Back in the early 1990s, I was going through a divorce. I’d lost everything and was starting all over again. I had two little girls and I needed help. So the first person in what I like to call my “circle of support” was my mom. She’d help me watch the girls when I needed to work or help me take them to the doctor. She was critical to helping me get everything up and running with my businesses. Every time I put my circle of support together, I ask myself: “For me to be successful, who is always there helping me out? Who is the backbone for everything that I do?”

I once had a client who came to me and had $30,000 of credit card debt on different cards with interest rates ranging from 15 to 24 percent. She’d been stuck in this debt cycle for years—trying to pay it down but getting nowhere.

I had a client once who was unknowingly spending $4,000 a month on Starbucks. She worked in downtown Los Angeles and there was a Starbucks in the lobby of her office building. She’d grab herself a coffee and sweet treat before heading up to work. She was spending thousands a year doing this.

I recently saw a meme that was a screenshot of a person’s phone home screen. All of the notifications were requests for money. Within 10 minutes, this person was asked to give $755 to friends and family. The caption on the picture was, “Who’s getting help first and why?”

Every year, I’m reminded of something I’ve seen over and over—not just in my clients’ finances, but in their lives: Gratitude compounds. Gratitude creates clarity. And gratitude builds wealth in ways dollars alone never can.