Fortune Watch

While most people do want to get rich, a lot of them don’t understand the meaning of being wealthy. Rich mindsets focus on the rewards. Poor mindsets focus on the risks. World seems like a huge ball full of endless opportunities to get rich but still millions, if not billions, of people are stuck in poverty. While some cases may be argued as sheer bad luck or misfortune, most people are simply not becoming rich because of various factors that have been highlighted below.

Most people don’t become rich quick because of the failure to balance the paradoxical process that is full of contradictions, requiring a strategic balance of the various elements.

1. They never plan

Without a plan, and without sticking to the plan, becoming rich becomes a moving target or a wild goose chase. Most people do not become rich quick because they just lack the plan to take them there. Whereas plans can be subjected to turbulence, they provide goals and contingent approaches of achieving these goals or salvaging the entire venture if things become unbearable. Without a plan, and without goals, nothing can ever be accomplished, and you will keep on starting all over again every other time.

2. They procrastinate

The best time to start acting on your plans is now. Most people, however, postpone their plans until it all remains as a thought that can never be actualized. Without starting, you can never know the challenges and neither can you come across the opportunities and hence becoming rich for these people is also postponed.

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A Financial Planner can help you :-

Assess your current financial situation.

Create a realistic plan to meet your financial goals.

Understand how to meet your financial and retirement goals.

Put your financial plan into action and monitor your progress.

Update your financial plan to grow with your changing needs and goals.

If you have any of these questions or concerns, you will benefit from a consultation with a Financial Advisor:

Confusion about conflicting financial advice and options.

Paying too much income tax.

Not saving enough for retirement.

Not sure where to invest money.

Changes in life that affect your financial future, such as a career change, marriage, retirement, loss of a spouse, birth of a child, etc.

Not enough time to attend to personal financial affairs.

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If you are a crook, unethical or a scam artist then there’s easy money to be made investing in the stock market.

When the stock market is strong, it invites the purveyors of schemes designed to make you poor and them rich to push their wares even harder.

People who know nothing of investing get tempted in a strong stock market, but want to get in on the action and there are always crooks willing to help them invest in the latest hot stock.

Unfortunately, the deals sound so great that many unsuspecting novices to investing in the stock market fall prey to the schemes.

Fear and greed are the two most powerful emotional motivators. Both drive investors to make decisions that are foolish.

When the market is in one of its down cycles, fear drives investors out of the market as prices are dropping. When the market rebounds they buy back in at prices often higher than what the got as they exited the market. Thus the famous sell low, buy high strategy – not a winner.

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Whether it is investors, potential investors or general public who is looking to start investing, everyone gets excited the minute they have extra cash on their hands and one of the usual plans is to invest it for quick profits. People want to start making their money work for them and that’s a very understandable and rational thought but sure enough one needs to be practical about their finances as well. There is a lot of due diligence and groundwork that goes into understanding the financial markets before one must start investing and it’s for their best as well!

An investment making company will generally help you get started with your investment and offer you end-to-end insights into how to make more money and how to invest money to achieve your financial goals. However, there are a few things you as an investor must consider before approaching any Asset Management Company or getting started on your investment journey.

Here are the top things one should consider before they start investing to make more money:

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“I‘m living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart.” – E. E. Cummings.

“A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of.” – Jane Austen

“If there is anyone to whom I owe money, I’m prepared to forget it if they are.”Errol Flynn

“If you owe the bank $100 that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that’s the bank’s problem.” JP Getty.

“Undermine the entire economic structure of society by leaving the pay toilet door ajar so the next person can get in free.” Taylor Meade.

“It’s morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money.” WC Fields.

“You should always live within your income, even if you have to borrow to do so.” J Billings.

“October is one of the particularly dangerous months to invest in stocks. Other dangerous months are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February.” Mark Twain

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Dying without leaving a will is a bad idea.

