Make Money Online & Offline

How To Make Money In The Real Estate Business

2010-10-05T23:23:00.000-07:00

The current real estate market situation presents a lot of opportunities to make money in the real estate business.

It doesn't matter whether the real estate industry in your area is robust or weak or the housing market has tanked because the population is always increasing and people will always need shelter and that directly implies that there is always room to make money in the real estate business especially in the housing sector, in any market situation.

Any market situation is always an opportunity, regardless of however depressed the market is. And this can be true in any country. To cite an example, in July 1997 during the heat of the Asian Financial Crisis the prices of all real estate properties all over Asia went down by 40% - 70% off their regular price and yet there were no takers because it was an issue of over-supply and overly priced market situation.

Currently in the US the housing market is also down with housing foreclosures all around, in some instances whole rows and blocks of houses were foreclosed by creditors, making the community look like a ghost town. With this kind of situation, most financial advisers won't recommend that you dip your fingers into the housing business at this point. But I disagree, strongly disagree. And I don't say nonsense here because I have proven the facts that I write here. And besides, most financial advisers are not into the housing business, by the way. They make advice but they don't invest, they are afraid. Just read on to know how.

Before I will share to you how I make money in real estate these days regardless if the market is down or up, let me first go back to how I learned the tricks and secrets of the trade. It was in July 1997 when I got my 'baptism of fire' in the real estate business, it was when the real estate bubble in Asia popped and I was doing business in the Philippines that time.

Foreclosed properties by banks and other financial institutions were all over the place, the banks' borrowing rates have almost tripled (as their normal reaction to cover their losses), and the foreign exchange rate have spiked up, and the local currency (Philippine Peso) was devalued that I thought it was already the end of the world.

The upper middle class and the rich have lost their big and classy and very beautiful homes and nice mansions and condominium units and some high-paying jobs were gone too, while some were offered 50% cut on salary or the option to be terminated for cost-cutting reasons otherwise their company will fold.

But I remembered what my former chinese boss used to tell me that "one man's problem is another man's opportunity". These words became alive in me and I saw the light and realized that those who used to live in elegant homes have lost their dwellings to the bank, but not their money and for sure they need to have something decent for shelter.

So we asked ourselves how we can make money from them, what service can we give them that they will surely take and pay. That time all construction activities were either put on hold, or have slowed down or have totally stopped and were abandoned. This resulted to a downward spiral of the prices of all construction materials because the suppliers and manufacturers have produced so much and maintained huge inventories but there were no takers anymore.

That situation gave us an idea to put up elegant looking, well planned houses with downscaled floor areas to make it attractive and affordable to the rich and the upper middle class who just lost their homes. The good thing is the cost to construct was lower by 40% than the usual because of excess inventory of construction materials, everything was discounted. They just wanted to liquidate whatever they have in their stores and warehouses - a situation that we really took advantage to the hilt!

In short, our small, pocket subdivision with houses that had really attractive facades sold out fast. These houses looked nice and feels much similar to the houses that our clients used to live but smaller in size and yet complete with the house features that they used to enjoy. We threw in some landscaping to make it more homey and attractive to them. Because no bank was willing to loan out money unless one was willing to take it out at 42% per annum, we were forced to provide them in-house financing at 24% per annum provided that they pay 30% downpayment upfront, or 40% downpayment over 12 months. Of course we did not tell them that the cost of the house is only 40% of the selling price!

This scheme became very popular to them because their other option was to rent. We were able to help them have their new homes that cost almost half than what they used to have but with almost the same house features except that the floor area was reduced to almost what is required by the local building code.

We made money fast because the units only cost us around 40% of the selling price, so when they pay us 30% upfront we almost got the whole investment and we were able to construct more houses, and the remaining cashflow already represent our profits! Because of the strong demand for that kind of quality yet affordable housing, we recycled the idea over and over until we made 5 pocket subdivisions using the same concept.

It also helped that there was not a single competitor because those who were in the housing business before, especially the big players, had large loan exposures and they were having a hard time servicing them so they stopped selling to avoid incurring added liabilities. So it gave us their large market.

But at the present time, how can you make money from real estate? If you are in the US where the housing sector is so down, there is a lot of ways to make money with the current conditions. Just imagine, how many families have lost their nice homes to their creditors. The prices of these houses that were foreclosed by the banks have gone down by 30%, 40% or even 70% in some cases.

Go to these banks and inquire about how you can acquire these foreclosed units and you will be surprised that they will be rushing in to help you acquire one because banks always want to unload foreclosed assets, especially those that are depreciating fast like these houses. You can negotiate to get the units at 10% downpayment payable in 6 months, and the remaining 90% balance payable in the longest term that they can afford, say 10 years or more, that depends on the bank. Just haggle and don't give up easily. You can adjust your term a bit but everything must be to your favor, not to these bankers.

Then if you were able to get the best possible term, don't sign any paper yet, ask them to allow you to see and inspect the units and do your own valuation, then assure them that you will be coming back, you just need time to compare with the other banks' foreclosed assets which you should do, but at the same time that will give the bank an impression that you are a serious buyer who knows what you want.

Then visit the local building authorities if they will allow you to reconfigure the interiors and exteriors of the house or even subdivide the lot. The idea here is if they will allow you to subdivide the lot then you can convert the house into a duplex with minimal cost and sell 2 units now out of the original single unit - making the price more attractive and affordable to a wider market.

But if the local building official only allows interior reconfiguration and not the lot subdivision, you can convert that single house into a duplex, triplex or even quadruplex by reconfiguring the interior partitions, putting in additional firewalls and adding some windows here and another door there - enough to house 2,3 or even 4 families comfortably but make sure that you don't go below the required minimum room floor areas by the local building code. Then you can offer the revised or reduced units to 2,3 or 4 families for rent. Your only roadblock here is if the homeowners association does not allow you this scheme, if that's the case you can negotiate and ask their permission and authorization in black and white to protect you from future legal harassment.

The money that you make from rental revenue should be more than enough to duplicate this process one more time, maybe do it on the next house so it will be easier for you to manage. To avoid collection hassles, the better for you if you can require your clients to give you post-dated checks for the next 12 months to be replenished every 3 months.

If these scheme becomes too attractive that you need more units to convert, you can sell your receivables by showing your rental agreements and the post-dated checks to the banks where you got your properties, surely they will be glad to do business with you, especially if they give them some favor by opening a deposit account with them for your house rental business.

That's one excellent way to make money in real estate especially in the housing sector - getting one big house at 30% to 70% off the regular price, convert them into duplex, triplex or quadruplex units and either sell them or rent them out. That should bring you a lot of money. I am doing it here locally.

There are still many other creative ways to make money in real estate because this is one of my forte and I am deeply into it for many years but I will share them in my next posts. You may send your reactions to this business idea by posting a comment below or by sending me an email by clicking here and I will be glad to serve you.

6 Proven and Simple Ways To Save Money

2010-10-05T02:30:00.000-07:00

Every time you part with your money to buy something, in reality you are making other people richer than you are. So if you want to keep and save more of your money, then read on and check for yourself these proven and yet simple ways to save your money.

