“Do you have everything?” Mom would ask as we took our backpack full of clothes, toothbrush, books, game-boys, music, tools, homework, and anything else you could imagine for a four hour car ride to our farm in Wisconsin.  As all of six of us plus the dog got into our Plymouth Chrysler mini-van. There were two choices: the fast “94” route or the scenic route… Of course mom wanted to go the scenic route;  the scenic route had amazing views, beautiful farmland, and guess what… cows…

Seth’s opening analogy is comparable with the beauty of the scenic route lost on us kids. Imagine driving through perfect farmlands, seeing the most beautiful black and white Holstein cows.  Soon after seeing these cows in groves, you became desensitized to these amazing creatures.   Then you see something totally different, your eyes focus on it, it is completely remarkable.  A PURPLE COW.  It is unique, remarkable, one of a kind…. until you see more of them, and more of them, and more of them.  At what point does the purple cow become lost in the sea of the familiar?

Summary of Purple Cow

Purple Cow by Seth Godin is about marketing.  The purple cow is a simple, yet impossible to define concept.  It is about standing out in a world where consumers have seen everything, but in a way that provides value to the customer.   In essence, the purple  cow is about making your brand, product, service, image, etc. remarkable.

Websters defines remarkable as “worthy of being or likely to be noticed especially as being uncommon or extraordinary.”

“In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failing.  In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.” – Seth Godin

So if we know what remarkable is what is it’s opposite:  Common, average, familiar, inferior, normal, ordinary, regular, similar, standard…. you get the point.  Average isn’t so bad?  If there are 85 people in a bar, and Bill Gates is one of them, the average net worth of each individual is $1 billion dollars.

“There are three lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” – Benjamin Disraeli

Though according to Godin, the opposite of remarkable is none of these.  It is actually something that is very good.  WHATTTT? Have you ever been on an airline and they get you where you wanted to go and they did it safely? Did you tell anyone?  What would make this flight remarkable?  Something horrible beyond belief, right? (screaming triplets next to you, crash landing in the pacific, forgetting your phone charger…) Or something unbelievable, such as an upgrade to first class because they liked your shoes, served free champagne because it was your birthday, or gave you free tickets because they liked your jokes…

There are three camels: a papa camel, a mama camel, and a baby camel.  Papa camel has 2 humps, mama camel has 1 hump, and baby camel has no humps.  What did they name the baby camel?

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So… what are possible solutions? How do we create a Purple Cow?

It’s obvious…. create a product/service/design that STANDS out from the competition.

To help your creative juices flow, check out some examples of purple cows.

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Readers: what examples of Purple Cows have you seen?  Do you believe in Purple Cows?

P.S.  The baby camel’s name is Humphrey. 🙂

What would life be like if you could easily make money online with webinars? How nice would life be? What if you had access to money on demand?

Everyone these days is trying to get rich.

People want money, and want it now. Many people turn to blogs, a brick and mortar business, or trading their time for money by selling their services.

One under-utilized medium of getting information and products to your customers is webinars. Surprisingly, webinars are both more effective and have all the benefits of a blog or traditional business.

What would you do if you could have money on demand through webinars?

Money on Demand, by Steven and Corinna Essa, shares with us 16 ways to build wealth online through webinars. Creating a profitable webinar is possible with the right formula and strategy, and webinars can be very lucrative.

Make no mistake, creating webinars and selling a premium product can be hard work. However, building a profitable webinar business could be your ticket to the creation of the online business of your dreams.

The rest of this post includes a summary of Money on Demand, takeaways from Money on Demand, and a reading recommendation for you.

Book Summary of Money on Demand

Money on Demand shares 16 ways to build wealth through webinars.

The 16 ways include, but are not limited to:

• Using your knowledge and expertise to provide high value content for your viewers
• Partnering with other experts and facilitating the webinar for their viewers
• Selling and promoting other people’s products – making money through affiliate marketing or licensing
• Interviewing experts and using their fame to get exposure for you and your brand
• Producing webinars for businesses and securing contracts to produce recurring income for your services
• Securing advertising on your webinars

Money on Demand goes into detail for each of these profitable webinar strategies, and provides a webinar blueprint.

Webinars are incredibly powerful for marketers and entrepreneurs. When looking to make a sale, you need to earn the trust of your customers.

Why Webinars Are Such a Powerful Marketing Tool for Online Businesses

People attend a 60-minute webinar because they have a hunger to learn about the topic covered.

A webinar allows you to present to hundreds, or even thousands – of people at a time from anywhere in the world. In addition, the typical conversion rate of a webinar is 10% (compared to blogs and sales pages which typically convert at 1%).

This means, if those 100 people show up, statistically speaking, 10 people will convert (purchase) on your product.

People like webinars because they are interactive, are personal, and packed with information.

With a webinar, you are engaging in a one on one chat with your viewers – you are the expert, teacher, and leader of the presentation.

This is one advantage over blogs or text-only web pages: by allowing your viewers to see your face, your brand and product is more personal. People want to buy from people!

“Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying ‘Make me feel important’. Never forget that message when working with people.” – Mary Kay Ash

Finally, with all web business, webinars are cheap to produce, satisfy the law of effection, and are able to scale. Securing a domain can be as cheap as $4 a month, and once set up, thousands of people can view your video and enter your sales funnel.

For a few hours of your time, you can produce a series of videos and content and let it sit on your website. In exchange for an email address, you will deliver high quality content and generate leads for your business and product.

How to Produce a Successful and Profitable Webinar

Producing and creating a successful and profitable webinar is possible with the following strategy.

Most webinars are structured in the following way: provide value for two-thirds of the presentation, and shift to selling for the last one-third.

If you have a 60 minute webinar, this would be broken down into 40 minutes of high value education, and 20 minutes of selling. At the end, you could finish with a question and answer session. This last section is important as you can nurture the hot prospects by defeating objections to why they should buy.

For webinar software, screen capture can be done through a service like Screencast-o-Matic or Open Broadcast Software (OBS).

For hosting your webinar, you could stream on Facebook, YouTube, or on a meeting software such as Webinar Jam, Zoom or GoToMeeting.

Now that we have talked at a high level about producing profitable webinars, let’s get into the details of what should be included in your webinar.

Steps to Create a Webinar to Sell Your Products and Services

Creating a webinar can seem a little intimidating.

However, your webinar can be great through the proper preparation and strategy. Money on Demand provides us with a very solid webinar creation strategy.

Below is a high level summary for producing a successful webinar:

• Coming up with a great introduction
• Structuring the content in 3, 5, or 7 steps
• Illustrating the steps with stories and case studies
• Introducing your product or service

Let’s get into a more detailed discussion on each of these webinar sections.

Creating a Great Introduction for a Successful Webinar

When starting your webinar, you want to capture the attention of your viewers. You want your viewers to get EXCITED about your product, service or information.

The first ten or fifteen minutes of a webinar are very important.

Make sure the introduction covers the following topics:

• Identify the webinar’s intended audience
• Describe who you are and why you’re sharing this information
  • Answer the question “Why should I listen to you?” Include as much evidence as you can that you have experience in the field. Show how you’ve achieved significant results yourself as a result of implementing the strategy that is about to be revealed in the webinar.
  • This will establish that much-needed trust. Trust is a vital component for closing sales. As I always say, “nothing sells more than proof.”
• Explain why the audience will benefit from this webinar.
  • To ensure the audience stays engaged throughout the whole presentation, make sure you whet their appetite with what’s about to come.

By creating a great introduction for your webinar, you will start creating the necessary trust and authority for your presentation.

Structure the content in 3, 5, or 7 steps

The next step after the introduction in your webinar is to structure your content in 3, 5, or 7 steps.

If you are presenting on weight loss, this could be the “7 steps to lose that stubborn body fat”.

It’s important that the content flows well, so the viewer feels you’re taking them from point A (not knowing anything or knowing very little about the topic) to point B (having a clear understanding of how they can achieve the results promised in the title)

These steps should provide the viewer great value and information, and further build trust towards your brand and expertise.

Illustrate the steps with stories and case studies

When going through the various steps of content in your webinar, you will want to illustrate the steps with stories and case studies.

Try to include in each step a story or case study to illustrate each point made.

For example, talk about how your client, Lucy, identified that her bad habits were the cause of her lack of results. Once she started applying your strategies, she found success.

The more you include stories and case studies, the easier it will be for your audience to digest the information and remain engaged. Too often, presenters treat webinars as tutorials or lectures, which is the fastest way to lose your audience’s interest.

Introduce your product or service at the end of your webinar

After the information, you can transition to introducing your product or service.

To transition smoothly from the content to the selling, it’s important to announce you’re about to offer an opportunity for people to go further, faster.

Say: “I’ve delivered priceless information to you, right? But if you haven’t followed this system before it could be a little overwhelming, right? Is it okay if I share with you how you can achieve your weight loss goals the fast and easy way?”

