Archive for category Wealth Building

8 Steps on the Road to Wealth

Everybody wants to be wealthy, but few people really commit themselves to doing what it takes to achieve their dream. The road to wealth is a simple one, but takes determination, capital and commitment if you’re willing to take the steps to get there, you can make your dreams of wealth a reality:

Savings. A commitment to building up your savings is the foundation of any financial plan. The conventional wisdom says to pay yourself first even if it’s just 5 percent of your income, take it off the top before you do anything else. There are always other things to use your money for, and if you don’t make savings your top priority, you’re unlikely to save at all.

Investing in the stock market. You don’t need to be a millionaire to invest in stocks. Take a little time to learn about trading stocks, set up a simple trading plan, and spread out your risk put some of your money higher risk stock, some in more stable, lower risk stocks. Building a portfolio should be a cornerstone of financial planning.

Investing in property. Putting some of your money into real estate will provide consistent cash flow, particularly if you own income property like an apartment building or rental homes. You don’t have to make huge investments in property, just carefully chosen ones.

Investing in business. Whether it’s your own business or someone else’s, putting money into a business is good for the economy and good for your portfolio.

Tax Minimization. This is where a good accountant comes in they can help you figure out ways to lower your tax burden by setting limited liability partnerships or helping you incorporate, private annuities, deferments and other strategies. The less you pay in taxes, the more you have to invest.

Asset protection. Some of this overlaps with tax minimization, with limited partnerships, insurance policies and other strategies helping you avoid paying too many taxes while keeping your money safe. As you acquire more and more money, you’ll want good advice from an accountant or investment counselor you may even want to invest in off-shore interests for the tax breaks.

Retirement funding. Make sure that you’re prepared for the future by having a solid strategy for your retirement funds. You can invest in a single fun and just let it grow for the next 30 years, or break your investments up into a collection of different funds. Either way, you may make the decisions about how to invest yourself or seek advice from a professional, who can help you choose stable funds for long-term growth.

Creating wealth is more an art than a science, and there’s no one way to achieve your goals. It takes creativity, hard work, a certain amount of luck and a commitment to your financial plan. The biggest mistake people make as they earn more money is to spend more, too manage your money with savings and investments, and acquire annuities that will assure you have a comfortable life in your golden years.

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Are You Living in Scarcity or Abundance

People generally believe that money is difficult to come by, and then getting rich is a matter of either impossibly hard work or downright impossible luck. What they fail to realize is that the way they live their life ? their attitude towards money, life and happiness ? has a great deal to do with whether they attract money and success. They live their life as paupers, not just where money is concerned, but in every aspect. They scrape by financially, they’re stingy with kind words and generous acts, and they attack each day as if suffering through unpleasantness will somehow earn them happiness simply because they’re so miserable.

It doesn’t work that way, however. Success breeds more success, and positive events chase after positive attitudes. If you live an abundant life a life that’s full, rich and happy you’ll continue to reap positive energy and material prizes in return. You just need to truly understand what an abundant life entails.

There are three things that you need to live a truly abundant life. You need your health, you need good relationships, and you need money. If you feel fulfilled in all three of these areas, then you’re ahead of the game you’re living an abundant life. But if any of these three are unfulfilling, you run the risk of succumbing to negativity and stress. Look at it this way imagine your net worth is $50 million but you have a debilitating illness that keeps you from doing much of anything. Or that you’re that rich but you have no friends, no family, and no other loved ones with whom you can experience life’s joys.

The same holds true when you don’t have any money at all you could be extremely healthy and have loving friends and family, but if you’re struggling for money then you aren’t living a full life. So why is it so difficult to fulfill all three of these areas, thus ensuring an abundant life? The answer is your attitude. Your thoughts and feelings which, in turn, drive your actions, determine whether or not you’ll have a successful life.

From the time that we’re small children we’re forming the basis of our belief system, the manner in which we view ourselves and the world around us. Some of it is taught to us by our parents. Some lessons we learn through trial and error, forming perceptions based on our experiences. Some of it comes from our religion, and the society in which we live. By adulthood, all of these things have come together to form the way we deal with everything in our lives.

Many people live their lives as victims of circumstance, convinced when bad things happen that life is “just like that” ? and, for those people, that’s the truth. What they don’t understand is that the majority of things that happen to them occur because of their own outlook. Religious leaders and philosophers have lectured for thousands of years that “we reap what we sow” ? that good attracts good, and negative attracts negative.

