The Hindu Business Line : Four codes to crack

IN 101 days you should be able to turn your unknown assets into millions, discover your enlightened money-making idea, gather an amazing team around you, and open the vault to a lifetime of fulfilment and prosperity, promises the back cover of "Cracking the Millionaire Code," by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen, from Vermilion (www. randomhouse.co. uk).

Enough hype to make you squirm, I guess, but the book is about `what rich people know that you don't' and so I turn the pages to see what this `new type of wealth' is. "Elngitheend waetlth - hwo yuo eran it and kepe ti - si daramtcilaly dfifrneet tahn teh odriarny wlaeth we see, haer, tnihk or raed aobut," write the authors in code, with quotes and intrigue to ambush you everywhere!

Enlightened wealth is the polar opposite of `get rich quick', they instruct, and assure that "it is absolutely possible to earn honest, ethical, enlightened, legal, moral, good money - and to do so even more quickly than if you chose the alternative". Wish our netas knew this.

Okay, you first need LIGHT for your path, and that's short for Loverage, Inner wealth, Giving, Higher power, and Trustee - the five principles Hansen and Allen lay down. You're not only destined to be financially successful but destined to do it your way, urge the authors. Loverage is that you determine what you love to do, which is when "you access your inner power", and work with true passion.

If you're sceptical about inner wealth, the book cites a Harvard study that 75 per cent of value in major corporations is made of intangible assets. "People will be much happier, more productive, and successful if they quit focussing on their external assets and focus more attention on internal, intangible assets," predict the authors.

We know taking, and lot of overtaking, but what's giving? "Form the habit that many mega-successful entrepreneurs including Oprah have in common," exhorts the duo. "Give 10 per cent of your money away... the first 10 per cent of your profit to those who need it." On that, however, there can be two opinions. H capital for `higher power' has a variety of names, but aren't we used to keeping our spiritual views private, lest we affect the sensitivities of others? What's the point, ask the authors, because: "People are hungry for a spiritual approach to business. The world is ready for it."

Does that mean no money? No, money is spiritual, aver Hansen and Allen. "Materialism is grossly material when it is grossly negligent, grossly selfish, and grossly greedy. But material things invested in the most valuable assets - people - in helping resolve their needs, is the most spiritual thing you can do." Seems to make sense, doesn't it?

The fifth, that is, the `trustee' thought turns the ownership concept on its head and focuses on stewardship, which is about "achieving success because you don't want to own anything". You're a temporary custodian, not a permanent owner. "You make it, enjoy it, use it, take good care of it, maintain it, clean it up, improve it, and then prepare it to hand off to the next generation or the next custodian", explain the authors. While the capitalistic notion of ownership is based on scarcity, stewardship is founded on abundance, one learns.

Then come the `four key wealth codes', viz. destiny, prism, angel and star. The first is about what Maslow calls `self-actualisation' or what Rick Warren names `the purpose-driven life', cites the book. "Whatever you call it, you'll know it when you've found it. You'll just sense that you are doing what you were born to do... Those who crack the destiny code are the truly wealthy. Everyone else is a wannabe." If destiny is the path, prism is the vehicle - "the specific product or service that sets you apart... that displays your talents and gifts to the world". When you discover your prism, you don't earn a living, you earn a `loving', is an insightful pun from Hansen and Allen. Angel code is needed because you need a team, and "fortunately, there are people who were destined to be on your team"; they'd be the ones who bring "the missing pieces of the puzzle". Cracking the star code is "the process of discovering and serving a very special group of customers" - the easiest to envision and hardest to regularly implement, caution the authors.

A chapter on turning your buried treasures into millions invites you to www.crackingthemillionairecode.com to know how long it would take you to become `a traditional millionaire' by giving five numbers, viz. age, projected retirement age, current savings, monthly investment amount, and projected interest rate. The `enlightened wealth statement' has hidden assets on the left and liabilities on the right - something that your accountant may not understand. There're also `hidden liabilities' with financial consequences. Such as, "a major fear that has always held you back"!

Get cracking!

BookValue@TheHindu.co.in

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