10 Wisdom-Based Wealth-Building Strategies

"It's the business of your life?


and you're the CEO!" Gala Gorman

Imagine that you're Noah and God is telling you that you need to build the ark. You might suspect that Noah was a bit skeptical. Could it actually rain for such an extended period of time that a small ship would be required to survive the storm? According to the Bible, the answer is "Yes!"

So, when I suggest you build an ark of your own - one of the financial variety - how much convincing will you need? Fortunately, this ark won't require a that you assemble a seemingly useless structure in your backyard and it won't require a 1,000 year flood to come in handy either. This ark will be something you can be proud of and it will provide you with financial security every day of your life.

While any approach to creating financial security must suit the values and needs of the individual, these are the Top 10 Wealth-Building Strategies that I believe will ensure that you can weather any storm life sends your way.

1. Use the A-R-KTM Technique.

A. A is for Accumulating Assets. This may seem like a simple concept but in today's challenging circumstances it is much too easy to spend everything you make and more.

B. R is for Retiring Debt. Debts aren't called liabilities for nothing. You need to work towards reducing and eliminating debt when everyone else is focused on using every ounce of equity.

C. K is for Keeping Commitments. Once you make a commitment to yourself to apply the A-R-K TechniqueTM, you need to keep it! You build confidence in yourself and others this way.

2. Prepare for the inevitable rainy day.

A. Understand life's cycles. It is a fact of life that you will experience challenging times - in a way times like these are meant to adjust your course. Life's challenges are much easier to face with financial security.

B. Maintain a positive AND realistic attitude. It might not seem like positive thinking to plan for a rainy day. I believe planning and preparation are the most valuable tools you can use to deal with life's problems.

C. Develop plans for your A-R-K. You need a plan. God gave Noah a "blueprint" to build from. You need a financial blueprint. What will your ark look like when it's completed?

3. Acknowledge where your wealth comes from.

A. GUS is the source. Some call it "God", some "Spirit", others "the Universe", and still others have developed their own term to relate to. The acronym GUS (God's Universal Spirit) honors all the wisdom traditions.

B. Give back to those who gave to you - spiritually and otherwise. You might consider this tithing. Tithing is your way of demonstrating your faith in an endless supply.

C. Subscribe to the Universal Law of Use. This universal law applies to every department of your life. Get rid of clutter and anything else that isn't serving a purpose. One person's junk is another's treasure.

4. Develop sufficient liquid resources.

A. Cash is King! I can't stress enough the value of having funds readily available that can be accessed without a significant reduction in value. This is the "hull" your ark is built on.

B. Calculate your cash reserve requirement. Do you know how much you would need to meet your minimum financial responsibilities for a period of six months?

C. Define "liquid". Liquid resources are assets that can be converted to cash without penalty or market fluctuation. You need a six month cash infusion plan that is easy to execute in an emergency.

5. Understand real estate investments.

A. Own your home "free and clear". Mortgage brokers encourage you to borrow every dollar you can - especially with interest rates at historical lows. With this approach, you'll forever make house payments!

B. Use conservative values for planning purposes. With real estate, values can fluctuate dramatically based on factors completely out of your control. How much would you realize if you HAD to sell?

C. Are you prepared to run a business? Owning real estate (unless it's your personal residence) requires you to run a business that you may not consider a valuable use of your time.

6. Understand equity market investments.

A. Evaluate your risk tolerance. Investment advisors typically discuss the concept of risk with their clients, but don't face reality. Investments come with a significant chance that value will decrease significantly.

B. Accept that the stock market is illogical. There are many "systems" available today that purport to make the market predictable. The truth is there isn't much logic behind market values.

C. Fund managers are paid even when they're wrong. Most mutual funds underperform the market by 3%. This is in part due to the fact that fund managers are paid handsomely whether they perform well or not.

7. Know the value of your income stream.

A. Build a sellable business. When you're ready to "retire" will the work you've done to build your business have lasting value, with or without you there? With proper planning, your business is a valuable asset.

B. Create lasting value from your career/job. If you aren't working in your own business, you can make the most of the income stream from your paycheck and benefits. Take advantage of employer-sponsored programs.

C. Supplement with investment income. Your investment strategies can generate additional cash flow if required. Depending on the phase of your financial plan, you have the option of adding to useable resources.

8. Limit your "use" assets.

A. Depreciating assets are necessities or luxuries - maybe both. In most geographical locations, a vehicle is a necessity. Does your vehicle meet your transportation needs or does it satisfy a desire?

B. Know the hidden costs of expensive "toys". We all have them - assets that are nothing more than grown-up toys. You need to know what those toys really cost to maintain.

C. Money buys experiences. When people are surveyed about what makes life more satisfying, the answers vary. Consistently, people agree that they enjoy traveling, dining and the outdoors. It takes money to have fun!

