Four tips to wealth

 

There are some proven actions that wealthy people have taken in order to become wealthy. Unless you were born rich we all have to work to make our ends meet and the idea of achieving financial independence sounds pretty good to me.

Although many writers have created steps or tips on how to get rich the road is not easy. Each of these steps take persistency and patience. With the right attitude and doing the right things you are certain to get there.

1 – Pay yourself first

The purpose of paying yourself first is to accumulate capital for investment. It is very hard to save so you need to be diligent and motivated enough to always save a percentage of your wage. This may mean that you have to cut back somewhere but it is well worth it.

Accumulating healthy savings may enable you to acquire assets that will continually put money in your pocket.

You should be very careful with this advice. Some people say that you should pay yourself first even if you have debt. My opinion is that if you have toxic debt such as credit card debt, you need to first have an emergency fund, pay off the debt as soon as possible and then start saving for investing.

There are many variations on this theme but it certainly worked for me.

2 – The miracle of compounding interest

Compounding interest is simple getting interest on interest. If you money earns you say 8% per annum, and you reinvest , your original investment will grow and potentially double very quickly.

This applies to shares as well. If you have the ability to automatically reinvest your dividends you automatically get more shares in the company instead of dividends paid directly to you in cash.

Compounding interest can also help you to save in order to acquire assets. Without capital you cannot acquire assets and to have capital you either need assets that give you that capital or you need to save it.

If you need to save to start investing then make sure you choose a savings account that gives you the highest interest that you can possibly get so you can have the most benefit from compounding interest. 

3 – Invest your money instead of saving it

The idea behind this tip is to build assets. Before I elaborate it is important to mention that we should all have some cash set aside for emergencies. Your emergency fund may be a simple savings account or some form of very liquid investment because you may need the cash very quickly in case of emergency.

I am not saying that you shouldn’t save, I am saying that once you have an emergency fund that you are comfortable with you should focus on investing.

The purpose of investing is to build assets. I have blogged before about what assets are and the importance of building assets to help you on your path to financial independence.

In summary an asset is something that puts money in your pocket. Dividend paying shares, positive rental properties and business are some examples of assets. Wealthy people know how to build assets that put money in their pockets. The difference of rich and wealthy is that rich people have lots of money. Wealthy people know how to make money. It is very likely that wealthy people will be rich as well but the opposite may not be necessarily true.

So if you want to become wealthy you need to invest your money into assets that will put money in your pocket event while you sleep.

4 – Invest in properties

This is a slight variation on the tip above. An investment property is an asset. In my opinion, investment properties are one of the safest investment channels around. Many will argue with me saying that the share market can and has outperformed the property market many times but a company can always go broke or loose a lot of value. It is unlikely that the same will happen to properties.

If the property market does break you need to make sure that you can hold the property during the down turn because the crisis will pass and your property will most certainly recover. Properties are not like shares, people need properties to live in so owning investment properties is a safe investment of your capital.

It is not as simple as just buying a property and getting a tenant, the most important aspect of property investment is cash flow. You need to make sure that the rent you get from your property can cover all your expenses and still put a bit of money in your pocket, even if it is just a little bit.

Cash flow is important because if there is a crash you should still have enough cash flow to cover your expenses there fore you can hold your investment instead of having to sell it for potentially less than what you paid for it.

Research and learn well about property investment. It can be a bit hard to get into the market but once you are in things become easier.

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Financial Independence Compilation

Welcome to the September 19, 2010 edition of financial independence.

Bruce presents Government Mortgage Assistance with Payments | Government Mortgage Help posted at Government Mortgage Help, saying, "Mortgage Help from the Government to assist you in keeping your home from mortgage foreclosure during this recession"

No Trust Fund presents How Much House Can You Afford? Part 1: Can of Worms posted at Where's My Trust Fund?.

Wenchypoo presents Cheapest Groceries This Side of a Dumpster posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket, saying, "More frugal living tips."

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Transferring Your Brokerage Account? Switch Brokers With Ease posted at The Digerati Life, saying, "Thanks!"

BackTaxesHelp.com presents Basic Guide For Taxes on Vacation Homes posted at Back Taxes Help.

money and finance

Hussein Sumar presents How to Better Understand Roth IRA Conversions posted at Roth IRA, saying, "Roth IRAs and their sister retirement plans Roth 403b and Roth 401k offer oustanding retirement investing choices for American workers & savers. While most people have heard of these plans, they do not exactly know how to take advantage of them, or yet better understand them. This becomes even more difficult when an employee transitions from one job to another company while leaving behind his retirement plan with the old company, not knowing of the choices available."

Sun presents Credit Card Rewards: Gainers and Losers posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary.