By following this structure, you will connect with your intended audience, establish yourself as the expert, and promote your product effectively.

After the webinar, you will want to follow up with email marketing and additional sales procedures to keep your viewers and leads warm.

Monetizing for Your Profitable Webinar Business

If you are an expert in a subject, sharing your knowledge and expertise can be the product.

Once you produce one webinar, you can continue to produce other informative webinars and establish yourself as an expert in the field. This is similar to other content based online businesses, where your content is the product.

One-on-One coaching is an easy way to monetize free content and webinars. You are the expert and can help people with your expertise. Coaching can be structured in 30 minute one-on-one sessions, premium group classes, or email coaching.

Online courses, eBooks, or physical products can be used to monetize your webinar as well.

At the end of the presentation, the goal of your webinar is to establish trust and authority, and show your viewers the potential of your product, service and methods.

Takeaways from Money on Demand

With every book you read, it is a must to have takeaways and actionable items to implement in life.

For Money on Demand, there are two main takeaways:

1. Video and webinar sales pitches convert on average 10% vs. 1% for blogs and traditional pages.
2. Webinars aren’t that difficult to produce and are personal, interactive, and just as informative as an e-book, blog, or online course.

With these two takeaways, the next step is brainstorming which subjects you have expertise in to produce a high converting webinars.

Once you have a target audience and a topic, you can draft an introduction and outline of the content, and start promoting your event.

What’s great about the Money on Demand webinar method, you don’t need to have a product to sell. You could come up with the product afterwards, offer coaching, or produce more webinars!

Money on Demand shows us it is possible tap into the world of making webinars to make sales, and is very inspiring with some of the stories included.

“Having the world’s best idea will do you no good unless you act on it. People who want milk shouldn’t sit on a stool in the middle of the field in hopes that a cow will back up to them.” – Curtis Grant

Our Recommendation for Money on Demand

Money on Demand is packed with actionable steps on how to make money online while utilizing the power of the internet and webinars. Webinars aren’t new – but with an abundance of blogs and written content on the internet, webinars will continue to become a bigger part of sales and marketing in the future.

Most get rich online books are full of fluff and contain few actionable steps.

Money on Demand is far from a book full of fluff.

Getting in front of a camera isn’t for everyone, but there are numerous other ways you can utilize webinars to build wealth. Promoting, marketing, and setting up webinars are alternative routes. Of course, if you are an expert, you can produce and promote your own product or coaching.

Webinars convert higher than traditional web pages and will give your sales pitch a personal touch. Learn about the power of webinars with Money on Demand.

Would you be interested in doing webinars to build wealth online? What topic are you an expert in? Would you be willing to get on camera and share your knowledge and help others?

Would you trade grinding for five years to be rich for life? Would you be willing to sacrifice upgrades and luxury to improve the chances of financial freedom and becoming wealthy? What would you do to become rich for life?

I have a few big questions for you:

• what do you think you’d have to do for five years to become rich for life?
• are there any steps you could take in the next five years to drastically improve your financial situation?
• what would life be like if in five years you could wake up rich – compared to where you are today?

The answers to these questions are very important.

You have the power to drastically improve and impact your financial situation with the right choices and strategy.

For me, since graduating college a little more than five years ago, I’ve lived within my means, exploded my income, and worked to build wealth.

Now, I’ve saved up a solid amount in my retirement and investment accounts, paid down my debt, and have a strong emergency fund.

Even without the investments, just by having paid off my debt and having an emergency fund, this gives me an opportunity mentally to take more risk at work and look to further my career and hustles.

For you, you can do this too.

It will take time, but it’s not too complicated and will be totally worth it.

In this post is to talk about the math, the mindset, and the strategy you can take to do this in the next 5 years.

Becoming Wealthy is Determined by a Simple Equation

Becoming wealthy and saving more money is determined by a simple equation:

(Income – Expenses) * Time = Increase in Savings and Net Worth

If you make more than you spend, and do this for a number of years, you will build your net worth and grow your savings.

Add to this equation, investing wisely, making good financial decisions around your savings, and learning about personal finance over time, and you have the potential to drastically improve your financial situation.

In my opinion, time is the most important variable in this equation.

If you do the right things financially for a month, sure things will get a little better, but rarely will a big month have a huge effect on your overall financial situation.

If you do this right for a year, you can get to an even better situation, but again, in my experience, things don’t really change.

To experience the biggest effects, you need to dedicate at least three to five years of your future life to living within this equation.

Overnight success doesn’t exist, but over three to five years, it is certainly possible and attainable.

Winning with your money is within your reach and you can do it.

How Living Within Your Means for Multiple Years Can Lead to Having More Money

Everyone’s situation is different, but just to illustrate the potential of this simple equation, let’s do some math.

If you make $50,000 a year, and spend $40,000 a year, you will have $10,000 left over to put towards your financial goals (investing, emergency fund, debt payoff, etc.).

$10,000 might have a big impact on your financial situation, but in terms of becoming rich, this won’t go too far in today’s world.

However, take this and throw it in our equation.

($50,000 – $40,000) * 1 Year = $10,000

After one year, we get $10,000. But let’s look at five years (yes this is basic math but I’m getting to the point).

($50,000 – $40,000) * 5 Years = $50,000

What would you do if you had $50,000 more in the bank? This would certainly be a change in your financial situation – I know an extra $50,000 would be great for me!

Now, what happens if you start making tweaks to the other variables?

What if you could eliminate $5,000 in expenses per year? What would this look like?

After one year:

($50,000 – $35,000) * 1 Year = $15,000

After five years:

($50,000 – $35,000) * 5 Years = $75,000

An extra $25,000 because you were able to trim your expenses by $5,000.

What about if you increase your income as well by $5,000 a year?

After one year:

($55,000 – $35,000) * 1 Year = $20,000

After five years:

($55,000 – $35,000) * 5 Years = $100,000

Again, $20,000 is a lot, but not enough to drastically impact your life. $100,000 on the other hand? That’s a great start to financial freedom.

Obviously there are many combinations and ways to play around with this equation to start to see how much you could save in five years.

But with these examples, I hope I’ve shown you the potential of this simple equation and how you can improve your financial situation in a big way over a few years.

How to Become Wealthy and Rich

Now, let’s talk about how you can actually take advantage of our equation and build wealth for the future – starting TODAY.

Below are seven steps you can take to start your path to financial freedom and success.

1. Determine Your WHY
2. Develop a Mindset to Avoid Lifestyle Inflation
3. Track Your Income and Expenses
4. Cut Unnecessary Expenses
5. Focus on Exploding your Income
6. Learn about the Basics of Investing
7. Stay Consistent Over Time

Let’s dive into each of these steps in greater detail below.

1. Determine WHY You Want to Become Rich

Here’s a fact I’m sure you know: money doesn’t bring happiness.

However, money can be a tool which allows you to live a life you want to live.

Why do you want to improve your financial situation?

For me, I want to improve my financial situation to provide a stable, secure and stress-life for my future family.

It’s not about having nice cars, clothes and a big house for me – I don’t need these things to be happy.

I want to be able to spend time with people I love and do the things I want to do with my time.

This is why I want more money.

What’s your why?

• Do you want to spend more time with your family?
• Get out of debt to live stress-free?
• Go out to your favorite restaurants?
• Travel to exotic places?
• Buy your favorite cars?
• Live in a big house?

Any of these could be your why and it’s up to you to figure out what makes sense to you.

If you have a why, you will figure out a way.

2. Develop a Mindset To Avoid Lifestyle Inflation and Live “Poor”

Lifestyle inflation is one of the biggest traps people fall into regarding their personal finances.

Essentially, lifestyle inflation can happen in the following way: as a person’s income increases, then their expenses increase.

As you can see from our equation above, it doesn’t matter how much money you make if you spend it all.

Avoiding lifestyle inflation can be done with by making a conscious decision to limit luxuries, live like a college student, buy used, etc.

For me, this is easy – I wear shirts I’ve had for 10 years, shoes I’ve had for 5, bought a used car, and only replace something if it’s broke.

This somewhat goes back to my why as well. I’m happy by doing things which bring me enjoyment – not by the clothes I wear, the place I live in, or the car I drive.

To me functionally is more important than the glamour, and for this reason, I’ve been able to keep expenses low.

Over time, as your financial situation improves, it is totally okay to spend more money, but until that point, keeping expenses low will be important.

3. Track Your Income and Expenses

Before focusing on improving your income and expenses, you need to KNOW how much you make and how much you spend on a monthly and yearly basis.

What gets measured, gets managed. – Peter Drucker

Tracking your income and expenses is the first step to becoming better wit

The four personal finance metrics you need to know for personal financial success when it comes to tracking finances are:

• Net Income
• Gross Expenses
• Savings Rate
• Net Worth

For our purposes, net income and gross expenses are the two which apply to us most and are the focus of this article.

