Investors have long recognized the efficacy of including precious metals in their wealth-building endeavors. These exceptional assets, encompassing gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, possess intrinsic value and boast a remarkable historical record of safeguarding purchasing power. But what are the fundamental principles and strategies that enable investors to maximize returns through precious metal investments? This in-depth article will illuminate the path to success.

Decoding the Precious Metal Market

Before delving into the intricacies of investing in precious metallic objects, it is paramount to attain a profound comprehension of market dynamics. The precious metal market is subject to various influences, including supply and demand dynamics, geopolitical events, economic indicators, and investor sentiment.

Supply and Demand Dynamics: A Vital Role

The value of precious metals is substantially shaped by their availability. The supply side, encompassing mining output, recycling rates, and exploration activities, wields a substantial impact on the overall availability of these metals. Conversely, demand factors, including industrial applications, jewelry fabrication, and investment demand, collectively contribute to the overall desire for precious metals.

Geopolitical and Economic Influences

Geopolitical events and economic indicators can sway the precious metal market. Economic uncertainties, inflationary pressures, and currency fluctuations often drive investors toward the perceived safe-haven attributes of precious metallic objects. Moreover, geopolitical tensions and political instability can further augment the allure of these unique assets.

Strategies to Maximize Returns

Here are the key investment strategies that empower investors to optimize returns.

1. Diversification and Asset Allocation

One of the fundamental tenets of investing in precious metals revolves around diversification. You can mitigate overall risk exposure by allocating some part of your investment portfolio to precious metals. Historically, precious metallic objects have exhibited a low correlation with assets such as stocks and bonds, making them an efficacious diversification tool.

2. A Long-Term Outlook

Precious metals investment necessitates adopting a long-term perspective. These assets have exemplified their capacity to preserve wealth over time, particularly during economic uncertainty. By maintaining a patient and forward-looking approach, investors can weather short-term price fluctuations and potentially reap the benefits of precious metals’ appreciation over the years.

3. Ownership of Physical Bullion

Investors seeking direct exposure to precious metallic objects often opt for physical bullion, encompassing gold bars or coins. Physical ownership imparts tangible assets that can be securely stored, granting investors complete control over their investments. When acquiring physical bullion, it is crucial to consider factors such as storage costs, authenticity verification, and liquidity.

4. Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)

For investors seeking convenience and flexibility, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offer an enticing avenue. Precious metal ETFs are meticulously designed to mirror the performance of the underlying metal, providing investors with exposure to price movements sans the necessity for physical ownership. ETFs offer ease of trading, transparency, and the ability to invest small amounts.

5. Mining Stocks and Mutual Funds

Investors desiring potential capital appreciation and exposure to the precious metals industry may consider investing in mining stocks or mutual funds. These investment vehicles indirectly expose investors to the performance of precious metallic objects by investing in companies involved in exploration, extraction, and production. Conducting thorough research and due diligence is pivotal in identifying well-managed companies with substantial growth potential.

Investing in expensive metals can be a lucrative strategy for optimizing returns and diversifying investment portfolios. By understanding the precious metal market dynamics, adopting a comprehensive long-term perspective, and implementing effective investment strategies, investors can harness the potential of these exceptional assets.

Are you looking to learn how to live life intentionally? Do you want to take action, reach your goals, and find success in your life? In this post, you’ll learn how to live life intentionally, learn how to think proactively, and read about a 5 step plan for success in life.

Are you in control of your life, or are you just letting life pass you by? Are you living intentionally, or living unintentionally? Does life happen for you, or does life happen to you?

One of the most effective ways to take control of your life is through intentional living and proactive behavior.

I try to practice proactive behavior in all parts of my life – trying to play catch up is stressful and takes away from getting after my goals and dreams.

Instead of reacting to situations, I prefer to wake up and try to do what I want to do with my life.

By proactively thinking about what to do next, I can make a plan for my life and then take action towards my goals.

Doesn’t it feel good to set your own schedule and do what matters to you, instead of following someone else’s schedule and dreams?

Luckily, becoming more intentional and forward thinking in your behavior and actions isn’t too difficult.

In this post, I will share some tips on how you can take control of your life through intentional actions, how you can live life intentionally, and how to use proactive thinking to make smart decisions.

First, let’s talk about intentional living.

“You have complete control over the direction that the rest of your life takes.” – Jeff Olson, The Slight Edge

What is Intentional Living and Why is Living Intentionally Important?

Before talking about proactive behavior, let’s talk about intentional living.

What is intentional living?

Intentional living is living your life in a way you have consciously decided to live it.

Living intentionally involves coming up with dreams, goals and a plan, and living out that plan. In addition, these plans and goals are usually informed by your values and beliefs.

Put simply, intentional living is living the kind of life that is meaningful to you, and makes you feel like every day matters.

Unintentional living is the opposite of intentional living.

Unintentional living is going through life without a plan, letting life happen to you, and not taking control of your situation.

Days, weeks and months can pass by if you don’t live intentionally, and this is where proactive behavior comes in.

What is the Difference between Proactive and Reactive Behavior?

What is proactive behavior?

Proactive behavior involves acting in advance of a future situation, rather than just reacting. It means taking control and making things happen rather than just adjusting to a situation or waiting for something to happen.

Proactive people generally do not need to be asked to act, nor do they require detailed instructions. Proactive people practice intentional living.

Reactive behavior involves acting after an event occurs, rather than acting in advance of the event. It means waiting for something to happen, rather than making something happen.

Why are some people reactive in their behavior? What would happen if they changed started practicing proactive behaviors? Would they take control of their life and achieve wild success?

“Your philosophy creates your attitudes, which create your actions, which create your results, which create your life.” – Jeff Olson

People who are successful in life are proactive and make things happen.

Proactive behavior helps you take control of your life by making intentional choices about what you want your life to look like, and following through with your behavior to make that life vision a reality.

Not only does this lead to a positive end result, but it encourages personal growth along the way as you navigate and problem-solve.

What are Some Examples of Proactive Thinking and Behavior?

Now that you know what proactive thinking and proactive behavior is, now let’s talk about some examples of proactive thinking.

Proactive behavior is all about living life intentionally and with purpose.

One part of life which is very important to be proactive in is your personal finances.

Part of living life to the fullest is having a handle on your personal finances.

Only 39% of people have $1,000 saved up in the United States. With $1,000 or more in the bank, the stress of an immediate emergency decreases.

This $1,000 can be saved with planning ahead and taking control of your financial life.

A Stressful Time Caused by Reactive Behavior

A few years ago, I was house hacking and had 2 roommates.

One of them was a great guy but was very reactive in his nature. He is someone who loves to get out in the world and do things with his time and money.

Being a part of a few different sports teams and going out on the weekends, I didn’t know the exact nature of his finances, but given his struggles to pay me on time for monthly rent, I could tell he was paycheck to paycheck.

At the time, he had a decent job, and from a simple Google search, was probably in the $40,000 salary range.

With this sort of salary, I would have hoped with a $700 monthly rent payment, he could not be living paycheck to paycheck, but after some bad luck, it was a certainty.

During the Spring, playing kickball, he ended up breaking his hand and with this must have came a significant hospital bill.

“I’ll pay you the 10th after I get paid.”

I wasn’t going to kick him out for being late, but I had a lot of thoughts on the situation.

Saving Money is Possible Through Intentional Actions and Proactive Behavior

Make no mistake, bad luck happens to the best of us.

At the same time, with planning and proactive behavior, what if he had $1,000 saved up to help deal some of his expenses?

As a single and employed Millennial, saving $83 a month for 12 months is certainly doable to get to $1,000.

Double that saving from $83 to $166, and in 12 months, you are approaching $2,000 in savings.

This is just one example of how proactive behavior and intentional living will lead to success.

Let’s think a little bigger now, talk about questions and your dream life, and discuss about how you can apply the practice of proactive behavior in your life for success.

“Try not to become a person of success, but a person of value.” – Albert Einstein

Two Questions to Answer for Creating a Great Life

First, a principle: without questions, there are no answers.

Figuring out your dream life or my dream life can’t be solved without breaking it down into smaller questions which get at the core of who you are, how you enjoy your time, and what you like to do on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

I believe there are two question sets which will get you started towards creating your dream life. The first part of the two sets of questions is:

When are you most happiest and what are you doing when you are experiencing this joy?

This is a simple question. When do you feel happiest? What activity or thing are you doing which brings the happiness?

For me, happiness comes from creation and helping others. I love creating content, building things, and solving problems. If life was a huge puzzle, I’d love it (which it kind of is, but the pieces are constantly changing 🙂 )

Happiness also comes from doing things on my own terms and having the freedom to create what I want when I want.

The second part of this set of questions is:

How often are you able to do these activities, and what’s holding you back from experiencing them whenever you’d like?

If you are already doing what makes you happy all the time (from the first question), then the second question doesn’t really make sense.

In my opinion, life is all about pushing towards doing what makes you happiest and understanding that while today might not be where you want to be, over time you can get there.

In my situation, I don’t have the level of savings and/or passive income to be helping others and creating what I want, when I want.

At this point in my life, I go to a corporate job at 8 AM and leave after 5 PM. While I’m making great money, there’s still an entrepreneurial itch which is always in the back of my head.

Currently, I’m working on building up my savings with the intent to move to something more flexible in the next year or two. We will see, but it’s a work in progress and that’s okay.

Things can change and I’m going to stay patient. I can influence this through my actions, but whatever happens is meant to happen and should be accepted.

Over time, I’ll get to where I want and need to be, and I hope you will as well.

Now that you have these thoughts in your head, below are 5 concrete steps for you to take control of your life and live intentionally.

5 Steps to Take Control of Your Life and Become Great

When beginning to think ahead about your life, your family, your job, your business, etc., we first need to start with questions and goals.

First, let’s identify what you want with your life.

We both only have one life and limited time. In my life, I want to be doing things I enjoy and that are bringing joy to the people around me.

After understanding your goals and dreams, then it’s time to come up with a game plan, and take bold action.

With this plan, you will be living life intentionally and proactively. Through your proactive behavior, you’ll be on the way to reaching your goals.

Here are 5 steps for intentional living taking control of your life through proactive behavior, and creating a great life for yourself this year:

1. Identify Your Goals and Dreams

What are your goals? What makes you happiest? Where do you want to be in 1 year?

As we discussed in the last section, there is a lot that goes into answering these difficult questions.

However, with a picture of what you want, you can start to work towards your dream life and ideal situation.

