Zephyr Guyton - Building Financial Freedom From Age Eight

Sridhar Krishnamurti: Everybody, welcome to an episode of The Mind Shift. It's a podcast for those that just know that there's more to life and want to achieve it. It's where we discuss tools and experiences to live your best life. My very special guest today is Zephyr Guyton. So, Zephyr, thank you for being here, and welcome to The Mind Shift.

Zephyr Guyton: Thank you for having me. It's a real pleasure. I've been looking forward to this one.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: I said to you just a moment ago, you're a bit of a legend in the world, and for many reasons. One of the big reasons is that you started out in your mind shift when you were eight years old—around 14 years ago. I've been really looking forward to unpacking this journey with you. I know some of the things that you've done and some of the gold that you can provide for people will be so rare. I’ve been anticipating this and couldn't wait for this moment to have you on the podcast. I'm so glad to have you here. Firstly, thank you.

Let's go back and take a trip down memory lane. You were quite young then. I still remember you walking through the door at eight years old, looking at the floor. Do you remember that day?

Zephyr Guyton: Yeah, vaguely. I remember. I was eight years old, but I remember.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: So, what do you remember? What do you remember about why you came?

Zephyr Guyton: I remember I had a rash on my arm, and it was really big. We had tried heaps of other things. We said I was dairy-free, so I stopped eating dairy, and it was still there. We tried a bunch of other things—I think it went medically, even. It was going on for about three years, wasn't it? Different creams and stuff, and nothing was working to get rid of it.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: Part of the work that we do here at The Mind Shift is the connection between the mind and the body. I did just have your dad on the previous episode. So, it became—you started something, right? Ended up working with your whole family. I remember it was you and your mother that arrived in the first instance. She'd heard about someone that I worked with that had a physical manifestation or disease, and through working in the power of the mind, we were able to get quite a shift with them. So you came, and they thought, "Well, look, let's give this a go."

So you arrived. I know it was a long time ago. It's nice to see you, by the way; it's been a while since I don't live here anymore, so we don't catch up as regularly. I just said, "What do you remember?" and you told me a little bit.

What we did is we looked at the connection between the mind and the body. If you're doing things physically and it's not shifting, then maybe we need to look at the mind. It's kind of like an exercise that I get people to do: to hold a lemon in your head. See that you're holding a lemon in your hand, and it's cut in half. You raise it up, and you really see the lemon, you eat it, and you can taste it. The whole physical process has happened. What that goes to show is that there is a connection between the mind and the body. When you came, we started to explore that.

What do you remember about what you understood after we had talked?

Zephyr Guyton: I remember it turned out that I thought my mum didn't love me. Whenever I asked for lollies or something, my dad would say yes, and my mum would always say no. So, as a very young kid, you first perceive that as: she must not love me.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: It's an amazing memory to be able to have since you were eight years old. That's precisely what came up. For the benefit of the watcher or listener, if you don't mind me saying, you're quite an introvert. Seeing you share this and express yourself is great. Do you remember being quite shy?

Zephyr Guyton: Definitely. I remember even when a teacher asked a question, I wouldn't put my hand up, even though I knew the answer.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: I remember we discussed that, and you said, "I want to do it, but I don't do it."

When you came in, I thought, okay, obviously he holds things in. So we looked at what is he holding in and why it's showing up in the body. When I saw this rash—it was quite red and all over—I thought, we must be holding in some anger.

It was a bit of a funny story. I don't know if you remember this part, but you and your mother were sitting there, and I said to you, "Look, you need to feel really comfortable. So if you want your mum to go away, she can go in the car." And she went, "Yeah, I can." And you said, "No, I want her to stay."

I said, "You have to be really honest about this." And you said, "Yeah, I'll be honest." You were looking down. Because you were eight, right? I thought, okay, he's angry. From my experience, usually at eight, it's going to be a mother or father. I just said, "Who are you angry with? Your mother? Your father? Or what?"

You looked up. I said, "Do you want your mum to go away?" You were such a brave boy at that time. You said, "No, no, she can stay." I said, "Well, who are you angry with?" And you pointed to her. That's when you said, "Dad gives me lollies. He lets me stay up late and lets me play computer games. And Mum's making me spinach." And really, as you said, over time you decide: She doesn't love me.

Do you remember what we did to shift that in your mind?

Zephyr Guyton: I remember a few things. I remember you wanted my mum and dad to take turns saying no and yes. That was at the end, when I was leaving.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: Yeah. I mean, it's amazing you remember this much at that age. I think what I remember at eight on my own—I don't think I'd be able to come if something happened for me today and be as clear about it as you. This is such an amazing opportunity for people, Zephyr. Thanks again for sharing your story.

