The Rachel Cruze Show - How to Develop a Millionaire Mindset

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

Building wealth is all about your mindset—what you believe. It’s possible to have a millionaire mindset even if you’re trying to get out of debt. In this episode, I’ll tell you exactly how to create a millionaire mindset and reveal the most common mistakes I saw people make while I was teaching Financial Peace University. By the end, you’ll believe the right things about money that will help you reach your goals.   What you get in this episode:  ·      How to Create a Millionaire Mindset ·      5 Mistakes I Saw While Teaching a Personal Finance Course   Helpful Resources:  ·      Christian Healthcare Ministries  ·      EveryDollar ·      Net Worth Calculator Sponsors pay the producer of this show, The Lampo Group, LLC, advertising fees for mentioning their services or products during programming. Advertising fees are not based upon or otherwise tied to any product sale or business transacted between any consumer or sponsor. The following sponsors have paid for the programming you are viewing: Christian Healthcare Ministries. Learn more about your ad choices. https://www.megaphone.fm/adchoices Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you keep saying to yourself, well, this will never happen for me. I can't do it. This will never happen. Then you're not probably going to put the actions to it. But if you tell yourself, this is where I want to go and I can do it, then you actually have hope in the situation really empower those actions for change. Hey guys, welcome to this episode of the Rachel Cruise Show podcast. I'm so glad that you're here.

You know, if you love this podcast, one of the best ways for you to help us here as a team is to leave a review. because not only do you want to hear what you're enjoying about the podcast, but also with the magical algorithm that there is, it helps get the show in front of more people, and we want to keep giving people hope and direction when it comes to their money. So that would be incredible if you can do that, because we love talking about money around here, and we love talking about life change, including this episode today. So in this episode, we're going to talk about how to develop a millionaire mindset. I'll go over five things that I learned when coordinating

an FPU Financial Peace University class. There was a theme here, and I cannot wait to share it with you, and how you can start building wealth. But first, let's go over how to have a millionaire mindset. Take a listen. So have you ever pause and thought about just the power of your mindset? Some people call it manifesting. Others call it speaking life over yourself.

My friend, Dr. John's Lonie, says the behavior change isn't about tactical steps, but creating a mindset of who you want to be. James Clear kind of has that same idea with Atomic Habits, a book that he wrote. Now, whatever you want to call it, just know that there's so much power in shifting your outlook, especially if you're working through important financial goals. So today, I want to show you how to create a millionaire mindset. So if you're in a season where you're struggling to see progress, this episode will give you hope and action steps so that you can create the mindset shift that you need. All right, the first step, and creating your millionaire mindset is to visualize the person that you want to become.

So kind of think vision board-esque, what kind of things do you want to be true for you financially? I mean, ask yourself questions like, do you want to be able to cover emergencies without stress? Do you want to live well in retirement? Do you want to own your own home? Now, realistically, outside forces will always play a factor. Things like job loss, unexpected health expenses, or even past money mistakes, or all a factor that you may have to face head on at some point. But at the end of the day, you get to decide who and what you want to become. So progress begins when you define where you want to go.

And you want to take action from there. So you want to start with the end in mind and work your way back. So for example, when I talk to people about their money goals, I always recommend the seven baby steps is a starting point. And this is where you say, okay, baby step seven obviously is the end goal. But you're going to start with baby step one, which is just to get a thousand in the bank. And then you're going to move on to pay off your debt, get a fully funded emergency fund, say for retirement, and go down the line until you are completely debt-free, building wealth, and being very generous on baby step seven. But you want to know where you're going. You want to plan. We talk about being intentional with your money, with a budget. That is a plan

that is looking forward into the month and saying, hey, here is where my money is going. And you want to do the same thing for your life. Where do you want to go? Who do you want to become? All right, the second thing in creating a millionaire mindset is to know yourself so that you can know your money. So now that you envisioned on where you're going, I want you to take a look at where you are right now. I wrote about this in my book, Know Yourself, Know Your Money, and what's really key is understanding why you're doing the things you're doing with money. So if you want to change your money habits, if you want to change your money outcome, you have to understand why you're doing all of this in the first place. And that may be from looking at, you know, your childhood and how you grew up, you know, was money talked about? was it not talked about? Was money a stressful point in your household growing up? Was it something

that just was never even mentioned? You didn't feel anything when it comes to it because there was nothing attached to money. And so you went off on your own as an adult with no direction. Like going back to understanding, okay, this is how I grew up, which may be why I do the things I do with money. It can be that. It can be your money fears. You know, what are your fears around money? How is that motivating you? What are your dreams? Like we were talking about, what are your goals? And maybe even just looking at some of your tendencies. So again, looking at some observation about your tendencies is really key. Are you a spender or are you a saver?

