If You Are Overthinking About Investing and Time is Passing By, This is What Happens

Friends, Colleagues, and even Family Members ask me, “Joey, Why are you so committed to investing?”

It is a question that makes me both happy but also sad.

Happy because everyone around me sees my commitment to my financials. But also Sad because they still don’t understand what moves me.

My goal is that by the end of this article, you will understand my point of view towards the future and take action to help yourself along the way.

I got involved in the markets during the 2008-2009 crash. Believe me or not, it was one of the best times to get involved in the markets because it quickly taught me that it was not easy, especially if you were a trader more than an investor.

Although trading is exciting, it takes time to analyze the markets daily. Try to find what is moving and catch the perfect windows to jump in and out. Unfortunately, it is an ideal recipe for burning out quickly.

On the other hand, let’s say that I’m lazy. I don’t want to be stuck to my computer all day looking for opportunities. So use that time in other productive activities while the markets do their thing, and you still get paid for being patient.

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To answer the first question, “why am I so committed,” is because I realized the earlier you begin investing, the sooner you can reach your goal and the less time you have to spend working for someone else. Understand that I said “Investing” and not “Trading.”

Most financial advisors teach individuals about the 4% rule at retirement. Unfortunately, that is a horrible strategy because it involves withdrawing 4% of your capital to live and cover expenses every year. As a result, most people will have little to no money towards the end of their years.

It puts a severe amount of pressure on their kids and family members. Now, they have to cover their expenses and yours as well.

Who wants to put that pressure on their kids?

I’m pretty sure no one does. That is why I have an alternate strategy that will work wonders for everyone.

The idea is to invest in assets that will cash flow enough money to cover your expenses while leaving your capital intact. Then, when we die, our kids or family members can inherit that capital (investments) and make their lives easier.

With Fundrise, you can become a digital landlord anywhere in the United States without the hassle.

How it works:

Although there are several cash flow assets, we will concentrate on dividend-paying stocks and ETFs.

Why?

Because when you invest in dividend-paying stocks and ETFs, you have several ways of making money. The most common one is capital gains as time passes. If they increase their dividends with time, your cash flow also increases. You can also learn how to sell covered calls and other income strategies to bring even more money each month.

While all of this is happening, you are not depleting your capital. Meaning your net worth will never decrease. On the contrary, you can keep increasing your net worth while living the life you want.

So, What happens if you keep postponing your investing?

In simple words, you won’t have enough cash flow to retire comfortably.

One of two things happen:

1. You can’t retire; hence, keep working longer.

2. You have to increase the money you invest to catch up.

With Robinhood you can get cash dividends from well-known and established companies like Coca-Cola (KO).

Let’s look at an example:

Mimi and Joey both begin with a $3,000 initial investment. After that, both invest $300 monthly and receive an average annual return of 8.5%. Mimi is 20 years old, while Joey is 30 years old.

In 10 years, they both have $60,826.

In 20 years, they both have $190,935.

In 30 years, they both have $485,107.

And this is where things take a turn. Joey was 30 when he began investing and is now 60 years old and ready to retire.

Meanwhile, Mimi has another 10 years of compounding before she turns 60 years old, which will end up with a portfolio worth $1,150,226.

Who will have a better life using the 4% rule?

If they both use the 4% rule at retirement, Joey will be receiving $19,404 from his withdrawals. On the other hand, Mimi will be receiving $46,009 for her withdrawals.

You can say that Mimi will have a better life because she will receive more than double what Joey will receive. He will have to figure out how to live on $19,404 a year. However, both of them will run out of money by age 85.

Why?

Because regardless of how big your portfolio is, if you withdraw 4%, you will deplete your account in 25 years.

Just do the math:

Joey – $19,404 * 25 years = $485,100

Mimi – $46,009 * 25 years = $1,150,225

In the end, neither one will have anything to give to their kids, and if they live past their 85 birthday, their families will have to support them for the rest of their lives.

