Train Your BRAIN To MANIFEST More Money In 30 Days! | Ken Honda & Lewis Howes

If you're in debt, money only pulls bad negative emotions such as shame, guilt, frustration. But it's because you look at money almost like a punishment. But I always advise people who are in debt.

If we have a wound financially or we're in debt and we're ashamed of it and we're not able to get.

Out of that debt, how would you.

Say we start the process of healing our, our financial identity or wounds that hold us back from financial abundance?

Luis, thank you. That's a very good question. Oftentimes money can bring the worst and the best emotions out of you. Negative emotions could be anger, frustration, resentment. And the good positive emotions could be like love and happiness. And if you're in debt, money only pulls bad negative emotions such as shame, guilt, frustration. But it's because you look at money, debt almost like a punishment or curse. But I always advise people who are in debt to turn that view differently. So I would say, you know, like five years ago, 10 years ago, you borrowed the money from the bank or friends. That means they trusted you, they trusted your earning ability so you can pay back. So debt is not a curse or burden. It's a trust placed on you. You know, a totally stranger bank, they knew, they figured out you'd be able to pay back. Isn't that great news?

Yeah.

Yeah. If you cannot trust that, I don't know if I can pay back. The they did. So that means they have a better trust than you. So you can thank them for trusting you. So if it's like your parents or grandparents who believe in you more than you do yourself, so those financial institutions are like mentors and supporters. So you can, I think, pay back their trust every. Every month. So interest is a form of appreciation from you. Thank you for trusting me. So every time when you think of debt, instead of feeling I'm burdened, I'm chained, you know, like a slave, just think of this way, you know you have such a trust and love from a total stranger, your ability to pay back. So you just imagine a few bankers faces and just say, thank you so.

Much for trusting me.

Thank you so much for believing in my paying back abilities. So to appreciate, to answer, to respond to your trust and love, I make sure to pay back every time. And to show my appreciation, I pay you back the interest. So thank you. Every time you see a bill, instead of looking at it, oh no, like a curse or death sentence, you know, you can say, oh, thank you, I love you so you can turn it around.

Yeah. Was there ever a time in your Life where you struggled with money.

Actually, to be honest, I have been lucky to be able to live my life without struggling with money. My father taught me well in my early teens and twenties, so I actually never borrowed anybody from anything. I borrowed $10 from a friend in college, but that's about the only cash I needed. I bought my real estate in cash, bought cars in cash. So I didn't want to build an empire. So I'm not a billionaire, but I have enough financial resources so I can act to live freely. But I never borrowed any money or I've never been in a financial situation that I needed to struggle because I had always great people, great friends who helped me with money investing. Really trust. Yeah. So I'm one of the lucky ones. So in that sense, I cannot really teach people how to get out of a bad place where many financial experts say I had only $2 in my bank account, and now look at me. You know, I have been fairly wealthy all my life that way.

Gotcha. And what was another lesson that your mentor told you after he said, forget about money? What was the next few lessons that really inspired you?

I think arigatoyo, money is the word he used. So what can I do? You know, I wanted to know the stock tips. Okay, buy Apple or buy Sony or whatever that is. He said, arigatoya money. And that is a shortcut to financial independence. Arigatoya money. And then that's it. You know, my turn is gone. And they're like a hundred other people wanting to ask him questions. You know, if you're with Warren Buffett, you cannot get his attention more than two minutes. So I tried to figure out, I think I told you money. And I just looked at everywhere, but there's nothing about thank you money. And then I became a student of Wahei personally so I could spend hours. I spent hours with him afterwards so I could really get to ask him about the meaning of thanking your money. He said, when money comes in, say arigato or thank you to money. And when you pay money, when money leaves your life, once again, say arigato to your money. You bow to money. And then really thank the money for staying with you, Even though it's a short visit, thank you for staying. So money will love that. And then at night, money will just start to chatter. Ken is a good place you should go.

I like that.

And then money will come back. So I couldn't really figure out why he was joking or not, but I think he sounded serious. So his secret is thanking your money and I asked him why. He said, human mind can only focus one thing at a time. So if you focus on thanking your money, appreciating your money, money appreciates. So his teaching is very Zen. So once you think subconsciously money is great, money is fun, money is lovable, and then you become a magnet to money. But if you just go for money, money will run away from you. It's like dating. You know, if you just try to get girls or boys, they run away, but if you don't, they'll come to.

You before the interview continues. If you feel like you're not living your most authentic life, not leaning into your purpose, and not living the life that your future self would be extremely proud of, I've written a new book called the Greatness Mindset. And I think you're gonna love this. Through powerful stories, science backstraps, strategies, and step by step guidance, the Greatness Mindset will help you overcome all the different challenges in your life, to design the life of your dreams and then turn it into your reality. Make sure to click the link below in the description to get your copy today. Okay, let's get back to this video. Can you just talk about this concept of being a money magnet and how someone can become more of that?

So once again, you know, we experience life according to our beliefs and some people have better luck than others and some people work so hard, but they're getting minimum wages. So you have to find your place, your seat, your reserved seat is what I call a lot of people try to sit on other people's seat, which is wrong because your seat is reserved somewhere else. And if you don't see it on other people's seat, what happens is that you get so depressed and then you feel so meaningless and all that because you cannot really feel life. But once you sit on your seat, you are so deeply connected with your life purpose, then you start your magnetism stats gets turned on.

So how does someone know where their seat is and know how to sit in it and be happy with their seat?

Yeah, so the only thing is, ask your heart what your heart tells you. If you're excited about it, you're going closer. So like it's like hot or cold, right? So if you feel more excited about like doing this, this is it, this is it, this is it. So you have to have your heart guide you where you're supposed to be. So always listen to your heart, you know, and then if your heart gets excited about certain things, you're just getting closer to your seat.

Do you have A meditation or affirmation process for someone on how they can trust their heart, listen to their heart deeper to know they're on the right path.

Right.

Do you have something that you. You use yourself or that other people can use?

Yeah. So I always try to have a few minutes. Say you're waiting for a car, you know, Uber, or just waiting for something. I find a few moments and then just try to find my center, you know, and then. And then just go deeper and figure out where I want to go. And just listen to my heart. What does my heart say? Am I excited about this or not? Am I trying to get money? So I'm not excited, but I have to do this to bring money, food on the table. So I always check what my heart tells me.

You're always listening to it. What happens when your heart is not excited? Like, you have. Let's say you have a project you're working on, right? You're working. I'm assuming all of your books you're excited about, but maybe there's an event you're supposed to go to or, I don't know, something that you said yes to, and you realize your heart is not excited about this. What do you do then? Do you do it, but then you don't repeat it the next time or what do you. How do you navigate that?

So I want to be a nice person. So once I said yes, I'll do it. But I try to be very careful with what I say when I say yes. So I have a great team. So they will just check.

Yeah, yeah, they'll check.

Because I want to be nice to everybody. So I'm likely to say yes too many times. So my secretary and my team says.

Ken, are you sure about this?

Yeah, probably not.

So can you come up with something?

Well, I'm glad you're here. You didn't reschedule this interview.

Yeah, but in general, I'm trying to listen to my heart. That's good. That. Let me hear.

I think a lot of people don't understand the power of a daily affirmation or a daily check in with yourself, just like you talked about for two minutes. For someone that doesn't believe in affirmations, what would you say to them?

So even if you don't believe it, you must be saying something to yourself. This is a terrible day. It's so hot. I don't like this, you know, so subconsciously you're saying something about your life or about yourself, about your friends or about your clients. Well, I hate working with this Person.

You know, something like that.

So I think it's affirmation by itself. So just write down what are the things that you say to yourself subconsciously you can probably figure out and is that a happy thought? And then unfortunately, a lot of the things that we talk to ourselves are negative.

Yes.

So do you want to feel negative thoughts like this or do you want to pour more positive thoughts? You have a choice. But unless you write them down, you never know it. And then you may find that the reason why you get depressed because all these negative thoughts about life, no wonder I feel depressed. So if all the things you talked about you are positive and loving, it's what you get.

Yeah, exactly. And can you tell me how we can think about money as energy? In the book also, I saw you writing about how money is energy and sometimes people try to make it and hold on to it. They want to hold on to it, they want to stack it in their bank as high as they can go and they don't want to spend it. Sometimes it happens. What happens when we hoard money, when we keep it and we don't let it come and go as energy, what happens?

So I have seen so many interesting things. Like if you hoard your money, a few things happen. You get sick and then you have to pay for the medical bills.

Really?

Yeah. Or like your kids do something bad and then you have to pay for the damage. So money needs outlet. So it's so interesting how money flows and if you don't let out your money energies outlet, it's gonna, it's gonna get bad. It's like a pond. If there's no flow, the water gets bad.

Right.

It's like think about your health. If you eat, eat, eat and don't go to the bathroom, you get sick, what's going to happen?

Yeah.

So to stay healthy, you have to eat, right? You have to release. Right? So for hoarding money, I want to ask them, you're eating so much, but what if you refuse? I'm not going to go to the bathroom for the rest of my life.

Oh my gosh, you'd be sick.

And you cannot eat well. So you have to let your money flow and then the next flow comes in. So here comes moneyeq, the trust part. Trust is the hardest part of Moneyeq. You have to have the trust that once you let go of money, it comes back. So you don't have the trust. That's why you start worrying, that's why you have doubts about yourself. So instead of attaching to Your money. You can say, thank you for staying with me. Just go bless the world and come back with your friends as soon as possible.

Come back. Thank you for being here. Go bless the world. Come back as quickly as possible with more friends.

Right.

So it's kind of fun, right?

Sure.

So it's a metaphor. So in your, in your mind, letting go, if you let go fast, it's going to come back fast. So I'm trying to let go of money.

Really?

Yes.

So, you know, how should people be thinking about this? So they have enough safety and security. They have enough in the bank for if something goes bad in the economy, they've saved enough. But also they're not just overspending as well. Some people who have the personality where they just spend, spend, spend, spend, then they go into debt. So how do we balance money so that we have enough for the future and we're not in debt?

So that's. I'm so fascinated with couple counseling and sometimes family counseling. We're trying to have balance. That's what's so beautiful about humankind. So somehow the spender gets married with moneymaker.

Right? Someone's making all the money and someone loves to spend it.

All right? So they come in and this person.

Is spending so much money.

No, no, you're making too much money.

So you have no time for me.

That's why I'm trying to get the stress out by spending money.

So you have to have the balance.

That's where Zen comes in.

Interesting.

If you're spending too much, you have to start saving. If you're saving too much, you have to start spending. So the prescription I give to each client is different. For some people, the savers, I said withdraw $1,000 and spend it for nothing in 24 hours.

They probably freak out.

Like, ah, no, they are okay to the withdrawing part. And so the next few days, a week later, they came back and said, I withdrew. I didn't spend it, but I spent like $20.

Oh, man.

Because they cannot waste their money. It's against their constitution.

I know people like that. So what should people be spending their money on?

Right.

So they don't feel like I'm just blowing money and wasting it.

I know. So like a money maker, money makers, they think, is this a good investment?

Yes. Yes.

So don't think about it because just enjoy the money flow. You can give it to people. You can just, you can throw it away on the floor because somebody's going to pick it up and make somebody very happy. So you can be creative with money. But we are taught from a young child that childhood that you have to take care of money. Well, what if you just throw your hundred dollar bills on the street? What would your mother say? Right, right. So, but for exercises, I tell people, can you throw away your money? They show me the expression, as if I'm saying, you're gonna die in 10.

Minutes, they're gonna like, you know, So.

I enjoy so much.

What happens with your clients when you say, okay, go spend a few hundred dollars a day or leave money out on the table for someone to pick it up. And you do these experiments, what do these individuals say afterwards, a month later, a year later, about giving their money or spending it? Not all of it, but some of it in these experiments, so they realize.

How much attachment they had toward money. And it's in here. And by the way, my finding shows that the savior type, the people who have attachment for money tend to have this problem physically. They get constipated.

Constipated, yeah.