Net income is what did you make in income, after taxes, for a given period? You can find this out by looking at your paystubs.

Gross expenses is the total amount of money you spend during a month.

After you have these two numbers, you can then start to budget, identify spending weaknesses and get on the path to financial success.

4. Cut Unnecessary Expenses

The fastest way to improve your financial situation is to cut unnecessary expenses.

One thing I will say though is you should focus on the BIG expenses of housing, transportation and food first, and then look at other expenses.

While yes, subscriptions, coffee and other expenses do add up, if you can reduce your rent or mortgage payment by $200, this will have the same effect as cutting your daily Starbucks.

Or if you decide to take the bus to work instead of driving, this could save you $400 a month in parking and gas – again, a much bigger impact than cutting a streaming subscription.

For me, I take the bus to work, I house hacked for four years, and I don’t have too many subscriptions.

While I could improve on eating out, I eat in and cook quite a bit.

Looking at where you are spending your money can help with reducing expenses, and then taking action will help you save more.

5. Focus on Exploding Your Income

Next, you should focus on increasing your income.

Five years is a long time, and you can do a lot with your spare time to make more money, get a promotion, or start a side hustle.

During the last five years, I’ve nearly doubled my salary. With this, and by keeping my expenses essentially flat, I’ve been able to increase the (Income – Expenses) piece of the simple wealth equation substantially.

Increasing your income is all about providing VALUE and being unapologetic and unafraid to ask to be compensated for that VALUE.

Examples of providing more value could be:

• taking on more responsibility at work
• changing jobs to a more lucrative position
• gaining a certification and applying it
• starting a side hustle
• investing in real estate
• or flipping things

All of these can lead to more money coming in each month.

It’s up to you to figure out which strategy is best for you, and while it might not be easy at first, I know you can do it.

6. Learn about the Basics of Investing and Keeping Your Money Safe

Finally, learning about investing is important for building long term wealth.

At the beginning of your journey, investing won’t bring as many gains as focusing on your income and expense. But after five years, your investments will play a big piece in your overall wealth.

During this time, you can learn about investing through reading books and blogs, build an emergency fund, and start to put money away into:

• retirement accounts
• taxable investment accounts
• real estate
• a business

While I’m someone who likes to try and hit home runs with my investments, starting off, it’s important to invest wisely and assess your level of risk tolerance.

Once you understand your relationship with your savings and money, then you can start to invest more with a purpose and in a way which makes sense for your goals and future.

7. Stay Consistent Over Time

As we talked about above with our math calculations, time is the multiplying effect which can supercharge your progress.

While time goes slow, it is incredibly powerful.

If you decide to put your head down for the next five years, I can almost certainly guarantee things will be different for you and you will be in a better financial situation.

Five years is a long time, and by putting the principles of personal finance to work, I bet you can only dream of the progress and success you could make over time.

The power of compound interest does not just apply to investing – it applies to everything in life.

By adopting a mindset which favors intentional planning and action, you can and will find success in your life.

Are you going to be consistent and grow your money?

Are You Going to Be Rich in 5 Years?

After reading this post, you have a great resource and strategy to go out and make the next few years count.

While the progress might come slow, trusting that time will bring success will make all the difference.

Over the last five years, I’ve been successful with my finances and now I’m living a great life.

I don’t really worry about money anymore, but this wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t sacrifice and live within my means for the last five years.

Now, I want this for you. I’ll look forward to seeing you become successful over the next few years and on to living the life you want and deserve.

Have you ever been down to your last fifty dollars? You didn’t know where to go? Were you energized by the fact you had no where to go but up? What you experienced was the power of broke…

The Power of Broke is a book about how being broke, on a tight budget, and hungry for success can be motivating, exhilarating, and a catalyst for great success. The Power of Broke is a story book profiling a number of successful entrepreneurs who didn’t have large amounts of funding starting off.

I was drawn to reading The Power of Broke because I’ve seen Daymond John on the popular TV Show Shark Tank and wanted to learn more about his story. In addition, I’m constantly looking to surround myself with the ideas of successful business owners and entrepreneurs. There is no better way than to read about them in books!

When your back is up against the wall, your bank account is empty, and creativity and passion are the only resources you can afford, success is your only option.

Summary of The Power of Broke

Daymond John has been practicing the power of broke ever since he was a teenager in Queens. With a $40 budget, Daymond started selling t-shirts to his friends out of the back of his van. Desperation breeds innovation – Daymond put his creative ways to work, growing his company over the years into the billion dollar brand FUBU. Each and every day, Daymond John wakes up and says to himself, “Rise and Grind!”

The SHARK Points of Business

Daymond John wrote The Power of Broke to tell the world it doesn’t require million dollar funding to build a brand and be successful in business. Essentially, to be successful as an entrepreneur, you must apply the SHARK Points of business:

• Set a Goal
  • Where are you headed? What’s on tap for the next year? Think about what’s possible. Think about what’s in reach. Write it down.
• Homework, Do Yours
  • You have to know your stuff in the market you are. You have to identify what the customers want and need to be successful.
• Adore What You Do
  • It comes down to passion. You have to love what you are doing. If you don’t, then it’s empty.
• Remember, You are The Brand
  • It all starts with how you carry yourself, what you put out into the world, the way you interact with your audience, your customers, the marketplace. It’s on you. Just you.
• Keep Swimming
  • Don’t give up, don’t give in.

When you have nothing to lose, you have everything to gain.

The Power of Broke Confirmed

The Power of Broke discusses the stories of a number of entrepreneurs who came up from nothing and applied the SHARK Points. The people profiled are from many different industries – music, social media, fashion, food, internet marketing, extreme sports, and consulting:

• Steve Aoki – Musician, DJ, Record Producer, Music Executive
  •  Maxed out 10 different credit cards totaling $90,000 to fund a record.
• Rob Dyrdek – Skateboarder, Producer, Reality Show Star
  • When he was 11, he didn’t have the money to enter a skateboarding contest, so cut a deal: if he recruited 10 others to enter, he would get in for free. He did it and continued to turn heads with his brand.
• Gigi Butler – Entrepreneur, Cupcake Boss
  • Started a cupcake business with just $33 to her name and grew it to a company with $35 Million in annual sales.
• Jay Abraham – Executive, Consultant, Public Speaker, Direct-Marketing Guru
  • In the 1970’s, Jay Abraham started by delivering 8-track tapes to various stores in a $500 beat-up van. Soon after, he bought a small company out of bankruptcy, applied some silly sales techniques (deals which resulted in negative 45 cents for the initial sale) and built it into a $60 million dollar company.
• Tim Ferriss – Author, Motivational Speaker, Entrepreneur, Angel Investor
  • Many of you know Tim Ferriss from his books (The 4-Hour Workweek), but many of you don’t know he was working for a non-profit and driving his mom’s hand-me-down minivan before finally landing his book deal!
• Ryan Deiss – Entrepreneur, Digital Marketer, Consultant
  • Created many online businesses in college and nearly got wiped out when he lost track of his products. He overdraft $250,000 and had to figure out how to pay his debt. He paid off his debt, but then owed another $250,000 in taxes to the Government! In 3 days, he utilized the power of broke and got it done!
• Mark Burnett – Television Producer, Bestselling Author
  • Mark Burnett came to the United States from the U.K. and working at an insurance company and selling t-shirts in his spare time in L.A. As his t-shirt business grew, so did his dream to adventure. He set up races and contests for extreme people and this set the stage for the show, Survivor. Now, after almost 20 years, he is the producer of many top action and contest TV shows.

I loved reading about all of these people’s stories. It was truly eye opening and inspiring.

“The meaning of life is the process. The meaning of life is in the conversations we’re having right now, and you can have the same conversation with a waiter or a janitor or an executive at a top company. It’s all in the process, and in my case it’s in my commitment to add value anytime I interact with anybody. If you can get that in alignment, find a way to help someone else while you help yourself, then everything else flows.” – Jay Abraham

My Takeaways and Action Steps

With all books, I look to have a couple takeaways and action steps to apply in my life.

In Jay Abraham’s passage above, he talks about finding a way to help someone while you can help yourself. I completely understand his point and want to be able to provide value to many people. I’ve already started this by creating this blog and sharing my personal experiences. I’m also very happy that over 20 people have downloaded our free debt destruction tool in the past week!

Property #2

Reading The Power of Broke pushed me this the weekend to think outside the box and look to expand my horizons. I’ve been watching the real estate market for some time now and have a goal in 2017 to buy another property. I did it over the weekend! Property #2!!

I had my offer accepted on a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom place. The house needs some cosmetic upgrades to the bedrooms and living room. This will be a large undertaking over the next 3 months. I’m going to look to rent out  my current house which will bring the following tasks: finding renters, applying for rental license, and cleaning and fixing up the house and yard to get it ready. Then once I close on the other house, I’m going to paint, clean, and redo the floors of the new house! I’m excited and ready for the high stress period coming up.

