I’m over hearing people say, “I can’t afford it.”

I can’t afford the things that make me healthy. I can’t afford the education I need to advance. I can’t afford those things…it doesn’t fit in my budget (real or perceived).

It’s a belief that is keeping those who use those words regularly, sick and broke.

Just like the statement “I’m too busy.” The truth is, we are not too busy and we can afford it. It’s just that we are busy doing and buying the wrong things. Things that are stonewalling all of our real chances for becoming truly rich in both the financial and lifestyle definitions of the word.

Can people afford weddings? Or cable? Or eating out? Most of us, no. But we do it anyway.

So what’s wrong with this picture? We can’t afford things that will create a rich life for us. But we can spend our precious resources – time, energy, money – on things that won’t make life rich. Worse yet, they rob us of any chance of having it!

I have an answer for how to live rich and achieve your dreams. It’s this simple. Change your mindset.

Start Here: Ditch the Budget

For a money gal, you may think I’ve lost my mind. Don’t budget?

Here’s why. Budgeting is only one step removed from “spending.” With all the negative side-effects budgeting has on people’s lives, mindsets and livelihoods.

Budget = straightjacket.

People have been schooled in 2 ways of thinking. Either their money is totally out of control. Or they thinkthey are being responsible with a budgeting mindset. But both are spending mindsets. It’s just money in money out.  Spend, spend, spend, manage expenses. Spend, spend, spend, manage expenses. Wash, rinse, repeat for 30 years!

That will never build amplified wealth with a faster velocity. Because who wants to wait 30, 40 years to have enough wealth? That requires 30-40 years in your straightjacket, and you better have started when you were 22 years old and never missed a payment.

Your budget thinking is what’s keeping you small. Confined. Restricted. Limited. It keeps you living far below what’s possible for your life.

Before you dismiss this whole idea, let me show you why budgeting might just not be the panacea popular culture and financial gurus tell us it is. And give you the freedom to try something better.

#1: The Poor Spender

Our culture guarantees that we will be broke. It seduces us to give up our hard-earned resources to acquire things that advertising assures us will make us sexy, rich, abundantly healthy and mind-blowingly happy. Just look at the people in those commercials! You can be just like them.

The other siren of the spender mindset is the Jones’s. You know. Keeping up with them.

The danger – and tragedy – is this. You’ll never be as happy as those actors make it look. Because the low-fat, packaged food people eat is actually making them fat and unhappy. And you’ll never be able to keep up with the Jones’s. Because there’s always someone who has more than you. More money. More happiness. A better marriage.

Here’s what’s so freeing. YOU can create all of those things without spending a dime. I’ll show you how.

#2: The Trapped Budgeteer

The next alternative our culture offers is the budgeting mindset. Which, by the way, is simply the spender mindset with considerable restrictions. Think of it as the Spender Diet.

The reason you hate budgeting – and that it’s so hard – is that you really enjoy spending. You want to spend. You still want all those things you’re promised on those ads. And that the Jones’s have. You’re just trying to exert as much willpower as possible for the sake of something later.

There are a few problems with this:

Problem 1:  Budgeting, like dieting, doesn’t work well with your biology. Any time you have to rely on willpower for abundance in your life, you are doomed to be in a cycle of try, succeed, fail. Try again. Succeed. Succeed. Relapse. It’s really hard.

Problem 2: The only way to break outside of your budgeting straightjacket is to make more money. If you don’t have it in your budget, then, make more. Work even harder. Count on that next raise. Find a better job. Move the kids. Stay late at work. Say yes when the company or customers want you to go. All because THAT is the ticket to freedom. I’m about to tell you why it’s not. And in fact, give you permission – and a way – to work a lot less.

Problem 3: Budgeting is structured around sacrificing now for something later. Stop spending. Get out of debt. And save. So you have money later. For retirement. For a house. For whatever. You put off to tomorrow what you could have today. For the sake of doing it “the right way.” Only spending according to the budget.

That’s laudable. And on the surface, I agree. But here’s the biggest problem.

Problem 4: What if you’re not there for that “tomorrow” you’re always dreaming about and saving for?

I hope you don’t stare down death like I did and realize that all this budgeting is bullshit. That all those things I sacrificed – time with kids to make more money, my health, my energy, my happiness – gave me a full bank account I never used for what I care about most.

#3: The Savvy Investor

This is the answer. Investment over spending and budgeting. When you invest in life, everything you spend is to produce a return: More energy. More money. More time. More happiness.

Kick spending and budgeting (which is just spending on a diet) to the curb. Instead, your whole intention becomes about using your money – AND your time and energy – only on things that produce the life you’re after.

