Why Planning & Budgeting is Critical to Becoming Financially Free

I can still remember my first lecture in Management Accounting. The lecturer was introducing us to the concept of budgeting and at the end he made a little joke, which went something like this: "If your budget has turned out exactly right, you have either had an amazing stroke of luck or got it wrong!" Of course, what he meant was: budgets are not meant to be accurate. They are there as a guide - an important, essential guide that should act as both a planning and control mechanism.

I try to avoid the word budget with my new clients but I would like to introduce you to the real meaning of budgeting. Forget about the concept of restriction and restraint often associated with household budgets and start thinking about your finances in the same way that good businesses do.

The glue that holds all successful business practices together is the master budget. It ties in all facets of the business - marketing, selling, financing, research and development, and personnel management. Without a good master budget that incorporates all activities of a business, an organisation will end up floundering. And a floundering business is rarely profitable.

The budget provides the cohesion between the differing objectives of diverse parts of the business and creates a unified goal for the total organisation to work towards. It enhances motivation, delegates responsibility and provides important feedback on the progress of individuals and the organisation as a whole. Not bad, for a simple system that we all thought someone installed to punish us for our mistakes.

Budgets are not punishment. They are important, useful tools that guide us to where we want to go. They allow us to plan for our future yet control our circumstances along the way. They are not meant to be exact, but rather flexible and accommodating. They should change when we change, but still be resilient enough to prevent us from going off the rails. They point us in the right direction and correct us when we fail. Without a budget for our finances, we are trying to win the 100-yard dash blindfolded.

People make mistakes. We have human weaknesses that cannot always be perfected. As good as our judgement may be, there are times when we can go off course. We can be tempted, we can be deluded and sometimes we just slip up. What we need is something that keeps us on the right road without invalidating our past mistakes yet motivates us to try again. And again, and again - until we get it right.

I have had clients who tried the Money Program but left after a couple of weeks, only to return to me months or even a year later, "Sorry, Annie, can we try again?" Sure. It took me a couple of years to perfect the program when I first developed it for myself. Sometimes, I left it for weeks or even months, returning to my old spendthrift ways, but eventually came back to the program with a greater knowing that the only way I could get ahead is to work within the system. A good system will allow you to do this. This is called "Correction, without Invalidation." In other words, keep trying and correcting your mistakes without making them wrong.

What we need is a system that allows us to deviate off course at times but builds in controls to prompt us back whenever we veer too far - a system that facilitates correction, without invalidating the mistakes we made on the way.

First, you need a plan. A plan incorporates objectives, goals and step-by-step strategies or action plans. An objective is a high-level, qualitative statement describing a desired outcome. For example:

"To be financially independent and free to travel the world."

A goal is a quantifiable statement that is measurable and specific. For example:

"To create an independent income of $30,000 per annum, so I can leave my current employment by by a certain date."

The action plan then becomes your step-by-step approach of how you can create the independent income by that date.

If your objective is your life's dream - to travel the world - then the sacrifice of saving will not seem so daunting. We are all willing to make small sacrifices over time, if we have a greater goal in mind.

Another critical aspect of budgeting is comparison. We need to always compare what happened to what was supposed to happen. If you have a budget but never go to the trouble of comparing your actual expenditure to the budget, you are only using 50% of the system.

It is important that on a regular basis you compare your actual expenditure and outgoings to what was budgeted. Use the variances as a feedback mechanism to gauge your progress. It is OK to have variances. Remember the immortal words of my Management Accounting lecturer - budgets are not meant to be exact, they are used as a guide.

The variances will tell you how you fared. Was your budget realistic? Did you under-budget? Over-budget? If the budget is unrealistic, modify it. Budgets should be dynamic tools, changing where necessary until you get the right mix.

Did you overspend? Underspend? Was the budget reasonable but you simply broke the rules and fell back into bad habits? That's OK, the variances will guide you to where you need to focus your attention. Did you waste too much money at the supermarket? Spend too much on discretionary items? Are your fixed costs still too high? Correction. Correction. Correction. The variances will show you where.

By Ann Marosy

Conserving Energy and Cash at Home

With the weight of rising Gas prices, pressing harder than ever on Americans wallets, we have been forced to seriously consider how we can cut costs as individuals and as a nation. We are also daily seeking ways to conserve our natural resources.

The best way to go out and save the world from using its limited resources, is to start with your own family in your own home. It is definitely the little things, you do that can make a huge difference.

First, as simple as it seems, check all windows and doors and make sure that they are all sealed and locked properly. Windows are made with a certain seal that blocks air seeping through. When they are not properly fastened, the warm air can get in causing your A/C to work that much longer to cool the house.

Another A/C tip is to make sure that your air conditioner is the proper size for the type of room or house you are cooling. The wrong size air conditioner will use more electricity and increase your bills. A unit that is too large for a given area will cool the area too fast and too often, causing the air conditioner to frequently turn itself on and off. If a unit shuts off quickly, chances are it hasn't been running long enough to reduce the room's humidity and you'll be uncomfortable. If your air conditioner is too small, it will run constantly on hot days without ever totally doing the job.

As much energy as it takes to pump heating and air, you should really consider quality insulation for the attic and for the walls of your home. Insulating a home is like putting on a sweater or jacket when we're cold...instead of turning up the heat. The outer layers trap the heat inside, keeping it nice and warm, while doing the opposite in the summer for the A/C.

In the kitchen, keep the refrigerator away from anything that gives off heat (ovens and dishwashers, microwaves), windows, and heating ducts. Direct contact with heat forces the unit to work harder and longer, causing it to use up even more energy.

Unplug power strips and appliances when they are not being used, especially if they are big energy items. Although they may be turned off, the "standby" energy used is equal to that of a 75 watt light bulb running continuously.

It is up to each of us to do our part in our own lives to save energy. If you will start with some of these small things, you could seriously see big results in wallet, and also your world. Consider hiring an electrician to help you maximize your conservation efforts.

By Christopher Chism

Getting Your Head Around Paper Money to See the Gold

If I say to you, a $1.00 bill and a $100.00 bill have no difference except for the way the ink is printed on them, you might think I've a math problem. But hey, it costs them same amount of money to have each of them printed up and when it comes down to it, because they are mass produced, each individual note costs practically nothing.

However, a %.50 cent piece made in the late 1800s and made from 90% silver, had value in its own composition. The $1.00 coin from back then with twice as much silver, was worth by itself, twice as much as the $.50 cent piece. The silver content within them made up their value.

Can you see what I am saying? No? Well, today, one of those $.50 cents coins with the 90% silver content is worth $5.00. How can that be? I hear you say. Well, they hold there value and always will, inflation will make sure of that. As the Dollar gets less and less, silver & gold will rise and rise. If you buy it now, you can be sure it will rise within in a few years time and keep on gong for years to come.

Three silver dimes in 1964, would have bought you a gallon of gas; gas cost roughly $.27 cents. Those silver dimes today are worth a $1.25 each; those three silver dimes would nearly buy you a gallon of gas plus about $.25 cents in todays value. That is three dimes from 1964.

So what is happening is this, the price of gas hasn't gone up, it's the value of the paper Dollar that is going down. Inflation is causing deflation to the paper Dollar. Why? Because the government is printing more and more paper money from their own printing press we call the Federal Reserve, which in turn devalues your Dollar every time they do this.

Its like this, if you have 10oz of gold and 100oz of gold exists in the whole known world, well then you own 10% of the worlds gold. Let us say that 10% gold you have is worth $100.00 and that is the world recognised value for 10oz of gold. Now let us say a huge amount of gold was discovered equalling to the same amount already in existence. That influx of that gold would slash your 10oz value in half. The more you have of something, the less worth it becomes. There is only so much gold in the world that has been found, this is why it is called a precious metal. In fact, such a small amount of gold is in known existence that you could fill a space of 20x20x20 yards when its all melted together into a cube.

This is exactly what is happening to your Dollar. The Federal Reserve has a licence to print money whenever the government needs debt paid off and so dumps more paper money onto the market and devaluing yours. Only 5% of the money created is in physical paper money, the rest is in digital format. It could not be any easier, clicking a few buttons actualizes millions, if not, billions of Dollars.

This method of creating money whenever we feel like it is unsustainable. Eventually the Dollar will go to zero; it is on an uncontrollable inflation course straight into the ground. To protect yourself I will tell you this, go and buy gold and silver bullion. It doesn't have to be in coins and you don't have to store it a your home or business, you can buy online and have the gold never leave the vault where you buy it from, they can store it for you and I guarantee you this, gold is an investment product that can not just be created out of thin air like paper money can, it will hold its value in times of uncertainty and it will be worth more and more as time goes on.

Why settle for paper when you can have gold.

By Gavin Conway

Get Money For Structured Settlement

Did you receive a structured settlement for a personal injury or another legal battle? Are you tired of waiting on your money each month and are you ready just to have one lump sum for your settlement? Get money for your structured settlement by selling it to an investor. This is an easy way to cash out and do what you want to do with your money. Here are a few tips to help you get money for structured settlement.

