Life can be blessing or life can be miserable, but only you can decide what life you want to live!

The first thing that came to my mind when I heard the news was that we are the same age and in the blink of an eye, everything we know as reality can be taken away from us at anytime. I truly believe that most of us really think we are going to live forever and we don’t want to imagine that it could be all over tomorrow.

This post isn’t intended to bum you out, but bear with me as I will get to some good stuff within the next 20 pages

The second thing I thought of was, “I wonder if he had completed his Last Will and Testament.” Weird thought right? Well maybe not. It’s just part of who we are and one of the benefits we offer as part of our service plans in LegalShield. I guess that just comes to my mind as an occupational hazard. I can’t tell you how many people I talk to on a weekly basis that don’t have a Last Will and Testament, a Trust and/or their Living Wills (7 out of 10 American’s don’t have wills) in place, but most are not willing to do anything about it.

I sat down with someone last week that didn’t have any sort of wills or trusts in place and he mentioned that he saw a lot of value in our service plan and that he thought it was really reasonably priced, but he wasn’t willing to make a modest month to month payment.

Are you kidding me! People are totally COO-COO and have really screwed up priorities!

They’ll go to the store and spend $20 on a useless item that they don’t need. They buy things and/or training’s online that they’ll never implement and the list goes on, but they won’t take care of their loved one’s if something were to happen to them?

I thought to myself

that this guy must not truly love his wife and children if he isn’t willing to have these things in place. I know that is a strong statement, but it pisses me off knowing that someone’s children could go in a foster home or their money gets caught up in probate for at least 6 months while their family tries to figure out how to pay their mortgage or even feed their children. Crossing your fingers in hopes that it won’t happen to you isn’t an option. I wish that it would never happens to anyone, but that wouldn’t be realistic. Life happens and so does death. They go hand in hand in the circle of life as they say in The Lion King, but not being responsible for taking care of the ones you love is irresponsible PERIOD

I can’t imagine being in a car accident to where I didn’t die and I also leave the burden of making all my medical decisions to Dawn and my two beautiful girls when they are going through enough already. I lived it and been through it myself. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

Back on March 24, 1993, Dawn was in a terrible car accident and I actually thought that I was going to lose her. It was bad enough seeing her in that condition, but then having to make medical decisions for her while she was in a coma for seven (7) days, was pure hell. Just little decisions like do I want to have the neurosurgeon drill a hole in her skull for an Intracranial Pressure (ICP) to measure whether her brain is swelling or not and etc and etc…  As you know, everything turned out okay, but what if it was worse. Do you remember the Terri Schiavo case down here in Florida? 

All I know is that I love my beautiful wife and girls very much and to not to be responsible myself by making their lives easier however I can, what kind of a husband and father would I be?

Are You Truly Living Life?

One of the major questions I want to ask you is, Are You Truly Living Life? A lot of you know me and I recently just asked myself that very same question.  What kind of life am I living and is this really the life that is deserving of my genius within?

We have a franchise that we have developed over the past 7 years that has to some degree taken away from us quality time with our girls. We have created a strong presence on the internet with multiple websites, blogs, facebook, youtube, twitter, founded Tribe Syndication Association (TSA) and additional social media sites. Created a lucrative network marketing business and wonderful team within LegalShield, but I had to ask myself are we truly living life?

Over the past 6 months we have re-examined our efforts and decided to sell off our franchise business to focus on our LegalShield business full time. As some of you may have noticed, we also re-examined our efforts online and have been stepping back “a bit” to focus on our real passion of building our network marketing company.

Even though we have seen some great success online, we realized that we have always been more successful meeting people, business owners and prospects in person, but have never had the additional time while owning our franchise. Sometimes certain things happen for a reason and when life offers you opportunities, take the reigns and make it happen!

How do you want your obituary to read? Write it now and then Live Your Life by it!

Here is how I hope my obituary will read only with a lot more accomplishments…

David S. Cook was a loving husband to Dawn M. Cook, a wonderful and loving father to Kerstin Cook-Porsche and Nicole Cook-Bentley and a very special grandfather to 4 loving grandchildren and 7 exceptional great-grandchildren. Throughout his life, he was a caring person that helped thousands of people live a more fulfilling life. Through mentorship and a giving heart, he gave endless amounts of time and charity to so many. His thrust for knowledge and wisdom was an endless pursuit which he was willing to share to make the world a little better one person at a time.

