Video Transcript: How Did We Get There?

Video transcript: How did we get there?

Okay, well, welcome back. This is Alex Barron with Financial Freedom and Success Institute, we're sharing the financial freedom seminar. 

So let's start off with, How did we get here? How do we get to where we are, as I said, the American Dream for most people who come to this country or who live in this country is to find opportunity to get ahead in life to do something that makes them happy, something that's going to make them money, to give their family a better lifestyle, to buy the home, their dream home, their dream car, and to enjoy a pleasant retirement, you know, when they reach some retirement age. 

The sad reality today, though, is a lot of people have tons of debt, they have a lot of frustration around money, they feel like they worked very hard, but don't make enough. Most of them don't have any type of permanent life insurance. So when they go, sometimes it ends up being a financial hardship on their family. Most people still owe their cars, still owe their home. 

And by the time they reach retirement age, they don't have a secure predictable income. And so they have to rely on the government or their family or somebody else to take care of them. So generally, about 95% of the people never make it to financial freedom. And only 5% are the ones who figure it out. 

So our goal is to make sure that you're part of the 5%. Or even better yet, that the ratio will improve in terms of how many people actually achieve financial freedom. out of 100 people, young people today, by the time they reach the age of 65, typically only one is going to be wealthy, four will be financially independent, on few more will be working, and a lot more will be dependent on somebody else for their livelihoods. 

The majority, sadly, will never enjoy financial freedom. And so our goal is to make sure that you are one of the ones who does. Because I believe only a few people might be the ones who make the difference for all the rest. Have you ever seen a Hamster? What do they do? They just run and run and run? And how far do they get? Not very far. Right? 

Doesn't it feel like sometimes life is the same way. A lot of people basically, they work really hard. They get up really early, they put in all these hours. And somehow they don't feel like economically speaking, they're getting very far ahead in life. It just seems like you know, they always tell us happiness is right around the corner. If you just buy this one thing, if you get this other degree, if you find this other job if you move to some other location. You know, if you just buy a few more things, people are constantly looking for that part at the end of the rainbow, which doesn't seem to show up. 

Problem is a lot of people spend their whole life thinking that happiness lies in things, right? They go buying things that they don't need. With money, they don't have to impress people that they don't even like, right? They just work hard. Believing that happiness is somehow finding buying more things. So let's go back and figure out how do we get here? What is the root cause of a lot of the problems that we have? I really think it starts off with the programming that we all have. When I say programming, I mean the script. We've all heard it before. You can almost probably tell it, tell it to me before I even read it to you. What does it say? What did our parents tell us since we were young, you got to go to school to get good grades. Someday, you can go to university? Why do we want to go to university so that someday, you can get a good paying job, full of good benefits, so that you can then make some money. And then you're gonna buy things that are gonna make you happy. Right? 

So where do people end up at the end of this whole story? With a ton of debt. And they just keep buying more things, put them in more debt. So who does who taught us his script? Our parents? Religion, school, government, society. Everybody copies and does what everybody else does. Right? Think about it. From the time we were kids. Didn't somebody program was to be a student. And they said that the key to success was to go to college, right? 

What were they really programming us to do? Do most people go to college and not pay for it? Most people go to college, and they end up in debt. If we go and start illustrating this over a timeline. Let's do it here. So let's think about this as the scale of money. And this is going to be the scale of time, Right, when where we are born, I'll call that times zero times zero, and money zero. How much debt does a child have when they're born? Right? all the way till they're 18 they live with their parents. From that point on, is what I call the critical decision period.

That's when the children go from being children to being an adult. What's the first major decision that a child has to make? Well, first of all, whether it's a study, right, some people chose not to even go to college. Most of them probably do. And then the question is, well, what should I study? After they pick a college? Major? What else do they have to pick? Where where to go to school? 

Well, how much does it cost these days to go to school? could be anywhere from 10,000, maybe for local university per year to 50,000. Plus, if they go to League school, how many years and typically go to school? Maybe one year, let's say on average, they say they spent 25,000. Most people don't have that kind of money. So what do they do? They borrow it right student loans. So they go one year to school, two years, three years, four years, maybe they ended up going and getting a master's. Let's say maybe they by the time they're done. They're already $125,000 in debt. Right?