First, you need to find a group of specialty investors that buy settlements. These groups are usually very wealthy individuals that will offer you a portion of the total settlement to buy the entire amount. This benefits them and it can benefit you. Sure you won't get as much money, in the long run, as if you just took the annual payments, but you will have one lump sum that you can invest, use to pay off medical bills, or use for any other reason you might need it for.

Second, research your company and make sure they have a strong reputation. They will have testimonials from past clients that have been in a similar situation. Make sure they have give the company you choose a raving review. This will give you peace of mind to know that you are getting a good deal.

Last, have a lawyer look over all the paper work to ensure that you are entering into the right type of agreement. The last thing you want is to be scammed out of your money so use this safeguard to ensure that the documents are drawn up correctly and you are going to get what was agreed upon.

Follow these steps to get money for structured settlement. You will be able to cash out and use the lump sum for whatever your needs or wants are. If you plan to invest all or some of it make sure to consult a professional for advice on this matter.

By Benjamin Robert Ehinger

Three Things Everyone Should Know About Life Settlements

Life settlements have a variety of great benefits for many policyholders, however, the fine print and complicated rules can make the entire process a stressful experience. With some basic information and proficient, expert help, it does not have to be that way. To make the entire process a successful venture, there are three things that every policy-owner should know.

Life Settlements VS Viatical Settlements

Although these two terms seem identical at first glance, there is a significant difference between the two settlements. When the owner of a life insurance policy is extremely ill and decides to sell their policy, it is referred to as a viatical settlement. When this occurs, the death benefit from the policy is paid to the settlement company after the owner has passed away.

So long as there are no particular restrictions placed on them by the state, life settlements occur when the owner of the policy sells the policy for any other reasons beside an illness or the quick approach of death. Some choose to sell the policy rather than losing it by falling behind on payments while others use it as a source of cash for a variety of reasons including the desire to live a different lifestyle, gifts, or the acquisition of life goals.

Life Settlements Are Negotiable

The amount of money paid out for life settlements is completely negotiable and depends on the agreement that is made. Generally speaking, the health, age, amount of the benefit, and type of policy will determine the amount of payout that is offered. This is what makes shopping around a vital component to a successful settlement. Today, life settlement brokers will often take the work out of it by doing the shopping themselves; they will search through a list of funders to find the best offer. There will also be some form of fee or commission charged by the broker in exchange for his or her service. Regardless of the amount of the offer, there is never an obligation to accept it.

What Happens Afterwards

Once the transaction is complete, the ownership and beneficiary changes hands and the funder will be responsible to pay the premiums. Any possible taxation that may occur with a settlement payout is the responsibility of the original policy-owner. In general, however, the amount of the original investment is not taxed, but it is taxed up to the cash surrender value. Anything over that amount is often subject to capital gains tax. The settlement company may also contact the insured individual in the future to find out about his or her current health status.

In some states such as New York, there are no regulations set in place to monitor or control life settlements. In fact, agents do not require certification or training in some cases making the choice of a reliable institution extremely important. Understanding the process and choosing reliable and expert help is the best way to make the experience a smooth and easy transaction.

Please note that IFG Insurance is not offering legal or tax advice. Any discussion of taxes included in or related to this document is for general informational purposes only. Current tax law is subject to interpretation and legislative changes. You should consult with your legal and tax advisors.

By Christine Harrell

Structured Settlements - Have Your Cake and Eat it Too

Is there really such a thing as a good problem? Some might say so. My aunt comes to mind. Back in the 1980s she won two million dollars in the lottery. How could that be any kind of problem you ask. Well, when the lottery people asked her if she wanted the money all at once or in monthly payments over 20 years, she took the payments, and regretted it right up until she got the last one.

I don't know exactly how much she got every month but she claimed it wasn't enough to live on so she had to keep her job. In hindsight, what she would have rather done was take the lump sum, which would have been less than the whole two million, and invested it. That way, by wisely placing part or all of the money in a high-yield investment, she could have had monthly income that far exceeded what the lottery folks were paying each month. So much for hindsight.

What she ended up learning, though it was too late to be of any use, is that she could have sold her winnings and received a lump sum of cash. How does this work? Well, there are companies and investors who are willing to buy income streams or payments. Monthly lottery payments qualify for this as do private mortgage note payments, annuity payments, structured settlements, royalties and several other types of steady payment streams. What happens is, based on the type of payments one might be receiving, an investor or company dealing in purchasing such assets will examine the type of payment a person is getting and make them an offer on the remaining payments.

Just like any state lottery commission, investors don't pay the full face value for these payments. Sometimes the reasons may not seem logical but the simple answer is, a lump sum today, even when discounted, is more valuable than the promise of a stream of future payments. I'm reminded of the old saying, "a bird in the hand..."

But many of the companies offering such a service are quite creative. They are able to offer more than one way to receive money up front and at the same time, still leave the seller with some of their payments. There are arrangements where such a company would pay cash up front in exchange for a portion of the payment. It might work like this: Sally is receiving payments of $600 monthly for 10 years on an accident settlement. She wants cash today. In exchange for a cash payment now, she evenly splits her monthly payment with an investor. So, she gets a lump sum of cash today and continues to receive $300 for the next ten years.

Another possibility would be that someone holding an annuity or receiving payments on a private mortgage note might assign his or her rights to receive, say, the next five years of payments in exchange for a lump sum today. After the five years has passed, the individual would revert to collecting his monthly payments.

There are many ways to structure such transactions depending on the needs of both the asset holder and the asset investor. Often the asset holder can have the best of both worlds. That is, they get to receive a lump sum up front while preserving the right to resume collecting payments in the future or receiving partial payments for the remainder of the term - like having your cake and eating it too.

By Jared Emin

The Entitlement Epidemic - Eroding Our Financial Future?

Today, it seems all too common that young people have very little appreciation for the concept of "work ethic". The implications of this as it relates to the near crisis financial statistics in North America are huge.

Jobs are prolific and as a result, many young people don't seem to understand commitment or work ethic. They expect to have everything they want, when they want it; and when they don't they just move on, leaving a wake of hard-working, committed business owners and managers behind. They will often not move on quietly either. If they expect something they don't receive, they can be verbally abusive to the innocent shopkeeper behind the counter.

Their expectations are so high they become impatient or don't even see the value in what they're doing or learning at the time. Their respect for work and for training is negligible.

What I've discovered from sharing my story with my peers about a young employee I had is that everyone has at least one version and often multiple versions of the same story.

In North America, our youth are still looking for job security and high pay, with complete flexibility and lots of time off. They are still telling themselves they will save a lot of money so they can buy a house in 5 years' time and save for retirement after that. They are completely closed-minded to the idea that you can learn how to buy real estate and create income in other ways besides working at whatever job seems to offer the highest pay and most rewards at the time.

Personal debt levels are at record highs and savings rates at record lows. The way out of this mess is not to cut back spending and save more money. The answer is to learn how to earn more money and to re-ignite the entrepreneurial spirit in young people like it has been for people in overseas countries - namely China and India.

Yes, today's youth are facing an uncertain future, as the largest and most powerful generation in the world, the baby boomers, will be retiring. And yes, there are organizations that support and recognize the youth who will become our future leaders. There are also some amazing young people who get inspired by a cause and commit their time, and their piggy bank to do what many adults don't even think of doing. The question is, will enough of our youth be ready and prepared to take on the challenges their generation faces? Is there enough training and support to raise financially independent, hard-working, inspired, future leaders?

The young person in my story decided she wasn't getting the training she wanted despite being paid to review a very expensive CD program from one of the top professionals in her field. After less than 2 months, she decided she wanted more security and to be involved personally with the company's consultants. I'm not sure what she expected besides her regular paycheck but she certainly wasn't going to be the junior person in a start-up organization and have personal access to $1000-an-hour consultants. She decided to look for work while continuing to accept the payment for her training then gave 2 days' notice and expected to be paid the day she left - hmm.

I guess I should be so lucky; my brother owns a catering company and has shown up many times for work to find that the person who was supposed to start early on food preparation for that day just didn't show up because they were too tired from being out late the night before.

There are also the poor employers of young people who don't service the clients because a) it's their break time or b) the request by the customer is something they don't want to do or c) it was slightly outside the normal course of business.

The bottom line is the entitlement mentality is becoming an epidemic. And that's a problem because this Generation Y, as its known, expects to have all the benefits the current generation has worked hard for without the commitment to make it happen. There are too few young leaders who take up the challenges of our society. Those that do step up need support, and unfortunately this means they will have to work alongside the growing number of youth who jump from job to job and pay for things on credit they don't have money for, and then look to parents or the government to bail them out when they can't make things work for themselves.

