Book Review: Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind: Mastering The Inner Game Of Wealth

This book review is part of a series that covers the topic of Personal Finance. The Official SelfGrowth.com Guide to Personal Finance is Leo J. Quinn. Personal Finance involves the ways in which individuals obtain, budget, save, and spend money over time.nnSecrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth is a valuable resource for people interested in Personal Finance, and it is available through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.nnPublishers WeeklynEker's claim to fame is that he took a $2,000 credit card loan, opened "one of the first fitness stores in North America," turned it into a chain of 10 within two and a half years and sold it in 1987 for a cool (but somewhat modest-seeming) $1.6 million. Now the Vancouver-based entrepreneur traverses the continent with his "Millionaire Mind Intensive Seminar," on which this debut motivational business manual is based. What sets it apart is Eker's focus on the way people think and feel about money and his canny, class-based analyses of broad differences among groups. In rat-a-tat, "Let me explain" seminar-speak, Eker asks readers to think back to their childhoods and pick apart the lessons they passively absorbed from parents and others about money. With such psychological nuggets as "Rich people focus on opportunities/ Poor people focus on obstacles," Eker puts a positive spin on stereotypes, arguing that poverty begins, or rather, is allowed to continue, in one's imagination first, with actual material life becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. To that end, Eker counsels for admiration and against resentment, for positivity, self-promotion and thinking big and against wallowing, self-abnegation and small-mindedness. While much of the advice is self-evident, Eker's contribution is permission to think of one's financial foibles as a kind of mental illness-one, he says, that has a ready set of cures. 6-city author tour; 25-city radio tour. Agent, Bonnie Solow. (Mar.) Copyright © 2005 Reed Business Information. nnSoundview Executive Book SummariesnAccording to financial training guru T. Harv Eker, money is a unique phenomenon that only needs to be properly understood to be accumulated. In Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, he explains that our prior programming on the subject of money has an incredibly deep impact on how we interact with money and what our future possibilities of wealth will be.n nEker calls our subconscious perceptions about wealth our "money blueprint" and explains that what we learned about money from our parents is shaping exactly how we feel about money today, whether we know it or not. By teaching his readers how to reprogram their brains to think like a millionaire and create positive thoughts around making money, he offers them a complete program for becoming wealthy.nnDeclarations and ActionsnEker explains that changing our financial blueprint involves becoming aware of how we presently think about money, understanding where our way of thinking originated and how it has come from outside of us, disassociating ourselves from this way of thinking, and reconditioning ourselves to generate wealth. In Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, Eker describes how we can undo the verbal programming, modeling and experiences that have shaped our attitudes about money. His solution involves making specific declarations that can help us improve our financial lives, and taking simple actions that can anchor the changes.nnEker encourages readers to put a hand on their heart when making declarations such as "My inner world creates my outer world," and "What I modeled around money was their way. I choose my way." By having them accompany these actions with a touch to the head and the words, "I have a millionaire mind!" Eker aims to reprogram his readers for success. The lesson he imparts with all of these declarations and affirmations is, "Your income can grow only to the extent that you do."nnThe rest of Eker's book answers the question, "How do rich people think and act?" His response comes in the form of 17 ways that rich people think and act differently from poor and middle-class people. By installing these alternative "wealth files" into the minds of his readers, he offers them new choices so they can shift their focus to thinking like the rich people they want to be.nnFor example, the first wealth file that Eker offers is, "Rich people believe 'I create my life.' Poor people believe 'Life happens to me.'" The message he attaches to this is that each individual must believe that he or she is the one who creates success, creates mediocrity, and creates his or her own struggle around money and success. "Rich people understand the importance of money and the place it has in our society," Eker writes. He explains that until you believe that money is important, you will always be broke. He adds that being a victim is the opposite of being rich, so if you blame, justify or complain, "you are slitting your financial throat."nnThe second wealth file that Eker offers is, "Rich people play the money game to win. Poor people play the money game to not lose." To describe the power of intention, he explains that if your intention is to have enough money to pay the bills, "that's exactly how much you'll get — just enough to pay the bills and not a dime more." But if you want to get rich, he writes, "your goal has to be rich."nn'Shoot for the Stars'nTo help readers ingrain this lesson into their subconsciousness, he advises them to place a hand on their heart and declare, "My goal is to become a millionaire and more!" and then once again touch their head and say, "I have a millionaire mind!" He also encourages readers to write down two financial objectives that demonstrate their intention to create abundance. Although he writes that these "play to win" goals for annual income and net worth must be achievable with a realistic time frame, he adds that they should also "shoot for the stars."nnAlong with its material focus on finances, there is a spiritual side to Eker's program of wealth creation as well. He writes that "the goal of creating wealth is to help you grow yourself into the best person you can possibly be." This process can be improved with the help of a personal coach, he adds. By focusing on the parts of themselves that can be taught and trained, Eker shows readers that they can take personal responsibility for their commitment to growth, and take that learning to the bank.nnWhy We Like This BooknSecrets of the Millionaire Mind presents a clear path to wealth in a highly readable format, carrying its readers through a realistic program filled with introspection and helpful hints. By showing them how to change the patterns that keep them earning less than their potential, Eker offers actionable advice that cuts through prior negative programming and nourishes the mental roots of wealth creation with the energy and thoughtfulness required to reach lofty monetary goals. Copyright © 2006 Soundview Executive Book Summaries