9. Set goals.

A. Have a target you're moving towards. Without a comprehensive plan, you will have difficulty adjusting when you face life's challenges - financially or otherwise.

B. Define your wealth-building strategy. Once you know where you want to end up, you can determine which strategies should be implemented to meet your goals.

C. Embark on the journey. Just get started! Realize that you will have setbacks, but you will never get there unless you start rowing in the direction you've determined you want to go.

10. Protect what you've built.

A. Buy insurance for predictable losses. Property insurance protects some of your assets, but you should also consider the risk of losing your income stream. Life and disability insurance can provide added protection.

B. Add layers of protection for unpredictable losses. There are many ways to protect assets from the uncommon disaster - a lawsuit or other occurrence. Asset protection tools can help you rest easy.

C. Create a succession plan. Whether you own your own business or want to provide for your family in the event you are unable to do so, any effective financial plan should consider succession.

You might be feeling like a sound financial plan leaves no room for fun or enjoying life's pleasures. On the contrary, your plan should serve your individual needs and put you on the path to financial freedom. If you dream of driving a luxury vehicle or taking a cruise around the world, your plan should factor in the costs so you know you are creating a financial future that is real and lasting - not just a "mirage".

Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) called compounding interest the 8th wonder. It can work for you, or against you. When you invest it works for you. When you borrow it works against you! There is a reason God told Noah to take a male and female of each species aboard the ark?to multiply. That is what compounding interest does for you and your financial ark. Creating a wisdom-based financial plan can help you put the 8th wonder to work for you.

About The Author

The Top 10 Wisdom-Based Wealth-Building Strategies have been developed from the A-R-K TechniqueTM (ARKTM) which is at the center of Gala Gorman's Wealth Management services. Your FREE ARKTM Assessment is available at http://www.GalaGorman.com.

By Gala Gorman, PhD CPA CFP

Have You Ever Had That Feeling?

Have you ever had that feeling where you could not wait to go to sleep because you were so anxious about tomorrow? You were so excited and your heart was beating so fast that as much as you tried you could not go to sleep? So you just lay in bed imagining what you would do the next day. Imagine that you were thinking about what you would do with the money you've made that day and how much more you will make tomorrow. Have you ever had that feeling?

Imagine having just launched your own financial comeback. I'm talking about paying off everything! Yes, including the house. Just think you could be a day or two away from having an extraordinary life. Believe me it could happen. I've seen fortunes created in a matter of hours. For some people just having a few extra thousand dollars would change their life forever. How would you feel if you could give them a few thousand dollars and it not have a negative impact to your finances at all? Have you ever had that feeling?

The key to wealth-building is finding a way to get the edge. The edge means seeing opportunities where others see difficulty. For example, most people are aware of the surge in the price of gasoline. They are complaining about the price hike. I instead look for an opportunity in the situation. Another way of putting it is to turn lemons into lemonade. Crude oil, which gasoline is derived from, offered a $6000 profit in one scenario this month already. Have you ever had that feeling?

It's no secret that the price of gasoline is going to go even higher. You may as well make a fortune from it and at least be able to afford to put gasoline in your vehicle. Imagine not having to worry about the price you pay at the pump for gas. Have you ever had that feeling?

Building a string of financial successes takes education and a keen sense of perception. Educate yourself and change your perception and you could be on your way to a financial breakthrough. I am willing to educate and mentor a limited amount of people on how to profit from this extreme situation developing in the price of gasoline. I will teach you everything you need to know to position yourself to make money.

Visit www.themoneymotivator.com to order the Money Tracks Program today and get that feeling!

By David D. Wells

Residual Income - 3 Ideas for Long Term Profits

A residual income is one that comes in no matter what--even when you are not working (or can't work.) It's something all of us will someday want and possibly need.

There are several paths to creating a residual income. I am going to quickly give you three ideas on how to get it done:

1. Invest small amounts of money over a long period of time.

Doesn't sound to exciting, huh? Well, just take a trip in a time machine with me...

Imagine your parents had begun putting away just $1 a day into a fund for you since the day you were born. If they had followed some simple rules, here is what you would have:

? At age 20 - $ 38,171.10
? At age 30 - $ 161,834.23
? At age 40 - $ 662,120.60
? At age 45 - $ 1,334,221.99
? At age 50 - $ 2,686,057.96
? At age 55 - $ 5,405,082.95

I think we'll stop there--you get the point.

What if you're 30 and haven't been doing this? Start today and you will have another $327K by the time you hit 65--put away $3 a day and you could have an "extra" million.

If you want to really see how exciting this concept can be, I have a report by Bob Allen on the specifics you can download as my gift by Bob Allen Report

2. Use other people's money to leverage wealth.

If you never use other people's money to help you build wealth, you will limit your wealth potential.