One of my favorite success stories is a young woman who opted to work as consultant, rather than settling for an entry-level job right out of school. Her income jumped from $1500 per month to $7500 in 4 months because she followed her passion. Another young woman I know (still in high school) is very interested in fashion. Rather than take a retail job she found a way to open her own "shop" in the back of another store.

There are examples all around of young people who are making a difference - just a few more of them who aren't. It's time for business owners, teachers, parents, and other would-be "mentors" to stop bailing out our young people. "Generation Y" needs to take responsibility for their actions and to be committed to the decisions they make. We have to help more of them learn to earn a living for themselves so they understand the commitment and responsibility the people who employ them take on when they hire them.

We have to help them understand that when they learn these skills they actually can have the securities and freedoms they want when they want them. We have to help them learn how to earn so they can be part of the change we so desperately need in North America to maintain our independence and financial freedoms.

By Tracy Piercy

How To Find A Debt Consolidation Specialist That You Can Really Trust

Nowadays it seems like it's just too easy to find yourself in high levels of debt before you even realize it's happening. With the easy availability of credit cards, and the usual circumstances that life throws at us, it's an easy fix to just use your credit card to make ends meet. The end result is a lot of unwanted debt. If you need to get your debt under control, then a debt consolidation specialist may be the answer.

Basically, a debt consolidation specialist's job is to help you work out how to get your debt back under control. They can help you with strategies to eliminate your debt, and also teach you good financial management skills so that you don't accumulate more debt once the current problem is resolved. If you know you need to do something, but just aren't sure what it is you need to do, then a debt consolidation specialist can help you.

Debt consolidation specialists are reasonably easy to find. Usually there will be a number of different agencies in your area that specialize in this type of service. Ask around family and friends for referrals. Will recent high growth levels in personal debt, more debt consolidation companies have appeared on the scene in order to help you get your money troubles back on track. If you're comfortable using the Internet, you will be able to find resources online as well. Websites can help you find a specialist in your area who can assist you with your financial education.

There's no debt that having high levels of debt can be a very stressful and insecure feeling. Many people try to resolve the problem themselves, and only find their stress levels go up and the debt still doesn't seem to go down. Learning about financial responsibility from a specialist in debt consolidation can make a huge difference, helping you through the hard times and showing you how to move forward. This knowledge is with you for life, so you can apply the lessons learned and relax a little.

It's not enough to just pay off your existing debt, although that's a very important part of debt consolidation. Once the debt is paid off, you still need to make sure you don't start to accumulate any more. Reverting to your old ways of irresponsible spending and bad money choices will soon find you right back where you started, if not in more debt than you were before. That's why it's important that the debt consolidation specialist also gives you good financial strategies that you can continue to apply in the future. Making changes can be tough, but with good guidance it can be done, and you can avoid getting into debt again.

So if debt is a major problem in your life, take the time to find a debt consolidation specialist in your area and spend some time with them working through your situation. You'll be so glad you did, once the stress of debt is removed from your life and you're able to move on financially.

By Tim Gorman

Life Insurance Purchases Amongst Young People Falls

Protection specialists LifeSearch have released figures showing that life insurance bought by young people aged 35 years and under, had dropped by 5% compared to the previous 12 months. Young persons life protection policies had made up just 31% of all life cover written by LifeSearch during this period.

Policy advisor for LifeSearch, Matt Morris, commented about the falling sales figures that "This shows a worrying trend that the UK protection gap will continue to grow."

Despite life insurance being less expensive for younger people because of their age and perceived better health, which helps to keep premiums low, the research suggests that as well as falling sales figures, young people are making unwise product choices.

People aged between 18 and 29 who have no dependants, are nearly six times more likely to insure their life rather than their income. Those that insured their life stood at 74 per cent, whilst insurers of income were a mere 13 per cent.

Morris said, "Although the average age of first time buyers is probably rising, many younger people still have debts, mortgages and families that need financial protection in the event of the main income provider being unable to work."

In addition to these figures, only 12 per cent of young people aged between 18 and 29 said they felt that had purchased a product which best suited their own circumstances. Instead of basing their decision on which policy to buy on comprehensiveness of cover or suitability of the product, 37 per cent said they chose the policy on price alone.

These figures lead to the Head of Protection Strategy, Kevin Carr to say, "Clearly more work needs to be done to reach the 35 and under age group so they fully understand why protection is important and which type of cover is best for the individual needs. Many are either buying no financial protection at all, or are relying on the internet to get the best deal, which might work for car insurance, but not with financial protection."

However, research commissioned by TCP Lifesystems showed that around a third of people aged between 18 and 24 felt that the process of buying a life insurance policy was too invasive and the sales approaches adopted by insurance companies were too aggressive.

Further figures to come out of the research showed that 32 per cent of people aged under-25 described the sales approach and procedure as uncomfortable.

TCP's business development director, Ashley Hale commented, "With 81 per cent of those individuals surveyed being happy to share medical details if this speeds up the process, then this suggests that with a well designed expert system, there is scope to radically increase the proportion of business that is underwritten at the point of sale. On the other hand, the under-25 age range appears to have greater concerns about sharing their medical information.

Perhaps we have to think more about these different attitudes when we design our processes and procedures. It's apparent that one size doesn't fit all."

By Phil Benson

Work From Home Business - Put Yourself In A Critical Condition

There is a famous saying by Donald Trump: "As long as you're going to think anyway, you might as well think big." So make sure that you have a big or monumental goal in work from home business. It is very natural then, that you will ask yourself "How do I achieve this big goal in work from home based business?"
Our brain plays an important role when we set our goal and formulating plan of work from home based business to achieve it. When our brain is given a choice to do something or to put it off, it will pull us towards the more comfortable path, especially if the goal is so difficult to achieve.

However, when we make it as a must no matter how big it is, our brain will start taking us seriously and we will always find a way to succeed in our work from home based business!
Therefore, to ensure that you achieve your big goal in work from home business, you must put yourself in a critical condition where you have absolutely no choice but to achieve the goal. You put yourself on the line where there is no doubt that the only option is to succeed in your work from home business. You focus on success, you think success, you breathe success, and you dream success -- in work from home based business! As Benjamin Disraeli said, "Life is too short to be small."

Many successful individuals created the results in their work from home based business because they simply had no choice. They put themselves in critical condition (their future was at stake) and this action eventually led them to successfully achieve their goals!
Likewise, you must know what is worth dying for. Spend some time reflecting this: "What in life would I not be able to stop doing, no matter what the consequences were?" Tell yourself that you will succeed in working from home business, no matter what!
You must ensure that your goal is STAMPS: Specific, Time-limited, Action-oriented, Measurable, Purpose-driven and Stretching.

Specific.
The goal must be clearly spelled out.
Time-limited. The goal must have a time frame and deadline which will force you to watch and put your best efforts to fulfill.

Action-oriented.
The goal must inspire action.
Measurable. You must be able to measure the goal so that you can express its progress using figures of measurement.

Purpose-driven.
The goal must be reasonable, i.e. it has a strong 'Why' behind it.
Stretching. The goal must be very challenging, something which pushes you and yet is achievable.

To ensure that you achieve your big STAMPS goal in work from home based business, put yourself in a critical condition using these five strategies:

1. "Burn the ships."

You put everything you have on the line. Of the five strategies, this is the most daring strategy because the stake is very big.
In 1519, Hernan Cortez sailed his fleet of 11 ships from Spain into the harbor of Vera Cruz, Mexico, bringing with him soldiers, sailors, and horses. He landed there on 4 March 1519. Cortez didn't want his troops to have any doubts about their mission, so he ordered to burn the ships to make retreat impossible. His men no doubt understood that Cortez was very serious about this mission and really wanted results, and that they must focus on victory.
When I quitted from my profession to start work from home business, I was tempted to go back to my old job when I didn't earn money yet from my work from home online opportunity. However, I realized that if I didn't 'burn my ships' then I won't fight very hard to succeed in work from home business.

2. Set a monumental goal.

You deliberately set a highly challenging and monumental goal in work from home business with adequate time limit so that you will be forced to take a lot of thinking and efforts to achieve it. Tom Hopkins said, "You can't rest unless you set goals that make you stretch." However, boldly saying that you'll successfully do something without the capacity -- skills or resources -- to do it is just bragging.
In 1508, Michelangelo, the famous artist, was summoned by Pope Julius II to work on a painting project, which involved painting a dozen figures on the ceiling of Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Once Michelangelo agreed to do the job (albeit reluctantly), he poured himself into it. He expanded the scope of the project to include more than 400 figures and nine scenes from the book of Genesis. He spent four agonizing years sweating in physical distress -- his neck, shoulders and back ached, and his vision was damaged -- as he worked to paint the Sistine Chapel's ceiling to produce a real masterpiece.
What is your monumental goal in your work from home business? How much will you earn in 2010 by maximizing the work from home online opportunity?