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What if they cash flow instead of withdrawing capital?

Now, this is where my strategy beats the financial advisors. Instead of withdrawing capital, we can build a dividend-paying stock and ETFs portfolio. The investments can be paying 3%-4% today, but if they increase their dividend payouts yearly, by the time you are 60 years old, you could be receiving dividend payouts well above 6%-8%.

Using this conservative estimate, Joey could receive anywhere between $29,106 to $38,808 in dividends. But, of course, it could be higher if Joey learns how to sell covered calls or other income strategies.

As for Mimi, she could receive between $69,013 to $92,018 in dividends. But, again, it could be higher if she learns the strategies previously mentioned.

I think both of them could live comfortably with those amounts, and the best part is they will never run out of money. Their portfolios will remain the same or even increase. Then, when their time is up, and they move on to a better place, their families will inherit their money, or they could give their money to charity.

It is your money, so do with it what you feel is the right thing to do.

Sin companies that pay your expenses and more.

Key takeaways:

  • The sooner you begin, the sooner you will reach your goals.
  • Concentrate on cash flowing assets instead of accumulating money to withdraw in retirement
  • Teach your kids and family members, so they too have a better life
  • The 4% rule is widespread; however, it is flawed
  • The more you postpone investing, the more money you will have to invest in catching up.
  • Begin your investing journey today

Note:

If Joey wants to have the same amount as Mimi by age 60, he will have to invest $750 instead of $300. That leaves Joey with $450 less each paycheck. So don’t be like Joey. Start now!

Now, begin your Road to Wealth!

Leave your comment below. If you liked it, pay it forward. Please share it on social media and help others become successful as well. Your success will be the result of two things: Knowledge and Action.

Follow me on TWITTER, PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, LINKEDIN, and FACEBOOK for more posts and updates. You can also reach me here with any questions.

If you are not receiving dividends, you are missing out!

DISCLAIMER: Please read our disclosure policy here. This post contains affiliate links, and I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you. There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading. Past results are not indicative of future returns. Road-to-wealth.com and all individuals affiliated with this site assume no responsibilities for your trading and investment results. The indicators, strategies, columns, articles, and other features are for educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Information for any trading observations is obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Still, we do not warrant its completeness or accuracy or warrant any results from the use of the information. Your use of the trading observations is entirely at your own risk, and it is your sole responsibility to evaluate the information’s accuracy, completeness, and usefulness. You must assess the risk of any trade with your broker and make your own independent decisions regarding any securities mentioned herein.

How a Covered Call Works for a Small Investor

On the famous Friday the 13th, I was scrolling my Twitter account. I felt like talking to people and answering my opinion on various investment issues and the market in general.

I saw a post (I’m not going to mention names because I didn’t ask for permission) where he mentioned covered calls, one of his primary sources of income through his investment portfolio.

Among the comments, there was one that caught my attention and said:

“I’m still learning. I have a $50 call on Verizon ($VZ) which expires in June of next year. Is there a better way to do this than buy and wait?”

I answered:

“Yes. Sell weekly or monthly covered calls. You’ll get income every month apart from dividends every three months (Verizon pays quarterly dividends). Reinvest profits. A call that expires in a year freezes your money.”

He tells me:

“Could you explain a covered call to me like I’m 6 years old? I understand calls and puts perfectly. I don’t understand anything beyond that. So I did that option really to learn and because it was so cheap. So I thought, why not?

I want to say I congratulate you and Thank you very much.

I congratulate you because not many dare to accept that they still do not have the necessary knowledge and are afraid to ask for help, especially in public, as is the Twitter network.

Thank you very much because I just got back from vacation from the island of Puerto Rico and I wasn’t sure what to write. You allow me to help you and others in a similar learning position.

Let’s do it this way first, I’ll give an example of a child investor, then I’ll cover what a covered call is, its risks and benefits, and I’ll finish with two real-life examples that I’m actively managing.

