PORTFOLIO / PENGUIN An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014 penguin.com Copyright © 2016 by M ichael Ellsberg and Bryan Franklin Penguin supports copyright Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader ISBN 978-1-101-61281-1 Version_1 BRYAN’S DEDICATION: For Jennifer Russell The lover who created me, my true companion, my wife, my one MICHAEL’S DEDICATION: For my coauthor Bryanm My great mentor in business and life CONTENTS Title Page Copyright Dedication Introduction CHAPTER Investing to Increase Your Happiness Exchange Rate CHAPTER The Super Skills: The Most Valuable, Sought After, Rewarded, Compensated, and Universally Beneficial Human Skills CHAPTER Invest In Interpersonal Super Skills CHAPTER Invest in Creative Super Skills CHAPTER Invest in Technical Super Skills CHAPTER Invest in Physical Super Skills CHAPTER Adviser Equity CHAPTER Tribe CHAPTER The Future of Financial Safety Acknowledgments Notes Index INTRODUCTION “Isn’t this the part where you give me your advice for what I should with my life?” Stephen (not his real name), eighteen years old, dressed up in cap and gown, wanted to give his father a chance In many ways, at least symbolically, last chance Graduation day, he thought, is the time when a typical father gives a typical son “the speech.” Imparting the wisdom the father (or mother) has gained through decades of life experience to help shortcut the son’s (or daughter’s) path toward success So the children can learn as many lessons the easy way and as few the hard way as possible But Rick (also not his real name) was short on advice He opened his mouth to speak but words didn’t come out Rick reached for what he could tell his son to do, but all that came up were his past mistakes He paused, wishing badly that Stephen could somehow learn to avoid them MISTAKE 1: He leveraged the house with too much debt and ended up underwater MISTAKE 2: He spent too much money on things with motors (cars, boats, Jet Skis, motorcycles) and other luxury stuff that was supposed to make him happy but didn’t end up doing so Now Rick wishes he had the money instead MISTAKE 3: He went into business by himself but didn’t learn how to get customers, relying on a trickle of word-of-mouth referrals to put food on the table Lean times were really lean and really tense Fat times could pay the bills and give him extra cash (which usually got spent on luxury stuff— see Mistake 2) MISTAKE 4: He never found work he could happily in older age With no ability to retire anytime soon, at fifty-two years old, he dislikes his work, and therefore, dislikes much of his life, looking forward only to the short respites he gets from work to spend time with his son and other loved ones MISTAKE 5: He invested in stocks he didn’t understand Lost those investments MISTAKE 6: He spent savings on remodeling the house, betting on the housing market to give him a big payback That didn’t work out Much of his savings went literally down the drain in his bathroom and kitchen remodels Rick looked at his son Stephen Tall Put-together Even-keeled He got immaculate grades When Rick put Stephen on his work crews, his son was usually the hardest and most dependable worker Rick was silent for a moment more, gagging on feelings of inadequacy During his father’s silence, Stephen had mixed feelings He loved his dad and appreciated him But he also felt kind of let down If each generation is supposed to reach further up the ladder than the last, why was he being handed a ladder with all the rungs sawed off? “Look, Stephen, you’re going to be graduating in a few hours I’d love to be able to tell you what to to be successful in life To make sure you don’t end up where I am But honestly I think you’d a better job figuring it out for yourself All I’ve got is bad advice and sad stories.” A version of this same conversation could be happening in thousands of families (perhaps millions) every graduation season Eighteen- to twenty-two-year-olds look up to their parents for one last set of instructions before leaving the nest, but because of the decline of America’s middle class, and the near-total annihilation of the lower class, parents just don’t have a map of the new territory The future-planning impulse is to tell the children to invest But in what? With the most recent financial crisis, subprime housing implosions, and real estate bubbles popping, where are the safe investments? This book is dedicated to the multitude of Stephens and the multitude of Ricks, regardless