AJV (00:06): Welcome to the Influential Personal Brand podcast. This is the place where we help Mission-driven messengers, just like you learn how to build and monetize your personal brand. My name is Rory Vaden and I’m the co-founder of Brand Builders Group, a hall of fame speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. And this show is to help experts learn how to become more wealthy and well-known. I know you’re gonna love it. Thanks for being here. Let’s get started. AJV (00:34): How to know when enough is enough. I’m specifically talking about money here, and as we round out 2024, which is when I’m recording this and I look ahead to 2025, which I imagine many of you are, I think that’s a question that’s really timely. How much is enough? And when you think about it in the terms of money, I would encourage you to think about money not in terms of how much you make or, or how much you wanna keep, but it’s more of what do you wanna do with the money that you have? And I’m in a lot of different circles with friends, family, different business owners, entrepreneurs even just conversations in the Brand Builders Group community, and even just conversations with the team at Brand Builders Group. And I, I have never met anyone ever who has said, no, I, I don’t want to make more money. AJV (01:35): Now, they may admit I don’t need more money, but I have never actually heard anyone say, no, I don’t want to make more money. But I have also heard the following statements or sentiments simultaneously, which is, why do I always feel the need to make more? How do I know when enough is enough? And what ultimately is this magical number that would make me feel financially secure? And I think that’s a really good question for all of us. And one of the things that I have been spending a lot of time thinking about is, you know, I don’t think anyone is asking the question, how much am I spending? As much as we are asking how much do I want to be making, or how much do I think I need to be making? But spending and making a really big correlation. And I believe that for, for most of us now this is, this is in a very above the poverty line conversation here. AJV (02:40): I know that there are many people in poverty who are going, no, I need to make more money. This is not about spending. I cannot afford groceries. I am not speaking to that group of people in this particular conversation. That is a different need. That is a different conversation. But for the rest of everyone who specifically lives in the United States, right, you are already making more than the majority of the entire world just by living here. And the average salary in the United States is $48,000. If you’re making more than that, then you are already making more than the average American. If you make over six figures you are already making more than almost 50% of the average American. And yet we have this question of enoughness and making more. And have we actually ever stopped and asked ourselves, how much am I spending? AJV (03:38): And is that, is that an area I need more control over versus always the desire of more? And I don’t think wanting more is bad. Don’t hear what I’m not saying. There are many things that I think having more of is awesome. I think making more money is a good and powerful thing. I want to make more money. But I don’t want to ever be in a position that making more creates less time for my family. I never want making more money to pull me away from the work that God has me to do. I never want to be making more money so that I have no peace and no rest because I’ve said yes to every single thing in an effort of making more. And yet, I have no time for my husband, my children, myself, the the Lord. Friends, I think there’s, there’s exchanges here that we make. AJV (04:31): And sometimes I think the question should be is, am I spending too much? Versus am I, how do I make more? And this is not a conversation for everyone. It’s for a very specific person and a very specific season who is asking themselves, when is enough enough? And perhaps what you have is already enough, and it’s not about making more. But it could be about spending less. And it may not even be about spending less. It may just be more about spiritual contentness. It’s being content and at peace with what you have and what you’re making. Because my husband often says this peace is the new profit. More money isn’t going to necessarily fix the problems that we have. More money often creates more problems, right? Biggie small said it best. More money, more problems. And often the more that we make, the more that we just naturally spend there’s a natural lifestyle acclimation that occurs unintentionally and most of the time unaware where we naturally make more. AJV (05:42): And so we naturally spend more, thus always creating this desire, this intentional thought that we need to make more. And that’s not necessarily a true, it’s the byproduct of our spending went up. And regardless of how much you make percentage wise, it never feels like you have any leftover. And a part of this is in conjunction with the end of the year, the beginning of the year, and a recent conversation that we had on the podcast with the budget besties who have a financial podcast for women. We can listen to it wherever you listen to your podcast. But it was a really great conversation about awareness, about it’s not often I need to make more conversation. It’s often, do you even know where you’re spending? And are you overspending? Which creates this discontent to make you think you need to make more? AJV (06:38): And is it really a spending conversation versus a money conversation? And a lot of that comes down to this B word, right, called a budget. It’s like, do you actually subscribe to living on a budget where there is a designated pile of money that you have for the necessities of your life? IE the bills that you have? Then do you set aside the amounts for spending or savings or whatever it may be? But those are intentional decision decisions of going, I can be content with whatever I have in any situation. And it’s not always a chase for more. Again, not saying that more is bad, it’s just at what cost. It’s just at what cost. And I wanna reiterate, I want more. I want more for our team and for our clients, but not at the cost of peace and joy and time and health and family and friends. AJV (07:41): And then it’s an exchange of you can actually have more by simply deciding to spend less. That’s an exchange of going when it, it, it depends on what you want more of. I also believe in the concept of Die with Zero. I believe that when, you know, I go to the grave, I don’t want anything left over. I wanna see the fruits of my labor, labor put to work and whatever I choose to invest it into. But I think these are decisions of going like, how are we using and investing the money that we make in a way that brings more peace not just more dollars in a banking account, because that ain’t going with you. And it’s not that you shouldn’t have reserve savings, you should have emergency funds. I believe in all of those things. And also, this is the decision of going, I’m the, I am the authority. AJV (08:32): I am the authority over money in my life. Money is not the authority over me. Money does not dictate the decisions I make. I dictate the decisions and then choose how to use the money I have. And many of us will make financial decisions that will take up 60% of the waking hours of our life. That’s called a job . That’s called a career u Most Americans, if you work 40 hours a week many of you will work more. But if you work 40 hours a week with the standard American two week vacation, then you will spend 60% of your waking hours at work. Do you love it? Do you love your team? Do you love what you do? Do you love the work? Do you love your clients? Do you love your employer? Do you love your employees because you’re spending 60% of your time with them pre-retirement? AJV (09:30): You better ? Like, what’s all this work? Right? And I think those are the exchanges. Like, what if you were making a ton of money and loved all of that? It’s great, but what if you were making a ton of money and were miserable? What if you were not making a ton of money but loved your work and were happy? It’s like, are those exchanges that we’re willing to make? And I think all of that really comes down to it’s like, what do you want? And I don’t mean things I’m not saying this is the, you know, American Dream two story house or the picket fence, right? A dog and 2.5 kids or whatever it is. I’m not saying that it’s like, I’m not talking about things. I’m talking about, like, do you want extra time? Do you want more peace? Do you want less stress? AJV (10:14): Do you want better relationships? Do you want better health? Like, what are the things that you really want? And then what are you doing to get those things? And I cannot say this enough, but I’m gonna say it one more time. Making more money is not a bad thing. It’s a good thing. It’s a necessary thing. It’s about what we do with that money and how we let it rule over our hearts. That can be a bad thing, not always, but sometimes it’s just, are you in control or is in, is it in control of you? Is it forcing you to make decisions that are out of alignment with who you are and what you want? And I think that is a question of when is enough enough? And I think all of us have to come to terms with do I really need more money or do I need something else, right? Do I need more purpose, more fulfillment, more time, more peace? And can I get that without stretching and forcing this money conversation by simply choosing to potentially spend less? So when is enough enough.