picture of what their business would look like when it was finished. Read that last sentence again. What do we mean “When the business is finished”? Surely a business is never ‘finished’? Error number one!

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They made some money, they lost some money. They bought a fancy car but had little time to drive it except up and down the motorway to endless meetings. They moved into a larger house, but did not really have the freedom or time to enjoy it. When business was good, they were at work 24/7. In the lean times they were panicking and trying to drum up business – so they were at work 24/7. At the end of each year they paid an accountant to tell them how much they had made. They were doing okay – about 50% better than the average middle manager, but they were paying a huge price and were a long way from even a sniff of ten million. Also, the business was entirely in their heads. If they had dropped down dead, or been taken ill, the business would have suffered tremendously – maybe even folded. It began and ended with them. Little was written down. They had no exit strategy or even a dim view of a date at which they would cash in their chips. There was no exit strategy. This is employment by another name. This is the situation with 99% of owner-managed businesses. There is no chance of making ten million like this. Really, no chance. If you want to make ten million, you have to short-circuit this slow, tortuous path. Look at the numbers. The average small business turns over between a quarter and a half a million. That is turnover. The profit on that is typically between 25k and 50k and that is the ‘salary’ the business owner typically draws, cleaning the business out at the end of each year. Then he or she starts again next year. Even at £50k a year, it would take you twenty years to amass a million pounds and two hundred years to amass ten million – and that is assuming you never spend a dime of it! It cannot be done this way. Really. Forget it. The best you can do is make up to a million or two in the average business, and even that marks you out as very special. Most do not make a quarter of this. The next ‘mistake’ these aspiring multi-millionaires make is to run a business in an area they know something about. Error number two! Remember this chapter in about making ten million. Different rules apply for this, compared with making a million, so do not think this is contradicting anything previously said. It is a different game, played on a different pitch in a different strip. Yes, most people start a business doing what they know how to do. It is an obvious entry point and one to be considered. The point is that this is usually the only thing people consider because they flee for the safety of the known. If you are a welder for ABC Steel Sheet Co, you start your own freelance welding company. So what are you going to be doing for the next twenty years? Yes, you’ve got it – welding. Welding by day, welding by night. Welding into the small hours of the morning. Welding until your hands shake and your eyes grow tired trying to get that ‘big job’ out of the door. There are only so many joints you can weld and so regardless of what you charge per joint, your turnover (and profit) are pegged firmly at a low level. A million pounds seems (and is) ten years away. Ten million is an impossible dream.

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Do you employ other welders? Probably not. Nobody knows more about welding than you. They just mess-up the jobs. It is easier to do the thing yourself than it is to get some monkey to do it. By the time you have explained the job you could have welded it up yourself. Please understand: if this is you, you are a welder, not a businessman. You work for ACME carpet cleaning Co? They are doing a lousy job and the customers are annoyed. The cleaners never turn up at the right time. When they do turn up they do half a job. Customers complain. Right! Here is a business opening for you. So... you start up Janet’s Carpet Cleaning with the usual ‘quality’ and ‘value’ stuff. You put yourself in hock to buy a van and some equipment. You print leaflets, you hit the road. Soon you get a couple of customers. Wow! This is great. Instead of the pathetic £10 an hour your ‘stingy’ boss used to pay, you now get to keep the whole, whopping £25 an hour paid by the customer. Guess what? Soon you are cleaning carpets morning noon and night. You start at 7 a.m. and stop at 8 p.m.. You work and work. You arrive home half dead. You fall into bed and start again the next morning. There are only so many carpets you can clean and so regardless of what you charge, your turnover (and profit) are pegged firmly at a low level. Whilst this is a good option for getting your first £100k, a million pounds seems (and is) ten years away. Ten million is an impossible dream. Do you employ some help? No. Who can clean those carpets as thoroughly as you? Nobody. By the time you have shown some ‘doofus’ school leaver how to do the job properly, you could have done it yourself. Please understand: if this is you, you are a carpet cleaner, not a businesswoman. A gentle reminder once again: this is not knocking owner-managed ‘small businesses’ if that is what you want. You can certainly do better than average in such a venture. £100,000 is easily achievable and if you do a mixture of working in, and on, your business you can make a million in about five to ten years. We are talking here only about making ten million pounds – and this is flat out impossible in an owner-managed business unless you can make that essential transition from working IN your business to working ON your business. You see, the problem with the welder and the carpet-cleaner is that they both knew how to do the detailed job and were good at it. Why is this a problem? Because when you know how to do something, you are tempted to do it. This is why 99% of businesses never really make it big. The owners just cannot keep their sticky hands off the welding torch or the Sudso-Foamer. And as soon as they pick up those tools, they are consigning themselves to a semiskilled minimum wage job which any one of fifty thousand people would gladly do for a few pounds an hour. So now, the missing ingredient in the ‘start your own business’ myth is to complete the unfinished sentence. Start your own business and then.... sell that turkey! Michael Gerber says: “If you haven’t sold your business, then you’ve bought it.” That is true. And this, my friends, is one of the tiny handful of ways of making ten million or more, legally. Here is the step by step plan. 241