1) SAVE MONEY FROM BOTTLED WATER

The real cost of these bottled water is 60% less than what you normally pay for one bottle. Whenever you buy a bottled water, you are not just buying the water per se but also the bottle, the bottle cap, the plastic label and the brand name that does not in any way contribute to easing your thirst for water. Instead, why not reuse that bottle, fill it up with your clean tap water and bring it with you and nobody would know that it's not fresh from the grocery shelf. But you have saved some 60% of the cost every time you do that. Remember, money unspent is money saved and money gained.

2) CELLPHONE UNIT
Because of the stiff competition among telecommunication service providers, most major telcos offer free and attractive cellphone units when you apply for a phone service plan. And they even offer unit upgrades after 2 years or whenever you renew your service plan. This is most beneficial and cost effective to those who use their cellphones regularly. The cost of that cellphone unit is the money you save because you do not have to pay anything for your cellphone unit when you subscribe to a service plan.

3) COMPUTER SOFTWARE

If your computing only requires some basic computer software to write letters and documents and make some digital spreadsheet computing, don't bother to buy those branded computer softwares. You can save much of your money if you just instead get those great alternative open-source softwares that are completely free and can be downloaded online, the most popular of which is OpenOffice. Just compute how much money you can save. I myself use OpenOffice at home.
4) CREDIT CARDS
Somebody said: "Never use your credit cards for credit, but use them only for convenience!", which I very much agree. I myself have credit cards, but these credit card providers have not earned anything from me yet in terms of monthly interest. This is how I save money from credit card interests and charges:

Only start charging your purchases after they compute the Billing Statement for the month. Meaning if they compute their billing statement every 5th of the month, make sure that you have zero balance on the 4th and 5th of the month. Then you can start charging your purchases starting on the 6th of the month.

So even if the due date comes, say on the 27th of the month, you have nothing to worry about because your Total Net Amount Due in your bill is still zero. But just make sure that you pay everything that you have charged to your credit card before they compute again for your next billing statement so that there won't be anything that they can charge you with interest charges or finance charge. With that, you were able to use their money for a month without being charged with any interest. That again is another way to save money using your credit card.

4) NEWSPAPER & MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION

Since the time I learned to browse the internet, I stopped all my subscription to Time Magazine and my favorite national business daily newspaper. Not that I have anything against these traditional printed newspaper. I just find it more practical to me to get my business news online for free, in fact I automatically get the news I want through these RSS news feeders. So for all these years, I saved the money that I used to pay for my annual subscriptions for these newspapers and magazines. And that's a lot of annual savings!

5) PET DOGS & CATS

People like to have pets, I myself used to have pet dogs and birds. Until lately, I realized that the imported animal food that I buy weekly from the nearby pet shop is already draining my money, so I auctioned all my pets which have been with me for several years, so in that way I made money from my pets and my regular expenses for pet food and regular clinic visits and pet vaccines have stopped. And the money that I regularly spent for taking care of those pets have become my money saved!

And I would even encourage you to help someone in need, like the homeless kids or homeless family in your town or city. Or maybe the abandoned and neglected elderly. Rather than taking care of pets, help take care of precious people instead, and you will surely make others happy, and make yourself happy too, because not only that you were able to save money, you are able to help someone too.

6) PHYSICAL FITNESS & EXERCISE
Joining gym memberships can just be a fad sometimes, apart from the high cost of membership, the reality is you do not really have enough time to visit the gym everyday to maximize your gain out of your membership. To save money on gym membership, I suggest that you drop by your local park at 5 a.m. for a quick walk and run around the park. I found it full of fun since then, and aside from the fresh oxygen that you get in the open park, you will get to know some folks there, young and old, who can later even become your new friends and possible business partners.

In our local park, there is this group that teach aerobic dance steps, martial arts exercises, taeboo and tai chi for free. They start at 5:30 am till 7 a.m. You can also bring along your own skipping rope for your exercise, or have your own push-ups and sit-ups. Why give your money to the gym instructor and gym owner who is renting his place when you can have your own exercise in the open park for free! It can even become more enjoyable if you bring in your family and do it together.

There are surely a lot more simple yet proven ways to save money than what is initially listed here. If you have thought of other practical ways to save money, you can leave your suggestions in the comment space provided below and please make sure to indicate your name or pseudonym so I can properly acknowledge you when I update this article to include your ideas.

Thank you for dropping by and I hope this article will be helpful to you.

The 5 Most Popular Ways To Make Money On The Internet

2010-09-27T23:51:00.000-07:00

Everybody needs a steady source of income to support one's needs. Most people earn money by having a job in a company, and spend the money earned on basic expenses like food, clothing, shelter, utilities, schooling, etc; and also on some non-essentials like dining out in restaurants, going to the movies, family vacation, etc.

While others make money by starting their own business and make money as they run their business. They put up their shop and sell their stuff and goodies there. Others offer their company's services to those who need it and make money along the way. These are the traditional way of doing business and making money and they are still effective and necessary in today's world of unparalleled consumerism.

However, the business landscape has somehow changed and improved in today's cyber era taking advantage of the many conveniences that the internet-based economy can offer, so that you can now even to put up your own one-man shop and operate it full time from within the comforts of your home, or there are also those available online jobs that you can do at home, without need to report to a physical office cubicle.

Some can make you earn decent though limited income while other home-based online businesses can make you earn really big money and the income stream can sometimes become unlimited - making money for you online even if you are out for a great family vacation.

We have enumerated here a list of 5 of the most popular and effective ways to make money on the internet which might really help you make money online and help make you succeed to finally gain financial freedom. These are my top 5 favorites but herein presented in no particular order, so just try to see and examine which among them are best for you.

1. FLIPPING OF DOMAIN NAMES
This one might be totally new to you but simply put, flipping of domain names is just actually the business of buying and selling domain names for a certain profit, although it takes more effort than that. It is similar to what I do in my real estate business where I scout for old, unmaintained, dilapidated houses and apartments, and unfinished buildings which I know have the potential.

I buy them at a very, very low price almost equal actually to just the zonal price of the lot because the structure basically has lost its value and appeal. Then I fix them, (I am a licensed civil engineer and architect by the way), re-orient the layout of the house, make some other improvements and make them strong and very attractive to my target market and sell them for a handsome profit. I even throw in some freebies like 1 year free fire insurance.

Domain name flipping is also like that, but instead of looking for a worn-out house, you now search for domain names that are either or both unused, poorly maintained websites, containing lousy contents, and those web address that has no value and appeal to the net surfers, BUT if these domain names got the potential and you got the idea how to improve it and make it more attractive, then buy them. The owner of the website might just get the surprise of his life why in the world were you interested with his website, when in fact he is not!

After buying them for almost nothing, improve its webpage, put up some nice and interesting contents and very attractive and helpful stuff that are worth forwarding to friends, and watch the traffic. Once the traffic has picked up to a desired level and frequency, that's the time to offer them for sale and believe me a lot of interested bidders will line up online to get it at a price several times more than what little investment that you put into it. People will submit surprisingly higher bids especially if these domain names are already making money online through Google Ads, etc.

Domain name flipping can really be a good online money maker for you. You can start doing the search now for dormant and useless domain names that have hidden potentials. Or you can read some more for a while as I still have some 4 other equally proven ways that can help you make money online.