Many man made religions of today teach that you must do certain things or act in certain ways if you are to accomplish or accumulate. Basically, that you must be good. And that is the great secret to living an abundant life. That by simply believing that you deserve good things, by rejoicing in all that you’ve been given and visualizing that more will be coming your way, you will attract positive events, success, happiness and wealth. It’s not magic you’ll still need to work towards your goals and exploit any opportunities that come your way, but those opportunities will increase tenfold once you develop a positive, forward-thinking attitude.

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What It means To Be Truly Wealthy

Most of the wealthiest people in the world don’t look that way at first glance. You’d never look at them twice in an elevator or on the street, in fact. That’s because the truly wealthy don’t flash their money by driving high-profile cars or wearing designer clothes. The surprising fact about genuinely wealthy people is that, unlike middle-class folks who try to look richer than they are, the really rich aren’t big spenders.

According to the book “The Millionaire Mind” by Thomas J. Stanley, millionaires are far less profligate with their money than most people think. For starters, they live below their means and have very little debt most of them pay off their credit cards every month, and over a third of them have no mortgages on their homes. They put a large amount of income into savings and investments ” 20 percent, on average ” and they think about value when they shop, driving older cars and wearing off-the-rack clothes.

Millionaires are also self-made. Most didn’t inherit their money  they earned it themselves through their work as executives or business owners. And most of them are well educated, as 90 percent are college graduates with over half of them holding advanced degrees. They weren’t the valedictorians, however. Most were B students, coming out of college with an appreciation for hard work and discipline. Over half of them attend church at least once a month, with over a third of millionaires considering themselves very religious.

So what does this mean to you? It means that the rich aren’t as different from the rest of us as we imagined. Very few of the inherited their money ? that means that it’s possible for you to become a millionaire yourself, if you find the right combination of opportunity, attitude and commitment. When asked by Stanley what the ingredients of success were, luck wasn’t a factor. Their answer: integrity, discipline, social skills, a supportive spouse, and hard work.

The biggest difference between the wealthy and everyone else is that they’re investors rather than consumers. They’re frugal with their spending, keeping a close watch on how much they spend on disposable items that offer no return on their investment like food, clothes, cars and household items. Instead, they try to make their money work for them by buying real estate, investing in stocks and mutual funds, and buying insurance with a guaranteed return.

To put it another way, wealthy people look at their money differently. They use it in ways that it will grow, ensuring that they continue to have lots of money in the future. If you’re like most people, you look at money as something to spend ? you get paid, then you pay your bills and, if there’s anything left over, you buy something with it. If you’re feeling unhappy or stressed, you buy a DVD or go to a nice restaurant. When you have a sudden emergency, like car repairs or a broken water heater, you pay for it with a credit card because you don’t have the money. Your habits are the habits of poor people, not of rich people, and it affects your bank balance.

So start thinking and acting like a wealthy person. Make a budget and stick to it. Shop for bargains. Avoid credit cards, and pay down the debt you already have. Start putting money into savings, even if it’s just a small amount each month. With the right outlook, you’ll find that your own personal wealth will start to grow.

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You Can’t Live a Full Life Without Being Wealthy

What is wealth, exactly? It’s freedom. There are many people who earn a lot of money, but don’t have true wealth they work to make enough money to spend on things, then have to keep working to make even more money. They never have a comfortable financial cushion in case they lose (or decide to quit) their jobs, and they rarely, if ever, enjoy the fruits of their labors.

But real wealth means that you can live your life fully, spending quality time with your family and friends, taking trips to exotic locations, or enjoying close-to-home adventures on your boat or at your mountain cabin. If you’re working 45 or 59 hours a week at a job you hate, coming home exhausted and angry every night, then spending your one week of vacation doing chores around the house … you’re not really living. You’re working purely to exist, and existing only to work.

There is no nobility in being poor in fact, it’s often humiliating, and uses up a lot of your time and energy just working to get by. The struggle to pay the bills and put food on the table has kept countless men and women from achieving their full potential, keeping them from painting, writing, composing operas or contributing to society in other valuable ways, all because they spent so much of their creative energies simply working to survive.

It’s unfair to be sure but, to fully partake of all that society has to offer, we need money to buy things, whether those things are plane tickets to explore other cultures or equipment to create art, music or technology that will benefit millions of other people. In a world where money is the most important thing we need to survive, the highest calling that one can answer is the calling to become wealthy along with our inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we also have an inalienable right to strive for material wealth.