So there is that. So they have a hard time letting.

Go of money and the waste their.

Food because they're attached to it.

What happens when we are attached to money?

I think the flow of energy gets stopped. So if you let go of money easily, the more opportunities come easily. But because you cannot let go of money, you cannot receive. So if you let go easily, the more to come. So those people are losing out opportunities. So say I had a friend in my 20s, when I asked him to go out and have some fun and he said, no, no, I don't want to do that because it's going to cost something. Say, you know, $50, $100 for a party. Right. But just look at what he's missing. He's missing out the opportunity of meeting new people. Like, I met many great mentors by attending very expensive seminars. You know, I attended like $200 seminar at the time, it felt like a million dollars.

Yes.

But since I was the only student at the time to attend a business seminar, everybody loved me. So, $200.

It's so cool that you're here with all these older people and you decided to show up. Let's mentor you.

Yeah, yeah. So I was like a little toy.

Okay.

I want to just play with you. So that was a great investment. For example. So if you let go of money easily, you get so much. So why don't you think of letting go of money and also as almost like a shopping for your memories.

Shopping for memories?

Yeah, because I didn't have to fly. I'm going around the world. This time I'm just meeting up a lot of people. It costs some money, Right. But by spending so much money on hotels and airplane, look what I'm having. I'm having such a great time.

You have experiences, life, memories.

Yes. So when I'm in senior home, sometime in the future, I think of having this conversation with you and meeting a lot of great people in the world. So I'm full of memories. So if you just have, if you don't spend the money, you don't get all the fun memories.

Right.

And what happens to people when they speak bad about money? They complain about it. They live in scarcity. What happens?

Yes, that's a good question. So think of money as a person. I always ask. I talk to thousands of people all the time and just ask a big audience. How many of you love money? If it's a business seminar, they say, yes. And my next question is, how many people do you think money loves you as much? And they say, I love money, but I don't know if I'm being loved by money. But feelings must be mutual, right? It's the same thing with a relationship. Even if you love her, love him so much, if you don't get the same amount of love from. From the other part, it doesn't mean anything.

So you have to. You have to love your money and your money has to love you. But if you speak bad about money.

What would you think?

Or you speak bad about people who have money.

Yes.

Then why would money love you in return?

Yes. So exactly. Thank you for answering me. Yeah. So that's exactly, exactly what I want to say. If you want to be in love with money, you have to be, you know, you have to respect your money as your best friend or your love of your life. So love and money can love you back.

So what are the best ways that we can start respecting our money better so that our money loves us more and wants to bring more friends?

I always ask my money where it wants to go.

Really?

Yeah.

So what do you mean? You have like a few hundred dollars in your hand and you say, where do you want to go?

Yeah.

The other day I got a big check from overseas that the book I wrote 18 years ago. It's about $10,000. And then, oh, thank you. Thank you, money. And I asked, money, do you want to stay with me or do you want to go somewhere? And the money said, I hear it in imagination. The money says, I want to go to Cambodia to help kids.

Wow.

And then I remember there is A friend of mine who is doing orphanage in Cambodia, so that $10,000 is helping kids for fruits and electricity and the rent for a whole year, like 36 kids. So. And that $10,000 I could have used for something else, but I have already enough. So by asking the money where it wants to go, it went to the right place to bless the kids. So I'm so blessed with happy money. So if I start doing that, the more money comes in. So more money comes in from. From the world. And I've written 200 books, so, like, book royalties come from everywhere. So almost like every few other days, I get money from somewhere.

Amazing.

Yeah. So I ask money, where do you want to go? And then I want to take your family out for dinner.

That's good.

So we just, you know, go. So it's not.

I'm not.

I'm not saying that you should spend your money for somebody else. It could be, you know, I want to buy a car or whatever that is. So if you can be. If you can have some distance from money instead of like, this is all my money, you can be free from money.

Because what happens to someone who has so much extra money at the end of their life and they don't spend it? What do you think about that? Because a lot of people have a lot of extra, but then they pass it down to their families or they put it in trust, and then they give it out to charities. What's your thoughts on that?

I'm just saying that they're missing out a huge thing. They could have seen what your money.

Could have done, the impact.

Yeah. My mentor, one of my mentors is Junki Yoshida, who is the founder of Yoshida Grumisauce in Portland, Oregon. And he donated something like eight or ten million dollars worth of state to Children's Hospital. And he's in his 60s, so. Or early 70s, so he's still alive.

Right.

He experiences it.

Right. I mean, usually I hear when you pass away, that goes to something. Right. But he donated the big house that all their kids grew up on, donated the huge mansion to the hospital. And I asked him, if I were you, I want to live as long as I, you know, I'm alive. And then when I die or my wife dies together, that can go. And he said, I wanted to see how my money or how my house is helping kids while I'm alive. Don't you think it's selfish?

No, no, no, no.

I think you have all the rights to see how your happy money can help others. So if you just hoard your money and then die without doing anything. You are missing out the most fun because you have such an impact. You could have an impact for other people. And I think that's a reward for making so much money.

Right.

What should we be thinking about?

Instead of like, I want to make a million dollars, should we be reframing that in a different way?

First of all, you really have to figure out what you want in your life. Do you want to make it? Do you want to be a success socially? But you could become. You could end up being a loser personally. So do you want to be a happy person or do you want to be a wealthy person? You can take both. But the way to happy and wealthy people only has an opening. Aim for happiness first.

I love this because most people think once I'm there, then I'll be happy, then I'll respect myself, then I'll get the attention I want. But what I'm hearing you say is the only way to happy and wealthy is through happiness first.

Yes. And then if you're lucky or if it's your destiny, I would say you may be rewarded with money. But you know, there are many lives that necessarily money will follow. But you can still enjoy life and stay very happy. Because if you go after money, you're likely to lose everything. Your peace of mind and those people who put money first, your clients love that. You know, just think about two florists. By the way, I always carry flowers like this, you know, in front of me. So there are two florists, for example, just nearby your house. One florist always think of the cost. Instead of 10 roses, I should give nine roses, you know, instead of good roses, maybe smaller ones so they can cut cost. Right. The other florist always just bring in the best flowers and always take good care of it so that it will last on their houses. Where would you go? You know, so if you are good at math and good at business in the short term, they will lose long term. So people who love flowers and then he or she can talk about roses for hours. Those people really care that you just. They care about the roses in your house. You know, they're just praying their kids will stay longer, so. So people can enjoy. They might think about the cost, but the love of the flowers is bigger than the business.

But those people are the ones that.

I think all the clients would go to. So eventually they will succeed.

Yeah, I love that. Do you think it's possible then? Because I heard you mention that some may not be Your destiny. Do you think it's possible for anyone to achieve financial freedom if that's what they're looking for and stay happy?

Yes, theoretically, yes. But some people are not interested in money that much. I think you and I have this quest for truth, you know, quest for hunger, for service, so those people could become financial success. But if you don't have the motivation and if you just kind of person who just enjoys looking at the flowers all day without anything, those people may not achieve financial independence. But when I grab him, are you okay without achieving financial success? And he would say, oh, it's okay as long as I can take, you know, this time to look at roses all day. So I think it's his or her business if he or she wants to achieve financial independence. Because think about it this way. Even if you don't achieve financial independence, if you have 20 wealthy friends who take good care of you because they love you, do you think he or she needs to have a million dollars in your bank account?

No.

So if you become a lovable person and receives a certain respect, I think you're okay.

Yeah, yeah, that's true.

Yes. So you don't have to achieve financial independence, but you need to really figure out what's most important for you right now. Otherwise, all your life is filled with preparation for financial success and business success, but your most precious time is in your 20s and 30s and 40s. Oh, by the way, my national best sellers series is 17 things to do in your teens and 20s and 30s.

I sold about more than 2 million copies.

So I interviewed people in their 20s, people in their 30s and 40s and 50s. And the common question I ask, of all their generations, what do you regret most that you didn't in your 40s? What are the three things that you regret most that you didn't do in your 60s? I grabbed people in the six 70s and 80s. You know, looking back, so I'm in my 50s. So like I grabbed people in the 60s and 70s. What would you regret in your 50s? And you know, people often talk about especially successful, my older successful friends in the 70s, 80s, they have like a few public companies and they, they say I spent too much time and energy on business.

Wow.

Yeah. I didn't have to build this empire. You know, it's okay personally to have only 5% or 10% of the success I made, but I wish I was at the soccer game for my boys. I wish I spent more dinner date dinner with my wife. I wish I spent more time on concert hall. But I just Missed those because of my business meetings. And I think I was very addicted to making money. And I regret that I didn't spend much time traveling and chatting with friends, you know, talking nonsense, just laugh. And over beer I wish I could waste, go back and waste all my time and wow.

Why do you think that there are so many people in the world that have this idea they want to build an empire. But then later I'm hearing you say a majority of people are saying, and maybe there are some people in their 60s, 70s and 80s that are like holding on to. They're really proud of the empire they've built and they don't regret anything. Maybe there's some people out there, but I'm hearing you say a lot of people wish they would take less of their empire for more time with people they cared about. Why is it so why is it this thing that we think about building an empire?

I think it's embedded in a human gene. I guess. You know, the Genghis Khan of 14th century, 95% of the time he was in a battle, he ended up, he built one of the biggest empires of, of the human history. But he ended up dying in his temporary tent in the war so all the business tycoons could end up dying in a hotel room where they were going to sign the biggest contract ever. So once again, what do you want to do in your life? What do you respect or cherish most? And if you don't respect that now, you cannot respect that in 10 years. And your precious life is only, I would say from 25 to 55. And if you are 65, you can have a good time. But still I think a lot of events happen from age 25 to 55 and if you keep that's a working hours too so years. So if you just focus on life mostly on business, you lose most of your fun time. So if you too business oriented, you really have to change the priorities of life otherwise you're going to regret in 20 years.

Yeah, I'm a big believer that you mentioned charity work, that maybe if people are focused on charity, where they're not focused on the money as much, then they may not build as much wealth for themselves. Let me know what you think about this thought. I'm a big believer that the amount of money we make is directly related to the amount of value we bring to others or to the marketplace or to the world and our ability to position and package that value in order to receive money. Would you agree or add or, or take anything from that?

I agree with you 100%. So. But that's only as long as you calculate into financial value. You know, there are certain things, like say, a kindergarten teacher who spends. He or he. She spends all her passion, all his passion into kids in front of him or her, and he or she is adding great value, but only for five kids. And they just love it. So I don't want to talk to these guys, okay, you can leverage this. You can package your knowledge and just outsource it or start selling in a mass scale. I wouldn't do that. Because they truly enjoy their quality time.

Absolutely.

Certain thing is not measured by financial numbers or elderly homes. You know, I know a lot of people who work there. It's hard working time. You know, they stay up all night or like nurses, you know, they're just doing so much. But that doesn't necessarily mean that she gets $2 million a year. So this financial system went too extreme. That's why I think there could be a big shift happening in the next few years, so it'll be more fair to older people.

What happens when we compare ourselves to people on social media who seem to have all this wealth or financial abundance, or to our friends or peers or people at work who are maybe making more or less than us? What happens to us personally when we compare our financial situation with others?

So I jokingly advise people, if you want to be happy, stay away from Facebook because it's likely to make you feel miserable if you're not ready. If you don't have a good mentality, Facebook is a killer for your happiness. Because there's always somebody out there somehow who is eating at the better restaurant, who is dating a better looking person, both guys and women, who is buying a bigger house, a nicer house than we live in, nicer clothes, you know, so. And they're having a better vacation somewhere outside, exotic. So there always somebody better, somebody who is worth more. But if you start comparing your friends and others with you, that is a shortcut to unhappiness. So if you use Facebook to congratulate your friends and figure out what's possible for you, I think Facebook is a gem, you know, because you can see people's houses. I want that congratulations for you. Oh, I'm so happy that you find him. You know, if your mentality is like that, I think Facebook is a great place to be. But if you just feel jealous or competitive, I think it's such an exhausting.