2. FREELANCE WRITING
What are the things that you are very passionate about? Is it about travel, beach vacations, fashion, food, movies, landscaping and gardening, flower arrangement, cats and dogs, birds and butterflies? Anything that you are passionate about, combined with your innate ability to write interesting feature stories, can really make you land a successful career in freelance writing.

There are a lot of online and printed magazines that feature those things that you are passionate about. Just check those weekly and monthly glossy magazines that you often buy and their online counterparts that you often drop by online, why not contribute your own feature stories to them and make money online out of it, and even double your earnings when your articles get features in their printed magazines. Got the idea now?Why just be their reader and subscriber when in fact you can be their valuable feature writer! And I tell you, they pay very handsomely. I know, I understand that you are excited now and you have a lot of ideas already circling around your head but it might as well help you if you read on because I still have 3 more proven ideas that can really help you make money online. Here they are:

3. SELLING NICE WALLPAPERS ONLINE
Yeah, you are getting my idea already. If you are fond of taking pictures, framing nice scenic spots and flowers and lovely pets and anything you are passionate about with you professional digital camera, then why not sort out all those therabytes of pictures that you have long kept in your computer memory bank, get a nice domain name and upload these pictures and sell them online as wallpapers at a very low price, and you will be surprised to see your online sales statistic go up reaching cloud nine.

Those lovely digital pictures that you stored since your first memorable out of town vacation many, many years ago can just be one of your most valuable personal asset that can make money for you using the internet if you sell them online. But remember, set the prices so low to entice a lot of buyers who will download them more often. Do not ever be greedy by selling them high because the cyber public will notice it. But if you can't help it then just tame it a bit more. LOL! It's enticing and tempting, I'm telling you. I am talking from experience because I have successfully done what I write here. Are you loaded enough? I still have 2 more helpful stuff, let's see how these may help you make money online.

4. BLOGGING
Well, this one may not be new to many but the kind of blogging that I am referring here is that kind that makes money for you even if you have long stopped writing articles. It always start with what you are very passionate about. If the issues in life that make you tick is about the latest electronic gadgets that make you stay awake even at late hours in the night just so that you can surf the internet to check for the latest gadgets, then why not write about those gadgets, talk about its usefulness, its advantage and disadvantages, its price and its worth, and talk about your exciting or disgusting experiences when you used them, about how much you have enjoyed them, and even talk about those gadgets that you have already trampled and thrown in your trash can in your disgust.

Just be real and honest with your readers and they will appreciate you all the more. Also talk about where to find them or where to go if they need some repairs and if it's really worth to have it repaired or they just buy another one. Blogging is not just talking about any stuff, that's not the kind of blogging that I recommend here, it should be more than that - it should be able to help your readers learn something and be warned of something so that through your blogs you are able to help your readers improve their lives. Every successful business attained their success by helping other people enjoy a better life!

It's like this: Somebody said that the real business of your nearby McDonald's is not hamburgers but real estate. That is partly correct, but the really real business of this yellow and red Ronald McDonald is in helping people, young and old, who are in the go to find a nearby hot and fast meal that is not only affordable but real tasty and nice, a kind of food that you can patronize and can be found in just anywhere you go in most apart of the world. I mean I wonder if they have one in the arabian desert. But the point is they have stayed that long in business because they are helping people, even if their meals and its taste stay the same for decades hungry people on the go will still flock to McDonald's, and that includes me. Oh the mention of that reminds me of my 9 year old son who makes me drive to McDonald's even at almost midnight whenever the idea of a McDonald's hamburger gets his fancy again, although I would have wanted to enjoy my sleep but if I won't buy that burger for him how in the world can I sleep with this kid pulling my feet down the bed for that, oh no, "nice-tasting McDonald hamburger midnight bite, Daddyyyy, please"! Hope there's also a driver's license for kids his age so he can go and buy them by himself.

Whew! What happened? This topic is supposed to be about blogging and how to make money on the internet, and how come I ended up talking about McDonald's, hope they will toss in one burger for the credit I'm giving them here.

Well, we have covered several ways to make money online already, and the first 4 are:
    (1) FLIPPING OF DOMAIN NAMES
    (2) FREELANCE WRITING
    (3) SELLING NICE WALLPAPERS ONLINE
    (4) BLOGGING

On top of that, I still have 1 more for you to really make sure that after reading this article, you will already gab your computer and starting tapping away your keyboard on your way to make money online.

5. SELLING ANYTHING ON eBAY
Pause and allow your mind to get inside your attic room or basement room and in your closet and family library, and what do you see? Have you seen all those stuff that you don't need anymore and in fact were long stored there and almost totally forgotten? Why don't you make money out of them? Your old storybooks, novel books, toys, paintings, and anything including your old typewriter, anything that might have value to others.

Take them out to sunshine in your backyard, dust them off and polish them a bit. Place them on a nice and clean background, grab your digital camera and take some pictures of them from different angles, write down their make, their quality and usefulness, and even a bit of your memory of them and how you have enjoyed them.

Then upload them on eBay and other online auction sites, including the descriptions and thoughts that you wrote down earlier, and you will be surprised later on to know that other people are willing to pay you handsomely and much, much more than the minimum bids you set, for those stuff in your closets that you have lost their appeal to you.

And after your first success on eBay, go and visit your grandma's and grandpa's house and offer them to "clean" their house for a token and "help" them "get rid" of all their unwanted stuff, and don't forget to ask them about how they enjoyed using these things before and take note of the stories behind each stuff and make them part of your description in your eBay offer.

Hhmmmnnn! I know your next target is your Aunt's house, then your Uncle's house (and you got 5 uncle's!) and then your friend's house, your high school classmate's house - all in your selfless effort to help them "clean their house and get rid of all unwanted stuff" even just for a nice and aromatic smelling coffee. Okay I know you are very excited, I won't hold you for long, go now and make more money online. Save some of that money though for more business opportunities ahead.

Come right back later on if you feel I might be of help to you again. You might wish some of your friends to make money on the internet just like you do so help them learn the tricks of this trade right from here. Thanks for dropping by buddy.

How To Take Charge Of Your Money

2010-09-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

TOP 10 MOST EFFECTIVE ADVICE ON MONEY MATTERS
All of us wants to have a financially secure future. But for us to be financially secure we need not just wish for it to come but we need to learn how to take charge of our money and do some concrete steps to ensuring a financially secure future for us and our loved ones. Here are the Top 10 most effective advice that I often share to friends and colleagues, as follows:

1. KNOW YOUR NET WORTH
I am not referring here to your worth as a person but rather about the total net monetary value of everything that you own net of all your financial obligations. To know your Net Worth, you need to add up all your assets or anything of value that belongs to you (cash on hand or in bank, investments, insurance, clothing, jewelry, house, car, yacht, etc.), then deduct all your liabilities or financial obligations (bills, loans, credit card debt, insurance premiums, etc), and the balance is your net worth.

If what remains is positive balance it means that your assets is enough to cover your liabilities with some extra left with you. This means that you are right on your way to ensure a financially secure future. But if the remaining balance is a negative, then that means you are in financial deficit, meaning your assets won't be enough to cover your financial obligations and you always tend to get a loan to cover them. A negative balance or net worth should serve as your wake-up call demanding much harder and stronger financial discipline about how you obtain your income and how you spend them.

