Financial Expert Mel Abraham On How To Build Wealth & Transform Your Money Journey

Hey, guys, before we get into the show, I have something really fun for you. I have my really good friend Natalie Ellis from Boss Babe. She is the CEO and founder, and she's also the host of the incredible Boss Babe podcast. It is one of my favorites, and she is on here to tell you the things that she recommends when you feel overwhelmed. Natalie, what should we do?

Okay, Lori, I'm so excited to be here, and what I really wanted to talk about was how you can get off of the overwhelm wheel, which is where we get so stuck. We're like, on this hamster wheel. We cannot get off because we're so burned out. We're not doing the things or avoiding the things, and things continue to pile up. Sometimes we just need a reset. We need to fully hit pause, wipe the slate clean, and reset. The best way to do this is look at your to do list with the four Ds. Do, delegate, delay, or delete. Do. You're going to do it. Delegate. You're going to delegate it and really be ruthless with this because you can delegate so much more than you think. Delay, delay. You're going to put this out of your mind because now is not the right time or now is not the season that this thing should be done on. Delay it without guilt. Or finally. And the thing that I think is the most important. Delete. How many things do you have on there that you really don't want to be doing? You're just doing it because you think you should. I know when you shed the shoulds, that's how you can really get into reset mode. So I'm going to encourage you to go through it with a fine tooth comb, maybe even twice to see what things on there you can delete.

Oh, my God, this is so good. I'm gonna run through my to do list with this list from now on, and I can't tell you how many things that I have written down that I'm like, why is that even on there? It's just taking up space in my brain. So, Natalie, thank you so much for this. And if you guys loved these tips, she is full of them.

Truly.

It's one of my personal favorite podcasts. So go join Download the Boss Babe podcast for more tips from Natalie. All right, let's get in the show, guys.

The earnings journey is meant to optimize your value. The value you create, the value you provide, the services. Because by maximizing the value, you can accelerate and scale your revenue, but also to optimize your cash flow.

Hey, everyone.

Welcome Back to the show, if you don't know. Chris and I created a course called Aligned a few years back, and we have sold thousands of these courses. And recently we decided to make it totally free as a gift to you, as a gift to get you back on our weekly email list where we're writing totally incredible personal emails to you all about the things that are shifting our lives and the things that we are focusing on and all the little things that we love. So wanted to add a lot of value to your life every single week. And for doing that, for getting on our email list, we want to send you the free Aligned course, which is all about really becoming right with your money story, feeling as abundant as you want to feel, and really lining up your life's purpose with what you do in the world. So all you have to do, no strings attached, go to becomealigned.com to get that free free course right now. Like, you can literally start taking this course immediately in your inbox. And we've had so many people do incredible things after this course. So go check that out. Go check out the testimonials.

I think you're gonna love it.

And we wanna give you that course totally free. So you guys go to becomealigned.com to get your free course right now. And today on the podcast, we have one of our really good friends, Mel Abraham. He's a CPA by education, but an entrepreneur out of his, the author of the number one bestseller, the Entrepreneur Solution. It's the modern millionaire's path to more profit, fans and freedom. You guys, how does that not just stop you in your tracks and get your attention? He's also the founder of Thoughtpreneur Academy, where he helps people and entrepreneurs bring.

Their business to life and build the lifestyles that they want.

And he doesn't go too in depth on this story, but I want to share that.

Mel found a cancerous tumor in his.

Bladder larger than A baseball in June 2019. So not that long ago. And after successfully conquering it within 18 months, which we have gotten to talk so much about his journey personally, and he is such an inspiration. And after this, he began to openly teach his affluence, blueprint and the legacy factor, because his cancer journey spotlighted the immediate and urgent need for people to live their lives that are highly valued, with lasting impact and to gain financial freedom. Because so much of his journey was the realization that without financial freedom, he could not have been able to recover as quick as he did there, or maybe not at all. And so this process is really going to close the gap between how good you are today and how good you're capable of being. So it's all about maximizing your fullest potential. You guys, I want to get right into this podcast, because anyone who has.

A money story or has troubles around.

Money, this is really going to help you bust through those blocks. So let's get started.

Mel, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast. Thank you so much for coming on.

Oh, my God, Lori. It's so cool to be here and finally get a chance to chat, you guys.

So Mel and I were just. We were just chatting because we just hung out with each other for, like, four days. We were in Austin, Texas. We were in Austin. We were in a conference room, Mel, the whole time.

I think I saw the outside of that hotel coming in and going out, and that was it.

Yeah, I saw a little bit more than you did because you were actually helping run the event. Why don't you say where we were at and what you do for the event as well so everyone can know?

Oh, my God. We were at Growth Day Live. Was the very first Growth Day Live since the whole pandemic and everything. And, you know, like, both of us are Growth Day coaches with Brendan Burchard, 2,000 people at it. And so Brennan and I have known each other for a decade and a half, and I'm backstage with him, helping him call the shots, helping him with the content. I will be on the mic and I will be speaking and. And running it, and I'm speaking to the AV team and all of that stuff. So I'm constantly running. I mean, it's crazy. Brennan and I each will do about 18,000 to 25,000 steps a day at an event because of what we do.