Key takeaways:

* What is a ‘covered call’?

* Risks of this strategy

* Benefits of this strategy

* Real examples

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The Small Investor

You’re 6 years old, and you buy 100 hot-wheels cars for $2. However, you want to sell them in the future at a higher price. A ‘covered call‘ gives you the option to sell them at a higher price in the future while earning you income while keeping the cars in your possession.

Therefore, you sell the option to Juanito to buy the cars from you for $2.50 if the cars are worth $2.50 or more in the future. Juanito pays you a credit, let’s say $0.50, for having the opportunity to buy those cars.

At a stipulated date in the future, say a month from now, one of two things will happen.

1. Cars are worth $2.50 or more. Juanito returns to you to buy the cars. He takes your cars and pays you the $2.50. You keep the $0.50 he paid you for the contract and receive the $2.50 per car in cash.

You have the cash and credit to go back and make another investment. You generated a profit of $0.50 per car ($2.50 sale price – $2 cost) plus the $0.50 credit.

2. Cars have not yet increased in value above $2.50. The contract expires. Since it is not worth more than $2.50, Juanito will not want to exercise his contract since he can get the cars at a lower price. Juanito loses $0.50 that you keep for yourself.

So you keep the $0.50 contract and keep your cars in your possession. It allows you to make a new contract for the next month, generating more income while you continue to reduce the cost of your cars.

From the comfort of your home, invest anywhere in the united states with Fundrise.

What is a ‘covered call’?

It is an income strategy that helps investors generate income in addition to dividends (if the company pays dividends) and capital gains on the stocks or ETFs that you already manage in your portfolio.

Risks of ‘covered calls’

There are two types of risks:

1. The most considerable risk we incur is that we limit our profits on price appreciation.

For example, we buy 100 shares at $45 and sell a call at $50. We limit our earnings to $5 per share ($50 – $45) plus the credit we receive. If the stock rises above $50, the person who bought the call will exercise their option to buy $50 from us and sell it at the current market price.

2. The other type of risk is if the share price falls too low from where we buy because the further the price is from our effective cost, the credit we receive also decreases.

Benefits of ‘covered calls’

1. Selling ‘covered calls’ provides weekly or monthly income depending on the company. Some companies, like Verizon, sell weekly options. Others, like MPLX LP, sell options on a month-to-month basis.

2. Regardless of what price does after selling a covered call, the credit we receive is ours to do with as we please.

Buy whole shares or fractional shares of your favorite stocks, whether Tesla (TSLA) or any other company, commission-free with Robinhood.

Possible results

When we sell ‘covered calls,’ there are 2 possibilities:

1. The stock price rises more than the price established by our sale. At this point, the buyer is very likely to exercise his option and take our shares. Then, automatically, the equivalent of the money appears in our account as cash, and our shares disappear.

In this example, we realize capital gains plus any credit we have received. Now we start looking for another investment to repeat the process.

2. The share price remains below the established price by our sale. At this point, the option loses most or all of its value, generating our credit income, and we keep our shares intact so we can repeat the process.

In this example, we have 2 options:

          a. We can wait for the option to expire and go up into the options heaven. It happens on Fridays, either weekly or monthly depending on the availability of the options. Then, when the market opens the following Monday after the expiration, we go back to sell another call with a new expiration date in the future.

b. We can do what is called a ‘roll over’ of the position, which means that we buy/close the current position before it expires for a low price between $1 to $5 and sell/open a new position for a credit to a new date in the future.

As an investor, it is up to you to decide which options to execute. It is your portfolio, and you must manage it your way. Both options are feasible.

Real examples:

Before we get into the examples, there are 2 requirements for this to work.

1. You must be authorized to buy and sell options.

2. You must be able to buy at least 100 shares of the company of your interest.

Each option consists of 100 shares. Therefore, if you do not have at least 100 shares in your portfolio, you cannot sell options contracts against that position. The part that refers to ‘covered’ means that your 100 shares are collateral for that position.

