This morning, I taught my 2 oldest boys, a half a million dollar lesson.

We were on the way to school when my sons started asking me..

“Dad, do you have a half a million dollars?”

(here’s a pic of the little questioners)

Wanting to respond in the best possible way, I thought – for a moment and said…

“Sons, do you know what the only REAL wealth is?”

They said “What dad?”

Like any good aspiring teacher would.. I began to tell them a story.  

The story I told was of 2 cuban men who emigrated to America.

One was a dishwasher who robbed a bank before he came, and arrived on the shores of the USA with a million dollars cash.

The other was a brain surgeon who left all of his earthly posessions behind him in Cuba.

I asked my boys, “can you guess where both men were in 5 years?”

‘Where dad?’

The dishwasher was dead broke and in prison.

The brain surgeon had a luxurious home, cars and plenty of money in the bank.

My boys stared back at me with wonder.

I asked.. “Do you know why that is boys?”

‘Why Dad?’

“It’s because the brain surgeon came to America with the only REAL wealth there is”.

“.. can you guess what that is?”

My 7 year old son, Kayden said… ‘Maybe I can ask my teacher’.

‘You sure can son, do you remember the story well enough to tell your teacher?’

He started to tell me the story and about half way through his eyes widened, he started to laugh and he said…

“I GOT IT DAD!”  I know what it is.  As I told myself the story, i figured it out”.

.. And I knew that he had.

I smiled.

Meanwhile, my 5 year old was begging us to tell him the answer, which, we refused (like any good teacher would) to tell him.

He’s at school right now, coming up with the answer on his own and it will mean so much more to him when he figures it out.

I remember 8 years ago, living in our first single wide mobile home.

My wife and I were newly married.

I was making $11.09 an hour and my wife was making around $13 an hour at the time.

An opportunity to invest in myself came up.

The only problem, it was $20,000.

I figured.. I can get my friend Arnauld to go in half with me.

But still, $10,000 for a guy living in a trailer, working an hourly wage… no small task.

I found a way.

And.. I proved to myself that I was worth investing in.

And from that day, till this… I’ve strived to continue to make powerful decisions that have contributed to the only real wealth there is.

And that’s why, when I see my friends and team members investing in themselves, I smile inside.

As my good friend Cris from Atlanta learned from his millionaire father…

“Son, when you empty your wallet to feed your head, in time, your head will feed your wallet instead”.

🙂

Have you made a financial investment in yourself, that turned out to be one of the best things you could have done?  Please share below…