UPDATE: I ended up not going through with the house due to foundation issues.

Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Our Recommendation for The Power of Broke

If you are looking to start a business and are looking for ideas, pick up a copy of The Power of Broke. You don’t need capital to start a business – Daymond John proves that by featuring numerous successful people who started with less than $1,000 in the bank. Get after it! Apply the SHARK principles: set a goal, homework (do yours), adore what you do, remember you are a brand, and keep swimming, and you will be on your way to success.

I’m very glad I read The Power of Broke. Even if you aren’t interested in business or entrepreneurship, reading about the stories of various people we read about is always interesting. For example, I didn’t know much about Tim Ferriss before reading The Power of Broke. I am glad I now know a little more of his story to success. All the stories energized me to get to work! RISE AND GRIND!!

Innovation happens from the bottom up, not the top down.

If you have been broke, did your motivation and results soar? Is frugality a psychological trick which forces us to save? Would you purposely stress yourself out to become success?

Creating a budget is a great first step to take when looking to improve your finances. Make 2021 your best year with these great budgeting tips for 2021. Learning how to create a budget and save money with your plan is easy, and you can get started today with this post about budgeting your money. 

Are you looking to take control of your financial situation? Would you feel better with some more money in the bank? Do you want to win with your finances?

One way to take control of your personal finances and save more money is to budget.

While budgeting isn’t the sexiest or most fun thing to do with your time, setting a budget and sticking to your budget can be the key to reaching your financial goals.

In this post, I’m going to share with you how to create a budget in the year 2021 in 5 easy steps.

What is a Budget?

First, what is a budget?

A budget is just a plan for how you spend your money every month.

That’s it. Nothing fancy. It’s just you telling your money what to do.

But it can be a lot more than that if you’re constantly stressed over your finances. When you make a budget, it suddenly becomes a lot easier to:

• See where your money is going
• Figure out what you’re wasting money on
• Create a plan for paying down debt
• Build an emergency fund for rainy days
• Save and invest for retirement or your kids’ college
• Plan out your financial goals
• Understanding your spending patterns and triggers
• Stop freaking out over money

That last one is really important.

Money is not everything in life, but it is a tool you can use to create the life you want and deserve – without stress.

How to Create a Budget in 5 Steps

To create a budget, all you need is a pencil and paper, but using a computer can help if you are a spreadsheet nerd like me 🙂

Creating a budget isn’t too hard if you know the right steps to follow.

Below are the 5 steps you can take to create a budget:

1. Learn about the Different Budgeting Methods
2. Identify What You Enjoy and Don’t Enjoy Spending Money on
3. Track Your Personal Finances to Understand Your Income and Expenses
4. Understand Your Spending Habits and Eliminate Any Spending Weaknesses
5. Implement, Track and Tweak You Budget Over Time

Now, let’s dive into each of these budget creation steps in more detail.

1. Learn about the Different Budgeting Methods

Budgeting doesn’t have to be hard or complex, and there are a number of different ways to make sure you are spending your money on what brings you joy.

First though, it’s important to learn about a few budgeting methods, and figure out which one makes most sense for you.

The four budgeting methods I’d like to share with you are:

1. The 50 / 30 / 20 Budgeting Method
2. The 80 / 20 Budgeting Method
3. The 60% Solution Budgeting Method
4. The Cash Envelope Budgeting Method

Let’s dive into each of these in the next section.

Budgeting Methods to Learn Before Starting to Budget

The 50 / 30 / 20 budgeting method involves spending 50% of your take-home pay on needs, 30% on wants, and 20% on investing and/or debt repayment.

With the 50 / 30 / 20 budgeting method, you only have 3 line items to track every month – it cannot get much simpler than that!

What this method requires is for you to clearly define what is a need vs. what is a want in your life.

After defining your needs and wants, you just need to sort all your monthly expenses into a need or a want, and add up each category.

The 80 / 20 budgeting method is an even easier version of the 50/30/20 method.

If you don’t want to make the effort to discern between wants and needs, you can just lump them into one.

In this budgeting method, 80% goes to your wants and needs, and 20% goes to investing and/or debt repayment. That’s really all there is to it!

The next budgeting method is the 60% Solution. This budget has five categories for your GROSS income (ie. pre-tax) outlined below:

• 60% to “commited” expenses
• 10% to retirement savings
• 10% to long-term savings
• 10% to short term savings
• 10% for “fun money”

This budgeting method effectively suggests you can live off 60% of your gross income.

This budgeting method really simplifies expense tracking since all your “committed” costs are lumped into one category.

However, it carries the same challenges as the 50 / 30 /20 method since 60% may not work for your household.

Finally, the cash envelope budgeting method is the oldest form of budgeting out there.

In fact, the word budget originated from the Old French word for purse.

While the cash envelope method requires the most effort out of any method on this list, it is still relatively simple.

The cash envelope budgeting method requires you to go old school by using nothing but cash for all your purchases.

Now that you’ve learned about these different budgeting methods, let’s move on to step two.

2. Identify What You Enjoy and Don’t Enjoy Spending Money on

I have a few questions for you to think about when thinking about your budget.

These questions are more related to your life, than money, and will bring the answers you need to start improving with your finances.

The questions for you are:

• What are you passionate about?
• What do you enjoy doing most?
• Is there anything holding you back from doing these activities more?

The purpose behind these questions is to get you thinking about MATTERS to you.

For me, I’m passionate about spending time with my family, being healthy and active, and learning.

Since these are my passions, then I need to align my spending habits with these passions.

What does this look like in practice?

• For my health, I’m not afraid to spend a little more money on healthy food and supplements. I am finding spending some money on a relatively nice bike, a rock climbing gym membership, and equipment which can help me reach my fitness goals.
• With learning, I’m not afraid to invest in myself and buy a course, a book or seek help.
• For spending time with my family, I’m fine spending money at a golf course my dad wants to play, or taking my family out to dinner once in a while.

For you, figuring out what you like spending money on with make the budgeting process easier.

Also, you can then figure out what you don’t like spending money on to come up with ideas to eliminate through your budget.

3. Track Your Personal Finances to Understand Your Income and Expenses

Next, it’s time to get a complete picture of your personal finance situation.

The 4 metrics you need to know for personal financial success when it comes to tracking finances are:

• Net Income
• Gross Expenses
• Savings Rate
• Net Worth

Below we dive into each of these metrics and statistics so you will know how to calculate them.

Net Income

Tracking your net income over time will give you a picture of what you are working with financially.

Let’s start off with an easy one: net income. What did you make in income, after taxes, for a given period?

The easiest way to do this is by just looking at a recent pay stub.

You’ll see your gross income listed out, which is what you made before taxes.

It should also list out all of your deductions, like FICA, federal, your state tax (if any), etc.

If you have investment income, or have any other freelancing or consulting income, you can find your gross income by adding up what you are paid each month.

Below gross income, if you’re looking at your pay stub, you’ll find your net income, which is the income remaining after all taxes.

Essentially, your net income is what you have to work with each month and year.

If you make $5,000 a month after taxes, then you know you have a maximum of $5,000 you can live on for all of your expenses and saving goals.

Hopefully, over time, this number will go up as you become more experienced and valuable to your clients or employer.

For me, I use income to judge how effectively I used my cash in a given period.

Tracking net income allows you to plan what to do with that income to best set yourself up for financial success

Gross Expenses

Next, we have gross expenses. Your total gross expenses is a very important financial statistic to calculate for yourself.

After income, calculating gross expenses – the total amount of money you spend during a month – will help you identify any weaknesses in your budget.

You can track your expenses however you find most effective. I split my expenses into some broad buckets, and then dive deeper to get a better understanding of where my cash is actually going each month.

• Discretionary Spending
  • Food and Drink
  • Shopping
  • Recreation
  • Travel
  • Hair
  • Home Improvement
  • Cash Withdrawal
• Utilities
  • Internet
  • Gas
  • Electric
  • Water
• Mortgage/Rent
  • Principal on Mortgage
  • Interest on Mortgage
  • Home Insurance
  • Property Taxes
  • Private Mortgage Insurance
• Auto
  • Gas
  • Auto Insurance
  • Maintenance
  • Auto Loan Principal and Interest
  • Parking
• Other Insurance
  • Health Insurance
  • Dental Insurance
  • Umbrella Policy
  • Life Insurance
• Other
  • ATM Fees
  • Other random charges and fees
• Taxes
  • Federal
  • State
  • Social Security
  • Medicare

If I had kids, I can imagine having more line items for diapers, clothing, child care, sports, saving for college, etc.

Like I said, you can categorize your expenses anyway you’d like. Personal finance is personal! 🙂

For example, I lump food and drink together. Splitting them up makes sense as well, but I don’t drink as much anymore, and as a result, I simply have kept it as food and drink.

As part of your overall financial picture, tracking gross expenses can reveal areas of improvement (are you spending too much on a cable subscription when you rarely watch TV?).

