Chapter 1

1. Orientation

Why You Should Read This Book

A famous celebrity who’s struggling to account for his “missing $650 million” has been in the news recently—an ultra-high income earner who relied on “trusted” managers who either misadvised him or couldn’t rein in his out-of-control lifestyle and spending. It’s a real mess with a lot of finger-pointing and lawsuits. The story perfectly outlines the reason for this book.

Who’s the victim? Who are the villains?

It’s easy to look at famous people and think: How stupid! What an idiot! That would never happen to me. To be clear, there are massive pressures public figures live under that only end up exacerbating deeper problems. Lack of privacy alone is a huge issue. In the celebrity’s case, a $2 million monthly spending habit couldn’t fill the void.

For anyone who’s ever thought, “If I could just make more money, my problems would be solved and I’d be happy,” this book is for you.

The cause of the famous celebrity’s misfortune?

No one—neither him, nor his top attorneys or financial advisors—seemed to understand the difference between cash-flow and non-cash-flow assets, which is something this book will drill into your head ad nauseam. But the problem goes much deeper than that.

So who’s to blame?

To be sure, there’s plenty of blame to go around, but, in the end, there’s only one person with ultimate responsibility.

The reality is: no one will do for you what you are not willing to do for yourself. That means you, and you alone, are responsible for your financial situation and well-being, or lack thereof. No one owes you anything.

If that statement offends you, then you might as well put this book down now because, as you’ll soon see, understanding and coming to agreement with this uncomfortable truth is the beginning of your freedom. I had to confront this reality within myself, and it wasn’t easy, believe me! It’s always easier to blame others, especially when we feel wronged or taken advantage of.

And what about the family who’s barely making ends meet? How do they break free of financial slavery and start building wealth? This book answers their concerns, too.

I’ve spent a great deal of my life working to answer these and many other questions about money and wealth for myself, my family, and our clients.

True Wealth Formula is the outcome of a personal journey of self-discovery, sorting through the ungodly amount of financial information and misinformation out there, and developing a reliable system that produces repeatable, automated results.

Why did I write this book? To answer the age-old questions: How do I become free? How do I turn money into my slave instead of being a slave to money?

The information shared in this book isn’t taught in school. It’s what only a few of the world’s most elite Wealth Builders know.

Welcome to the True Wealth Formula, your roadmap and blueprint to personal freedom. Enjoy the journey!

The Value of Work

I started my first business at the age of eight in Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaii, where I grew up.

We were poor, living on welfare, and needed extra cash to buy food, school supplies, and other necessities. I grew up without a father. My mother was a struggling single mom, and about every three to six months we’d have to move. Though we had food on the table thanks to food stamps, the situation was always volatile, with my younger brother and I often sleeping on box-spring mattresses on the lanai, the covered porch. That’s when I started making leis after school.

I’d come home, pick flowers from nearby plumeria trees, and make the traditional Hawaiian garlands of welcome. Then I’d walk around the village in an aloha shirt with the leis hung on a bamboo pole and sell them to tourists.

Some people might think that’s a terrible thing for a little kid to have to do, but for me it was a powerfully liberating experience. Not only did I have the chance to roam the streets—what more could a kid want?—I also learned some extremely valuable life lessons.

It didn’t take me long to appreciate the value of hard work: that if I wanted something bad enough and was willing to work for it, I could achieve it. It was an opportunity to learn the basics of sales and how to handle rejection—not everyone wanted to buy my flower necklaces, and I’d often get shooed away.

Because my product had a short shelf life, I had to learn time management and figure out when to discount the price. Even though I was growing up in an unstable, poor environment, I was discovering the vital skills of entrepreneurship, persistence, and adaptability.

Not many young people today have the opportunity to get their minds opened up that way. I was fortunate to have a mom who believed in me. Again, not every young kid gets that kind of experience. I will forever be grateful for her encouragement.

By the time I was twelve, because of instability at home, I was bouncing between living with my mom, my grandparents, and the dad of a friend of mine. It was then that I first remember dreaming about financial independence.

I promised myself that someday, somehow, I’d become a millionaire. I knew I didn’t want to raise my kids the way I’d grown up. By the time I was sixteen, I was living on my own permanently.

To say I had a short childhood and learned how to survive early in life would be an understatement, but I’ve always tried to focus on the positives. It was only later, when I dealt with the lingering effects of a poverty mindset, that I realized how my underlying fear of being poor was affecting my relationship with money and others.

Our mindset, programming, and belief systems shape our perspective in life, and they can become a major liability in the wealth-building process. It’s a topic we’ll discuss in detail later.

The #1 Key to Wealth

The chaos of my childhood had another positive outcome—martial arts training.

The training gave me much needed stability, focus, and self-discipline. I studied with a man named Damien who, though I didn’t know it initially, was a millionaire.

In our training sessions, Damien would talk about the difference between the 99 percent and the 1 percent. He said that ninety-nine percent of the population look for the easy way out. Only one percent never quit.

I started spending more time with Damien. He became a father figure and my first wealth mentor and is a close friend to this day. I’m grateful for everything I learned from Damien.

Damien knew I was motivated to make money. I always asked him questions about success, and one day he shared a secret with me: he said the number one key to wealth is to get your money working for you instead of you working for your money.

I wrote down those words when I first heard them. A timeless truth and seed of wisdom had been planted deep in my heart and mind. It would take many years of watering and sifting to reach its full potential.

Working Hard Isn’t Enough

Days before graduating high school, my best friend Chris helped me land a job as a commercial diver for an underwater construction company. I loved it. I was the youngest diver on the team. It was challenging work and suited my introverted nature. I worked crazy hours—fifty to sixty hours a week—and made what I thought at the time was a great income. I was finally able to start my journey of saving money and thinking more seriously about financial freedom.

A guy named Miles was the senior diver who earned the top salary. He’d been a deep-sea habitat diver in the North Sea, where he lived underwater for weeks at a time. Whenever one of us young guys had a problem, we went to Miles. We called him the “underwater MacGyver” and looked up to him. He represented the pinnacle and goal we all wanted to achieve. (MacGyver was an old TV show about a guy who could creatively get himself out of any situation, no matter how impossible.)

Over time, I realized that Miles worked six days a week and lived on the cheaper side of the island, where houses were affordable. During the week, he camped out in the back of his old pickup truck, and Saturday evenings he drove two hours to see his wife and one-year-old son. Sunday night he’d drive back to our side of the island to be at work again Monday morning.

I knew I didn’t want to live like that. Although only in his mid-thirties, Miles looked like he was fifty because of the environmental stresses commercial diving puts on...