As a financial advisor, I work with individuals to help them live a full, rich, rewarding, fulfilled life. This, to me, is a true RichLife. However, every day I meet scores of people who are short-circuiting their RichLife. They do this in many and varied ways, but in this article I want to point out three main ones.

Failure to Discover and Live Out Your Purpose

Your life purpose is rooted in the gifting and talents that have been endowed to you. One way to learn your life’s purpose is to ask the question,

“If you could spend your days doing what you love whether or not you received monetary compensation, what would you do?”

The answer to that would most likely reveal valid clues toward what you were put on this earth to do – your life purpose.

The RichLife principle is built upon the concept that we are responsible to invest in and live out our life purpose in the best way possible. Living your purpose is the greatest gift you can give to yourself, to those you love, and to the world at large. This is what God created you to be (and do).

Living a Life Void of Unique Experiences

I enjoy spending time with retirees. I love to hear them tell their stories. I love to see the special looks and the laughter exchanged between a couple as they recall special times from the past. I have come to refer to these special times as unique experiences. I have discovered that as those retirees look back on their lives, they place more store by these unique experiences than they do their bank account.

Unique experiences are important in anyone’s life, but they don’t happen by accident. It takes planning to create special times together. I find that those persons whose lives are on fast forward miss the richness of unique experiences and in the end they are the loser.

Buying In To the Accumulation Theory

We now have an entire generation that has bought into the accumulation theory, when in fact the accumulation theory that is presented in most retirement plans seldom works in reality. The entire premise of accumulation is based on hoarding; hoarding is based on fear. The fear of never having enough. I call it a scarcity mindset. The scarcity mindset shuts down creativity, robs people of their hope, and quenches their dreams.

I see this every day – those who are terrified of living longer than their money will hold out – will never create value in the world. That individual is unproductive, and so is their money. (Unproductive for that person at least – but certainly not for the financial institution holding their funds.)

If the accumulation of money is the sole life focus, many other things will fall by the wayside and suffer from neglect. And, as is often the case, this distortion will cause the money to decrease rather increase.

Summary
These then are three ways in which I have observed that people short-circuit their RichLife:

• Failure to Discover and Live Out Your Purpose
• Living a Life Void of Unique Experiences
• Buying In To the Accumulation Theory

All three are simple to remedy. You can begin those remedies today.

When you think of the word energy in your own personal life, what images come instantly to mind? Is it that drained feeling you experience while driving home from work? Or the frustration at wanting to be involved in activities but are too tired to take on?

That of course is the most common association we have when thinking about energy. However, it’s important to take a closer look at this concept of personal energy.

The truth is, everything in the Universe is composed of energy of one form or another. Believe it or not, this includes your thoughts. According to Quantum Physics, all forms of matter and energy are attracted to that which is of a like vibration. This means you attract what you put your energy and focus on, consciously or unconsciously – whether wanted or unwanted. (This is the basic precept of the Law of Attraction.) This also will play a large role in whether or not you are living out the best form of your RichLife.

So if this is true (and it is) that means you are either creating positive or negative energy through and by your thought patterns. It has been proven – scientifically – that thoughts are energy. They can actually be measured.

All the anger, bitterness and resentment that you feel you have a right to hold on to, is harming only you. It creates and releases more and more negative energy; which, in turn, attracts more negativity to you in all types and varieties, including people and events. Additionally, it’s a proven fact that negative thinking can rob a person of physical energy, as well as contributing to a wide variety of illnesses.

Within the concepts of living the RichLife, stewardship lies at the very foundation. Stewardship simply means you take responsibility of a certain item or area. That being said, how are you doing in the area of stewardship with regard to your thought life?
Why continue to allow the negative energy of damaging thoughts rob you of your RichLife? Take responsibility of your thought life today. It will change your life; and enrich your tomorrows.

After the radio show, Beau and I really wanted more content from Jim, so here’s even more!

Yes, so what would you say are your top 10 tips for job seekers and entrepreneurs?

1. Create a strategy. Job Seekers tend to be be reactive. They begin looking as soon as they are fired or laid off or at the rumor of a layoff. So I say, start job hunting early and never stop. Always be open to hearing opportunities, whether you accept them or not. I was laid off in the last recession of 2002, but I have not had to look for a job since then (thank God) because I keep myself in the public eye of potential employers.
   
