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FREE Tips of the Week
Every week we email a free tip, technique, or strategy about doing business on the web. The tips are short, to the point, and cover a wide range of subjects. To sign up for the tip of the week, use the sign-up form on the right. We value your right to privacy, and we never sell or share your email address with others, nor ever send you spam. Unsubscribe instructions are included with every tip.
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Example of the Tip Archives:
August 4, 2008
It's all about the interest! People who understand interest EARN it, people who don't, PAY it. When you buy on credit you pay your creditor compound interest. According to Albert Einstein, "Compound interest is the greatest invention known to man." But it's only great if you're on the receiving end, NOT the paying end! The wealthy understand this concept.
"Interest never sleeps or sickens nor dies: it works on Sundays
and holidays. It never takes a vacation. Once you're in debt,
interest is your companion every minute of every day and night…
whenever you get in its way or cross its demands, it crushes you."
- by J. Rueben Clark
Find out how much you can save in interest with a personal Financial Health Checkup. Also, read more about interest in the Dangers of Buy Now - Pay Later.
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Choose An Appropriate Strategy For Your Needs That Will Enable You to Succeed.
Your road map is a lot like the rules you need to play the game to win. There are some successful strategies that make it even easier to follow your map and win the game. These strategies help you put your goals into Action! The "Shotgun," "Target," and "Creative" strategies are three basic approaches to playing the game to win. Each strategy has advantages and disadvantages. Once you have considered the goals you have set for yourself, you can begin to see how you may benefit from any or all of these approaches. But there is more than just strategy to winning the game. There are also rules to the game and they must be adhered to in order for progress to occur. Do you know the strategies available to you as well as the rules of the game you are attempted to win? . . . keep reading
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As An Investor in a Mutual Fund, You May Be Vulnerable To the Risk of Fund Mismanagement or Excessive Administration Fees.
The purpose of an investment plan is to successfully maximize the return on your investment. Once you've defined your investment goals and plan… determined the limits of your risk tolerance… you begin to invest your capital to build a profitable investment portfolio. The following steps will help you develop a workable investment plan: 1. Own More- Risk Less. Smart investors diversify investments. You invest in different types of assets. This strategy protects you against major drops in any one investment, market, or industry. When investments are volatile, moving up and down in value, some investments lose value while others realize larger gains. 2. Reinvest Your Earnings. Depending on your time horizon for a particular investment, you may not immediately need the income it produces. Then, you can reinvest the income to earn compound interest. This can usually be done automatically through your fund manager. 3. Pay Yourself. It works best to pay toward your future first. Regardless of the amount you've committed to invest, make a habit of investing in your future first. Your consistent, focused action yields high returns. What is you personalized investment strategy? . . . keep reading
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Shifts in Economic Growth and Interest Rates, and Fluctuations in Financial Markets Are Normal Parts of Business and Economic Cycles and Can Affect Your Investments.
Investing is a valuable tool to help you increase your capital worth. You may find it intimidating, but it's not as hard as you think. There are endless choices for investing, so as you sort through them, consider these three questions: 1. How Will the Investment Improve Your Life? 2. How Safe Is the Investment or Strategy? 3. How Is Your Return On the Investment? There are many different kinds of opportunity for investment, be sure to be aware of any and all risk and vagueness that surrounds each. One fact is obvious: the future is uncertain. A cloak of uncertainty surrounds each investment opportunity. Shifts and fluctuations have happened before and they'll happen again. New or disruptive economic events, like sudden shifts in the financial market, often receive considerable media attention. Don't be fooled by spin-doctors or investment gurus. If the media is reporting it, it's too late to take action. Have you consider how to develop your investment plan? . . . keep reading
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Postponed Gratification Is The Price For A Strong Financial Future.
A valuable tool to help you build and increase your capital that is within your grasp and well worth using is a successful Savings Plan. Saving is the result of planning. Successful Saving is focused and consistent. No matter what personal goals you've set, plans can only be made for the future. A goal's nature is firmly planted in the future, whether for a day, a month or a year. Saving is NOT Complicated! Many people just lack training in self-discipline. You need to practice more self-control and follow your true goals and dreams. In a world of convenience and instant gratification, it's easy to get used to giving in to what's fastest and easiest… unfortunately it often isn't what's best for you. What's your attitude on savings' plans? . . . keep reading
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Without Active Involvement and Exercising Control of Your Money, It Becomes Too Easy To Get Sidetracked From Your Goal of Financial Health.