Split your goals, thoughts, and dreams into multiple buckets:

• social
• financial
• spiritual
• physical
• emotional
• work
• fun

Some example questions for you may be:

• Do you want to get a promotion or change in responsibilities at work?
• Would you want more money in the bank?
• Are you looking to retire earlier than 65?
• Would you be happy if your business made an extra $1,000 a month?
• Do you want to be able to take more vacations with your family?
• Are you looking to start a new hobby?
• What things stress you out?
• Do you want to lose 10 pounds?

After asking yourself these questions, KEEP GOING! Let your powerful brain do some more work!

After getting some answers to the questions which matter to your situation, now it’s time to work backwards.

You are trying to create a great life for yourself and these questions will help you form a more concrete image of that life for before you create your action plan for success.

2. Create a Happiness Game Plan

You know your goals, now it’s time to come up with a game plan.

You have your dream. What do you have to do to MAKE it happen?

Let’s take the example of losing 10 pounds.

If you want to lose 10 pounds, it’s time for more questions. Let’s see how this line of thinking plays out:

• How is a person’s weight determined?
  • A person’s weight is determined through a number of factors, but changes come from daily habits and a simple equation: calories in minus calories out.
• If weight changes come from calories in minus calories out, then how do I decrease this amount for myself?
  • First, what does this equation look like for you today? What gets measured, gets managed!
• After measuring where you are at on a daily basis, are you in a calorie surplus or calorie deficit?
  • To lose weight, how can you decrease the surplus and increase this deficit in a healthy way? (exercise, diet, fasting, etc.)

After you’ve asked and answered these questions for yourself (and there are probably 3+ more levels to go if you want to go that deep), again KEEP GOING!

Let your powerful brain and body work towards your goals and dreams!

After coming up with your game plan for success and happiness, it’s now time to take ACTION.

3. Be Intentional in Life and Take Action

It’s great to know what you have to do, but if you never take action, you will never achieve your goals and dreams.

Intentional living is all about taking action and working on bettering your life situation.

Sitting on the couch and watching Netflix is fun and relaxing, but it probably won’t lead to a very fulfilling life.

Taking action involves getting out and into the world.

Start today with your actions and live intentionally. You’ll be pleased as you start to see your dream life come to fruition.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao-Tzu

“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

4. Be Consistent With Your Actions

Humans overestimate what they can do in a day, but underestimate what they can do in a year.

Have you ever started on your goals only to stop? Did you end up reaching your goal?

Each day, if you can spend at least 10 minutes working towards your goals, you’ll be amazed at your progress.

At the end of one year, you will have spent 3650 minutes, or 60 hours. 

60 hours over a year? How much closer to your goals would you be after 60 hours?

That’s the power of consistency. Consistent actions over time WILL lead to massive success.

5. Reassessing and Tweaking Your Game Plan Over Time

From time to time, you will need to see if you are still on track.

I stay accountable to myself monthly. You can do a personal check-in weekly, monthly, or every few months. It’s up to you.

If you aren’t on track, make the necessary changes to your actions and daily habits to ensure you are working towards your goals.

It’s okay if you realize you aren’t on track; this doesn’t mean you failed.

All this setback means is you now have the opportunity to pick back up where you left off and keep getting better!

Just because you eat one unhealthy meal doesn’t mean your whole healthy eating plan is ruined. It just means you ate one unhealthy meal. You can always continue eating healthy for your next meal, and it will in fact be beneficial.

This outlook works for every part of life.

Being self aware on your path to the life you want and deserve will help tremendously.

Living an intentional life requires patience and understanding, and also will require some flexibility.

The life you want won’t happen in a day, but over time, through tweaks and consistency, you’ll get there. 🙂

Welcome Success by Becoming Proactive and Living Intentionally

You have the keys to your life. It is up to you to unlock your full potential and lead a great life. Through proactive behavior, you can take control of your life and create the success you crave.

Planning, strategy, or thinking ahead are examples of proactive behavior, and with these thoughts, you will become more successful than the day before.

Things take time and a level of patience will be required. At the end of the day, through proactive behavior and having a plan, you will be where you are supposed to be in the next few months.

Start with your goals and asking questions. Continue asking questions until you’ve formed a plan for the actions which should set you up for success.

With this post, you now know how to live life intentionally, how to use proactive thinking and proactive behavior to set goals, and how to create a plan for success.

Get after it and make sure to update me on your fantastic progress! 🙂

“Your level of success will rarely exceed your level of personal development, because success is something you attract by the person you become.” – Hal Elrod

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Readers: Do you take a proactive approach to life? Are you in control of your life? What is stopping you from achieving your goals and dreams?

Save

There are so many different ways to invest. As a beginner, it can be a daunting task to try and figure out what investment accounts make sense. This post is a guide for beginners to help you learn about the different investment accounts for your money.

Getting into investing can be intimidating with all the different options out there. Not only are there different investment choices; there are also many different types of accounts to put money into.

With all these overwhelming choices, how do you know which are the best investment accounts for beginners?

First things first, you need to figure out what your investing goals are. What are you putting away money for?

Secondly, you need to know what options are out there, and what each account is best used for.

Finally, you can put together some simple contribution strategies for making the most out of your investments and reach your goals in the best way possible.

Disclaimer: I’m not a financial adviser or financial professional. Please do your due diligence and research before buying or selling financial securities and assets.

Before investing, what are your investing goals?

You need to determine your goals before you decide which of these investment accounts to prioritize. You also need to tally up the current state of your portfolio if you have any of these accounts already open.

What are you investing for?

Are you investing for retirement? Maybe you’re saving up for that home down payment?  Or, perhaps you just want to build financial wealth in general.

The first piece of advice is to not get tunnel vision.

Odds are, you have more than one goal, and you should be contributing to them all.

The main purpose is to determine which one to prioritize to obtain the maximum financial benefit.

First, take a look at all the investment accounts available to you. Then, we’ll discuss investing strategies.

Types of Investment Accounts

There are two broad categories of accounts. The first is Tax Advantaged Accounts, which are designed to encourage saving for retirement or other goals. The second is Taxable Accounts, which have no restrictions, but unfortunately are fully taxable.

Let’s dive into some more information on each of these different types of investment accounts.

Tax-Advantaged Investment Accounts

As mentioned, these types of accounts were designed to encourage and incentivize saving. They do this by saving you tax payments; either you will pay less taxes in the present, or you will pay less taxes in the future!

Individual Retirement Account (IRA)

The IRA is the simplest investment account of them all.

A Traditional IRA is a retirement account that lets you make tax deductions on the amount you contribute. Effectively, you don’t pay taxes on this money today, you are deferring the tax to the future when you are retired and are (hopefully) paying less in taxes. The money you invest comes from “pre-tax” dollars.

You can choose stocks, bonds, ETFs, index funds, or other assets, in an IRA. The main restriction is that penalties may apply if you withdraw this money before age 59 ½. The one exception is when buying your first home (hopefully by house hacking), where you can withdraw up to $10000 penalty free.

The annual contribution limit as of 2019 is $6000.

Roth IRA

A Roth IRA is nearly the same as a traditional IRA with one notable difference. You pay tax now on income that is contributed to a Roth IRA, but you don’t have to pay tax when you withdraw funds! We call this investing with “post-tax” dollars.

The other main difference is that you can withdraw funds at any time, for any reason. This means you may consider a Roth IRA if you are saving for a long-term goal besides retirement.

The annual contribution limit as of 2019 is $6000. Note this is the same $6000 as the traditional IRA; you cannot contribute more than that amount between these two account types in a given year.

401(k)

A 401(k) is offered through your employer. Your employer is part of a plan that you can contribute your “pre-tax” dollars into. Typically there are limited investment options to choose from in a 401k, most often mutual funds.

Like a Traditional IRA, a 401(k) has penalties if you withdraw from it before age 59 ½, however there is a long list of exceptions to that rule.

Now, why would you want this heavily regulated retirement account over a traditional IRA?

The answer is simple: contribution matching.

Contribution matching is a unique perk for a 401(k). This is when a company matches your 401(k) contributions up until a certain percentage or dollar value.

For example, if your employer offers $0.50 per dollar contributed up to $2000, then a $2000 annual contribution will actually add $3000 to your account. That is an instant 50% return on investment.

This is free money, no exaggeration here! All you need to do is contribute at least enough to get the maximum contribution match possible.

Other employer-sponsored accounts

There are other types of employer-sponsored accounts that are far less common than a 401(k). However, you should still become familiar with them in case they apply to you.

A 403(b) plan is something your employer may offer in lieu of a 401(k), although they are very similar. This plan is common for nonprofit organizations, some public-sector organizations, and religious organizations.

These plans have commonly been associated with expensive annuities, which you should avoid. However, this restriction is long gone and you should have different mutual funds available to you in your 403(b).

The other notable plan, the 457(b) plan is a variation of a 401(k) available to public servants. You contribute pre-tax dollars like you do in a 401(k) and 403(b), and your employer may offer contribution matching. The main advantage is that there is no withdrawal penalty for those under age 59 ½ !

Other Tax-Advantaged Accounts

The above mentioned accounts are the likely investment accounts for beginners. However there are a handful of other tax-advantaged accounts that will be briefly mentioned below:

• Self-Directed IRA – Not recommended for beginners. It is an IRA with virtually no restrictions; you can own real estate, private equity, and more!
• Health Savings Account (HSA) – Contributions to this account are tax deductible; meant for those with high-deductible health insurance.
• 529 College Savings Plan – Used to save for, you guessed it, college! Most typically has a beneficiary (ie. your children). Tax free investment earnings IF the money is being used for college and/or related expenses.

Taxable Investment Accounts

Taxable accounts (sometimes known as brokerage accounts) are the simpler of the bunch. They carry way less restrictions than tax-advantaged accounts, however, sadly you must pay tax on all net investment income.

Cash Account

This is the most simple investment account you can have. No tax advantages, no restrictions!

It is called a cash account because you actually need the cash on hand to purchase a security. Virtually all tax-advantaged accounts are forms of cash accounts.

Borrowing to invest is not allowed inside these types of accounts. However, you can borrow money externally to contribute to these accounts, such as a 401(k) loan.

Opening a cash account may make financial sense once your tax-advantaged account contributions are all maxed out.

Margin Account

Finally, there are margin accounts. Let me start off by saying margin trading is risky and NOT for beginner investors!

