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Once upon a time, a millionaire was a rare thing indeed. But that?s not the case anymore. Of course, money has depreciated over time thanks to inflation, so that a million dollars now does not have the same buying power that it did in the past. But that?s not the only reason that more and more people are able to claim that they are millionaires. Part of the increase in membership into this once highly exclusive category is that people are becoming much smarter about how they use their money. They have come to understand the magic of compound investing and how powerful a tool it is to understand when it comes to getting your money to work for you.

As discussed in other articles, remember that money has time value. While a million dollars captures a certain ?meaning? to us now, it will not have the same meaning in 10, 20 or 30 years when you are ready to retire. So just understand that even if you are able to call yourself a millionaire, that doesn?t mean that you will be living the lifestyle of what you see today?s millionaires doing. By then, it will take multiple millions of dollars to enjoy the same type of lifestyle that today?s millionaires enjoy. All the more reason to begin your wise investing as soon as possible.

So how can you get to the goal of becoming a millionaire? Well, first you need to adopt the millionaire attitude by taking an honest look at your current financial situation. Chances are you can first change some of your spending habits so that you are ?losing? less money. The more money you can invest now instead of spending it on unnecessary items, the more money you will have for your retirement. Where are you currently in debt? There is ?good? debt, such as a mortgage, which in most cases means that what you have purchased is appreciating in value. And there is ?bad? debt, such as a new car payment, which has you paying for an item that is depreciating in value. And for many of us, the worst debt is also the most commonly held ? credit card debt. If you are paying for the right to use credit, you are probably living above your means. Not to mention the fact that once you are considered a good risk by a credit card company, you Read more…

Why should I invest? I am getting a comfortable income every month and I am happy with the way I am spending my money every month, why should I bother to invest? Some people may say that they are having problems meeting both ends at the end of every month, why should they invest when they do not even have extra penny after they pay all their bills.

I think the reason for investment is simple. You WANT to prepare for your future.
Future is not predictable but manageable. You should have long term planning for your future and retirement. Some readers may say that ” OK, but I am quite old now, it will be too late for me to invest now!” I must tell you that it would be never too old to invest! However, the earlier you invest, the better and easier for you to build your nest egg.

Some people may argue that I am keeping my money in the bank, they are paying me good interest, why should I bother to find other vehicles for investment? You may not notice that inflation is eating away your money. Inflation rate is always slightly lower that your fixed interest rate. You may be happy because the bank is paying you 4% interest rate per year, but do not forget that inflation rate in your country may as high as 3.5% or even up to 3.99%. So what you get in return is just 0.5%!

You may notice that years back, your ten pounds or dollars can buy you a lot of household things, but now, you spend almost twice as before to get the same Read more…

Most people measure money by time. They believe that by working more hours they make more money.

Not a chance.

And it?s a perspective that?s hard to overcome. I?m telling you though, that the quality of your life depends on you overhauling your mind on this very important matter.

Let me tell you a secret. Once you grasp the true meaning behind these words, you?ll never look at time or money the same way again.

?Only ideas make money, not time.?

So how is it that time is not money? Look around you. What do you see. Lots of people who spend lots of time working. And working. Their income is stagnant except for the occasional raise to keep up with inflation. They are not breaking any ground financially. In fact, these workers are most likely accumulating more debt as we speak. Some of them have to work two jobs just to make ends meet.

But they keep thinking and hoping and praying that if they work hard enough, they?ll make a lot of money.

Nope. It doesn?t work that way.

Now turn your attention to successful writers, entrepreneurs, artists and business people. What do they all have in common.

They come up with a great idea. An idea that excites all their senses. And because the idea appeals to them, they naturally have great enthusiasm to implement that idea. They feel the joy of seeing that idea blossom and flourish. As a result, successful people keep creating and coming up with new ideas. They learn to discern which ideas work and have the confidence to discard those that don?t work.

Soon, ideas become as plentiful as apples on an apple tree. Which one to manifest ? becomes the question.

Let me tell you something Read more…

If you want to be a Doctor, learn medicine.
If you want to be a footballer, kick a football around.
If you want to be a bus driver, learn how to drive a bus!

If you want to be rich, what do you do?

A lot of people when asked the above, will work harder at their job, or take a second job, or start a business.

All the above a good, but are not right. They are definitely putting the cart before the horse.

If you want to be rich, what do you do?

The FIRST step to becoming rich is to DECIDE TO GET A FINANCIAL EDUCATION.

This leads to two supplementary questions.

(1) What is a financial education?
(2) Isn?t that hard?

Answer One: I do not mean that you go out and get yourself a MBA, or any official financial qualification. What I mean is that you DECIDE HERE AND NOW that you will start to accumulate financial knowledge from any source and by any means, and that you will do this for the rest of your life.

Financial lessons are all around, all you have to do is decide to keep an eye out for them and learn them. If you have watched TV today, or read the paper, or even just, taken a walk, you will have seen many financial lessons.

Examples from my day so far.

TV: Holiday scams using bogus websites ? research and write small article on this, email to friends and print out and hand to acquaintances, include a link back to my website. They get a helpful warning; I get increased visitors to my website.