Oh, my God. So, you guys, today we're going to talk all about money and the money journey and all of these things. But something that's so cool, Mel, about you as well, is, like, in order to even be at an event like that, like, the energy that is at this particular event, because Brennan's events are like, some of the highest energy events I've ever been to in the most powerful way. But to be someone who is helping run them, having to match that energy and then some as well, running around, I want to know kind of like, how do you even get in that state? And is that, like, a choice? How has that really affected your life, like, being around that all the time?

To me, it takes me back to when I competed athletically, truly a lot. You get the same adrenaline. You know, you're in the zone, and, you know, I know that I have to stay in the zone for four days. So everything that I do and. And this goes for me, and it goes for Brendan, too. Everything we eat, everything we drink, everything we sleep, all of it is geared towards being able to perform at our highest. And now I'll start. If I know that I got that kind of an event coming up three weeks before, I'll start kicking up my cardio and just kind of getting. Because you're on your feet like crazy. So I'll kick up the cardio. But. But the other side of it, I think the. There's this unspoken thing that happens. Like you said, the energy's just off the charts. And the knowing that we're serving and the knowing that we have the opportunity to have someone walk away four days later with a change in the mind shift, a change in their life, a change in perspective, more hope, more possibility. That, man, that just fuels me. It gives me even goosebumps right now. To know that we have that capacity to do it is actually one of the things that I end up talking about, and when I talked at the event I mentioned is this idea that. That there's this thing called the legacy factor that we often talk about legacy in the construct of what we leave behind when we die. But even the money stuff that I talk about, it isn't about that. It's about realizing that the legacy is created by stacking the moments through your life together. And when we can stack those moments, legacies created in the moment. As soon as we see someone, as soon as we smile, as soon as we say hello, as soon as we say, I'm proud of you, as soon as we say, you got this. And they change their perspective, we have the opportunity to create legacy. And I think that when we do that, we look at the moments with a different kind of reverence. And that's how I kind of come to it, and going, all right, I'm here to serve. I'm here to help. And because this may be the catalyst that every single one of these people need to walk away and say, there's more to my life, and I'm going to. I'm going for it. Oh, I love that.

You know, my life really changed when I. I thought that I led with serving people when I was younger and. And I intentionally did. But I think there's so much around, like, you know, your ego and learning and trying to figure out your spot in the world, and all of these things. And I feel like when I really started to understand what that meant, like just finding ways to add value no matter what, without expectation, it's my life totally changed. And not just that I gained way more energy. Like I actually got so much more energy and the resistance around a lot of things like went down solo, which I think ups your energy.

Yeah. And you and you and Chris both live in that space of service, that space of making a difference and helping people and seeing the potential and saying let's fan those flames.

With the holidays and the new year coming, you probably are looking around your house thinking that you would love to upgrade and freshen up your environment. And there is no easier way to do that than with your window treatments. Nobody covers windows better than blinds.com blinds.com brings your space to life in your way. They have free design help. Other retailers may claim to have experts, but blinds.com has spent nearly 30 years building an award winning team of over 100 design consultants that are ready to help you create your dream space. Always convenient, always tailored to you. Three ways to shop 1.

Perfect fit Whether you want a DIY.

Have it all done for you or you're somewhere in between, choose what works for you and rest easy knowing the fit is guaranteed. So the holidays come fast you guys, and you can freshen up your window treatments fast as well. And unlike some competitors, the price you see is the price you pay. No hidden fees and there's zero pressure. From blackout in motorized options to classic shutters, blinds.com has window treatments for every room style and budget, even shades for your outdoor space. The Black Friday deals@blinds.com are going strong all month long, so don't miss your chance to save big. And as always, our listeners still get $50 off when you spend $500 or more. Just use code earn at checkout limited time offer rules and restrictions apply. See blinds.com for details. 2026 is the year that you launch your business. It's the year that you've become the boss you leader. That idea that you have that has been eating at you forever that just will not leave you alone is going to come to life. Maybe it's something that someone tells you you should always sell or a store you've already designed in your head. And with Shopify, 2026 is when you finally make it happen. Shopify gives you everything you need to sell online and in person. Millions of entrepreneurs have already made this leap from household name to first time business owners. Just getting started you guys. I use Shopify for glossy and I remember when they sent me my little shopping bag celebrating my 10,000 sales and I literally cried because I was so scared to take the leap. And I'm so glad that I did.

And that I use Shopify.

It gives you all the tools to easily build your dream store. You can choose from hundreds of beautiful templates that you can customize to match. Your brand setup is fast with Shopify's built in AI tools that write product descriptions and headlines and help you edit photos. So marketing is built into. You can create email and social campaigns that reach customers wherever they scroll. So as you grow, Shopify grows with you. You can handle more orders, expand to new markets, and do it all from the Same dashboard in 2026. Stop waiting and start selling with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com happy go to shopify.com happy that shopify.com happy hear your first judging this new year with Shopify by your side.

