June 24, 2011
Real Estate: The Secret To Wealth Creation
The secret to acquiring wealth is real estate. The economy may rise and fall, but real estate will remain one of the most reliable investments. The reason is simple: everybody needs someplace to live. So how do you go from chump to Trump? Here are some steps to help you manage your own real estate empire.
1. Start Small. The easiest way to start your real estate empire is by owning your own land. Renting is never an option for those hoping to own multiple properties in a lifetime. Many people resign themselves to renting during the first five to ten years of their adult lives, instead of paying that same monthly bill on a less luxurious house or condo. The only way to own a big house is to sell a smaller house, and the only way to own a smaller house is by always choosing to buy instead of rent.
2. Expand Slowly. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, which is why this expansion process should go slowly, and should only be attempted by those serious about their investments. Purchasing and then renting an apartment is a great idea, as the monthly rent paid by someone will be applied towards your eventual ownership of the property. Start with whatever unit you can afford (ideally a property with costs that wouldn’t cripple you if it took a few months to find a tenant).
3. Reinvest profits. The number one rule in business and life, is to always reinvest your profits. While it can be tempting to start collecting your hard-earned dividends, reinvesting them will prove to be much more beneficial in the long run. While it may be tempting to take profits and go on vacation, reinvesting it in more properties, or making property upgrades, is vital in amassing and maintaining a position of wealth. From here, it becomes an exponential formula. The more property you own, the more income you generate. The more income you generate, the more property you can buy. Keeping this machine fed will ensure that you are financially stable for years to come.
4. Pre-Sale is your friend. Finding good properties at value prices can be something of a challenge, but there is one time when a condo, apartment, or home is always at its most affordable; before it is built. ‘Model units now open’ is a sign that should read, ‘get in here and make easy money’. Pre-sale homes and condos are always 30-50% less expensive than the same homes or condos a year later, based simply on the fact land owners often need those sales in order to finish the overall project. By getting in on the ground floor, and purchasing units in a building that is not yet open, you can guarantee return on your investment, and allow yourself far more wiggle room in your portfolio.
5. Begin to Take Bigger Risks. Years passed, and your flow of income is abundant: capable property managers are running things with minimal supervision. It is at this phase that people have the opportunity for rewards, if they are willing to take risks. The number one phrase in real estate is ‘location, location, location’. However, as agents will tell you, prime locations do not always stay prime for very long. Subsequently, areas that are less than ideal (and in some instances downright dangerous) could be the hot new ‘it’ place of tomorrow.
6. Stay Educated. It has all sounded relatively easy thus far; buy some land, make some money, buy more land, repeat. However the truth of the matter is the successful real estate tycoon treats this side investment as a full-time job. For those hoping to succeed at owning multiple properties, education and having a helpful property management company are both a must. Reading home listings, going to monthlyThornhill Wealth Forum meetings, going to open houses, watching market trends, and paying attention to lending rates, are all part of the necessary activities that successful real estate investors participate in daily. While this all seems overwhelming, the reality is that it is common sense. Buying low, selling high, and paying attention, are the keys to success, but they need to be closely monitored in order to guarantee profit.
Conclusion: While the road to wealth seems particularly elusive, it is not overwhelmingly difficult to find. Although not everyone wants to own massive lots of property, keeping these tips in your repertoire will keep you fiscally wise and may benefit you greatly, no matter what your endeavour.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 17,2011
Some Rules of Thumb....Pay For Experiences Not Things
Here are a few rules of thumb before making a purchase. Its all about the features that give you value rather than the product.
Pay for location, not square footage. A home in a good location will always retain its value. On the other hand, lots of square footage mostly means room to store stuff you don’t really need, you often have to be far from your job in order to have a huge house.
Pay for hardware, not software. Most of the applications that people need for their home computer have quality free versions online. Need Office? Use OpenOffice or Google Docs. Image editing? FotoFlexer (and other such tools) do almost anything a home user would want to do.
Pay for the beans, not the coffeepot. My friend uses a cheap old coffee pot that she’s had since they were in college. The coffee you put into the pot makes all the difference, not the pot itself, according to her. A $200 coffee pot with bad coffee beans will still make you a poor drink.
Pay for speed, not size. If you’re buying a new computer and are comparing hard drives, get the faster one rather than the bigger one for home use, as it’ll speed up your computer substantially and you don’t really need another 80 GB.
Pay for reference, not entertainment. I only buy a book if I know I’m going to return to it again and again. For books that don’t fall into that category, I check them out at the library or swap them online.