Place for everyone listening and watching right now. What would be the next three steps they should Take after listening or watching to this around. Their invisible assets, their visible assets are just the next three steps they should take in life to prepare for this.

Right.

So mentally, you have to be ready to find your peace of mind so you can start counting your blessings, start appreciating what you have, and enjoy the flow of happy money. So when money comes in, you can say thank you for the money given to me when you pay for the bills, thank you. I have enough abundance so I can pay the bills and start blessing people that you're giving money to. So by doing that, you can find your peace of mind in whatever you do. I think that's the basic.

That's number one, that's the base.

And also secondly, you have to start figuring out your inventory, what you have and who you are, what type of inventory, both emotional and also your gift. I never knew I could write until I was 33.

Really?

My parents were so surprised, and my brother and sister and many of my friends were so surprised that I became an author. And I was the one who gets surprised most, by the way. So I didn't know until I started writing. So I'm sure you have some kind of gifts buried in you. For example, Luis, you are an athlete, so definitely you knew your gift as an athlete, but probably you didn't know that you had a gift as an interviewer.

No, I had no idea.

Speaker.

Yeah, Writer. I had no idea.

Writer. Right. And also somebody who can motivate people. You know, you use it for you to motivate yourself, but you didn't know you can impact millions of people.

I had no idea.

Right.

So like when you are young, in your 30s and 40s, you never knew. And so you have to start looking at.

Sure.

What you have, what skills, tools that you've developed that you could use if you need.

And you have to multiply them because only single gift is not taking you far. But if you can multiply your gifts of speaking, for example, and also listening and a sense of humor and the care, generosity, if you combine all of them, you become so unique.

Yes.

So once you become so unique, people start just coming to you because you are more attractive.

Right?

Yeah.

So.

Okay.

Okay.

So that's number two is find out your inventory of your assets and your gifts. And I'm also assuming your inventory of like how, how much money you have, your investments, what you.

But it's not so important because if you are not making much, it's.

Right.

What skills do you have?

Skills?

Yeah. Right. So if you net asset is less than $300,000. Don't worry about investing. I think you should invest in yourself. Invest in you and take your friends out for dinner because it's going to pay more dividend.

Be generous with your energy, your time, your gifts.

Yes.

And then the third step would be start getting support from everybody. You know, I have say, for example, more than 10,000 people sending me money every month as a form of subscription online salon.

Yes.

So and I haven't promised anything to do for them. So it's just a love money. So can you know, it's just what type of money? Love money.

Love Money, yeah. So 10,000 people pay you money every month just because I love you.

Yeah, that's how I feel.

Wow.

Are you offering them any, Are you giving them any teaching?

I just say I had this fun interview with Louis today and I'm in Stockholm. I sent some videos, but I'm not promising like I do this. So I give you this. So get me, give me this. No, it's more of a casual thing. That's cool. So I have enough trust from people. So the happy money, so almost like is given in my custody so I can help other people.

That's cool.

So if you start getting fan clubs or cheerleader cheer supporters. So you can start with five people and you can start having 10 people, 30 people. So the next economy will be very interesting because a lot of people support one another. So instead of working for one big company, say I have 300 people supporting me, say, and you can increase your monthly support money, say $100 per month. You know, if I get a support from 30 people, $100 a month, that's $3,000. And if you get 50 people who are supporting you with $100, you already have a $5,000 income. So whatever you do, you don't have to be the next entrepreneur of the world. You can satisfy or at least you can have deep connection with 50 people or hundred people who love you so much and who's not going to let you down when you fall. So if you have that strong trust from people, you don't have to worry about money for the rest of your life.

Wow. Why should we also say thank you when we're sending out money to others?

Because if you get a, if you get a bill, that means somebody did something for you. For example, if it's an electricity bill because of the electricity company, I can use the Internet, I can use the lighting and microphone and computer. And it's not only one man job, there is this service person there's these people who are at the power plants. And also there is somebody who just brought oil to Japan from Middle east. And there are, I don't know, thousands of people working for the electricity. And they make sure that it's in my house installed properly. So there are millions of reasons to appreciate the electricity. And if it's, say if it's $300 or $500 or maybe smaller or bigger.

Wow.

If I'm asked to install somebody's house with that electricity, I cannot do that with this money. So thank you for just giving me the electricity. Thank you for giving me water. Thank you for serving me good meal at the restaurant. Thank you for giving me a ride like Uber. So you can thank the person who gave you the service and product. So the reason you have to pay, you're getting something in exchange and usually takes more than one or two or could be a hundred people's work. And then you ask the money, thank them too. So that means the money you give to the electricity company will be paid to all the people. Wow. So, like, I can. It's like a magic wand. Even if it's $100, this magic wand can. We'll start saying thank you. Thank you, thank you, guys. So, you know, it'll just thank. It's like a domino effect of thank you. So it's not just thanking your money, Thanking the people who are connected with me. So we are all living on this planet together. So if we have this feeling, everybody's feeling this way. We all connected. We all connected with people in the Middle East. We all connected with the people in Russia, Africa, China, us. Like it or not, we all connected. So do we hate each other or do we appreciate one another? So if we start doing more, there will be no exploitation of any kind. That's the economy I want to see in the coming years.

Yeah. It's such a simple philosophy and practice that I think if we can all start to do it a little more with money and with everything. The people that we see, our friends thanking them when they're coming, thanking them when they're leaving for their time, their attention. My girlfriend does this with our meals every time we eat together, she's really thankful. She puts a lot of time and attention thanking the people that just made this, the people that delivered the food to the restaurant, the people who harvested the food, you know, and all the people. And it's not something I did until about a year ago with food. And it's something that I've noticed my digestive system relaxing like me just taking in the moment and feeling a better sense of joy and happiness while eating food as opposed to just eating protein bars to get to the next thing, but really appreciating it. And I think when we appreciate things, which I'm hearing you say, when you appreciate money, when it comes, when it goes, when you appreciate food, when you appreciate your home, your family, your friends, those things will appreciate in value and they'll want to come to you more. Is that what I'm hearing you say?

Yes, exactly. And, Luis, you know what I've been talking about, and you've been practicing it without knowing. Maybe, but I think you've been doing it as a natural person. You know, there are certain things, like a natural business person, natural artist. So you're one of the natural people who just appreciate things. You know, that's why you're successful and people love you. And so if you want to be like. If the viewers, like, want to be like Louis, you have to learn what he's doing. So it's not just small habits, but I think the attitude toward life. And somehow there are only two kinds. One kind is people who keep appreciating. The other one keep complaining about it. So if you just. It could be something very small, but after 20 years, your life will be very different. So I hope everybody will appreciate one another a little bit more from yesterday.

And what happens if we start complaining about money more? Whether it be just kind of frustrated little comments here and there, you know, what happens to money in our life when we complain about it as opposed to appreciate it and think it.

So if you start complaining about money, like 95% of US money, just look at from money's perspective. You know, if you've been complaining about it, oh, I don't want to go to him anymore. And then it's like a mutual feeling is feeling is mutual. Okay, you can complain. Okay, fine. I'm not going to come to you. So. And I think subconsciously, if you're complaining about money, you don't want it to be near you. So my favorite question to people is, if money was a person, who would it be? That means if money was a person, would it be a fun person, always joking, always making, entertaining you, or is somebody like assassin who's going to try to hurt you or scare you or gangsters to try to intimidate you? So if you're complaining, money may not be such a fun, good person. So I think by complaining, you make money a villain, and you don't want that scary person to live in your house. So for happy, wealthy people, money is their best friend. They're so happy to welcome them at home. You know, when you open the door, I find you. Louis, I. Louis, thanks. Just come on here, just grab a beer. You treat your best friend like that. But if you complain about that, and if you find that person in front of you doorstep, money comes here. No, no, no. I don't need you here. Get out of here. So that person cannot invite money in.

Sure, sure. You said you've been financially, you know, free or stable your entire life. You haven't had like an issue with it personally, you never had to really face that. Let's put a hypothetical scenario out there. And I'm sure people have asked you this before, but if for whatever reason, you didn't have any money, it was gone. You know, you didn't have your businesses, you didn't have any money, you didn't have any savings, for whatever reason, in this hypothetical world, it was gone. What would be your next three moves in order to just get back to a stable financial place for yourself?

I just ask my friends. Hi. Hi. This is.

Can I have some money?

I lost everything. Can you wire me money? You know, I don't need to borrow. I just want my friends to give it to me so you don't have to, you know, just feel burdened. But how much is fun for you? Just wire to me, my account is this. And then I just pray.

So you would ask them just for money without actually having to pay it.

Back is what you're saying.

Yeah. Thank you. Can you send me happy money, please? And then I'll probably do the same thing with my readers and viewers. I've sold 8 million books and my podcast has 50 million downloads. And I personally have heard so many fun, great stories how they achieve financial independence. So this is a time. Okay, my friends, you know, you can pay me back now. I'm in need.

Sure.

So if they feel like sending me a dollar or two dollars, any dollars will be fine. You know, I will do a thank you. Thank you live, you know, in two months. So please start wiring money now.

I like that.

See how it goes. Okay, that's step one. What would be the next thing you would do?

I like the approach.

Sometimes just asking for what we want is what we need to start with. Just saying, hey, can someone. Can you give me $500? Can you give me $10,000? Can you give me this? Are you open to it? People maybe. A lot of people say no, and that's okay. As well.

But just asking for what you want.

Is a good first step. Okay. What else would you do?

So by the way, I wouldn't do something like crowdfunding. Like if you just, you know, pay me $100, I'll do this. That's a give and take. So what I would say is like, hi guys, please wire me some money. That's for one thing. Right. The other thing is like, I'll ask my friends who has extra guest room or extra house and I will ask them if I could use your extra room or extra house and then I'll ask them how long and can I use your chauffeur and the housemates there and can I buy the foods on your account? So I'll just make sure. And then I'll just stay there and stay with my friends and I'll just ask my friends, what do you think I should do? And then they'll give me advice and I'll just, I'll do that myself. I'll do that tour for questionnaire tour. What should Ken do for the rest of his life Tour. So I can even make it open to public. If you let Ken stay overnight and just tell him what he should do, you have to give him food and shelter. Anybody is welcome. Here is the link. So I'm kind of curious how many people would just sign up for that. So I'll stay over there for a night and then I just listen, you know, without any advice. If they want advice, I'm happy to give one. But I only need only one bed one night and also nice food. And I don't drink alcohol, so just orange juice or just water, it'll be fine. And if they want me to say something, I'm happy to talk. So let's see. So I have many creative ideas that people want me to do. So the reason I'm not afraid of money or I'm not losing everything is that even if I lose everything, my friends will never let me down. And then at least I can count on 20 or 30 friends who would probably give me an extra million dollars for me to get going because they're pretty wealthy and I'm part of wealth building history for them.

Right.

You've helped them make a lot more money over time, so they'd be happy to give you some money. Gotcha.

I'm not going to send them bills, but I'm sure my friends would be generous enough to give me something. So I'm not worried about that because I've done so much to support people, even strangers. So this would be a fun challenge for me, the perfect surrender. So I might do that in my 60s.

There you go. Yeah. Just lose all your money.

Yeah. So my inspiration is actually an American person, Buckminster Fuller, who's a great person. And what he did in his ending days was he donated all the money he had on the eve of the year. So he started with zero every year. Yes, that's what I heard. So every year he donated, he gave away all the money he made and then start his next year with zero. And I'm very enticed into his lifestyle. I cannot do that now yet, but I may be able to do that in my 70s and 80s.

So how can people in America, North America and around the world be satisfied and grateful for where they are and still strive for more?

Yeah, so it's more about find 100% fulfillment with where you are. And then if it's your path, it's going to grow. If it's not your path, you don't have to make it grow. But there's almost like a religion here in North America. Bigger is better, the more is better.

Super size. Yeah, Everything.

Right.

I think just wait a second and just think about it. Do you want a super big house.

If you're only two of you?

