Join host Steven Pesavento and special guest Ken Honda, renowned author of "Happy Money: The Japanese Art of Making Peace with Your Money," as they dive into the Zen philosophy of money management. Ken shares his unique perspective on money, blending Eastern wisdom with practical financial advice. From his childhood experiences to his journey to financial independence, Ken offers invaluable insights into cultivating a harmonious relationship with money. Discover the four principles of happy millionaires, learn how to appreciate and trust money, and explore the intersection of wealth and well-being. This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking financial abundance and inner peace.
Key Takeaways
Resources Mentioned
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About our Guest:
Ken Honda is a bestselling author, financial educator, and speaker, renowned for his expertise in blending Zen philosophy with modern money management principles. With a background in finance and entrepreneurship, Ken embarked on a journey to explore the deeper significance of wealth and happiness, leading him to become a leading voice in the realm of personal finance. His bestselling book, "Happy Money: The Japanese Art of Making Peace with Your Money," has inspired millions worldwide to transform their relationship with money and find greater fulfillment in their lives. Ken's unique approach to wealth emphasizes the importance of inner harmony and emotional well-being, making him a sought-after mentor and speaker in the field of financial empowerment.
Are you looking for High-Performance Business & Mindset Coaching? Schedule a call now and see how we can be of service to you. http://www.investormindset.com/discover
00;00;01;04 - 00;00;10;00
Steven Pesavento
Welcome back to The Investor Mindset Show. I'm your host, Steven Pesavento, and today I'm very excited. I've got Ken Honda here. How are you doing today, Ken?
00;00;10;02 - 00;00;14;17
Ken Honda
Hello and I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for inviting me.
00;00;14;19 - 00;00;35;08
Steven Pesavento
I'm super happy for you to be here. I'm recording this from Denver and you're in Tokyo, Japan, and you're the author of Happy Money The Japanese Art of Making Peace with Your Money. And what I'm excited about to talk with you today is you've got a different perspective on money. It's it's really unique yet I think extremely powerful.
00;00;35;10 - 00;00;51;05
Steven Pesavento
So before we get into all of the amazing stuff you've learned and you've been teaching millions of people all around the world, tell me when you look back at your childhood, what events or influences shaped most who you are today?
00;00;51;07 - 00;01;15;19
Ken Honda
My father was a very successful tax accountant, so he started teaching me about money since I was five or six. So that education was very helpful because money is such a taboo topic. And everywhere you go and I've been going around the world for like three or four times by now and then everywhere I go, money is taboo.
00;01;15;22 - 00;01;44;21
Ken Honda
So it was so good that my father started teaching me about money IQ stuff. But the same time when I was nine or ten or probably a little younger than that, I came home from school one day and my father was crying like a baby and he was a macho guy, you know, karate master. And my mother took me aside and she said, My dad's client committed suicide.
00;01;44;21 - 00;02;21;14
Ken Honda
And not only he committed suicide, he he the entire he killed the entire family of four and then committed suicide. That's the first time I learned the term family suicide. And later, what I found out is that my father advised his clients, like his best friend, to file bankruptcy. But he had some money ready for to to give or loans to his friend, but he didn't tell that to him.
00;02;21;16 - 00;02;54;26
Ken Honda
So his his client was desperate for money and then he killed himself before going to the shame of bankruptcy. And later on he got into depression. And then even though he had a money, we were very unhappy. My father got abusive. So for me, my quest for money or the knowledge, a quest for knowledge around money started when I was ten or 11 very early on.
00;02;54;29 - 00;03;15;17
Ken Honda
And then I wanted to read every book I could have touched my hands on. And then I started investing when I was 20 and I became a financial independent when I was 29. So all my life, my name was a fascinating subject.
00;03;15;19 - 00;03;36;28
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, it's it's wild. As much as I've talked to so many people from so many different cultures that one of the things that I noticed the most is that pain is such a huge driver of motivating people to go and look for answers. I know I had a totally different experiences, but pain that really drove me to thinking, Hey, well, how do I be happy?
00;03;36;29 - 00;03;59;15
Steven Pesavento
How do I live a good life? How do I make money? How do I get out of this difficulty that I'm experiencing in my youth? And it sounds like you were drawn from very different circumstances as to kind of go down that path. And so something that's unique to you is you are both very focused on Zen beliefs and yet you're teaching people about money.
