YodZiaN

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…

Many people today believe in order to become wealthy they either have to be born into wealth or have a lot of money to make money. The fact is this just isn?t true. Building wealth is a mechanical process and because it?s so simple it?s quite boring, therefore many people do not follow through with the formula.

The Problem

Too many people fall into a financial rut and it usually starts when we begin moving money from one credit card to another. Sure this works for a short while, but eventually it catches up with you and before you know it you have $5000 maxed out on your VISA card and $3000 maxed out on your Discover card.

The next genius move I consider was debt consolidation. While this does work and the phone calls will stop, it?s not a solution for the problem at hand. Your monthly payments become lower and this provides the temptation to go out and accumulate even more debt, eventually taking you back to square one. Not to mention having a history with debt consolidation leads to higher rates on things that count later in life.

Back at square one, the next step I considered was debt counseling and the idea sounded great, they even promised to lower my monthly payments by $300. I managed to avoid this one all together and now that I look back I am glad that I did. What I later found out is that debt counseling is viewed as bankruptcy.

By this time I decided to refinance my home with an equity line/2nd Mortgage loan on my home to get out of debt and it worked perfectly. However, let me tell you a little secret. When you take out a 120k loan on a home that is only worth 90k and the neighborhood starts going downhill like ours did, you cannot sell your home for what its worth. Again, we were stuck Read more…

There can be no doubt that debt consolidation is a good start to financial success. However, many people who go to the trouble of amalgamating all their debt into a single all encompassing payment then set about making all the same mistakes again. This then leads to them being even worse off. So, what is the solution? Rack up debt then re-finance it all at regular intervals? That doesn’t sound like too much of a plan to me.

Debt consolidation certainly has its place in a financial plan. However, like the giant aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, it takes time to turn the ship around. The captain of the Enterprise can make a decision to bring this mighty ship to a complete halt in one second but the ship itself cannot stop on a dime. It’s the same with financial affairs. You have to plan ahead.

You can make a decision to improve your finances, sure, but then you have to back it up with action. And old habits die hard, particularly bad habits.

Four steps are required:

A decision to change (you have to want to succeed)

Financial education (you need greater knowledge than what you have now)

A plan of action (without it nothing will change)

Discipline to stay with the plan (committing yourself to your plan)

An often over-looked area is the reason behind the lack of financial success of the past. What caused it?

Consider this:

Earning $100 and spending $101 causes pain and distress

Earning $100 and spending $99 eases pain and distress.

It is a simple formula that to earn more and spend less will Read more…

This article may upset some people. Money can be a touchy subject, even when talking about giving to poor people. When you combine the subject of money with religious feelings, there can be conflict.

I saw a commercial on television that really bothered me and I wondered why it was so disturbing to me. Perhaps you?ve seen it, or similar commercials, or even heard a message like that from a pulpit. I finally figured out what was upsetting me.

The message was intended to make me feel guilty if I didn?t give money to help poor people. Now I am in highly in favor of helping people, but let?s stop for just a minute to consider those living in poverty.

First of all, God never intended for human beings to live in poverty. The very first recorded words in the Bible from God to man were, ?Be fruitful.? It was not, and still is not the will of God for people to be poor and have lack. Secondly, Jesus Christ said that the poor will always be here. So, any talk of eliminating poverty from the face of the earth is to say that Jesus lied.

Now there are people all over the world in need of help. No one can deny that. But why do some religious people try to make you feel guilty if you don?t give to help the needy? That is a violation of the principle of giving. The Bible says that we ought to give, not grudgingly or of necessity, because God loves a cheerful giver. You cannot give cheerfully if you are made to feel guilty about it.

In my opinion, making someone feel guilty so that they will give you their money is stealing. Your feelings are being manipulated; you are being forced to give your money. Thievery!

And have you ever wondered why is there so little preached about the benefits of giving? God has promised that as you give, He will fill your barns or storehouses with plenty. He has promised that you would have abundance. He has even promised that He would open to you the windows of heaven and that He would pour you out a blessing that you would not even be able to receive! The principle that God set up is that of giving, and receiving.

When was the last time you heard someone ask for money and also remind you of the blessings that you should expect to receive back? Rare isn?t it? Instead, they want to take your money and not even tell you that you are supposed to expect to receive back. If people do not know that they are supposed to receive back, they will not Read more…

Stock markets are wonderful. Stocks markets are nightmares. Should we love them or hate them?

Embrace them! but be patient and consistent. As every statistics will tell you, stocks (also known as equities) is the best performing investment products available, on a long-term basis. What exactly is Stock?

When you own a stock or a share, it means you own a piece of a company. For public companies, you can buy and sell their stocks freely in the stock market. Depends on demand and supply (which is driven by factors such as the business model, historical earnings, growth prospect, success or failure of new products, lawsuits, political instability and many others), the stock prices move up and down.

Why stock gives the best long-term investment return?

As one of the owners of the company, it is natural to see that you and fellow shareholders capture the most upside when the particular company is successful. On the other hand, if the company is in trouble, you take the most risk. For example, if the company is bankrupt, the remaining money is distributed in the following order: customers, creditors, shareholders, i.e. you are at the bottom of the line.

As you can see, stock is a high-risk, high-return type of investment. The level of risk also depends on the nature of company itself: stock of Citigroup is less Read more…

There?s a strange dichotomy in Western culture, with people desiring great wealth but also believing that the rich should feel bad about having so much. We watch TV shows devoted to lifestyles of millionaires, envying their marble-tiled bathrooms, private jets and closets full of $300 shoes, but we also feel like actually having all that money is something to be ashamed of. It really doesn?t make sense.

The basis of our capitalist society is the acquisition of wealth ? it?s called the ?American dream,? and our economy relies on it. Money provides us with food, clothes, shelter, cars and a wide variety of luxuries, and it also makes our later years more pleasant. But many people find it difficult to enjoy wealth once they achieve it, suffering from an affliction that?s been nicknamed ?affluenza? ? a sense of confusion, guilt and even depression that hits the newly rich.

Sometimes acquiring wealth brings with it an overwhelming fear of losing it, with the subject becoming increasingly anxious over investments, expenditures over home improvements, and small, seemingly unimportant purchases. Terror of losing money may make someone scared to take risks with their money, even if they made their money through risky speculations in the first place. It can also turn rich people into penny pinching misers, spending thousands of dollars to build a tennis court behind the home but never picking up a lunch check.

Self-made entrepreneurs who hit it big often become workaholics, as if they have to burn the midnight oil to justify their success. They say they?re working so hard to provide for their families, yet their families don?t get enough quality time with them. In the process of building their fortune by devoting the lion?s share of their energies to their business, they lose the love of the people closest to them. But actually enjoying their money isn?t an option for many of the newly rich, who get in the habit of working so hard that they never take a break to play a little.

But money ? particularly money that you?ve earned through hard work and Read more…