If you have like seven kids, you need a big house. But if it's only two of you, maybe it's time to downsize. So that way your lifestyle will be more humble. So you really have to know when to sort of grow and also when to end your life. So you have to start facing, say, you're in your 50s or 60s. You have 10 years to prepare according approaching to death. But a lot of people in their 60s and 70s, they want to act forever. They're 21. But you're going to die. So you have to prepare for the end of your life. To do that, you really have to say, because your life goes up and down. Right. You cannot keep climbing up the mountains. So at some point you have to start descending. So in financial terms, you have to start spending what you have accumulated.

Don't just keep it in the bank.

Yeah.

So one of the books in North America I love is Die with Zero. The concept is, can you die with zero at the end of your life? Which is very hard. A friend of mine whose mother died with only $7 in her bank account. Really, I think it's a master of money because she calculated how much it's going to cost for her funeral. So she just withdrew all the money and she gave all the money to her grandkids, which is like a few hundred dollars. No, she's not a wealthy person and she died with only $7. So it's almost like she landed so beautifully.

Wow, that's beautiful. Why do you think people are so greedy to want to make more money? And they have this greed inside of them to have to accumulate to attract more. Why do you think that is? And what's the difference between wanting to make more money for a good reason and wanting to make more money because of greed?

Right.

Luis, you keep asking me so many great questions. I'm so enjoying the interviews.

Thank you.

I just to want. Wanted to appreciate that.

Thank you.

So there are many ways to react to financial situation. I have taught about money eq. So when we're. I realized this when I was at the conference table to file inheritance taxes for wealthy men. And here there are three. Three people, their kids.

Right.

A wife and three kids.

And they are born and brought up.

In the same household. But the eldest son looks like a Wall street type, nice wear suit and short haircut. And the second daughter looks very humble and the third one looks like hippie.

Sure.

Are they related? And then I realized that to financial situation. If you're worried you might end up becoming a money maker, you know, if you're worried, if you're worried, if the.

Responsibility is on you, the older by.

Making more money, you try to fix the worry. And if you worry, you may want to become a spender because you feel powerful when you spend the money. So if you worry, you want to be a saver by saving, you can feel the security and so there will be a warrior. You do nothing, but you keep worrying. So to financial situation, there can be many different ways and different personalities are born. So I'm fascinated with this subject. Because you never knew that you were a spender, you were a money maker. And your question comes toward moneymaker type.

Yes.

And the happy money maker type knows that they can contribute more. So they're in the flow of happy money and money greed. Moneymaker type, they end up losing a lot of money.

They do.

Yeah.

Because they try to increase and multiply their money, which means they take more risks. So they are likely to get into scams. And I've seen so many quick money.

Quick money.

Yes. Get scammed by people who try to get the money.

Yes.

So that's life. Sure.

Yeah. What do you think is the. There's so much happening in talks specifically in America with interest rates going up in America, inflation going up to over 8.5% recently. I think the housing market and just the uncertainty of the economic situation in America. What do you think people should be investing in? What types of assets for the next few years with all the uncertainty? What would be a great investment? That's not a try to get rich quick investment, but something that would deliver good returns, hopefully over time.

Right.

So I taught this course online and like 8,000 people watched me teach this online. So I taught about financial independence and visible assets and invisible assets. I see there is going to be a big change. It could come as a crash of Wall street, but it's more. I think I see a bigger thing is going to come.

Like what?

Like the collapse of financial system.

Really?

Because we've printed so much money and then it's going crazy, it's out of control. So we never know what's going to happen. Nobody can predict. So even if you invested in bitcoins and cryptocurrency, you shut up and then down. And gold and silver is real gold and silver coins for not super wealthy people. I recommend that. But in 1930s US government prohibited from owning a gold. So you have to because to protect dollars.

So if that kind of thing happens.

Even though investment in gold is good, but what if they change the law and then it could become a felony without about owning gold without reporting it.

Right.

So those things real estate be quite risky because it set up that much, it could possibly go down at least back to 10 years or 20 years. So all the things that got inflated could go down. So there is no safe investment. That is something you have to really know. So whatever you invest could end up in half or 30% down. So instead I recommend people start looking at invisible assets. Because what if you lose everything overnight if you have gold? What if the government tries to take away to pay all the bills and stuff which is really happening in China by the way.

Really.

So if that happens, I guess you have to be prepared for unthinkable situations. But as I said, if you have so many friends who can support you financially or emotionally, you're okay. So instead of having so much money in the bank account, you should have the trust and strong connections with friends around you and also reputation with your clients. So when the next financial system sets in, we might end up using the same currency worldwide.

Because there could be a big crash.

China is falling down because of the real estate crash.

China is?

Yes.

If you Google it, you can see it. And then all the people who have to pay the mortgage for the buildings. That's not Even built, they started not paying for the loans, really, which is a big deal. So either way, from somewhere, there could be the start of the crash. So whatever happens, if you have the strong connections with people around you, you can start over from zero. From zero.

I asked you this in our last interview. I said, okay, can imagine you've lost all your money right now and you had to make a million dollars in a year. I don't know if you remember your answer, but I asked you this and you said, said. I said, what would you do? And you said, well, I would just call my friends up and say, can you give me money? I'd call 10, 20 of my friends up and say, can you give me 100,000 each, or can I stay in your house for free? And you would offer a service to those wealthy friends that you've created trust and invisible assets with and sell them something new or whatever it might be. And it's because you have great relationships, right? That's why you could do that.

Yes.

So what I'm hearing you say, Ken, is it's important to invest in yourself, which is developing more credibility, respect, and a better reputation with your friends, your colleagues, the industry you're in, your team, things like that, so that if that happens, you'll be able to get something going again.

Yeah. So in a sense, I am having a huge deposit to people's heart. I have given away my booklet for free to 2.3 million people. So I have a list of those people that I have given away. Right. And so they feel like they owe me. That's why they're buying my books and courses. So I have a huge sort of invisible asset and trust already saved up. And I've been giving away for so many things with the past 20 years, I've done lectures for free. I've done so many volunteer work for the people who are in need. So I have this reputation and trust among people. So in the next situation, so whatever happens, I can say, I'm going to talk about the next situation and how we can build our assets in the new currency system, new financial system. A lot of people want to listen to me. So I have built enough credibility. So that's why I'm not afraid of going bankrupt.

Because if I go bankrupt, I can say, the joy of bankruptcy.

I can just say, eight steps to recover from Bankruptcy.

You have a new book, right?

Whatever.

Because what I did. And I'll teach you how to do it right.

So I'm not worried about anything at all. Instead, we have to let Everybody know that if something big is going to come, it's not as bad as World War II. So we can all go through this together, but we have to help one another. That is a key. So that is also a concern I have about us because our hearts are so separated because of the politics, religion or the scarcity mentality. So we are having less compassion toward each other.

Sure.

So I think for the next few.

Years we're going to experiencing.

We're going to experience a lot of anxiety and worries because of what's going on in Ukraine and everywhere.

Right.

Everything we see is depressing, to be honest.

It's very depressing.

Right. But at the same time, it's not as bad as a hundred years ago.

True.

So when everyone was starving.

Right.

So we can go through this. But to do this, we have to be kind to one another. We have to show our generosity. So if you feel like you have more than enough, you have to start sharing what you have at the worst time, which could come in years.

When do you. I mean, if you could predict. Obviously no one knows, but how do you think there's going to be a bigger recession or some type of crash in some way in the US economy or in the world? And when do you think that will happen?

I see. I already feel it in 2023. So next year. Because a lot is going to happen with the US election and also the potential conflict in China and Taiwan and also the gas shortage and everything.

And also.

So many tons of food is. Wheat is stopped at the port of the grain.

Really?

Wow.

Which could cause a starvation in African countries.

So we're going to see a lot.

Of chaos in the next few months.

Really?

Yeah.

And we're going to experience a lot of gas shortage in European countries, which they're thinking about because the gas stopped coming to Germany. So a lot of change is going to happen in the next few months.

Have you seen any situation with all the people you've helped and inspired and spoken with over the years, have you seen any situation where money buys happiness?

Luis, you're asking me so many great questions I never even thought of.

So thank you for it, of course.

Making me so creative. Yes. So I have seen so many happy stories and sad stories around money. Because without asking, people come to me. Ken, do you have a minute? You know, amazing thing happened to me. So I have all the weird and strange stories that people would not believe it. So maybe I'll come up with a 50amazing story stories, you know, like my mentor, Jack Canfield. Chicken soup Series, you know, he's great. Money, money stories are so fascinating. So a lot of happy money stories. So one time, for example, who was my student who lost everything and then he, he. She found out that she had cancer, she got fired, and then her husband was cheating on her and then he left. So suddenly she doesn't have a home, she doesn't have health, she doesn't have money. So she stayed with her best friend for a while. And then I just give my seminar for free, like 10% of the seats are free. So I give it to financially challenged people now. So I think she was one of the paid forward seats. And then she really got inspired. And so she said, within a year, I'll manifest jewelry designing. I'll manifest a jewelry designer job. And also I'll find independence now, find my partner, better one than the last one in a year. And I said, a year, Maybe three years, you know, she said, no, no, a year. And after about that, she came back again. And then she said, you know, Ken, what happened? She was proposed by a owner of the jewelry store. And then he's, you know, he has some money, you know, he's dealing with jewelry and he's such a sweet person. His wife died a few years before, so he's a very sincere person. So she got the money, the love of her life. And then he asked her, I don't know if you like working, but I want you to be part of this designing division. And then she got everything. So life is giving you full of surprises if you are ready to receive.

Wow, that's beautiful. I'm curious about morning routine of millionaires and those that create financial abundance, what they do in their morning routine to help them attract more abundance. And I have a feeling that you're going to talk a lot about doing the things you enjoy that bring you more happiness and fulfillment in the morning so that you can be energetically a magnet for more opportunities during the day. But what would you say are some of the habits of happy millionaires where they're happy, healthy, living a rich, full life, but they're also able to create financial abundance.

For me personally, I always start thinking of fun things that are going to unfold during the day. Like this morning I woke up five and started thinking, oh, you know, I'm on Louis show. Thank him. You know, I'm thanking you in my imagination. Thank you, Luis for inviting me. I can't wait to see. And I have another interview right after this. It's a Japanese interview and I'm very so happy to do that. And also another meeting with my editor. I'm finishing another book, so that will be fun. And then a few other things. But so I just start sort of like rehearsing my day and then imagine people that I'm going to touch through you, Louis, especially with you. I'm going to touch many people's heart with this. So I really appreciate you for giving me this opportunity to be able to connect with your friends and viewers, your fans. It's such a great honor. So I feel so overwhelmed by the appreciation and wow, think of this ripple effect. If 10,000 people really get it and then start treating them more nicely, their family members start saying thank you five times more than they did. What's going to happen? So I cannot stop this excitement. So when I am full of excitement, I gotta get out of my bed and then start my day.

Sure. So that's something you do you really think about thanking the experiences that were coming. Appreciation in the morning. Do you do anything else for yourself personally or have you heard of any other routines or habits of people that what they do in the morning?

Yes, Luis, we are the same minds because I always ask the same question to other people. I can write a book for, for you. Morning Habits of Japanese Millionaires.

Right, I like that. Well, I wrote a little mini book called the Millionaire Morning, which is the habits and routines. But I'm always curious if there's other stuff in different parts of the world that people do to bring in wealth and abundance.

Yeah. So a lot of Japanese millionaires, they have little shrine in their homes. So it's a miniature design of a house. I have it in my private office. And they always pray for just a minute or two, sort of like a meditation. And this is like an appreciation exercise. So thank you for just, you know, for letting me be alive and thank you for my family's health. Thank you for my business. And they all pray for the sake of success and prosperity for their clients and customers. So a lot of millionaires, they pray for customers and clients here. So their happiness. So I think that's probably the common Japanese millionaires attitudes. They pray for their customers and customers, clients and then their employees. And I'm happy and open for new opportunities. So that's how they pray to their ancestors and to the 8 million gods around us and start their day.

