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The Seven Secrets
of Extremely Prosperous People by Robert G. Allen
Let’s talk about the seven secrets of extremely
prosperous people. I call them secrets not because very few of us are
aware of them, but because very few of us practice them. The secrets are,
in reality, skills….essential money skills that all wealthy people
practice. I believe that if you learn these skills, wealth can also flow
into your life....multiple streams of increasing prosperity. That'd be
nice, wouldn't it? Money to buy whatever you want.... houses, cars,
travel, freedom. Surplus to share with the people you care most about.
Security. Peace of mind. That's what these skills will bring you. There
are at least 5 things I hope to teach you in this special
report:
_____How to gain control of your finances
quickly and easily
_____How to cut your living expenses by 20% in
30 seconds.
_____How to invest your extra money at 20%
plus.
_____How to earn an extra $40,000-$100,000 this
year.
_____How to become a lifetime
multimillionaire.
Well, let's get started. With the fundamental
skills of money. Remember the 80/20 principle. 20% of the things you do
give you 80% of your results. Well, the same holds true for money. Only
about 20% of the things you hear are really critical for you to
understand. And that should be comforting.....because there is a blizzard
of financial information swirling around us every day. How can you make
sense of it? It's only been in the last five years that the average person
even understood what a mutual fund is...and think about all of the other
new words derivatives, aggressive growth fund, foreign markets, drawdown.
Almost every day I hear words on the television that even I am not sure
of......and I've been studying these things for years. It's got to be
almost overwhelming to so many people....and intimidating. It seems as if
we'll never catch up, or to be able to just understand what is being said,
let alone do anything....and then, to be successful at it.
Well, you can relax....because in this one
special report you're going to learn what you need to know about finances
so you can cut through that blizzard of financial information out there to
find exactly what you need to know and discard the rest. The bottom line
is that there are only 7 essential money skills that will take you to
financial security. Seven things that wealthy people are good at.....that
take them with certainty toward financial success. You only need to do
seven things well. I call these Money Skills. And they are:
Money Skill #1. Value it
Money Skill #2. Manage it
Money Skill #3. Save it
Money Skill #4. Invest it
Money Skill #5. Make it
Money Skill #6. Shield it
Money Skill #7. Share it
Money Skill
#1: Value
It.
So lets get right into it. Money Skill #1 is to
learn how to value each and every dollar that flows into your life.
Because you can achieve Financial Freedom on just a Dollar a Day! That's
right. A dollar a day. When you think about it, financial freedom all
starts with a single dollar.
Dig one our of your wallet or purse and examine
it. This simple piece of paper doesn’t appear to be worth much. Buys you a
soda. A chocolate bar. A bad hamburger. So what if you waste one, or lose
one or throw one away? It’s just a dollar. Losing value every second. It's
just a dollar. Use it or lose it.
Or is it? Is this ordinary dollar bill more
than what it appears to be? Could it be a magic ticket to a fuller more
abundant life of anywhere/time/thing you want? I promise, when you've
finished done with this tape, you'll never think of a dollar bill in the
same way ever again. Ever.
You see, prosperous people don't think a dollar
"is just a dollar." They imagine it is a seed....a money seed...that has
the power to grow into a huge money tree, giving off fruit to fulfill
every one of their dreams.
And they are absolutely right.
Every dollar is a money seed. Just like a tiny
acorn contains the power to grow into a mighty oak tree, each dollar has
the power to grow into a mighty money tree. If you destroy an acorn, the
oak tree inside also dies. So, too, with a money seed.
You can grow one of these money trees....on as
little as a dollar a day. Could you afford that?
In a few short years, your money tree will be
full grown and majestic, growing right in the center of your future dream
home. Imagine that! Branches of your money tree spreading along the
ceiling into every room of the house. Every few feet or so is a nodule
which pops open once or twice a day....and releases the fruit of the
tree.....a crisp one hundred dollar bill. That hundred gently floats down
and lands in the strategically placed basket. All night long you hear the
pop, pop, pop as these nodules open and release their fruit. It takes only
a few minutes to collect the fruit in the morning. 24 hours a day, your
money tree is producing fruit. While you sleep. While you work. While you
play. While you eat. It never stops. An endless stream of cash flow. Get
the picture? That's why it is so important to preserve and protect each of
these money seeds. Every time you waste one of those silly, green pieces
of paper, it's just like throwing away a money seed. No seed? No
tree.
So, how much is one those seeds really worth?
That depends on how long you let it grow and at what rate of growth. Let's
suppose you take one dollar and put it into a special bank account that
will let the dollar grow, untouched by taxes and fees. How long will it
take for this ONE SINGLE DOLLAR BILL to grow into a MILLION DOLLARS? That
depends on what interest rate the bank account pays. If it's like ordinary
bank accounts....paying 3 to 6% interest....then it's going to take a
long, long time.
