Expanding Your Time vs. Expanding Your Wealth

by Dr David Phelps

by Dr David Phelps

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et's talk about expanding your time versus expanding your wealth.

 Look, everybody starts out in life needing to earn money, trading their time for dollars to pay the bills and to enhance their lifestyle.

That’s all normal and good, and that's where I started as well. But building more wealth typically just turns into more money that we spend on lifestyle. Again, not judging it. But the problem is – what do we really want in life? What do we really, really want? 

The answer: More discretionary time.

More discretionary time means that we have options. It doesn't even mean that you want to quit doing what you're doing; you may love the business or profession that you're in. But what if you were able to do it on your time, based on your options, your choices, and not feel compelled to continue to churn it out in this chase for some amount of wealth?

See, that's the problem with the financial world today: They talk about accumulation. Financial advisors inadvertently tell their clients that, “As long as you can keep working you should keep working, because we can't tell you when you have enough.” Why? Because the focus isn’t on cash flow.

Part of cash flow comes from accumulation, no doubt. You have to have a certain net worth in certain asset classes that will produce the sustainable, predictable cash flow. In the financial world, that's not the case. Yes there are some dividend paying stocks, but for the most part, it's not a cash flow driven platform.

I love tangible assets because that's where sustainable, predictable cash flow comes from. And I can build wealth and leverage it too. I can grow it and expand it faster. I can take tax preferences along the way, which is all part of the game.

If you're doing things the way the traditional markets tell you to do it, then you're going to live a majority lifestyle.

I often have calls with doctors who are hardworking, have done a great job, have built up significant practices or businesses, and have a hodgepodge of investment capital in different arenas – whole life insurance, annuities, 401(k)s, maybe they bought some real estate, or maybe they have a practice building. The problem is: There's no coordination to any of that.

They don’t realize that they could take what they built, expand upon that, yet increase their time freedom. When you have significant passive cash flow, it allows you to free up your time. And when you free up your time, guess what else happens? Yes your happiness increases, but also your creativity.

When you're in the mix of your daily work, working hard, which we all have to do, it diminishes your capacity to be creative. And creativity is what expands everything. I mean everything. Yes, your net worth, your cash flow, your time, your happiness, your relationships, your significance in life – all those things expand.

The problem is too many people say, Well, I'll wait until I get “there”. Well, where is “there”? Some arbitrarily big pile of money, or a distant “retirement” date?

I had a call with a pediatric dentist recently who’s doing quite well; you would say he has a top practice. He's making good money and even has significant investment capital, but it's producing him only a little under $10,000 per month in passive cash flow. I say “only” because it should be making him a lot more.

Some people would say that’s great, but not for where he's at. See, he's working over 60 hours a week right now and has young daughters at home. He's feeling stressed because he doesn't know how to get off the hamster wheel. He feels like he has to keep grinding it out because that's what we're told to do.

He doesn't know how much is enough because he's never learned how to translate what he's building into cash flow. That's the key to everything. That’s what we do in Freedom Founders.

If you feel the same way, like you're on this hamster wheel, you're working hard, you've got a good lifestyle, but you just don't have the time freedom you want – you need to change course.

The longer you wait, the longer it will be before you ever get there - because you don't know where “there” is.
To your freedom!

P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are some other ways I can help fast track you to your Freedom goal (you’re closer than you think) :

1. Schedule a Call with My Team:

If you’d like to replace your active practice income with passive investment income within 2-3 years, and you have at least $1M in available capital (can include residential/practice equity or practice sale), then schedule a call with my team. If it looks like there is a mutual fit, you’ll have the opportunity to attend one of our upcoming member events as a guest. www.freedomfounders.com/schedule

2. Get Your Free Retirement Scorecard:

Benchmark your retirement and wealth-building against hundreds of other practice professionals, and get personalized feedback on your biggest opportunities and leverage points. Go to www.FreedomFounders.com/Scorecard to take the 3 minute assessment and get your scorecard.

3. Ready to Step Away?

“How Much is Enough?” This simple question keeps hard-working professionals at the hamster wheel of active income far longer than they need to be. Watch this free training, and discover a proven model for determining how much you really need before hanging up the handpiece! www.freedomfounders.com/training

4. Apply To Visit The Mastermind:

If you’d like to join dozens of dentists, docs, and practice professionals on the fast track to Freedom (3-5 years or less), visit www.freedomfounders.com/step-1 to apply for a guest seat.

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