of your age, stage of life, marital status, or financial situation: we believe in you In this book, we deliver to you what we believe is the best advice ever assembled on the topic of how to invest for a successful life for yourself, financial and otherwise, in this new postcrisis landscape No matter how many decades have passed between you and your formal education, we also encourage you to think of today as graduation day for you Use this manual to start making better life choices that can lead not only to a more financially secure future, but can relieve your stress about money and retirement and also make yourself truly happy in the process ALL FACD UP Here’s the “bait” part of the usual financial bait and switch: You too can be rich! All you have to is follow this advice Work hard and save as much money as you can Don’t drink premium coffee, and be sure to watch movies at home on date night instead of going to a movie theater You’d be crazy to spend any money at all now because, if you look at the long-term average of stocks, they compound at percent a year above inflation Don’t you know about the magic of compounding returns? If you just sock that saved money away now in a low-fee index fund, a minuscule amount now will be worth millions by the time you’re ready to retire In fact, due to the miracle of compounding returns, that latte you just bought could buy you a trip to Hawaii during your retirement years! So start young, live frugally now, and watch your wealth rise over the long haul The only other thing that is acceptable to spend money on, aside from higher education (which we all know guarantees you easy access to a good job for reasonable tuition fees), is a home Home values compound just as stocks compound, and they never go down In fact, you can ride your rising, compounding 401(k) and home equity right into a wealthy retirement We call this Financial Advice Commonly Delivered, or FACD for short People who were FACD over the last one and a half decades don’t tend to be too happy these days Over the last fifteen years, the S&P 500 has risen at an annualized rate of about 1.9 percent above inflation per year, and home values have barely beaten inflation.1 These are not anywhere near the kinds of returns one can hope to build a “nest egg” on via capital appreciation People who were hoping to retire on their financial and real estate investments over the last two decades generally feel burned out, spent—perhaps even used—by the financial program they were supposed to follow, and by the financial advisers, money managers, stockbrokers, retirement planners, and personal finance “gurus” who sold them on this program Whether you think these role players maliciously misled us for their own gain or were merely swept up in a mass cultural delusion, it’s clear the FACD plan has failed to deliver on its promises over the last fifteen years For a variety of reasons, it has become very hard for the average investor to grow significant wealth on the financial and housing markets, no matter how much is scrimped and saved That is the “switch” part of the usual financial bait and switch Millions of Americans are disillusioned with the traditional model for investing to secure a prosperous future That model has failed them bitterly over the last twenty years, and they are looking for an alternative This book presents that alternative THE AMERICAN DREAM REQUIRES YOU TO BE ASLEEP Here are the two main ways most people in the middle class have tried (and usually failed) to build wealth and get ahead: first, borrowing great sums for higher education, in the hope that better academic credentials and academic skills will lead to a higher income; and second, scrimping and saving, investing that money in retirement funds and mortgaged real estate in the hope that small amounts of capital will grow into larger amounts later, and that one day they can stop working entirely and live on that money Our beef with the first method was presented exhaustively in Michael’s book The Education of Millionaires (which featured Bryan’s story as the opener to the book) To recap here: trying to build financial security by borrowing large amounts of money in the pursuit of higher academic credentials has been an unqualified disaster for millions of young Americans, particularly those graduating in the last decade Student debt in the United States has surpassed the amount of outstanding credit card debt in the nation, surging past the $1 trillion mark All the students who