So what comes next? Well, after they finish school, let's say they're lucky enough, they find a great job. Right? So immediately, as soon as they get a job, and they start to make money, who's the first to start taking part of that money? Uncle Sam, right, they need to get paid their taxes. So like I said, if you guys have ever seen the movie Office Space, if you've never seen it, I recommend you watch it. Tonight open. But immediately you get programmed to become a taxpayer. Everybody knows, Hey, I gotta pay taxes, Uncle Sam. 

Then people are programmed to be consumers, right? They gotta go spend money on things. After they get the job. What's usually the first thing that people go buy, buying a car, what kind of car a used car from $5,000 car. They gotta go buy themselves a brand new car. In third guy, what kind of color car they are gonna get? A red sports car, right? How much is that gonna cost? Maybe if we're lucky, an extra 25,000. 

So this is for education. And this is for a brand new car, right? Well, over their lifetime, most cars today are not even 25,000. They're closer to 40,000 plus interest. That's another 11,000 times to people when they get married. And most people change cars every how many years? Every five years. So how many dollars? Are most people going to spend on cars over their lifetime? close to a million dollars, believe it or not? Unbelievable. Now, after they get the car, most guys are hoping they find what a pretty girl to marry. Right? Or to me the day. Once they meet the pretty girl. Eventually, they get married, they get engaged and get married.

And of course, they're just going to have a small reunion with friends and family, right? No, what are they gonna do? They're gonna go have a big old party rent the big plays by the biggest ring they can afford. Buy a pretty wedding dress. Have a huge party? And then what are they going to? What are they where they're going to go after the wedding? Vacation a nice honeymoon, right? So before you know it, they've already spent who knows? Maybe their parents are gonna spend it. Maybe they're gonna spend them, so now they've got money that they've had to spend on the wedding. 

After they come back. Maybe they'll rent an apartment for a year or two. Eventually once the wife gets pregnant, they don't fit in the apartment anymore. So what are they going to go buy now? A house Right, how much are they going to spend on the house? Are they going to buy just a small two bedroom house that they can afford? Because most people today want the new house? Do you guys know how much new houses cost? On average today in the United States, a brand new house costs $400,000. a starter home costs around $250,000. That's how much they cost. Most people go out and borrow all that money. Well, I ran out of space already. So let's just say another $250,000 for a home.

So before you know it, people are in debt. Right, they falling into the trap. I call this position the pit of what? Pit of desperation. Most people are going to be in debt for how long? Probably for the rest of their lives. Maybe they might start coming out of debt. But it's going to take them a really, really long time to get out of debt. After people buy a home, what do they typically do within a few years. They either refinance, the remodel it, or they go buy themselves a bigger home. And then a few years later, a bigger home. 

So when do they ever get out of debt? Pretty much never. Right? So now, do you guys know that when people buy a $250,000 home, they're not just going to pay back? $250,000 to the bank? How much are they going to pay back in interest? sometimes two, sometimes three times as much as what they borrow. Right? So in reality, when people sign up for the debts, they're not just signing up for what they're borrowing. I like to look at it this way.

You guys see the slide I had about the college student. Right? You've got this guy who's sitting here thinking about? What did I just do? Right? I just signed up for for this mountain of debt. Well, it's not just a debt, that's the problem. What's the problem? In order to pay this debt back, you got to pay back what else? The interest. And then on top of the interest, you got to earn enough to pay what else, so that you can have the money to have to pay them off. Right. So essentially, to pay off $1 of debt, you almost need to earn $4. So that you have enough to pay the taxes, pay the interest, and then have the dollar to pay back the debt. So that's the problem, right? 

So let's go back. Now, when people buy, when they people get worried about well, what if what happens if someday something happens to me? They typically buy what kind of insurance? Or what kind of insurance do they get when they go to work at some places? They get what's called a term life insurance. Now, term life insurance is okay, better than nothing. But what's the problem with it? After a period of time, it's gonna go away, right when you need it, most people who start putting money away for retirement, what are they usually taught they're supposed to do? You gotta open up before 1K or an IRA. Put your money away for 3040 years. Don't worry about it. Leave it there for the long haul. And someday you'll have a lot of money. 

