HILL HARPER: People are more apt to talk about marital infidelity than they are to tell you
how much they earn.
[ MUSIC ]
Nobody wants to talk about money!
No one want to say how much they earn, no one wants to say how much debt they carry.
It's almost - there's a fear around money.
And so since no one wants to talk about it, how can you learn about it, how can you become
literate in something that nobody wants to discuss.
You ask people how much money did their parents earn, "I don't know."
How much money do you earn, "I don't want to tell you."
How much money have you saved, "I don't feel comfortable sharing that."
People don't want to share with their family, their friends, or anything.
There's definitely a relationship to money, and your self worth.
In fact, in my book I call it, "What is your priority: your bank account, or your life
account?"
And so many people link those things so clearly.
In fact, so much so that it's not really about how much money you have, it's about how much
money you appear to have.
That's why we have so many people getting in such debt.
You know the reason why many people talk about the consumer goods they purchase, they happen
to be things like cars, because they want a certain type of car to make them appear
as if they perhaps have more money than they do for self worth purposes.
And certainly over time, without question popular culture, my business, the entertainment
business, television, music videos, etc has exacerbated that problem.
Just as an anecdotal story, my foundation, the Manifest Your Destiny Foundation, we work
with a lot of young people.
And this young guy came up to me one time, and said, you know I asked him, we were talking
about cars because I love cars.
And I said, "well what kind of car do you like?"
And he said, "Oh I want, I want that car that Jay has."
He was talking, obviously, about Jay-Z.
"In that video, the one where he's in Monte Carlo with Dale Earnhardt."
I said, "you think Jay-Z actually owns that car?"
"Man, that's Jaz-Z's Lamborghini, man!"
You know, "Mercialago baby!"
And I was like, "what if I was to tell you that that car was rented for the video, Jay-Z
you know, is a pretty smart guy, good business man.
He probably knows better than to spend $300,000+ on a depreciating asset.
In fact, I actually know him and at that time he had a really nice GMC Yukon."
You know, it had nice rims and everything but it was not a Mercialago.
And that's the difference, it's the perception vs. reality.
And now, we have images beamed around the world.
And we have music that reinforces a type of consumerism, and a type of connection to your
selfworth, that I think can be very problematic.
To change the situation and have a return to moderation for what you value, or so-called
values, it's all about whoever is going to be the loudest about it.
It's about talking about it.
What is true wealth?
And that's what my book, The Wealth Cure, is all about.
What really is true wealth?
And what are your own wealth factors?
And if you get someone to really ask themselves those questions, they start to find out for
themselves that the money aspect starts to go down the list.
Having that fancy car starts to move itself down the list.
Having that jewelry, that bling, that whatever starts to move down the list.
And other things start to move up the list when they're really asking themselves those
questions.
For me personally, obviously in the book, if you've read it you know that I talk about
the fact that I was diagnosed with cancer.
When that diagnosis happened it was clear to me that health was probably my number one
wealth factor.
It didn't matter that I was on a TV show like CSI: NY, or it didn't matter that I had gone
and got two graduate degrees from Harvard.
It didn't matter that I had been a NY Times best selling author.
None of that mattered.
My health was the most important thing.
And so once, I think a mirror is held up we all can be forced to take an accounting of
what's important to us, and we all can then begin a discussion for ourselves.
Because my wealth factors are probably different than someone else's.
And different priorities change and evolve over the course of your life as well.
Hey Everybody, this is Hill Harper and you're watching Epiphany.
Check it out.