were obedient to their parents’ and teachers’ shepherding in the last decade are now finding that they were actually being shepherded into a debt slaughterhouse The Federal Reserve Bank of New York recently announced that, of all student loans in the repayment phase (after students have graduated), 30 percent are delinquent by ninety days or more on their balances, including a total of 21 percent in full-on default.2 Yes, it’s true Close to one-third of student debt holders, once they are out of school, are now delinquent on their student loans The relatively recent cultural experiment of sending millions of kids to college on high amounts of borrowed money is turning out to be a disaster of housing-crash proportions “The crisis is about to break,” writes Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize–winning former chief economist for the World Bank, in a New York Times blog post analyzing the data The piece was titled “Student Debt and the Crushing of the American Dream.”3 The second strategy middle-class people have been told to follow to build wealth and get ahead in life is the FACD plan To recap, here are the basic steps of that plan: Earn money from working Save as much of that money as possible, delaying gratification Invest savings in things outside of your control (stocks, bonds, real estate) Reinvest earnings from investments over several decades Retire from working, and start spending your investment capital Be happy, via the gratification delayed from step Graphically, this plan looks something like this: While there is nothing inherently wrong with any of these steps individually, when taken together, and in this order, they constitute a plan that is totally unworkable Most people—even those who are near the top of the pack in terms of earning power—fail to save a significant portion of their earnings Most people who invest in the stock market or real estate fail to meet their financial goals through those investments (the average person is more likely to lose money than gain over the long term when adjusted for inflation) Most people are unable to successfully delay gratification and end up spending too much too early to stick to the plan And even for the very few who are able to follow this plan successfully, they are not necessarily able to make themselves happy just because they are no longer required to work, scrimp, and save just to get by Free time alone cannot make you happy Any plan that doesn’t work for most of the people who follow it is simply a bad plan It’s not just that it’s warm in here, you’re actually in the frying pan You’re in the frying pan because you’ve been taught that there’s a fire out there that’s even hotter We can show you where there’s no fire, so you can jump—safely CRITERIA FOR A WORKABLE PLAN For a personal financial planning model to be truly credible, it can’t merely a better job of delivering on the countless broken promises of the FACD plan A proposed alternative plan that does a better but still insufficient job of meeting your financial and nonfinancial needs won’t cut it For any proposal to rise to the level of credible, it must not only be better, but fully satisfy each of the following criteria: It must work for people who have little or no money to invest now It must not rely on uncommon skills or extraordinary intelligence It must not rely on willpower, or behaviors that people know they should but few actually It must not rely on deprivation, long periods of postponing happiness, or significantly lowering your standard of living It must not be a closed, zero-sum system that necessitates losers in order to have winners (In any game where there are winners and losers, relying on continually being one of the lucky few winners isn’t viable in the long run.) It must increase (rather than decrease) in viability as more people adopt it, with the capability of scaling to 100 percent of the population without breaking It must succeed in an environment of ever-increasing uncertainty and ever-decreasing stability in the job and financial markets It must not rely on extracting more value from the system than is put in It must take into account the accelerated increases in average life span, including the possibility of unforeseen radical improvements in human life expectancy 10 It must be completely initiated and maintained by you, rather than depending on the performance of companies, agencies, lawmakers, home prices, stock indices, or other factors beyond your control These criteria may