Attitude Wake Up Call

WOW -- what a wake-up call!

Could the way you think influence you financial well-being?

Can you change your life just by changing what you think?

Attention all women, especially those in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area:

About a month ago I was feeling depressed about the direction my life was taking. The recession in our area was still hitting us hard and I was feeling so negative about where our country was heading.
As a medical assistant, I hear from so many single mothers who are trying hard to just keep their life together. Listening to their stories only made me feel more helpless.

I shared this with a group of fellow book club members during one of our weekly phone calls. We like to read and then discuss inspirational and uplifting books, audios and DVDs. Most all of us have either read or listened to Robert Kiyosaki, Brian Tracy, Jim Roehn, and Zig Zigler, and shared what we've learned from them.

Just as we were finishing up, one of the single ladies in the group told us about an audio book called, The New Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace D. Wattles. This book was written nearly a century ago but was recently rediscovered by Rhonda Byrne, the creator of The Secret.

The other thing that my friend told us about is a DVD called The Secret. Both the audio book and the DVD go hand in hand. My husband and I went out and bought both. The first time I listened to The New Science, I thought, "Sounds too good to be true, I wonder if this really works."

That weekend my husband and I watched The Secret and were totally blown away. Could the power of positive thinking really work? Could this powerful DVD help not only my single-mother friends but everyone? The answer that I found was an unequivocal YES.

If you are looking for something "new" to listen to on that long drive to and from work or school, check out The New Science of Getting Rich. Then, check out The Secret. You will be riveted to your couch. If you are looking to change your life, listen and watch and hopefully you will be as amazed as we were.

Good luck to all of you out there. Keep your thoughts positive, focus on your desires, and may you be filled with only the best life can offer you.

[http://www.financialfreedomforwomen.biz]

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"Secured Retirement Investing" Requires Thoughtful Planning and Education

Many financial pundits embrace grandiose theories and use mathematical formulas to convince the vast sea of American Investors to accept their vision of the perfect American Retirement Account Balance. They make statements like "by the time you are sixty five you should have X$ in your retirement portfolio to cover health care costs or to live the perfect dream of exotic travel and extravagant lifestyle of spend, spend and more spending. Retirement plans and accounts, however, are like "beauty" it is in the "Eye of the Beholder"! My perfect retirement lifestyle is not necessarily my cousin's or for that matter my next door neighbor's. We all have different interests, needs, and desires.? But we all do share one thing in common we deal in a risky business indeed called Investing.

It may not be a forgone conclusion; that Penny Stock Investors are investing for retirement. Some will develop an investment portfolio to hedge their current business needs whatever that may be. Some may invest just to prove to themselves and others that they can, while still others invest as a business to generate their monthly income in order to meet obligations. Still others invest for one goal, to build up a massive amount of cash these are typically referred to as "Day Traders.

This article is not an attempt to convince anyone how to invest or why for that matter, it is simply to give another point of view for the motivation of investing. The need to think about retirement whether you are a full time investor or just starting out or you have been a "bi-vocational" investor for years.

No matter your motivation allow me to make a case for you to invest with one eye looking down the road to retirement regardless of how long or short that may be. We all know instinctively that one day we will "give up", "give out", or "wear out"! Now I am not trying to be pessimistic or to be a bearer of bad news especially for those of you in your twenties and thirties. But what I am tying to impress on everyone is that just like in the market, life has no guarantees! By that I mean life and the market share the same propensity for change, volatility, risk, and dare I say fees, loads, and charges. Why do you think that the game of Monopoly is so popular? Because Monopoly like real life reflects the whole concept of "Time and Chance".

For those folks who are the always the winner at Monopoly remember this, life isn't a board game and you cannot ever memorize all the cards that will be thrown at you. This is just like Investing! Multiple volatile conditions affect your investments 24/7 and there is nothing that can stop Time and Chance from happening to you or anyone else for that matter. Since we are all equipped with this basic knowledge wouldn't it be prudent to at least look down the road and work up for yourself a basic vision of what kind of retirement you would like to have and at what age? Here are a few topics for your consideration.

Living arrangements - Family residence, condo/town home, retirement village? How much will that cost based on today's economy and then calculate from your current age to your perfect retirement age how many years that is multiplied by 3% for inflation. You will need to revisit this about every year to adjust for current inflation rates. Currently inflation isn't really an issue but that wont always be the case.

Health Care Costs- we don't really know what these will be any more than we can actually count the stars in the night sky. This is true for most investors living in the U.S. now days. Since this is a High Risk area we need an alternative plan other than just cash accumulation. There are two key concepts you need to study "Mortality & Morbidity". They will make you feel real happy! Not!

Food - Now here is a topic that whole 2hr seminars have been based around. Many folks living today who are in the Boomer generation can remember when the cost of a loaf of bread was.75

Cents and a cup of coffee at a restaurant was.25 cents. How about the incredible edible Egg? from 1985-1987 the price per dozen ranged from 42.9 cents to 51.5 cents.

(Cooperative Extension University of California Number 85 June 30, 1988)

Currently in 2012 one dozen large grade "A" eggs are selling for $1.7059 while the organic brown shell eggs in a carton range from $2.61- $3.16

(http://www.ams.usda.gov/pymarketnews.htm or PYMNDSM@ams.usda.gov)

Based on just these three areas of life we can deduce that living will be more expensive in the future than it is right now. And this is not taking into consideration the punitive tax system we are under in the United States currently or the new taxes that have and will be voted into existence before and during our retirement.

What areas can we offset the risk with careful planning? Well for one, risk can be reduced by a well thought out investment plan focusing on an annual return that will beat inflation and keep up with the market while never delivering bad news like a negative return. I think that you would agree that these types of accounts would be the perfect holding area for your "Bread and Butter" retirement fund. What are these types of accounts? Well they are widely available in every city, state and the whole nation for that matter they are Indexed Annuities.