Oh, thank you. I feel that way about you. And one last question around the event because I feel like you and I were kind of backstage, so just to. To fill you guys in. So day one is Brandon and then Ed Mylett. So your mind is literally blown. And Ed is like, what? I don't know, one of the best speakers in the world.

Like, probably one of the top.

Yeah, yeah, I feel that way. Like, I feel like I've seen a lot of speakers and I'm like, man, he just takes you on an amazing journey. And then the next day, if you.

Have never seen Ed live, find a way to do it.

Find a way. It is a life changing, moving experience. Like, I feel like he baptizes you with his words. So then day two was Anthony Trucks and Jamie Karen Lima, and then it was Trent Shelton, then it was me and then it was you who does speak quite a bit. But we were like, oh, we get to be at the end and hold all of these nerves watching these incredible people. What was that experience like for you? Do you experience nerves? Were you like, oh, my God, all of these people just went before me and of course you speak a lot, but I don't think you're speaking on. Are you speaking on big stages all the time like them? Probably not.

You know, I've spoken on stages, a thousand people. This was probably one of the biggest. I think I've done one bigger, but I'm starting to speak on more bigger stages.

Exciting.

So a lot more bigger stages and corporate and that kind of thing. This one's different. This one's interesting because it's Brendan, because he's like one of my best friends, you know? I don't know if this makes sense, but I would rather someone come and look at me and say, I'm really pissed off at you, Mel. Them coming and looking at me going, I'm really disappointed in you.

Oh, my God, I feel that.

Yeah. And so I don't ever want to step off the stage and go, well, that was disappointing. So there's this. As much as the energy and everyone, there's this graciousness and welcoming and arms open, there's this pressure, self imposed, self imposed. To make sure that I don't disappoint the people that I care about most.

I feel that for sure that you get nerves. I feel like by day four, though, you were just ready as well. So, yeah, it was amazing, you guys. It was an amazing experience. I highly recommend getting to one of his events, a Girl's Day event. You'll see Mel. You might meet Mel as well and maybe get to hear from him too. Okay, so you have, number one, we get to teach together a lot in growth day. And it's so much fun because you have all of these different frameworks. Your brain works a lot differently than mine, which is so exciting that you are on here. So everybody can listen to you and light up the other side of their brain around money. Today we have a lot of entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs on this podcast, and one of the most important things is for them to feel empowered around money. So you talk a lot about two different journeys. Do you wanna tell us a little about those two money journeys?

Yeah. So here's the thing. There's two journeys. The first is the earnings journey. The earnings journey is what most entrepreneurs get in. They get in the game and say, I gotta make money, I got to make profits, I got to have cash flow, I got to have some things going on. And. And we get in that believing that the earnings journey is going to lead to our ability to control our destiny, control our life and freedom. But nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing could be further from the truth because the earnings journey was never meant to do that. The earnings journey is meant to optimize your value, the value you create, the value you provide, the services. Because by maximizing the value, you can accelerate and scale your revenue, but also to optimize your cash flow, there has to be profits, what's left over? So you're going to get cash flow, you're going to optimize your value. So the outcome of the earnings journey is a solution, an impact and cash flow. That's isn't wealth. It isn't financial freedom. It isn't riches. It isn't anything to have that you got to have what I call the affluence mindset, which shifts and says the second journey, this is a parallel journey that you're on. They're not separate. You do one and then the other. They're done at the same time. Is a money journey. And the money journey is about optimizing assets, taking the cash flow and creating assets and optimizing time. The reason we want the wealth isn't for the wealth. The reason we want the wealth is because we want to have control of our time. I actually think our wealth should be measured in time and not dollars. Because when we do that, we say, if I, like, float it down into someone's life and say, show me your calendar and tell me how much of the moments of your day do you absolutely control that? You could say, no, yes, maybe, and change it. And if the answer is not very many, even if you have $100 million in the bank, I would tell you it's a poor life because it's not yours. So we want to optimize assets so we can optimize time. Another way to say it is to optimize choice. It's the money journey that gives you the freedom, the control, and the legacy. But we need both. We need both. We just need to understand what they're used for and how to walk those paths together. And it's a mistake that most entrepreneurs make, including myself. I made the same mistake until I realized, oh, wait a second. If I don't do something different, I'm on a treadmill for the rest of my life. Which treadmill will turn into dreadmill if you're not careful.

Okay.

I love this. So growing up for me, I used to always just think, if I wanted.

More money, I would have to go.

Get more jobs or spend more time doing it. It was never even a conversation in my family. The second journey, like, investing it, what that looks like. So I think there's a lot of people listening right now who are like, okay, I am majorly feeling overwhelmed even by the earning journey. Where do you start? Like, do you need a lot in order to start that journey? What does that look like?