seem impossibly restrictive, but read the list again, and consider the implications of any plan that fails to meet one or more of these: at best, it might work for some of the people some of the time, which is like suggesting you gamble with your life savings and your future Throughout this book, we invite you to measure our proposed alternative plan against all of these criteria, and determine for yourself if you’re holding in your hands the roadmap to the wealth you desire in all areas of your life Though all the criteria are important, the most significant to us is the last one: it must depend on you This works to reduce the gambling element as much as possible, by precluding investment in things outside of your own control, or your own ability to predict The safest investment is the thing you have the most control over: yourself The conventional wisdom is that you should leave your financial life up to the experts, giving up control in exchange for promises of wealth and security However, the experts have proven that they are unable to deliver on these promises Les Dlabay, James L Burrow, and Brad Kleindl, Principles of Business, 8th ed (Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2012), 12 INDEX The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book The link provided will take you to the beginning of that print page You may need to scroll forward from that location to find the corresponding reference on your e-reader Italicized page numbers refer to images Abraham, Jay, 99 accountability, 255 Acton, Brian, 193 addiction, 25, 185 adviser equity, 12, 27–34, 189–221 for average people, 210–11 choosing right people to invest in, 211–19 defining characteristics of, 27–28, 197–98 and diversification, 212–14 earning potential enhancing, 208, 209 enhancing earning potential, 209 enhancing tribe, 209 invisible middle in, 199–202 systemic amplification of value as adviser, 205–11 tribe enhancing, 210 and wealthy lifestyle, 219–21 working with highest-achieving people, 202–5 aesthetic, 53–54 of tribe, 65, 227, 229–30 Aisenbrey, Chris, 125 alcohol, 177, 185 Allen, David, Getting Things Done, 180 Amazon, 151, 157 American Dream, 5–6, 250–51 Andreessen Horowitz, 89 Apple, 158 Archer, Stephen H., 213 assets in marketing crank, 162, 162–66 SAFE plan investment time line, 206, 206–11 True Wealth See True Wealth assets> assumptions about resources and prerequisites, challenging in mental models, 152–54 attractive people, 182–83 audiobooks, 131–32 Bandyopadhyay, Raj, 89–91 basic economic problem, 256–57 becoming and tribe, 231–34 beginning at the end of mental models, 147–48 being and tribe, 231–34 beliefs and adviser equity, 216, 217 challenging in mental models, 152–54 negative, about self, 61, 216 Berkshire Hathaway, 55, 129 binodal business models, 217–18 biographies, 129 Black Swan, The (Taleb), 133 Blind Man, The (journal), 107, 109 blind spots and tribe, 232–34 blogs (blogging), 78, 127 blood sugar, and diabetes, 173 body image, 182–83 body weight, 177 bonds, 9, 41 books, recommended, 132–33 brand marketing, 157–58, 163 Branson, Richard, 85 Brin, Sergey, 139 Brownlee, Adam, 132 Buffett, Warren, 55, 129, 132 Building a Small Business That Warren Buffett Would Love (Brownlee), 132 Building Financial Models (Tija), 155–56 building a tribe, 99–100, 234–46 choosing a venue, 239–40 choosing core values, 236 developing e-mail lists, 242–43 guests inviting an interesting person, 238 hosting regular events, 239 invitations for gatherings, 240–42 inviting affluent people, 244–46 inviting interesting people from different contexts, 236–38 making events free or low cost, 243–44 Burning Man, 139–40, 228–29 business books, recommended, 132–33 business influencers, essential skills of See Interpersonal Super Skills Business Insider, 182 business mentors, 16–17, 29–33, 221 but really statements, 160, 161 Campbell, Joseph, 135 career and Systemic Spending, 15, 17 career ladder, 85 CEOs (chief executive officers), 85–86, 201, 202–3 Cheng, Victor, 61 Choe, David, 191, 193–94, 197 chunk size of mental models, 150–51 Clarity.fm, 97 “clean” communication style, 255 clear story in marketing crank, 160–62 Cohen, Garrison, 238 cohousing, 65–67, 251 cold calling, 72–73, 77 Collins, Jim, Good to Great, 132 comfort and convenience, 62–64 comfort zone, 120–22 “command and control” model of leadership, 93 communication skills, 123–29 copywriting, 127–29 storytelling, 133–35 writing, 123–27 community as core value of tribe, 225–26, 230–31 tribe compared with, 34, 35 