1. Start a business, preferably in something you do not know how to do yourself. This is harder than doing something you know how to do, but it will save you endless heartache later. If you really, genuinely must start a business doing something you have a skill in, then at the earliest opportunity you must be prepared to make the monumental leap of stopping work at the semi-skilled level, and starting work at the managerial level. This leap is far, far harder when you are skilled in the service offered by your business, but it can be done by the dedicated few – just. 2. Have a firm picture in your mind of what your business will look like when you have finished with it. Picture a certain size company with a turnover of (say) ten million with twenty employees housed in a nice office unit somewhere – or whatever is appropriate to your business. If your aim is ten million, then picture a company which is worth ten million pounds. That would typically be a company with about one and a half million pound annual profit. This is a rule of thumb, but there are many factors affecting the value of a business. 3. Work ON the business, not IN it. Strive from the earliest moment to remove yourself from the detailed day to day running of the operation. Do not run the photocopier; instead work only on marketing and business strategy. Every minute spent on manual work is a minute not spent on moving the business forward. This is so, so hard for the average owner-manager. It takes an extraordinary effort of will to stop yourself from picking up the welding torch, particularly when times get hard. 4. Make yourself redundant. That is, build a business which can carry on even if you were to die tomorrow. Sure you would be missed, but the business would continue. You should aim to build a company in which a good, competent manager could replace you. If you do not achieve this, your business is unsaleable – it is literally worthless in that nobody wants to buy it at any price. Who wants to buy a business which is 100% dependent upon you? Supposing you resign, or fall ill? What then? Most owner-managers wallow in pride at their own indispensability. “Why, without me, this business would be nothing!” They are arrogant and foolish. And by the way this is an excellent example of ego consciousness. Most people start a business because they want to ‘be’ somebody. They want others to look up to them. They want to be ‘the boss’. Their business is little more than a sad ego trip. You must make yourself dispensable. To achieve this you must: 5. Make your business a ‘turnkey’ operation. That is, a company which runs like clockwork according to instructions written by you. Make your business a MacDonald’s. That is a great example of a turnkey operation. The staff do not have to work out from first principles how to make a profit from selling hamburgers. It is written down. You just follow the instructions, A, B, C. Don’t deviate. Buy the frozen chips from this supplier at this price. Put this exact number into the fryer. Fry at this exact temperature for so many minutes. Remove. Put into a warmer, set it to this temperature. Shovel this exact quantity into these cardboard cartons supplied by this manufacturer at this price. Get the idea? Any business can be made into such a turnkey operation, even though the decisions taken by your people will be of a higher order than those taken by the average MacDonald’s employee. 242

