Building Wealth is Attainable
Let’s be honest—understanding your finances can be complicated.
There are so many angles to approach the topic from and different perspectives to consider. You may be hesitant to believe that you can even build substantial wealth at all. My goal is not only to convince you that you can, but to show you how to do so as well. After my fair share of trial and error through the years, God revealed a financial theory to me that changed the way I looked at money. It helped me go from being mastered by my money to becoming the master of my money! I call this tool the Triple-X Factor.
To give you a brief introduction, the Triple-X Factor has three phases:
1. The First X: The point where your income becomes greater than your expenses.
2. The Second X: The point where your passive income (money from investments) becomes greater than your expenses. This phase is also called financial freedom.
3. The Third X: The point where you can give away 100 percent of your reinvested passive income and some of the assets themselves to good causes.
The purpose of the Triple-X Factor is to move people from indebted to wealthy. It does this by reversing the power of interest. When you are in debt, interest rates cause you to pay more over time. When you are an investor, you gain from the interest that’s paid to you over time. Anyone can build wealth with The Triple-X Factor. However, in order to change your financial picture, you must first change your financial outlook.
A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
As mentioned in the introduction, I struggled to discover a method to explain the wealth building process in a complete way for several years. Looking back, I realize that the solution came when I got a different view of the problem. What I really desired was a 30,000-foot view of wealth. Let me explain. Most of the teachings I heard about finances were too specific. They would focus on one element, such as debt elimination, and provide no context on what to do after that point. Or, they would provide great insights on investing but no direction on how to attain the money to implement their strategies. I couldn’t connect all of the teachings—it was overwhelming! I felt like I was standing a few inches away from a huge elephant. Let me explain.
Imagine that someone had never seen an elephant before. They approach the animal and only see the trunk. Someone asks them, “What is an elephant?” and they say, “Oh, an elephant is a hose! Or perhaps they only saw the side of the elephant. They might say, “An elephant is a wall.” Maybe they only saw the tail and said, “An elephant is a rope!”
It is easy to associate the whole of something solely with what’s in our immediate perspective. If we do not reflect on how we conceptualize money, we may confine ourselves to a narrative that is incomplete. Many times, we set our own limits in our mind without realizing it. The person who saw an elephant for the first time associated the entire elephant with one part. You and I know the truth is that an elephant is more than a trunk, a side, or a tail. For a long time, I struggled to fit all of the different lessons on wealth building into a cohesive idea.
If I learned something that was associated with debt freedom, I’d relegate it to the debt-freedom compartment of my brain. If I listened to a teaching on investing, I’d stick it in the investment section. All the while, a part of me knew that building wealth was much more than eliminating debt. I knew the metaphorical trunk was attached to an elephant. Eventually, I realized something important. Debt and wealth have a common denominator—both are related to how we handle money. That one fact gave me my 30,000-foot view and enabled me to see the “whole elephant.” I began to see the entirety of the problem, and the groundwork was laid for me to see the entirety of the solution. It was at that point that God gave me the Triple-X Factor.
From that moment forward, I began to look at money differently. The Triple-X Factor enabled me to truly teach others how to master their money. Debt no longer would be a choke hold around their necks, and wealth building would no longer be just a dream. This was a turning point for me. Let this be a turning point for you as well.
THREE KINDS OF MONEY
Money is not your problem, and it’s not your enemy. If you want to master money, you must understand how to make it work for you. The Triple-X Factor focuses on three kinds of money, or three ways of collecting and putting it to work. First-X income is the starting point where you work a job to earn a salary. Second-X income is a place of great freedom where you collect and manage assets that pay you. Third-X income is a place of philanthropy where you give away most of your income.
The First X
First-X income is the payment you receive from an employer for your time and value. The majority of people’s money comes from this tier, also known as “non-leveraged income” because of the direct correlation between time and a paycheck. People in the First-X category are usually employees, but they could also be self-employed.
For example, when I receive honorariums for speaking on wealth building, I receive non-leveraged income. This is because there is a direct correlation between the time I speak and the amount I get paid. However, when I sell my products after I speak, the profits count as leveraged income. This is because I spent a specific amount of time creating the products, and that specific amount of time has paid me a hundred times over. Most of the time, I make more money selling product than speaking. In this way, I have leveraged myself because people can read and hear what I teach without me being present.
The Second X
Second-X income is what we call asset income, or leveraged income. An example of asset income would be the rent collected from an investment property or dividends paid from stocks. Second-X income is sometimes called foundational wealth; it can be used to build more assets.
People at the Second-X tier are usually business owners or investors. They still work, but instead of working as an employee, they spend their time as asset managers. At the Second X, people have the option to take or leave their First-X income because their assets generate enough money to meet their needs. Some people choose to keep their jobs, while others choose to march into full-time asset management.
The Third X
Third-X income is abundant, generous, and even excessive. Needless to say, Third-X income is beyond what an individual needs to live on. At this level, an individual has multiple assets and is focused on preserving and growing wealth. At this level, people can partner with God and really make a difference with their finances—even transforming entire cities and nations. God wants to bless us on the Road to Financial Freedom so that we can bless others as well.
You can reach this Third-X tier and re-invest your excess wealth, give it away, or a form a strategy that is a combination of both. At this level, the point is that you can receive a social and spiritual return in addition to your financial returns. The graphic below illustrates how money flows throughout the Triple-X Factor.
WHERE WEALTH IS BUILT
Notice the level where wealth is built in the chart above. In the First X, a person trades their time and talents for money, and he or she is paid a fixed amount. In the Second X, the person manages assets and, in return, is paid significantly more. In other words, with First-X income, there is a one-time investment and a one-time payment. Wealth is built in the Second-X and Third-X levels because the one-time investment pays out repeatedly.
Another factor to consider with First-X income is that one-for-one ratio changes if a person enjoys an extremely high-paying career. For example, let’s say a movie star is given a starring role in a one-time movie and receives $40 million. The actor would likely invest the same amount of time and labor that most people do on their jobs, but the actor gets paid significantly more. That’s a desirable set up, for sure, but most people invest once and get paid once. That’s why it’s important to learn how to build Second-X income.
Over time, there is exponential growth as a person creates or acquires assets in the second tier. Building wealth is attainable for anyone who implements the right strategies and systems, so the sky is the limit for you! Don’t wonder if you can reach this point—you can. Commit to the goal, have faith, and as you do your part, God will do His.
