Take Control Of Your Financial Future

My 24 year-old daughter does not drive and I see her constantly depend on others for a ride. She gets pretty sick and tired of depending on others, being late because of others and not being able to go wherever she wants to without it costing her a fortune in taxi fare. However, I guess she is not sick and tired enough yet because she still does not have her driver’s license.

I tell you all this because I want to ask you this:

Who is driving your Financial Car? By putting your financial life in the hands of others do you think you will ever get rich? Do you think they can care about your wealth as much as you could?

Just over two years ago I decided to get my financial drivers license. And all that means is that I started to read and study everything I could on money. I started with just 15 minutes a day and I have to tell you I was bored silly. But soon I got up to 20 minutes a day and then 25 and then 35. Within about 6 months I was spending 2 to 4 hours a day reading every financial website I could find. I bought magazines like Money Sense, Inc, Forbes and Fortune to name just a few and I would read them while waiting in the car while my wife went into Wal-Mart. Or I would read while taking the transit to an appointment.

Everyday, my affirmations were, “I am a Financial Genius” – “I am a Financial Guru” – “Everything I touch Financially Turns To Gold”. These words increased my appetite for financial information and I voraciously fed on all the free education available on the Internet. These words became a self-fulfilling prophecy as everything I seemed to touch turned to gold.

As 2006 comes to a close I hope that with it comes an end to financial mediocrity if that is where you are at.

In 2007 take control of your financial life by making financial information and education a cornerstone of your life. And you can start right here. If you have not done so already subscribe to this Blog. You can do that by entering your email in the space provided towards the upper right side of this Blog.

2007 can be your best year ever financially if you take charge. You don’t have to do it alone but you do have to Make A Decision to DO IT!

Treat Your Money Like Seed

Not sure if you know this or not but after the harvest a farmer does not sell ALL his grain. He keeps some of it in the barn to plant next year’s crop. Then when the spring comes he does NOT plant ALL his seed. Can you imagine why that is?

If the hail comes and wipes out his crop the farmer has the ability to plant a new crop and still reap a harvest.

So what does all this have to do with you and more importantly money?

When you go to work, on pay day you reap the harvest you have been working for the past week or couple of weeks. What do you do with that harvest? How much of it ends up in the barn – a savings account or as I like calling it, A Financial Freedom Account?

If you are like most North Americans you spend it all.

If you do put a little away into a savings account – then how much do you actually invest? Many people who leave money sitting in savings accounts think they are investing. At 2% to 4% inflation, taxes and cost of living are eating away more than you are making.

Here’s some advice I got from some Millionaire Mentors of mine that I have acted upon to create wealth. Do what the farmers do! Take half of the money you saved and invest it in something. In stocks, foreign currency and yes even in some high risk investments because high risk usually means high returns. But always make sure that at least half your savings are tucked away safely, even if it is at low interest. The purpose of that money is not to make you money but rather for it to be safe so that if something terrible happens to your investments you can recover.

Now if you do not have a clue what to invest in then you definitely need to check out my next post. But rather than just checking back, why don’t you enter your email into the subscription box to the upper right. That way whenever I post and that is not that often, you will be notified.

The Risk Of NOT Taking Risk

About a year ago I was trying to convince a business partner of mine to invest in another company with me. At the time things were going extremely well in our own business that we were partnered in. She looked at the investment I was proposing and came to the conclusion that it was too risky and that she did not want to get involved.

I invested without her even though I too thought the investment was a pretty high risk. However, the rewards were astronomical. So the money I invested was just a fraction of the money I had set aside for investing purposes.

A year later the business my partner and I are in has fallen apart. We are barely making any money from it at all. However, from the investment I got involved in I have made hundreds of thousands of dollars.

My business partner has had to go work for $30 per day just to pay the rent and to survive. So here is the question I pose:

Which was riskier? For her to invest or not invest?

If she had invested she might have lost the couple of thousand dollars she would have invested. She would have been in a “Loss Situation”. However, because she did not invest and therefore did not make the thousands of dollars I have made, she is out working now and is in an even bigger “Loss Situation”.

There is always risk! Since there is risk in doing nothing and there is risk in doing something I always recommend doing something. Life is about doing, living and taking action not just lying there and wasting time.

Off course there are certain general rules you can use when investing and taking risk:

Rule # 1- If it seems to good to be true – Do A Ton Of Due Diligence, but don’t just pass it up.