Moneyedup presents How To Protect Your Savings From The Nursing Home posted at MoneyedUP, saying, "Nursing home costs are on the rise. Learn how to protect your savings in retirement."

Alexander presents How to Enroll in a DRIP Program posted at Dividend Stocks, saying, "DRIP programs reinvest your dividend back into the stock. Learn how to enroll."

Tim Chen presents Rewards Showdown - Chase Sapphire vs Capital One Venture posted at NerdWallet Blog - Credit Card Watch, saying, "The Chase Sapphire and the Capital One Venture Rewards cards are both high-profile travel rewards cards for people with excellent credit. At first glance they seem pretty similar, and even their signup bonuses and rewards programs overlap. But when you really look at the numbers, some glaring differences appear."

Charles Chua C K presents 10 Ways to Reduce Your Expenses and still Maintain Your Standard of Living posted at All About Living with Life.

FIRE Getters presents 12 Tips To Lower Your Heating Bill posted at FIRE Finance, saying, "The cost of energy is rising everyday. Whether it be electricity, gas, water or sewage, our utility bills are becoming higher with each passing month. Consequently most of us are looking for ways to trim our energy expenses and boost our savings. As winter sets in, the cost of heating our houses will be a major concern ..."

David de Souza presents UK Income Tax Blunder – How It Happened posted at UK Tax Blog, saying, "Over 2 million people are affected by a tax blunder in the UK. We look at how it happened"

Matt T. Henterly presents How to Live Without Credit Cards posted at The SimpleChecking Blog, saying, "How to live without those cursed plastic anchors - from one who's done without them for over seven years."

share presents Why use options? posted at Options Education for Beginners, saying, "A recently started blog with daily new posts about basic options trading education"

nissim ziv presents Best Careers for Women per Skill Sets & Advantages posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, "List of best careers for women where they can better utilize their skills and advantages - women have advantages over men on particular areas and thereby some careers fit them better"

Neal Frankle presents IRA FAQ ? All the Answers You Need In Plain English posted at Wealth Pilgrim: Money Management Advice, Financial Stess Management, Addiction Recovery Plan & Resources, saying, "You need to know IRA FAQ PDQ (Pretty Darn Quick). I say this because we have to take responsibility for our own financial future. Nobody else is going to do it for us."

Mike Piper presents The Best Places to Retire posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, "For those considering retiring abroad, what countries should be at the top of the list for consideration?"

Brian Cull presents How-to graphical budgeting posted at Living at the Top of the Bell-Shaped Curve, saying, "Simple, easy-to-use way to control your finances by graphing your budget"

Arjun Rudra presents Be Mindful Of The Risk Of Inflation Says Norman Raschkowan, North American Strategist For Mackenzie Investments posted at Investing Thesis, saying, "This past summer has taken investors on a roller coaster of a ride with capital markets rising and falling so much, it’s no wonder investors are feeling queasy. Mixed economic data may be stoking fears of a “double dip” recession, but one North American strategist, says that while there will be an extended period of moderate economic growth, the chances are slim we’ll see another actual recession hit."

Mike Ross presents 5 Life Insurance Myths That Can Cost You a Pretty Penny posted at The Budget Life Blog, saying, "There are a number of myths circulating about life insurance, and you don’t want to fall victim of a myth that could cost you – and your family – down the road. Here are 5 life insurance myths you shouldn’t believe."

BWL presents Should You Buy Disability Insurance? posted at Christian Personal Finance, saying, "This article looks at some of the reasons one might want to consider buying disability insurance."

Ryan @ MFN presents Roth IRA Rules posted at The Military Wallet, saying, "Rules for Roth IRAs, including who can contribute, contribution limits, withdrawal rules, and more."

MoneyNing presents Five Reasons You Should Give Your Kids a Monthly Allowance posted at Money Ning, saying, "Giving your kids an allowance will teach them to be more responsible."

Praveen presents Bought General Dynamics (GD) Today posted at My Simple Trading System.

Roshawn Watson presents Is Extreme Frugality For You? posted at Watson Inc, saying, "So many of us do a job we hate to pay for a consumption-focused lifestyle that we can barely afford. However, is cutting down to beans and rice really for you?"

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Tax Cut Tomfoolery posted at Mad Kane's Political Madness.

Wenchypoo presents The 50% Solution posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket, saying, "How to hang onto your money--while you make it, or afterwards."

Dan presents The 7 Deadly Sins of ETF Investing – Are You Guilty? posted at ETF Base, saying, "ETFs are better than mutual funds and stocks in many aspects, but there are several risks and downsides many investors are unaware of ranging from futures roll to how leveraged ETFs work. Learn about the 7 Deadly Sins of ETFs."

One Family presents A Peek Into Our Roadmap to Financial Independence posted at One Family's Blog.