   How did you do that?
2. Decided on a path. When Recruiters look at a resume they do not want to think. If they are looking to hire an Accountant, they want to skim over your resume and see Accounting experience relevant to what they are hiring for. I knew earlier on that I was going to stay with Sourcing as a career, so I knew I had to make a name for myself in the field.
3. Established an identity. As someone who researches the internet everyday, I knew how Recruiters use the internet to find resumes, so I made my resume available for ALL recruiters to find for free. Job Seekers do not consider this when they apply for jobs on Monster or CareerBuilder or… wherever, but Job Boards cost money and the more job boards a Recruiter uses, the more expensive it gets. (Sure there are some free job boards out there, but the ones that Recruiters tend towards cost.) So to save money, big companies go to Google and search for free resumes and save a dollar. Smaller search firms that may have access to one or ever no job boards go to Google, do a search and find free resumes. (See the pattern here?) I wanted to place myself in a position where ALL Recruiters could find me for free. So, I created a homepage called Jim Stroud.com and posted my resume there so recruiters can find it with Google or any other search engine. Once I had that set up, I also created a profile on Linkedin which (at the time) was gaining in popularity with Recruiters.
4. Recruit non-competitive allies to assist you. I found people who worked in HR, who understood what I did, but did not compete with me and exchanged leads with them. For example, if I were a Surgeon, I would work alongside nurses and anesthesiologists and medical assistants and.. whatever. If I asked a nurse if she knew of any leads for a Surgeon, chances are her leads would be of more use to me than say… an Architect I just met in a career networking group. I could go into deeper detail with this strategy, but the short version is that I built a team of people with the same goal – to find work. We paid each other with business leads and continued until we were all working.
5. Create a Blog – JobSeekers Revenge and used it as a way to share career information with other job seekers and to promote my skills as well.
6. Recruit the right recruiters to work for You.
7. Every company has an employee referral program. – Locate people in the company and get them to make the referral.  Find people who work in a company (use Linkedin) and convince them to pass your resume along.  If you get hired, they get a bonus. If not, no consequence to them.
8. RESEARCH! I would research startup companies that have just received funding.
9. Target recruiters who focus on my niche.
10. I would look up Associations and ask if they accept free articles for their newsletters. In this way, I could promote my skills to the right people.

If this didn’t work what else might you do?

• Target recruiters who focus on my niche.
• Target recruiters who work or have worked in companies I want to get in
• Convince the recruiter that I have a lot of contacts in the industry and they he should consider networking with me. If he/she cannot place me, then maybe they will place one of my friends and as a result, they may refer more jobs to me out of kindness of quid pro quo.
• I would look up podcasts on Blog Talk Radio and iTunes that speak to my industry.   Ask to be a guest on their show.  Treat the interview like a job interview because I am auditioning my knowledge to everyone listening.
• I would lay groundwork to impress future Hiring Managers. I would look up Associations and ask if they accept free articles for their newsletters. In this way, I could promote my skills to the right people.
• I would look up newspapers, trade publications, magazines, blogs that deal with my industry and look up the names of the reporters and editors and introduce myself as someone with years of experience in that field and suggest that if they ever need a quote from an industry expert in their next article, feel free to call on me.
• When I am mentioned in an article, newsletter, featured on a podcast or a radio, I add all of that to my resume. Now in addition to all of my work history, I have a list of credentials that will (hopefully) impress a recruiter as an above average candidate.
• I would use Google Ads / Facebook Ads to target potential employers. I would run the ad for my resume, or better yet my blog.

Finally, once I was employed, I would be very strategic.

* The first few months to a year I would be focused on doing what I was hired to do and do it very well. I need to do that in order to build confidence.
* The second thing I would do is look at areas where the company is hurting and try to improve it. I would look for or proactively create and manage projects that would have a high impact on the company.
* I would keep every “good job” email I get from my manager and peers.
* The underlying question I would be looking to answer is “What project can I complete that would look good on my resume?”
* Tweak my resume (at least) once a year. Keep it posted online. If anyone asks, I am perfectly happy where I am, but I may know someone that might be a fit for your job. In this way, I am in a position to refuse work and pass it on, which is MUCH better than having to look for it in the first place.

