Progressive Prosperity deals with the fact that people can be brought out of poverty by steps so that they go from one level to the next and experience progressively increasing prosperity. This type of increase comes from following Jewish Torah principles of savings and investments which results in creating prosperity for their own future by following a prescribed method of increase and savings. Saving seed for the future speaks of people saving for that which can result in their future increase.

See the link "Seed for the Future" for more details.

First Step is Debt Freedom

Before people can come out of poverty, they must first become debt free. Being in debt is like being inside of a deep pit or vertical shaft in the ground. When they attain debt-freedom it is like climbing out of the hole and arriving on the surface again. At this point they do not owe anyone but at the same time they also have nothing either. Becoming debt-free is like arriving a zero level. While it is good to become debt-free they cannot remain there they are at but must continue climbing and come to a place of financial security.

Our Experience with Debt-Freedom

When we first arrived in South Korea in May 2009 Helen's sister Sunwa was in a desperate situation. She lost her husband through divorce and she had no more provider and so she was trying to support two teenage children with a meager salary. She also made numerous decisions that were detrimental to herself financially so in her desperation she agreed to submit to my leadership and obey the decisions that I made for her family. First I stopped every source of financial bleeding that was draining the family finances in needless manner. I then helped her son by mentoring him in man skills so that he would be able to gain employment for himself. I sent her daughter to computer graphics school where she also learned skills that enabled her to gain employment. They all three moved from the expensive rent of Seoul to Wonju city where their rent was under a third the cost of what they had been paying previously. I instituted an emergency fund so that they would not get back into debt again as well as a savings plan for each of them. Over time they increased steadily financially and had upgraded housing, vehicles, smartphones computers and everything that could be called prosperity.

First Level of Prosperity

The first level of prosperity is for a person or family to get out of debt and have an emergency fund and savings. At this first level all of their personal needs are met and they have a comfortable and secure life and have everything that they need and can eat whatever they want.

Second Level of Prosperity

The second level of prosperity goes beyond being debt free and having an emergency fund and personal savings. This second level goes beyond just having their needs met but instead it progresses toward also having investments. This level obtains investment capital which can earn money or bring in money through investments.

At this point however it should be noted that the majority of people are not born with a gift of being an entrepreneur. Probably 95% to 98% of the laymen are those who will work a job and earn wages and only a few of them are capable of starting and running their own business. This is not a skill that can be taught any more than a plow-horse can be trained to be a race-horse! While the person born with the gift of being and entrepreneur is typically the envy of almost everyone at the same time it must be understood that not just anyone can be an entrepreneur.

All those who I know of who were born with the gift of entrepreneur were those who displayed this ability from childhood. One example of such a person was a man who said that he never one time worked for wages but he always made his own money by his own business enterprise startups since his youth.

However, we do have a program which would help young men to discover their gifts and abilities simply by rotating them through a wide range of experiences. Once they have found an area of strength, they could then be mentored in this area by a senior mentor who is experienced in his this field. Such a program could also identify those who are born with gift and ability to be an entrepreneur.

See the link "Principle Based Education" for more details.

Investing in Group Enterprise

The principle here is that when people are not born with a gift of entrepreneur then they most certainly should not be pursuing trying to start their own business enterprise. I know numerous laymen who have tried to start their own business enterprise and have lost all of their investment capital. These same people have repeatedly lost everything they had and were forced to start over again at zero balance. This occurred because they insisted in pursuing some passion (wishful thinking) that they could start some sort of enterprise for themselves. As long as they are living in self-deception, they will continue to lose their savings repeatedly and continue to come to zero and have to start all over again.

It is not until people make an honest assessment of themselves that they can determine that they are not gifted to make a living as an entrepreneur or operate their own business enterprise. Such people need to remain within their jobs as an employee and stop wasting money on the imaginary hope of success which instead results in them losing everything that they have.

Pooling Resources as a Group

But there is an advantage if employee workers pool their resources together to create an enterprise as a group effort. I often give the example of Matt Ruhl who started a real estate club with fellow employees of a barge company. They invested their disposable wealth (that which is above living expenses) into buying rental houses as a group. They profited wonderfully and this had a snowball effect because the more rental houses they purchased the more rental income they received which enabled them to purchase more houses.

In this case, these men remained as employees of the barge company but they invested wages together to buy real estate. A group of workers can profit wonderfully if they do not quit their jobs but invest their disposable wealth into something that can create financial increase for them. So, in this situation they were able to eventually purchase enough rental houses where each member of the club could retire and live off of the rental income.

This example is important to illustrate that those who are not gifted to be entrepreneurs can remain at their steady jobs but they can still invest in something as a group. Such a group can prosper together financially while all members keep working their jobs as employees. In this manner a group of "plow-horses" working together could attain the investment income that normally only a "race-horse" (entrepreneur) can enjoy.