Basically, I think your dad was travelling a bit at the time. Often when that happens, the mother—your mother—was the primary caregiver, so she's looking after your health. When your dad is there, he wants you to feel happy and connect with you, so he gives you the lollies. He got to be the fun dad. To compensate for that, your mum had to do the other side and make sure that you were getting proper nutrition and not staying up too late.

So what I asked you is: What are the two sides of that? If both of your parents did what your dad was doing—because you associated love with what your dad was doing—what would happen to you? You just remember how intelligent you were, even at that age.

Zephyr Guyton: You find the balance between both sides.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: If it's apparent on the film, there's a height difference here; it won't surprise you to know Zephyr has been a basketball player for quite a long time. You just said, "Oh, if I ate all the lollies all the time, I'd get out of shape and I wouldn't be able to play basketball." You added that up, and all of a sudden, in your mind, you realised: This isn't 'not love.' This is love. My dad's loving me in a particular way. My mum's loving me in a particular way.

I'm glad you remembered it because I gave you guys an exercise. Your mum at the time was more geared to being that type, and your dad was probably a bit more easygoing. I said if you want to change this and show you the love that both your parents have... I said to your mother, "Make sure Zephyr's dad is there, and in front of Dad, give him ridiculous amounts of candy and ice cream and let him stay up to ridiculous hours." Then I said to you, "Watch what your dad does. He will turn into what you perceived your mum to be."

It was demonstrating they were both loving you in just two different ways. But as you rightfully said, as an eight-year-old, you decide one is love and one isn't. It's so powerful for kids to hear today. So you went home, and I think your mum that night gave you a whole bowl of candy. The moment she did, your dad turned around and said, "No, no, no, he can have one, and that's it." And you got it. Do you remember what happened from that?

Zephyr Guyton: Yeah, I remember my rash went away. I think we had two or three sessions, and then my rash went away.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: After three weeks. Something that you'd had for over three years.

Zephyr Guyton: Yeah, it was around that year. It went away. It was unbelievable when it happened. My mum and dad were in shock at how fast it went away.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: That just goes to show you the power of the mind. Let's talk about what's happened since then. The other thing we did—and the opportunity that you give us on this call is so amazing because of how we think of young people—do you remember what we did after that?

Zephyr Guyton: I mean, we did my values and kind of ranked them to find the highest value. Finance was the top one. Which is just odd for an eight-year-old. Finance was mine.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: Do you remember that? You established at eight years old that finance was your most important thing. I remember you had a dream you were saving for a Lamborghini at eight years old, and you had ideas of how you were going to be financial. I think what's so cool about this is we think of eight-year-olds and treat them like they can't do anything or don't know anything about life. Yet, it's just not true. Inside of you—and we just created a space to go, "Hey, what do you feel like you really want to do? What's important to you?"—you said that.

It's been 14 years. Are you still on that journey? What's important to you now?

Zephyr Guyton: Definitely finance is still... yeah. I don't have the Lamborghini yet, but it's coming.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: You said to me just briefly beforehand, "I want to talk about that financial freedom course." Doing it at 12. I think you've done something way more significant than a Lamborghini. Eight years old, you discovered this financial dream. What's happened since then, and what would you love to share with people that are listening in on this, wanting to better themselves?

Zephyr Guyton: Well, at 18, I bought my first property, which is my most proud achievement so far in my life. And then I just bought my second property now. So I'm 21, and I have two properties at that age.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: It's cool, Zephyr, and it's amazing that you've had a commitment since you were eight. If you're here at 21, what happens at 31 and 41? I know you've thought about it because we've spoken about it. So, if I'm out there listening to this, I'm like, "I want a piece of that." What can you tell people watching if they want to get on the financial journey? What's been your experience?

Zephyr Guyton: I'd say the biggest thing is that 'One Way Account' that we talked about on the financial freedom course.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: Do you want to say anything about the course first? You were 12 when you did it. I believe you actually paid for it, or got help from your parents but paid for a part of it?

Zephyr Guyton: I think so, yeah. I think you insisted.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: We do this as part of The Mind Shift work; we have a financial freedom course. So you came in at 12, and then what did you discover and do from there?

Zephyr Guyton: Well, you talked about the One Way Accounts. It kind of just gets the ball rolling, really, and it takes the stress off wondering if something bad happens. Like, will you have the money to pay for it if you lose a job? I didn't have much of a job then, but still.