So let’s go back to that budget. Is cable on there? How much return are you getting for that spend? Is clothing on there? Are you buying clothes that make you more money? Or is the clothing category on there because you like having new clothes to squeeze into an already packed closet? When you buy food, are you investing in foods that increase your vitality, energy and health? Or are you spending on processed food? Or, eating out (expensive processed food)?

You’re sacrificing your vitality and happiness when you “just spend.”

The savviest investors focus on two investments first.

#1: Self.

#2: Marriage.

When these two concerns are “invested in” with time, energy and money, the rest of life is pretty easy!

Here’s why and how to invest in those two things to build a rich life – what I call a WealthyWellthy life:

1. Your body – Your most important asset is YOU. Without your health, you can’t enjoy life. And you can’t make money. When I was dying in 2013, I couldn’t work. Neither could my husband, Garry. We took a huge hit to our wealth by being away from our businesses and paying to save my life. So trust me. Investing in you – with the goal of getting a great return – is essential and your #1 expense. It’s a gift to everyone around you.
2. Your mind – While this is technically part of your body, I’m calling it out, because knowledge is the key to both increasing your value, stimulating your brain and bringing joy and well-being into your life. Whether you’re building knowledge directly for your work, to make you a better partner and parent, to make you healthier, a better friend, a better painter or biker or whatever, these things, when approached right, are an investment in making life rich.
3. Your marriage – Humans are a social beings. Our ancestors only survived by living in close-knit tribes. Is your tribe helping you survive and thrive – do you all share an investor mindset? And if you’re married, are you both, in practice, in the same tribe? With an investor mindset, so that you invest all of your collective time, energy and money into things that are building the life you want together? If not, it’s hard to live a rich life, full of wealth, wellth and happiness.

So let me ask you…out of all your spending and budgeting in 2015, how much did you spend or budget for your own personal optimal health and well-being? Building your knowledge? Building your marriage?

Ready to start investing?

Want the Fast-Track to Money & Happiness?

I’ve got it. You can have it. Spend 2 days with me and my network of brilliant wealth and wellth experts. Let me coach you, teach you, and springboard you into the balance of wealth and health that will make your life truly rich. Really.

I spent the last 2 years discovering WHY what our culture teaches us isn’t producing vitality and riches. I also invested (see what I did there?!) $100,000 in learning, especially about nutrition and health, after my year fighting for my life.

That was after 20 years of spending way too much, working way too hard, sacrificing way too much (my health and my heart), and being way too stressed. And at the end of the day, the only thing I had to show for it was a death bed calling my name and a lot of regret to go with it.

In July, I hosted my first WW Marriage and Money retreat where I shared the results of my two-year research (and self-hacking) project.

The overall report? “The 2-day investment in myself and my marriage was life-altering!”

Here are some comments in the words of several attendees.

In January, I will host my second retreat. And, this one is going to be AMAZING! I will teach my exact formula for achieving Wealth and Wellth. But, better yet — the thought leaders/speakers coming will blow your socks off. (Can you tell that I’m excited?).

I would love to meet you, mentor you, coach you, and introduce you to my team of mentors:

• John Gray (author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus)
• The doctors who saved my life, Ann Shippy and Anna Cabeca
• My go-to psychologist, Joan, who kept me sane through very difficult times in my life
• My financial guru, Jason Giorgio, who will teach you what he’s been teaching me about amplifying my millions.
• My friends and community of experts, doctors and CEOs of the leading-edge financial and health companies.

All yours.

Where are You Going to Invest First?

So where are you going to invest first?

In expensive gift baskets for your work colleagues? (Maybe write personal notes instead.)

In more high-dollar electronics for the kids? (Books are much cheaper, and also feed their minds.)

In more crap for extended family? (This is an easy one. Um. No.)

In a Christmas party that exhausts you but everyone expects, just like every year? (Why? Take that money and invest in something that is really going to turn your life into your dream life!)

People may be a little shocked – even angry – when you change from spending to investing. But it’s not their money, is it? Or their time and energy. It’s yours.

So choose you. Choose your marriage. Don’t spend. Invest.

Invest in You

If you want my advice, make your first investment a ticket to my event.

That might sound a little self serving – it is. I want 100 inspired couples like you to join me. But bullshit isn’t in my value set. I wouldn’t offer it if I didn’t think you’d get more out of it than almost anything else you could invest in.

In fact, I’ll put my money where my mouth is. If your financial investment to attend my event doesn’t produce a “life-altering” return for you and your honey, I’ll give you your money back. So in addition to being a great investment, it’s no-risk!

If you’re serious about investing, send me a note before November 2. I have a special discount for folks who are ready to get on the fast-track, starting today.

Let me be part of your tribe, helping you every day move one step closer to an investor mindset – and your good life.