Pay for energy efficiency, not features. When you’re buying a large appliance, the energy efficiency of the appliance outweighs virtually every feature because of the enormous amount of energy used by the appliance. For example, an older refrigerator can use as much as 1,400 kWh of energy per year, which adds up (at $0.12 per kWh) to $168 a year. A newer refrigerator may use as little as 200 kWh of energy per year, which adds up to $24 per year, a savings of $144 per year. Over a twenty year lifespan, that’s $2,880 in savings, far more than the cost of the fridge itself. Similar calculations are true for other large appliances, such as washers, dryers, furnaces, and A/C units.
Pay for freshness, not convenience. Paying for convenience with food is usually a very poor bargain and often results in either bland food or food loaded down with so many chemicals and artificial flavorings and preservatives that you don’t even want to imagine what it’s doing to you inside. Buy fresh foods, take them home, wash them, and prepare them simply.
Pay for experiences, not things. A thing is something that takes up space in your house. An experience changes who you are as a person. One cannot be replaced, while the other can easily be replaced. Give me junky furniture and a lifetime of memories.
Pay for what you need, not what you want. This is the best tip of all. Figure out your actual needs before you ever go shopping for any item, then seek out the least expensive option that matches your needs. Your wants mostly just cost you money without giving you anything you need.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------June 10, 2011
Financial Peace of Mind is Priceless
If you will live like no one else, then later you get to live like no one else. But what does that really mean? Does it mean we want you to earn lots and lots of money so you get really wealthy and buy whatever you want for the rest of your life? Of course not.
There’s nothing wrong with having money. And there’s nothing wrong with using it to buy some fun stuff. There are a lot of people who have gotten the crazy idea that rich people are somehow evil or something. But it’s simply not true!
Have you ever met a rich person who was a greedy, rotten jerk? Sure! Have you met a poor person who was a greedy, rotten jerk? Of course! But there are wealthy people out there who are some of the kindest, most generous people you’ll ever meet. And there are poor people who are some of the kindest, most generous people in the world, too.
You see, money is amoral. It doesn’t have any guiding principles of its own. Having money or not having it doesn’t change who you already are. When you earn more money, it just makes you more of who you are. If you are a generous person and you get wealthy, you become a generous, wealthy person. It’s all about whose hands the money is in.
Think about a brick for a second. In the hands of the right person, a brick can be used to skillfully build a home for a family. But it the wrong hands, a brick can be used to break your car window and steal your wallet. It’s all about whose hands it’s in. The brick doesn’t care!
So there’s nothing wrong with making money or with spending it on some cool stuff for yourself. Having stuff will never satisfy you. That’s why our ultimate goal of teaching you to take control of your money isn’t so you can build wealth for wealth’s sake.
There are a lot of incredible things that happen when you learn to manage your money instead of letting the lack of it manage you.
Financial Peace strengthens relationships. You may not realize how much your relationship with money affects your relationships with other people! Marriage can be hard enough, so getting rid of one source of conflict altogether is life-changing!
Financial Peace brings a sense of hope and freedom. When you find out where your money is going instead of wondering where it went, it’s amazing how much less stress you experience in life. Not only are you not worrying about bills, but you have a plan for the future. You’re giving every dollar a name on paper, on purpose, before the month begins. This brings about a sense of confidence, hope for the future, and freedom!
Financial Peace changes your family tree. What kind of financial legacy do you want to leave to your family? You may not leave millions behind someday, but it’s important to decide what kind of legacy you want to create. How would it feel to know that instead of leaving behind debt and unpaid bills, you knew your family would be taken care of—that generations to come would benefit from the wisdom you chose to live by? Now that’s changing your family tree!
Financial Peace allows you the freedom to give generously. If you’ve ever experienced what it’s like to freely give to someone else, then you’ve tasted the joy of giving. There’s nothing more fun and fulfilling to do with money! But when you’ve got debt payments out the wazoo, it’s hard to feel like you can give. That robs you of the opportunity to give from your God-given desire to help other people and to meet the needs you feel most passionate about. When you get control of your money, you’re able to meet needs with joy instead of guilt. This alone is reason enough to bring Financial Peace of mind into your life!
Please join the Thornhill Wealth Forum on June 25 for 2 hours of knowledge sharing and building wealth.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------June 3, 2011
5 Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me
The 5 Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me by Richard Paul Evans is an inspirational account and reminder of how to be financially free. The book is broken down into 5 key principles. Here is a summary of the principles in the book
Decide to Be Wealthy
Do you want a lifetime of financial success? Or do you want to be the first person on your block with the new iPad 2? Very rarely will those two things go together. Simply put, you have to want financial success. You have to want freedom from debt and, eventually, freedom from work. More importantly, you have to want them more than the trappings of affluence often seen in the world. You can either “live rich” or be rich. Almost no one can really do both.