Wow, that's beautiful.

Anything else in the morning? You know, there are, you know, no identical things because some people skip breakfast, others eat big ones. And I don't see any correlation with health either. People are Fine. With only one meat meal day, People who eat eight meals, small meals a day, they're both perfectly healthy. So I think it's probably up to you how you find your own, sort.

Of like a secret, because it's very.

Different and your wife could be different. So you really have to find your own habits and own lifestyle. And if you like it, you can keep going. So I think the only criteria, if it doesn't go, if you cannot continue. That's not your thing, Right?

Right.

Yeah. So don't. Please don't force yourself to do it.

Yeah. What about relationships? The people we choose to be in relationships with, whether it be our intimate partners, our spouses, how important is it for us to be in the right intimate relationships in our life in order to energetically also bring in wealth?

I think partnership is one of the most important ones. Because if you say you have 100 energy and she or he has 100.

Energy, if it's multiplied, it becomes 10,000.

But if it's minus 100, minus 100 is zero. And even if you're 100, if he or she is minus 100, you become minus 10,000. So I think it's the same with your team. You really have to find trustworthy person who can multiply with you. So I'm very picky about who to pick. Very sincere, trustworthy person. So I can just have my secretary manage all my assets and then I'm okay. I trust her with all my. All my life. And all my people who are working with me have been working more than 10 years.

Wow.

So I trust them with my life. I hope that they trust me with their life. So I think we have this very strong, deep bond. So if that happens, I think miracles keep happening. That's how I do business here.

That's beautiful. Do you think it's easier to build financial abundance when you're in a beautiful, flourishing, intimate relationship or. Or when you're single and alone.

So I don't want to sound judgmental. It's almost like a trip, you know, some trip, it's more fun to be alone. But if you just bring your friends, like 4 and 5, that's fun. And if you bring your mate, you know, husband and a wife or girlfriend or boyfriend, that's a different kind of fun. So if life is a trip, do you want to go solo or do you want to do with a couple or do you want to go with a group? So I think the business is the same. So personally speaking, I like my life with a partner and with my Trusted friends. And I like, you know, I like reading tours. You know, trip with Ken Honda is a very popular one. You know, I'm on the bus and just bus guide saying, you know, bring people to Israel and the US and.

All kinds of places.

It's part of my fun too. But I like my solo trip too. So if you like solo trip, that's beautiful. And if you like a trip with your partner, that's beautiful too. So it's up to you.

Yeah. And what is the Zen approach to investing and what type of investments should we be making with our money, do you think?

Yeah, you need three hours to talk about because I was with my Zen master, Warren Buffett. Zen master, right. So he said you should invest in a company with a virtue, with a business code. If the company has a high virtue, they're going to flourish. If the company puts money first, they're going to go down eventually. So you have to find a company with a high virtue and high self esteem. So I asked Wahe, so how can I find a company with a virtue? And he said if you don't have it, you cannot see it. That was his answer. So find a company that has a great business code and motive and that company will flourish. But that depends on the management team and creator of the company. If that person dies or gets sick, that company kind of goes down. So you really have to see that. That's what Wahe said. But just one tip about investing these days, just regular people started asking me questions about investing and I think it's a bad sign. You know, remember shoeshine boy asked wealthy businessman we what stock should I buy? And then he went back to his office and sold everything. That happened in 1929. And then the similar things I hear now, very young people in the high school day age, they ask me Ken, how can I start investing? And I think it's a bad sign.

So I think why is it a bad sign?

Because I feel this, we are approaching to the end of the capitalism system we've been developing at least for the past 70 years after the Second World War and it's quickly changing. So I'm not commenting, I'm not going to comment on what's going on right now, but what the rate of it's going. I think we're going to experience something big fairly soon. So I cannot advise, I mean that's my personal speaking. I can advise unexperienced inexperienced investors to come in now because they become usually the victim of the high over overvalued price of Stocks, and the same thing goes with bitcoins. So, you know, I cannot advise that all the things that may work for the past two years or five years or 40 years may not work from now. That is something that you really have to watch out, because all the people in North America, they've only experienced good times. There was some bad time. But in Japan, we've been struggling after the bubble burst 30 years ago, so we have a better experience of what could happen next. And I think China is going to experience that and so will be the world. So I think we have to be ready for the potential crisis.

Let's say someone has an extra million dollars in the bank, or let's say you had an extra million dollars personally. How would you distribute that into an investment? Would you keep some of it? Would you invest it back in your business and hiring people? Would you invest some in stocks or real estate or cryptocurrency?

What.

What would be your philosophy of how you want to invest that to appreciate?

I did a seminar with a few thousand people a year ago and then a few months ago. But this is a tricky subject because if people watch this a year from now, it could be a different story.

It's different. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I don't want to comment on the detailed ones, but I think anybody can do is investing your friends. You know, take your friends out for dinner and then become closer or just give something to your clients and customers. So I think it's a better investment than investing in bitcoins and gold and all the other things. Because if the next financial crisis happens and then you lose everything, as we said, go back to your clients and then ask them to start business again. And if you have done some good favor, say give $100 worth of something to 10,000 people, that's $1 million. But they remember you, so there's a better chance of getting your business back in the next age. Actually, that's what I did 20 years ago. I had an extra $1 million. I wanted to try it out. This fun experience. I already heard of this. What you give will come back to you. And I didn't buy that. So. Okay, I'll just test it. So I printed my booklets for about 3,000. I started with 3,000. I ended up giving 2.3 million copies of my free booklets that cost me about US$3 million.

Wow.

But anyway, so by the time I gave away my booklets for about 100,000 copies, which cost me about US$100,000, a publisher called me and they want me to write a book. And I did, which, the rest is history here. So I gave away my first million dollar project, right? And look what happened. I sold more than 8 million copies of my physical books and all my seminars and all the other services. So the 2.3 millions I gave away came back so many times back. So if you have an extra $1 million, do good for the society, do good for your clients. They remember you, they trust you. So I had a good reputation. Still, I do, because I gave away my physical copies for free and I paid even the postage. At that time, nobody was doing it. People thought I was crazy. No, it was because I wanted to try this philosophy. Is that really true? What you give will come back. And it wasn't true. It came back 10 times more. So, you know, it's not equal.

I love that you say to invest in your friends, because when I 2000s, I guess, 14 years ago, when I had nothing, literally nothing, I was living on my sister's couch for about a year and a half. I was making again a few hundred bucks a month at the beginning. Then I started to make more. I said, I have nothing. I can't buy anything, I can't do anything for anyone. I can't really.

I felt kind of helpless.

And I said, what I'm going to do is I'm going to shift this. All I'm going to do is start investing and learning about other people, seeing what their greatest need is, where they're struggling, where their challenges are, and try to find someone else who can help them. And I was building this incredible network of people. I was using LinkedIn at the time to network. And I would just get on the phone with people and ask them stories about how they overcame their challenges, how they became successful. I would learn about it. And people really enjoyed sharing their story of success or overcoming challenges.

And I'd say, well, what's your biggest challenge right now?

And they'd say, well, I'm looking to hire this type of person, or I need an engineer or copywriter. And I was talking to all these individuals from all walks of life that I was like, I know a great copywriter, I know a great engineer, a.

Great person for social media.

I'd connect them, they'd maybe do business, or they'd figure out other solutions and they'd always come back. Both would then thank me, thank you for that introduction, that connection, and they'd want to help me further down the line. And I think when we invest in people, when we invest in friendships, like you said, relationships and just reaching out to friends and saying, hey, what are you up to today? How can I support you? What's the biggest need that you have? And trying to be a solution that will pay 5, 10, 20 years down the line.

Definitely. And the game gets easier once you get the ball gets going, you know, you have more power to help and then people will appreciate you more. So the game will be easy and easy. Once you go above the line, you cannot lose because wouldn't you agree?

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Once you are over a certain level, it's just a win, win, win, win game.

Absolutely.

Because there's no loser in happy people's world.

What is the vision for your money life for the rest of your life? Do you want to die with zero? Are you trying to give more of it away? Are you trying to make more? Are you trying to make your container bigger? What's your vision?

Yeah, I may surprise you, but I'm a money indifferent type.

You're neutral.

I'm not really interested in money.

Really?

Yeah. Because I'm not interested in growing my money because I have already enough and I make enough. So I'm not interested in money even though I'm regarded as a money group because money flows enough and goes out enough. So I don't have a goal, I don't have any attachment. And as I said, even if I lose everything, my friends would take care of me. So I don't have anything. But for humankind, I have a vision. I hope in 20, 30 years or when while I'm alive, I want to see human being can be free from money or money worries. That's why I'm doing my work actively in the world. Because I don't need to get something out of people. I'm just here to share. And if you know how not to worry about money, you are going to do something else. So my question to the viewers and friends is that if you don't worry about money just even the slightest bit, what would you do? What is a project that you want to start and that is something you have to go right away.

Yes.

What would you say to parents on the three most important things they should be teaching their children?

Okay.

As they get into, you know, after five years old, as they start learning about money and the material world, what lessons should, should parents be teaching their kids about money in your opinion?

Great, thank you. So I used to, and I think I'm still teaching my child. She's 24, so she's growing up already. But the first thing I Would teach is money is fun. So if your kids know that money is fun. So we used to sit on the dinner table, just say, I have this, say $10,000 to donate. What do you want to do? You can help rescue the animals, you can help the environment, you can help the homeless people. What do you want to do? And when we give presents, what would you want to do? So my daughter grew up thinking money can do so many wonders. So if all our kids learned money is a magical wand to make people happy, I think people are more excited about getting the money so they have no negative ideas about money. Imagine what if all the child have never been scolded for wasting their money. I think we'll be so stress free because a lot of worries come from the need for survival and it's attached to money. So once we are free of money stress, I think our life would be so different.

Yes.

Yeah. So if you can teach money is a fun thing, that is a great starter.

Okay. Number one, teach them money as fun.

Right? And also I want you to teach your kids about money and emotions because those things are not taught at school. Because even though your child is growing up with positive attitudes, your friends may not. So they try to compete with you of how much they have allowances or like this is my new iPhone something, or like this is my sneakers or whatever, whatever that is. And then people try to manipulate you with emotions. So if you start teaching, you feel bad about money, you feel ashamed of money, you feel guilty about money. We all feel some emotions.

Yes.

So if you start teaching emotions around money, I think your kids will be emotionally free from money stress.

Yeah. They won't be comparing themselves to others who have more. They'll feel good about themselves.

And I think related to that, I probably share I once shared with my daughter. I'm not the wealthiest man in the world. I have enough money. But I don't call myself the tycoon or whatever that is. I don't have a private jet, right. But I'm financially independent and free. So I teach my daughter about money, emotions. And at the same time, I have a lot of emotions too. Sometimes I feel guilty, sometimes I feel shame.

Really?

Yes.

Around money or around.

Yes, around money or everything.

Why do you feel guilty or ashamed?

Like say all my students have less money than I do. So sometimes I used to feel. Sometimes I feel I'm taking advantage of other people. Right. I don't need to get money, so sometimes I do seminar for free. But anyway, so I feel shame, guilty, guilt around money. So I share that with my daughter.

How do we eliminate those negative emotions? Like, how do you get rid of those?

You cannot really, because it's human nature. As long as you live, say you're very happy. But if the person right next to is crying, you know, you feel sorry for her. So sometimes you may feel about guilt for being happy. So sometimes I feel guilty when my friends, author friends, saying, ken, my books are not selling well. I'm so sorry.

Yours are selling so well.

Yeah.

Yes, I feel guilty, guilty. I feel shamed. So many things. So I'm teaching my daughter that this is very natural. But the bad things happen if we try to manipulate our feelings. By compensating, working hard, by working hard, by saving. What? So I'm just joking. If I could become a prime minister of Japan, I'm going to print every note of banking note said, making too much, worrying too much, and spending too much can be hazardous to your health.

