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Paul-Strauss from richdad.com starts a post that catch my eye and make me have the passion to share it in my blog. He gave a comparation of different action that will make you success and fail in business. Below is his post :

”If you were wondering how to fail in business, it’s really easy:

1. Come up with a product or service.

2. Then run around trying to find people to sell it to.

To succeed in business? That’s easy, too:

1. Find out what people want

2. Come up with a product or service that gives people what they told you they want.

Caution: Make sure that you are finding out what the ULTIMATE BENEFIT they’re looking for is. Lot’s of people say they want this or that– and what they’re talking about are features– gizmos, gadgets, etc. Pay attention to WHY they say they want X,Y,Z widget or other. What is the benefit they’re ultimately looking for? “

Some words from me :
In many sales and marketing books, the theory of “Sell what people want instead of what you want” is being touched inside the books. Why? Because this is the fastest way you close the sales and make money. It is much more easier to market a products that have its own market.

Source : Richdad.com

Ways To Make More Money

In Personal Finance, what we learn and do is trying to park our cash to a better place. Our job is parking our cash into a place where the cash can grow. There are a lot of places for us to park our cash. So what we will consider is how fast it can grow, what is the risk and how long it takes to grow your cash to a certain level.

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Jennie L. Phipps from Bankrate.com wrote an article that shared with us some of the great place for us to park our cash. So I listed down 5 that Jennie suggested below:

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1. Bank Certificates of Deposit / CDs Banks

You purchase a CD for a fixed amount of money for a fixed period of time - one month, three months, six months, a year, five years, etc. CDs Banks will lend out the money at a higher rates and at the end of the day offering a very attractive savings rate.

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2. Online Bank Savings Accounts

Some online banks offer the equivalent of a business sweep account to nonbusiness-owning investors. These accounts allow you to move money from your checking account at your regular brick-and-mortar bank into their interest-paying savings accounts. When you need to spend it, you can transfer the money back (the online banks generally don’t offer checking), with no expense and very little hassle. Some of the hot online bank is Emigrant Direct, HSBCDirec.com, IngDirect.com and Capital One and etc.

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3. Bank or investment company money market funds

Your neighborhood bank or the investment company where you stash your IRA is likely to offer a money market account or money market mutual fund. The neighborhood bank’s yields might not be quite as high as those of online banks, but rates are going up. Mutual funds sold by Fidelity, Vanguard, USAA and TIAA-CREF as being particularly low-cost

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4. Ultrashort bond funds

Ultrashort bond funds are administered by many investment management companies. Bond funds offer a little more yield than money funds at a slightly increased risk. Ultrashort bond mutual funds invest primarily in U.S. Treasury notes, corporate bonds and mortgage-backed securities. Because these bonds mature in no more than six months, the investments turn over quickly, and bad luck generally doesn’t hang around.

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5. Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs

With short-duration fixed-income holdings are a less attractive alternative. Only a few fixed-income ETFs exist at this point in time, and most focus on Treasury securities. They are available through iShare funds sold by Barclays Global Investors, which also offers two bond ETFs with broader holdings. They are only slightly riskier than U.S. Treasury bonds and potentially more lucrative.

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Source : Bankrate.com

Uncategorized Financial Planning

Jeffrey Strain, one of the personal finance who wrie a lot of articles for Saving Advice Website. Today I found his blog called Personal Fiannce Advice because of his post about the money myth. In his post, he shared with us the money myth of refinancing a mortgage. Below is part of his post that I want to share it here:

“The problem was that he had confused paying less on a monthly basis with saving money. He had achieved the first (paying less), but had also extended his mortgage back to 30 years each time he’d refinanced. This is a problem I see often when someone refinances a mortgage loan. For example, if you had a 30 year mortgage and had paid it for 5 years before refinancing, and when you refinance you do so for a 30 year term again, you have extended the previous 30 year loan to 35 years. Since the first years of the loan are when you are paying almost all interest, even with the lower interest rate and lower monthly payments, you’ll still likely pay much more money over the long term for the loan.”

Some words from me :
I totally agree with Jeffrey that we must be careful in refinancing our mortgage. As I know, the first few years, most of our monthly payments are paid to interest instead of the loan. So if you refinance your mortgage, then possible you will pay more in interest in long run. However, if you refinance your investment property, the story will be different. For example, if Jeffrey’s friend refinance his mortgage for investment property, then he can leverage on the mortgage and take out some cash from it. Let’s say he rent his house out and have a monthly rental that more than his monthly installment, then the risk of interest rate will be covered by the rental. So if he refinance his mortgage, then he is just taking out some profit from the mortgage. There are a lot of knowledge in refinancing a mortgage. What we can do is just learn it and in one day we can profit from it.

Source : Personal Finance Advice

Uncategorized What I Learn from Others

We, as human, sometimes really strange. In our life, most of the time, we know what we want and what work best for us. But because of certain reason, we always fail to make it. I think most of them is generated by us, ourselves. Don’t you think it is strange? We are blocking ourselves from getting what we intend to get! Of course sometime we fail because of other external factor that beyond our control.

Today, I want to share with you one of the article from About.com that I read today and suitable to put here as a reminder for me(I hope it can for you too) types of roadblocks on the road to building wealth. I think these roadblocks do apply on the journey to financial freedom.

” Many Americans will never reach their dreams of building wealth, being financially secure, and being able to retire in comfort. The reason is most often a combination of these seven biggest money mistakes.

1. Having a Thirty-year Mortgage

Where do you find the money to build wealth? Try looking at your mortgage. Millions of Americans think nothing of paying for their home over 30 years, even though the average homeowner ends up paying two-and-a-half times the purchase price of the home by stretching the payments out this long. Having a 15-year mortgage instead of a 30-year mortgage can save you large sums of money and help you build wealth. See page two of this article for examples of how you may be able to save over $100,000 over the life of your mortgage.