Take Responsibility for Your Money
Know how much money you have. Be aware of where every dollar goes – and why it’s going there. Once you start asking yourself the why when it comes to every dollar you spend, you begin to see how much of your money is wasted on things that are not helpful with where you want to be going.
This is painful self-analysis for many people. You have to move from blaming others for you not getting ahead to looking at all of the choices you’re making. Often, that’s an ugly picture.
Keep a Portion of Everything You Earn
The simplest way in which people do this is withdrawing a bit of each paycheque for their retirement fund. That’s a good start, but it goes deeper than that. For example, many people are hooked on a chain of making car payments, then eventually trading in that car for another car on loan and making payments on that car. Instead, keep a portion of each paycheque for the next car you’ll have to buy. Instead of paying interest to the car dealership on each and every loan payment, you can keep all of that interest money for yourself and even earn a bit more from the interest on your savings account where you keep that money.
It’s all about saving a little bit at a time so that you have a big mountain later on. It’s about spending less than you earn each pay period and actually conserving the rest.
Little Things Do Matter
There is a lot of money to be mined from the little changes you can make in your life.
For example, If you try buying some generic items and raw ingredients at the grocery store, you’ll spend significantly less on food and household supplies, again, without inconveniencing your life. Make enough of these little changes and you’ll have the money to do things like setting aside money each month for your next car. Then, when you write a cheque for that car, you don’t have a car payment to make and can channel that money forward into something else. It builds on itself like an avalanche rolling down the mountain.
The philosophy behind this is that long-term freedom and power are far more valuable than momentary fleeting pleasures.
Give Back
Evans makes a good case for charity here, but not so much in the form of writing a cheque to some group and forgetting about it. You should give to the things you care about in life. Get involved in your community. Choose charities that are addressing problems that have touched your life.
Helping to solve a problem you’ve faced in your life – and which continues to trouble others – isn’t just about handing over money. It’s about truly doing something of meaning with your life.
Real Estate: The Secret To Wealth Creation
The secret to acquiring wealth is real estate. The economy may rise and fall, but real estate will remain one of the most reliable investments. The reason is simple: everybody needs someplace to live. So how do you go from chump to Trump? Here are some steps to help you manage your own real estate empire.
1. Start Small. The easiest way to start your real estate empire is by owning your own land. Renting is never an option for those hoping to own multiple properties in a lifetime. Many people resign themselves to renting during the first five to ten years of their adult lives, instead of paying that same monthly bill on a less luxurious house or condo. The only way to own a big house is to sell a smaller house, and the only way to own a smaller house is by always choosing to buy instead of rent.
2. Expand Slowly. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, which is why this expansion process should go slowly, and should only be attempted by those serious about their investments. Purchasing and then renting an apartment is a great idea, as the monthly rent paid by someone will be applied towards your eventual ownership of the property. Start with whatever unit you can afford (ideally a property with costs that wouldn’t cripple you if it took a few months to find a tenant).
3. Reinvest profits. The number one rule in business and life, is to always reinvest your profits. While it can be tempting to start collecting your hard-earned dividends, reinvesting them will prove to be much more beneficial in the long run. While it may be tempting to take profits and go on vacation, reinvesting it in more properties, or making property upgrades, is vital in amassing and maintaining a position of wealth. From here, it becomes an exponential formula. The more property you own, the more income you generate. The more income you generate, the more property you can buy. Keeping this machine fed will ensure that you are financially stable for years to come.
4. Pre-Sale is your friend. Finding good properties at value prices can be something of a challenge, but there is one time when a condo, apartment, or home is always at its most affordable; before it is built. ‘Model units now open’ is a sign that should read, ‘get in here and make easy money’. Pre-sale homes and condos are always 30-50% less expensive than the same homes or condos a year later, based simply on the fact land owners often need those sales in order to finish the overall project. By getting in on the ground floor, and purchasing units in a building that is not yet open, you can guarantee return on your investment, and allow yourself far more wiggle room in your portfolio.