To be totally free in your financial affairs, you need an environment that permits you to work toward any financial goal you choose. As members of a capitalist society, we have inherited the foundations for a free financial climate. We enjoy the benefits of liberty, the free enterprise system and capitalism. Understanding the meaning Capitalism is important. It is a political economic system where private wealth, lawfully acquired or developed by private enterprise- under free competition- is owned or managed by those who earned it. The core of this model is a free enterprise system, free trade and private property. It's been proven when individuals own property, it leads to a sense of pride and responsibility in caring for and improving the property. This leads to the main point of responsible stewardship, which affords the following benefits: capital increases you opportunities, the ability to preserve your estate and bless your family, and that capital benefits your family and community. Are you a responsible capitalist in your community? . . . keep reading
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Finances Can Change Virtually Every Goal You Make While Planning Your Retirement!
There are many factors to consider when beginning to plan your retirement. Many of which you can begin to plot out and make headway on far before you enter into your Golden Years. Planning and preparation are crucial. Six key aspects to consider about your retirement are listed below. 1. You must be attentive to your health and have carved out a fitness plan. 2. Your time management surrounding the issue of allocationg money Now to your retirement plan. 3. Some people decide to consider work options and to re-enter the work force after being retired for a while. Many people use retirement as a time to launch a business of their own. 4. When you consider your lifestyle and housing options, you need to think about where you want to live during retirement. 5. There is, of course, the ever-present issue of retirement finances. For the most part, the rules you follow to maintain financial stability now, are the same ones you need to follow during retirement. 6. Finally, there is the issue of estate planning. Besides all the net assets, an estate may include instructions regarding the distribution of those assets, payments of debts, and resolution of personal matters. . . . keep reading
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Someone Once Said You Never Actually Retire, You Just Shift Emphasis.
Your circumstances tell you how and when you're ready to retire. You can make this shift gradually or all at once, it's up to you. There are many choices available to you once you leave your life-long profession. There are several myths about when you should retire. You need to realize they truly are myths and there is no true standard for everyone. Below are the myths debunked: Myth #1: Hold on to your job as long as you can! Retirement doesn't need to be delayed as long as possible. Only you can decide when you're ready to move on to other opportunities. Myth #2: Retire as soon as you can! Quitting your career too early may mean you'll miss out on the most rewarding years of your working life. Retiring too soon may affect your feelings of self worth and your financial stability. Myth #3: Retire when you're fed up. Sometimes a job gets to be too much for you. But it's better to wait until you're prepared and your plans are in place. Myth #4: Out with the old… In with the new. Don't be influenced by others who may want your job. If you enjoy your work, and feel you've got something to offer, age doesn't matter. Are you ready to retire? . . . keep reading
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Thinking Young, and Staying Active May Be Your Key To Enjoying Retirement!
Retirement is no mystery, even though it may seem elusive or even out of reach. With the right planning and preparation you can retire from work, how and when you choose. With the financial resources available to us today, the quality of your retirement depends on one simple thing: Your Plan. Planning and Preparation are the key tools you use to effectively face the challenges of retirement. Everyone has their own goals for retirement. There isn't one right set of plans to help you prepare for this next phase of life. No one else has your perspective, sensibilities, interests, or experience. Only you can fill your toolbox with the proper tools for the job. You must prepare yourself to retire. Have you considered your options on how to plan for retirement? . . . keep reading
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You Must Carefully Consider the Choices You Make In These Key Areas, Since They Not Only Impact Your Spending, But Your Quality of Life As Well.
Careful planning and spending helps you to reap great rewards in your quality of life and financial health. As always, you need to keep in mind the differences between wants and needs, the use of your goals, values, and financial philosophy to guide your choices. There are four basic areas that can have a major impact on your overall financial success, they are: food, health, housing and transportation. There are some interesting facts and views regarding each of these areas: 1. Food is one of the largest expense items for consumers. The average family spends around 20% of their monthly budget on food. 2. Healthcare costs are the fastest growing item on families' spending plans. It's much easier and less expensive to maintain good health, than it is to repair when it breaks down. 3. Studies show the average household spends more than 30% of its disposable income for housing, so where you decide to live needs to be an important concern for you. 4. The national average of money spent on transportation is more than 20%- a high price to just to get where you need to go! . . . keep reading
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Taking Stock in All Areas of Your Life Will Help Guide You to the Areas That Need Change or Improvement!
It can be challenging to assess your values when you're considering a change, but you have the power of choice. Only you can decide how you feel about your lifestyle and if there are things you want to change or improve. Consider the following seven key areas for improving your quality of life: 1. Your Family: Members must cooperate to thrive, and even survive in a world where competition and the law of the jungle can rule- there is strength in numbers. 2. Your Community: A community is never any stronger than its individuals. 3. Nature: Preservation and conservation efforts are increasing as people realize Planet Earth doesn't have endless resources we can exploit forever. 4. Your Health: Many people are more concerned about looking healthy than actually being healthy. 5. Education: Education is a big contributor to your ability to change things. Knowledge is power. 6. Fine Arts: The arts represent the "culture" of our society- the result of human effort to express itself through creativity. 7. Spirituality: Spirituality encourages you to look for sources of inspiration and power outside yourself. How in touch and familiar are you to these seven areas? . . . keep reading
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Careful Use of Your Resources, Regardless of the Current Economic Condition Helps You Stay Financially Stable!
