“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
―Benjamin Franklin

We practice Prosperity Economics—an alternative to typical financial planning. Prosperity Economics teaches us to keep control of our own dollars and build sustainable wealth that expands our choices and cannot vanish in a stock market crash.

We use our 7 Principles of Prosperity™ to guide us because they have stood the test of time.

Today we’ll review the 7 Principles of Prosperity™ that guide our strategies and actions. These principles (along with a lot of testing on calculators and in the real world) inform “why” we do things the way we do.

Then we’ll share our Annual Review Checklist, which represents the quick distilled “bullet points” or what to DO when practicing Prosperity Economics.

Take some time—before or after the holidays—to do a review of your finances with our year-end financial checklist to see if you are putting Prosperity Economics principles and strategies into action!

The 7 Principles of Prosperity™:

THINK: The first of the 7 Principles of Prosperity™ instructs us to examine how we THINK.

Are we thinking abundantly, or thinking thoughts of lack and scarcity? Our consciousness will guide our experience! For instance, if you believe there is “never enough,” you will spend every penny you make (and then some). If you believe there is “more than enough,” you’ll find ways to save, give, and invest in yourself.

Similarly, scarcity thinking may help us accumulate money, but makes us afraid to use it, fearing there may NOT be “more where that came from.” Scarcity-thinking equates our security with our paychecks, our retirement accounts, or our house. A prosperity mindset recognizes the limitless value within us, leading us to create value and expand our personal economies.

SEE: The second Principle of Prosperity teaches us to SEE the Big Picture of our finances — a Macro-Economic view.

Typical financial planning tells us to focus on an investment’s rate of return (above all else), the interest rate of our mortgage, and low life insurance premiums. It does not ask us to consider how our investments, mortgage and insurance could work together—synergistically—to expand our financial capacity. Typical advice focuses on the trees, but can’t help us see the forest. Prosperity Economics asks us to look at our WHOLE personal economy and ask how to get MORE dollars growing, sustainably and reliably.

MEASURE: Prosperity Principle # 3 is to MEASURE opportunity costs.

Instead of telling us to “buy everything with cash” and “prepay your mortgage,” this principle teaches us that our own cash has a cost. We must recognize and consider the cost of paying with cash. We will either pay interest or pass up interest. Often, we can build wealth faster through strategic borrowing and leveraging.

FLOW: The fourth Prosperity Principle is to create cash FLOW with our dollars, rather than focus on accumulation.

If you had a million dollars paying only one percent interest in a savings account, you’ll only be able to use $10,000 a year sustainably! We want our clients to feel comfortable USING their dollars to create cash flow. There are many ways to do this, such as investment real estate, businesses, becoming a private lender, and so on.

Too often, we forget that true wealth is not about amassing the largest possible pile of money. True wealth is about using our capital (dollars, skills, knowledge, connections, etc.) to create a sustainable life that inspires us, empowers us, and enables us to offer our deepest gifts.

CONTROL: The fifth Prosperity Principle is to CONTROL your wealth.

As we explained in our articles on “Questions Every Investor Should Ask Wall Street” and “Life Insurance Commission Shock,” many strategies ask you to turn over your dollars to big financial corporations which use your dollars to make them more dollars. Be wary of putting your money where you are told what you can and can’t do with it!

Don’t let the government, the Department of Labor, or your company’s HR department dictate your investment decisions. While different investment vehicles do have rules that must be followed, Prosperity Economics gives you more control over your financial destiny.

MOVE: Prosperity Principle # 6 is to MOVE our dollars.

Just like water gains power from movement, as opposed to stagnation, so our MONEY gains power and momentum through movement. We see our economy strengthen when money “moves,” when people start shopping for the holidays, or feel confident to spend as well as earn. Movement is what creates cash flow in our businesses, our national economies, and our personal economies.

Think of money moving THROUGH your assets, not TO your assets. We teach our clients about the velocity of money. Wealth is not created when money sits stagnant and still under lock and key, but when it circulates to us, through us, our communities, back to us, and so on.

MULTIPLY: The seventh Prosperity Principle is to MULTIPLY your money by MULTIPLYING the ways in which you use each dollar.

When you put your dollars to work doing more than one job, they become more efficient. Just like your smart phone does more than one job, replacing an ipod, a GPS system, pager (remember those?), pocket camera, calculator, even a tablet or laptop, so your dollars can do multiple jobs. This is what we teach our clients to do with their dollars to create more freedom!

When a dollar does many jobs, you don’t have to scrimp and save for a new car and a college education and a retirement fund and protection against emergency and cash for investment opportunities. You can do all of this at once, using a multi-purpose Prosperity Fund when various needs arise. Best of all, you can meet those needs without having to liquidate a fund and start from scratch or suffer the tax consequences of moving money from one fund to another. It’s not easy to move college savings dollars to your retirement fund, or use long-term legacy dollars for healthcare!

Your Year-End Financial Checklist

The 7 Principles of Prosperity™ guide our financial strategies, products, and decisions. With these principles in mind, we give you our Annual Review Checklist! Just click on the link below to download or print your copy.

—>> Annual Review Checklist

We often send this checklist out ONLY to our clients, but today we’re sharing it with all of our readers and subscribers. Feel free to share this article and P4P’s year-end financial checklist!

We also invite you to listen to a Prosperity Podcast episode in which Kim Butler gives further explanation and detail about our Annual Review Checklist, and this video interview with Kim on the 7 Principles of Prosperity™.

We are grateful for all good gifts, and especially for you!

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Although we will take some time off for the holidays, we will still check emails and messages periodically and be in contact as soon as we are able. We look forward to serving you!