Post #10
Are you ready to learn how trees can teach women how to build financial wealth and live happy, fulfilling lives? Great!
Allow me to introduce you to the “Money Tree”.
I discovered the Money Tree some years ago as I sought to make sense of all the infinite (and, frankly, overwhelming) financial tools and guidance that covers library bookshelves, occupies whole cable TV channels, and fills millions of pages on the internet.
Invest in options.
Grow a real estate empire.
Max out your 401k.
Heal your relationship with money.
Reduce your taxes.
Create a wealth vision board.
Use asset allocation to manage risk.
Buy low cost, passive index funds.
Think and grow rich./Upgrade your money mindset.
Get a raise.
Start a business.
Learn how to negotiate.
Clip coupons.
Buy blue chip stocks.
Work in STEM industries.
Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash
All the tools, strategies and options can boggle your mind, confuse the soul, and leave you unclear on where to start or what step to take next. It can also lead to a lot of unnecessary risk-taking or failing to make the most of an opportunity if you attempt different things without a clear guidance system.
When your father says ‘pay yourself, first’ (as mine did), or your boyfriend chides ‘you need to be investing in stocks’, or the financial planner instructs ‘you have to start saving more’ and the guidance ends there, it can quickly leave you feeling ashamed and demoralized if you don’t know how to respond to the advice.
Why? Often it’s because you don’t have all the information and a way to specifically analyze what you need to move forward. You don’t have the full picture of how (or if) a particular financial step fits into your life.
Truth be told, I was feeling my own insecurities around the best financial strategies and next steps for my own family. Even though I’d become fairly money-savvy and organized over the last 15-20 years, I still found myself struggling with the fragmented nature of all the financial guidance.
I kept thinking that there had to be more order to this wealth-building thing, more sequenced strategy, more guidance that fits how a woman wants to live her life.
I searched and searched for a book that would show me the bigger picture and how it all fit together. I craved guidance on something more cohesive…and I came up empty-handed.
One summer afternoon, I picked up a book on Permaculture – which is an approach to agriculture that is focused on building self-sufficient and sustainable ecosystems – and stumbled across something that left me stunned. It was a chapter on ‘Branching Patterns’ (found in trees, rivers, city roads) and how such natural patterns could be used to heal and enrich both our economic systems and our communities.
Photo by Nikola Jovanovic on Unsplash
The concept instantly struck a chord in me. Maybe it was a piece of the framework I’d been yearning for. Maybe it could help not only me, but people all around the world.
I decided to explore the concept a little further and began learning about the entire structure of trees. As I read about the synergies of trees, goosebumps appeared on my skin and I instantly realized I had found the framework that made it all clear to me…and, hopefully, to many others.
Though most of the parts of the framework will be somewhat familiar to you, you’ve likely never viewed financial planning and wealth building in this way.
It’s also likely that you have never seen it suggested that the very ‘act of pursuing and building wealth’ can actually be one of the healthiest and most beautiful things you could do for yourself, your community, and those you love.
I, wholeheartedly, believe that the Money Tree is an approach whose time has come – especially for women who, as a group, are struggling with the wealth creation system. Never before has money been as deeply woven into the very fabric of our lives as it is now. It’s time for women to have a better system to work with it.
Money is no longer just some tool we use for exchanging goods and services. It now sits at the root of nearly every single thing we do, think, pursue, love, purchase, become, believe about ourselves, and so much more.
It’s a tool of survival. It’s a tool of self-expression. It’s a tool of personal identity and fulfillment. It’s a tool of empowerment. And, it can be a tool of healing and transformation.
Who we are as humans – especially as women – and what we deeply value MUST now be factored into how we build wealth and think about money. To do anything less is negligent at best, and can ruin generations of lives at worst.
The Money Tree is designed to address all this as it considers the whole woman, helps women to address the unique constraints she experiences, and shows her new pathways of how to build wealth that are not traditionally discussed in financial planning scenarios.
Are you ready learn about the Money Tree? I hope so! Because I’m excited to show it to you!
Tomorrow, I’ll give you a quick overview of the Money Tree model. But, before I go, I want to leave you with something to think about and try on.
I want you to STOP thinking of money as something OUTSIDE of yourself, something you have to go get, something that other people have…or even something that is dirty, selfish, or greedy. Instead, I want you to START thinking of money as something that is part of your very essence.
I often tell my money coaching clients that ,“Money DOES grow on trees. But, first, you need to understand that YOU are the tree.”
Photo by Jurica Koletić on Unsplash
If you ARE a Money Tree, describe the Soil you live in, the health of your Roots, the size of your Trunk, the look of your Branches, and the Leaves on the crown.
This may not make a whole lot of sense right now. But, stick with me and I will help you gain 100% clarity.
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