00;03;59;15 - 00;04;03;21
Steven Pesavento
And so what is this Zen approach to money?
00;04;03;24 - 00;04;24;08
Ken Honda
So I realized as I grew and became successful, there are two kinds of wealthy people, very happy, wealthy people, and very kind of happy, wealthy people, as you know. Steve And then you must have met a lot of them, right? And the people who have a lot of money and still at stake could stay manage to stay happy.
00;04;24;10 - 00;05;02;04
Ken Honda
They're very different in I realized that it's because they're abundant inside, too. So I became a student too many Zen masters and also wealthy people who understand the happiness and the essence of life. So I and I and I realized that there are two kinds of money, intelligence, money, IQ, money, IQ in the West. A lot of teacher seems to teach money IQ like Robert Murasaki now great teachers I had.
00;05;02;06 - 00;05;28;09
Ken Honda
I share the same stage with Robert a few months ago in Singapore and he's a money IQ person. They teach investment and real estate stocks, tax laws and all that kind of thing. That's very important. And at the same time, I know and I'm sure all the viewers have seen very, very smart people, financially savvy people lose everything because they make stupid mistakes emotionally.
00;05;28;11 - 00;05;58;09
Ken Honda
So that means if you don't have high money IQ, you could end up losing everything because you could leverage high and then risk all the investment and then lose, you know, because you you want to be bigger. You want to earn more. And then this drive is sometimes clouding people's judgment. So money HQ is very important. And I that's why Zen stuff comes in.
00;05;58;11 - 00;06;30;12
Steven Pesavento
It's fascinating because, you know, I've, I run an investment firm. We invest in private equity, and I always talk with people about where they're at and how they're thinking. And it's so important to understand the strategy, the techniques, i.e. the money IQ behind what is actually happening and how to use your money in these kind of things. But if you don't have a good emotional relationship with the money, it can drive you to make really poor decisions like rush out of the market when it's the wrong time or not go into the market when it is the right time.
00;06;30;12 - 00;06;40;25
Steven Pesavento
So how does money IQ play a role and how can you learn to be able to connect better and have a better relationship with that?
00;06;40;27 - 00;07;08;14
Ken Honda
So I've interviewed many happy millionaires and I realized that they know that these four principles are expressed very briefly. The first principle is to receive, you know, we receive money. You know, we don't make money. We receive money. So when you change this mindset, it'll be totally different. The second one is appreciate, you know, appreciate money coming in.
00;07;08;16 - 00;07;40;14
Ken Honda
They they chose you out of ten other coaches and consultants. So that means that there are so many reasons to appreciate the money for coming in. The third principle is trust. If you can trust, you can feel happy, but if you don't have the trust, you stay constantly worried. The fourth is share a lot of millionaires and billionaires donate money because they understand sharing is a key to happiness.
00;07;40;16 - 00;08;11;25
Ken Honda
So there is this confusion. You know, our money IQ teaches you to expand and grow and at the same time money teaches you to share. So but think about this. You know, in order to be a happy person, you are supposed to engage, engage in productive thing like work. But at the same time, you need to be engaged in nonproductive part of your life, you know, family time or friends time or downtime.
00;08;11;27 - 00;08;38;07
Ken Honda
And it cannot be you cannot measure your quality time by money. You know, I retired for my baby girl for four years. People thought is crazy, but that is the best decision I've ever made because that four years of just concentrating for my baby girl with my wife, you know, you cannot buy back the time. So like, time is also another asset.
00;08;38;07 - 00;09;04;17
Ken Honda
And that you can I say, you know, I teach people visible asset, invisible asset, but people tend to ignore the importance of invisible asset because that is something when you hit your eighties and nineties, you don't talk, you don't calculate how much you have. It's about the memories that count in the nursing home. So you have to have the both IQ and IQ.
00;09;04;20 - 00;09;31;24
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, it it's interesting because when I when I see your for you know share trust appreciate and receive when I hear those I think to myself, wow that's such a beautiful way to be experiencing money while yet so many of us, so many people these days are stuck in this place of fear where they're worried they have to go out and get more or they're greedy.
00;09;32;02 - 00;09;57;12
Steven Pesavento
They're not sure if someone else is going to take advantage of them because they themselves are thinking of taking advantage of others. And it just creates this really negative energy around money. And what what have you found is one of the best ways to correct that energy, that relationship with money, so that you can get it into a position where it starts flowing to you instead of all the resistance of you pushing to try to get it.
