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What is the Brower Quadrant?
Whether you are worth zillions-or struggling to make ends meet-you are rich! And, at this moment, you are either living in abundance or you are living in scarcity, it's up to you. What you have is not about doing more with less, but doing more with more in all areas of your life! The world needs gratitude instead of victimhood; value-based leadership instead of number management; asset optimization instead of asset isolation. In this book, you'll learn from six key components that will cement families to their True Wealth for generations to come.
March 20, 2008
Where’s My Inheritance?
By Lee Brower
An attorney friend of mine shared a very telling experience he had with one of his clients. He had worked with a family for many years and had prepared for them a very complete “traditional” estate plan. The dad had started a business and sold it at the height of the dot-com market. He wanted his family to be involved in the use of the proceeds. The money helped pay for education, two family vacation homes, a few business opportunities and where needed. Mom and Dad became very involved in several charities and invited the children and grandchildren to participate as well. The kids were anxious to help out and the family met regularly to discuss various opportunities and needs. The attorney attended many meetings with the family over the years where the center of all topics was we … What should we do? Where should we invest our money? How can we maximize this investment for everyone’s benefit? Who should we help? He was very pleased with what had been accomplished and with the direction the family was taking. He felt the estate plan was very sound and met the needs and vision of the family.
February 20, 2008
The Brittle Generation
By Lee Brower
Arthur T. Vanderbilt II recounts his history with great clarity in Fortune’s Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt. As a teenager, his father Cornelius began the building of his empire with a small raft, charging fares for transporting goods and supplies, and eventually passengers, on the Hudson River. From this humble beginning, financed by a loan from his mother, he thrived. By the time of his death in 1877, the “Commodore,” as he was then commonly known, was the wealthiest person in the world.
Within thirty years of the Commodore’s death, no member of his family was among the richest people in the United States. Forty-eight years after his death, one of his direct descendants died penniless.
The real tragedy is not only the family fortune being lost to (and by) the Vanderbilt heirs, but the lessons and knowledge that produced the wealth had been lost as well. Here was a man who through ingenuity and shrewd business acumen, built a veritable empire from the most meager of circumstances. Yet, all the experience, wisdom, and knowledge he acquired was never transferred to future generations. The end result was a family unprepared for protecting and insuring the perpetuation of their wealth.
When 120 of the Commodore’s descendants gathered at Vanderbilt University in 1973 for the first family reunion, there was not a millionaire among them.
January 21nd, 2008
Family Leadership
By Lee Brower
Rarely is money a source of genuine freedom, joy or clarity. Yet, we routinely allow it to dictate the terms of our lives, and often, it is the single most important factor in the decisions we make about work, love, family and even friendship. When we view our lives strictly in terms of our financial possessions, wealth comes at a high cost. We all know of families that have been torn apart by money, and many of us know individuals who do not have great financial abundance, but are among the happiest people we know.
In lives where money is scarce, however, the constant strife can easily become the dominant theme that discounts self-worth and severely limits the potential of an individual or family. The prolonged absence of money can become an excuse for being less resourceful, productive or responsible than possible.
So, how do we balance the need for money and desire for wealth with the need for meaning and purpose? And, what is our “stewardship” responsibility toward financial wealth?
True Wealth means finding balance among all the facets of life. When we have True Wealth, we can maximize the enjoyment and benefit we receive from our money. We can grow it, manage it, optimize it, preserve it, and pass it on to whomever we choose.
December 22nd, 2008
True Asset Protection
By Lee Brower
When you hear someone mention “asset protection,” what comes to mind? Do you think of words like lawsuits, seminars, off-shore trusts, money, business, bankruptcy, financial security, etc.? Which Quadrant do you normally associate with “asset protection”? Most everyone thinks exclusively of the Financial Asset Quadrant. How important is it to protect those assets we value most—our family, health, values, heritage, experiences, philanthropic passion and others? What system do you have in place to proactively protect all of your assets? Asset protection for those who utilize the Quadrant Living System means proactively and systematically protecting all of our assets.
All too often we become consumed with the rigors of daily life—so much that we find ourselves in a reactive mode rather than a proactive mode. Without a system we will inevitably spend far too many hours and too much money on correcting problems and trying to get back on track. Here are a few examples:
- Some of us will lose our health getting wealth, only to end up losing our wealth getting health.
- Some of us will wait until April to find out from an accountant that we owe the IRS a huge amount of money.
- Some of us are in denial about whether our children will ever do drugs. Twenty-two percent of all kids in homes where there is a strong parental involvement will still experiment with drugs! Where there’s less involvement, that number is much higher.
- Some of us wait until the funeral before we realize we could have captured life’s experiences for our benefit and that of future generations.
- Some of us put up fancy security systems to protect our homes and children, but do not have an effective system to protect our loved ones from the invasion of Internet pornography. Even if you do have security on your Internet system, most kids know they are only a few key strokes away from circumventing it.