Newspaper: Property prices are up in my area. How can I cash in on this? Find a rental property, and buy (clubbing together with acquaintances if necessary).

Walk: Local clothing store is having 50% sale. I go in and ask what profit margin clothing stores usually have. After a little effort they tell me. An interesting lesson.

Answer Two: No it is not hard at all. Why? Because you will take it one small step at a time over the rest of your life. One small step at a time, taken frequently leads up to an enormous distance. In the area of financial education this means an enormous education.

The more you have taught yourself about how money works the more money making opportunities you will see. Eventually, once you have taught yourself enough, you will see that your life is absolutely packed full of money making opportunities. And your financial education will also equip you to cash in on these opportunities. All you have to do is reach out and take that money!

When you know enough, making money becomes easy and second Read more…

I have always wanted to be rich. I want to live a life filled with luxuries. I want to be the envy of others. In my opinion, wealth is something that could buy a lot of things. Money can bring you happiness. However, I do not deny that there are many things that money cannot buy. In fact, I believe that there are other more important things in life than money.

I am born into a middle class family. My family is neither poor nor rich. We are able to afford basic necessities and some luxuries. Also, I am blessed with parents who care a lot for me. They work hard to provide for me and my brother. My brother and I are able to lead a carefree life. I am thankful for all that I have. However, I do not deny that I want more. I want to be truly rich. I want to be able to afford everything that I want.

Being rich can make my life more comfortable. I will be able to buy a big house with servants. I will be able to afford luxurious cars with chauffeurs. I will be able to dine in expensive restaurants. I will be able to afford a private jet in which I can visit all the beautiful countries. Pretty girls will flock to me. I will be able to enjoy relaxing spas. People will look up to me. I believe that money will make me a happier person. I may sound superficial. But these are things that truly only the rich can afford and I to be the rich. If you were given a billion dollars right now, I am sure that you will be a happier person.

I believe that money can buy many luxuries. However, I feel that health is still the most important. I would rather be healthy than Read more…

95% of people at age 65 are either dead, dead broke, or on a pension etc. How did they achieve this? Probably by doing what most people do, which is to get a good education, work hard, save money, buy lottery tickets and hope for the best.

4% of people are financially independent at age 65. What this means is that they can stop working and continue to live a comfortable lifestyle. They are definitely not rich, it just means that they have enough money to support themselves, usually around
$45 000 per annum.

1% of the population at age 65 will become what we call ?rich?. The Bureau of Statistics defines rich as those individuals with a net worth in excess of $1 million. In the year 2006 it is unlikely that $1 million dollars will make someone hands down rich. In fact many houses cost over $1 million.

Therefore, less than 1 in 100 people at 65 can be classified as truly rich. Living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world you may ask how this is so? The answer is simple, having a great job and buying lottery tickets is a sure way to end up in the 95% of the population doing exactly the same thing as you ?dead/broke?.

The solution is also simple. You must do something, anything, like that of the wealthiest 1% of people. There are not really any secrets here either as you probably already know some of the ways these people have created wealth; business/s, shares, options, inheritance, commodities and property.

Property though is the true standout. More people have become rich from property than by any other method. In fact, 95% of millionaires have used property to create serious wealth. Most Read more…

Scientific Explanation of Wealth
Wealth is a very contentious subject because almost everyone has a view on it. It is an ancient question which boasts answers in almost every corner of knowledge and experience. There is the scientific explanation, the spiritual explanation, the economic explanation, the psychological explanation and the plain old weird explanation. In this article, I?m going for the scientific explanation.

This pays no attention to who we actually are when we start out in life. It simply says that there is only a finite amount of resources in the world and the capitalist system of wealth creation functions as a hierarchy resembling a pyramid. The lower levels house the majority of people who toil day and night to support the minority levels above them.

The Pyramid Model
Consider a pyramid at the top of which sits the worlds richest man. Below him the next 100 and below them the next 400. Using a criterion of 100(n x n), where n represents the next level, we find that the people at the very bottom, some 32.5 million of them, are 570 levels below the top. If we now add the people at each level we come to 6.1 billion which is approximately the population of the world. So you see, if the pyramid is to exist we MUST have people at different levels of wealth.

Clearly it is possible to rise through the levels, as well as drop to ones below. We are all capable of going down because it is very easy. Just squander all your money, make a bad investment, give it away etc. and before you know it you are at ground level. The trick is to go up. So we inevitably ask the obvious question.

How do we go up
It’s almost like a console game. Rising through the levels and reaching some eventual goal. I suppose if we must continue the analogy, the difficulty level we set ourselves has to be the different methods open to us and which of these we select to use. But that is for another article.

As it turns out it is perfectly possible to receive a helping hand from those above you as well as a friendly push from those around you. A combination of both will make your job easier. Examples of getting a helping hand from above are people like relatives who will lend you capital without the urgency of paying them back or even a free handout. Perhaps some kind of inheritance will help. If none of this is open to Read more…

Spiritual Explanation of Wealth
This article is the second in the series explaining wealth. The first was the scientific explanation. So what do I mean by the spiritual explanation. This concentrates on the individual and pays no attention to what or who is around us. It starts off by saying that “anyone” can be rich. Notice it doesn’t say “everyone” can be rich.