3. Make a public declaration of your goal.

You make your goal and plans public, so that you will be more committed to following through with them. Thomas Edison called a press conference to announce his good idea for an invention. Then he'd go into his lab and invent it.
Who should you declare your goal of work from home business to so that there is no way you will leave the work from home online opportunity?

4. Get other people involved in the process of attaining your goal.

You share your goal in work from home business with some close friends or relatives, those who will be supportive to you. This will force you to be committed to achieve your goal, and at the same time you may also get valuable support, advice and information from them to pursue work from home online opportunity. Tennessee Williams said, "Life is partly what we make it, and partly what is made by the friends we choose."

5. Make a financial commitment on your goal.

You set your goal in work from home business associated with financial commitment, such that it will hurt you not to do it. What is the extra money you are committed to make in work from home based business? When it comes to real commitment on money, people tend to be more serious and determined, and put their thought and actions whole-heartedly. As Voltaire properly put it, "When it's a question of money, everybody is of the same religion."

By putting yourself in a critical condition, you put yourself on the line and tell yourself that the only option is to succeed in work from home business. Failure is not an option regardless the immense obstacles. You force your mind, body and soul to focus your efforts and play all-out to achieve your big goal in work from home business successfully and pay the price to reach it.
Make a solemn commitment in your heart to achieve your goal. Commitment is the inner strength that keeps you pressing on when everyone else tells you to give up, and getting up no matter how many times you are knocked down in pursuing work from home online opportunity.

The only real measure of commitment is action -- walking your talk. Therefore, measure your commitment based on your action: how much time you spend in work from home business, in service, with family, etc. Then see if your actions match your ideals about the things in your life which you would not be able to stop doing. As Cecil B. De Mille said, "The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly." Take action to start work from home business.

By Tessie Setiabudi

How You Too Can Become A Millionaire – The Six Dynamic Steps Of Wealth Creation

Firstly, it is imperative that you develop a strong and burning desire to be rich and successful - and truly know that you are as deserving to fulfill this desire as anyone else on this wonderful planet.
Developing this unquenchable desire will give you the fearsome will power to overcome the many temptations that will arise to lead you away from the path of wealth creation mastery. I use the word ‘mastery’ for good reason. I encourage you to become your own Master.

I want you to start taking the personal responsibility for your own financial future. Know that it is not merely “ask and it shall be given unto you” more “demand and insist of your higher self that you exercise your right to abundance”! This abundance can be likened to an ocean. Some people come to this ocean with thimbles to fill while others bring huge buckets. Others still choose to remain away from the waters edge. The ocean cares not.

So no more pathetic shilly-shallying - stop dreaming about how nice it would be to be rich – get off your buttocks, stop playing that childish “victim role game” and start your wealth creation program without delay. Promise yourself that this time you will damn well stick to it.
Secondly, you must be crystal clear on your objective and know exactly what “being a millionaire (or a multi-millionaire) is.”
No, don’t go getting your back up! You don’t know exactly! If you fully understood, you would already be wealthy! If you are unsure of where you are going, you can be sure you won’t get there. So if you are one of those who proclaim, “I want to make heaps of money” or “I am not making ends meet – I need a huge income or extra cash” – forget this article – go elsewhere. Come back when you really want to succeed at amassing a great fortune.

“A millionaire is a person whose total assets, if sold off in a non-fire-sale situation, would bring (after tax obligations - if any) a net minimum of $1,000,000.00”
Now just to get you even angrier, I’m going to say that again. “A millionaire is a person whose total assets if sold off in a non-fire-sale situation would bring (after tax obligations - if any) a net minimum of $1,000,000.00”
Oh you knew that did you? OK smarty-pants, then tell me what is the total of your realizable net assets right now? What? You don’t know? You can only make a rough guess? Not good enough. There’s only one thing worse than not knowing where you are going, it’s not knowing where you are right now to get there!

So get that list going NOW! The total will be your WEALTH TOTAL right NOW. All we need to do is to increase that total way past the million-dollar mark and hey, you can then call yourself a millionaire. I aim to convince you that millionaire status is so easy to achieve and that you will be guaranteed to have immense fun upon this awesome journey.

OK so you have now fired up your passion, you know where you are going and where you are right now. Now fourthly, I want to make this bone headed statement that will bound to get your hair standing up. “Up till now you’ve been a lousy dead beat business-person!”
“Yikes Charles, I find your methods insulting – why I haven’t even been in business! So you are dead wrong there!”
Oh haven’t you? Are you sure? Let’s get the birds eye view. Please consider:
A business has a gross annual income (turnover) and from that total pays all overheads. From the net income or profit (if any) tax is payable. Now the amount that is left, can either be used to create wealth - or it can be spent on non-wealth creating products or services - for example, spending the surplus on a vacation etc.

Similarly, a working person or couple has a combined gross annual income (turnover) and from that total pays all domestic overheads. Now the amount that is left, can either be used to create wealth - or it can be spent on non-wealth creating products or services - for example, spending the surplus on a vacation etc.
You can see from the above that in both examples – there is income – there are expenses/out goings and hopefully something left at the end that one can optionally spend. So I will repeat, “Up till now you’ve been a lousy dead beat business-person!”
Now most “business” folks are like rudderless ships on a stormy sea being tossed around at the mercy of the elements. That is why statistics continually prove that most people “regardless of income” end up on the rocks of financial instability.

They spend their lives being too busy trying to make or earn money to become super rich. So lets once and for all, short cut this whole tedious process and change the mind set from “making money” to “Creating Wealth.”
Fifthly: Clearing out the dross in your life to make room for the new is the next important step. The dross I talk of comes under three general headings - habits, people and goods and chattels. Why not begin to replace the costly time wasting and money consuming habits with the habit of wealth creation? Why not begin to replace the hangers on in your life with people who are also on the success path? Enough said: I leave the “habits and people” headings up to you, however the unwanted “goods and chattels” will be the seed of your million-dollar fortune. Be vicious! Go through all your goods and chattels and everything you don’t need or use, put to one side for your garage or boot sale (even if you are emotionally attached). Ask your friends and relatives to “donate” to the greatest cause on Earth – your future millionaire status.

Then have your sale and raise your seed money. Ah! Ah. Yes, you may only get a hundred or so dollars out of it and you may have that much already in the bank but do as I say. Eat humble pie – it’s good for you. You cannot learn by always taking the easy way out. If you can’t create the seed, do not expect to create the fruits.
Sixthly - Now there exists two main techniques of wealth creation you should know about. To this day I still use both techniques as separate streams of wealth creation. I call them the arbitrage-compound system or the straight multiplier system. The arbitrage-compound system works on buying in bulk very cheaply and selling at bargain basement prices so that customers almost queue up for more. Your mark up will only be between 25% - 27%. Why? Because your compounding capital doubles every 3 rotations. EG Alice, one of my students, used this method to kick start her wealth program.

From her seed money, she bought of all things, a popular brand of coffee beans in bulk and packaged them up in 500 gram cellophane packets. Supplying her work mates, friends and neighbors her $130.00 soon grew to well over $5,000.00 of supplies of coffee. Alice then branched out and now has several items she buys at around $400.00 and resells at about $500.00. By the time you read this article Alice’s wealth total, in her still part time wealth program, will have steamed past the $100,000.00 mark. Now Alice IS NOT running a business. She is Wealth Creating. Can you see the difference?

The straight multiplier system is where you will look for items upon which you know you can at least double or triple your money. Initially go to boot and garage sales and charity shops, auctions etc. Buy bargains at give away prices. Sell them on Ebay or advertise on the local shopping centers’ bulletin boards. As you sell keep buying and doubling and tripling your money. Do not spend even one cent of these funds on anything except your wealth program. Allow your wealth program to multiply till your asset sheet exceeds the first $100,000.00.

Once that level has been reached your apprenticeship is over. The second $100,000.00 in wealth (assets) will be achieved in about one third of the time of the first and so on. Two things you will notice: Bargains and opportunities to buy will arise continuously so you can afford to be oh, so choosy. The second point to keep in mind is that time is relatively immaterial.
Make sure you keep your asset or wealth list up to date. Aim to increase it by X amount of dollars each and every week and keep setting your own personal bar higher.

By Charles Goodwin

How To Manage Investment Volatility

When the market is on a bull run, as it was in the earlier part of the year, or during the first half of 2007, investors tend to neglect risks. However recent events (triggered by US subprime and financial meltdown) demonstrated that investing in stock markets isn't for the faint of heart. A case in point is that for the past few months, wild swings of daily stock market indexes by few percentage points were common. How does one manage his or her portfolio in such volatility? For some, unloading all their stocks and keep all their CASH safely in the bank may sound the safest option. Others may switch part or entire portfolio to other safer instruments such as gold or commodities, or cash instruments.
Getting It Right From The Start
While timing everything right seems impossible, there are better ways to manage one's portfolio. Essentially, getting it right at the start is important. One will worry less if one's portfolio is structured right to start off with, that is, maintain an asset allocation strategy based on one's personal risk profile at the very first place. With asset allocation, diversify one's portfolio is the key, in order to reduce over dependence of a specific asset class, that is.