What determines the rules or values you like and will use, and which ones you won't? Both your experiences along with your worldview play a part in determining those rules and values. We tend to repeat experiences that make us feel good and avoid those that don't. Conjunctly, what you believe to be true about the world around you is your "model" for how life is. The strength of this model may result in it never occurring to you that things could be any other way. There can occur definite and powerful shifts in your worldview when you consciously decide to look at your environment in a new way. This can happen due to cultural changes, which come in cylces, especially in regard to ownership of possessions and property- with periods of material conservatism moving into times of great materialism. When there's an abundance of goods and services it often creates a cultural attitude of "wants" seeming more like needs. This recent cultural view has resulted in many people financially overextending themselves in pursuit of a quantity of things rather than a quality of life. Have the lines between your needs and wants begun to blur? . . . keep reading
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Stress Can Be a Valuable Tool When You Learn To Manage It!
Have you ever noticed that when you are dealing with stress, in whatever form it shows up in, that confronting it can be daunting? Breaking the overall issue down into smaller, separate parts makes analyzing the stressors much more manageable and less engulfing. Identifying your natural tendencies in several personal and financial areas and the ways in which stress permeates those fields is key to understanding methods and strategies that can facilitate in dealing with them. In the Nine Steps to Financial Health, there exists a Financial Stress Management Profile constructed of 14 thought-provoking stressors dealing with your attitudes towards money and handling your finances. After examining your own answers to the questionnaire, you will begin to gain a clearer picture that describes the amount of pressure you are currently experiencing in each area. Thus begins your journey towards stress management and beneficial lessons along the way, How are you handling stress in your life? . . . keep reading
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Lifestyle Disease Brought On By Stress Are For The Most Part Preventable or Correctable By Altering Habits and Behavior That Contribute To Their Development!
Stress is your body's response to any demand you need to adjust to, whether that demand brings pleasure or pain. Money and finances can produce a great deal of stress. Even when a situation is perceived as good or bad, the physical response is very similar. The body enters a state of physical readiness. This same stress response kicks in whether the threat is real or imaginary. Research shows that between 70 and 80 percent of all disease and illness is stress-related. Many of the illness can be linked to "lifestyle diseases." Advances have made it possible to contact anyone, anywhere, anytime- meaning you can literally work 24 hours a day. All this progress has resulted in an overload of unhealthy lifestyles. Whether you have acute stress (which rapidly surfaces and is quite intense) or chronic stress (which may not be intense, but can last unbearably long), there are ways to begin to manage it. Do you have the keys to managing the stress that impacts your life? . . . keep reading
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Your Real Strength Rests in Making Good Choices and Setting Goals!
Everyone has unique and varied roles to fill and individual goals for their future. It's important to keep them in mind whenever you decide to make changes or begin a new plan in your life. Your quality of life and the person you become is really your most important product. Always go with your strengths, and You as your most important product. Trying to build success and productivity using your weaknesses or things that don't interest you is often doomed to failure. In time you may improve your skills and expand your interests but don't ignore your best assets. You must clearly identify and use the special strengths that help make you who you are. . . . keep reading
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True Success Comes from Honest, Hard Work and a Sense of Accomplishment!
Success and productivity depend on each other. Productivity without a sense of accomplishment isn't very motivating or fulfilling. At the same time, success is never fully realized unless you've worked hard to achieve it. When you're being productive you're proactive, not reactive. When proactive you're making plans, developing goals, being creative, and actively working. Being reactive or simply "coasting" along--waiting for things to improve--doesn't lift you up. In fact, it usually only carries you farther downhill. Clarifying your feelings about your own contemplations and experiences, then reflecting and recording your thoughts can be an invaluable tool in understanding your motivation, strengths and weakness. Have you checked in with yourself to see what motivates you to success, and how to draw on that motivation? . . . keep reading
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Teaching Your Children the Steps of How to Accomplish and Achieve Their Goals Is Up To YOU!
Someone one said if we fail to plan, we plan to fail. To prepare our youth to face the complex and challenging times ahead, you must establish a plan to teach them and follow it. Parents need to train children in the principles of effective money management. It's essential you give them a plan allowing them to thoroughly learn the skills and habits that prepare them to be successful. Guiding your child through the development of their own financial philosophy can be both fun and rewarding for both parties. The process of creating this philosophy must be interactive and engaging. In the Nine Steps to Financial Health, there exists a Dream Builder Register (much like your Spending Register) with seven concrete steps for the child to follow. It helps your child learn and understand the steps to accomplishing their goals. Are you interested in creating a fun and amusing way for your child to enter the world of personal finance? . . . keep reading
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