Well, does anybody guarantee you're gonna have a lot of money? No. Do you know how much you're going to have at the end of the day? Do you know if it's going to be enough? No. Because what are the stock market do? It goes up? And it goes down and goes up? And it goes down? Right? Some people say that you're going to earn 10,12% in the market, or is that really true? Not really, I've done studies that show that in the past 20 plus years, the market at best has averaged one percent per year. So where does this concept of 10 to 12% comes from? It just comes from some people who just repeat it as if it's a mantrat. Just because you say something many times doesn't mean it's true. Right? 

So the traditional script isn't working for most people, what is the traditional script? go to university? And what does that translate into student loans? Get a job? What does that translate into limited income, right and pay taxes, get a new car, you just assume the car loan, buy what you like, you just got yourself into credit card debt, buying the new home, you just got yourself into a mortgage. You don't have enough money, Oh, guess what? Go back to school, get a Master's work in a PhD. Right? After you have kids. Now, what do you got to start worrying about, you got to pay for their school, pay for their wedding, and so on and so forth. 

You put money away in a retirement plan? Well, guess what, that money is not available to you for the next 40 years. And you don't even know how much you're going to have at the end of the day. If you happen to die prematurely, you put money away in term insurance, if you don't die prematurely, guess what happens to all that money you put into that insurance? It's gone, you're not gonna get any of that back. So where does all our money go? All our money goes to the government on the way of taxes to the banks in the way of interest, to insurance companies in the way of premiums, and to merchants through consumption. 

So the big question is, what's the cost of being a financial slave? Right? And more importantly, how much is left for you? How much of all that money that you earn that goes through your hands? Do you get to keep what you want money for? To have your own business? Right, for your own retirement, for your travel, for your own family, to someday leave an inheritance? So the point here is that getting into debt is really easy. Right? The problem is paying back that debt is not so easy. 

We've gone here, through the typical sequence of getting into debt, there was a couple other things I left out when people start a business, right? What do they have to do typically, try to go borrow some money, right to start the business or get some money from some friends and family? If they sign a commercial lease to rent a space? What do they? What do they sign up for? Typically five years to rent the space? What happens if it doesn't make it, they still got to pay that money back, they still got to pay that rent. So most people fall into the debt trap. And the question is, how do we get out?

I want them to tell you that debt is a hopeless pit. Right? And unfortunately, a lot of young people are the ones who fall into it. Because they don't know any better, because everybody else told them that that was the right thing to do. Right? For a lot of people debt becomes a trap. Which sometimes how do they try to fix it? You guys ever heard of? Have you ever checked your mail? And what do you get in the mail? credit card offers? What do they say? Hey, guess what? It's your lucky day, you've been pre approved. Right? Apply for this credit card? And what do people end up doing with all those credit card applications? It's almost like they got these spinning plates up in the air.  They're just doing a balance transfer to another balance transfer to another balance transfer. 

I've met with people recently who got up to 10 credit cards. And guess what are they doing with all those cards? Just shifting the money around, right from one to the next. I don't know about here. But back home. We've got these billboard signs on the freeway. And what do they say you got debt problems, you got money problems, call us, wanting 100 basically go bankrupt, right? Bankruptcy Attorneys. Was that a solution? Not really. Because today, people don't know it. 

But the laws have changed. And you can't do away with debt and bankruptcy anymore like you used to in the old days. So what's the problem with borrowing? The problem with borrowing is that people want things today, promising to pay them back tomorrow. Right? The problem is that when tomorrow comes, what's going to happen then they're gonna want some other things then, and so they're going to constantly keep trying to borrow from the future. Someday in the future is not going to be they're not going to be enough. 

So what's the problem? With credit, a lot of people get credit very easily. But the problem is that credit is not real well, credit gives you access to things today. But it's going to cost you like I said two or three times more to pay that back. Right? Credit gives people a facade of wealth without being wealth itself. 

Now, in the Bible, it says that we shouldn't owe any man anything except love. Right?. Some of the some of the success secrets that we read from people who left us his wisdom behind says, Don't get into debt, try to get out of debt quickly. One of the key phrases that stuck with me when I went to Peter Daniels talk was he said, get out of debt and stay out of debt, riht?. Debt, in a sense, is a form of slavery, it keeps people bound to financial institutions for the rest of your life. 