With Fundrise, you can become a digital landlord anywhere in the United States without the hassle.

MPLX LP ($MPLX)

1. The ex-dividend date for MPLX LP ($MPLX) was May 5, 22. If we wanted to receive its dividend, we had to buy the shares on May 4. That’s precisely what I did.

On May 4th, I bought 100 shares at $33 for an investment of $3,300. I sold the $33 call expiring May 20, 22, for a $40 credit.

It left me with two options:

1) the price closes below $33, and I keep the $40 credit and the shares to receive the $70 dividend ($0.70 dividend * 100 shares). By keeping the shares, I could continue to sell covered calls in the future.

2) the price closes above $33, and my shares get assigned to the person who bought my call. So I had $3,300 deposited into my account, and my shares disappeared.

The second option was what happened.

For a couple of hours of holding the stock, I received a $40 credit. After that, the shares disappeared, and my $3,300 returned to my account as cash. It left me with $3,340 to repeat the process.

Get This High Dividend Tobacco Company Cover Your Expenses

Intel Corporation ($INTC)

Like $MPLX, Intel Corporation had an ex-dividend date of May 5, but the difference is that $INTC has options available weekly.

So on May 3rd, I bought 100 shares for $45.40 for an investment of $4,540. I sold the call expiring on May 6 at $46 for a $38 credit.

Since the price of $INTC was below $46 on May 6, the option’s value lost the vast majority of its value, falling to $3. Therefore, I decided to roll over that position before the end of the day, buying the position for $3 and selling/opening a new position for $54 credit expiring May 13.

The price of $INTC is down, with the rest of the market hovering around $43.64 at yesterday’s close. Therefore, I did another ‘rollover,’ closing the position for $2 and selling/opening another position expiring on May 20th for a credit of $27.

I currently have a loss in the value of $INTC shares of ($176). However, I have received $114 in credits in two weeks. Here is the breakdown:

Credit: $38

Debit: $3

Credit: $54

Debit: $2

Credit: $27

Adding the credits ($119) and subtracting the debits ($5) gives us $114. Add to this the dividend of $36.50 ($0.365 dividend * 100 shares) that I will receive on June 1 since I held the shares as of May 5, and we have a total of $150.50 ($114 + $36.50).

I will keep doing this process until, in the future, the price of $INTC recovers to $46 or higher. Then, my shares get assigned to someone else, giving me my money back in the form of cash and allowing me to start the process with a new position either at $INTC or another company.

Which Oil Stock Is A Better Buy? Exxon Mobil (XOM) or Enbridge (ENB)

Note: We have several things to keep in mind.

1. If we want to keep our shares, depending on the price recovers, we can sell ‘covered calls’ at higher prices like $48, $50, etc. Not only does this continue to leave us weekly or monthly income through credits, but we also ensure more significant capital gains.

2. If the stock price continues to decline with the market, two things can happen:

          a. Credits decrease if we continue to sell covered calls at the same price we started.

          b. We are forced to sell covered calls at lower prices than initially started. It decreases the capital gain when shares get assigned to someone else. However, the credits must be higher since we are approaching the current share price.

I hope this can help you understand and learn other ways to make money in the market. If you want to read from other sources, click on this Investopedia link.

Now, begin your Road to Wealth!

Leave your comment below. If you liked it, pay it forward. Please share it on social media and help others become successful as well. Your success will be the result of two things: Knowledge and Action.

Follow me on TWITTER, PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, LINKEDIN, and FACEBOOK for more posts and updates. You can also reach me here with any questions.

DISCLAIMER: Please read our disclosure policy here. This post contains affiliate links, and I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you. There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading. Past results are not indicative of future returns. Road-to-wealth.com and all individuals affiliated with this site assume no responsibilities for your trading and investment results. The indicators, strategies, columns, articles, and other features are for educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Information for any trading observations is obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Still, we do not warrant its completeness or accuracy or warrant any results from the use of the information. Your use of the trading observations is entirely at your own risk, and it is your sole responsibility to evaluate the information’s accuracy, completeness, and usefulness. You must assess the risk of any trade with your broker and make your own independent decisions regarding any securities mentioned herein.