To turn your business into a turnkey operation you answer the critical question: “How do we make money?” There should be an exact, detailed answer to this. Although the answer might be long enough to fill a 100 page operations manual, it will still be a definitive answer to these questions: 1. How do you attract customers? 2. How do you advertise? 3. What steps do you take to bring in new business? 4. How do you make your product or supply your service? 5. How do you deliver it, wrap it, pack it? 6. How do you run your accounts system and your administration? 7. How do you cope with customer complaints? Refunds? All these questions can be answered in exact detail, even the esoteric ones. In the standard owner-managed business, these answers are in the form of a nebulous mist swirling around in the owner’s head. Many answers will be instinctive. Several will vary from day to day. This is not how to build a saleable business. A business should be just like a product. You build it, you quality assure it, you market it and then... you SELL IT. This cannot be emphasised strongly enough. An exit strategy should not consist of clutching your chest one day and slumping in a heap over the desk. You should have a vision for your business and a ‘sell by’ date. You should build a perfect little turnkey money-making machine which any half way competent person could operate. Then you sell that sucker, collect the ten million and...start again if you feel like it! The real fun is in building such an organisation, not in running the business once everything is working like clockwork. Leave that to others. If you want to actually run a clockwork business, then buy yourself a MacDonald’s franchise and shovel fries all day. Someone else has done the hard work to ensure that this perfect turnkey operation can produce profits even in the hands of a half-wit. The business has been made to work automatically. This is what you should aim for in your own business.

Selling The Business You will never find a buyer for your business if it is ‘You Ltd’. But there are plenty of buyers for a nice little cash-generating machine with a simple set of operating instructions. “Do this, this and this and the money will come rolling in.” Who can resist that? You will also have a good set of accounts showing that the business has made great profits year on year. The buyers will also be able to see that they could replace you with any decent manager on £50k and the thing would still run smoothly. What is the third most important question in the mind of a prospective buyer? “Is this a good viable business?” That is probably question one. “Is it making a profit and can we increase the profits?” That is probably question two. Can you guess what question three is? It is this: 243

“Can we fire the idiot who started this thing and replace him or her?” Do you see this? Reminder once again: we are still talking about ten million, not one million. There is nothing wrong with having your own little wool shop or car cleaning service, if that is what you want. Just be sure that you understand what you are doing and what level of wealth this will (and won’t) bring you. If you want ten million, you must follow the steps explained here. Now here is something else: having built up and sold your first business, you become instantly financially independent. Guess what? That puts you in a very powerful personal position. The next venture you undertake becomes fun, not a life and death grind which must succeed otherwise you are dead in the water. With some money in the bank, you do not need to pick up the welding torch and you would be a fool if you did. Now you can start (or buy) a business in an area which interests you, but of which you have no personal knowledge or skill. Perfect! The less you know about the detailed running of this business, the better. If it is a car repair company, you should know nothing about how to repair cars. Why? If you know something about it, you will be tempted to get under the hood instead of employing someone to do this for you. Also, another vital point is this. If you are ‘doing it yourself’ then you are masking the real figures underlying that business. Here is how this works... All businesses exist solely to make a profit. That is their primary reason for being in existence. It is not the function of a business to dig holes in the morning, fill them in again in the afternoon, and make a loss. That business might be busy, but that has nothing to do with it. You must make a profit or close the thing down and sit on a beach all day. Busyness (turnover) has nothing whatsoever to do with it. It is about PROFIT – making money. So, to run any business you ask yourself three basic questions: “What can I buy this stuff for, and what can I sell it for? Is the difference enough for me to build a business upon?” The things you buy can be goods, raw materials or expertise. Often you will buy all three. The thing you sell can be a finished product, a service or a combination of the two. To determine if this business has any viability you must pay the correct price (the current market price) for the skills, services and materials you are buying. You cannot build a business if your raw materials are being given to you by your brother. That will stop one day and your business may then be unprofitable. You cannot build a business if relatives are working for you for free. They will stop one day, and then you will be faced with the true wage bill. This will probably skew the equation to make the business insolvent. In fact it never should have been started in the first place. You cannot build a business if you are welding for £3 an hour, typing invoices at midnight for free, doing the books on weekends for free and using your mate’s company car and work telephone to make sales calls for your own private enterprise. From day one you should try and pay the true market price for these services because only then will you get a realistic set of financial figures.