Rule # 2- Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. When you spread out your risk, you should expect that some things will go wrong, some will go right and some things will just stay the same.

Rule # 3- Don’t invest everything you have in one deal or even in a combination of deals. Always make sure you have something left just in case the world goes to hell in a hand basket. Look for more on this topic in my next post “Treat Your Money Like Seed”.

Get In The Game

If you have been reading this Blog then you know that we have been talking about getting a financial education and setting up a Financial Freedom Fund.

I sincerely hope that you have been doing both of these things because they are the cornerstones to becoming wealthy.

The next step, if you have not already done so is To Get In The Game, Take The Plunge and invest in something or start a business or buy a franchise or joint venture with someone.

If you have been getting a financial education and already have even a small fund to get you started and you have not taken the plunge, then maybe you are still dealing with the dragon.

Remember those Fairy Tales where if the prince wanted to marry the princess he first had to slay the dragon?

Your dragon is fear and unless you slay it you will always stay paralysed in poverty. So how do you slay the dragon? The answer may sound simple and may surprise you.

You slay the dragon by taking action. One small step at a time!

If you have to join a group of people for support as you take those first baby steps, then do it. Joint venture with someone more experienced than you. Do whatever it takes but get in the game.

And if you strike out – so what! The game ain’t over! Just get ready to go out and bat again.

That is why I say make sure you never invest more than 20% to 25% of your fund in any one investment or business. Because if you strike out, no problem, you still have funds to start again.

Multiple Streams of Income

To be truly financially free and secure you will have to develop multiple streams of income. I live completely off my multiple streams of business and investment income some of them passive.

The problem is keeping your focus!

I suggest that you build one stream and give it your complete attention for a while. Then as it starts to operate 50% to 80% of the time without you, then you can go start another stream.

This system has worked well for me and helps me not to lose focus. The key is to always keep your fingers on the pulse of streams you have all ready started so that they don’t spiral out of control. If they do, your profits will dwindle and all you will be doing is starting new streams while older streams dry up.

What you should end up doing some day is like a mini-venture capitalist who sits on the board of each of your companies. Okay, maybe you will be a little more active than a board member but I think you get the picture.

Imagine yourself someday having streams of income coming from Real Estate, the Internet, Business and Investments like stocks, options and Forex. Even if each stream only brought in an average of a few thousand a month, think how much money and time and freedom and security you would have.

If you are curious about all the things I do, the businesses I am involved in, the investments I am invested in or anything else I am doing to become mega wealthy, then just check out and dig around my many blogs and websites.

Stay tuned and tell your friends about this site because there is a lot more to come.

Everybody’s Got An Offer

As you visit the various websites I caution you to not jump into every offer that is thrown at you. Along with all the great information available on the Internet there are also millions of offers of get rich quick schemes and work from home businesses. Most of them offer you “No Effort – Make A Fortune” types of businesses.

Now I tell you that I don’t believe in the saying “if it’s too good to be true it probably is” because I have missed some incredible opportunities following that kind of broke philosophy. Instead I like to do my due diligence and go with my gut.

If you are interested you can follow the things that I do. The businesses I get involved in, investments that I put my money into and I might even share some of my business ideas that I am too busy to do.

Whatever, you do always keep an open mind. Just because something has not worked for you in the past does not mean that it will never work for you in the future.

And whatever you do please don’t give me your advice unless you are worth more than One Million Dollars and are living completely off your business and investment income.

I am not being rude just following one of my key rules – I don’t take advice from anyone who is less successful than I am – period!

The Coming Real Estate Bust

Are you ready for the coming real estate bust? And if I am wrong and there isn’t a bust, there is certainly going to be a significant loss of air from this bubble.

The worst thing in my humble opinion is that dirty little surprise lurking just around the corner that is going to make this bust nastier. The banks have played a big role in this nasty little surprise and have made a lot of money at it. On September 30th The Seattle Post reported that Federal regulators are finally coming down on these banks. However, it might be a case of too little to late.

George McCarthy, a housing economist at New York’s Ford Foundation says this is “like the neutron bomb, it's going to kill all the people but leave the houses standing."

What am I referring to?

Business Week called it NIGHTMARE MORTGAGES – in fact that was the title of their article September 11 (how ominous).