5. Begin to Take Bigger Risks. Years passed, and your flow of income is abundant: capable property managers are running things with minimal supervision. It is at this phase that people have the opportunity for rewards, if they are willing to take risks. The number one phrase in real estate is ‘location, location, location’. However, as agents will tell you, prime locations do not always stay prime for very long. Subsequently, areas that are less than ideal (and in some instances downright dangerous) could be the hot new ‘it’ place of tomorrow.
6. Stay Educated. It has all sounded relatively easy thus far; buy some land, make some money, buy more land, repeat. However the truth of the matter is the successful real estate tycoon treats this side investment as a full-time job. For those hoping to succeed at owning multiple properties, education and having a helpful property management company are both a must. Reading home listings, going to monthlyThornhill Wealth Forum meetings, going to open houses, watching market trends, and paying attention to lending rates, are all part of the necessary activities that successful real estate investors participate in daily. While this all seems overwhelming, the reality is that it is common sense. Buying low, selling high, and paying attention, are the keys to success, but they need to be closely monitored in order to guarantee profit.
Conclusion: While the road to wealth seems particularly elusive, it is not overwhelmingly difficult to find. Although not everyone wants to own massive lots of property, keeping these tips in your repertoire will keep you fiscally wise and may benefit you greatly, no matter what your endeavour.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 17,2011
Some Rules of Thumb....Pay For Experiences Not Things
Here are a few rules of thumb before making a purchase. Its all about the features that give you value rather than the product.
Pay for location, not square footage. A home in a good location will always retain its value. On the other hand, lots of square footage mostly means room to store stuff you don’t really need, you often have to be far from your job in order to have a huge house.
Pay for hardware, not software. Most of the applications that people need for their home computer have quality free versions online. Need Office? Use OpenOffice or Google Docs. Image editing? FotoFlexer (and other such tools) do almost anything a home user would want to do.
Pay for the beans, not the coffeepot. My friend uses a cheap old coffee pot that she’s had since they were in college. The coffee you put into the pot makes all the difference, not the pot itself, according to her. A $200 coffee pot with bad coffee beans will still make you a poor drink.
Pay for speed, not size. If you’re buying a new computer and are comparing hard drives, get the faster one rather than the bigger one for home use, as it’ll speed up your computer substantially and you don’t really need another 80 GB.
Pay for reference, not entertainment. I only buy a book if I know I’m going to return to it again and again. For books that don’t fall into that category, I check them out at the library or swap them online.
Pay for energy efficiency, not features. When you’re buying a large appliance, the energy efficiency of the appliance outweighs virtually every feature because of the enormous amount of energy used by the appliance. For example, an older refrigerator can use as much as 1,400 kWh of energy per year, which adds up (at $0.12 per kWh) to $168 a year. A newer refrigerator may use as little as 200 kWh of energy per year, which adds up to $24 per year, a savings of $144 per year. Over a twenty year lifespan, that’s $2,880 in savings, far more than the cost of the fridge itself. Similar calculations are true for other large appliances, such as washers, dryers, furnaces, and A/C units.
Pay for freshness, not convenience. Paying for convenience with food is usually a very poor bargain and often results in either bland food or food loaded down with so many chemicals and artificial flavorings and preservatives that you don’t even want to imagine what it’s doing to you inside. Buy fresh foods, take them home, wash them, and prepare them simply.
Pay for experiences, not things. A thing is something that takes up space in your house. An experience changes who you are as a person. One cannot be replaced, while the other can easily be replaced. Give me junky furniture and a lifetime of memories.
Pay for what you need, not what you want. This is the best tip of all. Figure out your actual needs before you ever go shopping for any item, then seek out the least expensive option that matches your needs. Your wants mostly just cost you money without giving you anything you need.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------June 10, 2011
Financial Peace of Mind is Priceless
If you will live like no one else, then later you get to live like no one else. But what does that really mean? Does it mean we want you to earn lots and lots of money so you get really wealthy and buy whatever you want for the rest of your life? Of course not.
There’s nothing wrong with having money. And there’s nothing wrong with using it to buy some fun stuff. There are a lot of people who have gotten the crazy idea that rich people are somehow evil or something. But it’s simply not true!
Have you ever met a rich person who was a greedy, rotten jerk? Sure! Have you met a poor person who was a greedy, rotten jerk? Of course! But there are wealthy people out there who are some of the kindest, most generous people you’ll ever meet. And there are poor people who are some of the kindest, most generous people in the world, too.
You see, money is amoral. It doesn’t have any guiding principles of its own. Having money or not having it doesn’t change who you already are. When you earn more money, it just makes you more of who you are. If you are a generous person and you get wealthy, you become a generous, wealthy person. It’s all about whose hands the money is in.