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Know Your Numbers! These figures are important. They determine whether you have a viable project, or whether you would be better off lying on a beach someplace. You need to know this. If you waste five years on a business which never should have been started, then that is serious. Most people fling themselves into a new venture armed with enthusiasm and little else. You must determine if your business idea is viable as soon as possible. Can you make a good profit and build a saleable organisation? That is what this is all about. If the answer is negative, or marginal, then do not venture into that arena. You would be far better off doing nothing. It is possible to turn a profitable hobby or home-business into a ten million pound golden handshake. Many have done this, but the process involves a serious mental adjustment which you should ideally make from day one. It is to work ON the business, not IN it. That means spend 95% of your time on marketing and strategies (business direction), and 5% on the actual detail of the business (you leave such details to others). Most owner managers operate the reverse ratio. They spend 5% of their time on lastminute panic marketing and business development, and 95% of the time ‘running the photocopier’ or equivalent. Do you think you have what it takes to do this? You have had a reality check, but do not let that stand in your way if you really want it. Why not have a go? What else are you planning?

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Lesson Twenty-Three: How to Make One Hundred Million Confession time – none of us has made a hundred million so you might want to take this chapter with a pinch of salt. However, we know several people personally who have made a hundred million or more, so if you are interested, we are happy to pass on what they have disclosed to us. The main way of achieving this level of wealth is similar to making ten million – you build a business and sell it – either float it on the stock market or sell it outright to an interested buyer. To make a hundred million your business should have annual profits of around £15 million because the average selling price for a business is six times annual earnings. That is quite a big business, but interestingly it is not a huge one. It is a chain of just fifteen outlets each making about a million a year profit. Or fifty such outlets each making a mere £25,000 profit a month. This is hardly a global enterprise as you can see. If you are lucky, you may get bought out for way more than six times earnings. You will recall some of the insane figure paid to the founders of dotcom companies in the early days of the internet revolution. The standard way to achieve such a £100 million buyout is as follows: 1. Start a business and make it profitable. 2. Turn the business into a ‘cookie cutter’ operation. Armed with your instruction manual, any fool should be able to copy that business and make the same money as you. 3. Either franchise out, or start your own chain of cookie-cutter businesses based upon your tried and tested model. 4. Create a mini-empire with about £15 million total annual profit. 5. Float it or sell it for £100 million, pocket the cash and walk away. That route is fairly slow. It will take maybe ten years to put that package together. The franchise route is a little quicker, mainly because others are setting up the clones for you and they are also fronting the money. But the profits are less (because the business ‘operator’ takes a large cut) and so you will need many more outlets to reach the £100 million mark. If you do not go the franchise route, hopefully you have spotted a ‘challenge’ which stands between you and the hundred million. It is the capital injection needed to start your fifty (or however many) clone operations. For example if you have a profitable retail outlet, you need enough capital to open fifty similar outlets in towns around the country. That can run into many millions, so you will need a superb line of credit. You will also be a highly driven individual, laser-focussed on the task of cloning your operation fifty times over. This will take you many years to achieve so it goes without saying that you must be fairly passionate about your adventure.

The Consolidation Route Here is another route to the one hundred million and one which requires less capital to pull off. 246

You need to identify a lot of small businesses which could be amalgamated into one large chain. Examples would be independent pubs, restaurants, opticians, hairdressers, accountants, newsagents – there are many possibilities. You then create a brand which will act as the umbrella organisation for these individually owned businesses. Next you approach the owners of such businesses with an interesting proposition. If they agree to become part of your large organisation, you will offer them an ‘exit’ route when you float the whole operation in (say) three years from now. They will receive an excellent price for their business plus in the meantime they will benefit from being part of the Nationwide ‘Bennetts’ chain (or whatever) rather than being a ‘Mom and Pop’ small-time organisation. Such benefits will include brand awareness, nationwide TV coverage and so on. When you have sufficient individual businesses in your group (say 50-100) you float or sell the entire operation with its multi-million turnover and profits. You pocket a very, very large amount of money for your efforts after buying out the original owners. Obviously there are lots of details missing there, but this is an indication of the way forward. In summary, here are the three ways: 1. Build a business with a £15 million annual profit and sell it. 2. Do this either by slowly building the outlets, or through franchising. 3. Consolidate a chain of owner-operated outlets and subsume them under one major ‘brand’. Float or sell the whole operation.