So, what is a One Way Account? You start at 10% saving everything you earn, and then every three months, you increase it by 10%. So in three months, it'll be 11%, and then 12.1%, and so on.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: The income is growing, so it doesn't get to 12% because it has that upward impact on the money you're making. Have you noticed? That's the idea behind it. What's happened to your income since then?

Zephyr Guyton: Definitely growing. A lot. I remember I had my first little business at 11. I’d just go to people's houses and water their garden and ring in the mail from the mailbox when they were away, and stuff like that. Then I started my second business when I was 15 or 16, making garden ornaments and selling them on Facebook Marketplace. I went to a market or two, but I found it was easier to do Marketplace for the time they were there. So I kept doing that. I also did junk mail in that time as well.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: You did junk mail, like delivering the paper? So you were just doing anything to make income. Not just make income, but generate.

I'm just going to pause here because part of the journey for me is I'm interested in two things: how to live the most successful life that we can, and how to be as genuine as we can be. Part of that journey is studying some of the most successful entrepreneurs we've had in the world. For those of you watching, this is one in action. My first business at 11... No one's forcing you here, are they? This is coming from where?

Zephyr Guyton: It is my drive for the finances I want, and to live the life that I want.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: What's so inspiring is that I have a lot of people come to me, Zephyr, in their 30s, 40s, 50s plus, and they say, "How do I develop commitment and how do I develop discipline?" This is it. I'm looking at it right here. You get really true about what you want. I don't know if you were just too young to know that people might judge that. There are people who say, "Money is not everything." Well, money is what it is. It's a thing. If you love it, that's not wrong. If you don't love it, that's not wrong either. But if you do love it, then you should pursue it.

Let me just pause and ask you: What's the journey been like so far from eight to 21? Is it hard, difficult, a challenge, or is it fun?

Zephyr Guyton: Definitely challenges, but I think it's been fun overall.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: You strike me as that way. Because you got truthful about what you actually wanted. Now, for some people, that might change. Not everyone's going to be as clear about what they want; somewhere inside they are, they may not be connected with that yet, and it's okay for that to develop. But there are some things that we just know from a very early age. I know your parents really supported that. What would you say? I think they supported you in that financial journey quite significantly. There are parents out there that could really benefit.

Zephyr Guyton: I'd say if you want your kid to live the best life possible, bring them along to as many things as possible, like the financial freedom course—that was definitely a big turning point or a big boost for me. And just don't treat them like they don't know anything, because they definitely do. They understand the world more than you think.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: Could you just repeat that, please? "They understand the world more than you think." Just living proof sitting in this chair here. I know you're really fortunate to have the parents you do, because they just kept speaking to that, didn't they? They didn't treat you like an eight-year-old. I think when your dad and I called up, he was like, "Yeah, let's help you start the account."

Zephyr Guyton: Yeah. My mum went in with me to ANZ, and we set up my 'Lamborghini account' when I was nine.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: How many parents would do that? And how many kids of that age would know that?

So, what do you see from here? I know you talked about the seminar, the financial freedom thing. Is there anything else you want to say from that before we go forward? Just One Way Accounts—what you say to people is that if they want to emulate this in their own way, start with your 10% and keep going.

One of the things we talked about at eight was your vision for life. At 21 now—we've caught up periodically—what's it looking like? What's the vision?

Zephyr Guyton: Well, I've got a net worth number now that I'm kind of chasing. So at 53, I want to have $600 million. I found this thing online where you can see how much Warren Buffett had at each age. So I track that. And so far, I'm ahead. So at 53 he had 600 million. Every year I set a goal for that year.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: I'm not a betting man, but if I were, I'd be putting some serious money on you achieving that goal. If you look at Warren Buffett, a lot of the wealth has come in the latter years, hasn't it? So, what can you say? What have you noticed about him and what people can put into play if they want to be financial?

Zephyr Guyton: I think one of his big things is to be greedy when everyone's scared. It's when you have to go all in. When everyone's going all in, that's when you should be scared.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: Contrarian. The most successful investors in the world are almost always contrarian. So what everybody else is doing, they're doing the opposite. And can you see why? What's the secret to that?

Zephyr Guyton: If you keep going and keep going, they let their guard down when they just think everything's going to be fine, and they lose everything. Whereas if you run scared and got your guard up, they don't want to spend it. They don't want to invest anything. They don't want to put the money in because I don't think it's safe enough.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: I was thinking more towards compound interest, but I understand. Why are you tracking Warren Buffett? How's that helping you? I mean, stop and think about that: "I'm past Warren Buffett at his age."