community leaders, 100, 235–36 compartmentalization, 51–52, 57 compelling story in marketing crank, 161–62 compensation, shattering rules of fair, 191–95 confidence and adviser equity, 216 conformity, 119–20 connection capital, 235–36, 238, 239 Conscious Capitalism (Mackey and Sisodia), 52 constraints and creativity, 116 consumerism, 61–62 consumption, 18 vs investment, 16, 18–19 contextual importing, 107–9, 117 contribution, as core value of tribe, 37, 227, 230, 234 contribution-based model of prestige, 253–55 Cooksey, Steve, 173–75, 179 copywriting, 127–29, 163 core values of tribe, 37–38, 227, 230–31, 236 couples therapy, 56–57 Creative Market Skills, 81, 82, 83 Creative Super Skills, 75–76, 76, 105–40 contextual importing, 107–9 copywriting, 127–29 creativity, 111–14 design, 136–39 Duchamp’s urinal, 107–9 improvisation, 122–23 innovation, 109–10 reading, 129–33 storytelling, 133–35 uncertainty and “looking weird,” 119–22 writing, 123–27 creativity, 82, 109–18 See also Creative Super Skills biggest pitfalls when investing in, 111–14 Burning Man, 139–40, 228–29 four conditions of, 114–18 and loving your ideas into existence, 117–18 and mental constraints, 116 and models of inspiration, 117 and spaciousness, 114–16 uncertainty and “looking weird,” 119–22 credit card debt, 5–6 critical mass of tribe, 235 critical paths of mental models, 151, 151–52 currency exchange rate, 48 customer feedback, 168 Dadaism, 107–8 data science, 89–91 Data Science ATL, 90 debt, 5–6, 250 decisions, low-quality, 54–55 delaying gratification, 3–4, 6–7 design, 136–39 Design Utopia, 137–38 devotion, as core value of tribe, 230 diabetes, 173–75 diet, 173–75, 177 direct marketing, 158–59 See also marketing crank disciplines See True Wealth disciplines discount on circumstances making you happy, 56–58 diversification and adviser equity, 212–14 diversity of tribe, 237–38 dot-com bubble, 201, 202 drawing mental models, 149–50 dress and attire, 182–83 drinking, 177, 185 drug use, 177, 185 Duchamp, Marcel, 107–9, 113 Duhigg, Charles, The Power of Habit, 133 Dunbar, Robin, 34 earning potential enhancing equity, 208, 209 enhancing tribe, 209 equity enhancing, 209 formula for investing in, 76–84 productive work life, 176–79 tribe enhancing, 210 value to others, 20–22 economics, 256 Education of Millionaires, The (Ellsberg), 5–6, 119, 128–29 Edward Scissorhands (movie), 127 Eichner, Jesse, 71–73, 77 Elbow, Peter, Writing with Power, 126 Eliot, Charles, 131–32 e-mail invitations, for tribe gatherings, 241–42 e-mail lists, for tribe, 242–43 e-mail spam, 164 empathy, 255 employee stock ownership plans, 194, 195, 199 empowerment, 186–87 enjoyment of experiences you’re already having, 59–60 entrepreneurs (entrepreneurship), 31, 98, 159–60, 210–11, 212 equity, 192–95, 196 See also adviser equity defined, 27, 192 sweat, 27–29, 212–13 Evans, John L., 213 event spaces, for tribe gatherings, 239–40 Evite, 241–42 exclusionary prestige, 252–54 exercise, 177, 182–83 external wealth, 22–25 FACD (Financial Advice Commonly Delivered) plan, 4, 6–7, 11, 19, 31, 42–43 typical investment time line, 206–11 Facebook, 79, 163, 193–94, 241 fair compensation, shattering rules of, 191–95 Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Ferrazzi, Keith, 132–33 Finance for Non-Financial Managers (Tuller), 155 Financial Advice Commonly Delivered plan See FACD plan financial bait and switch, 3–4, financial ecosystem, 10, 10–11 See also SAFE plan financial models, 155–57 financial security, 9–10 finite values, 62, 258–59 Five Dysfunctions of a Team, The (Lencioni), 132 Food Pyramid, 174 Fooled by Randomness (Taleb), 133 formal adviser equity, 31–34, 213–14 Fountain (Duchamp), 107–9, 113 Fourth Turning, The (Strauss and Howe), 133 Franklin, Lee, 143–48, 152, 153–54 freedom, as core value of tribe, 230 friends (friendships), 34, 177, 234–35 See also tribe and adviser equity, 201–2 fund-raising, 98 futurism, 249 GEICO, 161 generosity and adviser equity, 30, 201–2 Getting Things Done (Allen), 180 goal-setting, 49–54 Good to Great (Collins), 132 Google, 78, 93, 139, 157, 163, 193, 251 Graduation Day, 1, Graphic Design for Nondesigners (Seddon), 137 gratitude, 28 and adviser equity, 30, 200–202, 219–20 Greylock Partners, 194 growth, as core value of tribe, 230, 234 Happiness Exchange Rate, 12, 22–25, 41–42, 47–67, 207–8 Alexander and bottle of champagne, 47–49 breeding low-quality decisions, 54–55 enjoying the experiences you’re already having, 59–60 exchanging external wealth for internal wealth, 22–25 finding