There are 2 kinds of expenses by the way, one is that which takes away money from you without any more money coming back to you. Another type of an expense is that which you spend on something that gives back money to you. The latter kind of an expense can be in either forms such as an investment, capital expense, inventory, and other things that will give money back to you.

2. SAVE SMARTER
Some people save harder but they are not saving smarter. It is always good to save, save money for retirement, dream vacation, new house, or even for unexpected emergencies. Most often when we save money, the usual route we take is to deposit it in a bank savings account which can only gives you a very small return. The better approach is those allocated for monthly expenses and short-term expenses be deposited in your savings account for easy access especially during emergencies, but put the other spare amount that you want to save in some investments that can give you a higher rate of return than your savings account even after taking into consideration the prevailing inflation rate.

For example, instead of placing your money in your regular savings account which can give you around 1% interest per year, why not place the same amount in Treasury Bills that can give you somewhere around 1% interest per month! That spells a lot of difference.

3. PLAN FOR THE FUTURE
Whatever major expenses that you plan to have in the future like buying a car or going for that dream family vacation, you need to plan ahead and know how much it costs and how much pocket money you need for some extra expenses, doing this will spare you from sometimes humiliating surprises. Then you need to plan how you intend to raise that much money from today and into the future.

4. PREPARE YOUR BUDGET
Have you ever been into a panicky situation where you are running low on cash while your next payday is still 10 days away? To avoid this situation from occurring again, you need to discipline yourself into making your budget and sticking to it, however hard it may seem. To do this, it always helps to list down and add all your projected income then deduct the sum of all your projected expenses, and these amount should be your spending limit.

But what would you do if the result is negative, meaning your expenses is greater than your income? The best approach is review your list of projected expenses, then prioritize all those things that you can't do away with like your baby's food and milk, groceries for the house, monthly bills, etc and identify all the other expenses that can be done away with, such as going to the movies, dining out and other unnecessary expenses until you are able to reduce your expenses to the barest minimum and have a positive result.

5. AVOID INCURRING SO MUCH DEBTS
Manage your debt exposure by taking only as much debt as you can surely afford, meaning, before you decide to buy something on credit, better ask yourself first if it is really necessary and if you can actually afford to pay the bills when they become due. If it's otherwise, then better forget it, even if you really crave for it to death! After all, you now want to take charge of your money, right?

6. TEACH YOUR KIDS HOW TO HANDLE MONEY WISELY
Kids usually want to buy everything that catches their fancy. Oh I understand those of you who gets mad instead of being relaxed when inside the mall because of all those demands that your kids do to buy something, from ice cream to toys and nice shoes and cool electronic gadgets. Whew!

Early on in their childhood, it always pay if you as parents already start to teach them the difference between what they need and what they want. And teach them too the value of prudence in spending, the virtue of saving money and teach them how to grow money instead rather than spending them right away. You will become a happy, satisfied and proud parent if you teach them early on in life the virtues of budgeting, saving, investing, being content, delaying gratification, and being good steward of money.

7. SPARE SOME FUND FOR EMERGENCIES
Emergencies can never be predicted when to occur but you can always anticipate it by being prepared just in case that can happen. Such emergencies can really become an annoying emergency situation of you are not financially prepared for it. Always put in some amount for your emergency fund regularly, and do not take something from it just because nothing is happening yet anyway, because you don't know when such situation occurs.

8. GET INSURED
It always pays to get a life insurance and a health insurance because you will never know what may happen in the future. This is for the benefit of your family and loved ones to spare them from any financial burden just in case something wrong happens to you, especially if you are the breadwinner of your family.

9. ALWAYS DIVERSIFY YOUR INVESTMENTS
Do not put all your eggs in one basket, as they say. Diversify your investments over different types and asset class so that when one or two of your investments are not performing well, you will still have the others left still giving you good returns, and when you average the returns and losses, you still end up gaining something.

10. LIVE THE LIFESTYLE YOU CAN AFFORD
Our human tendency is always to keep up with the Neighboring Joneses. Always be conscious of your budget and stick to it. Do not bother if they got the cable TV connection and you do not, if that is what your budget can afford. Do not get insecure, rather be glad that you are not yet in a position to throwing away your money as they do.

Cut cost whenever necessary. If the gas price goes up, use the public transport. If your SUV is a gas guzzler then trade it for a sedan. Living within your means is not something to be insecure about or ashamed of. It is more shameful to live a lifestyle that is only financed by loans which will later catch you up.

Not everything here is easy to do for some, but if you stick and commit to doing them all, you will be surprised to realize in the future that you have already become financially independent and a lot wiser! I wish you a well lived life because God loves you.

More Helpful Articles:
+ Learn More About Personal Finance
+ Teach Your Kids To Become Wise With Money

Learn to start taking charge of your money and your financial future.

Personal Finance For Beginners

2010-09-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

The Basics About Personal Finance
You may have heard about Personal Finance buy you were left alone in the sidelines when people talk about it because you really have no idea what is Personal Finance.

Personal Finance basically is the understanding and the proper application of the basic principles of finance to every and all decisions of an individual that involves money or its valuable equivalents.

It also deals with how an individuals or families obtain, acquire or make money, how they should make their budget, how they spend money or save money or how they invest their money and money equivalents over time, taking into account all the perceived and inherent financial risks and opportunities for growth and factoring all possible future events that happen in life. It is about taking charge of your money.

Things like checking account, savings account, credit cards, consumer loans, investments in mutual funds, stock market, corporate bonds, treasury bills, government bonds, foreign exchange trading, retirement plans, investments in social security, health insurance, life insurance, accident insurance, and even income tax management.

Why Is It Important

Financial Planning is a key component of Personal Finance. Financial Planning is a dynamic process that needs monitoring and periodic reevaluation as time goes, where much of the decision-making hinges on current and future issues that materially affects the planned financial route.

Personal Financial Planning generally involves the following steps:

1. PERSONAL ASSESSMENT
You need to assess your current financial situation to see where you now financially, and it can be done by listing down your personal ASSETS like cash on hand, cash in bank, jewelries, clothes, cars, house, investments, land, and other valuable items like paintings, antique collections, etc.

A wealthy boyfriend or filthy rich girlfriend too is an asset but they are not part of the kind of an asset that is being taken into consideration here. No offense meant.

You also need to list down all your personal LIABILITIES like credit card debts, bank loans, mortgage for the car or house, tuition, and the like.

Your Assets and your Liabilities compose the BALANCE SHEET. It is called a Balance Sheet because all the Assets should always be equal to your liabilities. It is like if you get a loan for your car, the loan amount or mortgage amount becomes part of your liabilities while the value of the car which is equivalent to your loan becomes part of your assets. These can get so complex at times but let us make it as simple as possible at this point.

And on another sheet of paper you also need to list all your INCOME either derived from your employment, professional practice, or from your business or dividends from investments. The same process should be done in listing all your EXPENSES - anything that you need to pay for - like rentals, power and water bills, telephone bills, food, etc.

The combined list of all your Income and all your Expenses now becomes your INCOME STATEMENT. Now that you are aware of how much money comes in (income) and how much money goes out (expenses), and how much you owe or are obliged to pay (liabilities) and how much ownership you have (assets) to cover and settle all your obligations, you can now in a better position to assess where you are now in terms of your personal standing.