Are you a nerd or you have a free spirit? Do you like experiences or things? Do you like spending your money on quality items or the quantity of stuff? Do you want safety or do you want status? Are you a more abundance mindset or scarcity-sided mindset? Do you like when you're giving for it to be very planned and formulaic or are you spontaneous and you kind of move at what's going on around you? Who are you?

Understanding why you do. do the things with money is so key. And this doesn't have to be, you know, to shame yourself, because listen, all of those options, there was not a right or wrong, but it really helps to know your current money tendencies so that you can make adjustments later and slowly shifting your behavior. All right, the third step is to come up with three statements that summarize where you want to go in terms of your money. These mantras are going to help you when it comes to grounding and understanding why you're doing the things that you're doing. So for example, yours might sound something like, I want to have more margin for giving and living generously.

Or I want to change my family tree and leave a legacy of financial security for my children. Or I want to have the means to spend freely without guilt, shame, worry, or fear. Having those statements, you guys, is understanding your why. Why are you doing all this? Because a lot of changing your habits and a lot of saying, hey, there's going to be some sacrifice involved, you're going to want to know your why. Because there's going to be some really hard days. And so saying words out loud is powerful.

when you have those statements and you use those statements to really keep your eye on the prize, it is so, so helpful. And finally, the fourth step is to practice a mindset of gratitude. So keep in mind, success never comes because you just put all your work into it. You have friends, you have family who are supporting you, you have coworkers who are cheering you on, you have a church community who may be helping you. So whether you're a person of faith or not, I really believe that the Lord is walking beside you through all of this and who, is supporting you behind the scenes, they play a really important role into your journey. So be grateful. Be grateful for the stuff you have in your life, yes, but also be grateful for the

people in your corner. But know that at the end of the day, it is up to you, right? You can have people cheering you along all day long, but you're the one that's going to have to make the decisions, but just be grateful for those people in your life. So your behavior, your actions, your choices, all of these things can be traced back to mindset. So make sure yours is in the right place from start. And you'll be shocked how intentional you are with that if you are, how that can change the game for you. And I don't want this to sound like a magic wand. Like, just believe and it will happen. But let me tell you, if you keep saying to yourself, well, this will never happen for me. I can't do it. I can't do it. This will never happen. Then you're not probably going to put

the actions to it. If you really are saying that to yourself over and over again, it's just not going to happen, then what's going to cause you to be motivated to actually do something. But if you tell yourself, no, this is what I want my future to look like. This is what I want to become. This is who I want to be. This is where I want to go. And I can do it. When you do that, then you actually have hope in the situation really empower those actions for change. So if you guys want more information on all of this, because I know it was a lot, things like the baby step or budgeting or my book, Know Yourself, Know Your Money, check out Ramsey Solutions.com. And there you can register for Financial Peace University, which is my number one recommendation to taking control of your money,

because it will help you see real progress towards your financial goals. Remember, what you tell yourself, Your self-talk and what you believe about yourself is so key in this process. And just know, I believe in you. I am cheering you on because I know you can do it. So I recently had the opportunity to lead a personal finance course, aka FPU Financial Peace University. And it was so fun. And it was just so fascinating to sit with a group of people

and talk to them about their money and changing money habits and what it looks like to get on the baby steps. So I really had a front row seat to all. all the real life challenges that were keeping people from taking control of their money and building wealth. And I definitely noticed a few trends. So today, I'm going to talk about the top five mistakes I was seeing people make with their money. And I'll show you how to avoid those same mistakes. Or if you've already made some of these choices, I'll help you get unstuck so that you can start making progress towards your financial goals. So if you're not familiar, Financial Peace University

or FPU is a nine lesson personal finance course that teaches you step by step, how to prioritize and achieve your money goals. And as I was teaching this course, I've been able to witness some amazing progress when it comes to people and their money. But I also notice some patterns, some mistakes you can say. So let's talk through some of these.