00;09;57;14 - 00;10;20;07
Ken Honda
Thank you. That's a great question. I love that. So I think the key is appreciation. Why do you appreciate it? Appreciates if you appreciate your clients, you get more clients. Many years ago, I divided my clients into two groups, the one I appreciated for the business. I brought some a little t book and something. And the second group I did nothing.
00;10;20;07 - 00;10;46;13
Ken Honda
Just a regular work. Six months later, boom. I got so many referrals from the group, one that I kept constantly showing my appreciation. So whatever you appreciate your friendship and then you have more friends. If you appreciate your partner, kiss more, they appreciate your back. So appreciation is really the key. But we forget because we are so occupied to get more, doing more and then many more.
00;10;46;16 - 00;11;15;26
Ken Honda
And that leads to our happiness and list and satisfaction. So you have to be content with what you have. And of course you can do more. But instead of like, I need more, you know, a lot of it's entitlement. But the attitude could be, I'm so happy with whatever I have and I don't mind receiving more. And if your attitude is like that, you don't have to be so greedy.
00;11;15;28 - 00;11;16;24
Ken Honda
00;11;16;26 - 00;11;45;16
Steven Pesavento
What, what a powerful way to experience money. What, what's so fascinating and, and I see this for myself as much as the listeners, it's so fascinating that when you change your relationship with money, when you change your relationship with how you look at it in that process of changing these habits and beliefs, it's actually leading you down a path towards changing your habits and beliefs in a variety of other areas of your life.
00;11;45;18 - 00;12;08;19
Ken Honda
Exactly. Because that money touches every area of our life. So if you can improve your relationship with the money, you feel better about yourself. You feel so relaxed, you know, because he always feel and I have more than enough. My mentor used to say, you know, I have more than enough. That's why I'm sharing this. You know, I have more than enough.
00;12;08;19 - 00;12;30;11
Ken Honda
I'm so blessed, so happy. Millionaires habitual saying is, gosh, I'm so wealthy. You know, I don't know. I cannot spend all the money in, you know, for the rest of my life. So the feeling that I have more than enough gives you just a freedom and also a peace of mind. So and you can be more generous.
00;12;30;13 - 00;12;50;07
Ken Honda
And so I hope you become financially independent somewhere in the course of your life. I achieved that in my twenties. Some people actually born in the thirties and forties and fifties, but if you can do it early under the rest of your life, work can be fun because you have a choice. You don't have to work or you don't.
00;12;50;10 - 00;12;59;24
Ken Honda
You can't work, you know, but if you have to work, keep working to bring food on the table. Your work and life could be very miserable.
00;12;59;26 - 00;13;25;09
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, it's so fascinating because for so long I very much was climbing. The first mountain of success came from not a lot. Got myself into a position where I grinded myself away, put hundreds of hours into work every single week, trying to make things happen. And I grew a business and I grew wealth, but I was always stuck in this place and it wasn't the best or happiest energy.
00;13;25;09 - 00;13;50;17
Steven Pesavento
And the irony is that in one of my darkest moments, I lost a loved one, a sibling, a little sister of mine. And in that process, it pulled me out of the moment of realizing, Wow, there's so much more to life than this stuff that I've spent my time on. And yet in that process, it led me to realizing that, you know, I'm already financially abundant, I don't need more.
00;13;50;17 - 00;14;14;03
Steven Pesavento
But if more comes phenomenal and that perspective shift actually leads you or LED me personally towards just feeling so much better about what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. And I think so often times it's those difficult moments that we have to experience. And I wish people didn't have to do that. They could just receive the message from someone like you to be inspired to to change.
00;14;14;06 - 00;14;43;10
Ken Honda
Yes. So the key is it it doesn't really matter how much you have or how much money you make, you can be such a happy person if you as long as you you can pay all the bills. And also there is a minimum, I think. But you don't have to go to become billionaires. You know, you can be very happy with where you are if you can pay all the bills and you can do whatever you want, that is like the first goal.
00;14;43;10 - 00;14;49;23
Ken Honda
And then after that, if you want to have fancy things, that's fine too.
00;14;49;26 - 00;15;13;02
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, I think it's really easy because, you know, social media and seeing so many other people, people get caught into this trap of comparison and consumerism thinking, well, I need all of these things or I what I have isn't good enough. That person has more. And yet it's difficult to break free from that. But when you do, you're in a much happier place.