In 2008, he and his wife (Dawn) began developing their LegalShield business and developed it into one of the biggest businesses within the company’s history. Through their efforts of building this business, it granted them the time freedom to travel the world with their family and friends while constantly giving back to world.

David S. Cook will be dearly missed by all the people he has touched throughout his life, but because of his legacy, his surviving wife (Dawn), his daughters, his son-in-laws, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and many charities and organizations have been blessed and will continue to be blessed because of the time he spent here on this earth.

We have been blessed to meet Edward through our Tribe Syndication Association (TSA).  He has been such a leader there and a key part of our mastermind team.  We have learned a great deal from Ed and we have really enjoyed getting to know his beautiful wife Julie Elliott as well.  They both are willing to put themselves out there for the betterment of those around them.  This Share Your Dream Friday endeavor is such a great example of the unique and powerful value they have to offer.

We are happy to speak our dreams out loud here.

Dave’s Dream:

Are you ready?

My first dream is to inspire people and show them that there is more to this life then just working for and having money. So many times we all get caught up in what we don’t have vs. being grateful for what we do have in our lives. The dream of being able to hold the love of my life’s (Dawn) hand while walking down the beach in our golden years while knowing we always gave it our best, is one of my dreams. To see my two lovely daughters accomplish all their life’s aspirations while being happy on this earth is another one of my dream. Having people respect and love each other for whom they are and not judging for what they have or have not accomplished in life is a legacy I would love to pass down to the world.

Even though these dreams may seem very broad, they will be achieved by just doing the little things required day after day!

I guess another one of my dreams would be to become financially independent to where money isn’t an issue in doing whatever we want to do. Was that sentence a contradiction to my first paragraph? NO! Let me explain.

Even though I don’t feel that money should be your top priority, I do feel it is important. I would be lying to you if I didn’t tell you that I have a dream of acquiring as much wealth as possible. In order to become truly wealthy, you must increase your value. Dawn and my combined dreams are to help people become better at increasing their own value which in turn will increase their net value.

Having a large amount of wealth is not only a MAJOR Dream for us, but a MAJOR Dream for so many others. Once we have acquired our dream wealth, we will be able to help others do the same while traveling and sharing our knowledge, give more (e.g.; charities, non-profits and etc…) and help others accomplish all their dreams as well.

Dawn’s Dream:

Do our separate dreams work together?  Yes, they do!

I have two dreams that can be combined and achieved together.

My first dream is to travel to see the country and the world with my wonderful husband, Dave.  On our trips, we will learn about the people who live in the area and discover how we can help them.  With each place we visit, if possible, I will have arranged to speak to a group or groups of young people as part of my second dream.

My second dream is to spread Robert Kiyosaki’s message of financial education to young people, starting as young as age 11 through around age 25.  (Robert Kiyosaki’s work is excellent in this area, and I want to be a representative of him and his work and reach as many young people as possible.)  I want to teach these young folks, as Robert does in his book Rich Dad Poor Dad, that getting a job will not create financial freedom or time freedom, and we are all entitled to both. Young people need to be taught that working for profits and investing those profits in assets with the proper mindset will create financial independence.  Unfortunately, kids only know the opposite of working for profits, and that is working for wages.  Sadly, getting a job is the only thing taught in school.  I want to teach what the schools don’t teach, and that is that there are many other opportunities and that a person’s financial education is paramount to his or her success in life.  I want to start the young people I reach on the path to self-education for developing their required financial skill set as well as developing themselves as a person.  I will make it clear to them that their financial success can only match their level of personal development.

Since Dave is also passionate about giving young people options  before they wind up in the rat race for 40+ years and helping them strive to improve themselves through personal development, he will work with me on this dream and he will be a speaker as well.  Dave is a fantastic speaker with great energy and enthusiasm so I will learn those skills from him to improve my speaking ability.