Where is Job Seekers Revenge now?
I sold it to CollegeRecruiter.com. (Yay!)With all that you mentioned about creating a blog and teaming up with people and so on, how long did it take you to get back to work?

How can people contact you?

www.JimStroud.com – All my contact info is there.

Much of the reason why so many people today live lives that are meager, unfulfilled, and empty has to do with this concept of stewardship.

Stewardship is a term that isn’t heard much these days. While the use of the word seems a little outdated, the concept can be considered timeless. Stewardship can be closely related to responsibility, a concept that never goes out of style. A life based on stewardship, and more specifically taking responsibility, is one of the core principles of living the RichLife.

Those individuals who push through each day at top speed doing as much as is possible, to gain (accumulate) as much as is possible may be missing the key to living a truly RichLife. (A fulfilled life.)

Ask yourself this question: Do you view your talents and physical possessions as something you own and are entitled to? Or as special gifts that have been entrusted to your keeping? The latter describes a person who understands stewardship. Interestingly enough, the root word for stewardship is keeper.

The irresponsible person will not respect their own talents and giftings, nor will they take responsibility to perfect them. That will be true then in most every facet of that person’s life. We see this happening every day in the lives of those around us. People are focused on accumulating a certain amount of money. Or on accumulating a certain number of possessions. Or on simply getting through the month with enough money to make it. Even the thought of stewardship is seldom considered.

Once a person changes his mindset over to a stewardship philosophy, it changes everything. It changes how that person thinks, serves, communicates and produces. That person will be serious about learning his purpose in this life and take the needed steps to live out that purpose.

While stewardship includes money, it definitely is not at the top of the list. It’s a fact that when the principles of stewardship come into play, finances nearly always increase.

As a financial advisor I conduct seminars that I call, “Financial Keys to Success.” During that seminar I ask the attendees this very pointed question:

If you had great health, and enjoyed all the normal physical capabilities, and yet you knew you had exactly six months to live – what would you do?

I then make the challenge even more difficult by allowing only sixty seconds for all the attendees to write down at least five things.

Think about it. What would you write?

It’s an interesting thing to watch the faces as they grow serious and intent. People all around the room are furiously writing their answers.

I don’t think it’s any secret what most of the answers are. I’ve never had anyone write down that they would immediately go out and buy a bigger house. Or invest in more stocks. Or ask for a promotion at work.

What do you think is at the top of nearly every list? If you said anything to do with relationships you win the prize.

I then encourage those at my seminar not to wait for a “death sentence” to get started on their list.

Valuable relationships are essential to living the RichLife; and such relationships never happen by accident. Nor should relationship nurturing be postponed.

Have you ever been guilty of saying (or even thinking) “I’ll have more time with my spouse after I retire”? Or “I’ll spend more time with the kids after this business is up and running”?

What if that kind of tomorrow never comes? I challenge you to take a moment and answer the question presented above. What’s at the top of your list?

I have found that the person who lives a fulfilled RichLife doesn’t place relationships on the back burner to simmer until later in life. The RichLife is one where relationships are invested in and tended to on a daily basis. Determine that you will spend quality time with those who mean the most to you. And do it today.

When I started viewing life more like a school than a battlefield or chessboard, my life, peace, and success have improved dramatically.

In college you enroll in a degree or certificate program in your field of choice.  You have to first complete a core curriculum of general studies before you can advance to your major classes.  And within the core curriculum there are certain classes that require prerequisites before you can move forward.  An example would be completing Lit 101 and 102 before you can move on to 200 and 300 level classes.  If you don’t pass a required course you have to take it again until you get the passing grade.

A mentor and dear friend Steve D’Annunzio shared the concept that life is no different than school.  There are lessons we have to learn to move forward, and when we don’t learn the necessary information, we have to repeat the lesson over and over until we learn what we need to know to move forward.  Have you ever found yourself in the same bad position over and over again whether it be the same kind of relationship, the same money problems, the same job issues, or anything else that seems to be attracted to you? Chances are that there is a lesson there that has not been learned that contains exactly what you need to know to move onto the next step of exactly what you want.

When you look at life this way there are no mistakes, only necessary valuable lessons.  You can enjoy the times that are great and realize that when they are not you are in the midst of a pre-requisite needed to take you where you want to go.