And I don't know if it's ever happened to you. But if anybody you've ever let more people money, and they don't pay you back, what do you do with those people, you end up chasing them down, they end up giving you all kinds of excuses. And in the end, they lose faith, right? Because they, that relationship gets broken down when people can't pay back. 

So why do people get into debt? We're gonna answer that question. By going and doing one of the readings that we've prepared from a book called The Richest Man in Babylon. I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this book. The Richest Man in Babylon was written almost 100 years ago.  And it's become a best seller, which has sold several 100 copies, several 100 million copies. And it's a book that teaches us about money in the way of parables, basically, stories about how money works. 

And we're going to go through this book, a few stories at a time. And right now, I'm going to introduce you to a book chapter called The richest, I'm sorry, the Camel trader of Babylon. And this chapter is going to explain to us how people get into debt. So before we read that, well, let's go ahead and get into it right now. If you guys have any questions, at any point in time, just raise your hand and use the microphone to go ahead and ask, but right now. Let's get into that.

Okay. All right. So just to set that set up the story for you. The camera traitor, babylon is a conversation, basically between two people, a young guy who was in debt, and an older gentleman, who tells him the story of how he became a slave through debt, and how he was able to eventually get out of that situation. So we're gonna read this story. And I'll start it off. And then if he does want to help me with readings, we can do that as well. So it says here, the hungrier one becomes, the clear ones mind works. Also, the more sensitive one becomes to the orders of food Tark had the son of Azor told thought so. For two whole days, he had tasted no food except two small figs he had heard from over the wall of a garden, not another prety grab before the angry woman rushed forth and chased him down the street. shrill cries were still ringing in his ears as he walked through the marketplace. They helped him to retain, retain his restless fingers retained from snatching the tempting fruits from the basket to the market women. Never before had he realized how much food was brought to the market to Babylon and how good it smelled. During the market he walked across to the end and face back and forth in front of the eating house. 

Perhaps here he might meet someone he knew someone who from whom he could borrow a copper that would gain him a smile from the unfriendly keeper. And with it a liberal helping. Without the copper he knew all too well how unwelcome he would be. In his abstraction he unexpectedly found himself face to face with the one man, he wished to avoid the most. The Tom only figure of navisphere, the camel trader of all the friends, and others from whom he had borrowed small sums. Dad this year made him feel the most uncomfortable because of his failure to keep his promises to repay promptly. 

Tark have a serious face lighted up at the sight of them to start was just the one I had been seeking that he might repay the two pieces of copper that I lent him a month ago. Also the piece of silver which I lent him before that we are well met, I can say I can make good use of the coins the very What say you, my boy, what's the you Tark had with his face flushed. He had not in his empty stomach to nerve him to argue with the outspoken Dallas here. I am sorry, very sorry, he mumbled weakly. But this day I have neither the copper nor the silver with which I could repay. 

Didn't get a debit here assisted, surely you can get hold of a few coppers and a piece of silver to repay the generosity of an old friend of a father who waited the when you were singing? It's because of real fortune that does pursue me that I cannot pay ill fortune. Would you blame the gods for your own weakness? ill fortune pursues the man who thinks more borrowing and repaying come with me boy, while I eat, I am hungry, and I would tell the tale. 

So here we see the setup of the story, where this young man has been stealing, basically to eat. And we when he runs into this older guy who had lent some lend him some money. And he says, pay me back. What does he say? I can't. I've had bad luck. How many people blame luck for their circumstances? Right?. When things don't go, Well, what do most people saying? After they have bad luck? When things do go? Well? What do people saying? Oh, well, I have got lucky. Right? A lot of people believe in luck, right? 

So the story continues Charcot Blanche from the brutal darkness of Dabbas here, but here at least was an invitation to enter the coveted doorway of the eating house, Dabbas pushed him into a far corner of the room where they seated themselves upon small rugs. When Charcot the proprietor appeared smiling devas here addressed him with his usual freedom. Set lizard of the desert. Bring me a leg of the goat barn with much juice and bread and all the vegetables for I am hungry and want much food. Don't forget my friend here. Bring him a jug of water. Have it cooled for the day is hot. 