00;15;13;04 - 00;15;24;04
Steven Pesavento
What what do you recommend and what have you seen work? Well for all the folks that you've worked with when it comes to breaking that comparison trap that people fall into?
00;15;24;06 - 00;15;53;22
Ken Honda
I think the feeling of how much is enough, you know, like, this is enough. So that's that's my habitual saying, wow, this is more than enough. You know, like the food and, you know, the house. I have a few houses and I'm very happy with one or two. I'm happy with that tiny one. You know, I, I many years ago, I wanted to try how it feels to become a, you know, a super wealthy people.
00;15;53;24 - 00;16;26;28
Ken Honda
So when we were in Boston, we rented a place, five acre house and 17 rooms, and I wanted to have two year experience of being a billionaire. And then we had 17 rooms, but we end up using only two rooms, you know, because if we are just scattered, we've we got a holiday. And so I realized that, you know, in Tokyo we should get a big apartment, you know, And then I have a big one outside of Tokyo.
00;16;27;00 - 00;16;48;08
Ken Honda
But you don't need to be to own a big house if you want to be happy. So you really have to know how much is enough for now, because everyone is born with the money container. Now, some some people are born with a big container like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and some people are born with a small one.
00;16;48;09 - 00;17;08;23
Ken Honda
If you want. If you want to be a schoolteacher, aren't teachers. If you want to be a nurse, many can do it. It's not so big. So if that's your path, you know, be willing to accept it. You know, this life, you're not going to become a millionaire or a billionaire. But it's okay because I do what I do.
00;17;08;25 - 00;17;24;01
Ken Honda
I do enjoy what I do. So instead of just feeling like I have to do more, I have to get more like fill your cup first. And if your cup is full, then you figure out.
00;17;24;04 - 00;17;45;27
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, no, I love that because it's something that I teach to people, which is really getting clear on what's most important in your life and family and connections and experience and all those things that you can't necessarily put down on a ledger when you're looking at money. But the money is something that can help support those things and you can decide what's most important to you.
00;17;46;01 - 00;17;58;08
Steven Pesavento
Are you willing to sacrifice here in order to create more over in this other area? And when you can get clear on that, it puts you in a position to feel like you have some influence and authority over your life.
00;17;58;11 - 00;18;23;01
Ken Honda
Exactly. So you have to figure out how much you need. You may need $50,000 income if you live in the outside of sort of big cities. But if you live in New York or Tokyo, you need to have probably more. So you have to figure out and also my national bestseller in Japan is like the title of the book is Do What You Love and Make Sure Money Follows you.
00;18;23;03 - 00;18;42;20
Ken Honda
So the key is to do what you love. At the same time, make sure you're are supported financially. Even though I'm regarded as a money teacher in English. You know, I used to teach financial independence many years ago, but I got kind of bored because it's it's sort of boring and it's the same thing. It's a have to have a tactics.
00;18;42;20 - 00;19;06;18
Ken Honda
And then you keep following that, but you really have to have both, you know? So as much as I teach money IQ because there are not many other good teachers in this field in an English world, so I'm focusing on that. But at the same time, you have to have a solid financial base to be happy. So I'm not teaching people.
00;19;06;24 - 00;19;15;02
Ken Honda
You can be happy without money. You need money, you need to pay bills, you know, but don't focus, don't get hooked up with money.
00;19;15;04 - 00;19;36;20
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, well, I think I think these are some beautiful things. And I mean, there's so much that I want to go into. What I'm curious about, you know, the perspective of thinking about money from this better place, the having better energy, attracting things to you, letting it flow. I love all of it. I feel like we could talk for hours on all of it.
00;19;36;23 - 00;19;57;28
Steven Pesavento
Yeah. What what I'm curious about from your perspective, can you reach financial independence at a young age? We share that in common. Yet I'm not exactly clear on exactly how you did it. I know you were doing some business. You're doing some some other things. What's your perspective on how to go about creating financial independence? How did you do it?
00;19;58;00 - 00;20;00;28
Steven Pesavento
And then what role did investing play in that?
00;20;01;00 - 00;20;24;14
Ken Honda
So, you know, I was lucky and that at the time was pretty good for the stock market and other things. So as a few of your guests were talking about, there are many routes, you know, you would take the roads of saving, you know, cutting up your credit cards and just start saving and start saving. It takes a long time.