At 3% it will take 468 years for a single
dollar bill to grow into a million dollars.
What? Not planning on living 468 years? Relax.
We're not done with that dollar bill yet. We've got to supercharge it, so
those nodules can start popping in your lifetime. How can we do this?
Rather than just planting one money seed, could you plant them more often?
Could you afford to put away a dollar a day? Just a dollar a day. $30
bucks a month! You can do that.
Well, a dollar a day at 3% grows into a million
dollars in only 147 years. That's still not fast enough, is it?
What if we raised the interest rate from 3% to
5%. That cuts the time down to about 100 years. Still not fast enough. How
about ten percent interest? Only 56 years.
Hmmm. Not bad. A dollar a day becomes a million
dollars in only 56 years. Let that sink in for a minute. A measly dollar
day can grow into A MILLION DOLLARS in a the span of a normal lifetime. If
you put just a dollar a day away for each of your children or
grandchildren on the day they were born, they could all be lifetime
millionaires.
But what about you? Is it too late for you?
Could you still be a millionaire on a dollar a day? It's going to take
some fancy work, but I think there's even hope for you. First of all,
we'll have to find ways to fertilize your dollars so that they grow even
faster. Suppose someone had put a dollar a day away for you ...stuck it
under the mattress...the day you were born and every day thereafter. By
the time you were to reach retirement age.....there would be $25,000
waiting for you. Now, what if they stuck it in a bank at 3%. There would
be about $75,000. At 5% there would be just under $200,000. At ten percent
interest, there would be $2.7 million. At 15% there would be $50,000,000.
That's right. Fifty million dollars. And at 20% there would be......One
Billion Dollars!. That's one thousand million dollars. All from one dollar
a day.
I hope that sinks in deep. Most of us waste
dozens of dollars a day without even thinking. No big deal. It's just a
dollar. But extremely prosperous people know the real truth about dollar
bills. Each dollar bill is a million dollar money seed. After all, it only
takes a dollar- a-day.......JUST A DOLLAR.....to grow into a
fortune.
Now, it's no small feat to make your money grow
at 20%, year after year. I'll show you several ways to do this later. But
for now, I want you to just become aware that a single dollar bill has
incredible power.
You could be a millionaire in about 30 years on
JUST A DOLLAR A DAY!
Still not fast enough for you? OK, there's a
way to speed things up. Could you plant two or three seeds a day? Or five?
Or ten? What does that do? We'll let's cut right to the chase. If you put
ten lousy bucks a day away every single day and put it in the right mutual
funds, or stocks or real estate and let the clock tick at 20 %, you're a
millionaire in just 20 years! (Pop, pop, pop, pop) Excited yet?
What makes a few dollar a day grow into such
huge amounts of money? It's the power of compound interest. You've heard
of this before but I want you to really understand the concept because
it's going to power you on to your dreams. Einstein himself, said, "The
most powerful invention of man is compound interest." Compound interest is
a magic money magnifier. Compound interest works for you while you
sleep.
Remember, money that's compounding never
sleeps. Every second of every day. 24 hours a day. 365 days a year. You've
got to figure out a way to get money working for you instead of you
working for money. And all it takes is a few lousy bucks a day! You don't
have to be a financial genius. You don't have to own a big company. You
can do it from your kitchen table using the money that you're now
foolishly throwing away. If you just re-divert a few of your ill-spent
dollars and funnel them to some well-timed investments, you can achieve
financial success. It's within your grasp.
Look again at that dollar bill. Take care of
it. It's a money seed. I'll bet you'll think twice before you throw away
one of those silly, green pieces of paper. It's like throwing away the
seed to a million dollar money tree. (maybe even a billion dollar
tree.)
Every time you save one of those money seeds,
you start your way to wealth. The real key is to keep socking away the
money, even if it’s only a dollar. Let the numbers whisper their silent
but relentless message. Consistency. Day in. Day out. Save. Save. Save.
Invest. Invest. Invest. It doesn't much matter what investment you choose.
Low yielding government securities are fine.....just as long as you invest
consistently for the long haul.
Constantly save. Consistently Invest. Like
clockwork. Old Faithful. It might be boring. It might be dull. It might be
hard. It might take discipline, persistence, sacrifice. No matter. Just do
it.
I met a young man in Chicago who had made the
decision to make his future bright by dimming his desires today. He worked
full time as did his spouse. If they had been like the normal (broke)
young married couple, they would have pooled their two paychecks and
bought a new car (with a fat monthly payment) stretched themselves into
"too much house" and stressed out for the next 30 years. Instead, this
young couple make an uncommon decision. They decided to live in "too
little house." Then they disciplined themselves to get by on her paycheck
and to save his entire $2,000 a month income. They put the money into
well-selected mutual funds and watched the cash begin to pile
up.