I am so excited since Dave and I will have a great time working together to positively impact the lives of many young people, including our own girls.  And we’ll love seeing many new places and meeting and helping many new people in our travels, not to mention all the great quality one-on-one time we’ll share.  It all sounds pretty perfect to me!

Thanks again, Ed for this opportunity to Share Our Dreams!

We would love to hear your comments about your own dreams. Begin to speak them out loud here!

First, you are so right in the realization that your job, with its insecurity, its income being taxed at the highest rates and its lack of tax deductions, will not create the financial freedom that you are looking for.  We all can now certainly see the insecurity in the job market.  We can all watch and experience the increase in the unemployment rate.  As an employee, your destiny is determined by people who you have no control over, and your personal situation and needs are the farthest from the minds of those that make the decision.

In regards to the tax rates that apply to the earned income you receive from your employment, the tax rate is not limited in any way for this type of income like it is for capital gains or passive income types.  Therefore, if your earned income is significant in amount, it will be taxed in the highest tax bracket which is currently set to be 35% in 2010 and 39.6% in 2011.  Does Uncle Sam deserve that much of your hard earned money?

As an employee, the only tax deductions you know are your mortgage interest, your property taxes, your charitable contributions and maybe some medical deductions.  That’s pretty much it for an employee.  There are so many more deductions that will reduce your taxable income and therefore your tax bill, but they are not available to you if you only work for someone else.

Most of us are now sick and tired of only making someone else financially secure, right? As Robert says in his book, “72% of all adult Americans would rather work for themselves than for a job, and 67% think about quitting their jobs regularly or constantly.” If you are in either or both of these groups, congratulate yourself!  You are on the right track and you need to start making headway on that track.

In Robert’s book, he tells of an excellent answer that will really take you where you want to go.  This answer falls within the B for Big Business quadrant in Robert’s Cashflow Quadrant diagram.  It is in this quadrant, and the I for Investment quadrant, that  you want to earn your income from.  The other two quadrants, E for Employee and S for Self-employed, will not generate any change for you and will not create the financial freedom you want.

Robert’s business of choice for the 21st century is…drum roll, please…Network Marketing!  Yes, you heard me right (unless the drum roll drowned me out), it is Network Marketing.  And the key word here as Robert explains, is the “Network“.  We can’t create a big business on our own.  We need the help of others and as they help us, we help them to create their own network and repeat the process.  One of the biggest reasons Robert loves and recommends network marketing is because it is the business model that helps people help each other.  It also has become one of the best things Dave and I like about it too.

So in closing, Dave and I hope you’re ready to join us on the right track that leads to all our dreams and financial success.  We have such a tremendous guide who is telling us which business is the best business for the 21st century, and we don’t know anyone else whose opinion we would value more in this area.  If Robert Kiyosaki recommends network marketing, there is no doubt that that’s the right choice for us, and we hope you’ll give it some valid consideration as well for the benefit to you and your family!

As you may recall, here are the prerequisite and steps one to four:
(Feel free to refer to the post How to Become the Richest Man or Woman in Your City for more detail on the prerequisite and Steps 1 – 4)

The Prerequisite – A burning desire to create wealth along with the willingness to take the required action steps.

Step 1 – Start your wallet or purse to fattening by with 10% of your earnings that is yours to keep.

Step 2 – Control your expenditures to live comfortably on the remaining 90%.

Step 3 – Make your gold (money) multiply by investing the 10%.

Step 4 – Guard your treasures (money) from loss.

Now let’s learn the details of steps five through seven that complete the path to wealth as practiced by The Richest Man in Babylon.

Step 5 – Make thy dwelling a profitable investment
In the days of Babylon many folks rented unsuitable living quarters. It was true then that renting was a way to throw your money away where building a home through borrowing from the money lender resulted in nearly the same monthly expenditure that creates an investment. So the recommendation was to acquire a nice little home that you could afford where you and your family can live comfortably.

Most of us already see the value of this step and we’ve already acquired a home. The main point I took from George Clason in this step is to purchase a nice little home you can afford. We can’t let our mortgage payment strap us down since we have to live comfortably on the remaining 90%. Also it is important to note that 10% was set aside for investment in addition to the mortgage payment.