Diversify

One such method is to consider various instruments that have low correlation to one another. For example, while directly investing in individual stocks has good direct exposure, consider investing in unit trusts or ETFs, where typically the funds will be invested in a basket of stocks instead of one individual stock. In principal, stocks tend to be a lot more volatile than equity unit trusts for the reason that funds tend to be more diversified because they are invested in multiple stocks.
Other low correlation asset classes include bonds, commodities (gold, metals) and real estate properties. Gold is a perfect case in point, where prices have escalated by around 50% from 2007 to-date due to sky rocketing crude oil prices and perception of safe-heaven characteristic.

Adopt Mid to Long Term Horizon

The longer the time horizon is, the more volatility one can tolerate as one has more time to recover from short term volatility. Putting a mid to long term strategy in place will certainly allow an investor to take into consideration factors that will affect one's portfolio, such as market cycles, political stability and economic swings.

Stay Objective

While i agree that investing in general should be taken with a long term perspective, it is not a hard and fast rule as it is also important to stay objective and be alert to potential major changes in business or economic environment from both local and global perspective. For example, while investing in China equity at one point (prior to 2007) may be a great idea tapping into the explosive growth of Chinese companies, an investor should consider unloading some or all of the funds invested to else where when Chinese stocks were trading at lofty and unrealistic valuations. Another example is when subprime issues first surfaced, it is wise to find out from the brokers or agents immediately where their property trust funds were invested. It is wise to liquidate such investments when the stakes are high!

Invest Regularly

Invest regularly is also a good way to manage periodic market volatility. For many this could be in the form of monthly investment, directly from their monthly income or retirement fund savings. In essence one will continue to invest a particular sum of money regardless of whether the market rises or falls. This method is also commonly termed as Dollar Cost Averaging.
One may choose to invest more regularly during the bull market and less regularly during the bear market. However, again there is really no hard and fast rule, it all depends on each individual's risk profile and preference.

By PS Thoo

How To Magnify And Multiply Your Wealth

Let me give you an example. Let's compare a doctor and Madonna. Now who creates more value? Who creates more value per person? I would say a doctor because a doctor can save your life, a heart specialist. Madonna can only make you feel good about yourself by listening to music. But why does Madonna make, a million times more than a heart specialist?
Why? Because Madonna has this thing called scalability or leverage.

Now, let's talk about magnification.
For a doctor, he spends 3 hours on a patient but he can only save one patient. But for Madonna, in those 3 hours of singing in a concert, 5,000 people hear her songs so her value is magnified.
For myself, when I was starting out my mobile disco business, how did I magnify myself? By running disco parties so by playing that one song, I reach out to 200 of my friends magnifying my value versus just selling stationery. That is how you magnify your value.
Right now, for the training sessions I conduct, one training session is about a hundred to 200 people so our value is magnified

The next thing is multiplication. How can you do something once and you're paid again and again and again over and over again? Back to the Madonna example, Madonna may spend 3 hours to record an audio CD and she just has to spend that 3 hours
But every time the CD is sold, she's paid again and again and again and again for the next 20 years. But for the doctor who spends those 3 hours on the heart patient, he only gets paid once. So that's where you must learn how to create incomes such that it multiplies. And I would say that there are a couple of ways.

The first way is to leverage on intellectual property. Your intellectual asset, Coming up with an idea, a patent, an invention, you can license it to someone and each time that product is sold, you get paid again and again and again. Let me give you an example here. There was this gentleman that came up with this idea. It all started with a problem. He bought a bunch of batteries. And he was frustrated because he didn't know whether the battery was flat or was because his tape recorder didn't work.
So what he did was he took a metal device to put it at the ends of the battery, to test the energy of the battery. And he found that he the batteries still had energy. And he said, wouldn't it be cool if every single battery that was sold came with this battery tester? It was not a difficult invention. It was a matter of putting these 2 diodes together to measure the electricity. So he approached, Duracell and said, you know guys, I got this fantastic invention. It's a small piece of metal that allows people to test the power of the battery when they buy and use the battery.

And you know what? I am not going to sell you this invention. I am going to rent it to you. If you use my invention, just pay me 3 cents for every battery you sell. Now 3 cents may not be worth a lot but imagine if Duracell sells millions of batteries a year worldwide. And this guy gets 3 cents for every battery. This guy gets millions of dollars a year in royalties again and again and again. What could be your idea? If lets say you are a fantastic cook, you're a fantastic chef, could you come up with an idea for a recipe and for example, license that idea to a food manufacturer who sells frozen food in the supermarket and get paid a royalty or a license every time? Like Sarah Lee for example, everytime you buy her cake, she gets paid a percentage of that.

These examples illustrate the power of scalability, leverage, magnification and multiplication. How can you apply it for yourself? Think about it, the rewards can be potentially huge.

By Adam Khoo

How You Can Create A Burning Desire For Your Wealth

If you read the book “think and grow rich” you will see that the author describes desire as “the turning point of all achievement”. He goes on and says that all the rich and successful became rich because they had a BURNING DESIRE to accumulate it.
I suppose that why the book is entitled “think and grow rich”. All of us become a result of what we put in our minds. In any walk of professional life, you become what you aspire to. If athletes aspire to run 100m in 10 seconds, they will devote their entire lives to training in order to achieve this. They will train hard and also they will imagine themselves doing it.
It’s the exact same with your financial dreams. If you become “money conscious” and see yourself attaining the money, you will eventually walk the path and act out what you imagine in your brain. As they say
“Its not how good you are, it’s how badly you want it”
After you read this entire e-book, thought and images will come into your brain as how you want to build your business and accumulate money. I want you to come back to this chapter when you have finished the e-book and go through the five steps here

1. Fix in your mind, the exact amount of money you desire. (Think Huge!)
2. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the wealth you desire (There is no such thing in life as a free lunch so you have to decide what you have to give in return for the money, be it time, investment in information, etc)
3. Establish a definite date when to intend to possess the money you desire. This will give you focus and direction. (Hint: Give yourself at least 12 – 18 months)
4. Create a Definite Plan for carrying out your desire for your wealth. Begin straight way (anything that you can’t decide on will become obvious as you move forward but you must continue to move forward!)
5. Read out aloud this statement to yourself every day until your desires and goals have been achieved “ I will never give up, I will never ever give up”

No 5 in my view is the most important of all the points listed. You see, I am not an internet or computer or html expert. And if I was asked the question,” Who has the better chance of making it big online, a computer genius or a rookie”. Now everyone would probably say the genius and that may very well be true but my answer would always be “the one that wants it the most and will never give in”. NEVER GIVE UP my friend and I promise success will find you

By Jack Foley

6 Factors to Activate Your Wealth - You Are Rich And You Did Not Know It!

You already have a sizable amount of wealth karma waiting to be unlocked in your life. If you have been doing everything that the financial experts advise and still find yourself in a financially compromised situation, then you need to know the deeper reasons why.

Here are tips and methods to stop the hidden waste of wealth that is happening in your life. Do this and get the results--get rich and wealthy. Make no mistake--this is not a get-rich-quick tip-sheet, but solid tried and tested solutions. The information here can change the foundation of your life and everything that you do.

The Foundations of Wealth Building
If you have explored many ways and methods to correct your wealth and finance situation and still come up short, then you need to rebuild the foundations in the structure of your wealth building efforts. In addition to monetary assets, wealth energy encompasses other assets, of which two are of great importance--relationships and knowledge.

One of the things we often lack is the ability to act on wealth building intelligence that we might have or receive. This may be due to anxiety, indecision, or simply lack of knowledge of the subject. This results in a speculation or gambling type of thinking that we then believe is the way to create wealth. This is a situation of frustration and certain loss.

Any benefits that we receive in life are based on our relationships with others and things happening around us. Authentic knowledge gives us information we can act upon and possibly benefit from. To rectify the balance of our relationships with wealth building energies we need to ask ourselves a few questions and address some issues we may have in our existing state of affairs.

Creating the Wealth Foundation
Shortage of money, income, lack of wealth, can truly be a cause of great pain and suffering. Shortage means that we do not have enough financial energy to take care of our basic living needs and those of our dependents. In the first instance, there are six things we need to look at in correcting the balance of wealth energies.