This is true prosperity.
Live on less than you earn.
Invest the surplus.
Avoid debt.
Build long term security
It's my not be get rich quick. But it's get
rich sure.
It's not the exciting rabbit.
But the tortoise laughs slowly all the way to
the bank.
But there will be no billions, no millions, no
thousands, no nothing at all unless you get started with this plan.......
you need to start today. Because waiting even one day can be extremely
expensive as I shall now demonstrate.
Suppose you could sock away $200 per month. You
set a target to have it grow at 20% per year for the next 20 years. Now,
20% is no small feat.....but with some fancy stock picks, some real estate
and perhaps a small business on the side, you think you can pull it off.
According to my calculator, $200 per month at 20% for 20 years grows into
$632,000. Not bad!
Now, suppose, instead of starting now, you wait
a year to get started. This leaves you only 19 years of growth instead of
20. How much is in your bank account in 20 years from today? Only
$516,000. That's $116,000 less than what you could have had if you had
started on schedule. In other words, your procrastination cost you
$116,000 future dollars! Procrastination is expensive.
For each of the 365 days that you waited, your
future portfolio was shrinking by over 300 dollars. (116,000 / 365=
$317.81) In other words, every day you put this plan off, costs you $300
future dollars. Every hour you wait costs you more than $13. You are
wasting 13 dollars an hour, 24 hours a day.
What if you were to invest the same $200 per
month over thirty years? The cost of waiting that extra year is now a
whopping $842,803. That's right! Waiting an extra year cost you almost a
million future dollars. That's over two thousand dollars a day. Or almost
$100 per hour!
Let me say this again for emphasis. Every day
you wait, every hour you delay, is like burning up your financial future.
Do it now. Yes, it will take sacrifice. It means deferring gratification
for a while to allow your money tree to grow. When you prematurely pick
the fruit from your money tree, you stunt it's growth and this can
dramatically slow down the time for you to enjoy a fully matured, fruit
bearing money tree.
Now, why do all of this money multiplying? In
the truest sense, money is a spiritual concept. With proper planning, you
can not only take care of yourself and the ones closest to you but you can
leave a positive legacy for your posterity. If you won't do it for
yourself, at least do it for them.
Now, look at that dollar bill one more
time.
This simple money seed contains the power to
bless you and countless future generations...if you'll start now. A
wealthy future is awaiting you. It's worth the sacrifice. Let nothing
divert you from your task. As we continue, I'm going to share with you the
six other secrets or skills of that will make this bright financial future
become a reality for you.
Remember, it all starts with a single dollar
bill.
The Rockerfeller
Rules
As I said earlier, money is a game. If you know
the rules, you win. And if you don't know the rules, you don't win. Warren
Buffett, who became the world’s wealthiest stock market multi-billionaires
has two important rules. Rule #1. Never lose money. Rule #2. Never forget
rule #1. And here are some other simple rules to the Money
Game..
Every dollar is a money seed.
You can grow rich on the money you're now
wasting.
You can't make poor decisions today and expect
to be rich tomorrow.
The longer you wait to get started the steeper
the climb.
A dollar squandered today destroys a hundred
thousand future dollars.
And since you are planning on spending a lot of
time in the future, it would be nice to have plenty of money there waiting
for you when you arrive. Wouldn't it? So if valuing money is skill #1.
What are the other 6 skills? Let just say, that a couple of the skills are
hidden in the following quote from a book called Kids and Cash about the
Rockerfeller family. Let's see if you can pick them out.
According to Nelson Rockerfeller, the one time
Vice President of the United States, his father John D. Rockerfeller, Jr,
gave each of his five sons an allowance "We got 25 cents a week, and had
to earn the rest of the money we got." To earn part of that extra money he
raised vegetables and rabbits........"We always worked. All the boys were
required to keep personal daily account books. They were required to give
10 percent of their income to charity, to save 10 percent, and to account
for all the rest." They had to balance their account books every month and
to be able to tell what happened to every penny they earned. (From the
book, Kids and Cash Ken Davis and Tom Taylor 1979 Oak Tree
Publications)
The Rockerfeller kids were taught a specific
pattern for dealing with their money. I call them the Rockerfeller
rules.
Work for all you get
Give away the first 10%.
Pay yourself the next 10%.
Live on the rest.
Account for every penny.
Isn’t it interesting that Rockerfeller made his
kids learn the habit of work? But why do you think Mr. and Mrs.