- Some of us may sell a business or exercise stock options or invest in a business opportunity with tremendous upside potential, and then try to restructure ownership to protect assets or save taxes, after the fact.
- Some of us do a wonderful, albeit, haphazard job of making charitable contributions that involve only ourselves (and not the rest of the family) and our checkbooks.
Take some time to look at the Brower Quadrants: Core Assets, Experience Assets, Contribution Assets and Financial Assets. Ask yourself what you are doing to protect your most important assets.
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and prosperous 2009!
November 20th, 2008
Putting your “Q-Bank” to Work
By Lee Brower
The following article is part 2 of “Utilizing Your Family Q-Bank,” printed in the September issue.
The Empowered Quadrant Bank extends far beyond legal documents. It is a repository for true family heirlooms— not the linen and china, but the videos you make of relatives so as to preserve these vital links with the future; or, your list of questions about any endeavor the family might consider undertaking in the future.
October 18th, 2008
Goodbye Goals
By Lee Brower
The word "goal" has been banished from my vocabulary. In fact, in our office we have agreed to a two-dollar assessment for anyone who uses the word!
- Have you ever set a goal?
- Have you ever set a goal and not achieved it?
- Have you ever set the same goal again, and again not achieved it?
When you frequently, or even occasionally, set goals that go unachieved, what happens to your "self-talk?" Are you saying supportive things to yourself, or do you begin to "dis" yourself? When your brain is engaged in negative self-talk, what are you attracting? Could you actually be attracting more of the very thing that blocks the attainment of your intentions? (Notice I did not use the "g" word.)
Many years ago, I read about a study conducted at Yale University. In 1953, researchers surveyed Yale's graduating seniors to determine how many had specific, written goals for their future. The answer was three percent. Forty years later, researchers polled the surviving members of the Class of 1953 and found that the three percent with written goals had accumulated more personal financial wealth than the other 97 percent of the class combined! (Continues)
September 16th, 2008
Moments
By Lori Brower
In April 2007, our son was diagnosed with cancer. “Yes, it’s confirmed. It is alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, although your son is a little old to have this particular childhood cancer…,” the doctor said. What?!?! Nick? He is only 18! He graduates from high school next month. I stuttered, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, it’s stage 4.” The words took a few seconds to register. Stages of cancer are ranked from stage 1 as the least dangerous to stage 4, the highest – and deadliest – level. Then a glass of water spilled and my hands shook as I tried to clean it up and listen to the procedures that needed to be done before hospital admission.
“He only has a 10% chance of survival.” How can I gather myself before going back into his hospital room? How can moments of disbelief turn to fear so quickly?
During Nick’s first round of chemo, a very wise nurse told me on the first day, “Our doctors and nurses are excellent. The hospital is excellent. However, he is YOUR son, YOUR responsibility – so know what is going on – always. Ask questions; get copies of everything; research the chemo drugs; keep notes on what pain medications work or don’t work. I’ll help you learn what numbers to be concerned with on the lab results.” She made a difference in helping me regain moments of clarity and confidence. (Continues)
April 18th, 2008
What’s Your Vision?
Lee Brower was recently interviewed for Change Nation, a guest interview series produced by The First 30 Days, Inc., a New York City-based organization helping people worldwide capitalize on change. During the interview, Ariane de Bonvoisin, CEO of The First 30 Days, asked Lee how people can accurately create a vision regarding wealth. Lee said:
“Your key to everything is to say, ‘Here is my vision.’ Once [you’re] in motion, [figure out how to] sustain it. ….You just keep moving until your vision gets very clear and you say at the end of each day, ‘What did I do right today that moved me closer to my vision and how can I do more of that?’”
Sounds simple, right? Well, in the years Lee has helped people optimize their true assets, he has found that for many people, maintaining that vision and staying in motion can be challenging.
He has often encouraged people to create a vision board – something like a bulletin board with photos, quotes, and key words that represent the ways in which they want to make changes in their lives.
With better technology often comes better solutions, and now Quadrant Living is pleased to introduce a more powerful, more convenient way to shape your vision. The VisionBridge™ Software tool enables you to create your own “virtual bulletin board” that you can view on your screensaver, desktop wallpaper, or even your cell phone or iPod. You can customize it and change it as often as you’d like, including your own photos, affirmations, power words, and more.
Keep your mental pictures in front of you, literally, and see how much easier it is to reflect on your gratitude, focus on your vision, and accelerate your motion.
Learn more about the VisionBridge™ Software
Listen to Lee’s interview on Change Nation
A reminder.
A keepsake.
A touchstone.
Brower Gratitude Rocks™ are a simple, powerful system for practicing one of the most important habits we can have: experiencing, capturing, and showing gratitude.