The amount of money you have to invest in a new venture is always limited--the amount of money other people have to invest in that same venture is virtually UNLIMITED.

Gary Halbert, the master copyrighter, uses this technique. Whenever he takes on a new client, he gets an up-front fee and 5% of the gross revenue from the promotion. So, he gets the benefit of the sales generated by a huge investment of capital on his client's part--and it continues to come in after he has already completed the work.

Keep in mind that 5% of $1,000,000 in sales generated by his work is much more than 100% of his $15,000 fee.

3. Create strategic alliances.

Have you ever noticed that the same people seem to be on the "inside track" when it comes to new products online--and that often you seem to be the last to know? Here's why:

There are a relatively small group of people who have large lists and have created strategic alliances with one another. When a new product is about to be launched, they get on the phone and put together a promotion that allows them to be first to the marketplace and get the lion's share of the profits.

But before you think, "Well, I can't get into THAT club," let me point something out: Joe Kumar, a kid from Singapore, did what almost no one does--he simply asked for admission.

And he got in, resulting in about $100K in sales his first full month of promoting.

To see more about Joe's story at 30 Days

Get on the phone, give a call to some "big names" on the Internet. You might just develop an alliance that will put you on the *inside* rather than out in the cold.

There are many ways to build a passive income. Three are detailed above--there are many others. Find one that fits you and pursue it. It's worth the effort.

By Kevin Bidwell

Residual Income - The Myth

"Join our program and retire in 3 months..." yeah, right.

We all want to get to a place where we have ongoing, hands-off income that continues without us having to work for it. These ads play into that desire by offering us the promise of "easy continuing income."

The reality is often far from the sales pitch.

The first step in developing an ongoing, residual income is to dispel some of the myths surrounding the sales hype.

Here are some of the most common myths about creating a residual, ongoing online income:

Myth One: Put up a Website and Sit Back and Collect the Checks.

Those of us who have run Internet businesses for a while can tell you: Making a good living on the Internet requires marketing, customer service and order fulfillment. Either you have to do it yourself or you need to hire someone to do it.

Either way, having a website and selling your own products is often far from the "laying around on the beach while collecting your checks" image.

Myth Two: MLM/Networking Income is Residual Income.

Almost always a part of the sales pitch in networking is "creating residual income." While that is *possible* with MLM, it is very difficult to maintain. Here's why...

MLM income is built on three basic factors: new purchases by retail customers, the recruiting of new *wholesale* customers and the ongoing purchases by both groups.

In order to have an ongoing "residual" income, you need to recruit, train and motivate a sufficient number of *leaders* who will then continue the process in growing numbers.

This is rarely the case.

Instead, top leaders have found it is easier to build a large list of MLM "junkies" who they then take into one program after another. If you stopped joining new programs, your income would also dwindle within a few months.

Myth Three: Just Build Your Business and Hire People to Run It for You.

This does work, but it is often more of a nightmare than a dream.

At various times I have had anywhere from 0 to 15 employees. I have had many friends and clients with much numbers up to 1,000 employees. We all have the same opinion: Unless you have enough employees and profits to hire top quality managers, employees are a constant headache.

If you DO build a big enough, profitable enough, business and if you have the right personality, then building your business and hiring people to run it is a great idea.

Myth Four: Developing A Residual Income is Easy.

I don't want you to fall for this one, either. Developing a residual income will take some perseverance. The steps to getting it done are not difficult, but it requires one thing many people will not put in--consistency. If a person does the right things, day after day, they will create an ongoing, growing income. If they try today, then one day next week, then one day a month later, they are unlikely to ever get there.

Developing a residual, on-going, hands-free income is worth the effort. Avoid trusting in these four fantasies, get ready to work and you can have a supplemental income in no time at all. Keep it up long enough and you can eventually retire.

By Kevin Bidwell

Residual Income - Part Three Finding Leaders

In my last article on Creating Residual Income I mentioned that employees are a pain.

That wasn't completely accurate. To be more accurate I should have said, "MOST employees are a pain."

In addition to the "regular" problems of payroll, sick time, legal issues, etc., there is the bigger issue that EMPLOYEES ARE LOOKING OUT FOR THEMSELVES, NOT FOR YOU.

Which means they need constant supervision and encouragement to make you the largest amount of money possible. It's just the way it is.

But there is a better way...

I went to college selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door. Yup, door-to-door. I didn't do it because I always enjoyed it-- sometimes it was raining or cold or BOTH--I did it because of this wonderful little thing called COMMISSION.

Every time I sold a vacuum cleaner I got paid $120. Not bad for a college student in 1982. Most weeks I sold 2, some weeks 3. Part-time, maybe 20 hours a week.

I knew I had the skills, and I was motivated by the money. No one had to tell me to work. No one had to tell me to not spend my day sitting in a coffee shop. The only way I made money was to sell, so that's what I did.