Rockerfeller taught their kids to give the first 10% to charity? Now, if
you're an atheist or an agnostic, or in any way squeamish about the
subject of God, you'd better skip over this section. It's just going to
make you all grumpy. But if you believe there is a Supreme Being, then,
read on. The Rockerfellers, like almost all of the great American
billionaires, looked upon their wealth as a sort of spiritual stewardship.
They believed that God gave them the money. It wasn't theirs....they just
were caretakers over it. They felt a duty to manage it for the betterment
of others......while thoroughly enjoying it themselves, of course. If
every dollar they received was a gift from God, they were glad to pay 10%
of it back. (Andrew Carnegie gave all of his wealth away before his
death.) You'd be surprised how many very successful and very wealthy
people today and throughout the past 200 years have felt the same. God,
for them, was always the best silent partner. And they didn't do too badly
for God and his children, either. Today, the Ford Foundation gives away
hundreds of millions of dollars PER YEAR to various charities. The
Rockerfeller foundation gives away almost 50 million dollars.
I wonder if God knew this was going to happen.
Looking down on the earth in the late 1800's did he say to himself. "To
whom shall I give the idea for the automobile? And which lucky person is
going to end up with the concept of oil? Hmmmm...let's see. There's that
Rockerfeller fellow. He's going to end up pretty decent. And most of his
money is eventually going to go to help others. I think he should get a
big chunk of oil. There's that scrappy Henry Ford down there in Michigan.
He's got a few glaring blemishes but eventually, the money he makes with
this idea is going to belong to his foundation and will bless millions of
people. Let's give him a big chunk of the automobile."
How did Bill Gates end up with the computer? Or
Andy Gove with the silicon chip? Or the guy (what was his name anyway?)
who started Amazon.com? These days, billions can be made and lost in a
single day in the stock market. Who's going to get the next billion dollar
concept? Do you deserve to get it? What would you do with it if you got
it? Could God trust you with it? Would you squander it? Or would you be a
wise steward over it? Would there be anything left to bless the lives of
others? Tough questions. I would encourage you that, no matter what your
financial circumstances, invest 10% right off the top in your favorite
charity or church. If you don't know where to put it, follow your heart.
One day, all the money in the world, will not keep your heart beating.
Sharing 10% with others will remind you that God owns everything and we're
transients here.
Now, after you pay the first 10% to your
"Silent Partner" you need to pay yourself next. In the classic, "The
Richest Man in Babylon," George S. Clayson tells the story of the wise
investor whose primary rule was, "A part of all you earn is yours to
keep." (If you haven’t read this book yet, buy it today and read it.) And
then, when these two items are taken care of, Live on the rest. Make the
decision that, starting today, you will no longer go into debt to support
your lifestyle. You’re going to live below your means....no matter what.
It may take you months to turn your spending patterns around (for an oil
tanker to change course 180 degrees takes many, many hours and hundreds of
miles to accomplish....you're like that tanker, it will take time to turn
your financial bad habits into good ones....so be patient with
yourself.
And finally, Account for every
penny.
This is the part that all of us seem to hate so
much.....accounting for every penny. I remember when I was doing my
initial research, I looked, in vain, for a way out of this requirement. It
seemed every successful money manager I interviewed was scrupulously
meticulous about knowing where every penny went. And, of course, this was
the exact opposite of my personality. Although my father was an
accountant, I just didn't seem to be blessed with the same genes. I knew
how to spend money really well.....but I couldn't save a dime. One day I
woke up and realized that in my business career I had literally gone
through millions of dollars in profits and royalties. If I had religiously
saved 10% of that income....if I had lived the Rockerfeller rules....I
should have had a bank account filled with millions of dollars. But I
didn't. I asked myself....of all the millions that had gone through my
life, couldn't I have lived on 10% less. Of course, and that's when I
started to live this rule.
Now, I know that the subject of budgeting and
saving and penny pinching seems tedious to most Americans (as it did to me
for most of my adult life), yet, I can also attest to the fact that these
skills or habits must become part of your life if you ever hope to achieve
any measure of financial success. Don't give me your old excuses. I used
all of them myself at one time or another and not one of them every made
me richer. Don't you dare tell me you're not good at math, or that you
hate to balance your checkbook, or that you don't have a head for numbers,
or that you never went to college, or that you don't know how to work a
calculator, or that your spouse takes care of that stuff, or that you
don't have the time, or that life is short and that you'd better enjoy it
while you can. Odds are, you're going to live to a hundred years
old.......that's thirty five years past retirement..... and you must plan
for it by taking charge of your finances NOW.
You can't delegate this to anyone. You've got
to do it. Truth is, nobody can watch over your money like you can.