MARKET REVIEW WEEK 21-25 FEB & DIVIDEND INCREASES

We have seen images and videos of everything occurring in Ukraine over the last week. The stock market was anticipating the attacks and has declined quite a bit from its top the first week of 2022. It has steadily declined ever since, although we had a bounce the last couple of sessions.

Looking at the S&P500 (SPY) chart, prices have bounced before from the $420-430 area. This time, the difference is that we are currently under all the simple moving averages to include the 200 SMA. It’s as bearish as you can get in the stock market.

S&P 500 (SPY) as of 25 Feb 2022.

To turn bullish again, we must trade above the averages, which means prices need to climb over the $450 area.

Pullbacks and market sell-offs are great buying opportunities for long-term investors since you can buy your favorite stocks at discounted prices. It’s like going to the clearance section at your favorite store.

Pepsi (PEP) is a proven company through the ups & downs of the stock market.

History shows that stock markets tend to drop during wartime. However, once it’s resolved, the stock market tends to begin to climb up once again.

With that said, traders have their hands full, trying to figure out which side of the trade they should position. The swings right now are significant, and traders may find themselves in losing positions relatively quickly.

On a positive note, several companies announced dividend increases over the last couple of weeks, while no company has announced dividend cuts.

The picture below shows which companies announced their dividend hikes:

Dividend increases for the last 2 weeks of February 2022 by Joey Ortiz.
Dividend increases over the last 2 weeks of February 2022 by Joey Ortiz.

Overall, we are trending lower in the stock market. Ensure to have a plan and execute your plan as close to perfection as possible. Follow your rules and stay true to yourself. Your plan should account for up and down markets as well.

We will be back next week with more updates. Glad to help!

Now, begin your Road to Wealth!

Leave your comment below. If you liked it, pay it forward. Please share it on social media and help others become successful as well. Your success will be the result of two things: Knowledge and Action.

Follow me on TWITTER, PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, LINKEDIN, FACEBOOK for more posts and updates. You can also reach me here with any questions.

From the comfort of your home, invest anywhere in the united states with Fundrise.

DISCLAIMER: Please read our disclosure policy here. This post contains affiliate links, and I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you. There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading. Past results are not indicative of future returns. Road-to-wealth.com and all individuals affiliated with this site assume no responsibilities for your trading and investment results. The indicators, strategies, columns, articles, and other features are for educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Information for any trading observations is obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Still, we do not warrant its completeness or accuracy or warrant any results from the use of the information. Your use of the trading observations is entirely at your own risk, and it is your sole responsibility to evaluate the information’s accuracy, completeness, and usefulness. You must assess the risk of any trade with your broker and make your own independent decisions regarding any securities mentioned herein.

NEW YEAR, NEW RECORDS! 2022 STARTS WITH A BANG! HERE IS YOUR NEXT MOVE.

The S&P500 (SPY) had a solid finish to 2021. It rallied on Monday into all-time highs and set the highest point on Thursday, 30 Dec 21. On Monday, 3 Jan 22, the market opened positively, ending the day higher and within 1 point of yet another record.

The cheerful open to the year indicates no re-test of the newfound support (former resistance) around the 471 area. Instead, everything points to the trend resuming to the upside into uncharted territory. It looks like it will take much more than the Fed printing money, another pandemic, or a new crisis. Markets seem unstoppable.

Many new investors are afraid of jumping in at the wrong time, which is understandable. However, the markets are breaking record after record and showing no signs of slowing down.

AMAZON (AMZN) keeps growing year after year. Your account can too!

What to do next?

There are many ways to skin a cat. It’s just a saying people. It’s not literally. However, we are never short of strategies and possibilities as traders and investors.