If you are in Real Estate, planning on getting in or have friends or loved ones who are invested in Real Estate please send them our link www.The-Money-Seminar.com so they can get this timely information.

And if you think I am just blowing Hot Air at you here are some more articles to read:

Analysts Are Looking Hard At Rate Shock and The Possible Fallout

Mortgage Rates Reset Shock Is The Latest Worry In Mortgage Markets

The Housing Panic

By the way, have you subscribed to our site? Do it now – go to the upper right side of this page.

Now I should say this; I write this article from Calgary, Alberta and yes I do believe that out here in Oil Country we won’t get as badly hurt from this bust as others. However, a high magnitude earthquake in this industry is bound to send shock waves that will be felt even in the most prosperous areas of North America. In the end oil prices will continue to rise because of massive growth in China and India and inevitable strife in the Middle East and possibly elsewhere. And that just means that Real Estate in Oil Rich areas should bounce back fairly quickly.

You can find foreign hot spots by yourself

By Linda Stern

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. stocks have returned 6.47 percent to investors so far this year. But the rest of the world has doubled that performance, chalking up 13.4 percent in total returns, as measured by the Standard & Poor's/Citigroup market indexes.

So yes, you should have a piece of your portfolio in foreign stocks. Perhaps even a large piece.

The United States accounts for less than half of the global stock marketplace, yet very few American investors have more than 10 percent of their portfolios in foreign stocks, if they even have that.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE

4- Find Investments

As your Financial Freedom Fund grows bigger and bigger you will be able to take some risks. But if are going to take Calculated Risks you have to have studied the markets and followed certain stocks for a while. These stocks don't have to be expensive Blue Chip stocks. You will get there later. There are great stocks available at prices you should be able to afford if you are working faithfully at your Financial Freedom Fund.

So my advice is start early. Before you have a lot of money and while you are still building up your FFF, commit to learning all you can so that when the time comes that you have a Fat FFF you can just seize the opportunity.

Once you invest in something (and by the way this same advice applies to any business you might own or join) support it, promote it and grow it. How do you do this:

1- Support It – If you own Starbucks Stocks (SBUX – Nasdaq) make sure you drink their coffee even if the other guys coffee is a few cents cheaper.

2- Promote It – If you are meeting someone meet them at Starbucks not at some other place whose stock you don’t own. Buy the stock if the fundamental and technical analysis makes sense but you also must love the company.

3- Grow It – By telling your friends about it. If they use the product because you promote it the company will be more profitable and your stock price will rise. If your friends buy the stock the price will may rise as well.

What ever you do, don’t be passive!

Bees don’t make honey by sitting around wishing and praying for their luck to change. You won’t make money unless you work and learn to be like that queen bee that leverages the efforts of others.

3- Start or Join A Business – Any Business!

Fortunately for me I have always been an Entrepreneur. Coming up with creative ideas was never a problem – staying focused was the challenge.

However, I must admit I had treated most of the small Home-Based Businesses I had been involved in more like a hobby. And when you treat a business like a hobby you make hobby income or it costs you like a hobby does.

So while I was working on the foreign currency trading I had already started working real hard on a Network Marketing Business I had signed up for but had done nothing with. That is another thing I leaned from T. Harv Eker, he said get into a business – any business by the end of the 3 day seminar. I was already in one – I had just not been working it.

Soon the business had turned into a roaring success and the FFF got even fatter.

Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame says that the fastest way to get very wealthy is to build businesses and sell them. Study his stiff to see what he means.

We live in a booming economy and in a country where opportunity abounds. There is no reason not to succeed if you are willing to work. And that is the problem I run into most.

I find people today have a Lottery Mentality. They want to get rich overnight and are not willing to do anything more than go down to the corner store and buy a ticket. Yet, all they are doing is buying a dream. Don’t get me wrong – I buy Lottery tickets too because there is a guarantee. The guarantee is that if you never buy a lottery ticket you are guaranteed not to win. With a ticket at least you have your line in the water.

But to live your life just wishing and praying that you hit the big one is ridiculous.

This lottery mentality leads to people who want businesses where there isn’t much work or sacrifice or investment or time required. These same people work harder than you can imagine for someone who has no loyalty to them – their boss! They go into work sick! They can’t even take vacation when they want! They work long hours, sometimes without pay! I know – I used to be one of them! When anyone approached me about joining them in business my famous quote was, “Are you kidding? I don’t have any time!”