(Farmers have a saying that the best fertilizer is the farmer's own
shadow.) Strangely enough, when you make the commitment to watch every
penny, the dollars start to add up quicker. If compound interest can make
a single dollar bill grow into a million dollars....then it can also make
a single penny grow into a million pennies..... and that's ten thousand
dollars. From a single penny? Have you ever walked by a penny on the
sidewalk and not picked it up because it was just a penny? The truth is,
that hidden beneath that penny is a pile of a million pennies. Pick up
that penny and invest it right.
Money Skill #2. Control It.
So, having said this, I want to teach you a
simple, easy and extremely powerful way to think about your money. What
Rockerfeller was teaching his kids was how to control their money. And
that's the second of the 7 money skills. Controlling every penny that
flows through your life. Let me show you how to control your money by
teaching you a theory I created called the Bathtub Theory of
Economics..
Most people have one simple faucet or main
source of income...their job. This income flows into the bathtub of their
life and flows out through the drains at the bottom. Most everyone spends
every penny their earn....and then some. They never retain any money in
savings. They spend it all. Obviously, the only way to have an overflowing
prosperity in your life is to plug up those holes and to turn on more
faucets...to have Multiple Streams of Income.
How many leaks are there? I have simplified the
many ways you can spend money into ten categories. It's easy to remember
the categories. Each one flows in order of their priority. According to
Rockerfeller, where should the first dollars go? That's right, to your
partners. Who are your partners? God, first. Yourself, next. And Uncle
Sam, third. Then, you can live maintain your lifestyle with what's left
over.
Therefore, the first category is called Tithing
or Charity(which represents your contribution toward God, church, God,
charity, others, giving, etc.) I have given this category the number of
1.
The next category in order of priority is
called Self. Take the next 10% of your money and put it into the Self
category...with a number of 2.
Next, comes your partner, Uncle Sam. The third
category, then, is taxes....and I give it a number of 3.
What's the next most important expense of your
life? Category 4 is your shelter....in the form of house payments or rent
payments. What comes next? The fifth category is for household expenses
such as food, clothing, television, normal living expenses attributed to
living in your place of residence. This will amount to your largest
category. Then comes category 6....Auto. Gotta have a car. Every time you
pay for gas, transportation, repairs to your vehicles, or car payments,
you should put it in the category 6. Next is Category 7 for Fun or
entertainment. Usually, whenever you spend money out of the home on
movies, fast food, travel or toys, you should think of these expenditures
as happening in Category 7. Seven is the number for fun....that's how I
remember it. Then, comes Category 8; for all forms of insurance; health,
life, disability, liability, house, homeowners, etc.
Miscellaneous expenditures (including payments
toward debt) come under category 9 Debt/Miscellaneous.
And finally, there is Category 10....for
business expenditures. Let’s review:
Category 1 Tithing
Category 2 Self
Category 3 Taxes
Category 4 Shelter
Category 5 Household
Category 6 Automobile
Category 7 Entertainment
Category 8 Insurance
Category 9 Debt/Miscellaneous
Category 10 Business Expenses
Now, I want every dollar you spend to be
labeled into one of these ten categories. I've kept the categories simple
and broad because if it gets too complicated, you won't do it. Even when
in using a computer finance program, like Quicken, which I use, I have all
my categories simplified into these 10 categories. You'll see why in a
minute.
So, let's examine a money transaction....which
I call a Money event. How many times a day do you spend money? 5 times?
Ten times? Rarely more. Think of it. You only spend money a few times a
day. And yet, those few decisions make all of the difference between
poverty and wealth. Actually, the millionaire spends approximately one
minute more per money event than the poor person. And that one minute
makes a huge difference.
Let's explore what I call the Millionaire's
Minute. If I could show you a simple one minute exercise that you
performed every time you spent money....that would almost guarantee that
you'd become a millionaire....would you do it? Let's examine a typical
money event.
Average people go to the store to buy
something. They are in a rush, running late. They quickly snatch up the
desired item without comparing prices. While they're waiting in the check
out stand they see a few impulse items they pick up. They pay for the
items but don't record the event because other people are waiting in line
and besides, they're running late. They rush off "a day late and a dollar
short."
Millionaires, on the other hand, take a few
extra steps which take less than a minute. First of all, before they
enters the store they decide only to buy the planned item and nothing
else. Life is full of things to buy. They can't allow their impulses to
derail their decisions or to control their life. Then, they spend a few
extra seconds to compare prices and to pick the best value. If
appropriate, they locate a sales clerk and ask if there is a possibility
of obtaining a discount in price. They make a quick mental calculation of
their savings. This makes them feel good. Then, they take the item to the
check out stand. Once again, they are not sidetracked by impulse buying.