To assess yourself in light of the lists that you have just made, after having summed them up, you need to ask yourself these questions: Questions like - "Is my income enough to cover my expenses?". If the answer is yes then you are in Deficit - meaning, you always tend to be short of funds to cover your current financial obligations or payables. So after assessing yourself, you need to decide if you choose to remain in your current situation or you need some change and move from where you are now to where you want to be, financially!

2. GOAL SETTING
Deciding to change your financial situation by moving from where you are to a better financial situation that you want to be in is what we call Goal Setting. For example, if you are now in deficit - meaning - your expenses is more than what you normally earn, then you need to set some goals to change your situation. You either find ways to increase your income or you need to cut on your expenses, or even do both!

Or if you plan to pay off your entire home mortgage in 18 months instead of paying for it for the next 5 years so you have to compute how much do you still need to raise to cover for that shortened period of payment because it will increase your monthly amortizations, things like that.

3. PLAN AHEAD
Now that you have seen your situation and now that you are decided that you want some change and it is now very clear to you where you want to be financially, then you now have to make a Financial Plan which details in concrete and doable steps how you accomplish the goals that you have set for yourself, like how you plan to increase your income, what steps are you willing to do to cut on your expenses, or what investment options you plan to pursue and how much you think you can earn from that investment, etc.

I need to remind you though that you only plan for things that you are willing to do yourself, otherwise this whole exercise can just be another waste of time. But I know you are seriously considering to do them all the way to progress, right?

4. EXECUTION
This is now I think is the harder part, because this time you don't just wish to become rich and get out of debt, because now you have to do it - implement and execute your plan. Yes it requires your personal commitment, discipline and perseverance to see the fruits of your labor and efforts. If you think it will help you to get the advice and assistance from those who have been successful in these areas or from professional practitioners like the financial planners, accountants, investment advisers, and lawyers then go ahead and get all the necessary help to bring you there.

5. MONITORING AND REASSESSING YOUR PROGRESS
Over time, the desired outcome of your financial plan may not be perfectly realized because of some other external factors that are beyond your control and influence like how the economy goes, the inflation, etc. so whenever necessary you should make some adjustments, then monitor the outcome, then reassess, then adjust your plan and implement them again until you finally reached your desired goal.

Different folks also have different needs but most of the typical goals of adults are paying off their credit cards or student loan debts, go on a vacation, or move to a bigger house, fund the college education of your children or anticipate some medical expenses, plan for retirement, and even estate planning.

Professional financial planners can very well help you do that, go and find somebody that you can trust. Happy Financial Planning and may you reach your financial goals!

Somebody said: "Those who have no plan in life have no idea that they have already arrived."

Other Relevant Articles:
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     + Teach Your Kids To Save Money
     + Practical Ways To Save Money
     + Money-Saving Techniques With Your Credit Cards

A Filipino Millionaire At 28

2010-09-24T03:14:00.000-07:00

How This Filipino Became A Millionaire At 28
Instead of going the usual way of making money like putting up a shop or selling different stuff to folks in the neighborhood, Mr. Ian del Carmen decided to do it the other way and still make P500,000 a month while at home in his small house in the town of Pateros, working in front of his computer - with the world as his target market.

This rich Filipino guy is the Founder and CEO of FIREBALL PLANET based in Makati City, Philippines and is heavily into selling e-books, softwares, instructional videos, music cds and videos, and other related stuff via the internet.

He does not even need a warehouse nor any courier or postal service because all items being sold in his website are all electronics files which can be easily downloaded in a flash.

A Millionaire Through E-Commerce
Todate, his online business has over 50,000 regular customers already from Singapore, the US, the UK, Australia and in many parts of the globe.

On top of the monthly overhead for his very small number of employees as his support group
, Del Carmen also pays for the rights to resell the softwares, e-books and other e-materials he buys. Fireball Planet has also started to develop its own e-products which it also sells to its direct customers and resellers with reselling rights.

A College Dropout
This is good news to a lot of you out there - Ian Del Carmen never finished his College and he never had any formal training in computer! But he likes tapping his computer keyboard and going online.

What made things turn around was when he made his first online purchase of an e-book using his credit card a few years back. This successful online purchase got him excited and made him frequent some popular websites doing e-commerce and he studied how they work.

He got fascinated with his discovery and he kept surfing the internet to learn e-commerce, unlike most of the net surfers who get hooked online just for online gaming and chatting without really getting any real monetary benefits from the internet.

His First Foray and His First Million
With his earned knowledge in e-commerce, he made his first attempt by buying a US$27 e-book on internet marketing which he later resold to an American woman and made a few bucks. This first successful online marketing made him so happy that he sent the American woman an e-mail to thank her and even gave her a few e-books that he previously bought for free as bonus for making him so happy and for making him feel so successful already.

The 6 months later, he made his first million which he got in just a week's time after selling what is popularly known as "Membership Wholesaler Sites (MWS)". Del Carmen created several of these membership sites which he sold wholesale, with resale rights ranging from US$197 to US$397 per pack. He got his FIRST MILLION by selling these stuff at age 28.

E-Books and Videos
Some of these e-books and video materials by Ian Del Carmen are "iPad Riches" in pdf and video, "Rags To Dot Com Riches" in pdf and paperback, "Self-Made Internet Millionaire" also in pdf and paperback, and the "Crack the Secret Code Series" in pdf, among other stuff that he sells.

He realized he would never earn that much that easily in a short time if he stayed in his employment in a local TV network doing some writing and production jobs although he loves the theaters very much.

So from being in a one-man company he pirated his cousin who was working for a software company to work for him instead. His company grew by word of mouth through the positive online reviews that he got from his online and offline network of customers.

So now, from just selling e-materials online, his company FIREBALL PLANET now offers consultancy work because Ian Del Carmen wants to share what he learned about internet marketing to other people as well.

From Humble Beginnings
His humble past did not deter him to succeed, even if Del Carmen came from a broken family. His Uncle helped finance his High School and College education in Bulacan, which he did not finish. He remembered those days when he had to work for his daily allowance by designing and selling T-shirts when he was in high school.

He also worked for McDonald's for a time and also tried working for companies involved in direct marketing like Sara Lee and Avon, selling clothes, shoes, accessories, etc. - not knowing that all these experiences combined have already silently laid the groundwork for his success in marketing, online marketing that is.

Ian Del Carmen wants to encourage those already engaged in business to go online marketing because by selling online, the whole world becomes your marketplace and get customers even from places that you have never heard of, unlike offline business where your access to your target market is very limited unless you open several outlets and distribution centers which will terribly increase your cost of doing business.

Online Marketing Is The Way To Go
In online marketing, there is no more any boundary, the whole world is the limit. Definitely, internet marketing is the way of the future in doing business, and take advantage of the conveniences in e-commerce that online payment services like the credit card online payment, PayPal which allows online money transfers, among many other advantages that internet marketing offers. So it's now time to make your move in online marketing now. Help spread the word.

Related Articles:
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     + Make Money On the Internet
     + Make Money In Real Estate
     + Learn To take Charge of Your Money

I am not in any way deriving any monetary benefits from any of the businesses of Ian del Carmen but if you are interested about his products you can directly go to his website. I like his success story so I publish what little knowledge I have about him and how he became a millionaire at a young age inspite of his financial difficulty in his childhood.