Sounds familiar? How about “I don’t have any money!” or “As it is I hardly see my family”. In retrospect these were exactly the reasons why I needed to do something.

One day I decided to Stop Making Excuses and Start Making Money! I made Time – I found the Money – And I got my family involved!

There are so many business ideas out there even if you can’t come up with one of your own. Just read Entrepreneur Magazine or any magazine on Home Businesses.

Or if you have enough money buy a franchise. Type Franchise Magazines or Franchise Opportunities into Google and see what you can find. It doesn’t have to be costly! I have seen franchises for as little as $10,000 and off course they run into the millions.

Or if you don’t have a lot of money look at a different type of franchising. Where they have the Shipping Department and they have the Call Centre and they take the Orders and the Payments and they just send you a check. All you have to do is tell your friends about it. You already tell your friends about deals at Wal-Mart and a Movie playing at the local theatre. I bet you Wal-Mart has never sent you a check to thank you for referring someone. Same goes for the Movie Theatre. This type of franchising is called Inter-Personal Marketing or by its other name Network Marketing. This type of Marketing is not on trial anymore. Doctors, Lawyers and other professionals are all doing it. Big corporations are using Network Marketing companies to distribute their products.

The only problem with this type of business for most people is that they all know someone who has not succeeded at it. The reason most probably is that they had no Training or they treated their business like a hobby. When done properly, there is no need to harass family and friends – there is a MUCH EASIER WAY and Dani Johnson can show you how! You just have to See This Dynamic Trainer in action to understand why so many Network Marketers are so excited about her.

Finally if none of the above is for you and excuses are still flowing from you like a leaky faucet then here is the straw that is going to break the Excuse Camel’s Back.

Imagine coming up with a few witty words or a unique design or idea and allowing people to put them on T-Shirts, Mugs, Mouse Pads, Calendars and all sorts of stuff. You create the design, upload it to a free website they give you, they take the orders, they ship the items, they take the payments, they handle returns and at the end of the month they send you a check. Sound too good to be true? Check out this incredible online business – I use it – I know how good it is and how profitable it is – It is called Café Press!

2- Start A Financial Freedom Fund (FFF)

Every year when a farmer harvests his crop he leaves some of the seed in the barn to plant next spring.

Every pay check that you earn you should be taking some of that seed and putting it in the “Barn” (Your Financial Freedom Fund) so that you can grow more money.

When I first started my FFF I thought it would take me forever to make it big enough so that I could do anything with it. After all, at first I could only put very small amounts of money into my FFF. But as it grew so did my obsession with making it even bigger. I had my Money Magnet Jar at home and I threw in anything I could Every Single Day.

Meanwhile I studied and studied. There is a saying that “Success happens when Knowledge Meets Opportunity”. I had acquired much knowledge over the years but everytime opportunity knocked I had no money or very little money. As a result I was afraid to risk what little money I had.

Soon I had $800 in my FFF and I had studied enough that I had decided to spend $300 of it on all I had learned about Foreign Currency Trading. I promptly lost almost a third of it as I realized that trading real money was not the same as trading in a practice account. However, I still had $500 left so I dipped in to it to replenish the trading account because I felt I had learned some valuable lessons. In the next few months I had great success until I got cocky and lost my focus. I still made a lot of money and that helped me pad my FFF.

The more money I made the more I put into my FFF. The more seed my FFF had the more I could plant and diversify. I bought stocks, invested in businesses and I quickly learned the secret of how the rich get richer.
“They Don’t Spend EVERYTHING They Earn.” They keep some of it for seed!

1- Make Learning A Passion – Especially About Money

Before you can take action you must off course set yourself on a course of learning. We live in a time of great knowledge and information. Besides great books like the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series by Robert Kiyosaki, books by Robert Allen and Mark Victor Hansen and The Secrets of The Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker, there are also great websites you should subscribe to.

Set your home page to one of these and / or bookmark these links:

Robert Kiyosaki has written a phenomenal set of books as mentioned above and has an excellent website with discussion boards and all at http://www.richdadpoordad.com Become a free member or a paid member – but visit the site often.

In Canada Robert Kiyosaki has a facilitator named Darren Weeks. Darren has helped numerous people through his seminars. Visit Darren and see what he does at: Fast Track To Cash Flow.