Over time, you can make tweaks and grow to make sure you are on the path to financial success.

Savings Rate

Savings rate is a very important personal finance metric to track.

Once we have our income and expenses for a certain period, we can move on to a slightly more complicated metric: savings rate. No, it’s not too complicated, just some division added to the mix 🙂

A person’s savings rate is the percentage of income which a person saves in a given time period.

Simply put, it can be calculated as (net income – gross expenses) / net income.

Let’s say a person makes $5,000 in a month. They spend $2,500 of it and the rest is saved in their savings account. Then, their savings rate for the month is 50%, or ($5,000 – $2,500) / $5,000.

Now, it gets a little bit more complicated once you start to factor in contributions to investment accounts and principal payoff of debt.

For me, I don’t count these as expenses. With contributions to investment accounts, you aren’t giving your money to someone else, rather you are putting it somewhere else for your future self.

For paying down a debt, I do consider interest to be an expense.

At a minimum, people should aim to save at least 10% of their income. Personally, I’d suggest aiming for 25%+ to help you become wealthy more quickly.

Net Worth

The final piece of financial information to track for your personal finances is your net worth.

What is your net worth?

It is your assets minus your liabilities.

What are assets?

Assets are things a person owns which have value. Typical assets include houses, cash, stocks, bonds, cars, precious metals (jewelry, etc.), currencies, businesses – and the list goes on and on.

Next, what are liabilities?

Liabilities are things a person owes, either to a bank, a financial institution, or another person or business. These include credit card balances, mortgages, auto loans, personal loans, liens – and the list here goes on and on as well.

To calculate your net worth, subtract your liabilities from your assets.

Knowing your net worth is crucial to tracking your finances. Focus on growing your net worth and you’ll be on your way to financial success.

“What gets measured, gets managed.” – Peter Drucker

4. Understand Your Spending Habits and Eliminate Any Spending Weaknesses

After you’ve started tracking your spending habits with step three, now you can look at your spending and identify any weaknesses.

One of my favorite quotes is “what gets measured, gets managed”.

After tracking your personal finances and figuring how much you spend on a monthly basis, you can then start to attack certain areas of your spending to save more money.

For example, if you see that you are spending a ton of money on food, maybe $1,000 a month, and you think this is too much, you can make note of this.

For me, I spend about $400 a month on food for myself. There are months were I spend $500, and when this happens, I know that the next month I need to reign in my spending.

For you, you should look about at all of your spending categories (housing, food, transportation, entertainment, etc.), and also look at the big picture to see if there’s anything you can change to reach your financial goals.

5. Implement, Track and Tweak Your Budget Over Time

No one can ever make a perfect plan – the world doesn’t work this way.

But with solid preparation, you can create a plan for your budget which will get you on the right path.

After a month, you can revisit your budget to see how you did. If you think there were certain categories which were too restrictive on your lifestyle, you can raise the spending limits on those categories.

For example, if you wanted to only spend $500 on food and drink, but ended up spending $600, then maybe you actually want your budget for food to be $600.

At the same time, you need to keep in mind your financial goals and to make sure that if you raise any spending limits, that you lower others (unless you are comfortable with saving less).

Over time, you can figure out a budget which makes most sense for you and get on the path to financial success!

Create a Budget Today to Save Money This Year

Taking control of your financial situation with a budget is the first step to financial success.

By following the steps above, you will know where your money is going each and every month, and better understand how to hit your financial goals.

Now, it’s time to take action and get your budget set for a successful financial year in 2021.

How awesome will it feel when you have a bigger emergency fund, you are able to worry less about work, and able to be more in the present?

These are the things I want for you and I hope you can achieve them in 2021.

Thanks for reading!

Readers: what’s your favorite budgeting method? Do you have any budgeting tips I missed here?

Why is it that some people seem luckier than others? How come some people constantly receive better results, and others do not receive those same results? Do you want to become luckier? In this post, I’m going to talk about how you can create your own luck and get on to achieving whatever goal you want.

In many areas of life, sports, career, relationships, etc., some people seemingly always are achieving, finding success, and getting what they want.

In those same areas, we see others who are catching bad breaks, having a tough time finding success, and never seem to get it right.

Are you a person who falls into the first category, or the second category? Are you someone who is “lucky”, or are you someone who is “unlucky”?

Do you want to find more luck? Are you looking to find success in your life and are just looking for your big break?

In this post, I’m going to talk about how you can create more “luck”, and what you can do to change your life for the better – starting from today.

“The harder I work, the luckier I get” – Samuel Goldwyn

Is Luck Real?

First, is luck real?

Scientists and statisticians have spent many years studying if luck is real or if luck is just a series of fortunate random events.

While statisticians and scientists believe that luck is the interpretation of a series of random events, other people believe luck is real and is part of something bigger (a supernatural force, fate, karma, etc.)

In the first case, scientists believe that people look at a series random events and give more weight to the positive events, i.e., say that those events are lucky.

While an event might be unlikely, just because it occurred doesn’t mean that it was luck.

Also, as I’ve experienced in the past in casinos, while someone might be winning one night, you never know how many other nights they have sat and lost in the same exact chair.

On the other side, people believe that you can create luck through doing good deeds, praying and magic.

While I agree with the scientists and statisticians, I also believe you can improve your chances of having positive results in your life. I do believe that you can manifest your own reality through intentional action, however life might not always manifest in exactly what you expected.

I believe you can create your own “luck” – i.e., improve the chances of you succeeding – through your own efforts.

“Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” – Seneca

How People Create Luck in Life

Whether luck is real or not from a scientific standpoint, I believe that anyone can CREATE their OWN luck through hard work and preparation.

Think about this scenario for a second: you are at work and there is a new management opportunity in your department.

This new position requires a certain certification that you have – a certification that took 300 hours of studying, many long hours of homework and preparation, and a massive test to top it all off.

Some other people in your team don’t have this certification, and others have different certifications.

At the end of the hiring process, management gives you an offer to take this new opportunity because of your previous work and experience.

In this case, are you lucky? Is this an instance of luck?

It might seem like luck, in that the position could have required any number of different requirements, but it wasn’t luck that you got a demanding certification and have been successful in your work.

In this situation, your preparation and work created your own luck. 

Have you experienced situations like this in your life? Have you seen where someone suddenly receives something unexpected?

What you maybe didn’t see is the hard work, the preparation, and dedication of that person before.

Overnight success is 5 years in the making, and to create your own luck, you need to have a plan and strategy to reach your goals.

A 5 Step Plan to Create Your Own Luck

Below I’ve laid out 5 steps for you to consider for creating your own luck. Wherever you want to go in life, whatever you want to do, doing the steps below will get you closer to you goals.

You can keep scrolling or click on the following links to go to the section you want.

1. Take Full Responsibility for Your Life
2. Decide Today to Start Living Intentionally With Purpose
3. Create Daily, Weekly and Monthly Goals and a Plan to Achieve Those Goals
4. Understand that Setbacks and Stretches of Bad Luck Will Happen
5. Stay Consistent and Don’t Give Up

Below, I’ll go into detail to give you more details on these steps.

1. Take Full Responsibility for Your Life

The first step in making this year the best it can be is deciding to take full responsibility of your life.

You are the only person that can positively affect what happens in your life. Likewise, if something doesn’t go right, then you have to fix you.

If you want more, you need to go and get it – no one else is going to give it to you.

Taking responsibility of your life means you are the sole owner of your future life and only you can do what is necessary to find success.

While you might believe some people are just more lucky than others, you can begin to create your own luck through your work and habits.

2. Decide Today to Start Living Intentionally With Purpose

Ideas, goals, and dreams are worthless without action.

Today, you need to make a decision that is going to change your life forever.

Today, you need to decide that you are going to live with purpose.

Starting today, you are fully responsible for your life, so are you going to let it slip away, or are you going to attack it with all your power and strength?

Today, make a decision to do the right thing for yourself and those around you that you care about.

Today’s the day you start making positive changes and get on the path to achieving your wildest dreams.

3. Create Daily, Weekly and Monthly Goals and a Plan to Achieve Those Goals

The process of setting goals is not too hard.

However, the process of setting goals which you will actually achieve is a little tricky.

Make no mistake though, you can definitely learn the steps to setting good goals, and get in an action based mindset to achieve your goals.

When creating goals for your life, career, health, money, etc., there are a few things you need to do:

• Deconstruct your destination and goals and break them into smaller sub-goals
• Set both short and long-term goals
• Write down your goals and keep them somewhere visible
• Share your goals with friends and family

First, you need to understand exactly what you want in life.

Do you have personal development goals? Do you have career goals? Are you wanting to get into better shape? Is there anything you want to be able to experience with you family?

All of these questions are important for you to determine exactly what you want.

After answering these questions, you can work on creating goals to achieve in the short term, and in the long term. Creating a daily plan to attack the short term goals is critical and will guide you on the way to success.