God, I love this question. So here's the. And this will be confronting for some people as you hear this going into your. Into your ears, into your brain, into your soul. None of you out there have Money issues or money problems. And I get it, you're going, you haven't seen my checking account. And I go, no, no, no. You have money symptoms. You have symptoms of choices, decisions, and behaviors from the past. And wealth creation is a behavior, it isn't a number. And so the beautiful thing is, if we just shift the behaviors and we use the behaviors that are proven and principles that are proven, we will get different results. And so the other mistake that people make, well, when I make more, I'll start doing it. Well, wait a second. As if you were going to the gym. If I was going to go to the gym, and I've never gone to the gym before, you don't go in there, you don't go lay down on a bench press, grab 45 pound plates, strap it on the bar and think you're gonna do a bench press without hurting yourself. You're gonna go over to the small chrome weights and you're gonna start exercising a muscle. Well, the wealth, behaviors, savings, investing and all that, it's just a muscle. So I tell people that Even if it's $5, the key isn't the amount. The key is that you're getting the muscles to exercise. Because from that $5 you'll turn to 10 and 20 and 30, 100, a thousand, 10,000 and keep on going. But if we think for a moment that, well, when I make 100,000, then I'll start. I can use for you. Statistically, you won't.

Yeah. So it's like creating the habit of what that looks like. Where does somebody who doesn't feel like they have like the financial knowledge go, okay, I'm good, I'm going to start this habit. I'm going to start saving money. What do the kind of steps look like to actually start creating wealth after that?

The first thing is this is decide. Decide you're going to do it and commit to it. One of the things I said in my talk, and I say a lot is that too often we want too much. And what I mean by that is this. We'll set goals, we'll set New Year's resolutions, we'll do all these things we have. Basically your goals are lists of wants. And if they're just list of wants, there's no will to make it happen. What I want you to do is cut out the wants and figure out the three to five things that you will do. In other words, it's a will. How many people will set goals, financial or otherwise, weight, relationships, all that stuff. And if they don't make it, they just kind of kick it to the next year's, next year's list or the next one's. So to me, a want is a soft, fuzzy, easy to kick down the road goal. But a will requires you to make a declaration. It requires you to say, I will. And when you say I will be financial fee, I will start the financial journey. I will lose the weight, I will get healthy. That's a declaration. It changes the chemistry in the brain. It changes your activity. You have to act congruent with the identity you are declaring you have. And so, so the first thing is to make that declaration, that decision. The second is, and we'll talk about how you get there, is to take whatever you can and have it automatically transferred. Automatically transfer to what I call a high yield Cash account. You can find them. You go to bankrate.com and you can look for high yield cash accounts. And I know with the banks failures, everyone gets freaked out. There are companies and I get nothing for it. I'm not recommending it, but I am just telling you I have money at Wealthfront. Wealthfront is insured up to 3 million bucks. Okay, so the point is, is that all I want to do is get you into the process of making that transfer, but I want it to be automatic. That means you set an Automatic transfer automatically, $5, $10, whatever it is to go in there. I don't care what the investments are right now. I just want to get you saving. Because if I can't get you saving, we can't get you investing. So I got to get the saving first. And so an automatic transfer of whatever you can do to a High yield Cash account. Now we start to dig into more details about what's the next step. Now, before we start investing, I want you to have, I call it a peace of mind fund. People will call it an emergency fund. I'm more conservative than most, especially for entrepreneurs. Our businesses will ebb and flow. You don't know if another, God forbid, another pandemic shuts things down or, or your health. Like I had a health situation where you shut things down. I think you should be striving to have nine to 18 months worth of cash on hand in a High yield cash account for emergencies, for your peace of mind. And once you have that, at least call it 12 months. Once you, you're on that path and you're funding that, that account now, we can start looking at funding investments. But if you have no liquidity, no peace in your life, and you're putting money Investments and all of a sudden you have a market that drops 600 points or we start to go into a bear market and whatever you put in there is now lost 20%. You're freaking out and that's not healthy. And now we start to get our emotions into the money. And when our emotions are involved in the money, we make bad decisions. So I want liquidity first. Then the next piece is now investing and getting rid of variable rate consumer debt, destructive debt as I call it. I'm not one of those folks that say all debts the devil. No, there's productive debt and there's destructive debt. Destructive debt is financing a lifestyle that you can't afford today. So what you're doing is forsaking your future to live something today that you shouldn't be living. And as hard as that may be, you shouldn't be living on debt, on lifestyle. But there is productive debt where I can invest in things with debt and have cash flow investments and they're growing. That's productive debt. And you do that strategically and smart. It helps you leverage your wealth building. But I want people to be out of the consumer destructive debt, especially in a rising interest rate environment, because it's going to start to choke you as the interest rates go up. I mean, credit card rates are approaching 30% right now, so we need to be aware of that. And so these are the first things I would do. Then we can sit back and say, all right, now let's invest it once we have the money. And as much as some people will, will say, oh, there's, there's quick ways to make a buck. I'm slow, go and grow and keep on going. I, you know, you just. There's this thing that I talk about called the wealth creation curve. There's something in there that's called the wealth flatline. And this happened to me. And it happens. Everyone has to pass through the wealth flat line. No matter what it is. You're going to start investing $5, $10, $100, a thousand dollars, $10,000, whatever it is, and you're going to be putting it away and you're going to watch it for three, five, even six years and go. It's not really moving.