PT presents Mystery Shopper Jobs: Deciphering the Mystery posted at Prime Time Money, saying, "The truth about mystery shopper jobs, a potential way to bring in extra income."

Wenchypoo presents What's It Like Living on Food Stamps? Take the SNAP Hunger Challenge and Live on $4.50/Day For the Next Week posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket, saying, "If you can meet this challenge, then make it a part of your everyday life, then you will free up tons of money for investing, emergency funds, etc. that will lead to financial independence. Later on, you will wonder the same thing I do now: if current food stamp recipients have to meet this challenge every day, why aren't THEY financially independent yet?"

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of financial independence using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Financial Independence Compilation

Welcome to the September 12, 2010 edition of financial independence.

Free guide on how to get rich - no registration necessary

You can get rich with mathematical certainty. It is not a get rich quickly scheme, it is based on proven tactics to acquire wealth, the book includes developing relationships, thinking in the right way and much more.

The book will inspire you on your road to success. The Science of getting rich has inspired me and started me on my road to financial independence. I encourage you to download the book and join the SOGR network. You have nothing to lose. Click here to download your free book.

Your Financial Independence Articles

Getting out of debt - the first step towards getting rich - "... learning how to deal with debt can be the first step towards financial independence..."

Blogging - diaries from a beginner blogger entry 1 - "...There are a couple of that motivated me to start this blog. (1) To learn more about personal finances management (2) to learn about starting small online businesses and of course (3) to make some money on the side.

So how am I going? The following sections outline how I am tracking against my objectives. ..."

Wise Bread presents Best Money Tips: 7 Worthless Excuses for Not Saving posted at Wisebread.



Pinnacle presents Blog - Pinnacle Plans - Baton Rouge, LA posted at Business Plans.



BackTaxesHelp.com presents Guide to Records Retention For Tax Purposes posted at Back Taxes Help.



Leave Debt Behind.com presents Bi-weekly mortgage payments posted at Leave Debt Behind.



Wise Bread presents Be In Charge Of Your Finances posted at Wisebread.



Mark Macaluso presents The 50 Best Numismatics Blogs for Serious Collectors posted at Masters In Accounting, saying, "Numismatics…it’s the study of currency and we’re talking all types. Old coins, new coins, ancient coins and rare coins. This niche crowd is passionate about their hobby and share information on the web with numismatics afficionados, new and old."



debt kid presents Cutting the Cord posted at DebtKid.



Sheryl Owen presents Change of Address: 10 Great Going Away Party Ideas posted at Change of Address.



assdfil presents What is the Best Gas Credit Card? (We Compare 26 of them) posted at NerdWallet Blog - Credit Card Watch, saying, "What is the best gas credit card? The answer is not black and white. While it may be tempting to just pick the card with the highest listed reward rate, there are other things to consider first."



Leineriza presents How to Start Freelancing Online – What Rates to Charge posted at Freelance Grind, saying, "For a newbie to the online freelancing life, there are two ways to set your work rates: per hour or per project. Here's how."



MoneySecretRecipe presents How to Make Money From Affiliate Marketing Using Blog posted at MoneySecretRecipe.



Charles Chua C K presents 10 Tips to Avoid a Default on a Car Loan and Bankruptcy posted at All About Living with Life.



David de Souza presents Landlords: 3 Ways To Reduce Your Tax Bill posted at UK Tax Blog, saying, "If you are a landlord, you may be paying too much tax on your property income. Our guide gives you three ways to save tax"



Frank Knight presents Asset Allocation Strategy posted at Best Personal Financial Planning Software, saying, "When you are already there and invested in an asset class, you are following a passive asset allocation strategy. Tactical asset allocation strategy advocates suggest that you can anticipate the crowd, but flow-of-funds studies show that almost all tactical asset allocation fund flows are late money flows that chase performance after valuations have already moved."



Arjun Rudra presents Investing In The Markets With The Threat Of A Double Dip Recession posted at Investing Thesis, saying, "Is the economy going to fall back into a recession or not? Not, at least not in the near term says Lee W. Appleton, portfolio manager at Matco Financial. Lee points to the steepness of the U.S. yield curve as having been a historically accurate precursor of recessions, with nine yield curve inversions followed by nine recessions. With the current yield curve being as steep as it’s been in 45 years, if one were to make an inference it would be that a recession is not on the horizon."



Kevin Poulis presents MyCreditCardSchool.com – Make Your Credit Cards Work For You posted at SiteTally.com.



freefrombroke presents Why Invest In Mutual Funds posted at Free From Broke, saying, "Mutual funds can be an important piece of a portfolio and a great means to increase wealth."



Jules Wells presents Investment Risk Tolerance Questionnaire posted at Best Personal Financial Planning Software, saying, "There is a way for you to get a much better assessment of your risk tolerance than you would from a simple conservative versus aggressive financial industry investor questionnaire."