After creating your plans, you can hold yourself accountable by telling friends and family, and making sure they keep you on the path to success.

4. Understand that Setbacks and Stretches of Bad Luck Will Happen

Without failure, there is no success. If you achieved everything you set your mind to, where would the growth be? How would that be a great story?

Failure and struggle is part of human nature, and overcoming that struggle is how you grow and become better.

Being honest with you, setbacks happen and they suck. I’ve set savings goals and had appliances break down unexpectedly. I’ve been injured in sports. There have been people who let me down and made me reassess my time and goals.

Each time though, I was able to get through these tough times and get to the other side.

You can bounce back from any mistake and get back on the road to success. You are capable of achieving anything and it’s important to understand that failure is temporary.

As long as we don’t make it a habit of getting into rough patches, you’ll be able to get back on track in no time.

5. Stay Consistent and Don’t Give Up

As I mentioned above, overnight success is usually 5 years in the making. It’s going to be a lot of work, and it’s going to take consistent efforts over time to get to your goals.

The path to success is lonely and demanding.

Here’s the thing though: all it takes is a simple decision and dedication on a daily basis.

Simple daily disciplines will add up over time into massive results.

At first, it’s going to seem like you are trudging through mud and you aren’t going anywhere. Over time, it’ll get easier and easier.

Then all of sudden, you’ll get your breakthrough and you’ll be well on your way to your goals.

All it takes is doing a little bit each day and staying consistent.

I know you can do it, because you have a tremendous potential. You can do whatever you want, and you’ll be on your way to creating your own luck.

Are You Going to Start Creating Your Own Luck Today?

Whether luck is real or not, you can create your own opportunities and put yourself in a better position to achieve your goals.

Achieving your goals might not happen next year, it might not happen the year after, but by working a little bit each and every day, you can accomplish anything you want.

I hope that this article has given you some food for thought on how you can create your own luck in your life, and how you can get on the path to greater and greater success.

Real estate is a great investment class, and with property pricing booming, it might make sense to see if real estate investing is for you.

The Millionaire Real Estate Investor, is consumable, practical and gets you motivated to go out and try to find deals in the real estate market!

Why do I like real estate as an asset class? Real estate is:

• Accessible – Anyone can buy it
• Appreciable – Can increase in value over time
• Leverageable – You can buy on margin and borrow against equity
• Rentable – Cash flow baby!
• Improvable – Through sweat equity or contracting out
• Deductible/Depreciable/Deferrable – Amazing tax benefits

I’m an investor. I’m building financial wealth. Is today the day I find an opportunity and make a deal?

Summary of The Millionaire Real Estate Investor

Like most personal finance books, The Millionaire Real Estate Investor starts out by touching on the “personal” side of personal finance. Keller goes into a number of common myths which most “non-investors” believe as facts. One example of this is investing is complicated and I’m not smart enough to do it. As many of you reading this probably know, investing can be simple if you learn a set of rules and have a system to identify good deals. Investing is a learn-able skill.

Next, Keller gets into his tips on how to become a Millionaire Real Estate Investor. He has a four step framework for real estate investors to master:

• First, a real estate investor must “Think a Million”
  • If you want to be a Millionaire Real Estate Investor, you must think and dream big.
  • In this section, Keller talks about getting into the investing mindset by emphasizing growing your net worth, defining your why you want to invest and become financially wealthy, and think about taking action.
• Next, a real estate investor must “Buy a Million”
  • This isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. To be a successful investor, you need to be smart about your purchases. By purchasing at below market prices and having all your criteria met, you can start making money from day 1.
    • “You make money when you buy, not when you sell”
  • This sounds easy, but it will take a consistent effort to understand the values of the properties in your target location, understand the cost of any repairs or problems with the prospects, and make purchases which will make your renters happy.

“You make money when you buy, not when you sell”

• Next, a real estate investor must “Own a Million”
  • Once you have “bought a million”, it’s time to pay off the debt and build equity in the properties using the cash flow generated.
  • Keller goes through tips on building your network of contractors, property managers, accountants, lawyers, etc. in this section.
    • Ask the two questions with everyone you meet:
      • “Who do you know that I should know?”
      • “What would you do if you were me?”
• Finally, a real estate investor must “Receive a Million”
  • At the end of the day, you will be at the top of the mountain and be able to “receive a million” in passive income. That is the goal, to be able to sit back and let the rents come in while your property management company does the work for you!

Meaningful Quotes from The Millionaire Real Estate Investor

Here are some meaningful quotes and insights from The Millionaire Real Estate Investor:

• Life is too big to think small. If you want to lead a big life, your thinking has to lead the way.
• “Deals aren’t found. Opportunities are found. Deals are made.” – Dyches Boddiford
• Be an investor, not a collector, a speculator, or an observer.
  • Investing requires action. Successful investing requires the right action. Investors take action, minimize risk, and buy based on investment value.
• Your criteria should be based on the following factors: price range, discount, cash flow, and appreciation potential.
• Be a shopper, not a buyer.
  • Be skeptical.
• Learning has four stages: understanding, knowledge, wisdom, and power.
  • Understanding means you are aware of something; you get it mentally.
  • Knowledge means you have studied it and see how you could do it.
  • Wisdom means you have experienced it and know it works.
  • Power means it has become a part of you and you do it habitually. You are now unconsciously competent.
• Negotiate everything! (Price, financing costs, closing costs, possession date, etc.)
• Make associating with talent your number one priority.
  • This is similar to what Felix Dennis talked about in his book, How to Get Rich (book review).
• Get creative with your financing: lease-option, seller financing, wrap, etc.

Action Steps and Takeaways

As with all books I read, I want to be able to takeaway a few points and apply them in my life. Takeaway one is to start building my network of real estate professionals. I’m going to reach out to the agent I used when I purchased my house to chat about his thoughts.

Next, I want to define my criteria for a property: a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom property with a decent lot perhaps? Finally, I want to get in tune with the market in the location I determine most fruitful. The neighborhood near my house would be fantastic to get another place, but the inventory is very tight right now (only 3 houses under $400k in a 3 mile radius circle).

Opportunities are out there, I just need to find them!

Focus, driven by motivation, supported by knowledge and skill causes one to take action without a thought about not succeeding. Never underestimate the power of purpose and focus.

Our Recommendation for The Millionaire Real Estate Investor

I could write 10,000 words on my notes, thoughts, and findings from this book. Keller has given me a framework to work through when looking to invest in my next property.

My next steps after reading The Millionaire Real Estate Investor is to define my criteria, start scouting the market to determine the value of properties in my cross hairs, and finally start networking with other real estate professionals and agents. I recommend The Millionaire Real Estate Investor to anyone looking to build financial wealth using real estate. You won’t regret it.

Readers: Do you currently invest in real estate? Do you want to in the future? What would you recommend I do? Are there any other real estate books which would be beneficial for me to read?

Previously, we discussed the two steps to financial success. Tracking your income and expenses is part one of the two step process for financial success.  Step number two is to further your financial education.

Right now, you are doing a great job by reading these articles on personal finance, but your learning should not stop after you leave this site (I hope you never leave, but I know responsibilities call)!

But if it does, one of the best ways to further your financial education is to listen to podcasts.

Here, I will be sharing with you five great finance podcasts which inspire, motivate, and provide entertainment to thousands of people.

5 Finance Podcasts to Listen to for Motivation and Inspiration

Whenever I get in the car for an extended period of time, I love listening to podcasts, especially podcasts about people who are pushing their boundaries, becoming wealthy through the principles of personal finance, and doing unique jobs and side hustles in pursuit of success.

There are five podcasts I’ve been listening to lately in the Personal Finance space which I believe you should listen to in 2019 and beyond to further your financial education:

 

• ChooseFI
• Stacking Benjamins
• FIRE Drill Podcast
• Millennial Money Minutes
• Moneysplained

ChooseFI

Are you interested in financial independence? Would being able to walk away from your day job in five to ten years interest you? How can you get started?

The ChooseFI podcast is all about financial independence and how everyday people are building wealth, retiring early, and now looking to influence and help others who are just starting their journey.

What is awesome about ChooseFI is the combination of episodes with interviews of highly successful individuals, but also episodes where Jonathan and Brad unpack the highlights from the previous episodes and draw wisdom from them.

The ChooseFI podcast will get you motivated and inspired to take action. Their interviewees are first in class, and the stories are amazingly interesting and great for someone interested in building wealth for the future. Check out the ChooseFI podcast here: motivation and inspiration for financial success, ChooseFI.

 

Stacking Benjamins

Live from Joe’s mom’s basement, it’s the Stacking Benjamins show!

The Stacking Benjamins show aims to make finance more approachable, interesting, and fun. At the end of the day, the hosts of the show, Joe and OG, want to make finance someone everyone takes seriously.

But, that’s not to say they won’t be joking around with their guests and each other.

