Wealth Secret Revealed - Good Health = Great Wealth

Building and sustaining wealth is at least a passive goal that most of us share. Finding ways to accomplish that goal often eludes us, however; and one of the not so well known wealth secrets of successful people is good health.Good physical and mental health can bring about change in our careers. Working for more than just a paycheck can be rewarding in ways that can't be measured in dollars and cents. It is not a stretch to think that the healthier we are, the more successful we can be.

We have been conditioned to believe that the most important aspects of success include hard work, dedication, persistence, relentless pursuit of goals and so on. All of those traits can lead to success, but mental and physical health is proving to be every bit as important as the tangible tools we use to gain success.

A recent study showed that people who were generally happy missed fewer days of work, and were generally more productive than those who classified themselves as not as happy. Further, the self-described happy workers had fewer health related absences from work as well.

The mind-body connection has been studied over the years, and there is documented proof that those who were emotionally stable were generally healthy. Recent studies regarding the connection between our emotional state and what we do for a living reveal a surprising result as well.

Some surveys reveal that people who truly enjoy what they do for a living are more successful than those who do not like what they do. This group also displayed fewer reported occurrences of illness, stress related health issues and time off than their counterparts.

Making the connection, good emotional health helps people maintain good physical health, which contributes to more productive time on the jobs they enjoy, which equates to more success. How's that for a wealth secret?!

Good physical and mental health can bring about change in our careers. Working for more than just a paycheck can be rewarding in ways that can't be measured in dollars and cents. It is not a stretch to think that the healthier we are, the more successful we can be.

The CEO of a small non-profit company that manufactures t-shirts spends a portion of every day in the warehouse packaging and shipping the company's products. His idea is that every person his company employs should be focused on producing the best business result for the company.

He believes that no one employee, including himself, is more important than the goal of quality results. His team sees him as a leader who is not afraid to do what is needed to achieve results, and in turn they are more fulfilled in working there.

The shared outcome for workers and supervisors goes beyond a productive workforce. The turnover in employees is nearly non-existent. Sick days are minimal, and collaborative innovation is flowing from the workforce to the CEO.

Here are several traits shared by all wealthy people:

1. Action:

Bill Gates reportedly said, “Television is not real life. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.” The majority of people fail to achieve their financial goals because they waste their time and energy chasing rainbows, seeking shortcuts, and hoping for good fortune. While it is possible to win the lottery or inherit the estate of a long-lost, forgotten relative, it is extremely unlikely.

The consequences of inaction is continuation of the status quo. Wealth builders take action to change their circumstances by expanding their capabilities, gaining new experience, and pursuing new challenges.

2. Discipline:

Spending and saving habits are developed early and persist throughout life. Developing the discipline to control your spending and consistently save is critical if you want to achieve financial independence one day.

H.L. Hunt, a Texas oilman reputed to be the wealthiest man in the world in the late 1950s, continued to drive himself in a six-year Plymouth to work, and carried his lunch in a brown paper bag until the day he died. Warren Buffett, perhaps the greatest stock investor of all-time and a consistent member of the world’s richest individuals, continues to live in the house he bought in 1958 for $31,500. If you seek investment success, you should maintain a living standard that trails the growth in your income – for example, deferring the purchase of a new car for five years, rather than every three years – and investing the savings.

The daily choices we make determine whether we have excess capital to save and invest. Most Americans choose to consume, rather than save, unable to distinguish between needs and wants. Wealth builders postpone consumption in order to maximize their funds available for investment, foregoing luxuries today to build a strong foundation for the future. As Dave Ramsey, noted stock market adviser and author, stated, “It’s learning to live on less than you make, so you can give money back and have money to invest. You can’t win until you do this.”

3. Knowledge:

According to psychologist John Johnson, the game of poker is an excellent metaphor for human life. In both life and poker, we must deal with a number of factors we neither choose nor control. How we deal with those factors depends upon our knowledge of the rules of the game and past experiences, our own and those of others.

Investing requires a series of choices in an ever-changing milieu of consequences. Each choice has an element of risk that all or a portion of the investment will be lost, will return less than expected, or will return less than other investments that might have otherwise been chosen. Learning when to hold ’em or fold ’em is the skill every successful investor must learn, sometimes at significant cost.

George Soros, a Hungarian emigrant and founder of an international hedge fund with an estimated net worth of $22 billion, recognized that his success was due to his experience: “I’m only rich because I know when I’m wrong…I basically have survived by recognizing my mistakes.”

4. Persistence:

The path of investment success is rarely smooth, but a series of peaks and valleys, the height and depths of which are unknown during the journey. It is likely to be a cycle of exhilarating highs and devastating lows, testing the patience and determination of even those most determined to fulfill their ambitions.

There are no sure things in the world of investing, and this volatility causes many to lose focus, discouraged by setbacks and failure. “Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success,” according to Ross Perot. “They quit on the one-yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown.”

Some, the individuals we read about and seek to emulate, acknowledge failure with a renewed commitment to success. These investors examine the disasters and learn from the experience, recognizing that they are better prepared for the next obstacle. Peter Lynch, the portfolio manager of the Fidelity Magellan Fund who beat the S&P 500 Index benchmark 11 out of 13 years with an average annual return of 29%, said that you should understand there will be periods of stock market declines with portfolio losses, and be willing to accept those circumstances: “In this business, if you’re good, you’re right 6 out of 10 times. You’re never going to be right 9 times out of 10.

Perhaps it is simplistic to view happiness as the ultimate measure for success. It may be even more unrealistic to think that happy people are more likely to become wealthy. Changing the way we look at ways to be successful, and what being successful truly means, may be more practical.

Perhaps we should consider a new movement in our society. It can be a movement for positive thought and Utopian work places. The wealth secret revealed in our new society would be "Don't worry, Be Happy...and Wealthy!"