There are so many challenges to business that I don't want starting to be.

One of them for you.

And when you want more, when you're starting a business, you need Northwest registered agent because you get access to thousands of free guides, tools and legal forms to help you launch and protect your business. And it's all in one place you can build your complete business identity with Northwest today. Northwest Registered Agent has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow business for nearly 30 years. They're the largest registered agent and LLC service in the US with over 1500 corporate guides. Real people who know your local laws and can help you and your business every step of the way. You can sign up for free account to begin managing your business hub with lawyer, drafted operating agreements, bylaws, resolutions, membership certificates, bills of sale and more at no cost. Northwest makes life easy for business owners. They don't just help you form your business, they give you the free tools you need after you form it, like operating agreements, meeting minutes and thousands of how to guides that explain the complicated ins and outs of running a business. And let me tell you, this is life changing because I had no idea how much went into this. So don't wait. Protect your privacy, build your brand and get your complete business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Visit www.northwestregisteredagent.com earn free and start building something amazing. Get more with Northwest registered agent at www.northwestregisteredagent.com forward/earnfree Too many people finish their workday feeling frustrated, drained and unfulfilled. I know that, experienced that myself. And the good news is it doesn't have to be this way and you don't need a new job to fix it. Patrick Lencioni, author of the Five Dysfunctions of a Team and more than a dozen other bestsellers, created the Working Genius Assessment to help you pinpoint the kind of work that gives you energy, the kind that lights you up, and it also shares the kind that drains it. So over a million people, including me, have taken it and completely changed, changed how I lead and show up every day. If you're a CEO, an entrepreneur, or someone who just wants to level up in business and in life, working genius is going to give you the clarity and confidence to operate in your strengths and find greater joy in what you do. Because confidence isn't pretending to be good at everything. It's knowing where you're truly gifted. Take the Working Genius assessment today and get 20% off with code earn@working genius.com that's working genius.com you'll be glad you did it.

It's not growing. Yeah, because you're in the flatline zone. The mistake that people make is that they say, well it's not working. So they take it out. Every time you do that, you go back to zero. You go back to the start and you have to start all over again. Because once you get past that flat line is where the exponential growth, the accelerated wealth comes in. But you have to eat up the flatline. So what that means is that the sooner you start the process of investing the 5, the 10, the $100, the sooner you get past that zone and you can leave it behind you. And now the dollars work harder for you than you did for him. But we have to get in the game, and too often we don't. And here's the difference. When my first granddaughter was born, Emily Jenna Kutcher asked me, you know what? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? And I said, I'm going to put 500 in an account for her. I'm going to put 25 a week away for her, and I'm going to do that for 20 years. Wow. So by the time she's 20, I would only put away like 20,400. Now Jenna's looking at as much money as you got. You're freaking cheapskate. I go, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Because I said, but you never pass assets without passing the skill sets first. So I said, About 10 years old, will start to do what I did with Jeremy, my son, and teach her about that. She then takes that 20,400 and allows it to grow because she's eaten up. I ate up the flatline for her. That 20,400 that I gave her will turn into a million 465 by the time she's ready to retire. So I will have set up my granddaughter as a millionaire for the cost of a cup of coffee. That's the beauty. By starting early, you can use less and get through the flatline faster.

Oh, man, that's so good. I can see how so many people could get really tempted, though. Like, they look at that, things come up. Maybe a vacation, a car they want, a house where they're like, come on, we've got this money. It's right here. It's for this. So I know that we're going to have to chat about money stories, but part of why I also love having that is, you know, when Chris and I had money somewhere, we literally just decide to say it doesn't exist, no matter what. And I think that that helps us actually step up and become different people to have to earn income. Like, it's almost like creating back against the wall moments when you. I think that's opportunity to get better by acting like that doesn't even exist. Like, no, that is so off limits, we're gonna have to go create even more. Which I think then also those actions compound too.

The credit card companies and marketers figured this out really quickly, especially now. They know that if we can remove the friction from our buying decisions, we will buy more. But when we don't understand investing or savings and we don't use automatic transfers and we don't do those things, we have no friction in our buying. But we have a ton of friction in our investing, in our savings. And we need to reverse that. If we can reverse that now all of a sudden we remove. And this is why by putting things on automatic, you remove the friction from the investing, you're no longer making the decisions you don't have to. It does it automatically. And now we insert friction in our buying decisions. When we insert the friction in our buying decisions, we will spend less, we will manage our, our money more. Here's why this is important. So I get my haircut from a young kids, 23 years old. And so he knows what I do. So we talk money all the time. And this one time I go in and he says, hey, my, my best buddy just bought a five thousand dollar watch. Now I know Chris and I love watches, okay? But I go, that's cool. I said, does he make a lot of money? He says, no, he's 23. He's like me, he's under me, he doesn't make any money. And I go, so why would he do that? And he said, because his friends thought it was cool. All right? So I asked him a question. I said, it's okay if I do some math for you? I said, yeah. I didn't matter what he said, I was going to do it anyway. And I said, here's what we know. Mathematically, every dollar you invest in your 20s will turn into somewhere between 70 and $80 by your retirement age. So in his mind, he was spending $5,000 on a watch to impress a couple of dudes that's probably not going to be in his life in a couple of years. In my mind, I'm sitting back saying, you squandered a $400,000 financial future to buy a $5,000 watch to impress a couple of dudes that won't be in your life in a couple of years. And I don't say it to say don't buy it. I simply say it to say, if we understand the choices we're making today and how it affects our tomorrow, we might make different choices, but we don't Go into the buying decisions fully informed. But our choices with our money today should be in service of the financial future we want tomorrow.

