WEALTH BUILDING TIPS AND TRENDS

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...