The Trunk of Your Money Tree – Post #13

(Find the full Table of Contents for this book, Femme Your Finance, HERE.)

Yesterday, we looked at the important financial roles of the Branches and Leaves on your Money Tree Another hugely important part of your Tree is the Trunk.

The Trunk’s role is income generation and it is the front line of funding that every Money Tree must have to begin growing. Simply stated: Without money, there is no Money Tree.

(If you’d like to review the original post on REAL tree trunks, you can find it HERE.)

Now you might be thinking, “Hey, real tree trunks DON’T “generate”. They store and transport what is already inside the tree.” And, you would be right!

However, we live in a dynamic, capitalistic world – where the tree’s trunk is hugely prized for it’s value to homebuilding, furniture, paper, and many more industries. As a result, fortunes are made selling it’s commercial value to the world around it- wood (although, typically at a cost to the tree’s life).

With the Money Tree Trunk, you have it better than the tree. You can keep your life and still sell your commercial values to the world around you.

You can also do it in a way that deeply honors your “Heartwood” – namely your passions, valued skills, personal interests, innate or earned abilities, natural or honed talents, the lifestyle you want to lead and the life goals you wish to achieve (think: Branches of your tree).

Doing paid work that is well-aligned with your “heartwood” can help your Tree grow tall, happy, and strong – especially if the work is well-paid.

You might recall that real trees have “Rings” and “Bark” – with the Rings increasing the girth of the tree with each full cycle of the seasons (one year), and the Bark protecting the tree.

For your Money Tree, it can help to think about the Rings as developing your expertise and strength in your career, business or investing path – annual growth. Each year, you further master your chosen path to income, you tap more of your personal potential, and you strengthen the wealth possibilities for your money tree.

And, for the Bark, look at this as your alert system for industry threats and market disruptors that can damage your potential for income. Brilliant and highly-valued businesses and industries can be toppled much too quickly. Being alert and nimble to changes is a vital aspect of your Tree.

Last, the Xylem and Phloem – which transport nutrients from your Money Tree’s Roots all the way up into the Branches and Leaves. (I really love this part of the tree as it not only gives me a chance to do some practical money work with coaching clients, but also some really fun, eye-opening career and business coaching.)

The Xylem and Phloem in your Trunk can pull from strong, empowering money beliefs down in the Roots of your Money Tree to help you grow your career and income capacity. Earning a higher and higher income often requires that you strongly believe in yourself, your professional worth, and you are willing to do what it takes to get there.

The Xylem and Phloem can also share the wealth of your earnings to fund the dreams and goals (up in your Branches), or move the earnings directly into points of immediate fulfillment (Leaves).

This shows up in your financial world as your Money Management Systems – things like tax-advantaged retirement accounts, stock investing system, emergency savings accounts, college savings account, an automated savings account for dream travel, a savings account for an altruistic goal or a legacy you want to leave behind, a savings account for a business you want to start, a net worth tracking system, an automated monthly bill paying system, a debt reduction strategy and system, a tax-reduction strategy and system, a real estate investing system, and more.

As with real trees, your Money Tree’s Trunk sits in the middle of a highly interdependent, emotional, financial, social system and plays a vastly influential role in how large your Tree can grow.

Join me, again, tomorrow as I will share a simple visual of all the Money Tree’s interlocking, interdependent pieces.

• Previous: Money Tree Overview – Branches & Leaves
• Next: The Money Tree Diagram