What’s amazing is the first bullet from The Stacking Benjamins Creed is Personal Finance is Personal – hey, that sounds familiar!  You know what they say, “Great minds think alike!”

I really enjoy listening to this podcast as it is light hearted, but also provides some great advice. You want a laugh to go with some amazing information? Check out the Stacking Benjamins show here: Stacking Benjamins, light hearted perosonal finance advice!

 

FIRE Drill Podcast

Run by two enthusiastic and amazing young women, the FIRE Drill podcast is all about inspiring stories about financial independence and side hustles.

Are you interested in achieving financial independence through interesting and unique ways? The FIRE Drill Podcast is a great place to start. Each episode features a different, highly successful person who is either on their way to or has reached financial independence.

Gwen and J, the hosts of the FIRE Drill Podcast, do a great job of keeping the conversation light, while also diving into the strategies and activities the interviewees are doing in their daily lives for financial success.

This podcast is more focused towards Millennials, but the stories and people featured can help someone at any stage in their career or life. Check out FIRE Drill Podcast here: a podcast about financial independence and side hustles , FIRE Drill Podcast.

 

Millennial Money Minutes

These days, we can’t seem to focus for more than ten minutes on a single subject. That’s fine – Millennial Money Minutes are quick hitting episodes where the hosts, Grant and Matt, distill tough personal finance topics in five minutes or less.

There’s so much to learn in the world of personal finance – listening to the Millennial Money Minutes will help your knowledge base as you look to grow your financial education.

Millennial Money Minutes is geared towards Millennials (as the title suggests), but again, will be helpful to all people trying to build wealth. In addition, the hosts are highly successful Millennials with great stories. Check out Millennial Money Minutes here: Millennial Money Minutes, focused advice for people wanting financial success.

 

Moneysplained

Moneysplained has one purpose: clarity. There are so many confusing concepts, products, and strategies in the world of finance. Moneysplained looks to shed light on these concepts.

Ally-Jane, host of Moneysplained, talks about the basics of personal finance by performing a deep dive on a different subject each episode. For example, in one of her recent episodes, she did a deep dive on taxes for freelancers and had a CPA on the phone with her – very interesting for a small business owner like me.

I’m excited to see what the results of her work are in 2019. Moneysplained is relatively new, but is in a great spot to grow and influence in the coming year. Check out Moneysplained here: Moneysplained, a top personal finance podcast.

 

What The Mastermind Within Community Members are Listening to for Financial Education

One of the great things about having readers is being able to ask them about their strategies for financial success. A number of people contributed on the question of what they are listening to for podcasts about finance.

Dom, a high income blogger from Gen Y Finance Guy, listens to Invest Like the Best.

Cynthia, an avid reader of The Mastermind Within listens to a number of podcasts:

I like Your Money, Your Wealth very much.  I also like Retirement Answer Man and ChooseFI.

I also subscribe to Fire Drill Podcast, Her Money with Jean Chatzky, Financial Independence Podcast, Masters of Money, and I listen to Dave Ramsey once a month when he airs his Millionaire’s Theme Hour.

Scott, from Making Momentum, a true listener of a ton of amazing podcasts for life improvement, loves Marriage, Kids, and Money and The Stacking Benjamins show.

Lots of great podcasts here to choose from! I’ve really enjoyed FIRE Drill podcast for the few months it’s been out there! I’m looking forward to exploring more into this space and seeing what is out there!

 

Conclusion

Education does not stop after you leave school. Ideally, it should never stop. Keep learning something new each and every day.  Whether that’s something on investing, personal finance, tax, wealth creation, business, accounting, or self-improvement, if you take a bit of time each day to improve yourself, I know you will reach your goals.

My favorite quote is directed related to learning and improving oneself:

Your level of success rarely exceeds your level of personal development, because success is something you attract by the person you become.

Get out there and listen to these great personal finance podcasts!

 Are You Happy?

Take a minute. Assess where you are in life. Do you feel happy, or even remotely ok with your life? Is your job not the right fit? Could your relationships be better?

What if the issue isn’t your relationships or your job, but how you’re spending your money?

Two professors, Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton, set out to find what truly brings joy and happiness with money. Their book, Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending is the result of their journey.

Happy Money covers five principles the researchers found to spend money in a more fulfilling way. The best part is you can start today. You don’t need to be Warren Buffet to use these principles, or even in a higher income bracket. They are scientifically validated  actionable principles that everyone can use.

Summary of Happy Money

This is a review of the five principles outlined in Happy Money and some actionable advice you can begin using right away for a happier and more fulfilling life. At the end, I will give an overall rating based on the quality of the advice and how actionable the advice it is.

Principle #1: Buying Experiences

When it comes to happiness, what do you think generates more happiness per dollar spent: material possessions or experiences? The professors argue buying experiences is one way people begin enjoying their lives more.

Instead of looking at bigger houses or nicer cars, the professors argue buying experiences is the way to go. From what their data showed, experiences such as travel, going out with friends, and going to events generated the highest forms of happiness. This still proved true even if the individuals in the study thoroughly enjoyed their purchases. Think of a person who loves cars buying a Porsche or Ferrari. Of course they will get a huge boost in happiness because it’s a possession they enjoy owning. Even when controlling for those individuals, the professors found experiences still showed to be the best happiness per dollar spent.

What You Can Do:

Fortunately, this is a fairly simple and straightforward concept. When deciding on how much you want to spend on your next big material purchase, take a minute and pause. Ask yourself, is there anything or anyone I would rather do or see? Have I wanted to travel with someone or go somewhere new? The professors argue those purchases would yield a far more enriching life, than buying the latest BMW or having the biggest house on the lot.

Principle #2: Make it a Treat

    “An over-indulgence of anything, even something as pure as water, can intoxicate.” – Criss Jami

The quote above pretty much sums up the next principle. If human beings overindulge ourselves, the things we love end up hurting us. The professors argue the same point for your spending patterns as well. If you consume too many things you like too frequently, then the treats that once gave you joy end up making you feel worse off.

The professors argue the key to this principle is balance. By restricting yourself the access to some of the things you love even just a little bit can help you savor the experience more.

What You Can Do:

    Personally, I found this point pretty intuitive and incredibly easy to implement in one’s life. For example, I love sushi. I mean, I love sushi. That being said, I know what can happen if you eat too much or too often. That’s right, stomach aches for days. The stomach pains are almost worth it, but I have noticed times where I would eat sushi just because it’s available and not savor the experience. Applying this principle helped me realize my treat was becoming an expectation and not the savory experience that gave me joy.

What I did to balance it out is now I only consume sushi once a month. If I do any more than that, it loses its appeal. A question I have for you is, what did you overindulge on? What’s no longer a treat you’re glad to spend money on?

Principle #3: Buying Time

This principle is a fun one. It really makes you question why you want money in the first place. The professors found the Gross National Happiness Index. This index measures the overall happiness for specific countries. After a few hours of digging in the article and the data, the professors saw some peculiar findings.

In the United States, people’s happiness typically doubled when they increased their overall income by $10,000. For example, people making $40,000 per year were measured at twice as happy than people making $30,000 per year. However, according to the professors, there is a stopping point. After around $70,000 the relationship between in income and perceived happiness begins to diminish. This means every increase after $70,000 gross income, the person doesn’t receive as big of a boost of happiness.

Let that sink in for a minute. Every $10,000 dollar increase typically doubled a person’s happiness until $70,000. Then, people only got small bursts of overall happiness for every increase in their income. When I read this I was a little flabbergasted. If the six figure salaries of people were only getting them so much happiness, what were they missing?

The professors say time. In their research, they noted many of the people with higher incomes were actually becoming unhappier because they worked more than ever, but felt they had no time. However, the professors had a counter-intuitive suggestion to get more time back in the day.

What Can You Do:

    The professors argue that giving time is a great way to remind yourself how many hours you have in a day. When the participants of the study were asked to devote a half hour to another person for the sake of simply giving them the time of day something interesting occurred. The participants started feeling like they truly had more time in the day, than what they felt previously. By donating time to other individuals the professors saw people filling in some gaps where money was thought to make them happy.

The simple act of donating a half hour gave the perception of having more time. I definitely, thought this concept made a lot of sense. Plenty of people have felt like they have more money when they donate, why would time be different?

Principle #4: Buy Now Consume Later

This principle is a little counterintuitive. The professors stated their participants reported a higher level of happiness when they purchased an item and then waited to consume it. The underlying assumption they tested was to see if the “hype” built with waiting would make the experience of using the item more fulfilling. When the participants were left to their own devices, they would day-dream about what they ordered. Even the thought was enough to get them through the day, and the item hadn’t even been delivered yet.  When they looked at the data it was the opposite of what happens with credit cards.

People typically use credit cards to buy now and pay later. Credit card companies have played on the immediate gratification impulse within human beings for decades. In the book, the VP of Visa admits to manipulating that impulse within human behavior. Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself, which is covered in other posts.