BIFS presents A Closer Look at Diversification posted at Budgeting In the Fun Stuff, saying, "A closer look at the importance of diversification."



Neal Frankle presents 401k Performance – 5 Tips To Turbo Charge It Now posted at Wealth Pilgrim: Money Management Advice, Financial Stess Management, Addiction Recovery Plan & Resources, saying, "Here are 5 ways to increase your 401k performance."



PT presents Free Online Checking Accounts posted at Prime Time Money.



nissim ziv presents What are your Strengths? Interview Questions and Answers posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, "Talking about your strengths is a tricky one. You do not want to come across as an ego driven personality when answering about your strengths. You also don’t want to sound boastful and give a wrong impression about yourself."



Daniel M. Wood presents How to Use Motivation to Accomplish Your Goals and Start Living Your Dream Life posted at Looking to Business, saying, "To all of us wishing to succeed, motivation is the bread and butter in which we will forge our success.
If we don’t have the motivation to work hard, day in and day out towards our goals we will fail (or at least not succeed as quickly or well as we otherwise would have)."



Jena Ellis presents 10 Ways to Earn Fast Money posted at Online Certificate Programs.



Christina Crowe presents Finding Motivation: How to Adapt a Routine posted at Cash Campfire, saying, "Motivation is often the key to success in any career. Finding motivation then becomes a necessity in order to increase productivity and your earning potential. This article focuses on how to find motivation to work and what to do if motivation starts to plunge."



assdfil presents Chase Travel Card Showdown ? Continental OnePass vs Sapphire Preferred posted at NerdWallet Blog - Credit Card Watch, saying, "A few months back, Chase launched a new travel rewards card called the Continental OnePass Plus, which pays out OnePass frequent flyer miles for every dollar spent. Not content to leave it at that however, we decided to pit it up against another one of Chase’s all-star travel cards – the Sapphire Preferred."



conklbm presents Our Future Real Estate Entrepreneurs | The Southern Real Estate Investor posted at The Southern Real Estate Investor.



MoneySecretRecipe presents 4 Most Profitable Techniques To Promote Your Blog posted at MoneySecretRecipe.



Carlos Sera presents A Tale of Love; Financial Tales posted at Financial Tales, saying, "I wanted to release a tale that conveyed some old fashioned wisdom, especially for those readers that are young. My daughter just came back from spending a few months on an island where every day an older man would put up a sign that said “Wisdom 5 Cents” and sit in his lawn chair waiting for customers. I found it curious and of course it started me thinking about what it is that I’m doing with financial tales. So here’s my 5 cents on what is important about money and relationships. If anyone has any good mini-stories to add I would love to post them."



Neal Frankle presents What Is A Good FICO Credit Score Range? posted at Wealth Pilgrim: Money Management Advice, Financial Stess Management, Addiction Recovery Plan & Resources, saying, "It’s important to be in a good….no….great FICO credit score range. It’s also important to know what your score is."



glass_is_half presents Money Management from Diapers | The Mouse Trap posted at The Mouse Trap.



Mike Piper presents Do You Have an Investment Backup Plan? posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, "What's your plan in case your investments don't perform as well as you'd hoped?"



FMF presents How to Pick a Great Mutual Fund posted at Free Money Finance, saying, "The one key to picking a mutual fund with a great return."



Arjun Rudra presents Investing And Allocating Assets In Light Of Economic Weakness And Deflation posted at Investing Thesis, saying, "Given the conflicting macro economic data and way in which this data can be construed as bullish or bearish, inter-market analysis or a comprehensive macro perspective is crucial to formulate investment theses and asset allocation determinations for the long term. We sit down with a market veteran who has spent a large part of his career formulating research and trade ideas that help investors understand and maneuver unfolding market conditions."



Rob presents Best IRA Rates posted at Stock Tips, saying, "Learning how to get the best IRA rates available can help protect and grow your retirement investments. Learn how here."



BWL presents 7 Deadly Stock Investing Mistakes posted at Christian Personal Finance, saying, "This article looks at 7 mistakes when it comes to stock investing..."



MoneyNing presents Will You Ever Be Able To Retire? posted at Money Ning, saying, "The economy may not be doing so well but don't fret, you can do it. You can retire!"



Khaleef @ KNS Financial presents Trying to Reduce Expenses? Sweat the Big Stuff! posted at Faithful With A Few, saying, "When we are first attempting to get our personal finances in order, we need to focus on the larger areas of spending. If not, we run the risk of getting overwhelmed by trying to change every small area of our finances."



freefrombroke presents What is Asset Allocation? posted at Free From Broke, saying, "What asset allocation is and why it's an important concept for an investor to understand and implement."



