WEALTH BUILDING TIPS AND TRENDS

The end of the year is quite often the time when a lot of people make resolutions on how to improve themselves in the coming year. Some common resolutions are losing weight, taking a course, breaking a bad habit such as smoking or gambling, etc. What is your resolution this new year ? Whatever yours may be, I have another suggestion to add to your list. Why don't you make it a resolution to be wealthier at the end of next year than you are today. Let's look at some examples of how you could achieve this resolution. If you currently have any consumer debt (debt in which you cannot deduct the interest payments) pay off your highest cost debt first. This could normally be a credit card debt or other high interest loan amount. Save the lowest cost debt for last. This would be the most efficient use of your funds. Paying off debt will always increase your wealth. If you haven't yet started saving for your future, now is the time. Set a goal of how much to save during t...

One of the hardest things to learn about how to get rich is how to actually save the money needed to ensure that someday you will become rich. As mentioned before, without savings, there can be no wealth. As anything, without input there can be no output. Yes, you can earn lots of money, but you will still have to learn how to save some of it. Just look at the many celebrities over the years who have earned millions of dollars and have still managed to blow it all. Hard to believe isn't it. They simply never learned how to save. Fortunately for the average person today, our banks have made it quite easy for us to set aside our savings. You can set up automatic pre-authorized payments into your savings account. What this means is that once a month or once every two weeks you can have your savings portion of your paycheck (hopefully 10% or more) automatically taken out of your checking account and deposited to your savings account. Where this type of arrangement works the bes...

Please read this, just for fun. One misconception that many people have is that if you save money you won't be able to have any fun. I suppose that all depends on what your definition of fun really is. Does it mean spending all of your income to go to the movies, the bars, sporting events, eating out, vacations, or what have you. Or maybe it means to spend all of your income on the latest gadgets, gizmos and clothes. Or maybe it's a combination of many or all of the above. Whatever your definition of fun is, it will likely be different from anyone else. Everyone will have a different definition of what the word fun really means to them. Different strokes for different folks.                                                                 A Fun Exercise Make a list of what activities and what things are fun for you. Now ...

The vast majority of the population will never become rich. In fact, a large number of individuals will never achieve any of their life's goals, getting rich or otherwise. There are several factors that are common with one's how to get rich goals and other life goals. First of all, not everyone wants to learn how to get rich. They want something to simply fall in their lap like winning a lottery. Just look at the number of tickets sold for the popular lotteries. The sad truth about lotteries is that the lotteries themselves are the ones getting rich. Extremely rich in fact.They play the numbers game always designed to make them the real winners. Their commercials try to make you think you actually have a chance to get rich.You do, but very,very,very slim. (probably not enough very's there) Their odds should have to be published in all ads. It's a crime really. One of the biggest obstacles to getting rich is that most people are just plain lazy when it comes to makin...

As your wealth increases, you will likely find that you are approached more often by someone who wishes to help you with your investing or retirement plans. Even your banker will want to help you more as your wealth grows. These people are generally referred to as Financial Advisers. Financial Advisers come in many shapes and forms (I don't mean just physically ).  They each have their own motivations and desires. They are all being paid by someone and that someone in the long run is generally you, their client. Many advisers work for a financial organization who market products and services. Their future in the firm will depend largely on how many clients they can accumulate as well as the total investment dollars they can bring into the firm. They can be paid directly by the organization or as a combination of commission and/or bonuses and incentives. One important factor to remember is that the more business they get from you the more it will benefit them. They are in busi...

Have you ever woken up one day and wondered where all your money has gone ? I think we have all experienced this at some point in our lives. No matter how much income you earn and bring home it just never seems to be enough. First of all, remember that wealth is never measured by the size of your paycheck. Many high income earners are in debt up to their you know whats. Your income has less to do with building wealth than you may think. What matters most is how much you keep out of all that you bring home. Yes, savings. That's what builds wealth. A higher income should mean more for savings. However, this is not always the case. Many times a higher income means more spending as a reward for getting the raise etc. Instant gratification as opposed to long term gratification. It's just human nature.                                                     ...

How are we to save money when there are so many things to buy ? This is the time of year that many individuals go deeply into debt to buy the perfect gift for a loved one. They listen to the constant bombardment of ads from retailers. They are made to feel that unless they spend lots of money on gifts they are somehow less liked. Wow ! Is society really that brainwashed into spending? I think the answer is yes. Does someone really care for you more because of the things that you buy for them. That shouldn't be. There is something very wrong with the way retailers try to run our lives. It's almost like they are bullying us into buying their products.                                                               How to Fight Back The good news is "you can fight back" . Block Consumerism. Ignore the constant bombardment of ad...