Think about a brick for a second. In the hands of the right person, a brick can be used to skillfully build a home for a family. But it the wrong hands, a brick can be used to break your car window and steal your wallet. It’s all about whose hands it’s in. The brick doesn’t care!
So there’s nothing wrong with making money or with spending it on some cool stuff for yourself. Having stuff will never satisfy you. That’s why our ultimate goal of teaching you to take control of your money isn’t so you can build wealth for wealth’s sake.
There are a lot of incredible things that happen when you learn to manage your money instead of letting the lack of it manage you.
Financial Peace strengthens relationships. You may not realize how much your relationship with money affects your relationships with other people! Marriage can be hard enough, so getting rid of one source of conflict altogether is life-changing!
Financial Peace brings a sense of hope and freedom. When you find out where your money is going instead of wondering where it went, it’s amazing how much less stress you experience in life. Not only are you not worrying about bills, but you have a plan for the future. You’re giving every dollar a name on paper, on purpose, before the month begins. This brings about a sense of confidence, hope for the future, and freedom!
Financial Peace changes your family tree. What kind of financial legacy do you want to leave to your family? You may not leave millions behind someday, but it’s important to decide what kind of legacy you want to create. How would it feel to know that instead of leaving behind debt and unpaid bills, you knew your family would be taken care of—that generations to come would benefit from the wisdom you chose to live by? Now that’s changing your family tree!
Financial Peace allows you the freedom to give generously. If you’ve ever experienced what it’s like to freely give to someone else, then you’ve tasted the joy of giving. There’s nothing more fun and fulfilling to do with money! But when you’ve got debt payments out the wazoo, it’s hard to feel like you can give. That robs you of the opportunity to give from your God-given desire to help other people and to meet the needs you feel most passionate about. When you get control of your money, you’re able to meet needs with joy instead of guilt. This alone is reason enough to bring Financial Peace of mind into your life!
Please join the Thornhill Wealth Forum on June 25 for 2 hours of knowledge sharing and building wealth.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------June 3, 2011
5 Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me
The 5 Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me by Richard Paul Evans is an inspirational account and reminder of how to be financially free. The book is broken down into 5 key principles. Here is a summary of the principles in the book
Decide to Be Wealthy
Do you want a lifetime of financial success? Or do you want to be the first person on your block with the new iPad 2? Very rarely will those two things go together. Simply put, you have to want financial success. You have to want freedom from debt and, eventually, freedom from work. More importantly, you have to want them more than the trappings of affluence often seen in the world. You can either “live rich” or be rich. Almost no one can really do both.
Take Responsibility for Your Money
Know how much money you have. Be aware of where every dollar goes – and why it’s going there. Once you start asking yourself the why when it comes to every dollar you spend, you begin to see how much of your money is wasted on things that are not helpful with where you want to be going.
This is painful self-analysis for many people. You have to move from blaming others for you not getting ahead to looking at all of the choices you’re making. Often, that’s an ugly picture.
Keep a Portion of Everything You Earn
The simplest way in which people do this is withdrawing a bit of each paycheque for their retirement fund. That’s a good start, but it goes deeper than that. For example, many people are hooked on a chain of making car payments, then eventually trading in that car for another car on loan and making payments on that car. Instead, keep a portion of each paycheque for the next car you’ll have to buy. Instead of paying interest to the car dealership on each and every loan payment, you can keep all of that interest money for yourself and even earn a bit more from the interest on your savings account where you keep that money.
It’s all about saving a little bit at a time so that you have a big mountain later on. It’s about spending less than you earn each pay period and actually conserving the rest.
Little Things Do Matter
There is a lot of money to be mined from the little changes you can make in your life.
For example, If you try buying some generic items and raw ingredients at the grocery store, you’ll spend significantly less on food and household supplies, again, without inconveniencing your life. Make enough of these little changes and you’ll have the money to do things like setting aside money each month for your next car. Then, when you write a cheque for that car, you don’t have a car payment to make and can channel that money forward into something else. It builds on itself like an avalanche rolling down the mountain.
The philosophy behind this is that long-term freedom and power are far more valuable than momentary fleeting pleasures.
Give Back
Evans makes a good case for charity here, but not so much in the form of writing a cheque to some group and forgetting about it. You should give to the things you care about in life. Get involved in your community. Choose charities that are addressing problems that have touched your life.
Helping to solve a problem you’ve faced in your life – and which continues to trouble others – isn’t just about handing over money. It’s about truly doing something of meaning with your life.