"Six Steps to Financial Success"
By Scott Andrews, AspireNow.com

Scott Andrews

At times, dealing with bills, earnings, expenses, and other aspects of money create challenges for us. Many people around the world struggle to get by, have no insurance if their health fails, and are trying to care for families with extremely limited resources.

Others, have had success, but increased their spending levels by disproportionate amounts and now find themselves upside down when they sit down to write out bills (or review their automatic bill-paying accounts and balances in their credit accounts).

Finally, about 5 - 10% of people are in control of their finances, have a savings reserve, insurance, and own various properties, stocks, or other liquid resources which could produce money if they lost their job or had financial setback (as many of us can relate to after this past year's ugly stock market performance).

Whether you are struggling or just want to maximize your wealth, there are several things you can do to improve your financial outlook.

First, visualize monetary success. Sounds crazy, but our thoughts have form, and thus matter. Positive thought will attract positive results. (See article on thoughts matter, for more information on this subject). The way I visualize monetary success is to imagine myself receiving a check for three times the amount I actually want.

Or, sometimes, I'll picture myself in a room with piles and piles of money. More money than I can possibly count. I don't picture this for greed purposes - I do it because it creates abundant thinking. I also wrote a check to myself for US $10,000,000.00. I dated it, signed it, and cashed it. Now I'm waiting for my bank to honor it!

Ok, I did write the check, and put it in a drawer for safekeeping. I heard Jim Carrey did this prior to his success on Living Color, which led to his success with The Mask. He now earns over $10 Million per picture and continues to release successful movies (such as The Truman Show). I figure if it worked for him, it might work for me. The point is that if you can visualize yourself living with financial abundance it is much more likely you will attain that state in the future.

Second, reduce frivolous spending. I don't mean go into a "lack" mentality. What I mean is that if we're paying too much money out it is difficult to get ahead, financially. Many people have too much credit card debt. These debts are at high interest rates (from 10% - 25%, depending on payment history) and are quite costly to carry over the long-term. If we can reach a state where our credit card it payed off each month we enable our money to start working for us.

Another example of frivolous spending might be subscribing to the newspaper (the news is often laying around the bagel store, coffee shop, or at the end of a bar in local eating establishments if you want to know the trick to scoring free news). Most news is on the internet. If you are reading this article, it is likely you have access to the internet on a regular basis and can therefore get news this way.

I have programmed a Yahoo home page with the news content I want, and for cover-story news I just log into the general MyYahoo page without putting in my password and I can receive anything about the current Presidential news I want to read. Most news is negative (especially front page articles) so it doesn't hurt to cut down on that reading, anyway.

Other subscriptions that may or may not be considered frivolous are: cable access, magazines, home deliveries, and/or organizations we're no longer involved in. I cancelled cable, many magazines, and dropped my membership in one club three years ago and really haven't missed them all that much. The money I saved was used to help me grow my savings accounts and pay a mortgage.

Third, increase savings (401K, IRA, etc.). I say this because the sooner we begin to save, the better off we'll be when we pull the money out of our IRA. Also, building up a six-month emergency fund cushion is handy for peace-of-mind. Learn more about this subject by reading, Value of Money.

Fourth, donate money to charity. This is probably one of the most beneficial, yet nebulous, ways of spending I can think of. I choose two or three charities per year to which I want to donate a significant check to. I believe there are three wise times to donate: (1) when I just received a large bonus or larger earning than normal, or (2) monthly contributions (this is especially useful with religious organizations, who need regular giving more than sporadic giving to keep their business going), and (3) when my money is looking scarce and I don't know how I'm going to pay for everything.

If you are shocked at the idea of donating when money is scarce, you'll be surprised how many people I've shared this philosophy with who agree that this time to give has also worked for them. It requires faith, that if I donate a significant check to others in need, that somehow the universe will pay back that karma multiple times over.

Three years ago, I bought my house and saw my monthly bills quadruple. Three months after I moved in, my job took a bad turn and I could see only about three months ability to pay bills before running out of money and credit. I prayed. Then I wrote out three checks for $1,000 each. I won't say who I wrote them out to, but they were all to charities. The next month, Data General hired me with guarantees $3,000 per month over what I required to pay my bills. Nice timing. I could say it would have happened, anyway, but I like to believe in faith.

Fifth, I spend wisely to make more. Once in my career my company was acquired by another company, who was known for having superior salespeople to mine. I met the manager, who told me to meet his "ace" salesman. Upon meeting the "ace" salesman, I was blown away! He was smooth, dressed sharp, told colorful anecdotes, and expressed his strong, yet experienced, opinions with a sense of humor.

I went home that day and told my girlfriend, "I just met the next level." Over the next three months, I did everything I could to learn what made Robert successful - to emulate his success. The first month, I bought three new expensive-looking suits with sharp shirts, ties, socks, and shoes to match. Then, I subscribed to the same magazines he read (and a couple more that CEO's read). Third, I began telling stories, and using my natural abilities, rather than programmed sales pitches, to win new clients.

Three months later, my earnings tripled (see Abundance Rule of 3's). I used the formula of spending wisely to make more money. In the case of buying those suits, I presented a successful image to my customers, my management, and co-workers. As a result of that image, people ASSUMED I was successful, and rewarded me with their business, with better accounts and opportunities, and higher respect. I also improved my language and knowledge. Image, after all, isn't everything. The rule of emulating other successful people is a good idea. Yet, remain original by retaining what works for you and cutting anything that feels as if you're faking it.

Believing in yourself is the last key, and perhaps the most obvious one. If we do not currently believe we are at "the next level" then perhaps we need to learn more, or spend more time learning what the next level is. I find that part of arriving at that peak level of performance is a combination of striving to be and do more, faith, and going out on the limb to risk failure. Failure is simply a learning experience. And learning experiences can also help us reach the next level.

The level of financial success we attain is up to us. Visualizing success through faith, building wise spending and savings habits, donating money to charity, and learning to become successful in our trade will enable us to reach our financial aspirations.

SCOTT ANDREWS is a business professional with over fifteen years' experience in management and sales . Through developing a "summit club" and "million dollar achiever" record of success throughout his career, Scott built a series of programs which empower people to realize their dreams. To learn more about author, speaker and coach Scott Andrews visit AspireNow.com