It’s an emotional time for people all across the globe. I admit I have oscillated a bit from being motivated to nervous, frustrated and then back to motivated and excited again. During these times of uncertainty, the Paradigm Life Team and I wanted to connect and communicate with you in a way that is less common—especially in the here and now.
One of the benefits of offering our services digitally is our remote capabilities. Over the last week, we as a team took additional steps to mobilize our office of around fifty people so that regardless of the circumstances, our service and value to you will go uninterrupted. The wellbeing of our team is our top priority. Without them we could not offer the level of value and service you deserve, especially in these disruptive times.
If you are a client, we will be here by phone, email, or online chat through our website to answer any questions or offer support—even if you just want to say hi.
For those of you who may not be a client, our online courses, podcasts, blog, and other educational content will be available and updated for you to keep learning and growing.
This is not the first time Paradigm Life has navigated uncertain financial waters. We were born out of seasons of change and uncertainty. We have first-hand experience in what our clients and potential clients are feeling.
We witnessed the 2009 financial crisis and its aftermath of lost employment, housing, and personal dignity. If people had the mindset, knowledge, and tools we advocated, their experience would have turned into the greatest opportunity of a lifetime, not the fear-driven state of survival it ended up being for most.
We Want You to Thrive During the Coming Days, Weeks, and Months
You might be saying to yourself, when is the “wash your hands” and “buy toilet paper” advice coming? Or maybe you’re thinking, “When is he going to pitch me?”
That is not the purpose of this message. I value your time, attention, and energy more than that. My desire for you, as a result of this message, is to see the current events in a different light, from the perspective of anticipating what’s to come, and confident that you can control and thrive because of it.
Countless people around the world are currently paralyzed by heightened levels of emotion that continue to be amplified by school closures, sports season postponement, quarantines, and memes of empty grocery store shelves. My goal is to show you that unconscious, instinctive reaction can be neutralized.
During times like these, there is a specific paradigm that thrives. It is a side of human nature that ALWAYS kicks in when systems, models, and business breaks down. It is one of the brightest sides of human ingenuity.
That paradigm is possible for you and lives in you now.
The few who choose to view the world with abundance, not scarcity, faith, not fear, and the inherent lesson, not failure are the ones who take disruptive environments by the horns and find opportunities to add value and solve problems.
If you could go back in time to September 1929, just before the Great Depression began, September 1987 before the crash on Black Monday the following month, December 2000, or the summer of 2008 before the financial crisis, and give yourself one piece of financial advice, what would it be?
All of those activities would have resulted in huge financial returns. But to me, those are tips, not advice. And for most people, the emotionally charged blood running through their veins would have never made those investments
The greatest single lesson I have learned as an individual investor and one who has given thousands of personal financial consultations over more than 13 years is what it takes to make that type of decision:
To strategically position your wealth in a way that enables a mindset that can intelligently act.
Who would invest in real estate when the entire housing market just collapsed?
Who would buy a computer company that just deviated to selling a music player during a time when the entire tech world just collapsed?
Who would invest in cartoons when the majority of people were trying to figure out how to keep their electricity on?
This is The Investment Paradox—the times when opportunities to invest are the most rewarding are the times nobody is in the state of mind to invest.
3 Steps to Enable an Investor Mindset
- Establish Your Financial Foundation
As I mentioned, my firm Paradigm Life was born during a financial crisis. We knew then and we know now that millions of people follow out-of-date financial advice. It prohibits a future they deserve and puts them at tremendous risk during situations like the one we are facing now. That’s why our mission is to come alongside you to implement a personalized wealth strategy that empowers a fulfilling life right now, and ensures a future of your dreams.
The foundational financial product we advocate is The Wealth Maximization Account™, a dividend paying whole life insurance policy designed for high cash value. These insurance policies are offered by mutual companies that have not only survived challenging pandemics and epidemics, both health and financial, but thrived during them.
This financial tool is not impacted by market fluctuations but earns a tax-favorable return. It is a safe haven for your cash reserves. It provides liquidity regardless of age or circumstance.
Knowing that a portion of your wealth is safe, protected, and accessible empowers an abundant mindset.
Over the last two days, I have been overly impressed by the primary mutual companies Paradigm Life represents. They are mobilizing as we are and anticipate 100% continuity even if the entire staff must work from home.
Although many financial institutions frantically react on a day to day basis, mutual insurance companies are poised to be that lighthouse in the storm.
2. Financial Education
When your financial education goes up so does your degree of control. When your degree of control regarding financial assets goes up, your risk goes down.
Recently, given the tumultuous times we are experiencing, billionaire Ray Dalio has been blogging, tweeting, and texting his audience. Here are a few samples that relate to the importance of continued learning.
“Logic, reason, and common sense are your best tools for synthesizing reality and understanding what to do about it. Be wary of anything else.”
“Psychological studies show that the majority of people follow lower-level paths most of the time, which leads to inferior decisions without their realizing it.”
“It is more important that decision making be evidence-based and logical when groups of people are working together. If it’s not, the process will inevitably be dominated by the most powerful rather than the most insightful participants, which is not only unfair but suboptimal. Successful organizations have cultures in which evidence-based decision making is the norm rather than the exception.”
3. A Network and a Guide
I will rely on Ray to highlight the importance of an analogy I use quite often: the three-sided coin. There are really three sides to a coin—tails, heads, and the edge. Tails is one opinion/perspective, heads another, and the edge is yours—based on weighing the truths that lie in both.
“Sincerely believe that you might now know the best possible path and recognize that your ability to deal well with “not knowing” is more important than whatever it is you do know. Most people make bad decisions because they are so certain that they’re right that they don’t allow themselves to see the better alternatives that exist. Radically open-minded people know that coming up with the right questions and asking other smart people what they think is as important as having all the answers.”
Surround yourself with different networks than those who share your same point of view. This broadens your perspective and ultimately your ability to make decisions.
Find a guide that has the experience to help you discover what you want, where you’re going, and where you are now, then give you options of HOW to get there.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” – Carl Jung
Conclusion: So How Bad Is This Crisis Really?
If you are a listener of The Wealth Standard Podcast, you know that I attended a financial conference five weeks ago that eerily predicted and anticipated most of this.
My concern is not so much the health aspect as it is the disruption to the business and economic cycles based on the supply chain interruption in China and the significant drop in personal production, which we have yet to see.
I recorded a podcast with Jason Hartman of The Creating Wealth Show today that discusses my thoughts in more detail. This episode will air on The Wealth Standard Monday so stay tuned.
As this all unfolds, the perspective of the team, myself, and my network will be much more frequent, so make sure you follow us on social media, the podcast, and our email list.
Sincerely,
Patrick Donohoe
CEO
Paradigm Life
