We coined the 7 Principles of Prosperity many years ago because we wanted to help more people have guidance for making smart financial decisions. The Principles are meant to be like a “checklist” to run your decisions through so that you can feel confident you’ve done your due diligence. Today, let’s revisit those Principles so that you can build them into your decision-making framework. 

Smart Financial Decisions

Smart financial decisions are a broad category. We make financial decisions every day of our lives–from small purchases, to where and how we save money, what assets we buy, and the investment choices we make. It’s safe to say that if you want to make smart financial decisions, you have to have some kind of common ground or theme for your choices.

For example, if your objective is to grow your money as much as possible (as many people feel inclined to do), then you’re going to approach your decisions much differently than someone who wants to spend as much money as possible. 

We like to think that there’s a space where most people desire to be once they know about it. And that’s the path of protection, accumulation, AND enjoyment of your money. The Principles of Prosperity are meant to help you achieve all three, and find your own Prosperity, regardless of your Net Worth. 

How to Make Good Financial Decisions with the 7 Principles of Prosperity

If you want to make good financial decisions in a way that promotes protection, growth, and enjoyment, consider implementing these Principles in your decision-making process. 

1. THINK

The first Principle of Prosperity is to think. While this may seem like common sense, we believe that it’s important to practice the basics. 

So, before you do something with your money, think about what you’re doing. Are you making a good financial decision that supports your objectives? You may think it’s impossible to answer yes all of the time, yet remember–you want enjoyment, too! Just don’t get carried away at the expense of protection and growth. 

The THINK principle is also about thinking from a Prosperity Mindset. After all, when you see scarcity as the basic truth of our circumstances, you’re not giving yourself much of a launch pad. If you believe that opportunities are abundant, including your own, you give yourself a world of possibilities to grow. 

2. SEE

The second principle is all about seeing the bigger financial picture. Too often, people tend to look at one or two components of their financial picture. They compare two assets or two investments to each other, without considering what those assets look like in the bigger picture. Sometimes assets that appear to have more cost or more interest can have benefits in other ways that might actually make your whole personal economy stronger. 

For example, a whole life insurance policy can seem like a “cost” to many people. However, it provides protection and leverage that can help your other assets function more efficiently in the long term. It takes patience and good stewardship, yet the results are overwhelmingly positive. 

To make good financial decisions, you have to see the whole picture, which includes long-term thinking. 

3. MEASURE

To make a good financial decision, you want to measure your opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is the cost of making one decision over another. Sometimes this cost can seem negligible, yet these costs continue to compound your whole life. 

For example, if you spend $200 on a pair of shoes, you’re also losing the opportunity to earn a percentage on that $200 for the rest of your life. It may be worth it to you, however, if these shoes improve your life. Yet by knowing the cost ahead of time, you can make the best decision for your future self. 

4. FLOW

When building wealth, many people tend to believe that Net Worth is the most important marker of success. However, many High Net Worth individuals have little to no “extra” cash flow outside of expenses. Cash flow is the money that flows through your hands. As you can imagine, more cash flow means more opportunities. 

Stop chasing Net Worth. Instead, aim to create more cash flow for your family so that you can save, grow, and use your money. You’ll feel the impacts of this more readily in your life. 

5. CONTROL

Don’t give up control of your money, whenever possible! Assets like the 401k or IRA hand over control of your dollars to the government. Then the government decides when you can access your money and how much it’s going to cost you. 

Instead, seek assets that allow you to move and use money freely, at your own discretion. Then you have the power to make the financial decisions that you want to make. 

6. MOVE

In addition, don’t simply park money in your assets, never to be touched until you retire. We want to encourage you to move your money through assets so that you can create more assets for yourself. By moving your money through various assets, you give a single dollar multiple jobs so that it can do more for you.

For example, you could pay cash for a down payment on a rental property. Or you could finance it with a loan against your life insurance policy. While your policy’s cash value grows uninterrupted (since you haven’t made a withdrawal), you are also earning cash flow on the rental property. This can go toward your policy loan payments and mortgage. Eventually, you’ll have an asset you own free and clear that provides cash flow, and you never had to use your own dollars. 

7. MULTIPLY

The final Principle for making good financial decisions is to multiply your money. You have an idea of what multiplying money looks like from the example above. You can supercharge this by creating one big pool of money, rather than compartmentalizing it into many small buckets. The more you do this, the less you have for everything else. 

By having one pool of money for everything—emergency fund, savings, investing, etc—you actually have more opportunities in each area of your life. 

Run Your Financial Decision-Making Through the 7 Principles of Prosperity

So, now that you know the 7 Principles of Prosperity, are you ready to put them to the test? Let us know how you use them to make financial decisions, we’d love to shout you out! 

Want some help applying these Principles, or read to get started with your “all-purpose” whole life insurance policy? We’d be happy to help. You can book time with us now, or email your questions to welcome@prosperitythinkers.com.