I like that. That's good. Okay, so the first thing to teach your kids is money is fun. You can make people happy with it. The second thing is to learn about money and emotions, that these things are natural to have emotions around. The third thing that parents should teach kids about money.

More you give, more you receive. So you don't have to work so hard to get the money.

But if you want to get more.

You have to give more. And to do that, you have to be loved by people around you. You have to have many friends. So to do that, you have to have a good relationship, relationships with people. So relationships are everything in North America. It's very individualistic. So you eat your own food, you.

Eat your own thing.

And since you're five, you are so used to taking examinations. You never had examinations with three of your best buddies and coming up with the right answer. I think we should. But it's so individualistic.

So you cannot talk with your friends.

While you're having an examination.

You can't collaborate.

Right. Hey, Bill, what do you think?

Number three?

Okay.

Thank you.

You know, it doesn't work that way. And then it's up to your 20s and 30s. So especially in North America, everybody seems isolated because you cannot talk about your sexual problems or financial problems, your emotional problems with your best friends.

So you hang out and go to go, you know, for a glass of.

Beer and just watch the sports. But you're missing out the most quality moments, which is share your problems. Because your best friend may have the.

Exact problem, you might have a deeper connection.

Right?

So you have to really have this mentality of being supported by friends. So do more and receive more. So by hearing that, you don't have to worry about taking advantage of other people. Something is not fair. The rich is doing something bad. It's not over your problem. You focus on what you give and what you share and then you receive. So as long as you know the rule, you can focus on what you give.

Yes.

And so attached to that. I teach my kids to follow your heart. So just follow your heart. That is a guidance.

I love those points for parents to teach kids. Speaking of parents and moving to a related topic, how does sex and money play together?

I cannot stop talking. You need five more hours. I think American people are especially interested in this. Money and sex have something in common. It pulls out the best and the worst of you. And it pulls out the best emotions and the worst emotions because they can show you both heaven and hell.

Right.

Because a lot of crimes happen because of these two. So with your financial problem and sexual problem, you get the worst out of you. You hate yourself by being such a jerk or bad girl. So it pulls out a lot of emotions. So you have to be careful because you never know what you get because it's so suppressed deep within. But in other words, money and sex can be a great healer because it can transform your life.

You say healer?

Healer. Healer.

Yes, it can transform your life. That's why I call myself Money Healer. If you heal money, you can heal so many things.

Wow.

And money and sex are doing the similar things.

Really?

Because it's so attached to your self worth. Like, say, how many people are confident about their sexual situation and financial situation?

Not many.

Maybe it's one or the other, but it's usually not both.

Right. And the people who are bragging about their happiness, they may be over exaggerating the situation. And so inside we feel so vulnerable. We don't know how much satisfaction we're giving to our partner or we're getting from money. So we feel so vulnerable and shameful and guilty around sexual issues and money issues. So it gives you such a great opportunity to look at yourself and who you are. So especially around those two topics, you feel like you want to prove something.

That you're good at making money and at sex.

Right. And then at the same time, we fail the test.

Oh, man.

Yeah.

By looking at our bank statement, we fail the test by looking at our partner's face. Just a little tiny expression.

Disappointment.

I'm disappointed.

You know, she or he is disappointed.

So there is a lot of discouragement issues and could Depression.

Should we try to heal the sexual side first or heal the money side first?

Whichever you wish. So some people want to heal the sexual thing first and some people, the other people feel, you know, they can handle money. For North American people, sexual issues are maybe a little easier because financial part, I've seen so many people just freeze when they are thinking of money. So maybe for North Americans, money could be a little more tough.

So you'd say if you can heal money, the topic of money within yourself, that should support you in healing other areas of your life as well.

Of course, of course.

Because you don't have to prove yourself. So how much money you have or how much money you make has nothing to do with your self worth. So I'm just happy.

Happy.

I learned new English expression, I'm such a happy camper.

Happy camper, yes.

So it doesn't have anything with my financial relation. So if you can find your happiness on your own, you can really focus on what you want to do because you don't really care what other people think or how successful I need to be. So if you have that mentality, you can enjoy every moment. Like in this interview. I'm just having a great conversation with you, Louis.

Right.

And I don't have to prove my points, I don't have to sell more books. I'm just hoping that our conversation can open doors for people, for their peace of mind.

Absolutely. It's funny you're saying this about healing money, because I've had so many conversations this year from different experts, from therapists, from money experts, from athletes, from just people in life. And the common theme about how to live a better life. Your health, relationships, money, business, your sports, and how to be more fulfilled is the first step is to heal something, heal the past, heal your relationship, heal your relationship with money. It starts with healing first. And when we can create a healing environment, we have more peace. Talking about, you know, making peace with your money, healing first, and from a peaceful environment, we're able to flourish. Is that right?

Yes.

We're able to grow, we're able to expand, to see the best of ourselves. Actualized.

Yes. You said it so beautifully. And it's not just one thing, one time only. It's an ongoing process journey. Yeah. So I don't think I'm 100% healed. I sometimes cry over money. Sometimes I cry over certain things that happen in my family. I have still a lot of shame and guilt and a lot of excitement and happiness too, because I'm alive. So I'm not perfect. At all. So people are surprised you're a money guru, and how can you feel guilty? But I do. And to be honest, that's where I am.

What's the biggest challenge you have yet to overcome in your life? The biggest struggle challenge?

For me, it's a false humbleness. I'm so happy, so I feel like I don't have to do anything anymore. So I have a nice retreat center up in the mountains in Japan.

Yes.

So I'm happy to grow my own veggies, you know, just in my garden. And it's so beautiful flowers. I'm missing them so much while I'm traveling. So I can be so happy with where I am, but I know I can be contributing more, too. So as much as I know I can be contributing so much, but I want to make sure that I'm happy as well. So my false humbleness tends to lead me into small happiness. So I'm sort of going back and forth. But coming here and having chat with you makes me so excited about the potential of what I can do. So I appreciate you so much for bringing. Pulling out the best from me.

Yeah, of course.

So that is my next challenge.

I love it. I'm going to take you up on it, Ken. When I come visit Japan for my first time, I have to say hi to you, and you have to show me around a little bit. But I am so excited about the mission you're on, to teach people about how to heal their conversations around money and giving us. It's a scary thing for a lot of people. They feel like it's extremely complicated, but you simplify it. You simplify it in this book, Happy Money, which I want everyone to get. Make sure you guys get a few copies for your friends. This is really powerful. You have a lot of great content@kenhonda.com and on your social media. You've got a course as well that people can check out around and finding peace with their money, and that's@kenhonda.com I believe that as well. So I'm just so grateful for you still wanting to live a life of service and teaching us these things and not just sitting in the garden all day long. But I know you need that time as well.

Yeah, but I probably feel very bored.

Exactly.

I wish I could see Louis.

Exactly. I asked you this question before, but I'm curious if something else has come up for you. So this is the last couple questions.

Yes.

This is called the Three Truths. So imagine it's your last day on earth many years away. You get to live as long as you want to live, but you have to call it your last day. You write another thousand books, you do all the things you want to do, but for whatever reason, all of your work, your books have to go with you. So we don't have access to this conversation, this book anymore. Hypothetical. But you get to leave behind three lessons to the world, three truths that you would share. This is all we have to remember you by. What would be those three?

You are asking so many beautiful questions. I'm overwhelmed by that. So I think the first thing I would say is life can be fun. That is probably one thing I would say. And the second thing I would say is when you wonder, jump is what I'd say. And the third one would be enjoy every moment. Because you know something bad, something good. But both can be fun later on. So when you feel a call, just do it. And if it messes up, it's okay. It could be a fun memory in the future. So it's nothing to do with money, you know, just follow your heart. Yeah.

That's beautiful. Ken, I want to acknowledge you again. Thank you for the work that you do. I want people to get the books. Happy money. Thank you for your contribution, the way you consistently show up for the world, for your communities, the way you've shown up on this episode, and for the school of greatness community. So I acknowledge you for your talents and starting to write the use these talents in your 30s to contribute to so many of us.

Final question.

What is your definition of greatness?

Greatness is the state that you are who you are. And I think if you learned an expression in English, if you're comfortable with your own skin, I think that is what greatness is. So if you are truly who you are on your own style, I think that's greatness.

What would you say is the secret then to creating abundance financially in your life when most people struggle or fail to do that?

Yeah. So I've been talking about this over the past 20 years, and there are so many aspects of abundance. I call it visible assets and invisible assets. So financial value is just a very short small portion of your abundance, but that is not included in the package, I guess. So that's why we obsessed about making money or we jump onto this investment ideas and that's interesting cultural phenomena.

Gotcha. What would you say? So the invisible assets, would you say those are more important to learn about and master in order to create abundance over the the visible assets?

Once again, invisible assets. It's part of your life. So if I say that going on fishing with your friends is so much fun for me, I'm not interested in doing much business. So by American standard, I become a loser because, you know, I'm going enjoying fishing with a bunch of my friends. But they could be all millionaires, you know, who retired early. But I think going for fishing with bunch of friends are not as respected as going on like a venture capital, you know, venture business and trying to make money, or just, you know, to start a company with your visions. So I think it's a criteria. Do you focus on more relationships or peace of mind? And the peace of mind is the most precious invisible assets. But a lot of people trade for money, and that's a sad thing. All over the world, people do that. We think we have to do it to, to bring food on the table. But is it really worth it to trade with your peace of mind or with your integrity? But unfortunately, many people do that.

Is it possible to create peace of mind abundantly and also create profitable financial abundance at the same time?

Yes, that's what I've been teaching. But you have to prioritize it because all your questions come from at the end. I want to be rich. So can you give up the idea of becoming rich? Because you have to let go of this idea of becoming wealthy financially. My mentor who is called Warren Buffett of Japan, he said, if you want to learn about money from me, you have to forget about money. That was his first request. Wait a second, you're like, but how.

Do I make more money?

Yes. So how can I learn about money if I forget about money? So he said, you're obsessed with money making ideas. So unless you forget about money, I. I cannot teach you about money. So his teaching was very Zen. So I might be confusing a lot of viewers at the moment because a lot of people always think, okay, Ken, that's great, and then how can I make.

And then how do you make money?

So you have to forget it, at least for the next half an hour or so.

When you forget it, what should you be focusing on instead?

What is the most important thing in your life? And that could be your family, that could be your hobbies, that could be certain causes, and if that's more important than money, you should go for it. And I can teach many ways to invite money in after you find what you do. But there are only two kinds of life on this planet. Kind of like that. You follow your heart, do what you enjoy. The other one is the life that you cannot Enjoy. So a lot of people choose the path that you cannot enjoy as long as they can make money. And then they think, okay, if I make enough money, I can retire and start doing what I want to do. But it doesn't happen that way. You'll be lucky if you can make a lot of money and then retire. But because you lose a lot of motivation, you lose a lot of energy if you go take a path of making money, and then you cannot make money. And even if you're lucky and you emit it, you don't know how to look for happiness because you sacrifice all the happiness and peace of mind for money. How can you change the attitude? It's very difficult because all you think is just a simple thing, you know, efficiency, how can I cut cost? How can I increase my wealth? But think about it this way. If you just make a lot of money outside, but if you come home, do you always talk about cutting cost? You know, don't waste your time with your kids, because all the fun time with kids are wasteful. You know, just pull out all the tissue papers. That's a lot of waste. You know, making a pizza with your kids, it takes three hours or four hours. If you're a business owner, hire somebody to do it for you.

Right? Right. Order from delivery and it's going to taste better.

Yes. Like cooking something with a family takes three or four years, you know, and making terrible pastas, they don't look good, they don't taste good, good, but it's fun. So. But oftentimes we tend to think like, well, we should hire somebody, we should outsource it. But how much do you want to outsource? Because you're losing all the fun. So that is my point.

So we should be forgetting about money initially for a moment and thinking about what are the things we enjoy doing the most. What are the things that bring us the most fulfillment, the most peace of mind? The things that bring us alive and just getting back to that place. As opposed to first obsessing over money, first remove the obsession and focus on the enjoyment. What happens when we come from a place of enjoyment in life? Does money start to flow more effortlessly when we are being that way?