They select one of the three methods of payment: cash, credit card or
check. They exchange the money for the items, collects their receipt,
examine it for accuracy and put it in their wallet or purse for filing
later. Then, they make the most important step...they record the event by
writing down the purchase, determining which category of spending it was
made in, calculate the remaining balance in their account. Later, at home
that day, they file the receipt in a well organized manner for easy
retrieval.
All told, on average, the millionaire spends
about an extra minute per transaction than the poor person. But look at
the savings in time and money. The millionaire saves from 10-20% in
comparison shopping. (What if you could lower your annual spending by 20%
without a lot of sacrifice?) Then, by investing an extra minute to record
the transaction and to file it properly, she has at her fingertips a vast
source of information. She knows her current account balances. She can
compare he spending to previous months and notice trends. She is more
aware of her actual spending which gives her much greater control of her
finances. She can calculate her tax consequences in minutes not days. She
can back up her tax decisions with instant documentation. In a case of
dispute, she knows where, when and how she spent her money and has the
receipt to prove it. She is in control. And the resulting peace of mind
creates a feeling of power. This increases her confidence, creativity and
judgment. She makes fast, correct, decisive decisions. This gives her that
secret millionaire's advantage.
So, from now on, every time you spend money
take an extra minute to do these simple things....
1. Plan your needs and procrastinate your
wants
2. Shop for value
3. Ask for and expect a discount
4. Examine your receipt. Categorize your
receipt. Actually write a number from one to ten on the receipt....so that
you mentally decide which area of your life you are spending money
on.
6. Balance your accounts....whether it's cash,
check or credit card. File your receive when you get
home.
It's simple. Get ten manila folders and number
them from one to ten. Don't throw your loose receipts into a shoe box.
File them daily. This will get you in control of your finances in a few
short weeks. Now, there are lot of advantages of doing it this
way......but let me give you one big one. Taxes. Most of us don't get
receipts, and when we do, we forget what it was for. Suppose you buy a box
of pencils for your small business.....and everyone in America should have
their own small business. This is a tax deductible expense. Uncle Sam lets
you take this expense off the top before you calculate your taxes. Well,
if you're in the 30% tax bracket, then every dollar you categorize as a
tax deduction gives you a 30% return on your money. Did you get that?
Hello? Where can you, today, get an instant 30% guaranteed return on your
money? From Uncle Sam. When you get and keep the receipt for a tax
deductible expense and then deduct that expenditure on your taxes, you're
making 30% on your money.....30% return on your money is the kind of
return that makes millionaires....fast.
I heard once, I don't know if it's true but I
believe it, that because of tax deferred or tax free investments the
billionaire Ross Perot only pays 6% of his total yearly income in taxes.
He understands the value of money and how to plug those leaks....and
that's why he's a billionaire and you and I aren't...yet.
The key to financial planning is cash flow
management. You've not only got to get the cash to flow into your bathtub.
You have to manage the leaks so that there is money left over at the end
of the month (profit.) With this profit you buy stuff....assets. You may
also buy stuff by going into debt. The object of the money game is to
accumulate enough assets so that eventually the income from your personal
assets will support you instead of your personal skills.
Are you good at turning on faucets? Gotta get
those multiple streams of income flowing into your bathtub.
Are you good at plugging leaks? Gotta plug
those leaks.
Are you good at getting stuff? Are you
accumulating assets?
Are you good at repaying debts? Gotta stay out
of debt.
The better you are at managing and controlling
these four activities, the wealthier you'll become.
Wealth Skill #2. Control your money. Start
today to gain a greater control over your money by doing the millionaire
minute....you'll be amazed.
Money Skill #3
Save
it.
Wealth Skill #3 is to save money. Wealthy
people love to save money......you know, to buy things at wholesale. They
never like to pay retail for anything. And now, you know why. But they
don't stop there. You see, anyone can save money by buying at a
discount....but do they save the money that they save? That's the hard
part. A friend of mine quit smoking and was bragging about the $50 a month
she was saving by not smoking. I asked, "Where is the $50?" She didn’t
know. She had saved the money but she hadn't saved it....put it away. When
you save money by changing your buying habits, take the money out of your
purse or wallet and get it out of your spending grasp. Put it into a
savings jar, and frequently deposit this money into your savings account.
That’s when you’ve truly save/saved it.
And here’s another tip. Would you like to learn
how to cut your living expenses by 30% in 30 seconds? You would? Well,
take out your credit cards, put one away for emergencies, and cut up the
rest. Statistics have proven that this simple exercise will automatically
and almost effortlessly cut your living expenses by an average of 30% over
the next 12 months.