Zephyr Guyton: He's got a bit more successful! I think he's the best investor of all time. He's the guy I think most people look up to in the finance world.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: Because he's wise. There are so many pitfalls in the financial game, and the biggest one that I see now is the "get rich quick." It's fool's games. Just steady, steady, steady. I talk about in the work quite a bit, in a business-financial way, there's a saying that success is a relatively quiet affair. If you look at Warren Buffett, the vast majority of his wealth has actually happened in the last 15 to 20 years. And he's 93, I think. It's just quietly going away, whereas people say, "I want to get rich tomorrow." I see you from eight to 21, and you're just such a great example.

So why the 600 million? Where'd you come up with that number?

Zephyr Guyton: It just kind of spoke to me. But also, if you get 5% interest every year, which is very easy to find, you have $30 million to play with every year, and you don't have to do anything. $30 million a year seemed like the number that spoke to me as "that's what I want."

Sridhar Krishnamurti: Why I asked you the question is, a lot of times money is an ego thing for people. When I hear you say it, I just see joy. I see a meaningful, joyful life that you're creating. I've done a lot of work on "what's the meaning of life," and you give us the opportunity to share my finding: it's just an experience for us, and we get to choose what we do with it. We can enjoy it, we can stress about it, we can spend our life trying to prove something, or we could just dream and go for it and enjoy the ride. I'm so inspired to be speaking with you because you are, essentially, living that life already from eight to 21. Would you agree?

Zephyr Guyton: Yeah, I'd agree with that. I think I'm doing quite well on my goal.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: And you seem to me to be enjoying yourself. You don't seem to be endlessly driving yourself to prove something, that you have to get this number to show everybody something—which is what a lot of us are doing. You seem to be just going, "That seems like fun."

Zephyr Guyton: Yeah, I still go out and see friends and stuff. I'm not in my room just working 24/7 or anything.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: What we have an opportunity to illustrate here is how you set your life up. Most of us live our lives trying to prove something or chase something. If you didn't get that "love" realisation then, and you grew up never knowing that one of your parents loved you—which a lot of people believe—can you see the impact that might have?

Zephyr Guyton: Yeah, I definitely can. I definitely wouldn't have near two properties by now. I wouldn't even have started saving for the first one. I think for most people my age, it's not only just entering their minds...

Sridhar Krishnamurti: If it is. A lot of people your age that I know of are stressed already financially. They're like, "Oh my God, I got to go out in the world now." They haven't known what they're about, so they've had fun—and that's all part of life—but that's all we think we have. I don't blame anyone, but I put the responsibility on those of us that come before—my generation—that maybe we don't actually trust eight-year-olds to say, "What do you actually want with your life?" in a serious way. Because if we do ask, we're not serious about it.

Zephyr Guyton: It's more just a small talk kind of thing.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: "Oh yeah, you want to be... you want to have a Lamborghini, okay?" But everyone in your life had a serious conversation about it. Your parents took it seriously.

There are so many views about money. I'd be interested to see your experience. I talk about alignment a lot in the work; when you get aligned, you just pull things to you. Do you live in a world where people look at you and say, "Why is he trying to do that with the money?" Or are you just bringing people into your life that are aligned with it?

Zephyr Guyton: There is no one in my life, I don't think, that would criticise what I'm trying to do or my goals.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: Just pause at that moment, too. Because how many people on the path are you aware of that get judged for it?

Zephyr Guyton: I'd say when I was eight, I was just too young to understand that people wouldn't want you to have money. I wouldn't get jealous. When you're eight, you still know stuff, like I said before, but there's a lot of social cues you don't understand.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: If you have anybody eight or less out there, please hear that. If you can help your child set up that world—it doesn't even have to be money, it can be whatever career or life they want—trust them and take their word and help them grow to it. You live in a world where what you're doing isn't wrong, Zephyr. Most people don't live in that world; they live in a world with "Tall Poppy" syndrome, where we live here in New Zealand. There's a whole group of people that don't like success; they don't celebrate success, they attack. That doesn't mean if you're successful or have money, you're a bad person. This is wonderful because you just have never developed that [negative belief].

I think what I'm super inspired by here is the opportunity you're giving young people to say you don't have to construct your life the way other people have.

Zephyr Guyton: I don't think I fully understand how much I've helped people.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: What I would say is: don't ever think about it. You just keep doing what you're doing.

Is there anything else you'd love to share with people from your journey? This podcast is all about people getting past limitations.

Zephyr Guyton: I'd say if you want it, just go get it. Don't worry about what people say or think about you. If they are your friends or whatever, they're probably not your friends if they don't want you to achieve your goals.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: So what's there to do about that?