Roshawn Watson presents Economists Blame ME for the Slow Recovery posted at Watson Inc, saying, "You are responsible with your money. However, that doesn't get the press. Instead of admiration (or even understanding), these efforts garner contempt as the frugal once again get the blame for dismal economic activity."



Andrea presents 6 Tips to Find Out |How Smart are you about Money? posted at Savings Scoop.



Silicon Valley Blogger presents ETF Investing: Why Exchange Traded Funds Are Part of My Portfolio posted at The Digerati Life, saying, "Thanks!"




That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of financial independence using our
carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our

blog carnival index page.

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Technorati tags:

financial independence, blog carnival.

Blogging - diaries from a beginner blogger entry 1

The purpose of my blog is to discuss personal finances management as a way of pursuing and achieving financial independence.

I consider myself to be a beginner blogger. This blog has been going since early July, there are not many posts so far and the traffic is...lets just say there is a lot of room for improvement.

There are a couple of that motivated me to start this blog. (1) To learn more about personal finances management (2) to learn about starting small online businesses and of course (3) to make some money on the side.

So how am I going? The following sections outline how I am tracking against my objectives.

(1) To lean more about personal finances management

For quite a few years I have been accumulating some unsecured debt. Although I have had a good income we lost track of the value of money and started spending more than what we earned. We ended up in a bit of a mess, we are not out of it yet but we are making progress.

I can afford the repayments and the debt is reducing slowly, nevertheless about 1-2 years ago I started to get worried about it and wanted to take control of the situation.

I then started to voraciously read books about personal finances and investment. I read books from Robert Kiosaki, Multiple Streams of Income and, the most influential of them all, The Science of Getting Rich. I was motivated by these books to do something about my financial situation. I also learned a lot about accounting principles to help me to manage my finances. I learned what a real asset is, how important cash flow is and much, much more.

Knowing the concepts is somewhat useless if they are not put into action. The most important advice I got from these book was to learn about personal finances and to act, to do something about the situation.

The best way of learning something is putting the theory into practice and  also teaching someone else. That is how this blog started. It is a way for me to put my thoughts down into paper, the electronic paper, and to learn more about personal finances as I go.

I also try to apply all of the concepts I read and blog about in my real life as I manage my finances. To my surprise, and I shouldn't be surprised, it is working. By applying the theory in real life I was able to reduce a bit more of a debt and to also increase my yearly income (see The Science of Getting Rich to find out how I made $40K from applying the concepts in the book).

I mentioned earlier about doing something. The books I read inspired me to act, to do something. This blog is not only a way for me to learn but it is also my first step towards my plan to open small online businesses. I had to start somewhere so I decided to start a blog.

This leads me to my second objective.

(2) To learn about starting small online businesses

Another important topic that I learned from reading the books I mentioned above is the importance of generating passive income and to make extra money to help me to pay off my debts.

There are many ways of generating passive income, topic for another post, but quite a few of them involve the investment of a lot of capital which is something that I don't have at the moment. I therefore continued to think, instead of getting  discouraged, and I started to look at web based businesses.

I needed very low cost, or no cost, ways of starting  business. Well, a blog is a no cost way of starting a business. I consider this blog to be my micro business. It does not matter if it doe not generate a lot of money so long as I am learning from it and so long as I can grow it and turn it into something bigger which generates a small stream of income.

This blog costed me nothing so far. I already had an internet connection and a computer so no extra costs there. All of the other tools are free and available on the internet.

So there you go I have a micro business which is generating me....nothing at all. No income has been produced in the past 2 a bit months that this blog has been going. I should rephrase, according to the adsense reports I have made about AU$ 7c. Yes that is it 7 cents. I digress because I should be discussing this in my third point.

To go back to the point about online businesses, when browsing the internet I always saw lots of advertisement about how people are making money with blogs and other online ventures. Being a computer programmer by trade naturally takes me towards online businesses.

This is great because it costed me pretty much nothing, apart from time, to start this small site. The way I see things, and the way I operate, is that if I don't do something concrete about whatever objectives I have I loose motivation and quite honestly end up doing nothing. So starting a blog is a way to move closer towards a bigger objective to have a few online businesses generating money on the side.

I have learned from other blogger that it takes a lot of time to develop a blog and to make money from it. I read a blog the other day  and it mentioned that it took 7 years for a very well known blogger to make the first $1K. That is quite a lot of time and it requires a lot of patience.

I will try to remain motivated and to continue to learn about personal finances and web business through this blog. So long as I am doing this, making money from it is a nice but secondary objective.

There are quite a few things for me to learn including generating traffic, monetisation and other important topics relating to blogging.

For me the important thing is that I have started and now I am on the way towards achieving my objectives.