Margin accounts allow you to borrow money from the broker to make trades. This allows you to put leverage into play, similar to real estate. However, given the high cost of borrowing (compared to a mortgage) you have to earn a significant amount of money for this to be worth it.

Which Investment Accounts Should I Use?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer here. After all, personal finance is personal! Also, there is no one “best” account, but there is an ideal combination of accounts out there for you.

There are some rules of thumb that can help you figure out which investments and investment accounts to focus on first.

Max out your employer’s 401(k) contribution matching

As I mentioned earlier, this is literally free money! You should at least contribute enough of your pre-tax dollars to get the maximum contribution match that your employer will give you.

Remember, even if you don’t like what your employer’s 401(k) plan offers in terms of investments, it is still worth it to contribute and earn that employer match. You can always roll over your account to a more flexible IRA at one point in the future!

Build up your IRA and/or Roth IRA

The one you choose to prioritize depends on your preferences and goals. Here is some food for thought:

• The tax deferral of a Traditional IRA is ideal if you anticipate you’ll have lower taxable income in retirement than you currently do today.
• Investing your after-tax dollars in a Roth IRA is ideal if you anticipate you’ll have higher taxable income in retirement.
• A Roth IRA allows you to withdraw up to the total amount you’ve contributed at any time.
• A Roth IRA doesn’t force you to make withdrawals at age 70 ½ like the other accounts do (if you’re even thinking that far ahead!)

I really like this calculator from Bankrate.com that allows you to compare which type of IRA may be better for your situation.

Maxed Out? Make use of brokerage accounts

Investing doesn’t need to stop once you max out your 401(k) and/or IRA contributions. A brokerage account allows you to contribute an unlimited amount of money!

One downside of brokerage accounts is taxes, but thankfully both capital gains and dividend income are taxed lower than regular income if you do it right.

Here are a couple common strategies to minimize your taxes owed:

• Try to hold stocks for a minimum of 1 year to avoid paying higher capital gains tax.
• Try to keep interest income (ie. bonds) in your tax-advantaged accounts, since they are taxed at the normal rate for income. **
• Consider selling losing investments to offset your capital gains for that calendar year

** Note: Corporate bonds are typically fully taxable. Government bonds may be different; for example, interest from municipal bonds is often non-taxable. This is why you should consider consulting a financial professional to help lower your tax bill.

Start Investing Today and Build Wealth for the Future

Having an optimal strategy for your investment accounts can be a game changer, especially if you start young.

While everyone’s situation is unique, one likely common aspect is an employer’s 401(k) contribution matching. You need to take full advantage of 401(k) contribution matching. I cannot stress this enough!

From there, you need to create your own answer to the Roth IRA vs. Traditional IRA dilemma, based on what works for you. Personal finance is personal!

The fun doesn’t stop once you have all your tax-advantaged accounts maxed out; you can continue to invest through plain old brokerage accounts. Keep in mind some of the basic strategies mentioned above to reduce your tax bill.

Finally, you should consider hiring a financial professional down the road! The wealthier you become, the more complex your tax situation may get. A good accountant or CFP (Certified Financial Planner) will save you more money over the years than what it cost you to hire them.

When starting to invest, there is so much to learn and know about investing, finance, and money. In this post, you can learn about what beginners should know about investing and how you can start investing for your financial future.

When you’re new to the world of investing, it is easy to get overwhelmed.

There are so many things to consider: what to invest in, how much you should invest, whether you should do it monthly or a few times a year, and more.

Sometimes, when you’re just starting to learn about a new subject, you can get so overwhelmed that it keeps us from doing anything at all.

However, learning how to invest and grow wealth over time is achievable.

In this post, you’ll learn about what investing is, learn about the concept of compounding, and understand why the financial markets make sense for many investors.

If you’re a first time investor, this post will be a great resource for introducing you to what you need to know about investing!

Disclaimer: I’m not a financial adviser or financial professional. Please do your due diligence and research before buying or selling financial securities and assets.

What Is Investing?

Investing is the act of “expending money with the expectation of achieving a profit or material result by putting it into financial schemes, shares, or property, or by using it to develop a commercial venture.”

Essentially, investing is the purchase of something of value with the intention and expectation of the value of this something bringing increased value in the future.

By investing, you are looking to put your money to work for you.

Investing is one of the key steps to becoming the master of your money.

There are a number of different products and assets you can invest in:

• Stocks
• Bonds
• Mutual Funds
• ETFs
• Index Funds
• Real Estate
• Businesses
• Cryptocurrencies
• Precious Metals

This post is will be mostly concerned with investing in the equity and fixed income markets, I won’t be talking about investing in real estate, businesses or alternative assets.

Let’s go into more details about these different investments.

What are Stocks?

Stocks, also called equities, are one of the most well-known investing options out there.

Stocks are securities, typically issued in quantities known as shares, that give shareholders part ownership in the company.

There are two main ways investing in stocks pay us:

• capital gains (you make money when you sell an asset which has gone up in value)
• dividends (a cash payment given to investors by the company)

Throughout history, stocks have been great for growth over the long term. This is why they’re typically the largest part of the average investor’s portfolio.

When you invest in stocks, you’re purchasing a share of ownership in a company, which allows you to benefit from capital gains and dividends. For instance, monitoring the Santos Stock Price can provide insights into the energy sector and the company’s performance. By keeping an eye on these stock prices and understanding the factors that influence its fluctuations, you can make more informed decisions about when to buy or sell.

For people far from retirement, their portfolio may be anywhere from 80 to 100 percent stocks.  For people at retirement, this number is usually below 50 percent.

A general rule of thumb when projecting stock returns is to use a conservative estimate of 6% a year.

What are Bonds?

Bonds are another common investment found in people’s portfolios.

Also known as fixed income products, bonds are debt securities, issued by borrowers to raise money from investors.  Bonds are like an IOU issued to investors that pay interest for the life of the loan as payment for lending your money for a certain period of time.

While bonds can increase in value over time, the main benefit of buying bonds is the fixed income.

Investors typically buy bonds to use as a hedge against the more volatile nature of stocks, and for the additional income from the interest payments.

A general rule of thumb when projecting bond returns is to use a conservative estimate of 3% a year.

With stocks and bonds, these can be packaged up into single securities (you buy 1 share of a stock for example), or into funds (where you can buy many different stocks at once).

Let’s talk about these different financial products a little more in detail.

Mutual Funds

Mutual funds are portfolios that are professionally managed by financial companies and portfolio managers.

Typically these funds can be specific to a certain sector or asset class.

Mutual funds pool investors’ money together and invest in products such as stocks, bonds, and other short-term debts in various allocations.

Similar to stocks and bonds, mutual funds pay us in three ways:

• dividends
• capital gains 

Investors typically buy mutual funds because they are actively managed, can be very specific, are relatively low cost and are generally liquid.

Mutual funds are known for their growth and income potential, depending on the particular fund.

ETFs

ETF stands for Exchange Traded Fund.  ETFs are similar to mutual funds in that they are a collection of stocks, bonds, or other securities pooled together.  One major way they are different from mutual funds, however, is that they are traded on the stock market, and thus, their price changes throughout the day.

Similar to stocks, bonds and mutual funds, ETFs can pay us in two ways:

• capital gains
• dividends

Investors typically buy ETFs because of their low cost, high diversification and liquidity.

ETFs can be used as growth or income investments.

Index Funds

An index fund is a mutual fund or ETF that seeks to track the return of a market index.  For example, there is a mutual fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index, which seeks to mimic the performance of the S&P 500.

Similar to an mutual fund or ETF, an index fund is a security that can be bought and sold on the stock market.

Similar to stocks, bonds and mutual funds, ETFs can pay us in two ways:

• capital gains
• dividends

Investors typically buy index funds because they are highly diversified, have very low fees, are fairly liquid and offer different investment options.

Index funds are typically used for both growth and income investments.

Now that you’ve learned about the different market products, let’s dive deeper and talk more specifically about the stock market.

Why Should You Invest with the Financial Markets?

There are a number of reasons why we invest in the financial markets:

•  Make income through dividends
•  Make income when we sell through capital gains

The main reason we do so, however, is because of compounding.

What is compounding?

The best way to think about compounding is to talk about compound interest.

According to Investopedia, “compound interest is the financial principal that dictates that interest is calculated not just on the initial principal amount of the deposit, but also all of the accumulated interest of previous periods of a deposit or loan.

Compound interest is commonly known as the eighth-wonder of the world, and it’s no question why – it’s an amazing thing.

In order to best look at how compound interest works, let’s look at a real life example.

How Compound Interest Affects Your Investments

Let’s say that you’ve invested in an asset which returns, on average, 7% each year, and let’s say you invest $10,000 the first year.

After one year, you have $10,000 of your original investment, and $700 of growth.

While yes, $700 would be great to take out and spend, you decide to leave it in because now, that $700 is going to grow at 7% interest in addition to the rest of your $10,000 original investment.

After the second year, you now have $11,449 ($10,000 + $700 + $700 * 7%)

Again, you decide to leave it in, since now, both $700s are going to grow in addition to your original investment.

Over 30 years, the growth is quite large: your original $10,000 investment is worth $76,123!

After 1 year, you barely had anything more than your original investment. But after 30 years, you had over 7 times your initial investment!

That’s the power of compounding.

Now that we know why we should invest, the next question is what should you invest in and what are the next steps to start growing you money?

How Should You Invest Your Money?

At this point, investing probably sounds like a good idea. Over time, you can increase your wealth and money through investing.

Now, you may ask, “how should I invest my money?”

How to invest and what to invest in are two of the most important, yet complicated questions, to answer.

Every person has a unique financial situation, and have many different variables affecting their lives.

These different variables make it difficult to say one particular way of investing is best for everyone.

It depends entirely on what your goals are, and the amount of time (and income) with which you have to do it.

However, there are some different things to consider when looking to answer what you should invest in and how to invest.

Active Investing

If you prefer to be a more active investor, you can invest directly in a new product, real estate, a business, or a start-up.

Active investing is more hands-on and will typically require a bigger time and capital commitment. With active investing, the potential returns can possibly outweigh risks, and this is what many finance professionals try their hand at.

You could also invest in single stocks and buy and sell to your liking, though this active form of investing in the financial market can carry additional transaction fees and risk.

If you want to spend more time researching and learning about investing and different products, active investing may be for you. A popular kind of investing which demands a more hands on approach to trading is dealing with foreign exchanges (also known as forex) and swapping different currencies. It’s obviously important to do a Forex Trading Fundamental Analysis before you get started, the same as with any other trading medium. But this can be an effective way to trade and make profits if you want to be more actively involved.