00;20;24;16 - 00;20;44;11
Ken Honda
So if you want to be take a shortcut road, you have to take some risk. And and the risk you have to take is an investment risk and also a business risk. You have to start your business. And if you just start your business, do want to I do want to borrow other people's money or you you just use your own money.
00;20;44;17 - 00;21;09;01
Ken Honda
So there are many different routes. So if you want to go in a shorter time, you have to go higher and the angle will be pretty sharp. So it takes like only like two years to find out to achieve financial independence. And if you want to take the long term one, it might you might need 20 years to climb the mountain.
00;21;09;03 - 00;21;35;22
Ken Honda
You can do it as I as you teach at school and get paid very little. Still, you can achieve financial independence. Penders If you do it right in two decades or three decades. So I did a combination of entrepreneurialism and also investing. And also I was a good marketer. You know, I applied a skill to bookselling, you know, that's why I saw it about 9 million copies of my books by word of mouth.
00;21;35;24 - 00;21;59;08
Ken Honda
So you need to combine the skill sets and it's almost like think of a small boat if you have just one engine, you know, salary slow, but if you have an investment and also you have an entrepreneur hours, if you have like four big engines, it goes very fast. But once again, you know, you have to take your own speed.
00;21;59;08 - 00;22;20;01
Ken Honda
If you try to go so fast, the boats are going to just jump and then collapse. So I'd advise people to take take time and takes time. When I was in my twenties, I was in a rush, you know, probably or to like a starter tend to go do more and more and more and more. And then I realized I was 29.
00;22;20;01 - 00;22;58;08
Ken Honda
I wow, I just ran a marathon like a 100 meter thing very fast. And then I realized I need to I needed to take take some time. But taking for time four years off of my life, I could really focus on what's most important in my life. And after three years, what I came up with was impact. If I could have some impact to other people or the society or the planet, that is something I want to have for the rest of my life.
00;22;58;10 - 00;23;02;25
Ken Honda
So I started writing. It's about 22 years ago.
00;23;02;27 - 00;23;25;27
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, well, I can definitely appreciate that. So it sounds like you did a little bit of blend of business and investing, and then you got to a certain point and you decided to exit. And you know what? What was it that led you to realizing for yourself that it was time to pull the plug on the hustle or the grind or the business?
00;23;26;00 - 00;23;38;09
Steven Pesavento
Did you have an exit? Did you sell the business? Did you decide to get rid of all of your investments? What does that look like today and what did it look like when you first made that jump and made that shift for yourself?
00;23;38;11 - 00;24;04;14
Ken Honda
Thank you, Steve. And I love you. You keep asking. Great questions. Thank you. So my my brother became an accountant already, so I sort of I started I was the owner. So I had my brother. I saw other people run my business. So I was I called semi-retired. You know, at the time, again, I have to go to office every day, so I just check in, How are you doing?
00;24;04;14 - 00;24;43;03
Ken Honda
And he's fine, thank you. And so that's our that was my short in a time. I work. So at that time I also invested in stock market and that was a dotcom boom. So order Yahoo! And, and all the other things just shut up like what's happened now. So eventually what's what goes up will go down. So versus, you know, you got to be really ready but so what I was doing at the I asked when my wife and I found out about her pregnancy, I realized, okay, what should we do?
00;24;43;05 - 00;25;17;13
Ken Honda
So we asked. I started visiting our mentors and friends who are older than us. So at the time, like they're in their forties and fifties and sixties. And I asked them, What do you regret most about your childhood, about childcare? You know, when your child is born, what do you regret for the first few years? And they I would suspect and they'll say different things, but they said only one thing from many different mouths.
00;25;17;16 - 00;25;46;23
Ken Honda
They said, I wish I spent more time with my kids. Wow. So, like, how. No, no, just. Just just spend time. You know, you don't have to do anything special, but just I wish I physically spent time with my kids, if that is important and if that's everybody seems to be regretting it, let's do it. But the funny thing is, I thought for two months and my wife thought, It's two years.
00;25;46;26 - 00;26;10;24
Ken Honda
And then and I thought we're on the same page. I think probably like, you know, this. And then, you know, thank you. So like two months, but for her it's two years. But the funny thing is, after about a year, I started to speak very slow. My friends worried about and then after two years of another year, another year.