So the first common money mistake that I've seen when it comes to money is that people continue to invest in retirement while still trying to pay off debt. So if you're familiar with the baby steps, we teach to get a starter emergency fund of $1,000, and then baby step two is to pay off all of your debt, smallest amount to the largest amount.

And we say, like, you do everything here. You bring in extra income, you sell stuff, you cut your lifestyle, you pause retirement, you do anything and everything to pay off debt. And I understand that makes some people cringe because they're like, oh my gosh, if I have 401k in a match and my employer's like basically giving me free money, why would I stop that to pay off debt?

So here's what we have found, especially when it comes to paying off debt, the more focused you are, the more money you can bring to the table, and the faster you can get out of debt, the faster you can see progress. So when you don't have money leaving your life and payments, you know, your paycheck comes in and then it goes back out to two credit cards and two card payments and student loans and a personal loan and all this stuff, it is hard to have margin and to build wealth because your income is your largest wealth building tool. So the faster you can get out of debt, the more your income is yours to go and do things like save or put money in retirement, all of that. So we have found if you pause retirement,

pay off all of your debt, get an emergency fund in place, then press play and fund 15% of your income into retirement, you will be in a great place. Okay. So the more focused you are on paying off debt, the faster you're going to see progress. So again, I know it makes you guys cringe some of y'all, but I'm telling you, the more focus you can be for paying off that debt, the better off you're going to be. The second money mistake is not wanting to cut up the credit cards. Okay, so this came, I think, in lesson one or two. It was so funny because we were like, hey, you guys, you know, we're going to get out of debt. And in order to get out of debt, you've got to stop going into debt. So how do we eliminate some of this and some of the easiest way

to do it there on the spot is to get rid of your credit cards and to say, you know what, I'm not using credit cards anymore. I'm going to use a debit card. I'm going to use my own money. to do life and not use the bank's money. And right then and there, people were, like, raising their hands via Zoom, and you can, like, click on them. And they would come over in front of the whole class. You could hear their voice. And they would take scissors and, like, cut up their credit cards.

And people were doing it. I mean, they were like, I went rid of them. I went rid of them. And then I did a poll because I was just curious. I was like, so, you know, anonymously. How many of you guys still want to keep credit cards around? And there was close to a fourth of the class that was like, I'm not willing to give them my credit card.

So I get it. Like, intellectually, I understand. understand how scary that is to say, oh, my gosh, I've used this thing, whether it's I'm playing the game of points or cashback or airline miles, or this is the thing that's going to be my emergency fund. If something happens, this is what I'm going to depend on. Can I just tell you, both of those options, they're not good. They're not good. And people are always like, Rachel, but listen, on this side, the whole game system of trying to say, okay, yeah, I'm going to, you know, outplay the credit cards and get all these free, all this free stuff. Do you know how much more money you

spend technically when you spend on a credit card versus a debit card or your own cash. It's like 10 to 12 to 18% more, okay? So you're spending more subconsciously by trying to get all of these rewards versus just saving up and paying for things, right? So the whole game system, it's just not worth it. And then on the other side, the emergency fund, what's tough about that is say, yeah, you need a 600 bucks to get some new tires for your car. Well, you go and get that, you have a car issue, and then you go and charge it.

now you have a debt issue. You have a money issue because you don't have that savings. So getting that $1,000 emergency fund and you being your emergency fund is so crucial. So if I were you guys, just get rid of them. Get rid of the credit cards. Live off your life. Live off your income and your money. It is so much more empowering. All right. The third money mistake is people giving up on the budget before 90 days. So listen, if you have never done a budget before, hear me out. It is going to take three months to get your budget to work. The first month of doing a budget, you guys, it's not going to be perfect. Okay? You're going to realize, oh, wow, I spend a lot more here. I don't spend a lot there. Oh, gosh, am I in the red? Am I actually going to have to cut some stuff? Am I going to have to maybe get a

side hustle to get ahead on all of this? Like, it is going to bring to light where you are financially. And that's a good thing because we want you to see what is going on so you can make progress. That first month is tough. The second month, it's going to get a little bit better. And by the third month, your budget will start working. So do not give up. I know. It can be. feel defeating, but stick with it. All right, the fourth money mistake is fear around giving and generosity. So a lot of people feel like, oh, my gosh, you know, what do I do if I feel like I don't have a lot of margin?