It sound horribly materialistic, but it’s just simple truth. As humans, we have the ability to better ourselves, to achieve great things in the world, and to advance to the highest planes of existence possible. We have the minds to understand what that entails, and the drive and intelligence to work towards it. To be content with less than the best that we can be, have and produce is a waste of these unique abilities that we alone as animals have been given.

There’s a verse in the Bible that asks, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” But the same can be asked about the man who fails to strive for material success as well without money, you can’t afford healthy food, or decent clothing, or a pleasant home. So, then, you could also ask what it profits a man to work so hard when he’s unable to enjoy his life? Wanting to become rich is not only understandable, it’s one of the most laudable achievements you can hope to attain. It means that you want the best for yourself, and for your family. Once you’ve achieved wealth, you can truly fulfill your dreams and the dreams of others.

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Create Wealth : How to Make Money Fast with Low Risk

Anyone can create wealth and there are 4 main points to consider, there easy to learn and if you implement them, you will create wealth with low risk.

You don’t need to work long hours and you don’t need to be innovative, all you need to do is follow the tips below.

So, here are your 4 simple tips to create wealth and an example of how to put them to work for you.

1. You are Responsible

No one else is going to do it for you. You’re on your own, but that’s the best way.

In today’s society we like to consult experts on a wide variety of things, however if you consult an expert on how to create wealth, the only people likely to get rich are them!

Forget, MLM, gambling and finance sure fire systems from a guru, or any other scheme where you pay a few hundred dollars to unlock the door to unlimited wealth.

They don’t work.

Wealth creation is all about having some capital and putting it to good use make it grow. We will give you an example of how to do this however for now lets look at the other 3 tips:

2. Working Smart V Working Hard

Lots of people work hard, however hard work does not result in wealth creation and there is no correlation between working hard and making money.

If you want to make money you need to work smart and there’s a big difference.

Working smart means, spotting an opportunity and using your own judgment in an area that offers you good risk to reward.

3. Understanding compound growth

Most people are in to much of hurry to create wealth and want to get rich overnight.

Because they are in to much of a hurry, they end up losing their money by taking to much risk.

Wealth creation does take a bit of time to get started, but once you start making money compound growth soon kicks in and your money builds exponentially.

For example.

If you have $30,000 to start, to get to $120,000 will take 3 years (at 100% annual growth ) giving you a profit of $90,000.

However, the next year at the same growth rate you will make $120,000 profit in just one year.

As your nest egg builds your money works for you and grows exponentially.

The important point to remember is:

Make your money work for you.

That means taking advantage of compound growth as illustrated above.

4. Understanding risk & reward

Compound growth makes your money work for you as it grows as your profits are re invested.

You must be careful however to keep risk low and NOT lose it.

You need to target:

The highest growth rate to lowest downside risk – Not the highest growth rate.

For example, if you lose 50% on $100,000 you have $50,000 left. You then have to make a 100% to get back to square one.

Which investment would you rather have?

A. One that has potential growth of 200% with a 80% chance of losing all your funds.

Or:

B. One that has 100% growth potential with a 10% chance you will lose all your funds.

If you have understood the above, you will see the way to create wealth is to pick investment B.

As you create money, compound growth kicks in accelerating your gains.

Balancing the risk to reward will ensure your money grows swiftly with low downside risk.

That’s great, but can you give me an example of a good investment ?

A great investment to create wealth is land.

It’s cheap, in short supply, has massive growth potential, low risk and finally, it’s simple to understand and invest in.

Prime land is simply in short supply.

If you buy in booming economies and target land next to growing urbanization or a growing infrastructure, you can sell it on at huge profits once the land is developed.

One of the best locations is just 3 hours direct flight from the USA.

In Costa Rica, Americans are buying beachfront property at up to 70% less than in the US and of course it has to be built on land.

This is yielding profits of up to 100% per annum for savvy land investors buying in the right locations.

Even better downside volatility is very low.

So, if you put the 4 tips to work we have given you above buying land in Costa Rica you could soon see your money growing quickly with low risk.

Check out this way of creating wealth and you may be glad you did.

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Building Assets The Right Way

Anyone with a desire to be wealthy, rich, or comfortable needs to follow a few steps. The first step is to create a plan of attack. An attack on poverty, on risk and on conventional thinking. Then they actually need to follow through with their plan. The plans vary person to person. For instance, older people can’t take the same risks as young people. They don’t have the time to spare. Nor would it be easy for them to replace lost money. But anyone can choose an investment plan that will work for their situation.