Money Skill
#4 Invest
it
With the money you’re save/saving plus the 10%
of the money you pay yourself off the top, you must learn how to invest
your money at billionaire rates. Anyone can park their money at 3%. The
trick is to get it to grow at 10 to 20%. There are many traditional
investments that are ideal to park your money. At the low end of the
interest scale are bank savings accounts and certificates of deposit.
Then, you have government treasuries and bonds. Up the ladder are
corporate bonds......then the stock market.....and some of the most
popular investments these days.....Mutual Funds. You should have money in
all of these areas. Imagine a series of buckets where money is siphoned
off from your bathtub. The first bucket should be your emergency bucket.
Let your 10% flow there first until you have at least three months worth
of living expenses saved. You'd be surprised how many people in this
country are only one paycheck away from bankruptcy. Don't let that be you.
This money should be in the safest place possible....probably in an
insured bank account....at the highest interest rate you can find where
you can access to your money within 30 days. Once this first bucket is
filled up, the stream of 10% will overflow into one of three additional
buckets---labeled, conservative investments, moderately risky investments
and very risky investments. If you are older, you should have more of your
money in the conservative bucket. The younger you are the more risk you
can take.
(Put graphic of the investment buckets
here)
The best way to invest for average people is in
Mutual Funds. A mutual fund is a collection of individual stocks purchased
by a major company and managed by professionals. You give them a small
amount of money, they add it to that of thousands of other investors and
they watch over it for you. You'd have to have lived in a cave for the
past 5 years not to have heard at least something about Mutual
Funds.
Here are a few rules about
investing.
The longer you invest (leave your money in the
market) the lower your risk.
Don’t invest unless you’re willing to leave
it for 5 years or more. It's sole purpose is to grow and compound.
Anything shorter than a year is
gambling.
Remember, it's almost impossible to buy low and
sell high in the short run. So don't play the market.
The key is long term dollar cost
averaging.
Dollar cost averaging simply means, you should
invest every single month, regardless of where the market is heading.
Don't even read the newspapers....just buy month in and month out. Over
the long run, this is the best strategy. Do it automatically. Inform your
mutual fund company to automatically withdraw the funds from your account
each month. If you have to decide each month, eventually you will stop the
program and your future will suffer. Do it every month.
When you finish reading this report, if you're
not already doing so, I want you to go to a news stand, and buy a
financial magazine like Money Magazine or Smart Money or Kiplinger's. Look
for an ad for a Mutual Fund company that is No-Load...which means no
commissions. Look for ads where they will let you get started for $50-100
per month. Sign up for the automatic monthly withdrawal.....and get
started. If you're new at this, you'll learn a lot by just doing it. This
will turn up your awareness of the entire process. Soon you'll start
noticing ads for Mutual fund families that really fit you. Then, you can
shift your growing nest egg to the new company and start to watch your
money grow. Once you have gotten your mutual fund investing program funded
and on automatic pilot, you should read some great books on the stock
market like Peter Lynches classic, Beating the Market. And then, you can
start putting extra cash toward a concentrated program of investing in
individual stocks.
Speaking of that, would you like the richest
investor in the world to manage your money? His name, by the way, is
Warren Buffet. He started in the mid 50's with just a few thousand dollars
and some money from a small group of partners. Over the next 40 years he
turned his initial few dollars into tens of billions of dollars. His
yearly compounded rate of return on his money is about 20%. If you'd like
to buy into Warren Buffets brains, you can buy into Buffets
empire....where he has about 90% of his own money. It's a stock traded on
the New York Stock exchange.....called Berkshire Hathaway. It trades at
many tens of thousands of dollars per share and is the most expensive
stock on the NYSE. Buffet doesn't believe in splitting his stock
price....so it just keeps getting higher and higher....as he continues to
pile more and more money in it. (Your stock broker can show you how to buy
Baby Berkshires…at a much more reasonable price.) There are several
excellent books on the market about Warren Buffet. If you love the stock
market, you'll love to read about how this man did it. At the very least,
your goal is to get some of your surplus money siphoned off into mutual
funds and forget them.
Money Skill
#5 Making Money
Making money is an entirely different skill
from investing money. Investing is passive. Someone else does the work for
you.....like money growing in a bank. Making money, Skill #5, is the
entrepreneurial side of money. Are you an entrepreneur? You should be.
Everyone will need to create multiple streams of income in the future.
Families used to be able to survive on one income in the 50's and 60's.
Then, in the 70's and 80's it became necessary for there to be 2 income
earners per family. In the 90's, with the stability of those 2 incomes in
question, with corporate downsizing, re-engineering, or whatever you want
to call it, you need to take matters into you own hands. You must learn
the skills of being your own boss.....even if you're working for a solid
corporation and plan on retiring there. The world is just too insecure to
make long term plans with one company.