When we look at the importance of purchasing a home as well as investing in other income producing assets, I’m reminded of Robert Kiyosaki‘s teachings in his book Rich Dad Poor Dad. Robert says that your home is a liability because it causes money to go out through mortgage payments and upkeep. This is a total opposite of what our banks tell us and what most believe that our home is an asset. So George Clason and Robert Kiyosaki strongly agree that your home is not your best asset and that you must have many more investment assets to have true riches.

Step 6 – Insure a Future Income
You must always be thinking of the future and make preparations for a suitable income in the days to come. Also you must make preparations for your family when you can no longer be there to support them. “No man can afford not to insure a treasure for this old age and the protection of his family, no matter how prosperous his business and investments may be.”, wrote George Clason.

Planning for the future involves making investments that will endure safely for many years. These same investments must be available when the time comes for their use as was anticipated. George Clason and the Richest Man in Babylon also make the point that the earlier you start planning and investing for your future income, the less you will have to invest each year. Notice that there was no mention of planning to depend on social security for future income.

It was very interesting to learn that back in ancient times, the men of Babylon predicted many men paying in a small amount regularly to create a handsome sum for the family of each man who passeth to the beyond. We all certainly know this plan as life insurance. The financial intelligence and wisdom of the people from this ancient period in history is astounding.

Step 7 – Increase Thy Ability to Earn
If you find that your expenditures exceed your income, the only real solution is to increase your capacity to earn more income. Some may think this can to be done by going to your boss to ask for a raise or using loans and credit cards.  The raise request may work, but most likely not, and incurring bad debt is definitely not the solution.

The sure way to increase your ability to earn is to learn more through self-education.  Per George Clason, your financial situation will improve when you seek greater skill so that you can better serve those whose patronage you depend on. Therefore, you must always make progress and be moving forward rather than standing still to be left behind.

This “seventh and last remedy for a lean purse is to cultivate thy own powers, to study and become wiser, to become more skillful, to so act as to respect thyself.” This sounds so close to Jim Rohn‘s teachings to make yourself more valuable to the marketplace through the disciplines of self-development.

I can certainly tell that George Clason‘s book The Richest Man in Babylon made a direct impact on Jim Rohn and he so kindly helped others to benefit as well. I hope you read this book and put it’s wisdom into action for you and your family.

Today I want to let you know the initial steps that were used by the Richest Man in Babylon that allowed him to become so very rich.  First though, I need to mention the prerequisite that I did not mention in my video.  That all important prerequisite is to have a burning desire to become rich and wealthy.  Without that, any set of steps will fail because the desire is not strong enough. That strong desire will make you seek out the knowledge and take the required actions.

The Richest Man in Babylon’s first step to wealth began when he decided that a part of all he earned was his to keep.  Meaning he put aside 10% of all his earnings (his gold) to use that money to make him more money while he adjusted his spending so that he was able to live comfortably on the remaining 90%.  Learning to live on the remaining 90% was the second step.   Once he made the adjustment to spend only 90% of his gold, he felt no real decrease in his lifestyle.  Of course, the clinking gold coins (the 10% set aside for investment) in his purse (aren’t you men glad you can call it a wallet now) probably gave him a new happiness that boosted his outlook like nothing else could.

Now it is very important what you do with the 10%.  Guarding your investment from loss is the fourth step.   In the beginning as he learned by making mistakes, the Richest Man in Babylon invested his first year’s worth of 10% savings with his bricklayer so that they each could buy jewels to resell to the people of the City of Babylon for a large profit.  As you may have guessed, the bricklayer knew nothing about jewels and he was easily tricked into accepting colored pieces of glass in exchange for his and the Richest Man in Babylon’s full 10% investment.   The lesson learned here was that you should never trust a bricklayer’s knowledge about jewels, or, in today’s words, be sure you find an expert in the investment you plan to make or, better yet, become an expert yourself.

What I liked most about this book is that I now know the steps to immense wealth used and proven in ancient times and I love how relevant those steps are in today’s world.  Please take Jim Rohn’s recommendation and join the 3% who’ve read this little book.  Go out and get or borrow (Jim says that only 3% of American’s have a library card; must be the same 3%) the book, The Richest Man in Babylon, and use what you learn from George Clason to become the Richest Man or Woman in your City!