The Indexed Annuity with safety and a guaranty income provision can provide income protection for you for life and while you wait to start the income the account can grow and compound the returns on the interest generated, and on the Taxes you would have paid if the money were in another type of interest bearing account. And never give you a negative return.

Some investors work from a forward looking strategy and determine what there Social Security income will be when they reach either their max retirement age or when they can take it the earliest and begin to accumulate that much cash reserves or purchase an annuity with that much money and let that keep up with inflation. Then go along there happy way being the raging stock investor they are on the inside.

Now couple this with a disciplined Investment Strategy and you have a retirement focused plan where you can have the peace of mind that your retirement funds will always be safe and growing, while at the same time focus on the business at hand that of being the best penny stock investor you can be.

All the Best & Happy Investing!

Randall Cox

www.PennyStockSuccessTips.com

P.S. In my next article entitled "Create an Investment "Safety Net" with Old Fashioned Insurance". I am going to reveal little known tips and strategies that most married couples have not considered. These concepts will help married couples who have one investor minded partner and another who is so frightened about risking their financial future that they wont even dole out a quarter in a payphone for fear of losing it.And the secrets that affluent people have used in order to get their hands on tax free cash to invest and buy businesses.

http://www.pennystocksuccesstips.com/

A site dedicated to providing information and resources to help you along your Investing Journey.

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Start Late, Finish Rich - Part Three

Are you rapidly approaching retirement age and looking for "A No-Fail Plan for Achieving Financial Freedom at Any Age"? David Bach insists that it's never too late to be rich. In "Start Late, Finish Rich" he shows you how to get from behind the eight ball to retiring wealthy.

Part Three: Save More

Most of us have heard the term "Pay Yourself First." The thought process here is that if you don't pay yourself first, you will never have enough left over to pay yourself with. We have an amazing way of spending whatever we have in our bank accounts. But, if you are getting a late start, you don't just want to pay yourself first; you need to pay yourself first faster!

One of the best ways to do this is to take advantage of a pretax retirement account. If your company offers one, you are foolish to not take advantage of it. If your company offers matching funds you should be investing at least to the matched amount. But, as soon as possible, you should max out your contribution. Why do that instead of investing some of your after-tax dollars in a different account? Just look at the math. After the government takes out taxes, you have less to spend or to invest.

The next most important key is to make this automatic. If you have to physically transfer the money, chances are an event will occur in your life that will gobble up the money you had planned to invest. You want to make sure that your savings are automatic so that you can't divert that money elsewhere.

You are probably wondering how much you should save. Bach says that you should save at least an hour a day of your income. If you're starting late (which you probably are if you're reading his book!) you should save at least two hours a day of your income. He insists that it's easier to do than you think and that the key is to just decide to do it.

What about budgeting? You may be surprised to find out that David Bach tells you to throw the budget out the window. Instead of concentrating on what you can spend and putting limits on that, he teaches that your focus should be on how much you can save. If you take care of the savings, the spending takes care of itself. But you have to make sure the savings is automatic.

What should you invest in? Bach says that your life should be interesting and your investments should be boring. More money is lost by investing on "the next big thing" that somehow doesn't pan out. Most financial experts will admit that the S&P has been fairly steady over the years. It may have seen some bad days, but if you average it out you'll find a steady upward trend. His advice is to go for the perfect pie approach and split your investments three ways: Stocks, Bonds and Real Estate. When one goes down, another of your investments will go up. By not putting all of your eggs into one basket and diversifying into these three major areas, you will be able to insulate yourself from those big drops when then come. I can testify to this method of investing. In the recent downturn in the stock market and in mutual funds (which historically do not both drop at the same time), my REIT was the only thing that still made a good, steady profit.

If you own a home, you have already begun your real estate investment. If the equity doesn't equal one third of your total investments, then you'll want to add a REIT investment to your portfolio. He provides some excellent resources on investment companies for both stocks and bonds.

If you are renting, you'll want to pay close attention as Bach explains why renters stay poor and home owners get rich. He shows you how you can purchase a home - even with poor credit (although you will pay higher interest than you would if you were debt free). Still, he insists that you shouldn't wait to buy. Tables are provided so that you can see how much house you can afford. Real estate isn't just a good investment; it actually gives you something to show for the money you are spending on a roof over your head each month. Renting does not.

Again, Bach insists that this needs to be automated. He highly encourages (as most financial counselors do) that you pay your home off in as short a time as possible. By paying your mortgage biweekly instead of monthly, you can pay it off years earlier and save tens of thousand of dollars in interest.

By following David Bach's advice on how to save more, you will be able to make up for some of that lost time and compound interest from not starting sooner. Just putting one or two of these ideas into motion will make a huge impact on how much more you will be able to save for retirement so that you truly can start late and still finish rich!

My name is Cheree Miller. I'm not a financial counselor or legal advisor. In fact, I've made some poor choices in my life. I've been broke, with creditors calling, writing, and sending court summons. I've had my bank account garnished and wondered how I was going to feed my family. But, I can tell you that you can learn to make good choices where your money is concerned. You can get out of debt if you remain focused on the end goal instead of wallowing around in a pity pool feeling sorry for yourself. Better yet, you can retire rich if you start saving for your retirement now!

Life was meant to be enjoyed. For more resources on getting out of debt and living debt free, visit http://www.imdebtfree.net/. While you're there, sign up for my free newsletter with more tips on how to get and stay debt free, and receive my free report "101 Powerful Tips for Legally Improving Your Credit Score."

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