HE WHO HAS THE GOLD MAKES ALL THE RULES

The following was originally printed in the Native Sun News issue for April 30 – May 6, 2014.

In a previous article I mentioned that I’ve been designing a financial education program called the Financial Literacy Innovation Pilot Program, or the FLIP Program. The purpose of the FLIP Program is to provide basic financial education to help people flip around the way they think about money instead of flipping out over their money problems.

The FLIP Program is mostly about defining perspectives and mindsets more than budgeting, writing checks and paying bills. We’ve identified three key lessons and seven rules to the Game of Money, things we take for granted.

The First Key lesson from the FLIP Program is this: Every time you exchange money you are conducting a business transaction. The only time you exchange money and aren’t conducting a business transaction is when you give money as a gift. Even something as simple as your children’s allowance is a business transaction.

A business transaction is the anticipation of receiving a product or service for the money exchanged. Children earn their allowance for doing chores. Employees earn their paychecks for working. Employers earn their revenues from offering a product, service or both. It’s all business.

Whether or not you know this, you yourself are running a business. Yes, you are. I can prove it and even tell you the name of your business.

Your employer trains multiple employees to offer either a product or service to his customers to generate revenue for business growth. You offer your employer the only thing you have to give, your personal time, education, skills and energy to generate an income for your household’s stability. The only one way to improve on this situation is by relying on your basic skills, but that’s a lesson for another day.

Would you like to know the name of your primary business? Even some entrepreneurs and business owners get this wrong. I’ll give you a hint. The name of my primary business is The CloudWalker Household. OK? Repeat after me – The name of my business is The (state your last name) Household. You are the CEO or President of your household’s business and this will always be the primary one.

The mindset of an uninformed consumer is to agree to whatever the  business offers and just pay the bills. An educated consumer will seek to understand the offerings to be rendered and may even negotiate a better deal, or find a better source for a win-win business transaction.

The Second Key lesson is that the biggest misunderstanding most people have about money is not realizing that money is a very real game that has ever changing rules of which we are not fully aware. How often does the tax code change? It changes every year.

The First Rule in the Game of Money is The Golden Rule. He who has the gold (politicians, corporate executives, institutions, etc.) makes all the rules.

The Second Rule in the Game of Money is to relieve as many players as possible of their hard earned money no matter the potential hardships to the other players. This rule is mostly followed by those who make the rules.

The Third Rule in the Game of Money is to build a strong team (attorneys, accountants, bankers, mentors, coaches, teachers, etc.) so you all can win your games. Your team is meant to advise you on the best way to achieve your goals.

The Fourth Rule isto actively learn the other rules to the game so you can develop strategies and tactics to achieve your objectives. The law influences money and money influences the law meaning that the rules to the game are subject to change at any time with little to no notice.

The Fifth Rule in the game is to keep more money than you spend. Pay yourself first. Set up an emergency fund to cover between 6 to 24 months of expenses. Create an enterprise fund to expand your income streams.

The Sixth Rule is to play multiple pieces of varying sizes at one time. Once you’re proficient moving one piece your team can help you with strategies and tactics for each new piece you choose to play.

The Seventh Rule in the game is don’t keep all your eggs in one basket. The loss of a single source of income will have devastating effects on a household or business. Additional sources of income provide better financial security.

Many of us make the mistake that money is something we work hard for so we can pay bills and buy things like a hammer, a computer or an oven. Money, when used properly, is a tool that is meant to build lives up into abundance and prosperity which could last for generations.

One tool many of us take for granted, because it’s perceived more of a convenience than a tool, is our cell phones. A cellphone is capable of doing much more than calling people, playing games or taking pictures. It’s your appointment calendar, mobile office, research center, production campus and more. You just have to fully explore it and use it to open new doors to change your Life.

When money is used improperly it destroys lives with stress, debt and poverty. Money is a tool that you use every day, whether it’s in your possession or not, even when you’re just thinking about it. Doesn’t it make sense to understand the right way to use such a vital tool to build a better quality of Life?

A basic financial education balances consumer education and enhances personal development. Challenge yourself to become very proficient in using money as the tool it really is. Sacrifice your ignorance and get financially literate. Look for books by D.J Eagle Bear Vanas, Robert Kiyosake, Loral Langemeier, Napolean Hill, David Bach and others.

Pursuing a financial education early in Life will help to avoid the pitfalls that come with the lack of knowledge and increase your awareness of beneficial opportunities. It’s never too late to start because as long as you’re a consumer you’ll most always need money. Be smart about it.

OVERCOMING THE OBSTACLES IN LIFE

The following was originally printed in the Native Sun News issue for the of April 16 – 22, 2014. 

First, I would like to thank Tim Giago for writing “If I Only Had the Billions of Buffett and Gates” in the February 5 – 11 issue of NSN. Thanks also go out to Delphine Red Shirt for her article in the March 26 – April 1 issue “Outside Looking In: An Indian Think Tank.” You both prompted me to write.

Since April has been declared Financial Literacy Month, I thought it might be appropriate to share the following as this is where a great part of my passion is.

Please read this not with your head but with your heart to what I am about to share.

In the late 90’s, I had become a part-time, then full-time caregiver for my mother-in-law. She suffered from heart disease, had a lower leg amputation from diabetes and was undergoing kidney dialysis. Since I was the only driver in the house capable of lifting and transporting her to dialysis treatments, I soon became unemployed because I didn’t comply with my employer’s terms of how to care for my family. Because of my employer’s reason for termination, insubordination, I was disqualified from collecting benefits for six weeks.

