Book Review: You are Already a Wealth Heiress - Now act like one!

I recently devoured Linda P. Jones’ book, “You are Already a Wealth Heiress - Now act like one! 6 Practical Steps to Make it a Reality Now” and totally loved it.  I found the book to be refreshingly aimed at women with a delightful mix of practical tips and mindset applications as well as deep-diving wealth-building advice. I enjoyed the book so much, I decided to share it with you here, so that you can enjoy the benefits as well.

In the book, Linda graciously shares with us The Wealth Building Formula, The Millionaire Action Plan and 6 Steps to Wealth, all of which are very practical and very helpful.  Each chapter ends with key takeaways and action steps which made it easy to digest and implement each time I sat down to read. 

 
 

My top Takeaways from Linda P Jones Book

Linda P. Jones is known as “America’s Wealth Mentor.”  She hosts a fabulous podcast called, “Be Wealthy and Smart” that I have listened to for more than 5 years.  (I highly recommend it for daily, digestible investing tips!)  Needless to say, I’ve been a fan of hers for years, so it was about time I picked up one of her books. I’m very glad I did, too. Here are my top takeaways from reading “You are a Wealth Heiress..”. 


Keep an Eye on Your Net Worth 

You should know by now that I am a big believer in both conscious and subconscious mindset work.  Part of realizing your inherent financial worth, is looking at reality, and embracing the complete fact that you are already financially amazing.

Have you ever calculated your net worth? Just the act of doing so will most likely make you feel more wealthy energetically.  Many of us only hear the term “net worth” when we’re watching E! True Hollywood stories or documentaries on the rich and the famous. The very thought of associating our own identity with this phrase helps build a healthy financial mindset. 

The best part is, finding out your net worth is way easier than you think!  I first did this in my young twenties and was fascinated by the results, although the number was obviously very low. As a 31 year old, I just reassessed my net worth and was pleasantly pleased to see my net worth has grown, despite going into debt to start my business. 

I encourage you to take a few minutes to calculate your own net worth. STep into the mindset of believing that you deserve to know your net worth,  and you’ll be reinforcing the belief that you are able to grow your net worth.  Here’s the simple formula for calculating your net worth:

Assets - liabilities = net worth 

To be clear, assets are anything you have that is valuable (car, house, business income, IRA, 401k, savings, investments, etc.)

Liabilities are anything you owe (debt, mortgage, student loans, etc.)

Your assets, minus your liabilities equals your net worth.  This exercise is fun, empowering and mentally encouraging.  Even if you have a negative net worth, it’s empowering to know where you stand and how much you need to grow to achieve your specific financial goals. 

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Be Mindful of Depreciating Assets

I am thrifty and frugal by nature and upbringing, but I still found this incredibly enlightening to think about things we pay big money for that almost instantly depreciate and in effect don’t help our net worth much at all, other than initially.

We have the idea in America that “wealthy” looks like owning a yacht, a house with a swimming pool and having a luxury vehicle.  The truth is fancy toys like boats, cars and recreational vehicles are fastly depreciating.  That means you pay way more upfront than you can ever hope to get back from there. The sad truth is that jewelry, clothes and furniture are the same way. These items hit a little closer to my heart, as well as for most other women.  If you do have champagne taste, there’s nothing wrong with that, but you may want to at least consider shopping around for the best price (ideally a bargain) or perhaps delaying your own gratification.

In the book Linda talks about purchasing a major fashion item she’d wanted for a while. She noticed after 3 days she wasn't as excited to own the item as she had been initially.  I challenge you to try this for yourself.

Jones also talks about opportunity cost (OC) which is the actual cost or “opportunity cost” of buying something. For example, a designer bag may be $3000 to purchase.  We’ve already determined that this item will immediately depreciate, especially with use.  Additionally, if you use a calculator to learn how much that $3000 would be worth if you invested it in the stock market for 10 years at an annual return rate of 10%, you’d be shocked to find out that the actual opportunity cost of buying that bag is around $ 7,781.23.  Wow!  This leads me to my next big takeaway - thinking like an investor!

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Shift your mindset from Spending to Investing

This may be my single biggest takeaway.  In order to build lasting wealth for yourself, the best thing you can do is to shift your mindset from a consumerist nature of “spend, spend, spend” to a wealth-creating nature of “invest, invest, invest.”  Investing is different from saving because the returns are 10x what you would get if your money were simply sitting in a bank account.  Not to mention the 8th wonder of the world, compounding interest.

I encourage you to consider the opportunity cost you may be forfeiting before you hit “complete check out” next time. 

It’s also worth working through Linda’s Millionaire Action Plan, so you have a clear vision of where you are going and what you are investing for. I completed the entire exercise in an hour or two and found it to be wildly beneficial to my wealth mindset. 

One excellent example of investing is starting a business. By doing so you’re investing in yourself and your future happiness. More about this is coming up. 


Good Debt and Bad Debt (for starting a business)

Money is energy. One of the first things I notice new entrepreneurs doing is being fearful of spending toward their business goals and dreams. This is understandable when I learn that 99% of them don’t have a budget or financial plan for making their business a reality. 

In Linda’s book she discusses good debt and bad debt. Starting a business is good debt! Basically the idea is that a business is an appreciating asset that will continue to make you money as long as you want it to. For that reason financial experts generally look at business start-up costs as a good investment, even if you go into debt (you probably will) in the first 5 years. If you’re smart and willing to learn basic business practices and the industry your business is in, then you’ll probably be out of debt and making money from this investment after a couple of years. That is good debt. 

Additional advice from me: Outline a budget and have a plan for funding your business for the first five years, which is the average time it takes new businesses to become profitable. Once you hit the profitable sweet spot, your business can become a “money engine” for your wealth building goals. 

For example, It’s not uncommon for businesses to grow 50% in a year, especially when they are new. That is a phenomenal return on an investment!  For comparison, the average return on the stock market is 10% and the average return for a savings account is less than 1%.


Here's the annual growth of my business for the first 5 years:

2018 - 600% growth

2019 - 1047% growth

2020 - 190% growth

2021 - 525% growth

2022 - 36% decline 


Conclusion 

I believe in feeling empowered and educated in both your business and your personal finances.  If you don't currently feel empowered with your finances, this book will be of great value to you. I recommend reading it no matter where you are financially. The more you learn now, the better off you’ll be in the future; and who knows what the future holds for you! 

Additional Resources:

Other Financial Books I recommend:

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Haley HooverComment