1. Cleaning up the physical environment
2. Cleaning up the energy environment
3. Stopping waste of wealth energies
4. Attracting wealth energies
5. Protection of wealth energies
6. Growth of wealth energies

Six Factors to Activate Wealth Energies
The first three are very important because wealth stays only where it is treated well--just as a good friend would. It would help if you think of 'wealth' as a friend who is somewhat particular where he or she stays and how they are treated. Is the environment friendly and clean? Is the wealth treated with respect? Are there other factors that prevent the entry of wealth or lead to a depletion of the wealth friend's beneficial energies?
In order to grow wealth, just as in a productive garden, you need to prepare the ground, till the soil, add the nutrients, make available the light and air.
That is covered by the first three factors. The next three factors have to do with actual creation and maintenance of the wealth energies. Once you have a growing crop in your wealth garden, there are predators, bugs and disease that can strike your growing wealth. Learn how to protect your wealth energies.
Methods and techniques for these above listed six factors are being made available in detail at the link given below. Following the steps given there you will create the foundation for your wealth building. Consider this as Day 1 of your new financial life. Subsequent 'Days' will give you increased levels of benefit as you progress to activating your wealth energies that have been lying dormant or have been drained away. We wish you well in your wealth building efforts.

By Nalin K. Nirula and Renoo Nirula

Marketing Yourself - Your Wealth Creation Checklist

You can avoid getting depressed about being unable to earn a living from skills you've taken a lifetime to acquire. Skills employers dismiss on the basis of your age. Baby boomers have an oversupply of a marketable commodity many consider worthless. Life Experience is what they have plenty of.

As a baby boomer you hold the bulk of the world's knowledge and talent in your heart and head. You need a fresh revelation that whatever you learned to enter the work force - and to stay there - has a value to the rest of the community.
The secret lies in the packaging.

Convert your knowledge and skills into information products and you will have created a Cash Cow that will last more than 20 years.
Information is one of the hottest products on the market today. You can successfully sell information products, relating to your workplace skills, on the internet providing you make use of the product development strategy of the experts.

It’s one of their best kept secrets. Would you like to know what it is ?
OK. They have a checklist they go through when developing each of their products. You can secure your own success by applying this checklist to every potential information product you are wanting to launch.

Here it is.
The Experts Information Product Development Checklist
1. Does the Product Solve a Problem ?
Does the potential information product, based on your babyboomer work skills and knowledge solve a know problem for a group of people?
Experts will not consider launching a product unless it provides a clearly identified and developed solution.
You will have seen many information products promising to assist users to launch a business on the internet. In most cases, in the sales letter for these products the authors will identify and explain the problem for which their product provides a solution.

2. Is It Unique?
Does the product have a USP? The experts spend considerable time developing their product’s Unique Selling Proposition.
They have used the economist’s trade tool , Product Differentiation, very successfully. It involves identifying, knowing, and being able to clearly explain to your client, the one feature that makes your product different from all those of your competitors.
As a babyboomer you will have a high level of product knowledge and will have little trouble working out the USP.
To get this right make sure you can explain your USP to a loved one first. Have them give you some honest and open feedback on how easy it was to understand your presentation.

3. Will Clients See It As Valuable?
In particular will they see it as having a value many times the price. One of the best ways to illustrate this is to us the example given by one of the experts. He holds up a dollar in a seminar and ask who would be interested in buying it .

There are no takers.
Then he holds up the same dollar and asks who would be interested in buying it for a nickel. A sea of hands shoot up. We all love value for money. If you are going to sell a $30 product make sure your clients view it as having at least $100 value. That can be achieved by offering valuable free bonuses with your product.
Before you went from work to "refirement" - hopefully missing the retirement experience altogether - you worked for years at a job where you were paid once for every hour you worked.

Today as an babyboomer information product marketer you can choose to work a few hours to create products and then get paid over and over for the same work output every time someone buys one of your information products.
You will no longer work for money. Money will work for you as you market yourself by creating information products based on your lifetime work experience.

By Kenneth Little

Visualization Tips

If you are having trouble with visualizations don't worry you're not the only one!
Visualization is the process of making mental pictures and is a powerful technique used to help you focus your attention what you desire. People often come to me expressing concern that they are doing something wrong because they are having trouble seeing what they want.

Not everyone has a widescreen movie theater on the inside of their eyelids. Some people close their eyes and see absolutely nothing! Just blackness or spots, but not a picture.
Whether you know it or not you can visualize. To practice, try visualizing something you already have. It can be anything you want but to start off try something you see or do everyday. If it's something you are already familiar with the easier this will be.

For example: Think of your favourite chair...

What does it look like?
What colour is it?
Is it upholstered in leather or suede or some other fabric?
Has it got a hole in the armrest or is it in perfect condition?
Is it a lovely soft and snuggly kind of chair?
Is it an antique?
Imagine yourself sitting in your chair.
How good do you feel at the end of a hard day when you get to put your feet up and relax in that chair?
Feel the tension ease away as you blob out in your favourite chair.
How do you feel after you have been relaxing there?

Once you master visualizing simple everyday things you can let your imagination run wild! When you visualize try and be as specific as possible but most importantly remember to attach emotion to it.
A great way to think of it is more as feel-ization rather than visualization. It's the emotion attached to what we are focusing on that gives power to our thoughts.

If you think back to when you were a child, the things you are most likely to remember are the experiences that have a strong feeling or emotional attachment. Like the excitement of Christmas morning or the dreaded visit to the dentist!
When you remember an experience that has a strong emotional attachment it's almost as if you are there. This is what you need to feel when visualising. Focus on the outcome you desire not on how you are going to achieve it. Feel as if you already have what you want!

Children are great at visualizing. They get right into the experience. When a child is running around playing Spiderman, He IS Spiderman! When he sings into a hairbrush or plays air guitar, He IS A Rock Star! Children naturally get the essence of Make Believe, it Makes you Believe!

Story Time...
Write a story about what you want or how you you'd like your life to be. Make sure you write it in the present tense.
Write down everything as if you already have it. Go into as much detail as possible and remember to use emotion. Write what you love about your new life as if you are already living it!
Read your story to yourself everyday and feel the excitement and joy in it.
Better still record yourself reading your story and listen to it in the car or on the way to and from work or whenever you feel like it.

Vision Boards...
Another great way to visualize is to create a vision board. Cut out pictures from magazines, newspapers etc or use photos or even drawings of things you really want. Put as many pictures as you like, there are no limits. Just make sure they are things you truly desire. Remember it's the emotion you attach to your visualizations that will bring results.
Paste them onto a large piece of card and hang it on your wall. Make sure you put your vision board someplace you will see it often, every time you see your vision board focus on one of your pictures.

It might be a new car, just imagine how you feel having that car for real! Feel what it's like sitting in that new car. Focus on as many details as you can, e.g. make and model, colour, interior, exterior everything you can think of. Imagine how you feel when you are driving it!
Whatever method you use, the main thing to remember is to use emotion. Make your visualization a fun experience. You want to feel joy and excitement when doing visualizations. The higher your energy levels the better the results. Do whatever it takes to get excited!

If you want a new car...
When you are driving around in your old car "make believe" that it's your new car.
Go to the car dealers and take your dream car for a test drive.
Get a friend to take a photo of you in or next to your dream car.
Hire your dream car for a day.

If you want a new house...
Go and look at houses.
Go to open homes and imagine yourself living there.
Look around for ideas and features that you would like in your own home.
Drive around and see what different areas are like, where do you want your new home to be?

If you want a dream vacation...
Get brochures from travel agents.
Look in travel magazines or on the internet for your ideal retreat.
Write up you own itinerary of all the destinations you would like to see.
If you want to go to Paris put a picture of the Eiffel Tower on your vision board.
Visualizing is just like picking your favourite things out of a catalogue. Once you get started you won't want to stop. Soon you'll find yourself visualizing without prompting, it will become a habit. Habits are formed through repetition. If you practice visualizing everyday the better your results will be.
I hope this helps you to get inspired and start visualizing today!

By Alison Bolger

To Make A Lot Of Money Fast, You Gotta Have A Plan

First, let me say, there is nothing wrong with wanting to make rapid returns on your investments or efforts. That is the point of money. Money buys you time. If you have the desire and need to make a lot of money fast, then I congratulate you because you have recognized that time is worth more than money.

Working in a job 8 hours a day for a few bucks an hour, you can be forgiven as you approach a more mature age, that this style of making money has serious limitations. Particularly, you may notice, that as you get older, time is more valuable and the precious moments you spend swapping them for a few bucks an hour, that it is quite likely that it is the wrong thing to do. You only get one life, and fundamentally, it is there for living.

Of course, to make a lot of money fast, it often is stigmatized as "good and honest people" can see an ethical issue with wanting to make large sums of money fast and they have a point. But it depends on the plan. A good business plan that will facilitate a rapid and large amount of money coming to you is a good plan. Nobody can deny that. The actual point of business plans is to be able to assess an ideas capacity for a return and to consider even if the business idea is even viable.

