Wealth Building Strategies
“It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. The power of compound interest is absolutely astounding.”
Okay, so how do you build wealth fast? Let’s take a look.
Drop Your Living Expenses Like Crazy
I know, this isn’t very exciting, but this is the definition of wealth. As Todd Tresidder of FinancialMentor.com says, “Great wealth builders focus on both saving money and earning more.”
What Todd is pointing to here is the gap between your expenses and your income. Expenses should always be lower than your income. The larger that gap, the more wealth you can accumulate.
Let’s face it, you can’t invest unless you have money to invest. If you’re currently living beyond your means and have no additional money to put to work for you, you’ll never build wealth.
1. Save on Vehicles
I was very fortunate that I learned this lesson when I was still in college. This led to me driving a 1998 Chevy Lumina that was completely paid for because I inherited it from my deceased grandmother.
Not having a car payment allowed me to invest into myself, my Roth IRA, and my 401(k).
According to Jason Fogelson for Forbes: “The biggest mistake a car buyer can make, especially in the age of the Internet, is to buy a car without doing research first. Some buyers are so eager to get through the car-buying process that they don’t take the time to find out everything they can about vehicle reliability, pricing and financing.”
I agree. But let’s focus on the financing part for a minute. Car loans come with ridiculous interest rates that nobody should have to pay for to obtain transportation. Car loans can easily be one of the highest-cost debts of many American households.
Too many people view the car payment as “normal.” Sure, it’s normal, but “normal” won’t help you produce wealth, my friend. Instead, consider doing what I did and drive a car that you own outright. It’ll be easier on your pocketbook over the long-term – I promise.
2. Save on Shelter
….related:
“The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” – Socrates
These little daily thoughts, words and actions build our self-image, which ultimately manifests itself as outward actions. Over time, people reflect these actions back upon us, reinforcing our self-image and personal brand. Product brands are skillfully crafted to project a certain image in the marketplace, for the sole purpose of creating enduring value. Keep these same goals in mind when creating your personal brand.
A great personal brand can significantly leverage your efforts and magnify your accomplishments, as people will have a higher level of certainty in you by trusting your brand; therefore, this enables you to accomplish more in less time and with less effort. Your brand will precede you, enabling others to confidently recommend you or your services, knowing that you will not only deliver, but your strong brand will enhance them as well. Finally, a strong personal brand is a great way of reinforcing our own behaviors, as it provides a reference point against which we can benchmark our actions throughout the day.
Here’s how to build and maintain a superior personal brand:
Make a Short List of the Character Traits that You Feel Are Most Important in Your Personal Brand. Write them down and read them daily. Remind yourself why they are important and seek to live those traits in all of your interactions.
Seek the Right Environment. Keep the company of people who will reinforce your personal brand and enable you to focus on your strengths, thereby making it easier to live your brand promise.
Invest in Your Personal Brand. Make a commitment to personal development, educational advancement and top-quality infrastructure for the home and office, and then invest strategically in those areas. This will give you a lifetime return on your hard-earned personal brand.
Recall that a Reputation Takes a Lifetime to Build and Only a Moment to Lose. Try to avoid those situations that can destroy your personal brand, particularly in this age of instant and mass communication, social media and digital sharing.
Reputation is truly your own and can be the single biggest factor that contributes to success in health, wealth and family. Why? Because your reputation is what determines how others both perceive you and decide to work with you, before any actual interaction with you. It is the great invisible lever that can leave you on the ground or lift you to great heights.
By Eamonn Percy
If we had to summarize what’s happened in eight years of “recovery,” we could start with this: everyone’s been pushed into risky assets while being told risk has been transformed from something to avoid (by buying risk-off assets) to something you chase to score essentially guaranteed gains (by buying risk-on assets).
The successful strategy for eight years has been buy the dips because risk-on assets always recover and hit new highs: housing, stocks, bonds, bat guano futures–you name it.
Those who bought the dip in hot housing markets have seen spectacular gains since 2011. Those who bought every dip in the stock market have been richly rewarded, and those buying bonds expecting declining yields have until recently logged reliable gains.
The only asset class that’s lower than it was in 2011 is the classic risk-off asset: precious metals.
Investors who avoided risk-on assets–stocks, bonds, REITs (real estate investment trusts) and housing in hot markets–have been clubbed, while those who piled on the leverage to buy every dip have been richly rewarded.
The U.S. stock market remains in a full-blown bull market with President Trump re-energizing the base. The U.S. stock market has temporarily become overbought and is likely due for a pause before the next new impulse wave up resumes.
My research indicates…
This Bull Market is not over. After this, it will move much higher!
Courtesy of TMTF service
The chart, displayed below, is an overbought/oversold indicator which when it pushes above +100 or below -100, respectively, the indicator will hit its’ extreme point. The market then respond to it which indicates a change in the market’s trend.
This is a breath indicator constructed from new high/new low ratios. New highs are the number of NYSE issues which closed at a new 52-week high. New lows are the number of NYSE issues that reached a new 52-week low. It is expressed as the number of issues, that closed at a new high, as a percentage of the total. These overbought/oversold indicators are effective when implemented as a contra-trend signal. It is reflecting a down trend and the indicator is becoming oversold. This suggests that an upside reversal will be forthcoming.
U.S. Economic Confidence Index at Record High
The Gallup’s U.S. Economic Confidence Index soared seven points to reach +16 ending on March 5th, 2017.The current conditions component score is at a record monthly high.
Americans are very optimistic as this marks the highest weekly average ever, in Gallup’s nine-year trend.
President Trump gave his State Of The Union Address to Congress on February. 28th, 2017, emphasizing his key economic policy goals! Traders on Wall Street were decidedly upbeat. The stock market rallied gloriously the following day on Wednesday, March 1st, 2017. The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 21,000 for the first time in its history.
A recently released Gallup Poll, “President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday night had a positive effect on many of those who watched it or read news coverage about it later. Almost six in 10 of this group rated the address as excellent or good, and more than one in three said it made them more confident in Trump’s abilities to carry out his duties as president”.
Regardless of where all the markets are going, trading and focusing on our Momentum Reversal Method (MRM) and trading only the hot stocks and sectors, for quick oversized gains, is my expertise. Therefore, these momentum trades are moving significantly in one direction on heavy volume. The length of time for which we may hold a momentum trade depends on how quickly the trade is moving — with trades lasting 3-25 days in length and then we look for a 7%- 35% potential gain.
Conclusion:
There is some selling out there taking place. We are comfortable with this and think its needed for the markets to continue higher. We think this move is bullish and is providing new opportunities to trade this week.
By: John Winston
and Chris Vermeulen
….related:
Fed Rate Hikes, Fiscal vs. Monetary Policy and Why Again the Case for Gold?
By age 30: Have the equivalent of your annual salary saved. If you earn $50,000 a year, aim to have $50,000 in savings when you hit 30.
By age 35: Have twice your annual salary saved.
By age 40: Have three times your annual salary saved.
By age 45: Have four times your annual salary saved.
By age 50: Have five times your annual salary saved.
By age 55: Have six times your annual salary saved.
By age 60: Have seven times your annual salary saved.
By age 65: Have eight times your annual salary saved.
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A sane voice in a scrambled investment world.
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