00;26;10;24 - 00;26;30;18
Ken Honda
And then we ended up spending four years. But about the third year I started having visions of writing books and teaching things like that was a bizarre vision. And so it took me another year to really start doing what I do now.
00;26;30;21 - 00;26;52;05
Steven Pesavento
I think that's so cool because, you know, it's like this moment in your life, things are going well. You've semi-retired, you've got somebody you trust running the business. It's still creating income for you, and yet you had this life changing moment happen and you decided to ask the smart people around you, your mentors and your friends, and you actually listen to their advice.
00;26;52;12 - 00;27;12;04
Steven Pesavento
If if people listening get anything from this interview, I hope it would be that. I hope it would be okay. What do I want? Why do I want it? What's happening for me and who can help me understand what they would have done differently? And I'm going to listen.
00;27;12;06 - 00;27;39;17
Ken Honda
Yes. Yeah. So one of my special skills is to get the best mentors in my field. You know, one of them is Wyatt Takeda, who passed away few years ago. He used to be called a Warren Buffett of Japan. He once was a major shareholder of more than 100 public companies in Japan is big and he taught me this Zen philosophy on money.
00;27;39;20 - 00;28;11;00
Ken Honda
So here's my mentor to shift my view of traditional money into very Zen and like, bizarre way like, wow, I never thought that that way about money. And like, he kept blowing my mind at least like a thousand times. And he asked me more questions than I ask him questions. So and still today, his question stay in my mind that I think that's what a good teachers do.
00;28;11;02 - 00;28;16;02
Ken Honda
So I think getting the great mentors really help here.
00;28;16;05 - 00;28;25;23
Steven Pesavento
And what would you give advice to somebody who is listening and they're saying, Hey, I want to go out and get great mentors? What does that take?
00;28;25;25 - 00;28;50;29
Ken Honda
And I wrote a book called How to Meet Your Perfect Mentor, and sorry, it's in Japanese, but from the book in the book, I said, just, you know, do some research. You can just these days, there are many teachers talk about that on YouTube, but I think if you are just a regular person, ask around your friends or their uncle.
00;28;50;29 - 00;29;25;11
Ken Honda
Maybe, maybe a business owner, their, you know, their cousins maybe having may have eight restaurants, you know, there are some very nice, very happy, successful people around you. That is the first step. And then if you just become more successful, you probably get to know famous people and then you just hang around with them. And the more you get to know those people, the more same wavelength that you become.
00;29;25;18 - 00;29;52;21
Ken Honda
Like I my one of my mentors is Jack Canfield and that's a chicken soup with a saw. He sold 300 million copies. And I thought, these are I know my book sales are reaching 10 million. I thought that's a lot of books. But they're like, What? You know, So if you just meet a great mentor in your field, if you're a doctor, you should find a surgeon.
00;29;52;24 - 00;30;07;24
Ken Honda
If you're a chef, you should find a you should look for Iron Chef, you know, in your field. And also potentially other field as well, because mentors in other fields can teach you different things.
00;30;07;26 - 00;30;30;24
Steven Pesavento
Yeah. And that's one of the things that I think most people don't realize is that when you go out there and you're curious and you ask questions, there's people around you that you know who can help you move down that path. And when you're humble enough to come and say, Hey, this is what I'd like to do, this is what I'm thinking about, what would your advice be for somebody in my situation?
00;30;31;01 - 00;30;57;02
Steven Pesavento
And as you execute and take that on, other people see that growth, they build that relationship and they're happy to be able to give back because they they have received that in the past. And if you're willing to receive it, they're happy to give it as long as as long as you're somebody who they believe is actually going to take that advice and it's going to help them help you do something in your life.
00;30;57;04 - 00;31;20;24
Ken Honda
Exactly. And I'm sure it's giving you have many great mentors, but I think a lot of people who are self-made millionaires dead on listen and they don't have great mentors. That's why they fail. So emotional intelligence is very important in the sense, you know, I have still a great mentors who scold me. You know, like I will criticize me like, can you're not doing things right.
00;31;20;24 - 00;31;24;04
Ken Honda
You know, when I hit, you know, my fifties and I. But it's.
00;31;24;04 - 00;31;25;16
Steven Pesavento
So great to have that, though.