It depends. Because if you're doing a volunteer work, money may not follow. So one of my national best sellers is do what you love and make sure money follows you. That means there are so many starving artists, they do what they love, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they can make money.

Right.

So you have to make sure it's two different things. But I think if you do what you love, definitely you become happier and less stressed and you'll be more attractive as a person. And that person has a better chance of making money if they choose to. But just once again, forget about the money part because making money is just, I'd say one of 14 fields in life. You know, your self image or your sense of contribution, you know, connectedness, sense of being connected with nature is often forgotten in Western world. So there are many fields of happiness. So if you focus only one or two, business and money, you cannot see all the other 12, for example.

And what happens if we don't do the other 12 in our life? Are we missing out on something or is it.

I think you just become a very boring business machine.

Got it?

Yeah, you just talk about money or business all the time. And then I have a few friends like that. Yeah, he's fun as long as we talk about business. But if he is, you know, if the topic goes onto art, music or like life, he doesn't. He suddenly becomes quiet because he has nothing. He has no art, he has no music, he has no girlfriend. So, you know, no food. He doesn't. He only eats just quick burgers and you know, energy bars.

Just to have enough energy to go make more money.

Yeah. So I want to say there are so many different fields than money, but we think that making money is the most important. And it's so sad because we are exchanging our life force energy with salary. So it's almost like we're cutting piece of body parts. And if we do that, that's illegal. But if we just cut up a piece of our life, which is time, somehow it's okay.

Why do you think people are so bad at attracting things they want in general? Maybe not even just money if we're freaking about that, but if they're wanting to attract a great relationship, great opportunities, great friends. Why do you think we're. In general, humans are bad at attracting what's really healthy and good for them.

I think everybody's attracting what he or she wants. So I think the question should be why do we keep attracting what we don't want? Because I think everybody's attracting what he or she truly wants. You know, one of my students was attracting bad guys. No money, no work, and terrible with he. He always cheats. And she knows that, but she bumps into. She is a master of finding one bad guy out of a thousand good guys. You know, I'm sure there's so someone like that in North America. Too. So she is good at sensing, she's good at spotting, she's good at finding bad person. So in a sense, she is a master of attracting that person. So I think attracting what we deserve or attracting who we really want is like clarifying who we should attract is more important. So. But. But, you know, that's how life goes.

Yeah. So clarifying who we should attract as opposed to who we shouldn't be attracting, Is that what you're saying?

But unfortunately, my friend's mechanism, psychologically, she is not ready for good, honest person, because she gets excited when she gets abused in a certain way. So it's a programming, so you have to really start healing yourself, otherwise you don't know what to want. So I think the tragedy of this planet is people are confused about what they want, so they're complaining about what they attracted. And at the same time, okay, this is life. So part of them are depressed and also given up. And somebody like very, very, very few people like yourself, Luis, know sort of like how to get out of this, you know, box, you know, and then look at yourself like, oh, I was a battery. And then stuff starts flying, right?

Yeah.

I'm curious.

When I was younger in my career, I was. I was broke. I was living on my sister's couch. I was making, I don't know, a couple hundred bucks a month maybe in Ohio, in America. And I had a mentor that I was learning from and I was working for, and I was just kind of taking on every different job I could at this place to learn as many skills as possible. And after six months, I was trying to do my own thing on the side as well. And after six months, I remember saying to him, I was like, man, I feel like I could really use some money right now. I feel like I'm still struggling, and it's no fun just being broke every day and relying on other people to help me financially. I could really use some money. And he said something to me I'll always remember. He said, money comes to you when you're ready for it.

And I was like, I feel really ready, though. I feel like I'm ready to make some money. Bring it to me now. I need this.

And he said, it'll come to you when you're ready for it. And it started to come maybe a year later, and then it started to really come the next couple years. And I look back at that always, and I think I wasn't ready at that time. I. I wanted it, I needed it potentially, but I wasn't ready for it? How do we reprogram our minds to either heal or shift our perspective to be ready for the money, the relationship, the healthier opportunity for us?

I think the question should be, what do you need? Why? And why? What do you need the money for? Unless you're clear with what you want to do, I think you will never be ready. I have, you know, young, young people like your young per, you know, your young person back day back, then say, ken, I want to make $1 trillion. I want to be a millionaire. Okay? And I say, what are you going to. You. What are you going to do with the money? And he says, I, I don't know. And if you don't know, you don't need it. And then people say, I need a million dollars. And my question is, why do you need the money? And they say, I want to feel secure. So do you think 1 million would be enough? And she or he would say, oh, 3 million, please. And then life doesn't go that way. Money comes after what you give out to the world. It's just a reward. I'd say, to be precise, it's just one portion of the prize or reward that you've given out so much to the society. So that's why my mentor said, forget about the money. You know, you have to focus on what you want to put out. So if you put out so much, ready or not, money will come. Just think about it. If you come up with a great app on iPhone and then release it worldwide, like or not, ready or not, money will come flood in. So if you find something that will change the way people live, or if you just. If you can offer something to the world that people love enough to pay you, there will be money. So if you get stuck with a mind game, you have to really look at the reality. Otherwise you have to get stuck in this place of I have low self image. That's why I cannot make. Doesn't really matter. You don't need confidence. You don't need college degree or mba. All you need is curiosity. What if I become that? What if I have a million dollars? What would I do? And if you're so excited about the way to spend your first million dollars, you will find the shortcut to the million dollars. But by the way, the first million dollars you make, you're gonna waste your money anyway, as you know. So you know, the first million will be spent on something stupid. Somebody takes it. That's sort of like a membership fee.

Yeah, the price to admission. Yeah.

Wealthy people's club so your first meeting will be lost anyway. And I've written a book on those. But if you know, and if you have this mission and passion of how to spend your first one or $10 million, you are on the right track. Because now the energy will support you.

Whatever positive affirmations you can come up with. I think anything is good, but I think money is my best friend is a good affirmation. When you worry about money, I would say money is love. So when you think in my head, money is love instead of money is a scary person, I think you feel a lot less stressful.

But how does someone, if they've lived in stress around money for their whole life, their entire life, they've been afraid, how can they start to use that affirmation? And how long will it take for them to start to believe it, to feel it?

So I think you have to think back, look back on your relationship with money. Since you're five or six, we wake up to the reality of the world. When we were 5, 6, 7, I used to be a volunteer at my daughter's kindergarten. And I asked one of the boys at the kindergarten, what are you going to get for Christmas? And he said, no, Santa Claus is not coming. And I thought, oh, why?

Why is that?

And he said, because my parents are poor.

Interesting.

Oh, really?

Who told you that? And he said, my mom.

Wow.

So we are waking up to the.

Reality when we are small. And then since then, we've had so many negative messages around money. So I have a fun collection of saying, when I visited Europe a few weeks ago, there's other things that we were told since we are five or six, money. They don't grow on trees in America. Right. If you don't have money, you don't have a head. That's a scary thing. So all those phrases keep telling us that money is not a happy thing. But when you start thinking, you must have some fun memories too around money. A certain gift that you're so happy to receive, and the scholarship or the happy money that you get from your grandparents or your parents or friend, you.

Know, they buy you for Christmas gift or birthday present.

There is so much happy money in your life, but you forget because we are so overwhelmed by the stress around money.

Right?

Yeah. Maybe there was a trip you went on with a friend or family, you went on an adventure, and that money provided that memory, that experience for you.

Right.

It was worth the money.

Right.

That's a happy saying.

Yes.

So there are many positive things around money as well.

And you grew up in Japan.

Is that right?

And so in Japan, are people just as anxious and stressed about money as they are in America or is there a different belief around it?

Yes, we have different kind of stress. Because it's so interesting in North America when, say, your college Buddies, right, after 20 years of graduation, you bump into one another and you don't ask each other, how much do you make a year?

In us?

No, no.

Right.

And in Japan, we casually talk about it.

You talk about how much you make?

Yes.

But in North America, I think you're gonna lose a friend if you bring that question.

Why do you, in Japan, do people in the culture talk about money and how much someone makes more frequently?

Because I think how much you make is not as tied up with how much, how much your worth is. But in North America, it seems culturally, it's nothing wrong, but how much you have or how much you make equals how much you're worth.

So it's more taboo here.

But it's interesting, is like when you grab your Japanese friend and then ask him how many times you have sex.

He'S going to freak out.

Right.

But in America, people might talk about it more, right?

They will probably enjoy talking about it.

Right.

So I think there's a different kind of taboos. That's interesting, which I really enjoy so much.

That's interesting. Now, with the culture of people just talking about it more openly with their friends or family, what does that do for the culture then, around money?

Does it make it less scary?

Does it make it more effortless for people to work? What is that like in China too?

People casually ask you how much you make or how much money you have, or how much strangers too, or just friends. And also friends. And also, like, how much is the rent? Or how much does this condo cost? You know, like, what's the weather today?

You know, the theory would answer you, right?

So it's as easy as that. So in a culture like that, people are more open and they can confront themselves about what's working, what's not. But in North America, everything around money is such a taboo that it seems, because I've been listening to many couples in America, it seems like it's almost like a taboo for a couple to talk about money.

It is.

Unless something really comes up and it's like an eruption of volcano. Sure, but you should talk about it long before the eruption.

Do people in relationships or married people in Japan, do they talk about money pretty frequently? Do they talk about it before they get married? You know, is there stress around money? In the couples, of course.

Definitely.

That's why my books are so popular in Japan. So, I mean, it's the same, but it's a kind of different stress. And in Japan, of course, you fight over money, but surprisingly, women are more in control of money. Really?

Yes.

I mean, probably like from American culture, guys control it. But actually all my friends, you know, guy friends, you know, they are controlled by their housewives.

They control the money.

Right.

And they're given a certain like, allowance money.

The men?

Yes.

Are the men making the money and then giving it to the women and saying, okay, tell me what to do.

Yeah. So one time I talk with a housewife wife in Japan and she said, you know, I'm afraid of money and I'm so worthless because I'm not making money. And I asked him, but who is.

Financing the whole thing?

And my husband. So you are, you know, man, you.

Are the business owner.

He is a worker. So you get the fruits.

The woman's the business owner.

Right.

The.

The man is the worker, as we say.

Right.

Interesting.

Yeah. And then she said, yes.

I never know that, you know, I've never known.

So now I'm going to make him work harder.

Everybody laugh, make more money for me.

Yeah, yeah. Right. So it's a different kind of stress. But it's so hard for us to really confront financial issues because we have so many emotions around money. It's universal.

I love your point where you said in North America and America, most people tie their self worth with their net worth.

Right.

Their bank account, how much is in there, how much they have with how valuable they are as a human being.

Right.

The quality of their character and how.

They add value in the world.

Right.

But in Japan, I'm hearing you say it's less that way.

It's more.

People don't tie how much money they have with how good of a person they are.

Yes.

And also like how many friends you have not on Facebook.

Real friends.

And also like school teachers are so well respected. For example, you know, they're not making so much money, but occupations like that are highly respected.

Really?

But here in America, it seems like there is not much respect for school teachers, which I feel so sorry about. So if you make money, you are golden in America. But there must be some kind of criteria, like how much you're contributing to the community or how much satisfaction you get out of work. But just numbers, they don't really translate into happiness.

Well, I think you see that in.

America, where there might be a lot.

Of people who have a Lot of financial success. They have a lot of money, but their relationships are broken, their marriages fall apart. They're, you know, they don't feel good about themselves. They don't have fulfillment.

Right. Because it's been focused just on money.

And not on service. How can I add value as well? Yes. So I think it's important to be aware that a rich life is not just about how much money you make. It's about how good you feel about yourself.

Yes.

In your life. Right.

Exactly. Exactly.

I'm curious, what do you think are some of the beliefs that hold people back from keeping them to create the wealth that they want to have from making more money? What are some of those beliefs that says, I'm not able to do this? Because why?

