Personal Branding Blog – Dan Schawbel

Today, I interviewed Garrett B. Gunderson, who is a New York Times bestselling author, millionaire and speaker.  Garrett reveals the truth about 401K’s, real estate, Wall Street and other “truisms” about investing.  In the world today, everyone needs to be their own CFO (Chief Financial Officer).  You are your own business and you have to keep track of the money you make and spend.

Garrett, how did you come up with the name “Killing Sacred Cows” and what does it stand for?

To kill the sacred cows of our minds, we must persist in learning and doing things that may be uncomfortable to us. Keep reading and questioning the assumptions and beliefs circulating out there. Instead of questioning if you will have enough money to retire, question the concept of retirement itself. If working for a company just to have security and retire in 30 years sounds like a limiting concept to you, that’s good, because it is. Deep down, all of us know we were born to do so much more than accumulate a million dollars and retire after 30 years of an uninspired and uninspiring career.

Most people can’t wait to retire (I may never retire though), but they don’t know how to set themselves up for retirement. Do you have any retirement planning strategies you can share?

• 1) Education
• 2) The basics (budget, emergency savings of 6 months, credit repair and refinance to save)
• 3) Look to places you would like to invest, investigate and shaow the investment for at least 6 months or up to a year
• 4) Build a blueprint/plan of what you want to accomplish financially
• 5) Hire a mentor in the area you are going to invest
• 6) Look to private investments as an option or alternative (non-stock market essentially)
• 7) Invest anywhere you have expertise or that enhances your soul purpose
• 8 ) Invest where you can get cash flow

Why is net worth a poor indicator of wealth and why do you emphasize cash flow instead?

People tend to accumulate with no exit strategy, we eventually want cash flow, but most people are prisoners to interest rates and have no control over what happens in the future, cash flow and utility now.

What is your formula for overcoming money myths?

Ask the right questions, such as: Who has a vested interest in what’s being proposed to you: Is this really in alignment with my best interests? What level of control do I have with this proposition? What are the opportunity costs of this approach?

Know your interests. Analyze all of the implications of a proposed investment, and see how they align with your interests, values, and your vision of your ideal life. When we have precise visions of what our lives are about, and a clear sense of our Soul Purpose, we can see through any proposal that is not aligned with principle and our purposes.

You must weigh every financial option on several merits. If you’re unable to see how value is being created, the chances are high that you’re dealing with a myth. Before you rush, under pressure, to act on a hot stock tip, determine exactly how value is being created, and how it will be sustained.

Apply the teaching universally, in as many contexts as possible. If something is clearly wrong and ridiculous in one context, the chances are good that it will be ridiculous in any other context. An excellent way to test if a financial teaching is a myth or not is to apply it to any other area of your life and see if it holds true. For example, would you parent a child the way you deal with a 401K? Imagine raising a child by just throwing money at them, feeding them systematically, letting daycare have almost full control over them, and not thinking much about how they are performing until they’re fully raised and it’s too late to do anything about it if things have turned out badly. Of course, it wouldn’t work out very well (but it would be okay since everyone else is raising their kids that way too).

Identify the impact that, living the teaching will have on the fulfillment of your “Soul Purpose.” The ultimate end of every one of our decisions-financial and otherwise – should be to get us closer to finding and living our Soul Purpose. Our Soul Purpose is the reason that we were born. It is the thing that brings us the most joy and creates the most value for others. It is the development of our full potential. It is what causes us to reach far beyond the mediocrity of social agreements. It is what gets us beyond a normal life to live extraordinarily.

Commit to always seeking every educational opportunity possible throughout your entire life. One of the best ways to cultivate the ability to see through myths, recognize them for what they are, and then to break through them is to be constantly increasing our knowledge. The more we know, the more content we have. The more complete our knowledge is, the better informed are our decisions. For example, the more an entrepreneur knows about historical cycles, her market, her product and/or service, her customers and how to run her business, the less risk she is exposed to and the more profitable she can be. Ignorance is perhaps the highest risk of all.

What 3 tips do you have for starting to build a great financial future today?

• Find your soul purpose
• Increase financial literacy with at least 10 minutes a day
• Read Killing Sacred Cows

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Garrett B. Gunderson, a mutli-millionaire and serial entrepreneur, is the author of the provocative and controversial new book, Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity (Greenleaf Book Group, July 2008). His book powerfully challenges the myths and money assumptions propagated by the financial services industry and explores a unique way to approach and define wealth.

Gunderson, a millionaire by age 26, is a natural-born entrepreneur who began his first business at the age of 15 and won the SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award at age 18.