A Highly Important Notice of Recall

2010-09-24T02:53:00.000-07:00

PLEASE DO NOT DISREGARD!

I have been a Christian for a longtime but I never heard it put quite like this before. This one I got from an email sent to me by a longtime friend, and I have no idea whose original work is this. But let me share this to you, with no intention to infringe on one's copyright , if any.

RECALL NOTICE:
GOD, The Maker of all human beings is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to a serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart.

This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units code named

Adam and Eve, resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect has been technically termed "Sub-sequential Internal Non-morality", or more commonly known as S.I.N., as it is primarily expressed.

Some of the symptoms include:
1. Loss of direction
2. Foul vocal emissions
3. Amnesia of origin
4. Lack of peace and joy
5. Selfish or violent behavior
6. Depression or confusion in the mental component
7. Fearfulness
8. Idolatry
9. Rebellion

The Manufacturer, who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing factory-authorized repair and service free of charge to correct this defect.

The Repair Technician, JESUS, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. There is no additional fee required.

The number to call for repair in all areas is: P-R-A-Y-E-R. Once connected, please upload your burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure. Next, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, Jesus, into the heart component.

No matter how big or small the SIN defect is, Jesus will replace it with:
1. Love
2. Joy
3. Peace
4. Patience
5. Kindness
6. Goodness
7. Faithfulness
8. Gentleness
9. Self control

Please see the operating manual, the B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth) for further details on the use of these fixes.

WARNING:
Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction voids any manufacturer warranties, exposing the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list and will result in the human unit being permanently impounded. For free emergency service, call on Jesus.

DANGER:
The human being units not responding to this recall action will have to be scrapped in the furnace. The SIN defect will not be permitted to enter Heaven so as to prevent contamination of that facility. Thank you for your attention!

- GOD

P.S.
Please assist where possible by notifying others of this important recall notice, and you may contact the Father any time by 'Knee Mail'!

Because He Lives!

10 Effective Ways To Save Money Using Credit Cards

2010-09-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

Somebody hit the nail right on its head when he said: "Do not use your credit cards for credit, but only use them for convenience." Because credit cards are originally intended to provide us some convenience and never to weigh us down with heavy debt burden. We just have to wisely manage ourselves in how we use our credit cards.

Marketing people are well trained to catch our attention and make us act like hypnotics and obey their loud commands printed all over the advertising pages, billboards and TV ads - luring commands like "Shop Now, Pay Later!", "Hurry! Limited Offer Only!", "2-Day Till Midnight Sale!", "Shop & Charge", "0% Interest Sale" and other similar marketing commands that most credit card holders are too much willing to obey.

Have you been obedient to them lately? Well, don't despair because there is hope for you. I should know because I was once like that too until I learned these 10 Proven Effective Ways To Save Money Using Credit Cards which you need to observe, and let me share them to you, as follows:

1. ANTICIPATE YOUR CREDIT CARD BILL
I am not sure if there is no real intent in delaying the delivery of credit card billing statements but is has often been my experience to receive my credit card bill late! The credit card company is very polite to call me and check if it's still happening and promise that they will improve on the next billing, which they did, but then after sometime here comes the late billing statement again.

But being the credit card holder, you can't use that as an excuse in not paying your bills. So to avoid getting penalized, I suggest that you call the credit card company and inquire of your Minimum Amount Due, your Due Date, and your Total Amount Due, so that even if the billing comes late, intentional or not, you will be able to prepare your payment to settle your account due.

2. ALWAYS PAY YOUR CREDIT CARD BILL ON TIME
Always take note of your Due Date, use your cellular phone calendar to remind you ahead of time so you won't fail in paying your credit card bill right on time. When I say "right on time", I think I need to clarify it here because there can be cases that even if you paid your bills right on the day it is due, and yet you still get charged with Late Payment charge and you end up wondering why.

Here's how it is: If you do your payment in their accredited Banks, make sure that you do your transaction in the first 2 hours of the banking hours so that the bank personnel will have enough time to check your payment and credit your payment exactly on the same day. This is much more applicable and real when you do your transaction in a stand alone unmanned credit card payment kiosks where you put your cash inside an envelope and drop it inside that lid. If you make such payment past noon, there is a great possibility that your payment envelope will be opened, counted and double checked and credited to the payee bank the following day. And by then you will have incurred charges for late payment.

There are also other convenient payment service centers inside the malls but you must double check with them first how long does it take them to remit the payments to the payee bank, because in most cases it normally take them 3 days to do the remittance, and that will expose you to late payment charges again, on top of the service fee you paid them for this "convenience". So better check with them first before handing over your payment.

3. MAKE SURE TO PAY MORE THAN THE MINIMUM AMOUNT DUE
The best way to save on Interest or Finance Charges is to pay off your entire credit every month. But if you cannot afford to do that, I suggest you always pay more than the Minimum Amount Due, because the longer it takes you to fully pay the total credit balance the more money you lost in interest rates which is around 2.25%-3.5% per month, that is 27%-42% interest in a year! No wonder these banks are offering us their credit cards left and right, even without applying for it.

4. PRIORITIZE PAYING OFF THE HIGH-INTEREST BEARING CREDIT CARD FIRST
If you happen to have more than one credit card, which I do, and if you have the extra money, it will help you save money if you pay in full the total amount due of the credit card that charges the highest interest rate of finance charge, while paying the minimum amount due of the other cards if that is what your budget permits you.

5. DO BALANCE TRANSFER
There are credit card companies that offer low transfer rates, it will be a great advantage to you if you transfer your balance to these banks provided that they also offer low monthly interest or finance charge.

6. BE HONEST AND NEGOTIATE WITH YOUR CREDITORS
There are unavoidable cases wherein your expenses suddenly goes up as compared to whatever amount of money you make for that given period, and if ever you are charged with a Late Payment Fee for your delayed monthly payment, try to negotiate with the creditor bank because they usually waive that especially if you have been a good payer. Remember, goodwill with your creditors is also an asset that you can actually bank on.

7. FIND THE BEST CREDIT CARD DEAL IN TOWN
Not all credit cards have the same interest rates, some charge you as low as 2.25% while others charge 3.5% per month. Other credit cards charge annual fees of 2,500 while the other cards charge as high as 5,000. There are also those who offer rebates for every purchase from their accredited outlets, stores, drugstores, movie house, etc. These are good offers that you can take advantage of, you just have to wisely pick what's best for you and suits your lifestyle and specific needs.

8. READ CAREFULLY THE FINE PRINT
Yes, the fine print at the back of each billing statement. We usually disregard this because it's too finely printed that it's hard to read sometimes, but it actually contains very vital information about how they deal with you, how and when and how much they charge you for late payments. It also contains some advice on things that you should avoid doing like spending beyond the card's credit limit because they will charge you certain penalties if you do.

9. READ AND REVIEW YOUR BILLS BEFORE PAYING THEM
Make it a habit to read and review your credit card billing statement and compare them with all the receipts that you accumulated (hope you still keep them). Overcharging or double charging can happen, it happened to me once. Also check if there are no transactions appearing which you know you never did, like a plane ticket 2 weeks when in fact you never did any travel for the last 6 months. Be wary of credit card fraud. It always helps to review each transaction before you pay them.