So how do you guys think this young man felt he hasn't eaten for a few days and they offered him just water right? Tark’s heart sank. Must he sit here and drink water while he watched this man devouring entire goat leg? He said nothing. He thought of nothing he could say. Devastated, however, knew no such thing as silence, smiling and waving his hand good naturedly to the other customers all of whom knew him, he continued. I'll tell you a story. Other diners brought their food and crowded in a semi circle they crunched noisily in the ears of Tark’s head and brushed them with their meaty bones. He alone was without food, devastated did not offer to share with him not even motion to him, a small corner of the hard bread that was broken off and had fallen from the platter to the floor. To tell him about to tail began, Dabbas here pausing a bite to a goodly, pausing to bite a goodly chunk from the goat leg relates to my early life and how I came to be a camel trader. Did anybody know that I was once a slave in Syria. When I was a young men continue Dabbas here and another vicious onslaught of goat leg. I learned the trade of my father the making of saddles. I worked with him in his shop and took myself a wife. 

Being young and not greatly skilled. I could burn but little just enough to support my excellent wife in a modest way. I craved good things which I could not afford. Soon, I found that the shopkeepers would trust me to pay later, even though I could not pay at the time. Being young and without experience, I did not know that he who spends more than yours is sowing the winds of needless self indulgence, from which he is sure to reap the whirlwind of trouble and humiliation. 

So I indulge my whims for fine raiment and bought luxuries from my wife and our home beyond our means. I paid as I could for all the while and it all went well. But in time I discovered I could not use my earnings both to live upon and to pay my debts. The creditors began to pursue me to pay for my extravagant purchases and my life became miserable. I borrowed from my friends but they didn't I could not repay them either. Things went from bad to worse. My wife returned to her father and I decided to leave Babylon and seek another city where young men might have better chances. 

For two years, I had a restless and unsuccessful life working For caravan traders, from this, I fell in with a set of likable robbers so scoured the desert for unarmed caravans. Such deeds were unworthy of the son of my father, but I was seeing the world through a colored stone. And I did not realize to what degradation I had fallen. We met with success on our first trip, capturing a rich haul of gold and silks and valuable merchandise, this loot, we took to engineer and we squandered. 

So let's pause for a minute. So what's happened to this guy? Who's the older guy telling the story when he was young, right? He says that he was spending and spending and spending, he went through all of his credit, finally got to a point where he couldn't pay his debts anymore. So what did he do? Did he face up to them? No, it's ran away, right? He moved somewhere else. And instead of getting a job putting him join up with some some robbers, right, so he says that on his first trip, he was successful. He went and stole some ganged up on somebody took their money and he says, we took the loot, and we squandered it. 

Well, the second time he says, We were not so fortunate. Just after we have made her capture, we were attacked by the spheres men of the native chief to whom the caravans paid for protection. Our two leaders were killed, and the rest of us were taken to Damascus, where we were stripped of our clothing and sold as slaves. I was purchased for two pieces of silver by a Syrian who does not have teeth. With my hair shorn, and but a loincloth to wear, I was not so different from the other slaves. Being a reckless use, I thought it merely an adventure until my master took me before his four wives, and told them they could have me for an Enoch. You guys know what I mean? That is, basically, they were not making him take his manhood away, right? So all of a sudden, he started to worry. 

She says, Then, indeed, did I realize the hopelessness of my situation. These men of the desert were fierce and warlike. I was subjected to their will without weapons or means of escape. Fearful I stood as four of  these women looked over me. I wondered if I could expect pity from them. Sera, the first wife was older than the others. Her face was impassive as she looked upon me. I turned from her with little constellation. The next was a contemptuous beauty, who gazed at me as indifferently as if I had been a warmth of the earth. 

The two younger ones tittered As though it were all an exciting Joke. It all seemed an age that I stood, waiting and waiting for my sentence. Each woman appeared willing for the others to decide. Finally, Sera spoke up in a cold voice, are you next we have plenty, but of Camel tenders, we have few and there are worthless lot. Even this day, I would visit my mother who is sick with a fever and there is no slave I would trust to leave my Camel. Ask this slave if he can leave the Camel. What do you guys think this guy said? Is that was a choice between being an email Enoch and a camel? Right? He was like my master there upon questioning, what do you know of Camels? All of a sudden, he figured everything out right? Striving to conceal my eagerness. I replied, I can make a meal, I can load them. I can leave them, on long trips without tiring. If need be, I can repair their trappings. The slave speaks forward enough. Observe my master if so desires here, I'll take this man for the Camel tender. 