I mean, I barely have margin to, you know, pay my bills and do all of this. How do you expect me to give? So giving is one of the things, you guys, that we talk about so much because it is that important. As you are living life with an open hands, what that speaks to who you are and your character is huge, because here's the deal. money is a magnifying glass. It's going to make you more of what you already are. So our goal for you is to become debt-free, to be building wealth, to be stress-free,

to have margin, all of that. So as you start to have more money, more of who you are is exposed. And so being a person that says, hey, I'm going to be looking at the needs of others. I'm going to live life with an open hand and practice that sense of generosity. If you're doing that when your budget is tight, you're going to be able to do that when you have a lot. And some people will think, well, if I just had more money, I would give. But let me just tell you, it is more of a heart issue than a math issue. So be giving a little until you can give a lot. I kind of want to take the stress off of you, though, because I was hosting the Ramsey show with one of our Ramsey personality is Ken Coleman. And we had a lady

call the show. And she was like, you know, my husband is just not as excited about giving as I am. And as she was explaining it, you know, this guy was not a bad guy, but she was like, I'm the one that's always bringing ideas to the table and all this. And I understand that. I hear that. It was so funny because Ken was like, that's kind of like me. Stacey, my wife usually is the one that's like, we should give to that or this or look at this. He was like, and I'm like, yeah, okay, that's cool.

Like I'm not against it, but I'm usually not the one that's like seeing stuff and jumping at the gun. So if that's you and giving isn't one of these things, you're like, oh yeah, I'm just constantly thinking about it all the time and what I can do. That's okay. That's okay. But just being in a rhythm and a practice and a habit of giving, I think is what's key.

All right. Finally, the fifth common mistake I saw when trying to work the sex. seven baby steps is doing it alone without your spouse if you are married. Okay, so this is a really tough one because this is one you technically can't control. You can't control your spouse to do what you want them to do, right? If you haven't learned that yet, then I just saved you some therapy because it's not as a truth. You can't make someone do something.

You can't control them. But here's the deal. When it comes to your money, especially if you're a household working together, it is very difficult to win when you're trying to pay off debt and someone else keeps bringing debt in, right? Like it's just a hard cycle. So what I would say is be working more on your marriage and you guys coming together and having the same value system and learning to work together even before the money.

Now, if they're on board and they're like, yeah, maybe I'll do this. Okay, okay. Then people say, oh my gosh, this changed our marriage because we actually started working together and we started talking more and communicating more. And it actually does an incredible thing for your marriage. So that's amazing. But for some people, their spouse wants nothing to do with it. So at that point, it's a marriage issue.

It's a, hey, we have different values. So what are we going to do? And I would say, you know, talk to your spouse about your why. Show them the plan even and say, hey, if we do this for 18 months, here's where we could be. Sometimes people just need a tactical plan. Sometimes you may need to go to marriage counseling together and say, gosh, this is probably, you know, a symptom of other things in our marriage. Like, we need to talk about this, right? So it could be that window of opportunity, which is a lot of hard work. And I understand that doesn't sound really fun. But to have a rich marriage to say, hey, we're going to be unified on the big topics of life. even though we're going to go at them differently, right? There's always a nerd and a free spirit.

There's always a spender and saver. So you're still yourself in it. But being unified and working towards the same goals, that's where you're really going to see progress. So my big takeaway of all of this is that no one should believe the lie that they're the only one who struggles with money. Because here's the deal. Everyone does.

At some level, at some point, it happens. And common money mistakes happen because they're easy to make, which is exactly why I'm so passionate about sharing resources that can help you reverse those money mistakes. And Financial Peace University is at the top of the list. It's been helping people from every financial background to build wealth for nearly 30 years. So no matter your age, no matter your level of knowledge around money,

FPU is designed to help everyone in all walks of life. There's always hope you guys, always hope. All right, you guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode again. There were a couple of mistakes that I kept seeing pop up in my Fan Intrapeach University classes. but easy ones to turn around and start making progress with their money. And hopefully you picked up some things too that you can insert in your life. And I asked you guys to leave some reviews and you have been doing it.

So thank you so much. This one was from Corey and it said, I'm so motivated. This podcast is so incredibly motivating, educational and just fun. I have recommended it to all my friends and family. Thank you. Oh, Corey, I so appreciate those words. It is so great to know that's helping you stay on course and hopefully all of you listening as well. But you guys, thanks again for listening to this episode.

And remember to take control of your money and create a life you love.