Making a large amount of money fast is not difficult if you put your mind to it. It all comes down to the planning stage. Finding demand is the first step. There is no point developing a product or service for something people don't want AND are not willing to pay for. The next consideration is your distribution channel. In other words, how will you reach that demand and tell them you have what they are looking for and need.
Finally theres the marketing considerations including pricing and graphical assets that assist in the sales process. These three considerations, A) demand B) distribution channel C) and Marketing are the starting point. Start brain storming and come up with a few ideas and research and flesh out those three key areas. You can make it happen if you are careful in the embryonic planning stage and research your assumptions carefully in all three main areas.

By Martin Thomas

Can A Good Engineer Become A Successful Entrepreneur?

When I joined a big corporation after coming to this country about 25 years ago, I was surprised to hear the following opinion from my manager, a very good administrator with an MBA degree from MIT: "A highly qualified professional is like an important piece of equipment. When you need it, you buy it. When you do not, you get rid of it."

Several years ago, I attended a meeting where a high-ranking executive of a large company spoke about leadership in front of an audience of engineers and scientists. The speaker, whose background was in both business administration and engineering, argued that an engineer or a scientist simply cannot be a high-level leader in an engineering company and should not be even trained to become one.
Furthermore, in-depth technical knowledge should be viewed as a burden, an obstacle that prevents an engineering professional from becoming a successful leader by developing a broad understanding and a clear vision of various administrative, financial, and psychological issues.

Such a viewpoint is widely held, especially in large corporations. But is it right? Is it not because of such a perception that the communication giant AT&T was brought by its leaders from its top position in the world just 20 years ago to its diminished fortunes today? Has the time of Edisons, Fords, Bells, and Marconis gone forever? Could an engineer or an applied scientist make a successful entrepreneur? What skills would one need?

We live in a world that needs creative leadership, and the necessity for effective scientific and technological entrepreneurship is increasing. Rapid technological change and the emerging global marketplace provide challenges for engineers and businessmen. Understanding how to recognize and evaluate market opportunities has become crucial in the new environment.
A technological professional with entrepreneurial skills has a better chance than a business administrator of moving innovations from research into manufacturing and the marketplace.

The professional qualifications of an engineer are not an obstacle, but an important prerequisite for making a business successful. But, of course, it is the engineer's entrepreneurial abilities and business-oriented actions that will make the business successful. These same abilities and actions will make the engineer a valued enabler of society's wealth creation, and not a commodity in the global marketplace.

An engineering entrepreneur should be able to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity; be flexible; "mind someone else's business" in addition to his own; understand and be able to speak the language of other professionals and other entrepreneurs, not necessarily just that of his or her own engineering or business domain; possess effective lateral (functional) thinking and vertical (in-depth) thinking, as well as a team player's attitude; be able to be both a convincing "speaker" and an attentive "listener"; be able to understand, explain, and persuade, and possess courage to take on reasonable risks and responsibilities as a leader.

In addition, an engineering entrepreneur should be a good psychologist and a people-oriented person; have a creative and an inquisitive mind; be internationally conscious; be knowledgeable in foreign languages and cultures; be able to think on the international level and in international terms; exhibit interest in, and possess good knowledge of, foreign values, attitudes, and customs. Communication skills, both oral and written, are important, and computer skills are vital. Such skills have become ingrained into the modern culture, and are no longer only an element of education.

Since most American companies conduct a large share of their manufacturing and sales operations overseas, an engineering entrepreneur should understand the economics and financial aspects of an engineering effort (for example, how to make a product offshore, decide on best buy-vs.-develop strategies, and so on); be goal-oriented, aggressive, highly motivated, and be a creative performer; possess strong analytical and planning skills, as well as negotiating skills.
A thorough understanding of the state-of-the-art in many related areas of engineering is critical, as is a vision for the most promising directions in the development of applied science and engineering.
An engineering entrepreneur should be able to work well in dynamic and rapidly changing environments, under pressure and in short time frames; possess an ability to work effectively across multiple organizations, boards, companies, and departments, and with specialists of different disciplines and fields, and with people of different mentalities, origins, and cultural backgrounds; be willing to learn new things and be receptive to, and have a quick grasp of, new approaches and ideas.
An engineer can and should possess business skills and become a good entrepreneur-that is, guide the business side, as well as the technological side, of a successful enterprise.

By Praise Paul

Make Your Money Work For You

Do you want to know the real truth about how to get wealthy? The answer is very simple. All you need to do is make your money work for you, instead of you having to work for your money.
Talk to all the people who have become wealthy and I bet they’ll all tell you that they make their money work for them.
They may not have started out with any money but they learned that if they were smart with what money they did earn they could make it work for them instead of the other way around. This rule does not discriminate. Every one has an equal chance to do this and it is never too late to start.

Why hasn’t someone explained this to you before you ask? Why didn’t you learn this at school? You are probably like the majority of people who went to school. You went to learn how to get a job and work for money for the rest of your life. Wouldn’t you rather have been taught how to make your money work for you? Did any of your teachers show you how to do this. Not likely. They probably didn’t know how to do it either.

You were probably told from a very early age to get a good education so that you could get a good job. This good job would assure you of a steady income for the rest of your life. If you were lucky, and got a really good job where you earned lots of money, then you might be able to save up enough money for the deposit on a house. Then you could spend the rest of your life paying off your mortgage and hopefully have a few dollars left to save for your retirement.
Did anyone tell you that by the time you get around to retiring, your savings probably wont go very far.
Forget about a pension because there probably won’t be one by the time you retire. Well, if that’s the case then once you retire it won’t be too hard to have to start scrimping and economizing as you’ve done that all your life anyway so you are well qualified. Your only worry now is that you hope that your money won’t run out before you do.

Well before it’s too late, just how do you go about making your money work for you? Well there are dozens of ways you can do this. The first thing you need to do is find out from the experts how they do it. You need to be prepared to start educating yourself on the different options that are available out there.

By Alison Bolger

Seven Secrets To Wealth Creation

Wealth creation is not a matter of luck it is the result of applying an appropriate strategy. Here are seven wealth building secrets that can help you put together your own winning strategy to increase YOUR personal wealth.

Secret 1: Have a Strong Reason To Become Wealthy

You need a stronger motivator than the money. What is the real benefit that you will receive from becoming wealthy? How will your life change for the better? Unless you have an emotionally strong reason to become wealthy, you are unlikely to do what it takes.

Remember that mediocrity in the western world is a pretty good lifestyle and it's easy to achieve. You need some special potential benefit to get you to go the extra mile and achieve wealth.

Secret 2: Find a Strong Market Place

Your wealth has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is called the marketplace. What marketplace are you targeting?

It is important that you choose a marketplace that is strong enough and healthy enough to provide you with all the opportunity you need in order to reach your financial goals.

Secret 3: Have a Strong Vehicle

How are you going to tap into that strong marketplace? You need to have a vehicle that has the potential for providing the results you seek. The vehicle needs to be strong enough that it will do the job you are asking of it, both now and for a reasonable time into the future, regardless of how the market is changing.

Secret 4: Develop or Hire Strong Knowledge

Applied knowledge is power. If you are going to take your vehicle to the heights it needs to achieve in order to provide you with wealth, then you must have the knowledge of how to do that. Some knowledge you need to have yourself and other knowledge you can hire in the form of employees or outsourcing.

What knowledge do you need to add to your knowledge bank and where are you going to get it?

Secret 5: Develop and Tap Into a Strong Network

Nobody gets rich on their own. You need a strong network of contacts, each of whom will play their role in your journey to riches.

Your will need a network of people to help you stay on track. A network to brainstorm with. A network to help you market your vehicle. What is your current network like? Do you have good relationships with all the people who can help you achieve your goals? If not where are you going to find them and how are you going to recruit them into your network?

Secret 6: Have a Strong Risk Management Strategy

The self-made rich don't avoid risk, like the average person does; they find ways to manage risk. When you know why you are becoming wealthy, and you have the right market place and the right vehicle, make sure you also have a strong risk management plan to keep it all on track.

Secret 7: Have a Strong Commitment to Your Success

The last secret, and the most important behind knowing why, is to have a strong commitment to succeeding. Your commitment has to be unshakable. You are highly likely to meet with obstacles along the way and some of them may be very challenging. The thing that will get you over, around, or through those obstacles is a strong, unwavering commitment to achieving your goals.

Now that you have the seven secrets it is up to you to assess how you stand currently on each one, and then to do whatever it takes to bring yourself up to speed so that you will enjoy the fruits of your own wealth creation.

By James Delrojo

Become A Financially Free-Bird

Wealth creation is a real hard work. It is all about skill, patience, shrewdness, knowledge and management. Now, wealth construction can be an easy task for some while some find themselves searching for answers very frequently. Remember that wealth is all about generating a passive income and setting yourselves free from the burden of debt. If you are on the hunt for a racy strategy that can set your money multiplying, reading books and wealth creation experts’ ideas can be good sources to start with. There can also be other tools like interaction with planners. Practical implications are however the most necessary part.