and living your purpose, 61–64 four distinct skills, 56–64 and general mood, 56–58 getting a discount on circumstances making you happy, 56–58 predicting what makes you happy, 58–59 a story of two couples, 64–67 tragedy of goal setting, 49–54 treating negative feelings at the root, 60–61 Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (Las Vegas), 167 Harvard University, 131–32 health and Systemic Spending, 15, 17 healthy physical appearance, 182–83 hero’s journey (monomyth), 135 Hero with a Thousand Faces, The (Campbell), 135 Hilbert, Ray, The Janitor, 200–201 hipster, the, 253 holding paradox, 100–104 holding sensation, 122–23 home equity, 4, 7, 178 honesty, 92–93, 214–15 Hope, Alex, 47–49 Hopkins, Claude, Scientific Advertising, 132 Hopkins, Todd, The Janitor, 200–201 Howe, Neil, The Fourth Turning, 133 HubSpot, 159 Hyman, Mark, The UltraMind Solution, 133, 181 if you just statements, 160, 161 improvisation, 122–23 inclusionary prestige, 253–55 increasing Happiness Exchange Rate See Happiness Exchange Rate In Defense of Food (Pollan), 177 infinite values, 62, 256–57, 258–59 inflation, 4, influence and leadership, 91–94 influence competence, 91–94 informal adviser equity, 28–34, 219–21 strategy for maximizing, 29–34 and tribe, 39 initial message, in marketing crank, 162, 163 innovation, 109–10 inputs and mental models, 148–51 inspiration and creativity, 117 intended meaning, 137–38 internal wealth, 22–25 Interpersonal Market Skills, 82, 83 Interpersonal Super Skills, 75–76, 76, 82, 87–104 holding paradox, 100–104 leadership and influence, 91–94 networking and tribe building, 99–100 public speaking, 94–95 Raj Bandyopadhyay’s story, 89–91 selling, 97–99 teaching, 97 visioning, 95–97 investments, 2, 3, adviser equity See adviser equity vs consumption, 16, 18–19 FACD plan, 4, 6–7, 11, 42–43 idea of spending vs investing, 54–55 increasing your Happiness Exchange Rate See Happiness Exchange Rate increasing your value to other people, 12, 19–22 SAFE plan See SAFE plan vs savings, 40–41 and Super Skills, 73–76 typical investment time line, 206–11 Investopedia, 256 invisible middle in adviser equity, 199–202 invitations, to tribe gatherings, 236–38, 240–42, 244–46 “Invite Your Most Interesting Friend” parties, 238 Jackson, Dean, 159 Janitor, The (Hopkins and Hilbert), 200–201 Jobs, Steve, 167 junk food, 177 J Whalen Associates, 143–46 Kennedy, Dan, No B.S Marketing to the Affluent, 244–45 know-how, 144–45 See also Technical Super Skills Koum, Jan, 193 Kouzes, James M., 92 Lanham, Richard, Revising Prose, 125, 126 Lard Factor, 126 lead capture, in marketing crank, 162, 163–64 lead conversion (sales), in marketing crank, 162, 166 leadership CEOs, 85–86, 201, 202–3 holding paradox, 100–104 and influence, 91–94 visioning, 95–97 Leadership Challenge, The (Kouzes and Posner), 92 lead nurture, in marketing crank, 162, 164–65 lead source, in marketing crank, 162, 162–63 Learnist, 97 Lencioni, Patrick, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, 132 leveraged income, 84–86 liberation, 186–87 life experience, 10, 11 life purpose, 61–64 Linenberger, Michael, Master Your Workday Now!, 180 LinkedIn, 78 longevity, 176–79 “looking weird,” 119–22 love, 256, 257 loving your ideas into existence, 117–18 low-carb diets, 174–75 low-glycemic diets, 174 low-quality decisions, 54–55 Lucas, George, 135 luxury and adviser equity, 30–31, 220–21 Mackey, John, 52 Manzoni, Piero, 108 marketing direct, 158–59 See also marketing crank four P’s of, 167–68 recommended books, 132 marketing crank, 157–70 the assets, 162, 162–66 the clear story, 160–62 the offer, 166–68 use of term, 159 Marketo, 159 Market Skills, 77–84 risk/reward profile, 80–83, 81 massages, 181, 188 Master Your Workday Now! (Linenberger), 180 Mating in Captivity (Perel), 133 Matrix (movies), 128 Meadows, Donella H., Thinking in Systems, 156 meditation, 60, 180 mental constraints and creativity, 116 mental focus, 179–81 mental models, 145–55 beginning at the end, 147–48 challenging assumptions about resources and prerequisites, 152–54 discovering processes, inputs, and outputs, 148–51 drawing boxes and lines, 149–50 financial, 155–57 focusing on critical path, 151–52 getting chunk size right, 150–51 visualizing the process, 154–55 mental spaciousness and creativity, 114–16 mentors (mentorships), 16–17, 29–33, 221 message in marketing crank, 162, 163, 165–66 mindfulness, 180 models of inspiration and creativity, 117 monomyth, 135 motivation and goal-setting, 51–52 “moving the free line,” 165 multinodal