To create wealth you clearly need assets. An asset is not only something with value, but something that will put money in your pocket on a regular or planned basis. The assets you acquire can be purchased, like a dividend bearing stock or an interest bearing bond. They can be created, like residual income producing assets such as a product, song, book or network marketing system or even an insurance agents list of clients. By creating an asset instead of purchasing an asset, you will be able to build wealth in the fastest possible way because there is no capital investment. The capital you save can be used to create more assets. That is how a person gets rich. By using assets to buy or create more assets. You can earn an income for years to come from the same asset. The more assets you can build or buy, the wealthier you become as long as you reinvest your income into more assets.

Most assets you create become the fundamental elements of a business. The finest businesses to build into assets are the ones where you don’t have to work every day. If you take the day off, your asset is still producing an income for you. Real Estate offers this characteristic in many different ways, through residential properties, industrial properties and commercial properties to name a few. Other vehicles exist as well, such as insurance products, books, videos, audio CD’s, DVD’s and electronic files. Network marketing systems can create millionaires with their downlines. Podcasts and audio casts and any website can be an asset that can throw off income straight into your pockets.

Assets such as these also have another advantage. They create income that is taxed at a lower rate than any paycheck. The income earned on a paycheck is taxed at the highest rates. Income earned through portfolio or passive income is taxed at the lowest rates. There are no social taxes removed either. Social Security or Medicare is not taken from either passive or portfolio income. Expenses are deducted first as well, lowering your overall tax basis.

If you believe that you are incapable of creating an asset of your own, then you will be incapable. If you believe you can build as many assets as you want and actually get to work on building and creating assets, then you will become rich as long as you never quit on yourself. This is not a get rich quick scheme. It takes some time, but after any asset is in your portfolio it will begin to earn money for you. When reinvested into more assets your income will grow. When your assets produce more income than your expenses, congratulations, you are wealthy.

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Mythbusters: Saving For Retirement Is Hard

Not necessarily. Actually, it depends on your definition of ?hard.? I began a 401K and pension fund when I was hired on at my company 24 years ago. Today, I have a nice retirement. But that was just my individual case and I?m sure your circumstance is far different. So let?s focus on you, instead. Whether you?re twenty or forty, you have to make a tough decision. You have to do without something now to benefit later. In other words, you have to save money now, and that means sacrifice.

The younger you are, the less you have to give up. That?s because your savings multiplies faster over a longer term. Hence, you can put aside a small amount and watch it grow using the magic of compound interest. Assuming that you can get a 5% return on an average investment, we can run a simple chart. That return is based on most common tables that are not tied to equities or bond funds. Although most experts would agree either should generate that type of return. Even guaranteed CD?s, or certificates of deposits, backed by FDIC for safety sake, can offer similar rates. But whatever device you choose, let?s use that number.

So let?s look at one example. Suppose you are 25 years old and make $10 an hour or $400 a week or $1600 a month. After taxes that?s about $1200 monthly. I want just $150 of that, for your monthly investment. Figure that if you were to give up a Starbucks coffee costing $5 every day, there?s your $150 a month. Do that for the next 40 years and you?ve given me $72,000. But, by investing the monthly amount in a 5% returning account, the compound interest turns this into $228,900 by age 65. Not bad for someone doing without a Vente Caf? Mocha Latte every day. Now, as you make more with raises, job changes, etc., and you could quadruple that investment, you?ve got over $1,000,000 for retirement.

But I?ve got an even better plan. Could you squirrel away $5,000 for that first year? I know that?s a lot to ask, but hear me out. If you could manage to put aside $10,000 over two years and invest it, never putting in another dime, you won?t be able to guess what you would amass after 40 years. $50,000! But, if you could somehow get a 10% return instead, investing the same $10,000 for 40 years we would make you about $500,000! That is an example of how the interest rate affects the return. And there are ways to generate a 10% return using equities or mortgages. I suggest you talk to an investment adviser for that information.

The great advantage of this plan is you: (a) didn?t have to give up much, (b) don?t have to be an investment wizard, (c) let time and compound interest work for you, and (d) can look forward to a healthy retirement. Of course, the more you?re willing to give up now, the greater the end result. But working harder isn?t the answer: it?s saving smarter and earlier. Therefore, if you?re in your twenties and figure retirement is decades away, you?re right and that can work in your favor. So start planning now and the rest will take care of itself. Savings for retirement is hard? Myth busted!

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