How do you get Rich ? Well, that depends on where you are starting from, but unless you have inherited millions of dollars or recently won the lottery, you will have to learn to save money. A simple answer on paper, but far from a simple answer in real life. Saving money is the single biggest and the most simple tip you will ever learn about becoming rich. Then why is it that the simplest of things is never achieved by the majority of individuals. One reason is lack of motivation. They simply don't want to. The fact that you are reading this means that you are somewhat motivated to getting rich. At least enough so to read these few words of wisdom. If you were hoping for a magic pill or magic wand to give you instant wealth. Sorry. The truth is you will have to learn how to save money. Since you already want to learn how to get rich, then you have already crossed the first hurdle. You have the desire to improve yourself financially, otherwise you would have surfed elsewhere. ...

You do not have to be a king to live in a castle. Many individuals have placed a lot of their focus on their home. Too much so, actually. Their "Dream Home" has taken over their lives and become an obsession. There are many individuals that are what I call "Mortgage Poor". This meaning that they are living merely to support their chosen lifestyle. Their castle as it were. What happens to these individuals when there is a drop in real estate values ? What happens to them when there is an increase in interest rates ?  You guessed it. Foreclosure ! A harsh reality for many Americans today. Wherever you may live, it could happen to you as well. No one is safe from a falling Real Estate market and/or rising interest rates. Individually, we have absolutely no control over the markets. We are at their mercy unless we plan. All markets go up and all markets go down. Cycles. Nothing goes up forever. Nothing goes down forever. Real Estate is not immune to the above,...

Banks have learned how to get rich by offering credit cards a long time ago. They basically offer easy credit to almost anyone who can fog a piece of glass. ( as long as they're breathing) Then they charge a whopping 18% or more interest to those who don't pay off their balance each month. (which is a large percentage of credit card holders ) Sounds like it should be criminal, doesn't it ? Even in today's extremely low interest rate environment many cards interest rates remain at this outrageous level. As you can probably tell, I do not have too much good to say about most banks. Anyway, I'll get into that issue at a later time when I have more space. Banks have been making a fortune on credit cards for years. Did you know that they even charge the merchants (stores, etc ) something like 6% of the purchases on credit cards. They make money no matter what from both ends of the sale. Do you still love your bank ?  Would you like to turn the tables on them ? I...

Life Insurance is a financial product that has been around for many years. It comes in many shapes and forms and has been sold under many names. How do you know if you need it ? The purpose of Life Insurance is to pay your beneficiary a specified amount of money in the event of your death. It is needed if you have someone in your life that depends on your employment income to survive. This could be a child, a spouse or even parents in some cases. If you have a family to support and you do not have a substantial amount of money invested, chances are you should have some life insurance. The amount and type will depend on many factors which should be reviewed by a competent life insurance broker prior to your purchase. In the past, life insurance has been sold to many individuals who did not have a need for it. For example, new college or university grads were targeted by insurance agents as a new source of long term revenue for them. Do most new college or university grads have a f...

We work hard to build our lives. We work hard to develop a savings and investment plan. We work hard to develop a good income and relationship with our employers. Why is it then that some of us will fall prey to the underhanded and downright criminal acts of a few fraudsters? Because we are impatient? Because we are trusting? Because we are unhappy with our current situation? All of the above. Society has conditioned us to expect to have everything NOW, therefore we are impatient. We live in a society where people are generally good and understanding, therefore we are trusting. Society and the media glorify lives of the wealthy, therefore we we are unhappy with our own lives. The con artists and fraudsters of the world take advantage of all of these conditions we live in. They prey on our above weaknesses and quite often they are very successful. How then do we protect ourselves from these attacks ? First of all, if you are ever approached by a stranger with a good pitc...

As mentioned in a previous post about the Golden Rule - Pay Yourself First, it is vital to your financial health that you spend less than you bring home as income. This is by far the easiest and most controllable way to start increasing your wealth. You are the one who has control over your spending habits. There are many ways that you may be able to reduce your spending without giving up anything. The following are easily the top three. The first thing you should try to do is shop around before you buy anything . Yes, this includes everything especially consumables such as food etc. Most people could save twenty percent or more on their food budget if they just shopped around. Check the local papers etc for ads from local grocery stores. They generally compete for your business and quite often offer big discounts to get you in their stores. Get to know the prices on everything you consume. You should know if you're getting a good deal or not. Another important thing to do is...