How do we make that plan?

So the way to do it is to start to be deliberate and intentional with what you're doing. And look, I am not. I can't tell you how many times I've just swiped on Instagram and bots. I've about $300 worth of shirts. I don't even know if they're gonna fit.

You know, it's like, same.

Yeah, you know, so we do it too. So I'm not exempt, and I'm certainly not talking down. I run the same emotions, the same stories, the same kind of things. But I think that when we become more deliberate in money, we don't even want to talk about money. Well, let's start there. Let's at least start having conversations, start tracking numbers, start looking at your numbers so we can make some decisions and do that. So the first thing is to put your money and your investing at the forefront of your lifestyle. Not as. When I say at the forefront, not as your sole focus, but knowing that it is the fuel for your legacy. It's a fuel for your giving, for your generosity, for the movements, for the missions. It's the fuel to allow you to create the lifestyle for you and the people that you want to get around. So if it is the fuel, then we ought to be looking at how we're going to accumulate that fuel. So we need it at the forefront. And to be okay to say, I don't know everything. Look, I've lost more money than some people make a lifetime. I got caught in a Ponzi scheme, wiped out one third of my net worth. Between me and two other guys, we lost over four and a half million dollars. So I've made plenty of bad decisions and I. I suspect I'll continue, but hopefully they're not as costly as that one. But the fact is that we just need to start to learn and be willing to be open to learning. The financial services industry would like you to believe that it's complicated. It's not. It's simple. Creating wealth is simple. May not be easy, depending on where you're starting, but it's simple. There's just some simple things. Look, it's like exercise. Eat less, exercise more. I'll lose weight, get in shape. Oh, okay. Spend less, invest more, same thing. It's that simple. But we put stories and everything else on it, and we just don't do it. So first things first. Make the Decision second to sit back is, then stay in your lane. Quit comparing yourself on Instagram, quit looking at the facades that people are parading as if that's their perfect life, and ask yourself, what do you want your life to look like? 10 to Montana, totally cool. Yacht in Monaco. Totally great, I'll take the yacht. But, you know, you know, what do you want it to be your life? Define it. Put a price tag on it and know that that's the journey you want to be on, not someone else's, not what the expectations of the parents or the siblings or. Or society is, but yours. And if that is, I want to travel around in a. In a van, you know, for. I got a friend of mine that him and his wife spent 13 years just in an RV traveling, traveling north America, and it wasn't for me. You did it for a while.

Wasn't for me.

Yeah. I mean, so. But you tried it and tried it. The key is that we need to live our life and define our life and know that that's what we're going for. And now we have a target that's meaningful to us, and we sit back and say, great, that's where I want to end up. Here's where I'm at now. I know the work I need to do. And then it's just managing the two journeys, my earnings maximizing my earnings, and the money journey, maximizing the savings and investing.

Yeah, that breaks it down so much easier. Like, it feels purposeful and intentional, and it actually feels a little exciting because, you know, when you're not in that place and you don't understand money, it feels like doomsday. It feels like you're never getting anywhere. It feels like you're never going to get anywhere. I've absolutely been there multiple times in my life. And so I think breaking it down in that way is. Is so powerful. Like, you actually don't need a lot to start and just getting over. Over that barrier. So for a lot of people listening, though, there's some stuff that's probably deeply ingrained. And I know that you, you know, work with a lot of people, help a lot of different people. What are some of the things that you see that you need to shift first before we can even start learning about these two different journeys? Maybe with their money story.

Yeah, it is. So here's the challenge with money. Since it's taboo. I'm not known for being politically correct. When my wife says, you're not supposed to say that, I got no filter and I got no inside voice. And at some point, I figure I'm going to get old enough that they're just going to say, well, he's just a chromogenous, and they're going to let him just say anything. Okay.

Yep.