(3) To make some money on the side

The final objective is to use this blog as a small stream of income in order to enable me to grow it and to help me to pay off my debt.

As I said above I have invested no money at all in this blog. My plan is to eventually get my own domain name and start my own site with a blog in it. Having said that I want to do this by using income generated from this website in order to grow it.

I will not wait 7 years for it. If it takes too long for me to start to make money from this site but the traffic is increasing, I may invest a few bucks and get a domain name and hosting for my own site. I feel hesitant about doing it now because I am getting so little traffic and I am want to grow this blog before I take my next step. I will review this approach as I go.

So there we go, I have summarised my objectives for this blog and my progress so far. I intend to publish

a diary entry every couple of weeks, or maybe every month to keep track of how I am doing.

Getting out of debt - the first step towards getting rich

Are you frustrated with your unsecured debts? If the answer is yes I know the feeling.

It is a horrible feeling to try to pay off the credit card. You do your best to pay off some of it and then when the interest is credited to your account you see the balance growing back again. This is really frustrating. I used to get angry, upset, frustrated, sometimes even physically sick. It is a terrible feeling.

It affects your professional and personal life. I was getting so frustrated that I didn't even want to go to the shops because I would get afraid of spending money. That is right, I used to be afraid of spending money.

Looking back now I must say that I had a good job, a good income and that I could afford the payments so I really did not need to worry about it. Unfortunately when you are involved in the situation, the tendency is to  fail to look at the situation clinically and therefore you end up worrying too much about it.

What to do when that feeling hits you?

• Know that you can overcome the situation -This is actually very important, you need to have confidence and know that you can overcome whatever situation you are dealing with. Confidence is the number 1 issue you need to deal with. I believe that if you have the right attitude you can overcome anything.
  
  There are many articles and blogs dedicated to the topic of encouragement. I personally like the approach proposed in the book The Science of Getting Rich. It is an excellent book with some practical advices on how to get rich. Personal encouragement is one of the first topics that the author addresses in his list of strategies for getting rich.
  
  The author, Mr Wattles says that "To do things in the way you want to do them, you will have to acquire the ability to think the way you want to think. This is the first step toward getting rich"
  
  Follow this link to read more about it.
  
  The important point is not to loose the enthusiasm for getting out of debt, stopping looking at the past and look to the future knowing that you will overcome it.
  
  Know that you are not defined by your past, so getting into debt has happened in the past, make the future different, if you keep the right attitude you are going to get you where you want to be.
  
• Create a plan of action - When you feel discouraged create a plan of action to get out of debt, if you already have a plan, review it to ensure that it is working and adjust any areas that need adjustment.
  
  Creating  plan of action for getting out of debt needs to include some basic actions. The first one being - stop using your credit cards. This is the first step towards getting out of credit card debt. It was only when I stopped using my credit cards that the balances started to go down.
  
  If you are using credit cards to boost your cash flow then you need to correct the situation. This may be one of the most difficult actions. You need to either increase your income and reduce your expenses.
  
  The following links will provide you some more information on each these steps
  
  Increasing your income:
  
  
• 10 ways to make money online
   
• How I make extra money
   
• 30 alternative income ideas and resources
   
• Six streams of income/

           Reducing your expenses

•  Finance tips

• 10 cost cutting tips for now

•  Cut your living expenses in half/

In summary, when you feel stressed about debt it is important to know that you can get out of the situation and to create or revise a plan of action. The advice is simple, stop using your credit cards, make extra money and reduce your expenses.

Technorati tags:

credit card debt, getting rich, making money, making money.

Financial Independence Compilation

Welcome to the September 3, 2010 edition of financial independence.


The Science of Getting Rich


You can get rich with mathematical certainty. It is not a get rich quickly scheme, it is based on proven tactics to acquire wealth, it includes developing relationships, thinking in the right way and much more.

We are offering you a free gift that we are sure it will inspire you on your road to success. The book the Science of getting rich has inspired me and started me on my road to financial independence. I encourage you to download the book and join the SOGR network. You have nothing to lose. Click here to download your free book.
 
Your Financial Independence Articles

Credit card debt - how to avoid it - "It is a fact that many of us in our current society are accumulating a lot of debt due to credit card usage.

It is so easy to get a credit card these days. It is not only easy to get a new one but they also keep on increasing your credit limit.

The trick of the credit card is that you don't notice it as you use. The cash stays in your savings account and you may see all of your money there and decide to use it. Why not go for a nice dinner or why not buy that nice little product that some flash advertisement is being forced upon you?

As time goes buy if you continue to do that and only pay the minimum amount on your card, you will very quickly get into trouble.

