What’s Your Why? The Real Reason You Want More Money

Alright, alright, alright. Money is on my mind indeed. Yes, everybody. This is your boy Darren Harvey, and this is Financial State of Minds, the podcast where I help you get to that bag, manage that bag, and grow that bag as best as possible as we discuss all things around money, motivation, financial literacy, business literacy. It is what it is. As long as it's about money, your boy will talk about it. And this is your money cancellor for sure. I'm sure for those who are watching on video, you may notice a difference in background. But besides that point, we're just gonna get straight into the episode. And this one's we're just gonna get in and out. But I want to pose this question and have a discussion with you guys. Why are you guys trying to get to that bag? Manage that bag and grow that bag as best as possible. Why are you trying to get to it? What is your why? Out of the five W's, the why is the one I've always been the most fascinated with. And I do think it's the most important in many instances, and that includes why you're deciding to get the money. Is it simply just to pay bills? Do you want the biggest mansion? You just want to make sure that your child goes to college. Do you want to make sure that you have an emergency fund? What is your why? Let's stick with it. So I'm serious. I'm gonna let you guys ponder that. What is your why? Leave a comment, DM me, and wait until the end of the episode. But I have no problem sharing with you guys directly what is my why. My why is simple. I am obsessed when it comes to financial security. You can argue that's a little bit of an issue that I have, but ultimately it's a healthy issue that I like to admit that I have. Why am I obsessed with financial security? Well, there's many reasons. First off, I no longer have my immediate family. They've all passed away while I was young. I've lost all my family members by the age of 30. That's my mother, that's my father, and that's my other brother. And then I lost my best friend, or one of my best friends, when I was 32. 32 years old. And he was 32 years old at the time of his passing. But the moment that I always traced, the specific moment that I traced to where I became obsessed with financial security, was when I was taking care of my dad. For those who don't know, my dad passed away of Alzheimer's back in 2020. In the year prior, I had to decide where I was gonna place them because I no longer had the means to take care of them on my own. Obviously, I'm a blind guy, it's kind of difficult to take into appointments, make sure he needs what he needs to do if a bacon isn't all the way there. So there was a point where I wanted to put him in a facility. Now, again, for those who don't know, Alzheimer's is the world's most expensive disease, to my understanding, and especially in the San Francisco Bay Area at the time, and it still is the case, it costs anywhere from 10 grand to 15 grand a month. I want you heard that right. 10 grand to 15 grand a month to place somebody in a solid utility or a situation where they're gonna get round the clock care. Now your boy was making about 12 to 13 grand, and there was a point when I realized that was not enough money. I was spending about 17, 18 grand, even though I was bringing in 12 to 13 grand, and I had four different sources of income. I was renting out the house that I lived in, my dad was getting soccer security kicks, I was still working the job, so getting the bag, but this wasn't enough, it wasn't enough, y'all, and that moment has stuck with me, even though it's been over six years since that day where I looked at that sales spreadsheet and realized I'm still going into debt. So even though I had all that income, I still had to do a category five pullout, or in layman's terms, get money out of my own house. And that was the reason why I was able to financially take care of my father. But that has never sat well with me. So I became obsessed. Now, learn later in life that if my dad simply had long-term care insurance, or if he had a bigger life insurance policy, or life insurance policy with living benefits, that this wouldn't have been an issue. But my family, my dad, didn't know that. I'm sure if my dad knew that or knew it before he really got sick, he would have taken that out, but he didn't. So that was the situation. I'm not complaining, that's just my situation, and honestly, I look at it like I'm blessed because I know a lot of people who take care of loved ones with Alzheimer's, and it just wipes them and their family out completely when we're coming to finances, and we're not even gonna get into the mental and emotional health, the physical strain that caregivers deal with when dealing with somebody with Alzheimer's. But that's the specific moment I can point to where I realized I can point to that moment, and