But. But the reality is, is that most of our money lessons are caught, not taught. We see things, we hear things, we watch things. Everything from how they portray a wealthy person in a cartoon to watching your parents maybe argue about money. That's not the issue. The issue is how we then interpret it. See, what's causing us to do things with money in a certain way is not the facts of what happened. It's the interpretation of the facts, which become meaning, which become identity. And it creates what I call a money set point. So, for instance, said I lost one third of my net worth in a Ponzi scheme. That was in 2004 or 5 when that happened. And here I was a CPA, a financial guy that people came to and everything. And I. And I got caught in this fraud. And I'm going, you're useless. You're dumb. Give up your CPA license. You shouldn't be doing this. I have a Go flip burgers. I mean, just all that story. But that wasn't the facts. That was my interpretation of the facts. And if I allowed that interpretation to take hold, you and I wouldn't be having this conversation. You and I and Chris, we probably wouldn't be friends because I'd be in a whole different place. But it was. Wait a second. If I. And here's how to figure this out. If you wanted to separate the interpretation of facts, assume or pretend that you're looking at what happened through a camera lens with no sound. And the question is, what does the camera see? In my Ponzi scheme, the camera would have seen me giving someone money and that person taking the money and not doing the right thing with it and me never getting money back. That's it. Everything else is interpretation. And it's that interpretation that gets us in trouble. And when we can separate the facts from the interpretation, we say, okay, so what can I learn from the facts, not the interpretation. Well, what I learned from that is a set of rules that I follow for investing, for due diligence, for avoiding. And it's the same things that I do with my clients. So what it did is it actually strengthened me. It should, because I paid for 12 PhDs with how much I lost, but it allowed me to take away some lessons that then I could pay forward. And so one of the first things to Understand is that we have to separate the interpretation and the emotions and all of that from the facts of what actually happened. Because the lessons and the gold are in the facts, not the interpretation. The doomsdays and the interpretation.

Oh man. You know, Mel, you have an amazing story that I just want to share because I kind of want to know how it's impacted your opinions and beliefs and ideas around money. Because sometimes when people go through a journey like yours, like a cancer journey, which you did, maybe sometimes for them they're like money doesn't matter, but it actually became more important for you. So can you touch on that just a little bit and share with everyone? Because I think that's something that you're one of like the healthiest, youngest looking people that I know after that. So what was that for you?

So for me, and I'll go back a little further because it's what set me up. I didn't know that this was the case, but I was a single full time dad dad raising my son when it from age five and a half. And I was doing what I thought I should be doing, running on the treadmill, making the money and everything. And he drew a picture of me at school and that picture was of me standing in front of computer screens and phones in the air. But it wasn't us having fun. And that was the day that I kind of go, oh, wait a second, I'm doing it wrong. I got to figure out how to do money and business different, differently. And that's where it started, shifts and things. And that's where I understood this idea of the earnings journey and the money journey. So that it was at the hands of a six year old boy that I saw that there was two journeys. But then fast forward in 2019, everything's going great. I'm speaking around the world, I've got multi six figure launches I'm masterminding. And I go to the doctor because I had some symptoms and he looks at me and he says, we see a 5 centimeter tumor on your bladder. And like I'm laying in this hospital bed before surgery, he says we're going to go in, we're going to take this thing out. And it turned out to be seven and a half centimeters. Wow. He said. But the problem is that it's on top of the prostate, which means that we might have to take the prostate out. I can't see the urine on the right side, which means that I might have to put a tube in a bagging for the kidney. Me. Oh gosh, he says, and if it's bad, you're gonna lose your bladder. I'm like. And I'm looking at, you know, my son Jeremy and Stephanie, my wife and I go, life's changed. But here's the thing. I knew in that moment we were shutting everything down. I stopped the business, I stopped everything. And the only thing in my life was to beat this master, you know, this get rid of, get rid of this demon that was inside of me and make my body not a welcome host for it. But in order to do that, I still had to fight the cancer psychologically, physically, medically, spiritually, energetically. But I did not have to fight it financially. And the reason I didn't have to fight it financially is because of the lessons I got from Jeremy, this earnings, earnings journey and the money journey. Because I had a money machine that I knew that all I had to do is flip the switch and it would carry our lifestyle along without draining things, without selling things, without doing anything. And I didn't have to worry about the financial part of that, that journey. And whether it's a medical issue like cancer or, or something else to have that ability to say, I'm okay financially. No matter what happens, I'm okay financially. So it never becomes the determining factor because I didn't care what doctors I went to, I didn't care what I had to do. I said, I'm going to do everything in my power to beat this thing as much as, as possible. So I saw doctors that were in plan, out of plan, Western, eastern, holistic, it didn't matter. The whole point was that the decisions I was making around my medical and my future, the future of my family were not financial decisions because that was taken off the table by doing. And so the birth of the earnings machine and the money machine was at the hands of the six year old boy. The importance of it was in the hands of cancer. And that's the thing that I think we all should be looking at is how do we give us that choice back, that ability to be okay?

Well, I love that story because of that reason. Some people may not be confronted with something like that right now, but you're buying future choice. And nothing is worse than when a loved one, yourself, when you feel helpless to help people. And so money to me has really turned into a tool. Like a really incredible, beautiful, very, very important tool for solving problems with ease and quickly. So I'm so grateful for you sharing this. Is there, are there a couple things.

You want to say?

Yeah. Yes.

Totally puts more options on the table.