Here is how it goes:"

Buying my first home and financial independence - "About 2 years ago I got really sick of paying rent. I live in Sydney, Australia, where house prices are ridiculous. My rent was continually increasing up until the beginning of 2008 where interest rates started to fall really quickly due to the global financial crises.

At that time I was really interested in learning everything about financial independence. I was reading like crazy. I read a book called the Science of Getting Rich about 3 times in a week and I was also reading Robert Kiosaki's books really quickly. I wanted to take control of my finances..."

A couple of financial independence articles - I have done a quick research on youtube to find some videos on making money. There is some gold advice in there. Enjoy them.


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BackTaxesHelp.com presents Guide to Records Retention For Tax Purposes posted at Back Taxes Help.



Nissim Ziv presents How to Introduce Yourself in an Interview posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, "Don’t skip preparing your answer to this question. A well prepared answer can put you, as a candidate, in the right direction right from the beginning of the interview. You have a good opportunity to sell yourself effectively in few words and it allows you to set the tone for the rest of the interview"



Thomas John Carter presents Are There Any Home Businesses That Really Work – Discover The Top Three Myths posted at Lee McIntyre's FREE DVD.



Silicon Valley Blogger presents Peer To Peer Lending: Lend Money And Invest posted at The Digerati Life, saying, "Interesting way to invest."




Christien presents Avoid Online Payday Loan Scams ? Your Checklist posted at Online Payday Loan Companies Reviewed For Your Safety.



Alexander presents How to Enroll in a DRIP Program posted at Dividend Stocks, saying, "DRIP programs automatically reinvest your dividend by buying more shares an increasing your holding"



Tim Chen presents Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Review | Is the 25k Point Bonus Worth It? posted at NerdWallet Blog - Credit Card Watch, saying, "Chase is now offering the Sapphire Preferred credit card in addition to the normal Chase Sapphire card. The main difference is that Sapphire Preferred has an $85 annual fee (waived the first year), while Sapphire does not. What's the catch? Is it worth it?"



Daniel M. Wood presents How to Use Motivation to Accomplish Your Goals and Start Living Your Dream Life posted at Looking to Business, saying, "To all of us wishing to succeed, motivation is the bread and butter in which we will forge our success.
If we don’t have the motivation to work hard, day in and day out towards our goals we will fail (or at least not succeed as quickly or well as we otherwise would have)."



Hussein Sumar presents Tax Saving Tips for IRA Investors - After Tax Contributions (Basis), Income in Respect of Descendent, 10% Excess Tax & Substantially Equal Periodic Payments (SEPPs) posted at Roth IRA, saying, "Thousands of IRA investors miss out on important tax benefits each year because they are not familiar with the Tax Act and laws. Others make crucial errors when filing their tax returns. For instance, IRA investors may pay taxes on monies that should have been tax free or pay excise taxes on IRA distributions when these distributions should be free of tax. Our aim in this article is to highlight some IRA tax laws and how you can benefit from them."



Luke Lee presents 10 Ways to Eliminate Credit Card Debt posted at Credit Card Debt Relief | Right Start LLC.



Rob presents IRA Hardship Withdrawal posted at Stock Tips, saying, "Are you going through hardships and need to withdrawal money from your IRA? Familiarizing yourself about the IRA withdrawal rules is crucial to avoid penalties and fees."



Neal Frankle presents Best Small Business Ideas 2010 And Beyond posted at Wealth Pilgrim: Money Management Advice, Financial Stess Management, Addiction Recovery Plan & Resources, saying, "The best small business ideas are easily within your grasp."



Aileen Black presents Debt Consolidation Advice – Makes You Debt Free « Debt Relief Blog posted at Debt Relief Blog, saying, "Every individual is managing one debt or the other these days. With the easy availability of loans and misuse of credit cards, most people find themselves knee-deep in debts before they even realize it."



Broderick Durisseau presents Discovering Hidden Beliefs About Identity posted at Personal Growth From the Bottom Up, saying, "Some of the deep, hidden beliefs you have about your identity could be sabotaging your financial success! Here I share a process of discovering hidden beliefs and exactly how this process has impacted me."



Christina Crowe presents 17 Practical Ways to Make a Living Online posted at Cash Campfire, saying, "Could entrepreneurs really be taking over the economy? This was one question Amy Cosper, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, posted in the December 2009 issue of the publication.

This guide is meant to be a resource to help you make a living online. A simple list of ideas or suggestions to help you achieve your online goals, if you will, that will point you on to the right path. Test them, practice them or devote your time to them. You can control your own future."



Roshawn Watson presents Is Extreme Frugality For You? posted at Watson Inc, saying, "Regardless of the size of that paycheck, for most people it is never quite enough. This is commonly referred to as the rat race. Recently, I read that nothing could be more insulting to the rat. Even rats know better than to stay in this silly model"



PT presents Kids Can Make Extra Money: 5 Businesses Your Money-Wise Kids Can Start Today posted at Prime Time Money, saying, "Ideas for kids to make extra money."