In summary, I would like to share what is posted on my wall in the office to remind me that I am in a school called life and that even the bad is good:

1. We live in a school called Life
2. There are no mistakes, only valuable lessons
3. A lesson will be repeated until it is learned
4. Each time a lesson is repeated it becomes more painful
5. The greatest lesson we can learn is choose Love over Fear

It’s definitely true that opposites attract, and financial opposites can cause some serious problems in a marriage. But it’s possible to get ahead of those problems, and the financial challenges that come with them, if you simply find some common ground with some serious talks—before the wedding day arrives. You might be more focused on finding a reception site and picking the perfect flowers, but be sure you’re also having these discussions:

• Get in touch with your financial personality. You may have tons in common, but that doesn’t mean you operate the same way where money’s concerned. It’s very important you talk about how you both spend, save and invest, so that you can make decisions you’re both comfortable with.
• Plan ahead, farther than you think you need to. Even if you’re a young couple, now’s the time to discuss your future goals. Planning for your financial future requires taking steps now, such as deciding how much you’ll set aside from each paycheck. So don’t put off talking about retirement goals, even though it may seem too far away to consider.
• Talk about the tough subjects. Blending a family (successfully) requires a lot of consideration and discussion, and the financial side is no different. Before the wedding, you need to have a conversation about estate planning. You don’t want to make the “what’s mine is yours” assumption and you don’t want to get five years in, then have to determine which kids get what. Now is the time to settle it all: insurance, wills and trusts.
• Plan for your spouse’s security. One of the most beautiful gifts you can give your new spouse is the knowledge that he/she will always be taken care of. Couples need to establish peace of mind that if something happens to one of you, the other spouse won’t suddenly be forced to part with major assets, such as college funds or your house. Different kinds of insurance, such as life or disability insurance, are more appropriate depending on your age and situation, so consult an insurance expert about your security planning options.
• Start young. Find a way to follow a few general financial rules, and you’re going to be much more relaxed about your monetary future, which always spells a happier marriage. First, if your company offers a match on your retirement plan, get it.  Next, fund a ROTH IRA for tax free growth forever.  Tax rates are likely to be higher when you retire, so putting money in now is a good bet to have more money for retirement. But also, know that it’s never too late to get started. There’s nothing more stressful than starting from scratch at 40 or 50, feeling like you missed the boat, and doing nothing as a result. You’re responsible for your future, and now both of you are responsible for each other, too.
• Make a will and keep it up to date. Outdated wills are common, and they can cause huge heartache and headaches. Before you tie the knot, see an attorney and do a basic will. If you are going to have a blended family, now is the time to have a conversation with a financial advisor and estate planning attorney to discuss possible estate planning issues. You’ll reap some tax benefits from this planning and also ensure that your wishes are carried out.
• Decide who does what. There’s simply no right way to decide who will be in charge of the finances, and that’s why you have to talk about it. Whatever you decide, it has to be an arrangement that works for both of you, so be ready to listen and compromise. If one person often handles all of the finances, that person should consider working with an advisor they trust who will communicate their wishes and help their spouse through the financial end if something happens to them.
• Talk it through with an expert. There truly are a lot of financial issues for new couples to consider, and they differ depending on your age and each spouse’s family situation. So one of the best things you can do is find a financial advisor  to walk you through these discussions. Financial advisors often specialize in different areas of advisement, so make a few phone calls to find an  advisor who will do a consultation that addresses your stage in life and walk you through the next steps.

You’d think that establishing a solid financial base as a couple has more to do with the number on your bank statement than anything else, but really, like most things in marriage, it’s about good communication. Talk now—and keep talking—and your financial situation will be happily ever after.

We’re through the holidays and squarely in the New Year, and I’ve spent a lot of the year’s first few weeks talking to clients about their goals and hopes for 2010. It’s true: we all look to each new year as a chance to start fresh, to redirect our energy to the things we want to accomplish most. Looking forward is great, and it’s important. But as you plan the list of things you will do in 2010, it’s equally important that you look back, too.