However, if you want a more passive approach to building wealth, there is passive investing.

Passive Investing

If you don’t have a lot of money or time to invest, and you want a pretty hands-off approach, then it’s likely you’ll want to weigh heavily in more passive forms of investing, like index funds.

Index funds are like a bundle of stocks or bonds that give you exposure to a wide variety of companies, all in different sectors and market-caps.

Index funds look to track a certain index, such as the S&P 500 or Dow Jones Industrial Index.

By investing in these index funds, you can capture the general trend of these indices and own a number of different companies.

How Often Should You Invest?

The next question when thinking about how you should invest is to talk about the frequency of your investing.

Before you decide how often to invest your money, you need to know the various ways of doing it. You can either do it in a lump sum, or over time in irregular amounts, or over time in predetermined amounts.

Dollar-cost-averaging is the idea of investing specific amounts of money, at specific periods of time, in order to offset any volatility.

For example, if you have $1,000.00 to invest over a one-year period, then you would buy approximately $83.33 worth of your investment every month.

What is Dollar Cost Averaging?

Dollar cost averaging is a powerful concept and something many people do to avoid timing the market.

By dollar cost averaging, you avoid guessing and trying to time the market. Trying to out beat the market by investing only when you get a gut feeling may not be optimal for your investing returns.

Here’s an example of the benefits of dollar cost averaging (DCA) from an article on Investopedia:

“Let’s assume an investor invests $1,000 on the first of each month into Mutual Fund XYZ. Assume that over a period of five months, the share price of Mutual Fund XYZ at the beginning of each month was as follows:

Month 1: $20, Month 2: $16, Month 3: $12, Month 4: $17, Month 5: $23

On the first of each month, by investing $1,000, the investor can buy a number of shares equal to $1,000 divided by the share price. In this example, the number of shares purchased each month is equal to:

Month 1 shares = $1,000 / $20 = 50, Month 2 shares = $1,000 / $16 = 62.5, Month 3 shares = $1,000 / $12 = 83.33, Month 4 shares = $1,000 / $17 = 58.82, Month 5 shares = $1,000 / $23 = 43.48

Regardless of how many shares the $1,000 monthly investment purchased, the total number of shares the investor owns is 298.14, and the average price paid for each of those shares is $16.77. Considering the current price of the shares is $23, this means an original investment of $5,000 has turned into $6,857.11.

If the investor had spent the entire $5,000 on one of these days instead of spreading the investment across five months, the total profitability of the position would be higher or lower than $6,857.11 depending on the month chosen for the investment. However, no one can time the market. DCA is a safe strategy to ensure an average price per share that is favorable overall.”

By dollar cost averaging, you help offset volatility by spreading out your purchases, while also maximizing profitability.

In the example above, it’s possible to have made money by just putting in a lump sum. However, the chances of you picking the “right” month is low. It makes much more sense to use DCA. If you are a first-time investor, investing a lump sum right before a market crash can be demoralizing. DCA helps to ensure that this doesn’t happen.

Acting based on emotion, or how we think the market may or may not react can lead us to buying or selling stocks just because.  Acting with emotion can cause you to make some bad decisions.

How Long Should You Keep Your Investment?

Another question to consider is how long should you keep your investments.

This question is pretty simple.  Are you investing for now, or for your future?

If you’re investing for retirement, then it’s likely you’ll keep your investments going for the rest of your life!

If you’re investing as a way to bring in extra income, and not necessarily fund your financial freedom, then a good rule of thumb is to keep your investment for about five years.

The main reason for this is because five years is a fairly lengthy period of time when it comes to investing.

It’s short enough that it’ll hopefully allow you to recover from a loss, but long enough for you to potentially get some good profits.

If you’re trying to reach financial independence, you should be prepared to leave your money in for much longer. Some investors literally leave their money in an investment account for decades, as this is a way to maximize profits while reducing volatility and loss.

Should I Invest or Pay Off Debt?

Another question to consider when thinking about investing is should you invest or pay off debt?

Many financial advisers suggest paying off debt before investing any money into the stock market.

This is because the interest that accrues from high-interest debt like payday loans, credit cards, etc., cost you much more than what you will earn from your investments.

For example, if you have $1,000 earning 7% interest a year in a brokerage account, you’re earning $70 a year.  On the contrary, if you have a $1,000 balance on a credit card with an interest rate of 18%, your debt is costing you over $180 a year.

Keeping your money locked into an investment instead of using it to help pay off your debt is actually costing you over $100 a year!

On the other hand, if the interest rate on your debt is super low, it may make more sense to invest your free cash, rather than paying off the debt.

For example, if you have an auto loan at 4%, it might be better to invest your cash in the stock market because you can earn higher returns than 4%. The stock market has historically returned 7-8% on average over the last century.

By investing in the stock market, you can theoretically grow your wealth 3-4% more than by paying off debt.

Questions to Ask Yourself about Debt or Investing

Before deciding to invest or pay off debt, you should ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you have enough money each month to cover your debt payments? Do you have additional money at the end of each month to invest?
• How much debt do you have? What are the interest rates? Do you feel debt has a grip on your life or finances?
• If you have extra money available to you, will you actually invest it? Or will you spend it?
• Do you have an emergency fund?
• What are the terms of your debt? Are there any penalties for prepayment? Is your interest rate adjustable?

By considering the questions above, it will be easier to decide whether to pay off debt first or to invest.

Start Investing Today and Build Wealth for the Future

Investing in the financial markets is commonly thought of as hard or confusing. While investing has some confusing jargon, the basics of investing aren’t too complicated.

Now, with this article, you have the basics for investing.

Investing can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be.

The main takeaway is investing, whether it’s in stocks, bonds, or a different investment, is critical to building wealth.

By investing, you can grow your wealth over time and reach your financial goals.

Investing is the greatest wealth builder of all time – you can’t afford to miss out on it!

Taking control of your life and creating a lifestyle you want to live is possible and a great goal. If you want to create something with your life, and become something in life, then you can do so with the right action and behavior. With the 15 steps in this article, you can become great in life and become the person you want to be.

What does your dream life look like? Are you living your dream life? What if you could become the master of your life, and do whatever you wanted?

Becoming the master of your life is possible, if you want to take control of your life and achieve your wildest dreams.

What’s your purpose? What are you passionate about? Do you have a bucket list?

All of these questions can help you form a picture of your dream life, but getting to your dream life will require a journey and effort.

No one is an overnight success.

However, you can do anything you put your mind to.

Are you ready to become the master of your life? Do you want to become great in life?

Let’s begin.

15 Steps to Take to Become Great in Life

Creating a great life for yourself will take some time, but it is possible with effort and focus.

Life mastery is pushing your limits to become better each and every day. Some days will be better than others, but over time, you’ll be achieve your wildest dreams.

Below are the 15 steps you can take to become the master of your life, and to create a fantastic life for yourself.

1. Be Proactive and Live Intentionally
2. Tap into the Power of Positive Thinking
3. Work to Live with an Abundance Mindset
4. Set Goals for Success
5. Apply the Concept of Compounding in Your Life
6. Manage Your Spending and Live Within Your Means
7. Explode Your Income
8. Get Your Diet Right
9. Exercise and Get Your Blood Flowing
10. Learn How to Become a Better Learner
11. Learn Emotional Intelligence and How to Cultivate Strong Relationships
12. Understand it’s Okay to Say “I Don’t Know”
13. Remove Noise and Focus on What Matters to You
14. Network with Mentors and Those More Experienced than You
15. Find Balance in Work, Play and Rest

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

1. Be Proactive and Live Intentionally

The first step to becoming the master of your life is changing your mindset and attitude towards your life.

No longer are you going to react to what your environment and surrounding is giving you. Instead, you do what you want and live with purpose.

Proactive behavior is all about planning and taking action on your plans.

If you want to get in shape, get rich, or get into a relationship, no one is going to be able to accomplish these things except for you!

You are the only person who has the power to control how your life.

You have the keys to your life. It is up to you to unlock your full potential and lead a great life. Through proactive behavior, you can take control of your life and create the success you crave.

2. Tap into the Power of Positive Thinking

Our minds are incredibly powerful and can quite literally create its own reality.

Using positive thinking can manifest itself in living the life you want to live.

Telling yourself you are a positive person will result in you becoming a more positive person.

You are what you say you are.

Saying, “I’m a negative person who can never accomplish anything” is a reinforcing trap. Saying this sort of thing will result in you being a negative person who will never accomplish anything.

Likewise, telling yourself, “I’m a positive person who can accomplish anything” will lead to accomplishments beyond your wildest dreams.

Using positive thinking can help guide you on your path to life mastery.

3. Work to Live with an Abundance Mindset

In life, rarely are situations win-lose, where you can win, and I lose (or vice versa).

Many situations in life are win-win, where through helping others and giving selflessly, we both can gain and improve over time.

Living with an abundance mindset is all about understanding there is enough to go around for all of us, and having the patience and understanding to share and give.

4. Set Goals for Success

If you don’t know where you are going, you will never get there.

Setting goals helps put a bulls-eye on the wall for you to aim at with your actions.

By setting goals, you can start to put structure to your future.

For me, I love action based goals.

For example, one of my goals right now is to do some exercise each and every day. My want is to be in shape and to look better physically. With a little bit of exercise each day, I know I’ll be able to reach this want and goal, and will be successful.

What do you want? How will you get there? It’s time to set a goal!

5. Apply the Concept of Compounding in Your Life

Simple consistent actions WILL lead to success over time.

When starting off, it’s very tough to see any progress.

However, the power of compounding is incredibly powerful.

Think about pushing a massive rock – at first, you can barely push it. But, after pushing more and more, all of a sudden, the rock starts to move and turn over on itself.

As time goes on, you barely have to push.

That’s the power of compounding and consistency.

So many people fail to get to that breaking point, and instead give up.

Consistency WILL bring success and clarity to your situation. You need to commit to consistency if you want to find success and master your life.

6. Manage Your Spending and Live Within Your Means

From my experience, I’m most happy when I have money in the bank, and when I’m making purchases on things which bring me direct joy.

Living paycheck to paycheck, or having debt, is no fun.

If you want to master your life, you need to get a hold on your spending and live within your means.

Saving money isn’t hard, but it does require discipline.

By saving more, you can have money in the bank to take a vacation, buy a car or house, invest in a business or a new lifestyle, and live the life you want.