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carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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A couple of videos on making money - there is some gold in there

I have done a quick research on youtube to find some videos on making money. There is some gold advice in there. Enjoy them.



The Road to Financial Independence

The guy on the video tries to be a bit humorous, hang in there because in the second half of the video he has some good advice.

Credit card debt - how to avoid it.

It is a fact that many of us in our current society are accumulating a lot of debt due to credit card usage.

It is so easy to get a credit card these days. It is not only easy to get a new one but they also keep on increasing your credit limit.

The trick of the credit card is that you don't notice it as you use. The cash stays in your savings account and you may see all of your money there and decide to use it. Why not go for a nice dinner or why not buy that nice little product that some flash advertisement is being forced upon you?

As time goes buy if you continue to do that and only pay the minimum amount on your card, you will very quickly get into trouble.

Here is how it goes:

(1) You start using your credit card instead of your cash.

(2) When the credit card statement comes around you can't afford to pay it all of or, even worse, you can only afford to pay the minimum amount.

(3) Because you are using your credit card for most of your purchases, there is a whole lot of cash sitting in your back account. You then use that cash to buy stuff or have nice dinners and other things.

The cycle continues until you cannot afford to pay more than the minimum amount or, even worse, you can only afford to pay the minimum amount.

So the question is, how can you prevent this from happening?

(1) Always pay off the entire balance on your credit card at the end of the period.

(2) Save cash for big purchases. Don't use your credit cards to buy anything unless you have the cash to pay the entire balance off.

(3) Have a emergency fund. It is of vital importance that you have an emergency fund for ... I guess emergencies. If you are living from pay to pay you should save some cash to pay for emergencies such as medical or your hot water system breaking down. If you don't have an emergency fund then it is likely that you will use the credit card and then you will not be able to pay the balance off. The trouble will then start.

(4) Spend less than you earn. In other words, manage your cash flow properly. This not only relates to avoiding credit card fund but it is the single most important financial advice you can get.

(5) Cancel the cards you don't need. I don't like to give advice that says to cancel the credit cards. If you are in debt and you don't have an emergency fund it is probably a good idea to keep your cards in case of emergency. Having said that, if your cash flow allows you to comfortably cancel a card then go ahead and cancel it. You will fell better for it and it reduces the risk of you acquiring more debt.

Buying my first home and financial independence

About 2 years ago I got really sick of paying rent. I live in Sydney, Australia, where house prices are ridiculous. My rent was continually increasing up until the beginning of 2008 where interest rates started to fall really quickly due to the global financial crises.

At that time I was really interested in learning everything about financial independence. I was reading like crazy. I read a book called the Science of Getting Rich about 3 times in a week and I was also reading Robert Kiosaki's books really quickly. I wanted to take control of my finances.

My job was going really well and my pay had increased a total of AU$42,000 in a period of 12 months (to find out how click here). At the time I had a bit of debt but it was serviceable.

I started looking around for more affordable places that I could own a home. At the same time I was reading about several advices on whether to own a home or not. The advices were not consistent depending on what book I picked up so I realised that, REALLY, no one has an answer that makes sense.  Following are the advices I got:

• Your own home is not an asset (I agree with this) unless you can make money from it. So don't buy one until you are free from debt and well on your way to financial independence (I disagree with the second half of this advice).

• Rent is dead money, you are paying someone else's mortgage. Therefore it is better to own your own home and pay your own mortgage rather than someone else's.   

• Only buy a home if it puts money in your pocket to help paying the mortgage. Buy places that have granny-flats attached to the house so you can rent out the granny-flat and use the money to pay the mortgage (I agree with this but it is hard to execute).

With regards to affordability, I could not afford to  buy a home in Sydney where I wanted because when interest rates were low the mortgage would a be about 1 and half times the amount I was paying in rent. Because interest rates were low I know they were going up so the answer was no, not to buy in Sydney.

I started looking at satellite  suburbs and we found a home about 1 and 1/2 hours from my work in Sydney. This did  not stop us from buying it. It has been about 2 years since we have moved and though I get tired of commuting, every time I pay the mortgage I know that I am putting money in my own pocket and, in the long term, it will benefit myself and my family.

The road towards financial independence is not easy, there are many sacrifices to be made and we decided to sacrifice my time for the long term benefit of owning our own house.

We also know that this situation is temporary until we finish paying a bit of debt that we have and the situation changes. At that point we hope to keep this house as an investment property and buy another property for us about 1 hour from my work.

That is the goal for about 3 years from now. We will work towards it with the steadfast knowledge that we can do it. With this attitude and working hard we know we will achieve it.