So I was turned over to Sera on that day, and I led her Camel upon a long journey to her sick mother. I took the occasion to thank her for her intercession and also to tell her that I was not a slave by birth, but the son of a freemen. And honorable saddle maker of Babylon. I also told her much of my story. 

Her comments were disconcerting to me, and I pondered much afterwards on what she said. How can you call yourself a free man when your weaknesses brought you to this? If a man has in himself the soul of a slave, will he not become one, no matter what his birth even as water seeks its level. 

If a man has within him the soul of a free man, will he not become respected and honored in his own city, in spite of his misfortune, for over a year, I was a slave in lived with the slaves, but I could not become as one of them. 

One day Sera asked me in the evening, in the evening time when the other slaves can mingle and enjoy the society of each other. Why do you sit in your tent alone? To which I responded, I'm pondering what you have said to me. I wonder if I have the soul of a slave. I cannot join them so I must set apart. I too must set apart she confided. My dowry was large and my lord married me because of it. Yet he does not desire me. 

What Every Woman longs his forest is to be desired because of this and because I am barren and have neither son or daughter must I sit apart? Where I am man, I would rather die than be such a slave. But the conventions of our tribes makes slaves of women. What do you think of me by this time I asked her suddenly. Have I the soul of a man? Or have I have the soul of a slave? Do you have a desire to pay, repay your debts to just debts you owe in Babylon? She parished. 

Yes, I have the desire but I see no way. If you contentedly let the sea or slip by and make no effort to repay, then you have the contemptible soul of a slave. No man is otherwise who cannot respect themselves and no man can respect himself who does not repay on his debts. But what can I do to him but a slave in Syria? Stay a slave in Syria you weekly. I am not awakening I denied hartly, then prove it. How? Does not your great king fight his enemies in every way he can and with every force he has? your debts or your enemies. 

They ran you out of Babylon, you left them alone and they grew too strong for you. Have you taught them as a man you could have conquered them and been one honored among the townspeople but you did not have the soul to fight them. And behold, your pride has taken you down until you became a slave in Syria. I thought much over her unkind accusations and many defensive phrases I worded to prove myself not asleep at heart, but I was not to have the chance to use them. 

Three days later, the maid of Sera took me to her mistress. My mother is very sick again, she said, settled the two best Camels in my husband heard. Tie on water skins and saddlebags for a long journey. The maid will give the food at the kitchen tent. I packed the Camels wondering much at the quantity of provisions the maid had provided for the mother dwelt less than a day's journey away. The maid wrote the rier Camel which followed and I let the Camel of my mistress when we reach her mother's house, it was just dark syrup dismissed the maid and said to me Debbas here. Do you have the soul of a free man or the soul of the soul of a free man I insisted? Well, now's your chance to prove it. Your master has imbibed deeply in his cheese or in the super take them these Camels and make the escape. 

Here in this bag of Bremen is raiment of remasters to disguise me. I will say that you stole the Camels and ran away while I visited my sick mother. You have the soul of a queen. I told her much do I wish that I might lead you to happiness? Happiness, she responded away. It's not the runaway wife who seeks it in faraway lands from strange people. 

Go on you own way to may the Gods of the desert protect you for the ways far and barren of food and water. What do you think this guy did? Was he going to think twice about him? He said I needed no further urging but I thanked her warmly and it was away in the night. I knew not to strange country but had only a damn idea of the direction in which lay Babylon but struck out briefly across the desert towards the hills. One Camel I road and I left the other one. All that night I traveled in all the next day, urged on by the knowledge of the terrible fate that was meted out to slaves who sold their masters property and tried to escape. 

Late that afternoon I reached the rock country has uninhabitable as a desert. The sharp rocks bruise the feet of my faithful Camels. And soon they were picking their way slowly and painfully along. I met neither man or beast and could well understand what why they shun this inhospitable land. It was such a journey from then on, as few men can live to tell us day after day we bought it along. Food and Water gave out the heat of the sun was merciless. At the end of the ninth day, I slipped from the back of my mouth, with the feeling that I was too weak to ever remote and I would surely die, lost in the abandoned country. I stretched upon the ground and slept. Not waking until the first gleam of daylight. 