6 Steps to attain financial freedom

1. Make your money work
Put your money to work just like you do. As you go to work everyday, let your money also go to work. Money has a huge potential to multiply by itself if it’s put in the right places at the right situations. Make your assets do the some mathematics. All you need to do is to put them in the best places where they can work and guarantee a passive income to you. The labour of the assets you possess will be enough in the long run and you can stop providing your labour to corporations.

2. Small drops make an ocean
People at times believe that huge money is required to gain huge profits and to catapult passive income. They don’t realize that small investments lead to big ones, just like small drops make an ocean. They have the biased notion that big money to invest means big returns. The idea is to learn how to make money from a scratch. People with loads of money look for wealth management. So kill the myth and open up to better investment options like starting from a scratch.

3. Buy the companies stock, not goods
Investors and stakeholders of a company often buy their goods and services even if they actually don’t need them. Don’t waste your monetary resources on unworthy investments and spending. Rather buying the company’s stock would be a good option.

4. You create your own fortunes
For whatever you do remember that you make or break your own fortunes. Investing wisely in the market can turn out to be far better than lavishly spending your money. Savings can lead to investment and it is upto you to control your own debts.

5. Have a role model
Every big investor today, admires another as a role model. Taking inspiration from your idol, you too can be successful. The first secret is to follow someone who has been successful. Warren Buffet, Robert Kiyoski and many other people have increasingly become rich through their valuable knowledge and guidance from their idols.

6. Learn from errors
Remember that an error becomes a mistake when not rectified .Learn from your errors, have patience, search for loopholes and only then make your decision. Learning from the mistakes of your parents is also a must.

By Will Smithston

Road To Financial Freedom

I was browsing a government intranet forum classified forum and guess what, I saw the topic that I love; FINANCE AND INVESTMENTS. As i was reading all the threads, I saw a pattern in the discussions. Almost 99% of them were unhappy about their income but were criticizing people who has a bigger income and have savings of SGD200k at the age of 31.

Good thing was that they were thinking about wealth, but their mindset were totally wrong! Instead of sharing on how to create a better income and generate ideas to expand their income, they were busy complaining and blaming their fate.

Is this common? I bet it is. People do not want to be rich, they just wish. They wish that they can be rich, buy all the luxuries in the world and retire early. Some wants to be rich, think of ideas, but stop at implementing the ideas. Some implement their ideas( business ideas), failed and never try to improve.

If you ask me, is they a way to be rich? My answer to you is this, being rich is a vague statement!

1)Convert rich to numbers ( 200k?)

2)Set your target (5 years?)

3)Think of ideas on how to multiply your income streams( Be creative!)

4)Ask around and read books on wealth creation ( People are more willing to share their knowledge)

5)Gather as many information as possible

6)review them

7)Improve them

8)Implement them

9)review

10)improve

By Nurazrin Suhadi

Creating A Wealth Conscious Mind Set

Creating wealth is a process that takes determination, perseverance, and a commitment to achievement. Wealth is not something that defines your life completely, but it can help you to have the freedom to spend time doing the things you enjoy. Wealth can help you spend more time with your children, develop a hobby, learn more about the world around you, or even travel the world if you so desire. All of these things are possible if you can work on creating a wealth-conscious mind set. Developing this mind set will help you set financial goals and create plans for achieving those goals. When you finally achieve financial freedom, you’ll understand how important mind setting is for guiding you to success.

Developing a wealth-conscious mind set first requires you to define wealth in your own terms. Is wealth to you making enough to take an annual vacation? Making millions of dollars a year? Everyone’s definition of wealth differs based on their needs and desires. Someone who is single may have different financial goals than someone with a family of five. You can determine your own definition of wealth by reviewing the things you want to accomplish with your wealth. You may want to contribute to charitable organizations, travel, start your own business, or retire at a young age. Once you develop your goals and define wealth in your own terms, you can truly start using mind setting to help build wealth and prosperity.

Having a wealth-conscious mind set will also require you to commit to learning all that you can about wealth creation and management. This is especially important if you have not been financially stable in the past. There are many books and seminars available on wealth creation and management. Some of the resources available are solid references with a lot of valuable information. Then there are some resources that are nothing more than a way for their sellers to become wealthy. If you carefully choose your resources, you’ll be able to use them to your advantage and learn new ideas about wealth creation.

If you want to have a wealth-conscious mind set, you should plan on creating wealth with integrity. Many people want to create wealth at any cost, including the expense of others. They use scams to get other people to spend their hard-earned money on shoddy products or useless services. You may be able to create some wealth using these techniques, but you’ll also create a reputation for dishonesty. Your wealth will not be as satisfying if others don’t trust you and you can’t keep generating income from your efforts. You’ll be able to enjoy your wealth much more if you have a clear conscious.

If you want to create wealth for yourself with integrity and honesty, developing a wealth-conscious mind set can help you understand what you need to do to achieve the level of wealth you desire. It can also help you to establish goals for yourself and make it possible for you to meet challenges head on until you achieve success

By Adrian McMaster

Alternative Investment Ideas Are Required If You Want Rapid Wealth

Ever since I was a kid, I played with vision. I saw things as they were, then applied different fanciful overlays against the reality. I looked for logical outcomes based on those creative overlays to practice "eventuation"

It was and still is a habit. I was the number one kid with potential but no follow through according to teachers. I was a day dreamer.

Its no surprise this day dreaming kid turned into a day dreaming adult with no real prospects or intrinsic worth. I drifted from job to job, from interest to interest. I can tell you looking back, that theres absolutely nothing wrong with that. I consider it normal and the people with the capacity to stick to a mind numbing job for 40 to 60 hours per week for years and years is the abnormal state.

Of course things changed for me, I changed when I met Martin Thomas and found out there was a practical application to make money with this capacity to day dream. Im "well heeled" today (as they say) and its simply obvious to me that real wealth is created. I dont mean in the practical sense like you would use the word to describe a task. I mean in the biblical sense like when we describe how God created the world and rested on the seventh day.

Alternative investment is essential for rapid wealth accumulation. We create money, we create value, we create worth through the power of the mind. Through our capacity to visualize what could be. Everyone has this capacity and this I suppose echoe's Napolean Hills "Think and grow rich" but its based in real world experience.

The main and traditional wealth centres are the stock market and real estate. But these are just the tip of the iceburg and that is why such a large percentage of people don't find their financial dreams in these arenas.

Being so obvious and prominent, everyone seems to gravitate to these areas rather then thinking laterally. (Or approach the same markets with a lateral, creative approach which is just as good)

So many don't earn much at all because the market is too crowded and we all know, not everybody can be very successful because both of those arenas are "zero sum games" (meaning, for there to be winners there must be losers because thats where the winners spoils come from)

As a person with a desire to accumulate wealth rapidly, your job is to avoid the "zero sum games" These are 18th century relics, however old traditions die hard. To grow money exponentially we need to become visionaries. You must apply your capacity to "see" what others cannot see in uncrowded arena's where the game is for mutual improvement for everybody or what I term "infinite sum games" where all participants benefit. Not all will get fiscal benefits, however money is not something that everybody wants. As the visionary its your job to "see" whats required and provide this commodity in exchange for the fortune you seek.

Alternative investment is where the potential is. Its where your future is.

May success find you fast and knowledge find you first!

By Jack Reynold

Committing To Wealth Creation

Wealth creation is about consistently earning more than what you are spending. A positive personal income is the only way to earn and acquire wealth. One thing that most self-made millionaires have in common is that they all worked hard to acquire their wealth. Acquiring wealth is only the 2nd step to a financially worry-free life.

The first step is setting up the habits associated with acquiring wealth like working longer and spending less to increase your personal profits so you can save more. Again, the second step is acquiring wealth. The third step is arranging your money into the right investments so you are always making substantial income solely off your investment returns.

But the first step of getting in the habits that allow you to acquire wealth requires a lot of work and dedication. The first thing you should is cancel any credit cards that you shouldn't be spending on. Cut out anything that isn't a necessity. Saving money by picking up trades is a great way to cut down on the costs of everyday life like repairing a car or fixing something up around the house.

Imagine how much money you could save by not spending on things such as these. If you become skillful enough at what you do you may even be able to get a side job making use of your newly acquired trade. Many people that have acquired large amounts of wealth innovated their industry and they worked extremely hard to get there, even if it meant having multiple jobs.

Once you get these habits in place acquiring wealth will seem much easier than before. The trick is sticking to them and not making premature, poorly made investments. Though risk or a gut feeling may seem like a good reason to make an investment and many times those that take chances come out on top. Wait until you're fully stable before making any large investments. And try to invest in low risk opportunities. With the way the current economy is, tried investments like the stock market are no longer a safe way to make returns on your investment.

The ability to acquire large amounts won't come to you over night. Acquiring wealth starts with something as simple as a budget. As you build upon your tools and habits, the amount of money you can acquire increases greatly and seems to happen more regularly. Be responsible and never forget about your goals and you're well on your way to financial freedom.

By Tom Kranz