Success Capsule: What is Financial Success?

Success itself have been defined differently, 

The American Heritage Dictionary of English Language, define Success as “the achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted”

Collins English Dictionary, describe it as “the favourable outcome of something attempted; the attainment of wealth, fame, etc”

What is your definition of success? 

Before you can achieve success, you need to define what success means to you. Unless you have a clear vision of what success is to you, you cannot work towards it. However, success means different things to different people. For some, monetary reward is a measure of success. Yet others have multiple definition of success.

However, success can be measure across a few areas. It can be peaceful mind, relationship, career, health, spiritual, emotional, or financial. As an example, one can be successful in one’s career but not emotionally. Of course, this list isn’t exhaustive - so you can add areas that are relevant to you.

When defining success, remember this important point: Success is a journey. It has multiple peaks and not one ultimate pinnacle. One success builds on another. Setbacks and mistake will also help you build success. At different periods of your life, success will certainly be defined differently.

In order to be successful and happy in life, we need to understand the definition of happiness. As Brian Tracy mentioned in his famous book "Maximum Achievement", success can be classified into six categories. It is rewritten here in my own words. The understanding of the meaning of success will help us to know how to set our goals and finally can shape our actions to master our destiny.

1) Peaceful mind: People who are successful have a peace in their mind and do not have worry about their future or anything else. Every religion also mentioned this attribute as one of the goals to achieve.

2) Health and energy: We need to have the healthy body in order to live successfully. There is no use if we have billions dollars in the bank and have to stay sick in the hospital. Besides, we have to have enough energy to conduct a useful life. Although our body is just a vehicle to achieve what we want, it is a very important vehicle and we can not replace it. Unfortunately, most people ignore the process of taking care of our body and leave it to the doctor when we get ill. That is not so healthy since it is our responsibility to look for the knowledge to take good care of our body and make sure that it will last as long as we live without much problem. Learning on nutrition and exercise will be one of the tasks and make full use of it will be very important to your success.

3) Financial independence: Wealth is essential although it is not ultimate goal of our life. Money is not everything but it can bring you the joy you want. It is another vehicle and it is also a very important vehicle. How much money we should aim for in order to be financial independent? It is not equal for individual persons. Some may be a billion, some may be a hundred thousand and some may be only a few bucks. The definition of financial independent is that when you have no worry about money anymore, that's when you are financial independent. A monk may achieve financial independent although he does not have any money at all.

4) Good relationship with others: Human is a social creature. We can not live alone. If we leave a baby without care, the baby will die within a few hours. It needs many years until a baby become strong enough to be able to live on itself. While in other animals, the required time may not be that long. Some crocodile baby may need to take care of himself immediately after he comes out of his egg. Since we need other human beings to survive, we need to have good relationship with others. Success people practice the fundamentals that make he understand how to live with others in a congenial way.

5) Meaningful and worthwhile goals: Successful people have goals and they know that their goals are useful for themselves and others. They know the meaning of each days of their life and they see the progress toward their goals. They also have small goals for each day, each hour and each minute. They live in present and are not agitated by small things. Nothing can deflect them from their goals. If you want to be successful, you need to be able to focus on your goals effectively and know the value of the result you are after.

6) Self Actualization: We need to achieve to know ourselves if we want to get the real feeling of success. The top people know who they are and see what they are capable of. They love themselves and cherish every moment that they are living. They know that their existent is useful to others and themselves and finally the world. They understand the meaning of their life and know why they are where they are. This is the ultimate value of being successful.

However, whichever way you choose to define success, it is a fact that financial success is a major ingredient for your Personal Peace and Happiness.  

Financial success 

So, what is financial success?  Definitely there is no one or straight forward definition for Financial Success – however, financial success has little to do with money, stocks, bonds, asset allocation and retirement plans. Sure those matter, but let’s not confuse financial tools with the fundamentals. The foundation is based on preparation, planning and the relationship that money has with other aspects of your life. 

A wise man once defined Financial Success as “the ability to live for the remainder of your life without outside help, working if you choose, but doing so only if you desire. It is the ability to have the things you want and need, despite any occurrence other than the most catastrophic of outside circumstances.”

Hope you do not think “financial success” is having a ton of money? W-R-O-N-G. Just ask Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, Howard Hughes and a host of other “rich” folks for whom money was no cure. 

I recently read this story in "Business and Accounting Ethics" that says it all.

A popular story recounts a meeting that took place at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago in 1923. Attending this meeting were nine of the richest men in the world at that time: 

(1) Charles Schwab, President of the world's largest independent steel company; 

(2) Samuel Insull, President of the world's largest utility company; 

(3) Howard Hopson, President of the largest gas firm; 

(4) Arthur Cutten, the greatest wheat speculator; 

(5) Richard Whitney, President of the New York Stock Exchange; 

(6) Albert Fall, member of the President's Cabinet; 

(7) Leon Frazier, President of the Bank of International Settlements; 

(8) Jessie Livermore, the greatest speculator in the Stock Market; and 

(9) Ivar Kreuger, head of the company with the most widely distributed securities in the world.

 

Twenty-five years later, 

(1) Charles Schwab had died in bankruptcy, having lived on borrowed money for five years before his death. 

(2) Samuel Insull had died virtually penniless after spending some time as a fugitive from justice.

(3) Howard Hopson was insane. 

(4) Arthur Cutten died overseas, broke. 

(5) Richard Whitney had spent time in Sing-Sing. 

(6) Albert Fall was released from prison so he could die at home. 

(7) Leon Fraizer, (8) Jessie Livermore, and (9) Ivar Kreuger each died by suicide. 

Measured by financial wealth and power these men achieved success, at least temporarily. 

Making a lot of money may be an acceptable goal, but money most assuredly does not guarantee a truly successful life and I will strongly advise you to apply the Formula for Riches in your life to become a true Wealth Creator and not just to amass financial wealth.

I hope you can understand while reading and following the activities in this book to end, become very important, irrespective of your financial state today. As our focus is not just on how you can create wealth but also how you can manage and ensure a secure tomorrow.

As stated earlier, financial success may mean different thing to different people but certainly it contain some basic ingredient and that is the capability to meet financial obligation as they fall due and having enough money to meet one financial goal or targets – today and tomorrow.

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a cue from my book - "Go From Zero to Million - The Unfair Advantage"