7. Explode Your Income

There are two ways you can improve your financial situation in the short term: earn more money, or save more money.

While saving is great, there is a lower bound to how low you can drop your expenses.

On the flip side, with earning potential, there is no bound to how high you can grow your income.

Becoming the master of your life includes mastering your money and becoming more valuable towards others.

With a higher value, you can attract more responsibility and work, and with more responsibility and work, you can demand more pay.

Exploding your income is important because our time is limited. If you are stuck in a job you don’t like, with more savings, you could make a lifestyle change or take a lower paying job.

With growing your income, you can achieve these goals faster.

8. Get Your Diet Right

Have you ever heard of the saying, you are what you eat?

Putting garbage into your body will result in having a garbage physique and mental state.

Getting your diet right is a piece of mastering your life because food is what fuels you to take action on your goals.

Everyone will be different in what kind of food they can eat, but getting your diet right involves eating healthy foods and drinking a lot of water.

For me, eating healthy means eating a high fat, high protein diet with a lot of fruits and vegetables mixed in.

Also, for my health, I’ve experimented with fasting and do intermittent fasting.

Experimentation is important for your diet, but it is certainly a very important piece of becoming the master of your life.

9. Exercise and Get Your Blood Flowing

Just like diet, exercise is another important piece to life mastery.

For me, I try to do a little bit each day. I enjoy doing bodyweight exercises, biking, walking, rock climbing, and playing basketball with friends.

I don’t have a gym pass, and don’t subscribe to the thought that you need to be a meat head to be in shape.

Instead, doing a little bit each day, 30-60 minutes of activity will be good for your health and wellness.

Getting your blood pumping will help with brain activity and will also keep you strong.

10. Learn How to Become a Better Learner

On your journey to realizing your goals, at some point, you most likely will have to learn something new.

What if you could learn something and make it stick in the next week? Wouldn’t that be great?

It is possible to learn how to become a better learner.

By understanding how to become a better learner, you can develop the confidence to venture into new subjects and pick them up fast.

11. Learn Emotional Intelligence and How to Cultivate Strong Relationships

Humans are social creatures, and with many situations, we have to interact with other people.

At work, for example, you most likely have to interact with a number of people: your boss, your co-workers, your clients and customers, etc.

Being able to communicate, understand emotions, and navigate through different social situations is very important for success in this world.

Communication and emotional intelligence are two skills which are arguably the most important skills to improve upon.

Working on these will take time, but they certainly worth improving and building over time.

12. Understand it’s Okay to Say “I Don’t Know”

“The only thing I know is that I know nothing at all.” – Socrates

The quote above is a great example of this life mastery step.

Being eternally curious, and looking to learn more and more, will lead to success over time.

Understanding that there are holes in your knowledge and understanding of things will be beneficial for your growth.

Being closed minded and living in an echo chamber is not helpful for achieving your goals.

Get out of your comfort zone, embrace uncertainty, and say “I don’t know”. It’s freeing and a lot of fun!

13. Remove Noise and Focus on What Matters to You

There is so much noise in the world: news outlets, social media, advertisements, the list goes on and on.

What’s important to you? Is grandma’s constant Facebook posting important to you, or can that be ignored?

Focus and removing distractions will help you do what matters and get you to your goals and dreams faster.

Multi-tasking is possible, but focusing in on one task at a time is far superior.

By removing noise and distractions, you can accomplish what you need to and get on to the next step.

14. Network to Gain Perspective and Understanding

One of my favorite quotes is “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

For me, I know I don’t know everything, and don’t have a full perspective on my goals and life.

However, I can ask others who are more wise and knowledgeable than me to help me on my journey.

Through networking and meeting other people, you can gain a better perspective and learn about how to better your skills and knowledge.

15. Balance Work, Play and Rest

Balance is so critical in life.

While it seems you need to work every hour and day of your life to be successful, leading a fulfilling life involves balance with time for play and rest.

If you notice above, I’ve included diet, mindset, money, relationships, and exercise in the steps to creating your dream life and becoming the master of your life.

While work and action is very important, sleep, rest and having fun is equally as important!

Our bodies don’t build muscle in the gym! Our bodies build muscle during rest!

Apply this same concept to your work, and you’ll go far.

Become the Mastermind and Creator of Your Dream Life for a Great Life

With the points and articles listed above, you can start to take the next steps to create and live the life you want and deserve.

Self improvement is a life long endeavor, and life mastery is an extreme goal.

Getting to your dream life won’t happen today, it probably won’t happen tomorrow.

It might not even happen this year!

Heck, I’ve been taking steps towards “improvement” over the last 8 years and STILL feel I’m not to my goals yet.

However, with the right guidance and consistent efforts over time, you can and WILL achieve your goals.

Are you ready and motivated to take control of your life?

Getting out of debt is possible with the right attitude, mindset and plan. While debt can feel like it’s crushing you, you can overcome your debt and win with your finances. In this post, you’ll learn some mindset tips for staying positive to help you get out of debt.

Most Americans are in debt.

According to a recent survey from Comet, debt affects all generations, with almost 80% of baby boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials saying they struggle with mortgage, student loan, credit card or medical debt (or a combination of).

When you’re struggling to make ends meet, debt can feel like a weight wrapped around your ankle, pulling you deeper and deeper.

But it doesn’t have to be like that.

Our debt doesn’t define us – how we react to it does.

Having the right mindset when it comes to paying off debt can make all of the difference. It can be the difference between confidently paying it off, or languishing in our own guilt.

With the right mindset, it is possible to get out of debt and stay out of debt!

5 Ways to Cultivate a Winning Mindset for Paying Off Debt

Cultivating the right mindset for getting out of debt is possible with the right steps.

Below are the 5 ways I believe you can get a handle on your debt, improve your debt mindset, and start to become debt-free:

1. Come to Terms with Your Debt
2. Focus on the Long-Term
3. Give Yourself a Break
4. Reward Progress
5. Stay Positive

Let’s dive into each of these points in further detail.

1. Come to Terms with Your Debt

The first step in shifting your mindset towards your debt is accepting it.

You may have a lot. You may have a little.

It may be the result of something you did (like taking out too many student loans) or something completely out of your control (a medical emergency).

The important part isn’t identifying who’s at fault; it’s about accepting responsibility for the situation you’re in, and deciding to make a conscious effort in changing it.

Deciding to face your debt head on is one of the biggest challenges in dealing with debt, but it’s an important first step.

Once you’ve done that, things should feel much less scary.

2. Focus on the Long-Term

The second step to improving your mindset towards debt is to focus on the long-term.

Depending on how much debt you have, becoming debt free may be a few years away.

This can make paying it off seem like a daunting task.

When you’re overwhelmed, it’s much easier to slack off, or fall back into old patterns that got you into debt in the first place.

Remembering you’re in this for the long haul, and that knowing it’s not going to be a quick fix, is essential to sticking with it.

A great way to drive this point home is to use a debt-payoff thermometer.

A debt-payoff thermometer is a visual representation of our debt in the form of a thermometer, like this:

As you start to pay the debt off, the thermometer gets colored in higher and higher, signifying your debt is getting paid down.

Once the thermometer is colored in full, you’re debt free!

Having this visual can help show that you’re making progress, even when it doesn’t feel like it.

Just because it’s going to take a lot of time doesn’t mean it’s impossible!

3. Give Yourself a Break

The third step to improving your debt mindset is to give yourself a break and relax.

The road to becoming debt free can be long and difficult, filled with lots of ups and downs.

It’s definitely not a straight path for most.

In short: on your way to becoming debt free, you’re going to mess up.

When we’re trying to better ourselves and we fail, we feel guilty.  This can make it easy to beat ourselves up over mistakes we’ve made.

Maybe you’re not making as much progress as you like.

Maybe you suffered a recent setback because of a financial misstep.

Regardless, if you are earnestly trying to make a change in your life, you shouldn’t hold that against yourself.

Beating yourself up about it does nothing to change the situation, and in fact, only hinders our progress.

You’re going to make mistakes on your journey to becoming debt-free. Give yourself a break.

4. Reward Debt Pay Off Progress

The fourth step to improving your mindset towards debt is to reward progress when you reach your next debt pay off milestone.

Becoming debt free typically has an air of rigidity and inflexibility to it.

When people are trying to become debt free, they typically pare down, restrict their spending, and stop buying things they love.

While this may help you pay off your debt faster, it can also make you miserable. Being miserable all the time is a great way to get burnt-out.

A great way to avoid debt-burnout is to give yourself rewards for milestones you’ve accomplished.

For example, after every 10% of debt you pay off, you could treat yourself to lunch at your favorite restaurant.

Giving yourself rewards for milestones you’ve accomplished is a great way to allow yourself to buy things you love without completely derailing your debt payoff strategy.  It also helps us stay positive about the progress we’re making.

It should be said, however, that the reward should never be large enough to put you back in the red.

Rewarding yourself by buying a new car isn’t exactly helpful 😉

Paying down debt may not be fun, but you should be feeling good about making progress – reward yourself accordingly!

5. Stay Positive about Your Debt and Life

Finally, the last step to having a better mindset towards debt is to stay positive.

Maintaining a positive mindset is one of the biggest factors when it comes to sticking with a goal.

While you will likely face setbacks on your way to becoming debt free, focusing on the negatives will sap you of your energy and optimism.

This negativity wears us down, and makes completing our goals more difficult.

Rather than focusing on the things you’ve done wrong, try focusing on the things you’ve done right.

For example, maybe you went over budget on restaurants this month, but you brought lunch to work every day this week.  I’d definitely call that a win!

By shifting our mindset from dwelling on the negatives to focusing on the positives, we keep our optimism levels higher, making it easier to achieve our goals.

Staying positive helps keep us on track.

Change Your Mindset, Take Action and Get Out of Debt!

Becoming debt free is almost as much of a mindset game as a numbers game.

If you don’t have enough money coming in to pay off your debts, you will never become debt free.

Likewise, if you don’t utilize a mindset compatible with paying off debt, you will find paying it off that much harder.

Coming to terms with our debt, focusing on the long-term, giving ourselves a break, rewarding progress and staying positive are all forward-thinking ways to shift our mindset when it comes to paying off debt.

So – are you going to bury your head in the sand, or are you going to make changes to better your life?

Becoming debt free might be a big journey for you, but with these tips, you can take action today.

You are the creator of your life and you can do anything you put your mind to.

