Fully half of all Americans, both men and women, feel underpaid and believe that they are not paid as much as much as their peers in similar jobs. A Gallup poll revealed that only 35% of men and 28% of women ever expect to get rich. And, well, just how would they do that if they’ve never learned what they need to learn about earning what they’re really worth, managing money and building wealth?
Many people seem magnetically drawn to get rich quick scams and make-a-million-dollar schemes. That’s probably because true financial mastery that leads to real wealth is a subject they were not exposed to in school or taught at home. And these schemes are tantalizing because they seem easy, until it appears there is real work involved: sometimes unsavory tasks, and things that may be distasteful to do.
Basic wealth-building activities are relatively simple to master, not difficult to perform and, remarkably, quite often not even related how much one earns. (Even people with high salaries fail to build wealth, and are essentially underearners.) Many people never get to those activities, even if they know about them. That’s because there is something more fundamental at play causing them to be “underearners” rather than high earners.
What are underearners? They’re those who earn less than their potential despite a need or desire to do otherwise – and they likewise fail to build real wealth. Thus, they don’t undertake those simple activities, or see real opportunities when they come along. Rather, they stay in their “comfort zone” – which is really just familiar and predictable, and anything but comfortable when it comes to money.
Partly, that’s because engaging in activities to earn more and master one’s finances can seem uncomfortable – especially next to dazzling get rich quick promises that make it look like you’ll be riding in the latest model sports car, yacht or private plane in no time at all. But just like exercise, real wealth-building just takes learning what to do and then building the muscle through practice. Getting over the discomfort is part of the equation – simply doing what needs to be done until it becomes uncomfortable not to do it.
Resisting that underlying discomfort is one thing that defines an underearner. So does a lack of the following: knowing what one really wants, having a profit motive, understanding how much money one really needs for all they want, or knowing and believing in the worth of their knowledge and work. These fundamentals, and possibly others, must be addressed as the “inner work” of wealth, before many will ever even begin the “outer work” consisting of the relatively simple activities involved in financial mastery and the journey toward financial independence.
Truly, it is not a difficult journey, and underearning is a curable condition – as long as, like any other, its root cause is identified and the right remedies are applied.
We recently did an introductory course on these subjects called 5 Steps To A Richer Life and are giving it away to anyone interested in examining their own situation in more depth. Click here to download a copy of the audio, do the exercises and see where you stand.
Starting October 7th is our 5 week program – the last for 2010 called Overcoming Underearning & Achieving Financial Mastery. It builds on the introductory work in the teleclass and provides additional resources and support for this journey. We have some specials currently available, so if you’re interested go here to register. We’d love to have you join us and get on the road to earning your potential (and more), becoming a financial master, and building real wealth.
We welcome you to do this work with us because we have a big goal:
- We really want to help change the world for the better. We see so many places where that is needed, and know that each person brings a gift to the world that only they can deliver.
- We also know how hard that is to do if you are having financial struggles of any sort.
- So we sincerely want to help as many people as possible change that, and make the transition from struggle to the sense of abundance and generosity that we know is supported by having money handled.
All the best to you!
Dolly & Eliza