Debt is something that we all must live with at some time in our lives. For big purchases, most of us will be required to get help to make it happen. Such things as real estate or even a new vehicle etc.are good examples. Debt can be good, it can be bad or it can be extremely ugly . It all depends on how it is used. Let me explain the different uses for debt and whether they can help or hurt you in your future financial lives. Let us start with the extremely ugly . High interest loans such as credit cards and loan sharks. Never borrow long term money from these two sources, it's a recipe for disaster. Credit cards are a convenience but can be a huge trap if not used properly. I will be writing about the proper use of credit cards in a future post. You guessed it, next is the bad debt . Basically any debt that you take on just because you want something NOW and couldn't wait to save for it. In today's society we have been conditioned to believe that we need somethi...

Having just one source of income today could be a recipe for DISASTER ! Do you think that most Wealthy people have just one source of income ? Not likely. Most people today work at a job full time and have no time to work at a second job etc. However, this is not exactly what I am getting at. Each person has only so much time in a day, that is obvious. Generally, eight hours per day five days a week is considered full time employment. If a person is to take on a second job in their so called spare time, this can add a lot of stress to their life. Also it can make them too tired to function properly in their full time job. I would not recommend this situation to most individuals. Would it not be much better to find ways to earn income without taking a lot of your time ?  Of course it would. This is called investing !  You simply trade some of your savings for an income. There are many forms of investing but not all of them pay you an income. In fact, some are very risky and...

What would you do if you suddenly lost your job? What would you do if you suddenly had a large car expense? How would you cope? Sad to say, but for most they would borrow, borrow, borrow and borrow! Maybe one too many borrows, but you get the point! The point is, most people are not properly prepared for a major financial setback. What a lot of the the wealthy people do, is draw upon their Emergency Reserve. A much better solution as you won't have to depend on anyone else, including a bank, to help you out. An Emergency Reserve is simply a sum of money that you set aside just in case of an emergency. This money should be kept in a place that you can access, however, not too easily. Preferably in a bank savings account at a different bank than you use for your everyday spending. And don't ever, ever ever have a bank card set up for this account. This account is for EMERGENCY USE ONLY!!! If you make this fund too easy to access, you will be tempted to use it for non emerg...

By "Paying Yourself First" or setting aside a set percentage of your take home pay, you will be taking the first and most important step towards building your financial future. As simple as this may sound, it is often the most difficult step towards building future wealth. As previously mentioned, you may have to give up some of the luxuries that you have become used to enjoying in the past. As the old workout saying goes NO PAIN, NO GAIN ! In today's society, everybody wants everything NOW and they will even go into debt to get it NOW instead of waiting until they can afford it.This step is all about discipline and developing a good savings habit. Because of the many temptations and distractions of everyday life, it is also imperative that any money you save by "Paying Yourself First" be placed in a separate savings account and never touched. At least never touched until you put those funds to work for you. I will discuss ways to utilize these funds in lat...

Further to the previous post, you may be wondering how you can possibly live on less than you do today. Well, the first step you must take is to make a list of all of your needed expenses. This list could be lengthy given today's high expectation lifestyle. However, really think about what you need to survive. Food - we all need to eat to survive. Clothing - we all need to cover up and keep warm (besides most of us are not super models ) . Shelter - we all need a place to live and call home. The above needs are traditionally the basics of life and survival. However, in today's global community, I would suggest that there is one more category that qualifies as a need. Communication - we all need to be connected to what is happening in the world in order to thrive financially. Whether this be through internet sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin,  or other means, communications is vital. All other categories are considered wants and we can do without them and survive q...

There are many important things you must do to ensure your financial future will blossom. However, without the following Golden Rule for Building Wealth, you will not be able to employ any of the other techniques. The golden Rule is - you must learn to live on less than your current income!! What this means is that you must save a portion of everything that you earn. It's that simple. Most people will probably find this to be a difficult discipline to follow because most people are currently spending more than they earn. A scary thought and not a good plan for their future. The simplest way to achieve the Golden Rule is to pay yourself first. Set aside a percentage of your paycheck, say 10%, and learn to live on the rest. This will likely mean cutting down on some expenses, but most of us will find that we can live without some of our current so called needs. I welcome your feedback to this concept and look forward to providing further wealth building tips in future posts.