Zephyr Guyton: You have to pick who you hang out with. That is probably the biggest thing.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: Pick them well. Love yourself enough to do that.

Another thing that comes to mind—if you're happy to share it—is that we touch base on a periodic basis. When there's a serious challenge, you'll give me a ring. I just want to point that out too, because your parents don't suggest calling Sridhar; you've done that from a very young age. Like university. Are you happy to share a little bit? That's not an easy time to go through. You called me up and said you hit a crossroads. Do you want to talk us through the crossroads and what you did?

Zephyr Guyton: So, I'd been going to university for about one and a half years. I was starting to be an accountant, which I thought I wanted to do since I was nine. Very odd thing for a nine-year-old to say you want to be an accountant, but it was a way to get my Lamborghini. And I like finance; I figured it'd be a good match.

Then I went on holiday to the UK. I was coming back home, and I was sort of wanting the plane ride to last longer, because as soon as it landed, it meant I had to go back to university. It was a long flight, so you don't want it to last any longer, but I was dreading the landing part of it. I didn't want to go back to university, so I thought it'd be a good sign that I probably shouldn't continue. Gave you a ring, and we had a chat about it.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: I think at the time, you decided to give it a bit more time, but then you stayed true to yourself, and in the end, decided to drop out of university. Some people look at that like, "Oh my God, what is happening?" But we had a little chat earlier. What are you doing instead, if you don't mind sharing?

Zephyr Guyton: Now I work in the office of my mum and dad's business. I do reinforcing installation. They're working towards me being a partner in that with another one of the managers there, which is a very exciting journey.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: I caught up with your dad, and he said it's definitely on the cards. And that's in the making now, so you can own your... is it your third business at 22? And that's getting into the business your dad built up from basically nothing. That's not a small endeavour.

Zephyr Guyton: Yeah. It's a bit... I wouldn't say daunting, but it's a big thing. But I think it always works for achieving your goals. A good way to keep going forward.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: I'm hearing it. Your mindset is just so clear. You're just so clear on what you want, and you're connecting what there is to do. Like you said, "That helped me get my Lamborghini, so I did it." It's just plain sense to you, isn't it? Don't hesitate to make the decision and go forward.

I'm glad that you don't know that a lot of people hesitate and stop themselves. You're demonstrating to us: it doesn't matter what age you are, find out what you want. I hope parents are listening to this. Help your kids find out what they want and just help them get it—don't create barriers. Even if it's not the right thing, you'll figure that out. You did. You were like, "That's not the right choice, I want to go here." You've developed the skills to be able to know when to change that, how to ask for help when you need it, and to be able to sense what the right move is.

This one's a special one, Zephyr. Most people deal with their stories and limitations for far longer than you did. I'm just so thankful you've come on this podcast. We're getting to see what it looks like when you're not hampered from the beginning.

Any last bits of wisdom you'd like to share?

Zephyr Guyton: This is just something I wanted to mention. A couple of days ago, there was something big at work that I had to step up for. But in my mind, I could actually see the Lamborghini. "This will get me to..." I think that was part of being clear on what you want. I could visually see it in my mind—the colour of it, everything. So I kind of keep saying: it's worth it. It's worth it. Just keep going.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: Could you just say that again? Because there's something in that.

Zephyr Guyton: I can visually see the colour and everything of the Lamborghini—that it's worth it. You have to just keep going.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: One of the parts of the work is: whatever that you want, just feel like you've got it right now. See it, feel it, and then you can feel it draw it to you, can't you?

Zephyr Guyton: Yeah.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: Well, that's a note too, because that's going to let that sit with people. If you get present to what you really want... Zephyr, I knew this was going to be amazing. Do you remember what you said to me about this podcast?

Zephyr Guyton: I didn't think I'd be interesting enough, or didn't think I had enough to offer.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: Can you imagine that he didn't know if he had something to offer? I know you've been there listening; there's been a lot of value in that. So I'm so thankful that you had the courage to show up. It's going to be apparent to all of us just what you've done here, the mind state that you've reached, and how aligned you've got with what you're creating.

Zephyr Guyton: Thank you for having me. It was very enjoyable. I was very nervous at the start, but it's calmed down a lot now.

Sridhar Krishnamurti: None of us could see it. "Certainty" would be the word I got out of today. Thanks again to Zephyr, and thank you for watching this episode of The Mind Shift. A lot of takeaways in this one. Thanks for watching, and we'll look forward to seeing you on the next episode.