Lost Generation?
Which way do you want look at life?
It is all a matter of choice.
Why Invest in Yourself?
“If a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” Benjamin Franklin.
This is so true and it is something that I am passionate about and something I want help others see.
If you are not investing in yourself, then who is?
I took the opportunity to see Robert Kiyosaki in Auckland recently and a lot of what he talked about was the importance of financial education. And sadly there is very little in the way of financial education in our schools.
Then to take it a step further he spoke of the importance of having a team of people around you that are all experts in certain areas so that you can quickly get advice on whatever you may need to know. Extremely successful people like Robert Kiyosaki all ask you to consider what the qualification of the person giving you financial advice is. When Uncle Jim or the neighbor across the road say don’t buy that investment property or don’t start that business or the share market is too risky, you need to really think about why they are saying that. Do they really know? In a lot of cases they probability know someone that lost money on a property or somebody who started a business and didn’t make it or lost money on the share market. But what knowledge did those people have in the given area? If you ask the people that have made a lot of money in any of those areas they will all tell you that if you have the right knowledge and follow a system then you can do really well.
Part of investing in right knowledge is investing in the tools to give you the right mindset to succeed at whatever you want to succeed at. There are so many wealth creation vehicles out there today. You can simple buy someone else’s proven system if you want to. That isn’t to say it will be plain sailing all the way. Evan with the correct knowledge there are likely to be hurdles along the way. That is where mindset is so important. The difference between the ones that succeed and the ones that fail is generally mindset. The successful ones didn’t give up and found a way over that hurdle. And all too often the ones that failed gave up just before they succeeded because they didn’t have the mindset to get over the last hurdle.
The best thing that you can do for yourself and your family is invest in the knowledge and mindset that is required to succeed. What steps are you taking toward this? If the answers is none, then when would now be a good time to start?
Confident Future Newsletter
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How to Save Money
PAY YOURSELF FIRST (P.Y.F.) -
This is a very simple and effective idea.
You don’t have a choice about paying your taxes. You are in control of the amount to some degree, but the government still gets its taxes. P.Y.F. is the secret to getting what you want and becoming a disciplined saver.
Saving is simply setting aside money to spend later.
It’s the same technique the government uses to collect taxes on a regular basis, although most people never think of it that way. It’s a simple trick almost every self made wealthy person uses, and may also be one your parents used to save.
P.Y.F. follows the same principle:
- Don’t give yourself a choice.
- Make it a regular part of your budget.
- Think of it as a bill you MUST pay to yourself.
Why? Because it’s the P.Y.F. money in your budget that helps you reach your goals. Why not begin today to save 10%, or just 10 cents, from every $1 you get.
Have you heard of the 10/10/10/70 philosophy, remember?
- GIVE 10%,
- SAVE 10%,
- INVEST 10% and
- SPEND the other 70% WISELY.
With a limited income, and in tough economic times, you have to make tough choices about how you spend your hard-earned money.
Having P.Y.F. money in your budget makes it possible to reach your long-term goals. Without it, you’ll probably never get past your short-term goals, and you may not even reach those.
P.Y.F. is another one of those lifetime money-management principle. You’ll be dealing with money the rest of your life, so consider P.Y.F. as the gift of a lifetime. The earlier you develop this habit of saving, the better off you’ll be.
“Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.”-Samuel Johnson
Confident Future Newsletter
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How to Spend Less Money?
Is it really about “How to spend less money” or could it be:
“How to spend your money wisely”
“How to have something of value to show for the money”
“How to feel you are progressing towards what you want”
“How to create financial freedom”?
In my opinion “You can only truthfully know what you test and measure.”
You know when you go to the gym to lose weight? You only know it’s working because you know what you were at the beginning and you measure as you go.
You know how you tell when your boiled egg is ready? Because you have timed how long it has taken before and you repeat what worked?
Who knows where all their money goes? Who runs out of money before they run out of week? Tracking what you spend will help in setting a budget and give you the ability to create your financial freedom.
Keep a note book, or our fold away tracking card, on you and record every time you spend money. Tally expenses each week and assess your financial position. This helps curb unnecessary spending and makes you aware of where every cent of your hard earned money goes. Do this for thirty days.