• Reflect. Take inventory of what you wanted to accomplish. What were your wins? What didn’t work out? And what were the lessons you can take moving forward? Your 2009 inventory will arm you with the experience you need to be sure that, every year, your list of wins gets longer and longer.
• Let it go. Once you’ve given 2009 a good, hard look, put a lid on it. Too many people will hang on to what happened last year, and that won’t help you find success. Take those lessons from last year as exactly what they are: lessons, experiences to prepare you to win big in 2010.
• Write it down. As a financial planner, I urge people to write out their intentions and goals each year. This exercise gives you something to measure against when 2011 comes around. It will also help you find out what was really important to you. By doing this every year, recording intentions, measuring against them and then resetting, that’s the best chance to achieve your goals. It works for finances, but you can do the same with all your goals: health, recreation, business and spiritual.

Best New Year’s wishes to everyone.

Buford, Ga. –Dec. 1, 2009 – RichLife Advisors hosted a complimentary dinner workshop on December 1 and 3 addressing the primary economic questions and concerns for seniors in the local area. RichLife founder and financial advisor, Beau Henderson met with guests at Provino’s in Buford last week to shed light on the current economic environment. The goal of the event was for people planning for retirement to gain awareness on topics and concerns that their financial professionals should be addressing in today’s more volatile climate. RichLife Advisors host several monthly educational workshops covering multiple topics, retirement planning, college planning, real estate investment, networking, and tangible assets, that are presented by the top local professionals in their respective fields/specialties. For a complete listing of upcoming workshops, visit www.richlifeadvisors.com. If you have any questions regarding future events, or would like a presentation put together for your group, call Kelley Nan at (678) 371-4412.

It’s not big news that 2009 was a tough economic year, but here’s the real news: you have it in your power to take back the reigns over your financial future. And the even better news is that with a few spending, saving and investing strategies, 2010 can be the year that starts to happen.

Look ahead. Way ahead. No matter what happened in 2009, you’re still going to retire. Truly, you are, and you can. So while it might seem like a good idea to hold off on your IRA contributions or investments while the economy is uncertain, resist that temptation. When you’ve put your money in a good place, it will earn more money for you in the long run, and that’s what you want. You’re probably saying to yourself, Okay, fine, what “a good place”? Great question, and that’s one for your financial advisor. A well-informed financial advisor is the best-qualified person to help you put your money in a place where it can get to work. So that one day you can stop going to work.

Slash spending. It’s a tough truth, but while the economy is possibly nearing a bounce-back, it will still be many months before the positive effects of a turnaround will trickle into our bank accounts. So you should definitely be looking for ways to reign in your cash outlay. It sounds obvious, but there are ways to trim spending that you might be missing. Sit down with your bank and credit card statements with a red pen. Look for things you truly could have done without, or at the very least put off buying until you saved for it. And don’t just do it once. Check in with those statements regularly to keep an eye on spending you’ve missed.

Plan for rainy months, not days. All that money you saved with conscious spending—and as much additional savings as you can manage— should be padding your reserve fund. A three-month reserve fund is often safe, but in a volatile economic climate, I recommend planning for six months. Layoffs and emergency situations often cause families to accumulate plaguing debt because they end up paying big interest above and beyond the cash they need to cover monthly expenses. Obviously, this reserve account won’t appear all in one day, but it’s important to set a goal for the reserve amount you need, create a plan to start building it and then get started right away.

Love student loans. It’s been your dream since they day they were born to watch them cross the stage and accept that diploma, and you don’t have to give up that dream. But you risk far more than your kids’ education if you risk your own financial future to pay for college. Resist the urge to defer contributions to your retirement account—or worse, to cash in your IRA—in order to pay tuition. Here’s the thing: your kids can get loans with great interest rates in order to pay for college. No one will give you a loan to retire or to pay for healthcare in your advanced years. That burden will fall on your children if you don’t plan for it. Retirement accounts depend on having many decades to accrue interest in order to mature at an amount you can live on, so the golden rule of retirement is to put the money in on time, all the time.

Creative cash-making. Once you’ve curbed spending and ramped up on saving, start thinking, and talking to your financial advisor, about creative ways to make the money you’ve saved multiply. A wealth of great deals have flooded the market, making real estate one possible—and lucrative—way to go. Find a real estate agent who understands investment properties, particularly exit strategies, and then find some sweet deals—some exist as low as 50 cents on the dollar. With an experienced agent and some creativity, you can start watching your bank account grow.

Whatever strategy you choose, the most critical way to get ahead in 2010 is to do something. Make a plan and take some action, and you really can reap the rewards in any economy.