Yeah, absolutely. Are there any things that have popped up in your head that you want to share with people around money that you're like, ah, I got to leave them with this.

Yeah. I think that the biggest thing is that one of the other things that I hear from people is that, well, I'm young and I have time. Okay, so let's talk about that for a moment and just real quickly. Remember my, I call it the Emily factor. My granddaughter.

Yeah.

The fact that I'm starting early allows her to have the million 465 by 60 for a low amount. Jeremy and, and his wife Cami have two kids, three homes and a multi million dollar net worth at 33 and 30. It doesn't matter the age or stage, you can have it. The key is this, that, that whether you're young or old, if you aren't investing, then now is the right time invest. People will say, well, you know, what's going on in, in the market? Should I invest as a good time? Well, if you're not investing, it's a good time. Get in the game now. Then there's these other folks that say, I haven't done it, I'm too late. I go, I get it. So what's the excuse then? You're going to sit back and say, since I'm too late, I'm not going to do nothing. Well, what's the alternative? What does that lead to? That leads to either government support, welfare, Social Security, on your kid's couch. None of those sound very, very, very lighting. And so you sit back and say, but what happens? I'm not going to get all, I'm not going to get all the way to the goal. I get it. You might not, but if you got 30% there, you're 30% better off than you were otherwise. So the one thing that I would say is that now is always the good time. The question you should be asking isn't, is now the right time to invest? The question we should be asking is, what should I be investing in now that works for me because there's always opportunity. We just need to do the right opportunity for us with our age and stage in life and not sit on the sidelines. Let me just really quickly give you this because I did this. So for those people that don't mean I'll be 62 this year, but I asked 12, just so you know, all.

Right, he looks 20 years younger than that. So.

And the beautiful thing is, if I've been through like 40 rate hikes, you know, the, the dot com bus, the. Yes, I've been through a parade of stuff and I'm still here. But I sat in a room two and a half decades ago with a financial guy like me on stage talking, but he was talking about doom and gloom. I literally didn't wait till he finished his presentation. I walked down, I called my broker, I said, hey, I don't want to play this game anymore. I don't. He, you know, Armageddon's coming, I'm out. Put me in cash. And so he sold everything, put me in cash. And I sat there for over a decade not investing because I was scared, because of the stories. And I went back and I said, if I had stayed in the game back then and kept investing what, what I was doing back then with the returns that happened in the market, how much more net worth would I have? How much more wealth would I have? That number, $3,918,723. Oh my God here cost me 4 million bucks. The market goes up 8 out of 10 years on average. 8 out of 10 years. That means 80% of the time it's up, 20% of the time, it's down. The downs are absolutely squashed by the ups. On a historical basis. We just need to get in the game, stay in the game, make it easy and automatic and just keep going.

Oh, I love that you shared that story. That is so powerful. I think of that all the time. When people are like, oh, it's such a terrible time in the world. I'm like, I think we just need to listen somewhere else because you still, life still goes on, so you have to be in the game. I love that you talk about that. Mel, you have an awesome seven day money plan challenge that people can get that talks all about going over, shifting your financial destiny, wealth building, talking about why you need a money plan, your money stories, understanding your numbers and why you're leaking money, good and bad debt, income ratcheting, and the core fundamentals of investing and investing principles. So you guys, if you're like this just cracked open something for you and you want to learn more. Mel not only has this, but I know he has a lot of other things too. Where can we find those? And I'll also link them up below.

But moneyplanworkshop.com is where you can get that or you can get it on my website, melabraham.com it's there to build a unshakable financial foundation. People will tell me, what do you want to invest in when first off. Let's make sure you have a good, good foundation, good framing for the house before you put the finish work on your investing. The rest of it are money principles, management principles, debt principles, and the things that actually will carry you through the good and the bad. And so that's part of what that is. I'm on Instagram Mel Abraham, 9 and I also, I have my show, the affluent entrepreneur show where I do bring people's questions on. So if you have questions, send them to me. I'm more than happy to answer them. If it's the kind of question that makes sense, I'll even try to bring you on and coach you live.

Oh, you guys, that's exciting. That would be amazing to get some time with him.

Yeah. Financial freedom to me is a birthright. We just got to claim it and be proud of it, go after it and use it for good. The good that it was meant to be.

Oh, I'm so glad you came on the show. And you guys, I literally think I saw that that seven day money plan challenge was $7, is that right?

A dollar a day.

That is a no brainer if you are feeling like you want to really, really feel empowered around your finances. If this just really gave you some light bulb moments about what you want to do and where you want to go. So, Mel, thank you so much for coming on. You guys. One of the biggest things that we can do for Mel is to let him know what your biggest takeaway was as well. So let him know on Instagram go check out his show. I mean, this is only going to help you. All of the things that I can tell you on the show, you first need to know exactly what Mel is talking about. So, Mel, it's always so much fun, you guys. We get to go out to dinner with him and his amazing beautiful wife Stephanie. And we just have a blast acting like 12 year olds and sometimes talking about money. So we're so grateful for you. And until next time, earn your happy.

Bye, everyone.

Sam.