What Can You Do:

For future purposes, you can try ordering something way ahead of time to give you the ample chance to build the “hype” around it. In one case, I ordered a video game called Persona 5  ahead of time to test the principle. If I am being honest, this principle didn’t really stick for me.

I felt next to no increase in happiness while waiting for the game. In fact, I almost forgot I ordered it. Now, this may not be the case for other people, and I would hate to take a good experiment for other people to test on their own time. The overall principle makes sense with an effort to delay gratification, but I personally did not get much out of it.

Principle #5: Invest in Others

This principle is golden. By far one of the best chapters of the book and one of the best principles to act upon. Much like buying time, the professors found the more people gave and invested in other people in their lives, the happier and more fulfilled they were. Now, this seems pretty cliche, but this principle does have its place. The experiment they ran to test this assumption was pretty cool.

They had a graduate student standing on a street corner outside of a Starbucks. The graduate student would hand people a note with a couple bucks in it. The letter said they had to either spend the couple bucks on themselves or on another person. Typically the vast majority of the participants spent the money at Starbucks. The graduate student followed up with them afterwards and recorded their overall happiness. The results?

The study showed even spending as little as a couple bucks can give a boost in overall happiness. When the professors looked at the data, the people who ended up spending the money on someone else were significantly happier than the ones who spent in on themselves. This shows you don’t need to be Warren Buffet or a money mogul to boost your overall satisfaction in life.

What Can You Do:

The action the professors suggest is keep it simple. Even paying for someone else’s coffee counts as investing in others. Even the smallest act can give you a much needed boost in overall happiness and satisfaction in life. In order to apply this principle, I bought a friend of mine lunch. Before meeting up I wasn’t in the greatest of moods. The work day wasn’t going as well as I thought it would be, some family issues arose, but as soon as I offered to pay for lunch I noticed something.

Not only did my friend express her gratitude, but simply changing my frame of reference from myself to the other person was enough to change my general outlook on the day. It was a great lesson in simplicity because sometimes all you need to do is get outside yourself and do something kind for another person.

Overall Grade:

I would say overall Happy Money is a 4 out of 5. All the principles are very actionable and for the most part I had no problem with applying them. The only one that didn’t stick as well was pay now, consume later. The point makes sense, but applying it didn’t help me feel any happier, nor did it give me a benefit by waiting to play the video game.

That being said, Happy Money overall is very actionable and simple to use. The authors really put a lot of time, effort, and planning into how they apply the principles. Happy Money itself is also a decent read for non fiction fans. Since reading Happy Money, I’ve been applying the principles to create and sustain a healthier view of spending.

My questions for you are, what principle do you want to practice? How will you practice the principle?

When I was young, I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old, I know that it is. – Oscar Wilde

Money – Master the Game, by Tony Robbins is a how-do guide on how to achieve financial freedom. I read this book as a suggestion from a friend and was certainly not disappointed in spending a few days getting through this book. Many times when I go to read a book, I am trying to learn different concepts and ideas to help me improve in my life. Money is a 600 page book filled with good information on investing, saving, and life. That being said, there were some drawbacks to the book, which I will outline later in the post.

I am drawn to books on financial freedom because I’m interested in managing my money appropriately. I plan to read more books like this in the future.

Summary of Money – Master the Game

Money is about learning about how we as investors can become financially free. Robbins has been a life coach for many years and has wrote this book for people who want to improve their financial situation. Coming from a relatively poor family, he has been able to build a strong following as a life coach and has influenced many people. I’m interested in reading more of his material after reading Money.

Money is broken into 7 sections:

1. The first section is essentially 80 pages getting you motivated to improve your financial well-being. By saying “yes” to pursuing financial freedom, you are setting yourself up to become the best person you can be.
2. The second section talks about becoming an insider to the world of mutual funds and finance. Robbins talks about the 9 myths of the finance industry; many of these myths have been talked about for years. A summary of the myths is: mutual funds and actively managed funds do not beating the market despite charging high fees. In addition to the funds charging large fees for under-performance, target funds are not much better.
3. Section three helps you determine your “number”. How much money do you need to retire comfortably? How much do you need to retire and have no worries? How can you reach retirement faster? Robbins discusses tax efficiency, index funds, and decreasing spending in this section as well.
4. Section four talks about different asset classes and defines the Security Bucket, the Risk Bucket, and the Dream bucket that should be a part of every person’s asset allocation. The security bucket is made up of cash, cash equivalents, bonds, your house, pension, annuities, and a few other things. the risk bucket is made up of equities, options, commodities, foreign currencies, and real estate. The dream bucket is whatever is left for pursuing your dreams! He discusses how important asset allocation is and how true diversification is the only free lunch.
5. In the fifth section, Robbins continues to discuss asset allocation. He interviewed Ray Dalio (CIO and Chairman of Bridgewater Associates) and David Swensen (CIO at Yale University) to discuss their optimal asset allocation. Here, Robbins provides you specifics into creating a strategy which has performed well in the recent past. Ray Dalio believes a near-optimal strategy is to have even risk across the following categories: inflation, deflation, rising economic growth, and declining economic growth. His target asset allocation would look something like this: 7.5% gold, 7.5% commodities, 30% stocks, 40% long-term bonds, 15% short-medium term bonds. David Swenson, on the other hand, has a slightly different view: 20% US Equities, 20% Foreign Equities, 20% REIT exposure, 15% Long-term bonds, 15% TIPS, 10% Emerging Markets. I believe both of these asset allocations could be good and I’m doing more research into what would be best for me.
6. The sixth section is a compilation of interviews with titans of the investing world. These interviewees include Charles Schwab, Carl Icahn, David Swensen (CIO at Yale University), Ray Dalio (CIO and Chairman of Bridgewater Associates), Mary Callahan Erdoes (CEO of J.P. Morgan Asset Management), T. Boone Pickens (Energy Investor), and a few others. These interviews are beneficial in they provide us additional perspective on the financial markets.
7. The seventh and final section talks about the future and how once on the path to financial freedom, you will be a much improved person. Robbins emphasizes showing gratitude and giving back to charity once you achieve financial freedom. This is best captured in the quote by Winston Churchill, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

Money is fairly comprehensive in the concepts and material it covers. It covers topics from investing in index funds to reduce investment costs and fees, dollar cost averaging and buying and holding, saving more as you get raises, etc. It was very beneficial to me in that I was able to learn about investing in gold, annuities, or different commodities. One downside is, the book did not go into detail on these subjects.

My Takeaways

One big takeaway I had from Money was to switch my 401(k) to a Roth 401(k) from traditional. With a traditional 401(k), you don’t pay taxes now, but will pay tax on any withdrawals, (effectively paying tax on any gains in the future). With a Roth 401(k), you pay taxes on the amount now, but in the future, your withdrawals are tax-free. Robbins argues that in the future, taxes will most likely be higher than lower (look at the world’s debt!).

And Criticisms…

Some criticisms I have of Money are for how long the book is, it could be shortened. There were multiple chapters that seemed to go on and on about things we had already learned earlier in the book. “Repetition is the mother of skill”, but at times it was a little excessive. In addition to repeating himself throughout the book, he constantly is plugging in sales pitches for his companies and friends. I get it, he is a successful businessman and entrepreneur and wants to advertise his great products. However, at times, it seemed that was his intention. I could be wrong.

Another criticism is many of the products that Robbins talks about can only be accessed by the rich. When a person reaches retirement, hopefully they will be rich; however, during the accumulation phase of life, you won’t be able to access a lot of the different investment vehicles he discusses.

Meaningful Quotes and Passages

Here are some meaningful quotes and passages from Money:

• Realize how lucky you are and all the wealth you possess in love, opportunities, health, friends and family. Don’t get rich, start rich.
• You can be young without money, but you can’t be old without it – Tennessee Williams
• The man on top of the mountain didn’t fall there – Vince Lombardi
• Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons – Woody Allen
• Before you speak, listen. Before you write, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you invest, investigate. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try. Before you retire, save. Before you die, give. – William A. Ward
• Remember the golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules – Unknown
• Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections, or trying to anticipate corrections, than has been lost in corrections themselves. – Peter Lynch
• When I was young, I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old, I know that it is. – Oscar Wilde
• We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give. – Winston Churchill
• Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me – Steve Jobs

Our Recommendation for Money: Master the Game

All in all, Money is a decent book on the topic of financial freedom. I would recommend Money for people who are looking for to improve themselves and get motivated to improve financially; . That being said, Money lacked substance and stayed at the surface on a good amount of the content covered. It did open my eyes to thinking about investing in other products, such as precious metals, annuities, etc., but the book did not go into enough detail on these products.

I’m still curious on these other investment vehicles, but will have to do more research. There are definitely better books out there for details to achieve financial freedom.

Have you read any material of Tony Robbins? What books on financial freedom would you suggest I read? Which have been beneficial and influential to you?