I realize that I want imp. Now, later I would figure out exactly how much money net worth I would want, and that number is five million. Yes, five million, you guys. Now, why five million? That's the number that I calculated, where I would be good for the rest of my life, my girlfriend would be good for the rest of her life, her son should be good for the rest of her life, and even my brother's kids. Daughter, his son, or my niece and nephew, they would be set up for life. Four people, five million dollars. That's my goal. That's my why, you guys. So, as I share that with you, again, I hope you've been thinking, what is your why? Why do you go out and get to that bag, hopefully manage that bag, and hopefully grow that bag as best as you possibly can. Everyone's reason is different, and the one thing I want to make clear is I'm not out here to judge people. If you want $10 million and it's because you want an $8 million mansion and you just want a bunch of luxury cars, I ain't got a problem with that. If you want $20 million because you want to donate money on a regular basis to all the nonprofits you believe in, great. I ain't got a problem with that either. If you're like me and you just want to be financially secure, great. I ain't got a problem with that either. I'm not out here judging y'all on why you want to get to the bag. As long as it has nothing to do with hurting anybody, the reason is solid. And anyone who knows me knows this. I judge nobody when it comes to their finances as long as they're out of debt and they have a fully funded emergency fund. I don't judge anybody because I don't know people's situations and I have understanding, but I'm never gonna be mad about how you spend your money. I will never be mad about how you spend your money if you're out of debt to have six months worth of emergency funds just for a rainy day, and especially if you're out here investing your money. I will never get mad. If you want Jordans, if you want a $500 pair of Jordans, go for it. If you want a McLaren, go for it. If you want an $8 million house in Hidden Hills, go for it. If you just want to travel the world, live in a different country, go for it. Whatever you want, I'm all for it, and I'm gonna root for you, and I have no problem helping you. But the important thing is the why. Now, why is the why so important, Darren? It's because for you to be financially secure, where you don't have to depend on the government, you don't have to depend on a W-2 job, you're gonna need most likely at least one million dollars. At least, no matter where you live in this country, United States of America. You may be able to get away with a little bit less if it's just you and you're willing to live in a room or something like that. But other than that, you're gonna need at least a million dollars net worth, at least. And that's if you want to live in the south. If you want to live where I live in California, you're gonna need at least a couple million dollars, bare minimum. And if you want to get to it at any type of young age, in your 20s and your 30s, and your 40s, heck, I'll even throw in 50s, you gotta work towards it, and most jobs will not get you there. Now, I ain't got a problem with people having jobs, but most jobs in this economy is not gonna pay you enough to get to them M's, baby. That's just a fact, you know what it is. So you gotta find a way, and that Y is gonna be the power, the motivation that you're gonna need when you have to work 12-hour days, 16-hour days, maybe 18-hour days. Right now, at the time of this recording, it's 1 30 a.m. in the morning. My lady's asleep, her son's asleep. Hopefully, I'm not too loud to wake them up, but I'm doing what I feel I need to do to make sure I can get to that goal. And trust me, that's how bad I want this. That I'm willing to stay up and not sleep. And trust me, guys, especially as a disabled person, I need my sleep, baby. Absolutely, I need my sleep, baby. I can't wait to lay up with my lady. But I just want you guys to think about this. I'm gonna wrap this up, but I'm gonna end it the same way I started it. What is your why? What is your reason? Maybe it's legacy. I'm a big legacy guy too, but maybe it's impact, whatever it is, I'm not judging you. I just want to make sure that you know your why and it's strong enough because man, path to financial independence is not easy. There's not many of us doing it, and we fail. You're likely to fail. So for you to keep trucking on every single day, I salute to all the people who choose to do it, I salute to all the people who's doing it for their family, I salute for everybody who's on this journey, regardless of what you choose to do. But just make sure you know that why. Alright, you guys. Hope you enjoyed this short, quick episode. I'm gonna make more like this, but until then, peace, kings and queens. I am out of here.