Soon after becoming unemployed, I was ordered to pay child support. We faced foreclosure and eviction because the landlord had lost the house. My car was repossessed with only two payments to go. After 22 months of enduring this hardship my mother-in-law crossed over and six months later my father-in-law also crossed over.

When we finally moved before the foreclosure was finalized in May of 2000 the only utility we had left was cold running water. In July of 2000 my daughter crossed over from a short battle with cancer three weeks before her 14^th birthday. And no matter how tough everything seemed to be I learned a long time ago that someone somewhere else had it much worse.

As you can see I have had my share of tough times. I even compiled these collective experiences into what I call a hardship resume’ because these experiences have tremendous value in the lessons learned and shared.

But it didn’t make sense to me to just go through it all without wondering if any of this could have been avoided or alleviated.

I wondered, how was I supposed to support my family while managing these circumstances, relying solely on my wife’s income? We didn’t know anyone who had ever gone through any of these experiences, so we had no one to turn to for advice.

One day, as I was caring for my mother-in-law, I was feeling so isolated and desolate. I wondered, how did my Native ancestors handle situations like this? I was looking for previous experiences to learn from.

As I looked through the sliding glass doors into the backyard the answer came to me that everything my ancestors needed was provided by the land and the experience of the people around them. They gained so much knowledge and became very resourceful and self-reliant. Even the children learned the same thing from a very young age.

That answer made me look to the past comparing it to the present. I realized that the land still provides. It was just a matter of putting everything into proper context. Since then I have developed a dual perspective in looking at Life.

I began to flip around the way I thought about my circumstances instead of flipping out about them. Since then, I have been designing a financial education program called the Financial Literacy Innovation Pilot Program or the FLIP Program. The purpose of the FLIP Program is to provide basic financial education to help people flip around the way they think about money instead of flipping out over their money problems.

Then, shortly after the stock market crash of 2008, I began to notice that countless numbers of people were beginning to experience the same adversities that I had gone through. Needless to say, personal financial recovery can take a very long time without a plan or the education.

The Lenten season in the Catholic church is a season to sacrifice guilty pleasures in order to become spiritually stronger, even after Easter Sunday passes. Poverty has no season. I would encourage anyone suffering from poverty to get out of their comfort zones and familiar routines.

The only way we can overcome poverty is to sacrifice our ignorance and get financially literate. This may sound harsh but I would say not as harsh as some of our living conditions. This is the only way to financially improve our quality of life.

In biology class I learned that amino acids are the building blocks of life. Thinking about money, I related this lesson to finances and thought that pennies would the building blocks of a higher quality of life.

The lack of financial education, in my humble opinion, is Indian Country’s greatest weakness. It’s the one major aspect that persists in maintaining impoverished and corrupt conditions, whether or not those conditions are physical, mental or spiritual.

Financial education is the key to every area of life. It’s the instruction manual or directions on how best to use the most vital tool in modern times – money. In comparison, money has replaced the most vital tools of historical times, knives and bows and arrows. Even the children back then were skilled in using these sharp implements with a safety mindset.

Experience has taught me that the common denominator to money problems is the lack of financial education. I was in a situation where I was unemployed and had absolutely no source of personal income. A financial education would have given me the knowledge to create a source of income that would have significantly improved our situation. A money problem at its worse is a legal problem compounded by and with more money problems. The misuse of money can cut much deeper and cause as much damage as those old tools.

Now, I’m not preaching but I am inclined to search for wisdom, so I need to refer to the greatest book of wisdom I know of, The Bible. This particular scripture can relate to many aspects in life. Financial education is one of the aspects. Mark 4: 25 says “To those who have (financial education), more will be given; from those who have not, what little they have will be taken away.”

  A basic financial education is the solution and something you cannot afford to be without.

EXCEEDING THE 52 WEEK CHALLENGE

I have a great concern for the disparity of the Human Condition. It can’t be helped since it has grown exponentially to be one of my biggest flaws. After I saw a picture of the Napalm Girl from the Vietnam War on the front page of the paper, I couldn’t understand people and how they could act this way. I didn’t want anything to do with people. See how this turns out.

Furthermore, there is the illusion that the myriad of Humanity’s challenges on a global scale are seemingly insurmountable, and this is simply untrue.

Only when the Human Potential is fully released will the depths of all the adversities of the human condition collectively yield to the limitless heights of Human Achievement.

To start, you must first Recognize Your True Potential because when you do that will give you insight into Expanding Your Capabilities. A full inventory of this new awareness will positively insist that you Maximize Your Resources. Once this is done, then you must formulate a plan to Realize Your Capabilities. Then like the slogan declares from Big Wheel Industries in ROBOTS, one of my favorite movies, “See a need. Fill a need!” Identify a challenge and Become the Solution.  That will put you on the right path to Fulfill Your Purpose which in the long run helps to Elevate Humanity. All in a day’s work/play (depends on which side of the desk you sit).

If you can grasp this with your Heart first and feel it deep down into the core of your Spirit then that surge you feel is you recognizing a Truth. Then your head will follow so that when you really believe this, then maybe one day you too will walk on water. It’s already been done – once.

As for the 52 Week Challenge, it’s a very good place to start. But if you need more go back up to paragraph four, Expand Your Capacity, Think Bigger. And stay tuned for the 30 Day Challenge.

With My Deepest Gratitude, God Bless You.