A. Test the Waters

If you are brand new to investing, I suggest NOT jumping with both feet. Test the waters first. The idea here is to invest half of what you have available. There are two reasons for that:

          1. By investing in small portions, you are not risking all of your capital, but at the same time, if the markets keep pushing higher, you are participating and adding gains to your portfolio.

          2. With the same token of investing small portions, if the market decides to pull back and take a breather, you will have capital free to be deployed as you wish and at a discount. Who doesn’t like discounts? I do!

B. Learn to Sell

A strategy I use is selling options. I like to sell options on volatile stocks and also on support areas. In my case, the idea is NOT to get assigned the shares. Instead, collect premiums with each sell, rinse and repeat.

If you want to own shares on a specific stock, you sell the options at the price you are comfortable buying it. Keep in mind that each contract holds 100 shares when you sell options.

For example, You don’t mind owning AT&T (T) shares at a $20 strike price. Therefore, you will sell the $20 put option.

With Fundrise you can become a digital landlord anywhere in the United States, without the hassle.

What happens?

1. Next, multiply the strike price by 100 shares, which will give you the amount needed in cash. To sell this put option, you need to have in your account $2,000 available (not invested) per each contract you plan on selling. This cash will be used as collateral if you get assigned, and this will be the money used to buy those shares. The same thing happens with each option you sell regardless of the stock.

2. Once the money is available and ready to go, one of these two possibilities will occur:

          – The stock price falls under the option strike price, and you get assigned those shares. In this case, you will buy 100 shares at $20.

          – The stock price remains above the option strike price, and the option expires worthless. Therefore, you keep the premium while releasing the cash held as collateral.

Keep in mind this is an investing mindset. We are not here to jump in and out daily or intra-day. If that is your mindset, you are a trader and not an investor.

STARBUCKS (SBUX) can pay for your coffee with their profits. What are you waiting for?

TRADERS

As a trader, you need momentum. So I don’t recommend any newbie to trade first. Instead, start with the basic easy steps of investing, then move up the latter.

If you are a little more experience, then look for weekly breakouts. For example, during the weekend, change the setting on your chart to weekly. Then, set an alert at the high of the week that just closed. If you are doing it during the week, ensure to set the alert at the high of last week.

Once the alert goes off that a break out of that high occurred, you can take a position with shares, you can sell puts, or you can buy calls. The choice is yours.

Ensure to preset your stop-loss price (area) and your targets.

Are you going to sell all of it once you hit an area?

Are you selling half and riding the other half for more profits?

You can also sell 1/3 of the position at target #1 (T1), sell another 1/3 at a higher target #2 (T2), and let the last 1/3 ride as high as possible for maximum profits.

As I said, there are many ways to skin a cat. First, you need to figure out which strategy makes more sense. Not all methods work for everyone. Please choose the one you like most and become a master at it. Once you become a master, you start adding to your toolbox with new strategies in a few years. Join groups and share your experiences. Also, listen to others and learn from their mistakes.

Now, begin your Road to Wealth!

Leave your comment below. If you liked it, pay it forward. Please share it on social media and help others become successful as well. Your success will be the result of two things: Knowledge and Action.

Follow me on TWITTER, PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, LINKEDIN, FACEBOOK for more posts and updates. You can also reach me here with any questions.

From the comfort of your home, invest anywhere in the united states with Fundrise.

DISCLAIMER: Please read our disclosure policy here. This post contains affiliate links, and I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you. There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading. Past results are not indicative of future returns. Road-to-wealth.com and all individuals affiliated with this site assume no responsibilities for your trading and investment results. The indicators, strategies, columns, articles, and other features are for educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Information for any trading observations is obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Still, we do not warrant its completeness or accuracy or warrant any results from the use of the information. Your use of the trading observations is entirely at your own risk, and it is your sole responsibility to evaluate the information’s accuracy, completeness, and usefulness. You must assess the risk of any trade with your broker and make your own independent decisions regarding any securities mentioned herein.