At the Millionaire Mind Seminar they implored people to read something, study something each day about money. “Spend even 15 minutes a day” said Harv Eker, a self made Millionaire. And that is what I did even though I had always disliked reading anything about managing or investing money.

Within weeks the topic had become interesting and soon I was spending 45 minutes to sometimes over an hour on this subject. 6 months later I was successfully trading foreign currency and reading everything I could lay my hands on about making money, managing money, growing money etc.

Today, it amazes me how far I have come. Can you imagine someone who two years ago knew virtually nothing about money and the economy or commodities, today doing a seminar called The Money Seminar? Today I teach people to do what I did. I teach them to become wealthy – that’s amazing for a guy who has been bankrupt twice.

Here is what I discovered about Learning:

1- There are many, many courses you can take to fix your stinking thinking. I took them all but one or two would have been sufficient. Though I would now highly recommend The Millionaire Mind Intensive. It is the least expensive, most intensive and the most effective.

2- Once you have your mind fixed only take courses that directly affect your business or chosen profession. For example if you are in Network Marketing only take courses that apply to Network Marketing like the Dani Johnson Training, so that you can become an expert in that area. Or if you want to trade foreign currency then become an expert at it by studying anything you can get your hands on.

3- Always keep a journal and take notes. This is critical! I am amazed when I see people at seminars just sitting there listening. There is no way they could remember or retain everything they hear. When you take notes you can at least review them later – in fact that is strongly recommended.

Cornerstones of My Success

Less than two years ago I was still struggling as I had been for most of my life. I had attended seminar after seminar, read motivational, inspirational and educational books and no one worked as hard as I had. I even had millionaires mentoring me for much of that time. Yet, my biggest struggle continued to me a lack of money.

During a seminar called The Millionaire Mind Intensive as I was leafing through a journal I was writing in, I found a note I had made while I was being coached by one of my Millionaire Mentors. What was so ironic about this note is the MMI facilitator was telling the attendees to do one of the things in my note that I had not been doing.

Immediately upon leaving the 3 day Millionaire Mind Intensive course I implemented the 4 points in the note. In fact the first point I had done for years. Here are the Four Points that I call the Cornerstones of Success. I will cover each of these in detail in future posts.

1- Make Learning a Passion – Especially about Money!

2- Start a Financial Freedom Fund (FFF).

3- Start or Join A Business – Any Business!

4- Find Investments.

Less than 2 years from the time I began to consistently act on these four cornerstones my Networth had grown to over a Million Dollars.

Alan Marston 

The Inaugural Post

Money does talk folks but for most people it just says goodbye. The aim of this Blog is to help you make money, save money and help you not lose too much money. Your input is certainly welcome but what I don’t want on this Blog is you promoting your deal. Here’s why:

I am sick and tired of jumping head first into every deal that came my way and I am sick and tired of seeing people get hurt by scams, short term schemes and just totally dumb opportunities that make its founders a fortune.

The people that are subscribing to this Blog want to know what the heck I am doing because I have hit one home run after another over the last 6 years.

8 years ago I had gone bankrupt for the second time and that was where the turning point came. I knew I was doing something wrong even though I had been mentored for over 25 years by some of the richest men and women around – many of them millionaires.

I realized that I had learned a lot from these people but I had not acted on what they had taught me. And there in lies the rub. I was going to seminars, reading great books and being mentored by people who I wanted to be like but I was still doing my own thing.

In 1999 I decided that my plan was not working and if I didn’t start paying attention pretty quick my life would continue spiralling downwards.

So stick with me and you will learn what I have learned and if you use what I have used there is no reason why you can’t become even wealthier and more successful than me or many of my millionaire mentors.

Subscribe to this Blog right now (Enter Your Email On The Right Side Of This Page) so you don’t miss a single post. I am a busy guy and I will post whenever I can. Most importantly tell your friends and family about this Blog. Here’s why:

When I say surround yourself with successful people here is the first problem. Your friends and family are probably not very successful and are probably broke, like mine were. So when I was using them as a sounding board I was getting the wrong information back. Information that was keeping me broke and unsuccessful!

In my case I ditched my friends and stayed away from my family as much as possible. That is not the answer! The answer is to help them get educated and inspired while you are doing the same. If they don’t follow your lead then don’t talk to them about business or investing. Theirs is not the plan that will set you financially free.