Having a complicated life is not optimal. Living the simple life and looking to simplify things over time can do wonders for your experience in life. In this post, you’ll learn about some easy ways to simplify life.

There is beauty in simplicity. Living a simple life, a life where you can do what you want without distraction, can be attained with the right steps.

If you are like me, you have maybe felt the overwhelming burden of stress in one form or another during your life.

Bu,t did you know about all the adverse effects stress can have on your long-term health and quality of life?

Stress in its chronic (long term) form has a long list of symptoms including, but not limited to: mental health problems, cardiovascular problems, gastrointestinal problems, sexual dysfunction, and eating disorders. That’s quite the list!

Sadly, you often cannot control the sources of stress in your life.

But what if I told you that there is, quite literally, a simple way to manage stress?

Making efforts to simplify your life is a great way to limit your exposure to stress.

In this post, I’m going to share with you 5 foolproof ways you can simplify your life and live more simply.

5 Ways to Simplify Life and Live a Simple Life

Living a simple life is doable with the right framework and plan. While it might sound easy, living a simple life can be tough with all of the distractions that surround us in the 21st century.

The 5 foolproof ways to simplify your life are:

1. Block out the noise
2. Re-Evaluate your Time Commitments
3. Take it one day at a time
4. Automate your Finances
5. Destroy your Debt

Let’s get into each of these in more detail below.

1. Block Out The Noise

The first step to simplifying your life is to block out noise.

Noise is everywhere in life, both figuratively and literally. This method of simplifying your life focuses on the figurative noise all around you. What is this noise exactly?

I deal with statistical noise all the time at my 9 to 5 job. Take a look at the graph below: the red points are the actual data, while the blue line is a trend. The jagged ups and downs of the red lines are “noisy” compared to the smooth curve of the blue trend line, which is the line that is significant.

Noise of any kind cannot be controlled, anticipated, or prevented. All you can do is tune out the noise, leaving only the important things behind.

Tuning out statistical noise is a common task for me at my 9 to 5 job. You can apply the same concept to remove distractions and become successful in your life as well.

The Sources of Noise in Our Lives

The noise of the world is greatly amplified by technology. The best place to start filtering out noise is the device in the palm of your hands! These are all steps you can take from your phone.

Go to your email inbox and see how many promotional emails you’re receiving. How many of these actually benefit you? If you unsubscribe from email lists that don’t provide value, you can make your inbox tidy and distraction-free.

Another huge source of noise is the news. The matter of fact is that much of world news is irrelevant to your daily life.

Should you be informed?  Certainly. But, to the point where the negativity of it all is hindering you? Absolutely not.

Be wary of consuming news content in any form, whether it is through TV, social media, or mobile apps.

Finally, limit your exposure to social media. Not only can it take up a lot of time, it can also promote some toxic behaviors such as comparing yourself to others.

2. Re-Evaluate your Time Commitments

The second step in simplifying your life is to re-evaluate your current time commitments.

You have 168 hours every week. How do you use them currently, and how do you want to use them?

Everyone has a different answer. We all have different commitments, and we all enjoy our free time in different ways.

I want you to take a good, hard look at your commitments. What are they?

Here are the categories you should look over:

• Work
  • Look at how many hours a week you work, including your commute time. Work should be challenging and rewarding, but it should not be consuming.
  • If work feels like the latter, consider making changes that will bring balance to your life. This can be as simple as learning to say no to extra work, or as drastic as changing positions or companies. Put your own wellbeing first!
• Sleep
  • How much sleep do you get? Odds are you do not make sleep as high of a priority as you’d like. You will eventually pay for this with the many side effects accompanying fatigue.
• Exercise & Nutrition
  • This is one many find challenging. You only have one body; are you eating what you need to ensure its well being?
  • Exercising 3 times a week would take up no more than 4 hours of your week (including changing / showering). Can you fit these 4 hours, or 2.38% of your week, into your schedule?
• Relationships
  • Are you seeing your friends and family as often as you’d like?
  • Take a good, hard look at the quality of your relationships. Toxic ones should be removed from your life to free up both valuable time and energy.

A Tip Prioritizing your Time

Someone once told me, “Try saying  ‘it’s not a priority’ instead of ‘I don’t have time’.”

Now, this person didn’t have an original idea by any means; this mindset has been explored many times on the Internet.

However, it still holds meaning!

Revisit the previous examples.

Say, “The gym is not a priority” instead of “I don’t have time for the gym”, and see how that sounds to you. If you are content with that, then no further action is needed.

Consider truly making a change if the act of saying that bothers you.

3. Take it One Day at a Time

The third step in simplifying your life is to take things one day at a time.

It can get overwhelming real quick when thinking about the future. How are you supposed to know what you want 5 years from now when you don’t even know what you want for dinner tonight?

While it’s important to have goals for the medium to long-term, you also need to take life one day at a time.

Here is a trick to stop the future from stealing time and energy in the present. All you need to do is set aside dedicated time every day or every week. Any time something about the future comes up, write it down!

You aren’t allowed to think about those thoughts until the dedicated time you’ve set for yourself. You’ll be relieved knowing you’ll have a set time to think about these worries later. You’ll save precious time today by not dwelling on the future.

If this sounds like an intriguing idea to you, then you may want to buy yourself a daily journal. You start every morning setting your goals for the day, and finish it by reflecting on your day and whether or not the goals were accomplished. It takes no more than 5 minutes out of your day!

4. Automate Your Finances

The fourth step in simplifying your life is automating your finances.

Thinking and worrying about money can take a toll on you. 62% of Americans are stressed about finances in some way, according to the APA.

Full disclosure: this method won’t magically solve all your financial problems.

However, it will help you onto the right track, especially if you struggle to manage discretionary spending.

Most, if not all banks allow for the setup of auto-transfers between accounts.  What you have to do is set up a recurring auto-transfer that is in sync with your payday.

If you get paid every second Thursday; you can set an auto-transfer for every second Friday, moving money from your checking account to your savings!

Automating your savings contributions allows you to simplify your life by removing one key element: the element of choice.

There is one less decision to be made, and one less dilemma to think about. When you automate your finances, you are saving.

You need to be careful though. You must ensure that you aren’t saving too much, or else you won’t be able to pay your bills.

Taking a quick tally and projecting your regular expenses will help you figure out how much of a contribution you can afford.

5. Destroy Your Debt

The fifth and final method is also a personal finance one: destroy your debt!

We already discussed about the strong ties between finance and mental well-being.

Sadly, those ties are even stronger when it comes to debt.

In fact, people with mental health problems are 5 times as likely to have problem debt (i.e. debt in which you cannot keep up with the payments). 86% of respondents with mental health problems (from the same survey) said that their debt was a contributing factor.

Luckily for you, there is a whole section of this site dedicated to destroying your debt. Having an effective plan to pay off debt will clear up both your finances and your mind.

The Two Methods to Pay off Debt Effectively

You will need to come up with a list of all your debts (balances and interest rates) in order to work with either of these two debt pay off methods, so I suggest you do that first.

The two methods are:

• Debt Snowball Method – paying extra towards your smallest balance first, then your second smallest, and so on. Like a snowball growing larger building momentum!
• Debt Avalanche Method – paying extra towards the debt with the highest interest rate first, and then second highest, and so on. You start high and work your way down, like an avalanche.

In case you’re wondering which method is better, the answer is “it depends.” The debt avalanche method is mathematically the best option, as it will save you the most money in interest.

However, personal finance is personal. You need to take psychology into account, which is where the debt snowball method has the advantage.

Paying off smaller debts first triggers the reward mechanisms in your brain and leaves you motivated, wanting to chase the next “reward.”

By paying off debt, you’ll be able to continue to focus on what matters to you and live a simpler life.

Start Living a Simpler Life Today

You now have multiple new tools at your disposal that can be used to simplify your life.

Filtering out noise and re-evaluating your commitments will lead to less stress and pressure on you.

Focusing on one day at a time allows for small but consistent progress to compound and help reach your long-term goals.

Automating your finances and destroying debt will help mitigate one of the leading stress producers – financial trouble!

Implementing some or all of these techniques in an intentional and proactive manner will lead to a simpler, more rewarding life.

A simple life may not happen overnight. However, over time, you can definitely find success and reach your goals.

The best time to start, as always, is today. Get out there and take the first step towards a simpler life today.

Managing finances effectively is critical to running a successful small business, requiring owners to navigate financial challenges with limited resources and tight budgets through precision, foresight, and careful decision-making.

According to the Chamber of Commerce, around 18% of small businesses fail to survive within the first year, often due to financial mismanagement, among other reasons, emphasizing the importance of understanding financial intricacies for success. 

Small business owners can establish stability, growth, and resilience in the competitive landscape by implementing effective strategies, optimizing cash flow, and monitoring key indicators. Additionally, investing in professional development, utilizing financial tools, and staying informed about industry trends further enhance their financial management capabilities. 

Now let’s discuss some powerful tips to help small businesses manage their finances better and increase their chances of success.

 

Invest in Your Professional Development

Investing in professional development is crucial for small business owners seeking to strengthen their financial management skills. Pursuing relevant courses or certifications is invaluable for staying current with the latest financial tools, software, and technologies that effectively streamline financial processes and improve efficiency. 

Keeping abreast of industry advancements empowers small business owners to leverage innovative solutions and stay ahead of the curve in financial management. Furthermore, these programs offer practical insights and real-world case studies that can directly translate into effective financial management practices.

Small business owners can enroll in an MBA in accounting online, which provides comprehensive knowledge and skills tailored to managing finances in a business setting. This program covers financial principles, strategic planning, budgeting, and managerial accounting, providing a strong foundation for financial management. The knowledge gained empowers business owners to tackle complex financial challenges, develop robust strategies, manage cashflows, and effectively communicate financial information to stakeholders. 

Moreover, the online format of this program allows small business owners to balance their work commitments while studying at their own pace.

 

Create a Comprehensive Budget

A budget acts as a financial guide, allowing you to monitor income and expenses, strategically allocate funds, and make informed decisions for your business’s growth and sustainability.

To create a comprehensive budget, evaluate your historical financial information and identify income sources such as sales revenue or client payments. Next, carefully analyze your expenses, categorizing them as fixed (e.g., rent, utilities) or variable (e.g., marketing, inventory). Also, consider recurring and one-time expenses, such as equipment purchases or marketing campaigns. Equipment can be expensive, but you can make savings by visiting sites like this one here. Once your equipment has been bought, you shouldn’t need to replace it for a long time.