10. BEWARE OF SOME UNNECESSARY EXTRAS
Some credit card companies employ some accredited service providers who will call you and offer you extra services like credit insurance, disability insurance, credit protection and other "conveniences" that you don't actually need. If that's true in your case, you can just disregard them.

There are a lot more equally important and effective ways to save money using your credit card but I think this will suffice for now, you can subscribe for my future posts you will receive those other info.

It is not only about saving money using your credit card, but actually I learned a few strategies to make money using my credit card. Yes you can make money using credit card! I have been doing it and it is perfectly fine. Just watch for it, I will be posting them here.

In closing, I got this quote from Mr. Warren Buffett who once said:
    "Rule No.1: NEVER LOSE MONEY.
    Rule No.2: NEVER FORGET RULE NUMBER 1."

More Helpful Ideas:
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     2) The Story of A Young Filipino Multi-millionaire
   3) Learn To Take Charge of Your Money

Thanks for dropping by.

The Most Popular And Most Profitable Philippine Investment Vehicles

2010-09-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

Time To Change. Times Have Changed.
Many of our young working Filipino professionals are inclined to work abroad and apply for a foreign citizenship via the immigration process because they think that it is hard to make money and get rich in the Philippines.

This was also my way of thinking before until I got into business and got exposed to different money-making options in the Philippines, and actually found out that it is actually easy to make money in the Philippines, you just have to be creative to keep updated of the goings on and the ins and outs in the business world in the Philippines.

There is a wide range of choices depending on your appetite for risk or comfort level. If one invests early in life, most likely he gets rich faster and much earlier than those who started late. Although this is not the rule of the thumb but this is likely true when compounding of interest works.

Now Is The Best Time To Invest
Now is the best time to invest in the Philippines, more so because the business confidence in the new administration is quite high as indicated by the more than 13 times over subscription of the Peso-
denominated bonds worth US$ 1B that was offered to foreign investors last week. The 13x over subscription is a strong statement of support and confidence in the current administration so far.

The Philippine Stock Exchange trading has also been experiencing a sustained rally in the past weeks sans minor corrections, the index has lately reached its record high of 4,096.66 points and it is well on the
way to break the 5,000 mark.

The Peso is also gaining so much ground that it is approaching to breach the psychological level of P43.00 = US$ 1. Now is the best time to invest in the Philippines.

A Lot of Investment Options Available
You can either make investments in the traditional brick-and-mortar type of direct investments or the quick and fast-lane type of portfolio investing. There are also many types of investment vehicles to make
passive income, depending on your risk appetite, such as:

1) MUTUAL FUNDS
One of the safest and low-risk way to invest is in Mutual Funds. This one is one of the best and most commonly affordable because you can start with a very small capital. Your investments, in multiples of
P5,000 is pooled together with that of the other investors into common (mutual) fund which is managed by professional fund managers and it will be invested as equity into different industries like real estate, telecommunications, power and energy, and other equally attractive issues; and also into foreign exchange trading, treasury bills and government bonds, and corporate stocks and bonds. You just have to wait
when the NAVPS (Net Asset Value Per Share) goes up at a much higher rate than when you brought your shares, sell your shares when it does and you make money in that instant. The professional fund managers do the work for you to raise the value of your shares.

2) CORPORATE STOCKS
This is a relatively highly rewarding type of investment but it carries some high risks too. You ride on the Company's ability to make profits and its favorable market perception or possible appreciation in value
when you buy a share of a Company listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). As a share holder of the Company, you become partly an owner of the company and you get to share the companies' profits by way
of stock dividends and also its losses which can be just a paper loss when you hold on to your shares until it bounces back. A good example is that of Vista Land (VLL) by Manny Villar which went down sharply
during the election campaign when news about alleged corruption issues went around but later on recovered and its steep climb sustained by the strong market rally recently. The guy must have made billions and has
recovered his election expenses many times over.

3) FOREIGN CURRENCY TRADING
This option carries with it a high degree of risk, but highly rewarding too. In forex trading you buy different currencies such as the US Dollar, the Euro, Yen or other foreign currency that you think will appreciate in value against the Peso. It is like betting on a US Dollar by buying it at say P44.10 and wait for that time when the exchange goes up to say P44.90 to a US Dollar, and you make P0.80 per US Dollar when you unload. And this can happen in a day or two, especially when there is bad news in the country.

4) REAL ESTATE
This one is my favorite and I have been doing this for years. It is also highly rewarding but you cannot pull out your investments very easily unlike the other options. An investor can buy real estate at pre-selling prices which is discounted by around 20-30% off from the regular price, pay the downpayment in 12-18 months with no interest and then unload the property at prevailing market rates once the property is ready for turnover. Another approach is buy foreclosed and highly depreciated properties in favorable locations, introduce some repairs, modifications and upgrading to make it more like brand new and sell it at market value, or it can also be offered for rent. I will expound on this in my future posts, this being my favorite.

5) TRADING OF GOODS AND SERVICES
Produce or buy a product at wholesale prices and sell them at a higher price either in wholesale or retail. This is mostly where the Filipino-Chinese taipans started to make money in the early days. The same also
applies when selling services, especially in contracting.

6) TREASURY BILLS & GOVERNMENT BONDS
The Philippines is now on the road to progress again. The National Government is now focused in investing in the area of infrastructure, health and basic services, upgrading the military and police capability in terms of training and equipment. This implies that a huge fund is needed by the Government to fast track their implementation and tends to increase the budget deficit so they have offered T-Bills and Bonds that carries attractive and guaranteed rates because they need that much money to cover the gap.

101 More Ways To Make Money In The Philippines
There are still a hundred and one ways to make money in the Philippines especially in the current robust economic environment, like in tourism and recreation, infrastructure, education, mining, power generation
especially those tapping the renewable energy sources because they enjoy attractive perks and tax exemptions, food services, wellness & fitness, housing development for the low income and middle class
market, and many more.

Start It Now
The best thing to know which is best for you is to come to the Philippines and make your own feel of the situation. We encourage our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to learn the world of investing, rather
than just allow their kids back home spend all their money in gadgets and branded clothing and vices just to fill in that deep void in their hearts longing to be with their Moms and Dads.

Investing is maybe new to some and that is understandable because investing is not taught in school. They trained us to be very good professionals, engineers, doctors, technicians, scientists, researchers, accountants, financial analysts but all we learned were about academics. They never taught us how to become entrepreneurs and money makers. They never trained us how to put up and profitably run a business as a nurse, engineer, academician, doctor or accountant.

Feel free to post comments and ask questions on some of the things mentioned here that you need to clarify or need to be informed further, and I will be glad to help you and my bias is more on the side of the investor because I do not sell or broker for anybody, but I do invest myself.

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Thank you for dropping by.

How To Help Young Kids Make Money and Invest Wisely

2010-09-21T22:15:00.001-07:00

An Effective Way To Help Young Kids Make Money To Become Millionaires. And Parents Too!
Kids and parents alike wonder how kids can actually make money early in life when in fact one of the early childhood skills that they learn aside from reciting the alphabet is how to spend money their Mom and Dad give them to buy their favorite ice cream.

