As I came up to leave my local post office today, I noticed these two stop signs: 1 to my left, 1 to my right. It reminded me about the importance of stopping (very unlike that vehicle that just kind of slid through not coming to a complete stop, but instead, not even yielding, just passed through). There are times in our lives that we just need to plainly stop and think about it: think about what it is that we need to do to get ahead.
I have had a great opportunity over my lifetime to be able to do a lot of traveling worldwide, and what I have noticed when I visit older countries is that I will see a lot of castles. I will see castles whether it's in Italy or castles in Germany, castles in Great Britain, Ireland, or Wales. There are castles all over Europe because they realized hundreds and hundreds of years ago that with the castles, they could protect their stuff. Today, instead of stopping and thinking about “castle-building” everybody is go, go, go all the time: how do I build the maximum amount of wealth as quickly as possible, how do I get ahead, how do I accumulate assets, or how do I accumulate money? It's all about go, go, go, but back then they realized the importance of protecting their wealth 1st and accumulating their wealth 2nd.
Today, I want to talk about simply stopping and thinking about the concept of maximizing your life through “castle-building”. Now, the way that we protect ourselves today is that we build our castles through protections like: Automobile Insurance, Homeowner's Insurance, Liability Insurance, Disability Insurance, Medical Insurance, Social Security benefits, Wills and Trusts, Ownership Arrangements, and Life Insurance. All those protect us against the unknowns, and they allow us to be able to potentially build our wealth for the future, whether that wealth building happens with money market accounts, savings accounts, CDs, or whether that happens with savings accounts like savings bonds, or whether that happens with inflation-protected bonds through the government, or 401Ks, IRAs or Roth IRAs. That is Wealth Creation, but think about stopping. Think about building your Castle 1st.
If something bad happens in your life, are you protected, or, are you just sliding through as we have already seen some cars do right behind me, even though there are two stop signs that are telling them to stop, look both ways, then proceed? So today, here's the concept I want you to be thinking about: stopping and looking both ways, building your fortress, building your castle, and building your moat of protection. Build your protection before building your wealth so your wealth has an opportunity not only to grow, but to remain.
Let's talk about some of the insurances that I was just discussing:
- Automobile Insurance, Liability Insurance, Homeowner’s Insurance, do you know why we have that? Yes, it’s in case your house burns to the ground. Yes, it’s in case you're in an automobile accident, but primarily, we want to make certain that if you are sued, there is protection that someone won't take your stuff.
- Disability Insurance: why do we have that? Because you want to make certain that you have insured the goose as opposed to your golden eggs. Your golden eggs: that's your wealth that you want to accumulate. The goose: that's you, and you want to make certain that the goose is insured so that continues on. That is moat building. That is castle-building.
- Medical Insurance. We've all heard a story where, all of a sudden, the healthiest person that you’ve ever known comes down with something. Instead of your wealth being ravaged, you have medical insurance that can protect you so your wealth can continue as is.
- Social Security does the same thing. In fact, a lot of people don't realize that Social Security is actually “social insurance.” It's to make certain that you are protected against bad things happening in your life.
- Wills and Trusts. Those are put into place again to protect your stuff. If you don't have a Will, especially if you're married, especially if you have children, now is the time to get connected with a good attorney that can draft a Will that can protect you and your family and your children.
- Ownership Arrangements. How do you own your stuff? Is it individually? Is it maritally? Is it through a Limited Liability Company, a Subchapter S, or a C corporation? The reason that corporations are put together is to protect us and to have a layer of liability between us and something bad that can happen to us.
- Life Insurance is a way that all of these can come into play because unlike Automobile Insurance, Liability Insurance, or Homeowner's Insurance, which is a Possibility Insurance of things that can go wrong, Life Insurance is a for-sure item. It's not a question of if you are going to die, but it's a question of when. If you can build that moat that can protect you and replace your assets when you take the big trip, it provides you a leverage tool so you can spend your wealth better, you can protect your wealth, and you can have multiple options on how to use your wealth for the future.
So, here's today's message: again, there is a stop sign to my left and to my right. As I have been doing this recording, there have been cars one-by-one that have been leaving this parking lot. If you also watched the video, how many people came to a complete stop, or just like that last vehicle, there was no complete stop? Today, come to a stop. Come to a stop and consider building your castle, building your moat first to protect you and to protect your wealth today and your potential wealth into the future.
Double Stop Signs. Today is the day to Stop.