Because we feel so unworthy for the abundance. So it doesn't really matter how much money you make or how much money you have after paying all the bills.

You don't have much money left.

Taxes, bills, if you pay, if you make $30,000 or $100,000 or $1,000,000 because the cost is going higher.

The lifestyle.

Right. And you used to have one car, secondhand car. Now you need Tesla, you know, and you need second home and third home. So you really have to see how to satisfy with yourself with less. And at the same time, you can have more. So you can have more than necessary, but the food prices are going up and the gas prices are going up. So we almost like drowning in the seal bills, and then they're just going up and then we are drowning in that. So instead of feeling that or overwhelmed by the bills, you can be creative and come up with ideas that you can contribute to the world. So by doing more contribution, you get more money. So if you are more creative about serving the world, serving other people with your gifts, with who you are, you can create the flow of happy money. And as a result, you can receive more money. And if you can control this greed in you, that I need to have more. It's almost like you're brainwashed by marketing techniques. And even though you're wealthy, you keep complaining about how much you don't have. Once I had an interview with a private jet owner and I thought, you are such a big success. And he said, no, no, no, I'm just a small thing. Because when I pull over to this special in the terminal bigger jet, there's a lot bigger jets.

And mine is so small, you know.

It sits only six people. So I feel so small when I pull over with my Mercedes because they're.

Just Rolls Royce and all the big cars.

And then I feel so small. So you have to ask yourself, when is enough? How much is enough? That's when I my Zen teaching comes in. You have to know who you are and you have to know the right money container size. I think we're born with a certain money container size.

Really? What does that mean?

Say some people are not equipped with so much money and you don't need so much money so you can be satisfied with less. Like say if you a school teacher, you don't need to have three Mercedes Benz and you don't need to live in a big mansion. So if you feel like, oh, I don't need to make that much money, I know how to satisfy myself.

And you can do that.

I live a rich, fulfilled life with what I make.

Yes, yes. So instead of just going pursuing wealth, you can find invisible assets, which I also teach about. I haven't really taught in English yet, but they're visible assets and invisible assets. And in fact, invisible assets are super more important than, than visible assets.

What are some examples of invisible assets?

Like friendship, trust, happiness, love, generosity, kindness. All the great things in life are invisible, but yet people can feel it. You know, if you bump into somebody and if he or she is so kind, you feel it. So unfortunately, generosity and kindness are not regarded as a great thing. But I mean, in North America, I've seen news that people just do something right and then they turn their wallets to the owner and, you know, they're happy stories. So people still respect. Honesty is another one. So there are so many great assets that we have, but when we look at our lives, we evaluate to zero. So even though you have not much in your bank account, if you have so many friends and if you have so many people that you care about you, you're in heaven.

But you look at your bank account.

And then if it's a small number, you get depressed. So you have to look at invisible assets. And you should be happy.

Focus on the invisible assets as well.

Yes. Because I'm sort of joking, you know, even though you don't have any money, if you have more than 50 friends who let you stay for one week, you're rich.

Yeah.

And you can spend the whole year.

By visiting your friend. And after one year, you can go.

Back to your friend number one and say, it's been a year.

How are you?

I have a great friend, his name is Jesse Itzler. And for I think at least one year, maybe two years, when he was in his early 20s, he stayed on like 10 different friends couches. He didn't have enough money to pay for rent, but he had friends that he stayed with, that all of them are still his friends today. He's 50s, 30 years later, and he's an extremely successful business entrepreneur now. But he had a free place when he had no money because of his generosity, his kindness, his honesty, his lovability, all those things which are invisible assets which turned into financial assets.

Yes.

And talking about invisible assets and generosity, I so want to show my appreciation to American people. 30 years ago. 30 some years ago, I was 19 and I made up my mind to explore this kindness factor in North America. And I came here without much money and I tried to have a one year experiment really depending on generosity of American people.

When you were 19?

Yes.

And I bump into like say an old man in the park and then I ask him, is there any restaurant that I can eat for the very, very, you know, no money?

And he said, okay, I'll take you there.

And they pay for my dinner and if you don't have any place, why don't you stay with me? So for Hoya in 1987, I depended on American people's generosity. And after one year I had the same amount of bank account money and then I could go back.

Wow.

And I've been writing my experiences at that and it's a national birth as well. So America is so generous and I think people may not feel because you're living here. So I really believe in American people's generosity and openness. Some people just let me stay as long as I wanted.

Wow.

Yeah.

So I still feel like I owe America a lot.

That's beautiful. How many people helped you in that year?

I think probably at least 16 or 20 people that either paid for something.

Or let you stay at their place or helped you in some way.

Yeah. So whenever I bump into an American young people like, okay, I'll buy you lunch and dinner in Thailand, bump into American tourists, you know, like backpackers and okay, I'm going to pay your lunch because somebody else, an American, just, they, they pay mine.

That's beautiful.

I try to pick up in a tab for Americans especially.

That's interesting because when I was in my early 20s, struggling financially, I was reaching out on LinkedIn to business leaders, mentors that I thought could help me. And a lot of them took the time to take me out to lunch and they would pay for me because I couldn't, I couldn't afford.

Right.

And that was happened for about a year. And a half where I didn't have the money to pay for my own stuff. And I really. I remember saying, like, feeling really bad that I couldn't pay for myself and saying to myself, like, if I make money one day, I want to make sure I pay as many meals as I can with friends and things like that. So I always try to pay. It's so hard for me to let someone pay for me now at a restaurant because I'm like, I just want to keep paying it forward.

That's beautiful.

But you never know the impact you can have on someone with a gift, with a financial gift. So I want to ask you about the money container size, which I think is interesting. Do you feel like we're all born with a certain size of a container for how much money we should be able to bring in? Or does the container expand and grow based on our environment, on who we grow up with, our wisdom? You talk about that?

Of course, of course.

Like, say, like some scholars, you know, who are not interested in money at all. They focus on their research and what they can do academically. So their money container is small, but they're okay. I call them money indifferent type, by the way.

Money different.

Money indifferent.

Money indifferent. They don't care about money. Yes, just enough to provide for their food and their house.

So some government workers, like politicians or nurses, I see them among, you know, those occupations who are giver, who are just service people.

Right.

And like some military people who are really into service, and then they don't really care how much they have as long as they can make a living. So those people are born with small ones. And of course, by learning about business and investment, you can make your money container bigger. But there's a little bit of difference here when you want to grow your money container. Because in North America and Europe, I often get asked by interviewers, Ken, how can I make my container bigger? But in Japan, in the East, I get different kind of question about mining container. The question would be, how can I be satisfied with what I have instead of just trying to make it bigger? But I don't know how to do that. So can you teach me how to satisfy myself with where I am? So it's a different approach. So you need to have both.

Is there any other final lessons that you would share from your mentor that we should be thinking about as we go into the next moment of our life after this interview?

So one thing I learned from my mentor, Wahe, is that he focused on receiving well, both good and bad, because we Tend to. We want to receive only the good things. So, like, if we pray, God, please give me good things, not bad things. But, you know, good things could be bad things and bad things could be good things. You never know the worst thing that happened to you could turn out to be the best thing in your life five years later.

True.

So you have to be a master of receiving it well. So I try not to judge things. On the surface, I cannot really judge what's inside from the gift wrap. It might be wrapped well, but I don't know what's inside. So I try not to judge. When something comes into my life, I try not to judge if it's good or bad. I receive it well.

Wow.

You never know because it could be bad. It could be good. So I let go of my judgment. Is this good? Is this bad? Is this a good decision? Is this a bad decision? I've learned how to trust myself and how to trust my intuition. So even though the things that may not go as I want it, I think if it's my destiny, the door will open. That's my philosophy. So when you feel stuck, don't worry about it. Just, you know, get a few deep breaths and just figure out which door will open for you and your best friend or somebody will open doors for you. It's usually the people. And incredibly oftentimes a stranger or people who don't know much about you could offer you money, the opportunity, a new guest room or whatever that is. So just, I think the world is so generous, full of love. So trust. Life will take good care of you, especially in hard times.

Yeah, that's beautiful. Very beautiful. Ken, I've got two final questions for you, but before I get into those questions, I want to highly recommend people check out your book. Buy a copy, buy a few copies for your friends. It's called Happy the Japanese Art of Making Peace with your Money. And a lot of my viewers and listeners, specifically in North America, who maybe grew up more shy around money or insecure or didn't have the. The right lessons or teaching from their parents or society about how to just.

Talk about it, how to think about.

It, how to approach it, I think it would be really helpful for so many people to dive into this message and get your book. I know you have many other books as well on this topic, but I think people should start there. If they go to your website, kenhonda.com they can see all of your information there. They can get the book there. It's obviously on Amazon and everywhere else. And you're all over social media, happy Ken Honda, you're like the happy money Buddha. You know, it's like you got. You're like the happy guy. So I like that you got the panda, the happy pandas in the background and the video. You got everything here so people can follow you on social media as well. And is there. Before I get to the final couple questions, is there anything else we can do to support you today?

Thank you. I'm so happy to share what I know about money and happiness. So I'm so excited that I finally get to share my ideas and philosophy that I learned from many great mentors with English speaking people. I'm working on my English, so I'm just getting there.

You're doing great.

But this is such a fun journey myself. So I learned. I want to learn more about you and, and I want to more about different cultures. They all fascinate me. So as much as I talk, I want to listen too. So I want to one day I want to have a chat with you, learn about money with one another. So we studied a community called Arigato Living Community. So we have 20 different country participants. So if you're interested in learning this, just Google that. Ken Honda, Arigato Living Community. And we do monthly calls and have a friendly chat like this. And this is the happiest time of my life. So I always appreciate this fun culture exchange for me.

That's beautiful. That's really cool. We'll make sure to link all those up as well and make sure you guys check that out. Ken, final two questions. This one's called the Three Truths. It's a question I ask everyone towards the end of our conversation. It's a hypothetical question. So imagine many years away, it's your last day here on this earth and you have accomplished all of your goals, all of your dreams, you've lived the life. But for whatever reason, Ken, you've got to take all of your books and all of your messages and groups and podcasts and interviews and content. It goes with you to another place. So no one has access to your information anymore or your content. But you get to leave behind three lessons with the world. Three things you know to be true that you would share with the world. It can be any lessons. I'm curious, what would be those three truths for you?

Three, huh? Interesting. I think the first one that comes into my mind is life can be more fun. Yeah, that would be the first one.

Okay.

And also, life is more fun when unexpected events keep happening. So because I really mean it, because, you know, life brings me a lot of surprises. Yeah. And the third one is, I think probably relationships is everything. Relationship is everything is what I would say.

It's a beautiful truth. Ken, I want to. Before I ask the final question, I want to acknowledge you, Ken, for being such a great guide for so many of us, specifically over the last two decades and for all the efforts you're going to continue to do for the rest of your life. For your ability to bring clarity, your ability to bring peace on your stressful topic for a lot of people around, money, your ability to simplify things and your ability to remind people that happiness, joy, love, appreciation, friendships are the most meaningful thing. And those things, when you appreciate them, will bring you other opportunities in your life. So I really acknowledge you for your gift, your creativity and your talents, my friend. And I'm excited to connect in person, hopefully in Japan someday in the near future. My final question is, what is your definition of greatness?

I think the definition of greatness is knowing who you are and stay happy with it. I hope that answers the question. Did I?

Perfect. That's perfect. Yes. Ken Honda, thank you so much for being here, my friend.

I appreciate it.

Thank you so much. Luis. This is such a great interview. You're such a genius interviewer. And now I know why people love you and respect you.

Thanks, man.

I send all my love and respect for my newfound brother and also the viewers. Thank you so much for spending time with us. I really appreciate every second of you spent the time you spent with us. So thank you. Thank you. Arigato.

Arigato.

And what are the qualities of that.

Person that you could embody that.

That's the key. Right.

Because it's not about wealth, it's who you become.

Right.

Because people think it's about their wealth.

But it's the becoming process. It's the overcoming that.

Right. Of course.

So then.