business models, 217–18 Munger, Charlie, 55, 129 Music Genome Project, 253 Natural Selling System, 99 negative feelings, treating at the root, 60–61 negative judgments, 95–96 Netscape, 193 networking, 34–35, 99–100 See also tribe Raj Bandyopadhyay’s story, 89–90 recommended books, 132 Networking with the Affluent (Stanley), 244 Never Eat Alone (Ferrazzi), 132 New Glucose Revolution (Brand-Miller and Wolever), 174 New York Times, Nike, 158 No B.S Marketing to the Affluent (Kennedy), 244–45 nutritional supplementation, 181 offer, in marketing crank, 166–68 office space, 184 online teaching, 97 organized environment, 184 originality in copywriting, 128 Otto, Nathan, 31–32 outputs and mental models, 148–51 overoptimization, 51–52 ownership See also adviser equity and the American Dream, 250–51 and tribe, 36–37 Pagan, Eben, 165, 249 Paleo diet, 174–75 Pandora, 253 passive income, 84–86 Patel, Neil, 77–79 peak performance, 180–81 Perel, Esther, Mating in Captivity, 133 performance boosts, 180–81 personal goal-setting, 49–54 personality in copywriting, 128 persuasive content, 128, 138–39 philosophy books, recommended, 130 physical appearance, 182–83 Physical Market Skills, 80–81, 82–83, 176 Physical Super Skills, 75–76, 76, 171–88 alcohol and other substances, 185 clean, organized environment, 184 healthy physical appearance, 182–83 mental focus and productivity at work, 179–81 productive work life, 176–79 sexuality, 185–88 Steve Cooksey’s story, 173–75, 179 Pindrop Security, 89, 90–91 Pollan, Michael, In Defense of Food, 177 Posner, Barry Z., 92 Power of Habit, The (Duhigg), 133 predictability, in investments, 21 predicting what makes you happy, 58–59 prerequisites, challenging assumptions about, in mental models, 152–54 presence, investing in increasing your, 59–60 prestige, exclusionary vs inclusionary, 252–56 price, in marketing offer, 168 Primal Blueprint, The (Sisson), 174 process, in marketing offer, 168 processes and mental models, 148–51, 153–55 productive work life, 176–79 productivity at work, 179–81, 184 professional skills vs Super Skills, 73–75, 74 profit sharing agreements, 218–19 promise, in marketing offer, 167 prospect lists, in marketing crank, 162, 164 psychology books, recommended, 129–30 psychotherapy, 56–57, 61 public speaking, 94–95 Punchbowl, 241–42 purchases functions of, 58–59 and Happiness Exchange Rate, 23–25, 55, 58–59 Systemic Spending Chart, 15 purpose finding and living, 61–64 and Systemic Spending, 15, 17 quality of life, 26–27 and adviser equity, 30–31 Rackham, Neil, SPIN Selling, 99, 132 Rational Recovery (Trimpey), 185 Ravel, Maurice, 117 reading, 129–33 recommended books, 132–33 Reeves, Keanu, 128 relationships See also friends; tribe recommended books, 132 and Systemic Spending, 15, 17 repression, 54–55, 187 resources, challenging assumptions about, in mental models, 152–54 revenue sharing agreements, 218–19 Revising Prose (Lanham), 125, 126 Roessler, Kira, 112 Russell, Jennifer, 95 SAFE (Self-Amplifying Financial Ecosystem) plan, 11–44, 12 systems within systems, 41–42 True Wealth assets See True Wealth assets> True Wealth disciplines See True Wealth disciplines typical investment time line, 206, 206–11 sales (lead conversion), in marketing crank, 162, 166 sales message, in marketing crank, 162, 165–66 sales skills (selling), 97–99 cold calling, 72–73, 77 recommended books, 132 savings, 12, 40–41, 48–49 SAFE plan investment time line, 206, 206–11 Say:Do, 214–15 scarcity (basic economic problem), 256–57 Scientific Advertising (Hopkins), 132 Seagate, 193 Seddon, Tony, Graphic Design for Nondesigners, 137 Self-Amplifying Financial Ecosystem plan See SAFE plan self-confidence, 216 self-development, 10, 11 self-expression, as core value of tribe, 37 self-help books, recommended, 130 self-presentation, 182–83 self-repression, 54–55, 187 selling See sales skills sense of purpose, 61–64 Sequoia Capital, 194 Sethi, Ramit, 89 sexuality and sex, 185–88 sharing economy, 249–52 Silverstein, Craig, 191, 193 Sisodia, Raj, 52 Sisson, Mark, 174 skills See Market Skills; Super Skills Skillshare.com, 97 sleep, 17, 177 SMART goals, 50 smoking, 177 spaciousness and creativity, 114–16 spam, 164 Spencer Stuart, 86 spending See also Systemic Spending low-quality decisions and idea of, 54–55 SPIN Selling (Rackham), 99, 132 spirituality, 177, 180 recommended books, 130 Stanley, Thomas J., Networking with the Affluent, 244 Star Wars (movies), 135 stock investments, 2, 4, 7, 41, 178 stock ownership plans, 194, 195, 199 stocks and adviser