00;31;25;16 - 00;32;00;23
Ken Honda
Right? Yeah. Yeah. And when I get older and when I become more successful, not many people say something like that, you know? So you have to be really careful. You should have at least three or four people who criticize you or scold your, including your partner. You know that that's a I must be an important person. But, you know, and and it can you listen to them, you know, can you can you accept a can embrace a criticism Or like when they catch something that you don't, you have to just ask them, where do you see me?
00;32;00;25 - 00;32;04;10
Ken Honda
And then you can just correct your course.
00;32;04;12 - 00;32;20;19
Steven Pesavento
Well, I think that's so big. It's like if you get the right people around you and they're willing to be honest and tell you maybe what you don't even want to hear. And if you're willing to receive it, even if it's not what's right for you at that moment. But you're willing to do something with it, then great things can happen.
00;32;20;24 - 00;32;41;28
Steven Pesavento
Of course, once you start attracting receiving money in your life, you can make those decisions and start investing it. But for those people who you know, they're working in a job or they're running a business and there's something that's just not working for them, how can they go about finding their gift or gifts, and how can they then package that up to create value in the world?
00;32;42;00 - 00;33;10;23
Ken Honda
That's another great question out there. You know, I teach people how to set up a system so you can start receiving financial strain. You really have to study yourself, you know, like a detective, you know, like a prophet. You know, the FBI profiler, I love watching sometimes those videos like or the detective or FBI agent just kind of like determine, it would be the guy would be death, you know, who is in the thirties and forties.
00;33;10;26 - 00;33;36;11
Ken Honda
So just think about this, like what kind of gifts I have. Like this guy has, you know, he seems to enjoy it more when he travels. He seems to like talking to people. He his energy lights up when he reads books or watch nice YouTubes. So when your energy goes up, that's when you are getting closer to your talents and gifts.
00;33;36;13 - 00;34;04;22
Ken Honda
So you have to start exploring what you're good at, what people say, Wow, Stephen, you're so good at listening or interviewing. And if if more than two people mentioned that, that's definitely your gift. And the key is to combine those gifts. You know, you cannot play with only one gift. You know, for me, I'm a I'm good at writing, I'm good at speaking, I'm good at interviewing and I'm good at making jokes.
00;34;04;24 - 00;34;27;24
Ken Honda
And I make jokes all the time. I run mainly because it's so funny. I didn't talk about that. But this time but there are so many funny stories out of money because people are so serious, especially the couple. I used to do a couple counseling, but anyway, so my stage is a lot of laughter, letter crying, a lot of hugging because money brings out the best and the worst in you.
00;34;27;27 - 00;34;53;03
Ken Honda
So I combine all that, it's almost like an art. So and then, then you can create your own world. Like I create my can hold the world. It's a lot of healing around money. Not many money Teachers do healing right in their own money. So you just should create your own blue ocean. You know, don't fight where everybody is fighting.
00;34;53;05 - 00;35;23;04
Steven Pesavento
And that's what's so that's what's so powerful about this idea of recognizing you don't have to be the best in the world at one thing. But if you take two or three or four or many gifts and you package them together, that can be your your gift. And there's something that really spoke to me about your work in the idea that you're healing people's beliefs around money because it really resonates with me personally, because out in this world that I live in, in the United States, most people are very logic driven.
00;35;23;08 - 00;35;44;23
Steven Pesavento
They're very I'm going to go to the doctor and they're going to tell me to take a medicine. And yet, as I've done some of my own work and dealt with different health issues, the more that I've connected to that idea of being healed, both through the work, through psychology, through magical healers and people who can do some interesting things, it's very interesting.
00;35;44;23 - 00;35;57;05
Steven Pesavento
And when you recognize that your beliefs are actually as toxic as any of the things that you're putting into your body, and when you can heal those beliefs, that actually frees you to live a life that you love.
00;35;57;07 - 00;36;01;27
Ken Honda
Exactly. Exactly. I totally agree with you.
00;36;01;29 - 00;36;25;06
Steven Pesavento
So when you're working with somebody right there at one of your workshops, you're live in person, you're talking, you're joking, you're playing, you're bringing this energy money. What is an example of a change that somebody can have once they start stepping into that belief system, that Zen belief of happy money?