Other Ways of Making £100 Million There are one or two other routes to £100 million which are mentioned here for the sake of completeness. The author J K Rowling is worth many hundreds of millions at the time of writing, with Harry Potter being a global brand worth £7 billion. The point here is that she has made this ‘just’ by writing some books. Several major pop stars are worth around the £100 million mark – but only a few as this is a very great deal of money to make from music. Sir Elton John is worth around £400 million and Sir Paul McCartney around £725 million. Madonna is worth around £300 million – to mention just three. So it is possible to make this kind of money from one’s art. You could make £100 million from property dealing at a high level. You could make a hundred million by starting an amazing new Internet idea (Facebook, Linkedin etc.) which takes off; but this is a spin on the ‘start a profitable business and sell it’ idea. You could make a hundred million with an astonishing new invention (anti gravity, a highly efficient and cheap battery, a way of removing carbon from the air etc.) but this rarely happens. You could make £100 million if you discovered oil in your back yard – but we are clutching at straws here! If you are not a brilliant artist, writer, inventor or musician there is only one tried and tested route to the money and that is to build a business empire and sell it. 247

Who Makes This Kind of Money? Please know that this level of money is not within the reach of everyone. To get it, you will need to be the toughest S.O.B. on the block. You will be utterly focussed on your empire to the exclusion of almost everything else. It will be a ten year deal – maybe twenty. You will have to kiss a lot of frogs and be a complete bastard to many people who will not thank you for it. You will have to want it very, very badly. Your ‘why’ must be huge enough to encompass a hundred million. Why do you want a hundred million? A vague, arm-waving answer will not get you there. The sort of people who make this money are lean, mean fighting machines, hell bent on getting to the very top of the financial tree. They are probably not the sort of people you want at your party. They wouldn’t come anyway as they are too busy for such trivia. You will need a deep personal commitment to get this wealthy. That means a total commitment of time and energy. No rest, no vacations, no outings, no squandered time. It will be meetings, figures, skin of your teeth schedules and heart-stopping moments where you could lose the lot.

Can You Handle The Crap? How robust are you at handling failure? You will have some big failures on your road to this kind of cash. Can you stomach them? Do you have what it takes to pick yourself up again and again and keep on fighting? Many do not. Are you okay if several people truly hate you? It is hard to make this money without making some big enemies. You will have many enemies both personal and political, some of which will actively want you terminated. For example, an estimated thirty million people world-wide detest Bill Gates. About 10,000 of these are crazy enough to murder him, given a chance and a clear shot. Very wealthy people receive an almost constant stream of death threats, begging letters and blackmail attempts. So how do you feel about always travelling with a close protection team? What about needing bodyguards for your children? Are your family behind you? If not, forget it – or ditch the family. You will not be able to do this with dead weight dragging you down. Your partner must be 100% on side or you will fail. Are you prepared to lose everything? It may come to that, for this route is far from certain and not for the faint-hearted. You will be using a lot of borrowed money, of course, but the lenders will want to see financial commitment from you as well. If your neck is not on the line, why should theirs be? Are you happy to risk the family home? Can you handle top level stress? Each day there will be a series of problems, some big, some small, crashing over your life like waves upon the shore. Every day – no exceptions. Some of these problems will threaten to destroy everything you have worked to achieve. Can you handle that? Can you handle a fifty million dollar lawsuit landing on your desk? Can you handle a bank telling you they are terminating all of your funding forthwith? Can you handle the fact that a worker has just died on one of your construction sites and you could be in the frame for a corporate negligence manslaughter suit? 248

Only the very toughest can take all of this on a daily basis and come up punching for more. Most people’s emotional bank accounts run out long before their financial bank accounts – they just can’t take the stress and hassle. And why should you? Is your ‘why’ big enough to shoot for a hundred million? If so, go for it. You will get to hunt with the big dogs and pee in the long grass. It will be exhilarating and an amazingly powerful life. With that sort of money you can start to make a serious difference to your chosen life-project. That might be the ‘why’ you will need to take you to the end of this path. If not, choose yourself a smaller fish to fry. We certainly did!