If you haven’t made a will, then you have made a mistake, everything you own will be shared out according to the law instead of in accordance with your wishes. This could mean your estate passes to someone you hadn’t intended – or that someone you want to pass things on to ends up with nothing. For example, if you’re not married and not in a civil partnership, your partner is not legally entitled to anything when you die. If you’re married, your husband or wife might inherit most or all of your estate and your children might not get anything.  All of this can be avoided if you make a will, setting out your wishes.

Oh, and if you needed any more persuading, if you do die without having left a will, all your assets are likely to be frozen until the estate is sorted out, which can mean hardship for your loved ones in the meantime. And it’s much more expensive to use the courts to reconcile an estate, so there’ll be less left over for your family too. It really is a ‘no brainer.’

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This is my list of meaningless expressions that are used by investment analysts when they are talking about the equities. But first, an acknowledgement — I find that I have either used, or accepted as meaningful almost all of them. Cunning investment rogues crowd much of the Stock Market, and they speak a strange and mystery-shrouded language.

There’s a X% Probability of Markets Rising

Generally speaking, X is equal to 50%. This is an extremely useful phrase for analysts who have no clue about what the markets are going to do (which is generally all of them, all the time) because it is guaranteed to be correct under all possible circumstances. If it does rise, then your 50% prediction is right. But if it falls or stays flat, then the other 50% comes into play and you are still right. You can actually set the percentage at 99 and still be always right.

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Being a Financial Planner, I am naturally more in tune with the truthfulness or, should I say, the intentions of retirement advertising. It’s all about hitting the pain points. Not much fun, right? At least buying a new car or a house is fun. Yet sometimes the important things in life are not “fun”. Retirement planning is one of those things.

When you need a new car, you check out the rates at the credit union. If you need a mortgage you also check rates. In other words, you shop for the best rate before you shop for your car or your new home. When was the last time you said, “Hey Honey, we haven’t saved enough for retirement. Let’s go down to the credit union and meet with a financial advisor.”? Probably never. I wish people were as in tune with their retirement planning as they are with getting a new car or a new house.

To compound matters, the big financial companies, that can afford to advertise on TV like to make you succumb to what I call the Lump Sum Scare. You know, they tell you that you need a lump sum of several million dollars or you won’t be able to retire – ever! I know better. If you haven’t saved “enough” and that is a relative term. It’s as personal as your fingerprints, you can still retire, be they different terms than maybe you are thinking about right now.

Let’s look at 5 ways you can retire on your terms, even if you are starting late.

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If after 10 seconds you didn’t notice the shark in the background, you probably need to train your ” adversity quotient ”.

It is the same when investing, you always get attracted to those ‘big’ returns.

Be careful of the lurking adversity.

Most adults know that they need to invest in order to meet their long time financial goals. Most people enter the investment world with little real live experience, even less investment-applicable education, and a myriad of unrealistic expectations.

Every investor is different, and each has their own set of criteria. Some may base their decisions purely on the facts; others might be more inclined to factor their feel for the people at the helm into the equation. Some may be in the right frame of mind for risk-taking; others might be playing it safe for a while, or waiting to see how out-standing investments play out.

Seven Realistic Expectations – This Is What You Want:

1. I want to lose less market value than my markets do, during cyclical corrections.

2. I want always to be prepared for corrections, and with enough cash to take advantage of lower prices.

3. I want my investment “base income” to be dependable and consistent — even in the midst of financial crises.

4. I want my investment portfolio to make faster moves to new All Time Market Value Highs.

5. I want the productive “Working Capital” in my portfolio to grow constantly and consistently throughout the market cycle.

6. I want my annual “base income” to grow every year, regardless of market conditions.

7. I want never again to experience disappearing profits in excess of a reasonable target %.

Six Steps To A Secure Investment Future – This Is How You Get It:

1. Learn how to use “cost based” asset allocation techniques.

2, Learn how to develop and apply fundamental risk minimization techniques.

3. Learn to understand the investment environment and to use it to your advantage.

4. Learn how to select income investments and how to guage their performance.

5. Learn how to select “safer” stocks, diversify properly, and to establish profit targets.

6. Learn how do protect yourself from the demons of Wall Street and their media cronies.

Author:- Steven Selengut