The laws of economics still apply of course but those who follow the tenet that anyone can be rich try to put forward some kind of magical or spiritual method which if you follow it to the letter, you cannot possibly fail.

Let me just make something clear before we go any further. You will know that there are countless books, ebooks, magazines, articles, commercials, infomercials, ads, banners, links, websites and probably many others with all sorts of weird and wonderful things written by people who claim to have found the answer and are using it to make thousands ? and if you want to know the secret they will let you have it for a small fee. You will forgive me for a small indulgence but as soon as I wrote the last sentence and read it back to myself I couldn’t help bursting into laughter. Suffice to say that people are still falling for this trick and there are valid reasons for it.

Pretending That Getting Rich is a Mechanical Process
What do I mean by this? I mean that if we do happen to buy into one of these methods, all we have to do is follow a simple set of rules and at the end of it we are rich. This belongs in the realm of fairies. For a start, why would the person selling you this book give away such a secret for such a small amount. Why? Ask yourself. WHY? If such a secret were to exist and it really did work, WHY on this earth would anyone possibly want to share it with thousands of others ? for a small fee. They would simply use the method, get rich and keep using it to get even richer. This is human nature. But the answer is, as always, in the small print. The small fee, multiplied by the thousands of people falling for it constitutes a big fee.

But you know, I believe that the majority of the instigators of such things are largely misguided themselves. No doubt some have become rich but they have done it by breaking a golden rule. Business with ethics. All that you are buying, if you decide to spend this small fee, is hope.

An Analogy to make you Laugh
Permit me to give you a farcical analogy. We are all sitting at the beach, lying down, day-dreaming and relaxing when all of a sudden you are approached by someone with a beaming smile holding a bucket full of water. He says that if you purchase this bucket Read more…

Hopefully you will never run into a financial emergency. Unfortunately, emergencies are things that we cannot foresee. The best that we can do is plan for an emergency, but sometimes circumstances make planning impossible. This article will help teach you how to deal with financial emergencies that you are not prepared for.

1. Consider taking out a loan.

Taking out a line of personal credit can help you through an emergency. You can spend as much or as little of this loan as you need. Personal lines of credit are among the lowest interest loans you can take.

2. Speak to your Creditors.

If you are going to be unable to make a bill payment this month, call up the phone or utilities company and explain that you will have to make your payment late. Sometimes you can arrange upon a later date for payment, or a partial payment that can be paid off later.

3. Never get a payday loan or cash advance.

These loans have the highest interest rates on the markets, sometimes upwards of 200%. Many people who get payday loans assume that they will only need one for this paycheck, but in reality, the majority of people have to return for second, third, and further loans. This is because even if next paycheck you are back in the black, you will still have to pay off (often hidden) fees from the payday loan company, which will mean that you need another advance on your money. This is a negative cycle to get involved in.

4. Avoid debt-rotation strategies.

Do not try to pay off one of your credit cards with another of your credit cards, or similar tactics. Credit cards are very high interest loans, and it is unadvisable to leave a high balance on your credit card because you will end up paying much more (and for much longer) than you have to. Instead, consider taking out a loan as discussed above.

5. Find out what help is available locally.

Often, cities or counties will have various safety nets set up in order to help you deal with emergencies. You might have to go to more than one source to meet all your needs (as they sometimes specialize in only helping with hydro, or only helping Read more…

Everywhere you go everyone is saying the same thing: “I can’t keep up with my bills!”

It seems as though as soon as you manage to pay one stack of bills, the month flicks over and then in comes the next lot. Rising utility costs, ongoing taxation at every level, rising fuel prices and higher food costs all combine to eat into your weekly pay packet. How can you possibly get ahead?

Add to the above the fact that most people also have a hefty mortgage to meet, motor vehicle repayments and several credit cards and store cards that they are paying off and it is little wonder that the money runs out long before the week runs out. And on top of all this there is the usual maintenance and breakdown repair costs of the greatest money drain of all – the motor vehicle.

Sound familiar?

OK. Enough of the problem. What can you do? Here are some tips:

Recognize that unless you do SOMETHING SOON to correct your situation or habits then things are definitely not going to get better. Read that last sentence again. In fact, there is a high probability that it will get worse.

Look at whatever credit or store cards you have and pick the one out that has the highest monthly interest rate then commit yourself to paying it off – bit by bit.

If your discipline is low then take a pair of scissors and cut that credit card into little pieces. That in itself will give you a sense of control because you have removed temptation from right before your eyes. You will EMPOWER yourself.

Look for areas of waste. EVERYBODY wastes money. Don’t be so impulsive with the way that you spend money. If you see something that you want, pause, walk away, think about it. That tip alone will save you heaps of money.

Keep a large banknote in your purse or wallet and – this is really important – DON’T spend it. That will allow you to feel comfortable having money. It will build Read more…