START SOLVING YOUR MONEY PROBLEMS TODAY

“The distance between your dreams and reality is called action” IG @Corporatebytes

DISCLAIMER: Please read our disclosure policy here. Links in this post may contain affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

I’m going to start this article by asking several questions.

1. Do you think that, earning more money will solve your money problems?

2. Do you think higher education will solve your money problems?

3. Do high paying jobs solve money problems?

But the real question is, What does solve money problems?

Making more money does not solve your money problems. This is due to individuals tend to find new things to buy with the new money they just received. Many times, this is bought on credit which adds monthly payments to your debts.

Higher education does not solve your money problems either. We have a lot of bright individuals with Masters and Ph.D.’s that earn a lot of money but are deeply in debt.

A higher paying job does not solve your money problems. I see it all the time.

Tell me, how many pay increases have you received in your working life? How many bonuses have you received?

Are you out of bad debt yet? Ask yourself, why?

Truth is, we already know where or on what we want to spend that money before we even receive it. The reason why too many individuals cannot get ahead of the game is that they lack the real answer to the big question, Financial Education / Financial IQ.

One thing is having higher education, high paying jobs or making a lot of money; and a whole different thing to know what to do with that money to become financially free.

In order to increase your Financial IQ, Robert T. Kiyosaki wrote a book to help us all. The book “Increase your Financial IQ – Get smarter with your money” goes in-depth to explain what real Financial education is and how you can use it to get ahead of the game.

Don’t buy luxuries until you’ve built the assets to afford them. He doesn’t agree with the mentality of living below your means. He prefers to build and acquire assets that pay for the lifestyle you want. Don’t pay for luxuries out of pocket. Pay for assets out of pocket and they will buy the luxuries that you want.

Assets come in many forms. They are things that will bring money into your pockets, whether you were working for it or not.

The most common assets are paper assets. Those come in the form of investing in stocks in the stock market. Mutual funds and bonds are also in this category.

Another type of asset is Real Estate. Whether you are flipping houses or owning rental properties (house for rent or apartment for rent).

Owning your own business. Or learning how to make money online by setting up a website, blog, etc.

And finally, the less common known assets of commodities. Include owning oil, gold, silver.

What do you do?

If you want to learn how to make money, I highly encourage you to decide which one of the previous types of assets you are more interested in. Buy a few books on the topic or take some classes. Learn the inside and out of how they work. Set yourself for success.

Instead of watching TV, learn new skills and begin managing your finances.

Useful new skills for this century are podcasting, affiliate marketing, app development, furniture making, graphic design, just to name a few.

Manage your finances by learning about taxes (“Tax-Free Wealth“) or be willing to pay up for a very well educated accountant.

Start your own business. It could be inside a building or an online business. You want a proven system, then check out Timothy Ferriss’s book (“The 4-hour workweek“). A great example of his business with tips and tricks for getting what you need for less.

Learn to invest (“The Intelligent Investor“) or know that you will be paying fees and expenses to people that are as intelligent as you or not even as much.

Review and organize your finances using money calculators, build your own or be willing to pay someone to build one for you. By the way, that someone will be me in the near future. Don’t worry, it won’t be expensive.

Don’t be afraid of using coupons to buy items at lower prices. It is a great way to save money that you can put to better use by investing it and growing your account.

Don’t throw your hard-earned money in the grave or online banking. What I mean by that is, don’t leave your money in a savings account or online bank account that pays anywhere from 0.5%-2.50%. Remember that inflation increases on average 3.5% per year. You need to make investments that pay at least 3.5% just to keep up with inflation and not lose your buying power.

There are plenty of assets that can pay you 3.5% and more. Investing is not risky. Risky is depending on one source of income (aka your job), and losing it (getting fired) and no second or third sources of income to help you mitigate the hit. Now, THAT! is risky.

Begin your Road to Wealth!

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