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I TRAINED as a civil engineer and spent 20 plus years working around the world on amazing infrastructure projects.
The thing that always struck me was how much of the budget and effort always ends up going into the bits you don’t get to see and usually go into the ground.
This is because to ensure the fancy, visible bits stay up and weather all sorts of storms you need to go really deep to create strong foundations.
I was recently watching a programme on the world's tallest man-made structures. The current tallest is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, standing 829.8 metres tall.
The second tallest is the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur standing 451.9m. What really fascinated me though is the depth of the foundations - the depth needed to allow the buildings to go so high.
In the Petronas towers the foundations go down a staggering 162m below ground. So a third of the height of what you can see of this incredible building is repeated below ground and had to be built first.
It’s just the same in building our wealth - the most important part is your wealth foundation.
One of the reasons people don’t get rid of their debt, invest consistently and become financially free is they can’t be bothered to dig down, and put the solid roots in place before they build their mansion.
They want the fancy awnings and glitzy above ground stuff that everyone can see but it is all smoke and mirrors. It is floating on sky hooks and as soon as a gust of wind blows - as it always does - it all blows away and they are left standing naked in the storm yet again, bewailing their fate.
By creating your wealth foundations, you will have your 162m of foundation to create whatever wealth you want. If you do the work, you will have a Financial Freedom Foundation that can stand whatever life throws at you. It will withstand the earthquakes and the storms that will come and because you have dug down deep, you will be able to relax, knowing that your wealth will support you too.
Don't let hurry become the worry
One of the other reasons people don’t spend the time they need to on their financial foundations is HURRY. Yes, that "It-must-all-happen-now" trap we all get sucked into more and more.
This is a marathon, not a sprint. This is about a wealth feast for life, not a quick sugar binge.
People tend to over estimate what they can achieve in a year and significantly underestimate what they can achieve in 10 years if they just keep building on the foundations they have created.
The problem is so many people just experience the same 1 year 10 times.
The need for instant happiness makes them walk away from the foundations they are creating time and time again, off in pursuit of the next business, a better investment, another opportunity or a new job.
This doesn't just happen in the area of money - for many people this pattern repeats itself in their relationships, friendships, health and spirituality. This is what it typically looks like:
A person starts the work, all fired up and digging down. But soon, s(he) becomes impatient and thinks - this isn’t working, it’s going too slowly and so s(he) abandons this attempt and start building a new tower using a new technique. After the initial flurry of excitement and enthusiasm, s(he) discovers again it’s too slow, so over and over again the process is started from scratch.... At the end of 10 years s(he) has piles of incomplete towers, all lying dead and useless. If s(he) had just stuck with the one tower, s(he) would've been on top of the world by now, and the process would've gotten easier and easier and faster and faster. It would've been done.
What do your wealth foundations look like?
Do you know what you need to put in place?
- Fin24
* Ann Wilson is the CEO of The Wealth Chef, a company that teaches people around the world how to make, keep and grow their money so they can become financially free. She is also one of our experts who answer user questions.
** Add your voice to our Women's Wealth Issue and help empower others this Women's Month.
Write a guest post
Share your coping tips
Ask the experts
The thing that always struck me was how much of the budget and effort always ends up going into the bits you don’t get to see and usually go into the ground.
This is because to ensure the fancy, visible bits stay up and weather all sorts of storms you need to go really deep to create strong foundations.
I was recently watching a programme on the world's tallest man-made structures. The current tallest is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, standing 829.8 metres tall.
The second tallest is the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur standing 451.9m. What really fascinated me though is the depth of the foundations - the depth needed to allow the buildings to go so high.
In the Petronas towers the foundations go down a staggering 162m below ground. So a third of the height of what you can see of this incredible building is repeated below ground and had to be built first.
It’s just the same in building our wealth - the most important part is your wealth foundation.
One of the reasons people don’t get rid of their debt, invest consistently and become financially free is they can’t be bothered to dig down, and put the solid roots in place before they build their mansion.
They want the fancy awnings and glitzy above ground stuff that everyone can see but it is all smoke and mirrors. It is floating on sky hooks and as soon as a gust of wind blows - as it always does - it all blows away and they are left standing naked in the storm yet again, bewailing their fate.
By creating your wealth foundations, you will have your 162m of foundation to create whatever wealth you want. If you do the work, you will have a Financial Freedom Foundation that can stand whatever life throws at you. It will withstand the earthquakes and the storms that will come and because you have dug down deep, you will be able to relax, knowing that your wealth will support you too.
Don't let hurry become the worry
One of the other reasons people don’t spend the time they need to on their financial foundations is HURRY. Yes, that "It-must-all-happen-now" trap we all get sucked into more and more.
This is a marathon, not a sprint. This is about a wealth feast for life, not a quick sugar binge.
People tend to over estimate what they can achieve in a year and significantly underestimate what they can achieve in 10 years if they just keep building on the foundations they have created.
The problem is so many people just experience the same 1 year 10 times.
The need for instant happiness makes them walk away from the foundations they are creating time and time again, off in pursuit of the next business, a better investment, another opportunity or a new job.
This doesn't just happen in the area of money - for many people this pattern repeats itself in their relationships, friendships, health and spirituality. This is what it typically looks like:
A person starts the work, all fired up and digging down. But soon, s(he) becomes impatient and thinks - this isn’t working, it’s going too slowly and so s(he) abandons this attempt and start building a new tower using a new technique. After the initial flurry of excitement and enthusiasm, s(he) discovers again it’s too slow, so over and over again the process is started from scratch.... At the end of 10 years s(he) has piles of incomplete towers, all lying dead and useless. If s(he) had just stuck with the one tower, s(he) would've been on top of the world by now, and the process would've gotten easier and easier and faster and faster. It would've been done.
What do your wealth foundations look like?
Do you know what you need to put in place?
- Fin24
* Ann Wilson is the CEO of The Wealth Chef, a company that teaches people around the world how to make, keep and grow their money so they can become financially free. She is also one of our experts who answer user questions.
** Add your voice to our Women's Wealth Issue and help empower others this Women's Month.
Write a guest post
Share your coping tips
Ask the experts
