A Welcome from the Author

[BookClubEditor]

How The Net Worth Workout Was Born

I wrote The Net Worth Workout because, as a financial advisor for JP Morgan, I saw so many people who could be doing a better job of handling their finances and weren't. Then I witnessed other people earning half the income of those who weren't doing a good job, and they ended up with significantly more assets. It was astounding! How could people who earned less money -- a lot less -- have more assets? There are a lot of reasons for this, and we'll cover them all in this class. Best of all, you can prosper from them!

As I spent more and more time with these two groups and studied their behavior I realized that the successful group had so much in common with another group I spent many hours with: athletes. Who knows the most about how to set clearly defined goals? Who has mastered the art of rigorously, ruthlessly pursuing their objectives-of settling for nothing short of victory? Yet athletes also hold themselves to high standards, play by the rules, and work together as a team for maximum impact.

As a young teen I had become a competitive runner and then started competing in triathlons. There I learned firsthand that in competitive sports there's a direct link between vision, persistence, and success. The same principles that help athletes push themselves toward victory can help you push yourself toward greater prosperity. At the same time, I learned that not everyone has the same goals. Take Lance Armstrong, who has been able to use his biking talent to win seven Tour de France competitions and be a worldwide spokesperson for cancer-this is what has been best for him. Then there are those that get the same amount of joy from riding down a country road or to the beach, who love to observe the plants and wildlife, or catch up with friends. It's all very individual and very personal.

With that I began developing a system for financial prioritizing, goal setting, and follow-up that tapped directly into the language, metaphors, and mindset of athletic training. I began to see strength, conditioning, and even nutrition as metaphors for financial concepts. Metaphors that could be personalized for the individual.

-Susan