2. Giving Control of Your Money to Someone Else

If you’re not involved in your day-to-day family finances, you’re putting yourself at risk. If you’re married and you let your spouse handle all the financial matters, you’re at risk if your spouse dies or becomes seriously ill or if you divorce. Know the details of your family’s finances, investments, debts, retirement savings, etc. Don’t turn your investments and financial affairs over to a broker or financial consultant without keeping abreast of what is being done with your money and being involved in investment decisions. Never give control of your money to someone else.

3. Not Controlling Spending Leaks

The reason so many people in America are in so much debt is because they dribble their money away in small, barely noticeable amounts. Like drops of water dribbling through the hole in the dike, the loss is barely noticeable, but over time the hole in the dike gets bigger and bigger. By the time the water is gushing through, the damage is done. The same is true with spending leaks. It’s a lot easier to plug a small hole than to ignore the drips and look over your shoulder later and see a huge tidal wave of water coming your way in the form of unmanageable debt. If you’re ever going to accumulate wealth, you must control spending leaks.

4. Not Setting Goals

If you don’t know where you’re headed and how you plan to get there, you’ll probably never arrive. To accumulate wealth, you need a plan. To be motivated to save money, you need something specific to save for. To succeed in accumulating wealth, write your goals down and visualize them, whether they’re a relaxing retirement, a mortgage-free home, or an unforgettable vacation.

5. Incurring Too Much Debt

If you’re spending all your money paying interest on credit cards and installment debt, you won’t have enough left for savings. When you buy on credit and don’t pay the balance off at the end of the month, you end up paying much more for your purchases. A $1200 big-screen TV can end up costing you $2500, but you’ll never know it because the true cost is hidden in your credit card payments. Pay cash and stay away from credit card debt if you want to accumulate wealth.

6. Not Saving Enough for Retirement or Starting Too Late

When you’re in your 20s and 30s, it’s easy to think you have all the time in the world to accumulate wealth and save for retirement. The truth is, you’ll have to save a lot less if you start now and give your earnings time to compound. If you’re over 40 and you’re behind on your retirement savings, you’ll have to save much larger sums to ever catch up to where you should be. Start saving early, and save at least 10 to 15% of your income, and you’ll be well on your way to accumulating wealth.

7. Cashing Out Retirement Funds

Half of all Americans end up cashing out their 401(k) balances when they change jobs. Still others take out loans against their 401(k) balances, permanently reducing the amount of earnings they would have accumulated. If you want to accumulate wealth, tax-deferred retirement plans like 401(k) plans are a great way to do it, but resist the urge to tap those funds before retirement.

Avoid these seven money mistakes and increase your chances of successfully accumulating wealth.”

Source : About.com

Achieve Financial Freedom

Today while I visit to a blog, I found some really good values that I should share here. I found that those values are MUST for those who want to be success in their life. Here are the values and my personal quotes:

1. Have Fun!

DO what you’re good at and enjoy what you do!

Personal Quotes : I always hear many people become success and rich because they are doing something that they like. They have passion in it and don’t give up as easy as others. Finally their hard works pay and they get what they want.

2. CAST

CAST = Consistent Application of Solid Technique.

Personal Quotes : Before this I heard a Chinese story about 2 guys. Guy A learns everything, chess, Kung Fu, Study and so on. But guy B only love chess and he plays chess everyday. They went for competition. Guy A didn’t win any competition however guy B won the chess champion. This story tells us that we must concentrate on one skill and technique. Train them up and you will be success.

3. Get Better ever year

Even for the best, there’s always for improvement

Personal Quotes : I believe there are no such things on this world that own its “100%”. Human is one kind of creatures that has no limit. So it is reasonable for us to push ourselves to improve and move on.

4. If you don’t know, ask!

Get the facts….. from customers, from employees

Personal Quotes : If you don’t ask, you don’t know. So if you want to know anything, just ask. Asking is the fastest way to get an answer. In business, sometimes we must ask, so we can know our customers better. I think this is why there is a service called “Survey”.

5. Don’t steer by looking at the wake…..

If you always do what you always did, you won’t even get what you always got.

Personal Quotes : World is changing everyday. Last 10 years, if you do this can make 1 millions dollar, but maybe not for today. So, we must change along the world.

6. Always hire the best

Don’t be afraid they’ll replace you

Personal Quotes : Always hire and work together with the best. Don’t afraid they’ll replace you, because you will learn from them and improve too.

7. Invest, don’t spend

ROI applies to everything

Personal Quotes : One of the good habit of rich is they always make their decision in terms of “investment”. This is why they always invest their money and not just spend the money on others no returns stuff. To them, ROI, returns of investment is what they always keep in mind.

8. Cash is king

If you can’t pay your bills, you’ll go out of business

Personal Quotes : In our life, cash is everything. Especially in business. So you must know how to handle the cash on your hand and use it wisely, so you won’t ruin your life and also your business.

9. Always know your number before Accounting

….. remember they are scorekeepers. Don’t let the business run you

Personal Quotes : Either in personal finance or business, we must clear with all the numbers that happen everyday. Where we spend our money and how much reserve we have. Don’t always depend on those accountants or book keepers. At the time you read their reports, sometimes it may too late for you.

10. Commanders lead from the front

Don’t ask your people do what you wouldn’t be prepared to do yourself!

Personal Quotes : Leadership is important for us to be success. So always be prepared to do everything with others. I think there are no such leader that just know how to give command and don’t know how to do anything.

Source : Blog

Achieve Financial Freedom, Business Skill, MISC