Once you understand income and expenses, allocate funds to various business areas, including marketing, research and development, employee salaries, and contingency funds.

Lastly, regularly review and adjust your budget to align with business goals and changing market conditions, thus helping maintain financial stability.

 

Monitor Cash Flow

Cash flow serves as the essential lifeline for your business, representing the inflow and outflow of money that keeps your operations running smoothly. 

Begin by closely monitoring your revenue streams, tracking sales, client payments, and other income sources specific to your business. Real-time revenue visibility is crucial for meeting financial obligations and planning future growth. By registering with a bank that offers small business banking solutions they can help monitor transactions and provide services for you that would be beneficial to your business. For example, if your company is healthcare focused many banks will offer services like improved payment practices and financing for new equipment.

Carefully track outgoing cash and analyze expenses to identify cost-saving opportunities. This may involve negotiating better deals with suppliers, implementing cost-cutting measures, or streamlining operational processes to eliminate unnecessary expenditures. 

To enhance cash flow, consider implementing incentives for early customer payments, which can encourage prompt payments and improve available cash. 

 

Implement Effective Invoicing and Payment Processes

Implementing efficient invoicing and payment procedures is crucial for small businesses to uphold a robust cash flow, make accurate payments, and reduce payment delays.

Begin by utilizing professional invoice templates that outline products or services and their related costs, or even software like this booking and invoicing software, if it suits your business. To ensure clarity and prompt payment, clearly state the payment terms on the invoice, including the due date and any applicable penalties for late payments. This encourages timely settlement and reduces the likelihood of payment delays. Additionally, offer incentives like rewards or discounts for early payments that motivate customers to settle their invoices promptly.

 

Leverage Technology

Embracing technology tools and software can streamline financial processes, enhance efficiency, and provide valuable insights for informed decision-making.

An essential tool for small businesses is accounting software, which allows tracking of income and expenses, invoice management, financial reporting, and simplified tax preparation. With automated features and built-in functionalities, this software saves time and reduces manual errors.

Cloud computing is another trend, offering secure data storage, remote access to financial information, and seamless collaboration. Traditional cloud networks are those which are either public or private, although there are also hybrid cloud networks which can use a combination of the two. Another type of cloud infrastructure that businesses could use is multi-cloud. A multi-cloud strategy enables businesses to choose services across clouds that best fit their requirements to improve business resiliency and achieve digital transformation goals.

Furthermore, various technology tools are available to streamline financial processes, including expense management software, payroll systems, electronic payment platforms, and financial analytics tools.

Plan for Taxes

Planning taxes and staying proactive in meeting your tax obligations is crucial when managing your small business finances. 

Start by understanding the tax laws and regulations applicable to your business and staying informed about changes and updates. Maintain accurate and organized records of income, expenses, and deductions. 

Know key tax deadlines for filing returns, making estimated payments, and submitting required forms. Failure to meet deadlines leads to penalties, so meeting obligations on time is crucial.

 

Build Emergency Funds

Establishing a contingency fund is a crucial part of small business financial management. Firstly, it ensures financial stability and resilience during challenging periods without disrupting operations or accumulating high-interest debt.

Secondly, an emergency fund enables you to seize unforeseen opportunities. These could include unexpected expansion prospects, investments, or strategic partnerships. 

Lastly, an emergency fund showcases financial discipline and responsible management, reflecting your ability to plan, manage risks, and navigate uncertainties. This enhances your credibility with lenders, investors, and stakeholders.

 

Explore Small Business Loan Options

Exploring small business loan options is important when managing your finances as they provide the necessary capital for growth, expansion, or addressing financial challenges. The most common loan options are:

• Traditional Bank Loans – These loans are common for small businesses and typically require a strong credit history, collateral, and a detailed business plan. They offer competitive interest rates and longer repayment terms, making them suitable for larger investments.
• Crowdfunding – Utilize crowdfunding platforms to raise funds from individuals who support your business idea or project, which is especially beneficial for startups or businesses with unique offerings.
• Microloans – Nonprofit organizations or community development financial institutions (CDFIs) provide small loans to assist businesses with limited access to traditional financing sources.

 

Conclusion

Effective financial management is crucial in establishing financial stability and fostering growth for small businesses. By prioritizing financial health and implementing the tips outlined above, small business owners can effectively navigate challenges, seize opportunities, and achieve their financial goals.

With effective strategies and a proactive mindset, you can achieve financial success and pave the way for a prosperous future.

Getting in shape and getting that beach body you’ve always wanted isn’t as easy as just working out consistently. Having a great diet is very important for getting in shape.

Sometimes, it makes sense to supplement your diet as well, and in this post, you’ll learn about 7 great workout supplements.

Hitting the gym, eating a balanced diet, and getting in shape are great habits to practice to lead a healthy life.

Maybe you want a little more from your life, and want to be very healthy and attain your dream body.

Part of becoming the master of your life is being physically and mentally healthy. By putting beneficial foods and supplements into your body, this can lead to feeling better over time.

While it is possible to attain an amazing physique with natural food, sometimes our bodies need a little boost from other healthy sources.

For me, for example, I don’t always eat enough protein during a day, and when I’m working out, I feel the need to replenish my muscles with a protein shake or protein bar.

Over the past few years, I’ve been experimenting with different workout supplements and believe I’ve found 7 workout supplements which are best for me.

Maybe they won’t be best for you, but by learning, experimenting, and seeing what works for you, you can work towards your dream body.

In this post, I’m going to share with you the 7 workout supplements I use to supplement my diet, and talk about the uses and benefits of each.

Let’s get into the article!

7 Workout Supplements to Take for Your Dream Body

Below is a list of the 7 workout supplements I personally use and think are great to become more healthy and reach your physical fitness goals.

I’m not a doctor – some of these may not be for you. Please check with your doctor to make sure these different products are suitable for your use.

The 7 workout supplements I use and believe are great for helping you get healthy are:

1. Whey Protein
2. Creatine HCL
3. Pine Pollen
4. Bee Pollen
5. Fish Oil
6. BCAAs
7. Beta Alanine

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

1. Whey Protein

Protein is the building block of muscle, and is essential to have if you are looking to get stronger over time.

Whey protein is one of the most common workout supplements as it contains all 9 essential amino acids (the building blocks of protein). Essential amino acids must be obtained from food, whereas non-essential amino acids can be created internally.

For working out, building muscle, and having a healthy diet, having a lot of protein can possibly help you reach your goals faster.

I try to get at least 100 grams of protein a day, and on most days, I’ll get upwards of 150 grams (also, for reference, I weigh about 165 pounds – as of writing this).

Depending on your goals and bodyweight, you’ll want to research and figure out how much protein you need.

To supplement my workouts and overall health, I use whey protein powder once a day. Some people will have multiple protein shakes a day, but for me, I try to only have 1 “non-real” protein based “meal” a day for my stomach’s sake.

2. Creatine HCL

Creatine is one of the most cost effective and powerful workout supplements. Our bodies naturally have creatine running through them, but with a creatine supplement, you can get extra energy and muscle stimulation.

The one downside about creatine is there are no FDA approved supplements on the market.

That being said, I’ve used creatine on and off for the past few years and never had any issues (but I have had cramping a few times – you need to drink a lot of water with it – and have been careful if I ever had an upset stomach).

Make sure to do your own research and due diligence on these different supplements before using them.

While there is a lot of controversy on using creatine, again, it is a naturally occurring compound and one of the most commonly used supplements.

When buying creatine, I’ve been able to get 45 days worth of supplement for only $14.

With creatine, you get massive bang for your buck, and can see some good results, both in body composition and performance.

3. Pine Pollen

Pine pollen is one of my favorite supplements. This naturally occurring super food has many benefits and nutrients.

I was turned on to pine pollen by a friend because he mentioned pine pollen provides a natural testosterone boost.

In addition to this, there are many nutrients, anti-oxidants, minerals and amino acids which can provide you a nice boost for your workout and general well-being.

Pine pollen is available both in powder and tincture. I’ve tried both the powder and tincture, and recommend the tincture (the powder tastes like tree…)

For me, I cycle through a 4 oz bottle of Pine Pollen every few months. Over time, your body builds up a resistance to pine pollen. For this reason, I don’t take pine pollen all the time.

However, when I do take pine pollen, I love it and definitely would recommend giving it a try (but be aware it is a natural supplement, and not necessarily “regulated” as some other vitamins and supplements).

4. Bee Pollen

Bee pollen is another super food I take as a health supplement. Similar to pine pollen, bee pollen is a naturally occurring substance which has many enzymes, nutrients, minerals and amino acids.

In addition to being a super food packed with nutrients, there are some other benefits of having bee pollen.

One unexpected benefit I’ve found is how bee pollen contains some protein, and also can help with allergies.

Most Spring seasons, I’m hit with bad allergies. However this year (this is anecdotal), I didn’t get hit at all by allergies, and I’m wondering if it had to do with the bee pollen.

I typically take my bee pollen straight, or mix it in with a yogurt or fruit smoothie.

Again, this is a naturally occurring substance, and falls more into the “hippy” and “organic” supplement camp (though that doesn’t negate or lessen effects of bee pollen).

5. Fish Oil

Fish oil contains Omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential nutrients that are important in preventing and managing heart disease.

Much of our food is Omega-6 fatty acid based (from corn), and Omega-3 balances this out.

Since our diets do not include fish that much, that’s where fish oil comes in.

Taking fish oil over time has shown to be beneficial for a person’s heart. As you probably know, a healthy heart can allow you to perform exercise at a higher level!

I take fish oil for prevention of any heart issues, and for some of the other proven benefits of these fatty acids.

6. BCAAs

BCAAs are another workout supplement I take to supplement my exercises. BCAAs stands for Branched-chain amino acids.

Branched-chain amino acids are a group of three essential amino acids: leucine, isoleucine and valine.

While you can get these amino acids from your whey protein and other protein sources, it sometimes can be helpful to get them directly.

BCAA supplements can help you with muscle performance, prevent muscle fatigue, and help stimulate growth.

I usually take my BCAA supplement before I work out, and I have definitely felt a slight difference in how I’m able to move throughout my workout.

7. Beta-Alanine

Beta-alanine is a non-essential amino acid. Our bodies use beta-alanine to create the amino acid carnosine, an amino acid which regulates the build up of acid in our muscles.

Beta-alanine helps your muscles perform and promotes muscle endurance and power.