You might wonder how kids can make money and invest wisely when in fact most kids are good at how to spend money rather than how to save money!

But before you dismiss this as totally unrealistic, better read on first and discover how kids can make money, like adults do.

Contrary to the common notion that little kids are only good at asking for money from their Mom and Dad and spend everything to buy kiddie toys, think again, because I have a different experience with my kids, and allow me to share them to you here.

One Life-Changing Experience For The Kids
This life-changing experience started on one Christmas time in 2002 when my two lovely kids, then aged 2 and 9 years old, would joyfully come home and proudly show us how much money and candies that they got from caroling around our neighborhood, and they would ask us to help them count their money while they can’t wait to unwrap their candies.

But caroling is not the way to make money that I want to share here although it was really fascinating to see them do it almost each night of that week before Christmas day so that they were able to raise a few hundred bucks, and I’m sure they got it not by their angelic voices but rather by their cute and lovely looks! But because my kids are no different from other kids their age, they would want to spend almost immediately the money they earned from caroling on every kiddie toys they liked.

So to divert their attention and to teach them the virtue of saving, I promised them that I will double the amount of whatever money is left in their piggy bank by New Year’s Eve. And you know, this simple
challenge worked wonders in the mind and behavior of our kids towards money – instead of wanting to spend their money in no time, they became busy adding up more money to their savings and they made a list to monitor how much is in their piggy bank. Their list gave me an idea how much I needed to prepare to make sure that their savings will indeed be doubled by New Year’s Eve.

New Year, New Outlook In Finances
Then that memorable New Year’s Eve of 2003 came, and we shared good food after our Prayer of Thanksgiving, it was a wonderful family time together. But before we finished our sumptuous midnight meal, the kids remembered our promise and they jumped off their seats and ran to grab their piggy banks and came rushing back with the demanding looks in their eyes – wanting us to double their savings which we did right away to avoid losing our credibility to them. So they broke their piggy banks and spread all their money on the floor and excitedly counted every bill and every coin.

Our eldest can already count well so she was the first to double her money. She got another 1,350.00 for her 1,350 savings and the other got another 1,540.50 for his savings of 1,540.50 which took him a tough time counting though, what can you expect from a 2 year old boy!

Now, for fear that they might just spend all they’ve got on just anything that catches their fancy, we asked them to invest their money. But as expected of young little kids like them, they had no inkling about investing money because they did not understand what is meant by investing money so we tried our best explaining it to them, telling them that when they invest their money it will grow more money over time. And they would ask us: “But Daddy, what would happen to our money if in case we forgot to water them?” - kids really know how to ask tough and silly questions sometimes, I tell you.

How To Grow Money 101
It was hard to explain some concepts on personal finance to kids their age, so to help them understand and absorb what we meant by investing money and growing money over time, I grabbed my computer and made an Excel worksheet program to illustrate what we meant, and showed to them how their money can grow. This illustration is shown below.

This Microsoft Excel illustration table shows how my son Ken can become a millionaire at age 28 starting with his seed money of only 3,081.00 on New Year's Eve of 2003 at a young age of 2 years old.

At first he cannot believe what he heard from me, he cannot believe that he can become rich! That's very understandable for a 2 year old son, and millions doesn't impress him either.

But now that he is 9 years old, these things makes sense to him already. He is now conscious of really saving 10.00 per day till he gets 12 years old, 25.00 per day when in high school, 50.00 per day during his college days and invest everything that he saved in our company's Credit Cooperative which can give him an average annual return of 8%, and reinvest all the money gained to make more money on an annual basis, he will be able to make 228,195.00 at age 21 or when he graduates from College.

Assuming that he works for a Company in order to gain some experience in business and at the same time save 125.00 everyday from his salary then he will be able to make 598,989.00 at age 26. That is already a lot of money to put up at least 2 to 5 small enterprises and continue to save some 500.00 from his daily revenue and invest the money on the same Business Cooperative that gives him 8% per annum, he should be able to make money at 31 years old to the tune of 2.1 MILLION already which is enough to put up a big business.

Please remember that this 2.1M comes from his investments from the Business Cooperative, we are not counting yet how much money he would make from his 2-5 small scale businesses and his main big enterprise.

Now, if he can just follow the pattern of saving money and investing money in such profitable Business Cooperative which will give him 8% annual return of investment and keep on to save money and reinvest money until he becomes 40 years old. At 40 he will be 9.5 Million richer by then just from this save-money-and-reinvest-money scheme. If his businesses will be giving him more money, just imagine how much money will he have by then!

But for illustration purposes, let us just discount whatever money he will be able to make from his businesses, let us just stick first with our scheme of some money and invest money in a Cooperative.

Consistency Is The Key
Provided that he continues to do the same scheme as shown above by saving money and investing money, he will be able to make money to the tune of 4.8 Million by age 35, or 14.5 Million by age 45, or 46 Million by at age 60, 68 Million at age 65, 99.5 Million by age 70, or a whooping 146.1 Million by age 75! What a grandiose way to retire - with 146 Million available for you.

And remember, it started with his 3,081.00 money saved from christmas carolling at age 2. That money could have gone to the mall in exchange for a nice toy or some good looking pair of branded shoes! But because of discipline and sticking to save money and investing money on a profitable business, little kids can indeed become millionaires by themselves.

My daughter Karen, following the same principles can make money out of her initial savings of 2,700.00 and invest her money on the same investment portfolio, she can pretty much make money of 2 Million at age 31, 4.6 Million at 35, 14.2 Million at 45, or 45 Million at age 60, and continue on to making money so that her total fortune can become 66.1 Million at 65, 97.2 Million at 70 or a mind-boggling 143 Million at age 75!

Money-Making Tips for Parents Too!
They can make more money if they save more and invest more. The 8% return per annum is quite low actually because their investments right now is giving them a low of 19% per annum and a high of 28% per annum!

I and my wife have also invested in this Business Cooperative and we are very satisfied with the rate our investments are growing.

You too can employ the same tactic to your kids especially because Christmas is again about to come. More of these effective ways to help your kids become multi-millionaires even at their young age in our other posts.

These are simple yet effective ways to save money and make more money - and it's very practical even for beginners. If my kids can do it, you can do it too!

You may subscribe for our succeeding posts if you wish. Thank you for visiting our site and we hope we were able to help you make your kids become successful in saving money and investing money and become successful in life. God bless you.

Other Equally Helpful Articles:
     1) A Millionaire At 28
     2) Learn To Take Charge of Your Money
     3) Practical Ways Kids Can Learn To Make Money Online
     4) Kids Should Learn Personal Finance Early In Life

You can get a free copy of the above program that I personally designed for my kids, and you can tinker them yourself, you can experiment how rich you can possibly become if you start saving and investing at your age now, and figure out how much money are you willing to save daily to reach your goal, and where you plan to invest your savings that will give you a return of say 5%, 8%, 10% or even 12% every year.

Just send me an email here and ask for a free copy - absolutely free, and I promise you I won't flood you with promotional emails and other nonsense that some guys do. I just want to help, just as what I did to my lovely kids.

Many thanks for dropping by.

Thanks For Dropping By

2010-09-08T05:43:00.000-07:00

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