Treat your personal finances as you would those of a public company; everything on paper and visible. Even if you’ve previously managed to account for within 10-15% of your monthly expenditure, without tracking it, do it anyway for the experience and distinctions the exercise will provide you.
The 5 step automatic wealth system:-
- Automatic Investment Plan (AIP) Set 10% of your gross income aside each week for investment. This will systematically increase your wealth every week.
- Debt termination plan A contribution of at least 10% of your gross income that systematically reduces your debt every month. This one step will have you completely debt free in 3-7 years (including house and car!)
- Charitable giving plan A contribution of at least 10% of your gross income as part of the responsibility and reciprocity associated with creating and being a good steward of wealth.
- Debt avoidance lifestyle strategies Living by such strategies as only paying cash and maintaining tough restrictions on the use of credit cards. Be sure to totally clear your credit card debt every month. Use the interest free period carefully and wisely. Now you are beating the banks!
- Spend the rest wisely! That’s right! PARTY!! The flexibility to spend all the rest of your money WISELY.
“The use we make of our fortune determines as to its sufficiency. A little is enough if used wisely, and too much if expended foolishly.”-Christian Bovee
By measuring exactly where you spend your money you will have brought to your awareness where you are bleeding money and where you are cutting your self short. In doing this you will give yourself the choice to carry on the way you always have or look to stop the bleeding and spend more in areas that are important to you. Give it a go as I think you could surprise yourself and it could take you closer to what you really want.
Confident Future Newsletter
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Can Money Buy You Happiness?
“I know that they say money can’t buy happiness but I’d like to find out for myself.”
This is one of those quotes that got me thinking;
It was my partners sons birthday yesterday. He seemed pretty happy with all the presents he got. It was money that allowed those thing’s to be produced and for us to purchase them.
Whenever you see an ad for World Vision, Save the Children and the like, the kids that now have a full belly or fresh water or a chance at education always have smiles on their faces. It is money that allows those things to happen.
When you buy a new car a new TV, a new house etc that seems to put a smile on your dial. All made possible by money too.
I have attended many personal development seminars that all take a sizable monetary investment. Most of the people I have met at such events are extremely happy at seeing new possibilities. Again it is money that makes these events possible.
I am a Foundation member of XL Results foundation. This is a networking group for entrepreneurs with the aim of ending world poverty through helping it’s members to excel in business so that they have the ability to help the world’s problems by having more income than they need and therefore the ability to give. Within this group there are people putting meals in children’s stomachs, others making cost effective solar lamps to allow children to study at night, others planting trees to clean up our air or saving endangered species. One lady who started a charity to help her people in Zimbabwe was given $1,000,000 by another member because he had more than he needed and she had the cause. More things made possible due to money.
The people doing these things are getting a huge amount of satisfaction at being able to contribute to the things that they are passionate about.
As a Success Coach I see my clients and hear of colleagues clients making amazing changes in their lives. These people make a sizable monetary investment in themselves to improve the quality of their lives and a lot of them significantly improve their income as a result of being coached, and in the process create many different options for them and their families.
What have these people done differently?
- Such people invest in themselves,
- take responsibility for their actions and lives
- take the steps to modify their behavior.
And as a result of this reap the rewards.
An interesting point is that the most dedicated and successful clients are usually the ones that are stretched the most by the coaching fee. This is because of what they have at stake. No matter what you are doing:
“If the money you pay out hurts you in the pocket you are a lot more likely to make changes that you may find difficult in order to get your monies worth from the investment you are making.”
As part of my coach training I was required to coach people for free for a 3 month period. Out of 10 such clients only 5 got any results. The reason is that they didn’t value it and so didn’t put the effort in and hence got no results.
So money can fix a lot of the world’s problems and that will make a lot of people very happy on both sides of the equation. I personally think that we owe it to ourselves and this wonderful planet that allows us our amazing and precious lives, to do what it takes to be the best that we can be.
So can money buy you happiness? I’d like to suggest it depends on:
How you define happiness?
What steps you are taking to be the best you possible?
Who or what are you investing in?
Confident Future Newsletter
Would you like to receive a short and sweet weekly success strategy sent to your inbox? These were made available due to popular demand, they are thought provoking and implementable in your life now. To receive your weekly dose of inspiration from us and begin benefiting from our information now, fill in the box below.