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Beyond Wealth Here is a final message from The Author. If you have read this book faithfully from cover to cover, you should congratulate yourself on completing a long and hopefully fulfilling journey. The lessons you have learned in these pages, like all knowledge, can be applied towards good, or not so good outcomes for yourself. I have tried to steer you towards a certain path – the one which leads Beyond Wealth – but I cannot force you to walk that road. Ultimately you will seek and use money according to your current level of consciousness and continue in that mode until you wake up to a higher level. That may have happened for you during our journey together; it may happen to you soon, or you may spend the rest of your life in a more or less unconscious mode. It is your choice. Your life is constructed from moment by moment micro decisions, each such decision is a choice about waking up a little or going to sleep a little. The vast bulk of humanity routinely and habitually choose the ‘sleep’ option. Indeed they are mostly unaware that there is another option. Remaining asleep is probably the easiest and the most comforting choice. This, of course, is why people choose it. But it results in a very small life which consists of alternating between fear and greed. It results in a life spent in a frantic scrabble for status with almost every spare penny of money being yoked to its service. Status, acknowledgement, respect, admiration, wishing to feel superior to, or better than others – these are the drugs the ego craves and this is what the huge majority of wealthseekers desire money for. If they are unlucky, they will never amass enough cash to glimpse the illusory nature of the ego. They will die believing that if only they had managed to get more, all would have been well. If they are fortunate they may amass enough wealth to realise that no amount of money or status will ever satisfy the ego, for its demands are insatiable. Making a million only allows them to realise that others have ten million. Making ten million moves them into the circle of people who have a hundred million, and so on. The lucky few who make some money wake up at this point, shake their heads briskly and realise they have prostituted their lives to a false idol. But even these are the few. Most wealthy people never glimpse the true depths of Wonderland and continue to amass larger and larger fortunes chasing an ever receding dream. Often they die, puzzled about why their huge wealth did little more than allow them to live a comfortable life, with their fear assuaged by a mountain of possessions and shop-bought ‘respect’. Then there are the few... These people have realised the noble purpose of their lives and have transcended the ego to the extent that this is possible for we humans. They have realised that status, respect, admiration and all their derivatives are shallow ego-desires, unworthy of the great life project. They have discovered that our deepest needs are to do with peace, love and making the world a better place. Understanding this, the desire for a third car, a luxury boat or second holiday home seems laughable. Instead they desire money to create something beautiful, to bring peace, love, joy and security to themselves and others. 250

For such a person, money is not an issue. Whilst those still in the thrall of the ego scramble around to accumulate yet more status possessions, the Beyond Wealth initiate has all he or she needs. Such a person will live comfortably but not extravagantly. They have realised that extra money does not bring increased happiness – unless that money is used in the service of ‘the mankind project’. In short, that means helping other people or the planet in some way or another. They are in touch with their dream and are realising this in their daily lives. They are likely to be on a spiritual path also, which transcends ego. These people are notable for their modesty and lack of ego. They will have virtually no ego toys and do not crave status, acknowledgement or respect. They are their ‘own people’ moving powerfully ahead with their life projects. They have largely woken up from the illusions of Wonderland and are usually very free thinkers and almost impossible to manipulate and control. The pursuit of wealth to bring more status and possessions is a goal they have left behind. Their higher consciousness takes them Beyond Wealth and their primary focus is helping others. This is the path which awaits you if you dare to take it. This is the ultimate ‘steep and rocky path’ which looks so daunting compared with the wide, flat, downwards sloping pathway which leads to deep unconsciousness. My final thought for you is in the form of a promise. I promise that if you want true contentment and deep peace in your life, you must take the high, rocky path. You will never find these things if you choose to remain ensnared in the egoic illusions which have controlled you all of your life so far. The low path leads to background fear, agitation, irritation, separateness, wanting, hunger for that which you do not have and anxiety. No amount of doing what you have always done will free you from that – although the ego likes to think it will. To break free from the ultimate tool of Wonderland control – your own ego – requires your total commitment and minute by minute focus. Very few manage to achieve this, such is the strength of the ego. Thank you for reading. I wish you success on your own journey towards finding a deep, lasting peace and happiness in your life. That, after all, is the real journey.

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