00;36;25;09 - 00;36;56;29
Ken Honda
So a lot of people realize like, wow, I never thought I had more than enough, you know, because before they focus on the lack, they have a hard time paying the bills. They feel worried constantly and that and they fight with their wife and husband and they just worry about the job if they can keep their job. But when I took a look at the camera and how close, you know, just before the camera all your life been protected, all your life, you're okay.
00;36;57;02 - 00;37;20;29
Ken Honda
So this is where trust comes in. The third principle of money IQ, you know? Wow. I didn't know. You know, I'm being well protected all along. I thought I was. I was alone. But I have many friends that I can rely on, and I have little money in the bank account and I have a job. Wow. I think I'm a millionaire.
00;37;21;00 - 00;37;42;00
Ken Honda
So once you feel like you have more than enough, you feel relaxed. You can be more creative. You can get out of the survivor mode. Unfortunately, so many people, so many of us are in a survival mode. When you're in a survival mode, it's like a fight or flight. That's what gives you so much stress. And you cannot be creative.
00;37;42;02 - 00;38;07;04
Ken Honda
So you have to focus on the fact that you have more than enough. If you're watching this with your computer or your smartphone, you're wealthy, you know, probably you have a bed somewhere if you go back home, right? So you're already well taken care of. Even if you have debt, don't worry about it. That is a trust that the banks placed on you.
00;38;07;06 - 00;38;31;22
Ken Honda
It's not a curse or a burden when you start changing or the of what's going on your life, you feel much lighter. For example, talking about debt, A lot of people think it's so heavy, but think of it as strangers trust in you. They trust you that they will be financially okay for the next 20 years. That's why I give you a mortgage, right?
00;38;31;24 - 00;38;55;19
Ken Honda
So like, wow, thank you. Thank you for trust me. I have a hard time trusting myself, but to appreciate your trust. I'll keep up. I'll start paying the interest every month to show my appreciation for letting me use a house 20 years in advance. Because you trusted me. So once you feel, Wow, this is not a burden or curse, it's a trust, then you feel lighter.
00;38;55;25 - 00;39;03;10
Ken Honda
And if you just start looking at money one by one, that way, you're in a totally different world.
00;39;03;12 - 00;39;24;08
Steven Pesavento
Yeah, it's so beautiful. It's all in the perspective. And when you shift that perspective, some magical things happen. So, yeah, I've got one question left for you today. Can before we part ways, but why don't you let people know where can they get a copy of Happy Money? I couldn't recommend enough that you dive into Ken's work, but where can they follow you and how can they get in touch?
00;39;24;11 - 00;39;53;29
Ken Honda
Thank you. You can Google Ken Honda. You probably find a lot of other YouTube videos and if you come to Ken Honda dot com. I didn't touch about money personality type. They are like spenders moneymakers, warrior and money and different hippies. You can check your money typing 5 minutes is free so I'm translating a lot of fun stuff into English so you can figure out those and that kind of information there and you can order my book from Amazon.
00;39;54;00 - 00;40;10;16
Ken Honda
I can get it in probably like 24 hours. And a lot of people listen to audiobook these days. Either way is fine if you want to learn more. My second book is coming out. It's called 12th Ask. It will come out in May from House.
00;40;10;19 - 00;40;34;07
Steven Pesavento
Amazing. Amazing. Well, Ken, thanks so much for joining us today. The last question I have is what is your advice to all the people who are listening to the show? They they're hearing you talk. They're hearing you say, I need to change my mindset around money. They recognize that they need to do it, but they still can't get themselves to take that action and make that change.
00;40;34;09 - 00;40;36;11
Steven Pesavento
What do you suggest they do?
00;40;36;14 - 00;40;55;28
Ken Honda
Just and join money? You know, it's going to just staying here for a while. Enjoy my money. You can interpret it your own way. You know, money is for fun. You know, money is an angel waiting for you. But that's like, I want to do this. Okay, it's up. It could be your best friend. So enjoy money, enjoy life.
00;40;56;02 - 00;41;06;23
Ken Honda
You know, sometimes we have bad days, but it's okay. Bye. Hope you enjoy your life more to the fullest. And money is will be right there. Money can be your best friend.
00;41;06;26 - 00;41;14;23
Steven Pesavento
Amazing. Thanks so much for joining us. I hope I get to hang out with you when I'm in Japan next. And and appreciate you being on the show.
00;41;14;26 - 00;41;19;07
Ken Honda
Thank you so much, Steven. And all the viewers. I'm just sending a lot of happy money to you.