Beware though! If you have too much of a dose of beta-alanine, you’ll get the tingles! (something which has happened to me a few too many times!)

Get Your Dream Body with These Amazing Supplements!

No matter if your dream body is a 6 pack, being able to walk 5 miles straight, swim a mile, or just feel more confident, you can become healthier with the right diet and supplementation.

Hopefully this article has provided you with some new information and resources for your health.

Depending on your health goals, maybe it makes sense to try one of the supplements above and see how you feel with it.

We only have one life and one body – with the proper diet, you are capable of doing anything.

While workout and diet supplements won’t get you your dream body alone, with consistent good eating habits and exercise, you can see the results you want and deserve.

Thank you for reading!

Readers: what supplements do you use to get your dream body and be healthy? Are there any supplements you’d recommend I check out?

Becoming rich is more than just having money in the bank. You can also be rich if you have the right mindset, and know what you want in life.

At a young age, you most likely understood the difference between “poor” and “rich”.

Rich people have money. Poor people do not.

The financial difference between a poor person and a rich person can be pretty significant.

However, there’s another difference between the poor and the rich which has nothing to do with how much money is in the bank. The difference between being rich and poor is mindset.

Some of the wealthiest people I know aren’t rich financially, but they understand how to use their money for happiness.

Through saving and investing, you can use your money to live the life you want and deserve. You can become rich over time, and do what matters to you.

Your mindset towards money influences all of your habits pertaining to money:

• how you earn money
• how you spend money
• where you save your money
• how you use your money over time

While there are always going to be factors outside of your control (where you were born, your parent’s financial wellness and education, etc.), we all have the ability to change our mindset from one that makes us poor to one that brings us riches.

What do I mean by the mindset of the rich?

A rich mindset is the belief money is a tool, and you can use money to create a life you love. A rich mindset is also having the understanding that money should work for us, rather than us working for our money.

The rich know a dollar saved and invested today is better than a dollar spent today.

Put another way, it’s the understanding that putting our money to work is a better use of our money than buying stuff we think will make us happy.

Let’s dive more into detail about how you can cultivate a rich mindset.

The Mindset for Building Wealth to Fund Your Dream Life

Whatever your dream life is, you can fund it through understanding the mindset of the rich.

People without the mindset of the rich are often caught in the trap of trading their time for money – they’re on a financial treadmill leading them to nowhere fast.

Conversely, people with a rich mindset are busy building assets. These assets leverage the power of time to generate passive income – passive income which isn’t dependent on them directly swapping their time for money.  

We all have limited time on this Earth, and if you are spending a lot of your time trying to make money to make ends meet, you probably aren’t living your best life.

Spending money on things that don’t bring you happiness, and doing things which don’t align with your purpose and passions will lead a less than a truly fulfilling life.

People with a rich mindset have a long term mindset and are able to delay gratification. If they have a job and get a pay raise, they don’t look to spend money upgrading their home to an executive condo.

The rich are more likely to invest their money in buying a run-down property and fixing it up.

Rich minded individuals believe money, when invested in stocks, bonds, or other assets, can lead to a secure financial future.

People with a rich mindset understand compounding and the time value of money. People with a poor mindset believe that money can be used to buy stuff to make you happy right now.

Understanding the time value of money is very important.

Having a wealthy mindset, or a poor mindset, is not how many zeros you have in their bank account.

Instead, it’s how you approach making an income and where they invest (or spend) their resources.

How People Make Money

One of the best books about building wealth is Rich Dad Poor Dad. In Rich Dad Poor Dad, the author presents four categories in how people make money.

Most people will fall into the first two categories that are related to a direct trade of swapping time for money.

Jobs are a perfectly okay way to make money.

However, if you want to become financially rich, you need to consider the last two categories while currently being employed or self-employed, This way, you can step off the financial treadmill known as the rat race and start walking the path to financial freedom.

The four ways a person can make money are through the following roles:

1. Employee
2. Small Business Owner
3. Big Business Owner
4. Investor

Let’s discuss each of these roles in detail.

Working as an Employee to Make Money

Being an employee is a very common way to make money. Being an employee is probably the most common, but yet, the most ineffective way to go about making money.

While it can be stable and provide security, as an employee you are trading time for money – and someone else is pulling the strings.

Working for a corporation at the higher level can certainly have its perks.

You can drive fancy cars, travel business class, and earn a great income.

However, being an employee is a similar to renting rather than owning a house. You’re not building something that will become an asset.

You are simply trading time for money, and when you stop trading time, you stop making money.

Being a Small Business Owner to Earn Income

The second way people make money is through owning their own small business.

Many people take the entrepreneurial leap to run their own small business.

Small business owners often find themselves trading the comfort, stability, and regular income with a stress, instability and a volatile income. While many small business owners are able to do what they love and make their own hours, it is very tough to make it.

As a small business owner, at least in the first year, you will most likely have doubled the amount of time you spend working, and make a lot less money than before starting the business.

The financial rewards of having a small business can be substantial, but for most people they are simply trading a job they don’t own for a job they own. 

Becoming a Big Business Owner to Build Wealth

The third way people make money is through big business ownership.

Small business owners, in this context, relate to people who ‘own their job’. For example, small business owners might be massage therapists or personal trainers – they are still trading their time for money.

These small business owners are limited by time. They could be a great massage therapist, charging $100 an hour, yet there are only so many hours in each day to realistically work.

Big business leverages systems and other people to create their income.  

For example, let’s take an ice cream van. The small business owner mentality runs an ice cream van generating $200 profit from selling ice cream.

The big business owner, however, goes out and buys five ice cream trucks and employs five people to serve ice cream. The big business owner now has leverage.  A system has been created, and there exists a network which is able to scale.

Construction of this system is how the wealthy become wealthy. 

Using Investing to Become Rich

Finally, the last way a person can make money is through investing.

An investor has true leverage. Rather than work for his or her money, in the conventional sense of swapping time for money, they put their money to work for them.  

Think of it this way, if you have $500,000 in a savings account earning 2% in interest each year,  then, by doing nothing, you have a savings account is generating $10,000 a year.  

The challenge is getting that initial $500,000 in the first place. However, the concept remains, investors create assets that generate income automatically in perpetuity.

Now that we have gone over the four ways you can make money, and discussed how through creating systems and investing, you can create passive income, now let’s talk about the principles for living a life of wealth and abundance.

Five Principles for Living a Life of Wealth and Abundance

I look to live my life with an abundance mindset – there’s so much money in the world and we just need to get a little bit of it.

From the last section, we have a grasp of the four ways of making money.

Now, let’s look at five general principles to help you create a life of financial wealth and abundance.

These five principles are:

1. Dream Big
2. Envision a Prosperous Future
3. Learn More
4. Start a Business or Start Investing
5. Do What Matters and Live a Life You Love

Below, let’s get into each of these five rich mindset principles in more detail.

1. Live a Life of Abundance by Dreaming Big

Dreaming big is step one to living a life of abundance.

Why is dreaming big important?

You are capable of everything and anything you put your mind to. You can have and build towards your dream life – you just have to set a goal and start working towards it.

While this may not happen overnight, over time you can get there.

What do you want your life to look like? What’s keeping you from living it today? What steps do you need to take to get there?

Dreaming is the first step to living the life you want and deserve.

2. Envision a Prosperous Future

Many highly successful people talk about the importance of having a vision board. A vision board is used to help you connect what your hearts desires with what your future life looks like to you.

Similar to how athletes use positive visualization techniques to picture themselves winning that big race, you can do the same for your dream life.

Through visualization and affirmations, you can set yourself up for success and lean into the experiences you want.

Dreams are just that, dreams. However, by visualizing and planning, you can start to make it real.

Now, it’s time to take action and make those dreams and visualizations a true reality.

3. Invest in Yourself, Learn and Become Better

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

Education and investing in yourself can have an amazing return on investment, if done correctly.

Learning, growing, and gaining experience in the field of your interest will help you grow the necessary skills for success.

Investing and building systems are complicated endeavors which require some understanding of different industries and companies to be successful.

To learn, you can go the traditional route with academic courses, or look to learn through experience.

Some academic courses are required to enter a particular profession, and these should be considered. However you can find highly educated white collar workers attending weekend seminars on topics such as real estate investing, Amazon selling, and digital marketing which are led by people who didn’t go to college. 

The one thing to bear in mind, when it comes to learning, is to ensure the time and money you put into the course provides a decent return on investment.

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

4. Start a Business or Start Investing to Earn Passive Income

Today, you can easily start a business for under $500. Depending on the business, you can start for under $100 if you’re setting up an online business, such as a blog or online shop.  

Running a business is difficult, but the experience and knowledge gained through this endeavor will be very beneficial.

The last four years of my entrepreneurial adventures have been incredibly beneficial for my development.

While I haven’t had amazing financial returns, my mindset and skills have grown and I’m confident I can become successful through business in the future.

Again, it’s very hard to become super wealthy by being an employee.

By learning how business and systems work, you can increase your skills and value, and start to tap into passive income sources to make more money.

If starting a business doesn’t make sense for you, you can putting your money to work with investing.

By investing in the right assets, you can earn passive income. Passive income allows you to make money without work.

Even if you have just $100 in your bank account, start investing, you should still get into the habit of saving to build your asset pile over time.

The main difference in mindset between the rich and the poor is the poor tend to spend money in order to derive pleasure or gain comfort (e.g. a fancy car, nice meal, or expensive outfit), whereas the wealthy invest their money in order to derive long-term financial stability (e.g. houses, savings accounts, stock portfolios).

5. Live the Life You Want and Deserve

The final step for living a life of abundance is realizing you are enough and you have enough – regardless of the number which appears on your financial statements.

While having more money is great, being happy, helping others, and doing what matters to you with your time is the true meaning of life.

Money is a tool which you can use to live the life you want and deserve.

Living with a rich mindset will allow you to create your dream life and live the life you want.

Become Rich Through Learning, Investing, and Action

Hopefully this article has opened your mind into looking at the different ways people make money, and the fundamental difference between mindsets of the rich and the poor.  

Making money will not make you happy, but you can use money to live a great life. Money can bring peace of mind, security, and the freedom to live life on your own terms.  

That’s what being rich is about.

Being rich has nothing to do with how many zeros are printed on the end of your paycheck.

Being rich is all about living your best life, and being happy with how you spend your time.

Money is a tool, and it’s like jet fuel – it can transport you from where you are to where you want to be!

Change your mindset, and over time, you will become rich.