When it comes to choosing the perfect home
based business, use the MoneyTree Formula you learned in the Audio
Cassette, Multiple Streams of Income. The full program from
Nightingale/Conant will show you 7 extremely profitable home based
business you can start with little capital investment. Any of them could
take your to financial freedom. But, when you are doing several of them
simultaneously, you can accelerate your prosperity curve dramatically.
You’ll love the program. Or your money back. It consists of 8 jam packed
audio cassettes (or CD’s if you prefer) plus a bonus audio and a special
Study Guide. Call 1-800-525-9000 to find out you can start on the road to
wealth today.
In the meantime, if you’re going to start your
own business, remember these rules:
Rule # 1. Get on purpose. Do what you love and
the money will follow.
Get into a business that is in alignment
with your purpose and values. Here are the purpose
questions:
What are you good at? What do you like to
do? What is important to you? What is your destiny?
Answer these questions before you
begin.
Rule # 2. Decide on your ideal lifestyle, then
choose a business.
Rule # 3. Become the best in your
field.
Rule # 4. Ride a trend that is on the wax not
on the wane
Rule # 5. Be a copy cat. Don't be the first in.
Don't start a trend. Copy others....legally, of course.
Rule # 6. No se habla employees. Be slow to
hire and fast to fire.
Rule # 7. Constantly economize.
Rule # 8. Avoid overhead like the HIV virus.
Rich people don't buy fancy office equipment to impress. Warren buffet
manages his entire empire from a corner desk in small office. He has no
computer.....as he once said, "I am a computer."
Money Skill
#6 Shield It.
Making money is one set of skills Keeping it is
another. As you work toward your financial goals, you will need to learn
how to preserve the wealth you are creating. The new millennium is an
infinitely more dangerous environment for wealth creation that were the
60’s, 70’s, 80’s or 90’s. New kinds of street gangs roam the streets
seeking prey.....hoards of attorneys looking for victims to represent. The
worst mistake one can make today is leave large amounts of personal assets
unprotected. You must learn how to get your homes, cars and business
entities out of sight through corporations, trusts and family partnerships
to build a financial fortress around your assets. This information, which
used to be available only for the super-rich, must be put to use by
everyone. Why? Because if you're practicing your money skills, sooner or
later there is a 100% probability that you will be sued....and any smart
attorney will be able to look in the public record to find out what assets
you have in your name. Therefore, the secret to smart money is to learn to
live like a millionaire but be a pauper on paper. You used to be able to
brag about your money. Not any more. Today, you don’t want to be a
millionaire.....just to live like one. I, myself, am not a millionaire. Or
even a multi-millionaire. I used to be. But not any more. That doesn't
mean that I don’t know where it is....and how to get to it. But the public
will never know. You must protect yourself today against the catastrophes
of tomorrow.
Here are the eleven basic commandments of
financial protection.
1. Thou shalt avoid conspicuous
consumption
2. Thou shalt avoid putting assets in your
name.
3. The shalt never co-sign a loan for anyone,
ever.
4. Thou shalt carry adequate liability
insurance.
5. Thou shalt not serve on a board of
directors.
6. Thou shalt avoid all "recourse"
debt.
7. Thou shalt operate thy business from a
corporate entity.
8. Thou shalt not go into business without a
detailed business plan.
9. Thou shalt never enter a partnership without
a simple, fool proof plan for getting out.
10. Thou shalt never put all of thy eggs in one
basket.
11. Thou shalt always assume the worst. You'll
probably be optimistic.
Money Skill
#7 Share
It.
Finally, skill seven is to share your money.
And this really is a skill. Remember what I said about the Rockerfellers.
They believed that giving their money was essential to their wealth. And
so should you. The secret is that money multiplies fastest when it's
divided. It's all God's money, anyway. You're just a temporary steward.
When you share freely, you prime the pump of the universe. I encourage you
to establish a legacy that will outlive you. Plant money trees from which
others will harvest the fruit. This is true prosperity.
I have a belief which I have learned from the
great billionaires over the past century. Almost without fail, each of
them has been guided by the following principle:
"Ultimately, the only purpose for having
money is to help others."
So, to review. First you must Value
money....then, Control It....then Save It.....then Invest It.....then,
Make It...... then Shield It.....and finally Share It. I don’t think it's
possible to make and keep a lot of money without being good at these
things.
Now, look at that dollar bill one more time.
This simple money seed contains the power to bless you and countless
future generations...if you'll start now. The future is counting on you. A
wealthy future is awaiting you. It's worth the sacrifice. Let nothing
divert you from your task.
It all starts with a single dollar
bill.
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