equity, 193, 208, 213 Stiglitz, Joseph, story in marketing crank, 160–62 storytelling, 133–35 Stratten, Scott, 159 Strauss, William, The Fourth Turning, 133 student debt, 5–6, 250 success fee, 218 Super Skills, 69–188 See also Creative Super Skills; Interpersonal Super Skills; Physical Super Skills; Technical Super Skills defined, 73 formula for investing in your earning potential, 76–84 four categories of, 75–76, 76 Jesse Eichner’s story, 71–73, 77 vs professional skills, 73–75, 74 supplements, nutritional, 181 sweat equity, 27–29, 212–13 systemic amplification, 205–11 SAFE plan investment time line, 206, 206–11 Systemic Spending, 12, 13–19, 15, 41–42, 56 aesthetic of life, 53–54 consumption vs investment, 16, 18–19 for getting a discount on circumstances making you happy, 56–58 mind-set shift for, 13–14 six major contexts, 14, 15, 16–18 systems thinking, 52, 155–57 Taleb, Nassim Nicholas, 133 Tantra, 188 teaching, 97 Technical Market Skills, 83, 144 technical models See mental models Technical Super Skills, 75–76, 76, 141–70 See also marketing crank financial models and systems thinking, 155–57 Lee Franklin’s story, 143–46 mental models, 145–55 Tesla, Nikola, 196 then you’ll get statements, 160, 161 Thinking in Systems (Meadows), 156 thinking in three dimensions, 102, 103 thinking in two dimensions, 102, 103 three-dimensional insight, 102, 103 Tjia, John, Building Financial Models, 155–56 Toastmasters International, 94–95 “tourist checklist,” 120 transcendence, as core value of tribe, 227, 230 treasure maps, 175 tribe, 12, 34–39, 223, 223–46 being, becoming, and, 231–34 core values of, 37–38, 227, 230–31, 236 defined, 34 distributing risks, 37–38 earning potential enhancing, 209 economics of building See tribe building enhancing earning potential, 210 enhancing equity, 210 equity enhancing, 209 network effect of, 34–35 True Wealth and value of, 229–31 tribe building, 99–100, 234–46 choosing a venue, 239–40 choosing core values, 236 developing e-mail lists, 242–43 hosting regular events, 239 invitations for gatherings, 240–42 inviting affluent people, 244–46 inviting guests to invite an interesting person, 238 inviting interesting people from different contexts, 236–38 making events free or low cost, 243–44 Trimpey, Jack, Rational Recovery, 185 True Wealth, 10–11, 256–60 True Wealth assets, 12, 12, 26–41, 198 adviser equity See adviser equity savings, 12, 40–41, 48–49 tribe See tribe True Wealth disciplines, 12, 12–25 improving your Happiness Exchange Rate See Happiness Exchange Rate increasing your value to other people, 12, 19–22 spend systemically See Systemic Spending Tuller, Lawrence, Finance for Non-Financial Managers, 155 Turney, Travis, 90 Twain, Mark, 123 Twitter, 78 two-dimensional insight, 102, 103 Udemy.com, 97 UltraMind Solution, The (Hyman), 133, 181 uncertainty, 119–22 unconscious source of creativity, 117–18 unpredictability, 119–22 value to other people, 10, 11, 12, 19–22 and Systemic Spending, 15, 18 values infinite vs finite, 62, 256–59 of tribe, 37–38, 227, 230–31, 236 variability, in investments, 21 Vasiloglou, Nikolaos, 90 venues, for tribe gatherings, 239–40 visioning, 95–97 Vogler, Christopher, The Writer’s Journey, 135 Wall Street Journal, 124, 125, 182 wealth external vs internal, 22–25 See also Happiness Exchange Rate True Wealth See True Wealth wealthy lifestyle, 219–21 Web analytics, 77–79 Whalen, Dan, 143–44, 152 WhatsApp, 192–93, 218 Whole Foods, 52 Who’s Got Your Back (Ferrazzi), 132–33 Wikipedia, 253 word of mouth, 1–2, 160 work environment, 184 work life, productive, 176–79 workplace value exchange, 191–94 work productivity, 179–81, 184 Writer’s Journey, The (Vogler), 135 writing, 123–27 copywriting, 127–29 Writing with Power (Elbow), 126 yoga, 60 you think statements, 160, 161 zone, the, 114–18 Looking for more? Visit Penguin.com for more about this author and a complete list of their books Discover your next great read! ... benefit to your True Wealth Since your True Wealth is in part determined by your capacity to reliably and continually create the circumstances that lead to internal wealth, the SAFE plan values these... TRUE WEALTH DISCIPLINE: Increase Your Value to Other People Whereas the heart of the FACD plan is attempting to increase your financial net worth via increased portfolio value, the heart of the. .. important to you Your tribe is the source of most of the nonmonetary resources you’ll need to create the circumstances of your True Wealth Your tribe amplifies your ability to invest in True Wealth