I sat up and looked about me and there was a coolness in the morning air my camels late injected not far away. About me was a vast waste of broken country covered with rock and sand and thorny things, no sign of water. Nothing to eat for man or Camel. Could it be that in this peaceful quiet I faced my end? My mind was clearer than I had ever been before.

 My body now seemed a little important. My parched and bleeding lips my dry and swollen tongue, my empty stomach all will have lost their supreme agony for the day before I looked across into the uninviting distance, and once again came to me the question have I the soul of a slave, or the soul of a free man. Then, with clearness, I realized that if I had the soul of a slave, I should just give up, like down in the desert and die, a fitting end for a runaway slave. But if I have the soul of a free man, what then surely I would force my way back to Babylon repay the people who have trusted me, bring happiness to my wife, who truly love me, and bring peace and contentment to my parents. 

So what do we see that's happening in this story at this point, this guy has run away. He's on his way back to Paradise, right? But he's actually crossing through the desert. As he's crossing through the desert, he's come across all these perils, all this difficulty, he's out of food, he's out of water. He's thrown himself to the ground, and he's ready to die. And when he's there, apparently, at his last moment, all of a sudden, he's got a moment of clarity. 

He's got to make a decision, right? And what is this decision at the end of the day, he has to decide if I'm just a slave, I might as well just give up and die here. But if I have the soul of a free man in here, then I have to fight. And I have to face up to my enemies, right? And I have to go fix my problems, and I have to get out of debt. I can't just keep running away from my problems. That's not a solution. And he thought, your debts are your enemies who have run you out of Babylon Sera had said, yes, it was so why had I refused to stand my ground like a man? Why had I permitted my wife to go back to her father, 

Then, the strange thing happened, all the world seemed to me of a different color, as though I had been looking at it through her colored stone which had suddenly been dying to desert, not with a new vision, I saw the things that I must do, first, must go back to Babylon, and face every man to whom I owed and unpaid debts. I should tell them that after years of wandering in this fortune, I had come back to pay my debts as fast as the gods would permit. 

NexrtI should make a home for my wife, and become a citizen of whom my parents should be proud. My debts were my enemies. But the men I owed, were my friends, for they had trusted me and believed in me. I staggered weekly to my feet. What mattered hunger, what mattered thirst. They were both incidents on the road to Babylon. Within the search the soul of a free man going back to conquer his enemies, and reward his friends. I thrilled with the great results. The glazed eyes on my Camels brighten them the mean note in my husky voice, with great effort after many attempts, they gained their feet with pitiful perseverance they pushed on towards the north, where something told me within me that we would find Babylon we found water we passed into more fertile country where there were was grass and fruit. 

We found a trail to Babylon because the soul of a freemen looks at life as a series of problems that must be solved and solve them. While the soul of a slave whines. What can I do on by the slave? How about do you target so now we're coming back to the story when he was telling the young man How about you Tark, get? does your stomach empty stomach make your head exceedingly clear? Are you ready to take the road that leads back to self respect? Can you see the world and its true color? Do you have the desire to pay your honest debts, however many they may be and once again be a man respected in Babylon? 

Moisture came to the eyes of the youth. He rose eagerly to his knees. You have shown me a vision. Already I feel the soul of a free man search within me. But how did you fare upon your return question and interested listener? Where the determination is the way can be found our bus here replied. I now had the determination so I set out to find a way. 

First, I visited every man to whom I was indebted and begged his indulgence until I could earn that which to repay. Most of them met me gladly several reviled me but others offered to help me. One indeed, did give me the very help I needed. It was math on the gold lenders. Learning that I had been a camel tender in Syria. 

He sent me to old numerator The amel trader just commissioned by our good king to purchase many herds of sound camels for my greatest expedition. With him, my knowledge of amels I've put to good use gradually, I was able to repay every copper and every piece of silver. 