What would it mean to your online business if you had super motivated people selling your products or services? People who ALREADY KNEW how to sell? People who ALREADY had built a loyal following of visitors and subscribers?

Let me tell you: Just one of those people will sell more products for you than 100 "regular" people. And they will do it with half the time commitment on your part.

In the online business we call them SUPER AFFILIATES.

Recruit enough of these SUPER AFFILIATES and you can retire.

But what if you don't have your own product or service to sell?

This can be even easier...but I will save that for my next article.

In the mean time I have put together a page with four tools anyone can use to find these PRICELESS individuals. One of them is so OBVIOUS you will be amazed you didn't think of it yourself...one of the others is so POWERFUL I was able to identify 127 super affiliates for my own site in just 10 minutes.

By Kevin Bidwell

Who Wants To be A Millionaire?

How many people search Google, Yahoo and MSN each day for the terms - make fast money online, get rich quick, or make money online? Or how about Who wants to be a millionaire?

Thousands! Thousands upon thousands, each and every day.

I wonder why?

Well, I'll let you in on a bit of personal stuff here. When I bought my first computer 5 years ago, the first word I typed into a search box was money ? yep, that's all, just "money"? and in Google search, there are 230,000,000 results - (that's 230 million)

And so began my exploration of tens of thousands of money making websites on investment schemes, scams, frauds, HYIP's, bank debentures, loan programs and, well, you name it? if it's out there, I've found it, and likely tried it.

Occasionally I made some money, but more often I lost. However, I have never once complained about losing money to a HYIP. I was brought up in a gambling family, and I learnt to gamble at a young age. In fact I've made a living out of betting on horses and dogs from time to time.

Since being online I've learnt to recognise a scam. It's not easy, and the people who develop and promote them get more sophisticated every year.

One of the craziest online money games I took part in was called E-Biz Ventures or e-bizz. You gave them your E-Gold, and 4 day's later they gave it back to you plus 100%? yeppers, that was fast money, they doubled it in 4 days. And this went on from sometime in late September 2000 until just 2 day's before Christmas the same year. It lasted three months.

Three months of doubling investments every 4 day's or so. And this all took place virtually without a glitch. It says as much for e-gold's automation as anything else.

By early December there were Audio chatrooms filled to capacity 24 hours a day, with people telling their story, answering questions, helping new people get started, all the while driving the frenzy? then the authorities stepped in and arrested the bloke running the show. It has been estimated that there was over $10 million revolving through E-Gold every 5 to 6 days by that time.

If you wanted to get involved in E-Biz, the most important person in your life was an E-currency Merchant? a market maker.

E-currency merchants convert your hard currency, like Dollars and Euro's, into E-currency's like E-Gold, eBullion, Netpay and Intgold. These people are the middle-men who fund your e-currency accounts for you, so you can take part in online commerce without a credit card. If you want to put $100 into your E-Gold account, you give them about $105. They place $100 worthy of e-currency into your account, and cop the $5 for their effort.

Likewise, if you want to cash out of your e-currency account, you give the e-currency merchant about $102 worth of E-Gold, e-Bullion or whatever, and he cut's a check for you for $100, keeping $2 for himself? so he made money both way's. About 7% on a round trip in and out of your e-currency account. If you were using a credit card to fund your account, they charge around 15%!

OK now? how would you like to get a bit of that action?

Well you can? but it's not easy, unless you have someone to lead you through your first few trades.

Building Wealth by Paying Yourself First

When I look around at all of my friends, and a lot of my family, I see a lot of people living from pay check to pay check, under monetary stress. These same people watch the Calendar for payday like a hawk. Pay their bills, and then open up the spending flood gates, before they know it, they are itching for their next pay check. These same people are the people who don't think they make enough money to build future wealth. They are wrong.

The way I save money, is by paying myself first. I have automatic deductions come out of my bank account on the 15th and 30th of every month, which I put directly into a mutual fund for safe keeping. I take a small portion of my pay check, roughly 10% and put it away. This may not seem like much, but over time it adds up.

In addition, with mutual funds you will have the benefit of compound interest on your side. You should EASILY be able to achieve 8% interest on average in a good a mutual fund, often times more. That's $800 a year on $10000!

Once you start, you will be addicted. Watching your funds grow is incredibly addictive and will inspire you to invest a larger percentage as your income rises. If you have debt, put a portion of this percentage towards the debt and a portion into your mutual fund, so you have something positive to reinforce your automatic deductions.

The bottom line is this, if you have the money deducted in advance (and pay yourself first), you won't miss it and you can go ahead and spend what's left of your pay check week in and week out. You will be investing in your future wealth, and your mind will be at ease that you aren't wasting your life in the rat race and never progressing.


Ryan McKenzie