Then at last, I could hold up my head and feel that I was an honorable man among men. Again, Dabbas, here, turn to his food. Charcot you snail, he called loudly to be heard in the kitchen, the food is called bringing more meat, from the roasting, fresh, also bring a very large portion for Tark Heart, the son of my old friend who was hungry, and he will eat with me. 

So ended the tale of Dabbas. Here, the Camel trader and world Babylon. He found his own soul when he realized the great truth, a truth that has been known and used by wise men long before his time. It has led men of all ages and difficulties and into success. And they will continue to do so for those who have the wisdom to understand this magic power. It is for any man to use who reads his lines, where the determination is, the way can be found. 

All right, did you guys like the story? So what is the story teaches? Let's go back to where we were here. So a lot of people, oftentimes, when they get into debt, it's simply because they've always lived life how, like they've always lived it like the way their friends live. It's like the way their parents lived it right. But the story teaches us that if we want to get out of debt, the first thing that we need to do is we need to make a pause on the road, we can't keep going the same way we've always gone. 

We need to have a conversation with ourselves about what it is that we want out of life. And most importantly, we need to decide what is it that I want? Do I want to live like a financial slaves the rest of my life? Or do I want to be free? Right? Do I want to make pay the price that's necessary to get out of this debt? 

I want to tell you here today that there is hope, you know, no matter how hopeless Your situation may be today, no matter how many deaths you might have, no matter how many mistakes you might have made. Today is a day of hope. 

I'm going to show you in the next few lessons, how if you're willing to make a change today, right this minute and become a free man, you can achieve it within a very few months or years. Basically, you have the rest of your life to make as much money as you like without having to be paying any more interest to the banks. But you need to make this decision today, within yourself. Am I a free man? Or am I slave? Do I have it within me to pay the price for my own freedom, for my own financial freedom? Do I love my family enough to where I want them to have a bright future. And I'm going to be willing to do whatever it takes to pay the price, whatever it takes to get out of this situation that I've gotten myself into today. 

And so that's the challenge today, right? The challenge is, you'd have to come to a point of decision, not tomorrow, not next week, not even next hour, but right this minute, you have to decide? Do I have it in me to basically get out of debt to achieve financial freedom? If the answer is yes, then I think the rest of the seminar is really going to benefit you. If the answer is no, or I'm not sure, then most likely you will just keep doing what you've done. Up until this point.  You know, I want to tell you that there is hope. And I'm here to do whatever I can to help you. But you also need to do your part. Basically, by making this decision. 

The first step towards financial freedom is essentially answering this question. Ask yourself right now, do I have the soul of a slave? Or do I have the soul of a free man, as the story said, where the determination is, the way can be found? Once you have this decision, that you want to move ahead towards financial freedom and the rest of the steps are going to be not easy but relatively simple. And once you understand them, I think you will achieve the motivation to get there in a very short period of time. 

But the question is, do you want to have the desire to get out of this debt? And if so, then definitely the first journey starts with taking the first step like said the first step is making this decision today. I want to give you guys kind of, I look forward to where we're going with this with the rest of the seminar. 

So I explained to you that this is the way people get into debt, and that most people get out of debt, maybe never right? This seminar is here to tell you that there is a shortcut, that if you decide that today is the day you're done being in debt, then this is where we are today at this point. And basically, from here on out, I'm going to show you a formula how to get out of debt, almost in a straight line, in a very short period of time, let's just say, for most people, it takes them typically takes them five to seven years, which I think in the big scheme of things is not a not a long time to do so. 

But what's going to happen after you reach this point, you need becoming debt free isn't enough. The point is achieving financial freedom. So from this point on, you're gonna keep going, until you reach this point that we call financial freedom. And then from that point on, you're gonna keep on going until you reach a point where basically, you can start either leaving a legacy, or you can start withdrawing on that income till the day, you're no longer here. 

But the point is, you're going to have a long period of time to live in abundance and prosperity, as opposed to living out here in scarcity and in debt. So whose choice is it where you want to live? Your choice, right? If you want to stay down here, he might as well save the time and don't listen to the rest of the seminar. If you want to learn how to get out quickly out of this desert out of this fit, and you want to live in financial freedom. Then I'm going to show you so by the end of today how we get to seem interesting. All right. Any questions or comments up until this point? All right, so let's get the next lesson. Ready?