Archives for October 2013

Ways to Wealth

By Austin Netzley

Success is about making a bunch of small decisions, one after the other compounded on top of each other for a period of time. As Jeff Olson writes in The Slight Edge, these decisions are very easy to make and do. However, why aren’t more people successful? Because these same small, positive actions are so easy not to do as well.

“Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do.” – Jeff Olson

Financial success is a decision; it is a process. It takes some effort and a bit of time. Below are a list of tips to get you on the path towards true, and lasting wealth.

#w2w

Get a library card and use it!
Work out today.
Know who you are and, more importantly, who you are not.
Eat healthy.
Early to bed, early to rise (makes you healthy/wealthy/wise – Ben Franklin).
Make specific (SMART) goals over multiple time periods.
Get a car that is more than 3 years old.
Never eat lunch alone.
Rise with the sun on the weekend!
Get rid of television.
Join a mastermind!
Improve the average salary of the 5 people you spend the most time with.

[Read more…]

10 Quick & Dirty Investing Tips for the Young Professional

By Austin Netzley

Investing is challenging. I have made a lot of money in the stock market, but I’ve also lost a lot of money there as well. Early in my trading career, it was like a pendulum swinging from one side to the other. I would make money, then lose it all, make money, then lose it all. This cycle would repeat until I finally stopped trading.

I went to 100% cash, and told myself that I would never trade again until I figured out how to invest. I went on to spend months studying the experts, analyzing my trades and actions, and developing my unique trading strategy and plan. Finally, after a months-long hiatus from live trading, I went back into the market. This time with much more solid and consistent success.

Below are the lessons I was “fortunate” enough to learn early in my investing career.

These 10 “Quick & Dirty” tips will drastically help any professional (young or older), as they would have saved me many thousands of dollars had I known and acted on them sooner than I did.

1. Stop what you’re doing

Before doing anything, stop for a minute. Do not proceed until you take care of the basics. Investing is hard and expensive if you don’t have a plan. Essentially everyone is making money as the market roars to record highs, but do not be led to believe that this will continue. What happens if the market dips down by 20%? Are you prepared? It is easy to become lackadaisical when things are apparently “easy”. But before doing anything, you must have a plan. This will save you lots of money, as it would have for me when I started out! Holding your money in cash is not the end of the world. The stock market will be there tomorrow and the day after, but you can only take advantage of it if you are still have money in the future to invest!

“You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don’t understand that’s going to happen, then you’re not ready, you won’t do well in the markets.” – Peter Lynch

2. Set investing and financial goals

What are you trying to achieve? Where does investing fit into your wealth plan? Set your goals, and make them specific (I use Evernote to keep all of my goals)…

How much do you want to stock away every paycheck, every month, every year? Where do you want to be in 5 years financially? If you could have one financial accomplishment for this month, what would it be? And out of your investing, what are you really trying to achieve? [Read more…]

Expert Financial Advice – John Lee Dumas

By Austin Netzley

John Lee Dumas is the host of the top business podcast in iTunes, EntrepreneurOnFire. He started from scratch and built up a audience including nearly 500,000 downloads per month in one year’s time. His advice, along with several other experts, is a part of a FREE resource, The Best Financial Advice for Young Professionals.

“Make your money work for you, not against you. Debt works against you, investing works for you.” – John Lee Dumas

This brings up the power of compound interest, a subject that the wealthy truly understand.

Albert Einstein called compound interest “The most powerful force in the universe,” and “The greatest mathematical discovery of all time.”

Debt uses compound interest against you (for example, if you buy a house for $150,000 and pay 7% interest and minimum payments for 30 years, you actually pay $360,000 for the house!). Alternatively, investing the right way works for you. $10,000 invested every year at a continual 10% growth rate will be $1,000,000 in under 25 years! If you start at 22 years old, this is $1 Million from a mere $10,000 investment each year by the age of 47. Of course, the plan is to increase the amount you save/invest and achieve this milestone much, much earlier. And YoPro Wealth is here to help you do just that.

As young professionals, we are so fortunate because we have the most valuable tool on our side: time. We can take advantage of the power of compound interest, but only if we start now!

Learn the power of compound interest, and utilize it today.

Get the rest of the FREE resource, The Best Financial Advice for Young Professionals.

The First 3 Money Books to Read for the Young Professional

By Austin Netzley

Many of us don’t realize what we’re really capable of, or what is even possible. We think that some things are fantasies, and that extraordinary wealth is not for us. I was there. I didn’t really know, or hang out with, anyone that was truly wealthy growing up. I never believed that making 6 figures before the age of 25, or living downtown of a big city was a real possibility for me. But they became reality. And it started with just learning what opportunities and how much abundance there are in the world.

There are a few ways to start learning what you can truly achieve. The two best are ways are 1) to learn directly from others, and 2) start reading books. Books opened up a world of possibility to me, including helping me:

See what options I have for a career (you can seriously do anything you want, no joke!).
Realize that these successful people I admire are no different or no better than me; they are real, and have their ups and downs.
Improve my confidence to step into the unknown and out of my old envisioned path.
Learn the specific strategies to tackle success in the quickest manner.

And books can do the same for you. The smartest 1% of people read more than 1 book per month, on average.

Three great books that will teach you some founding principles of wealth are:

1. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Napoleon Hill, a depression-era author, dedicated over 22 years of his life to study the extraordinarily successful business people at that time – think Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Theodore Roosevelt, and so on. From his research of over 500 people, he found some key lessons that can be used by any single person to achieve massive success, and an abundance of wealth.

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” – Napoleon Hill

The key to wealth is to develop the proper mindset. In our school system, we are not taught what wealth really is or how to obtain it, so we have to develop this elsewhere. Learning what is possible, and then how to think about wealth is absolutely vital to achieving and maintaining wealth. The wealthy view things differently than the average person, and Napoleon walks readers through exactly how to do that. He develops 13 principles one must know to Think and Grow Rich: [Read more…]

Money Class Table

By Austin Netzley

Money Class Table

5 Reasons Why Most People Don’t Become Wealthy [Video] – Brian Tracy

By Austin Netzley

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Brian Tracy, the world-renowned author, trainer and speaker created a video titled, ‘The 5 Reasons Why Most People Don’t Become Wealthy.’ Here are the highlights.

1. It never occurs to them to become wealthy

Most people do not realize what is possible. We are not led to believe that we can obtain massive wealth. I know that I had no idea what was realistic, or what was even a potential option. The general population is not exposed to the people and real stories that share how to create and build our wealth. Our educational system does not teach us what is possible, or what wealth even really is.

It takes some external source to give you that “aha” moment, when you realize that you seriously can have anything you want financially. For me, that moment was provided from reading books and more books. I was in my early 20’s when it occurred to me that I can, and should, become wealthy. Previously, I know that I had no idea what I could do, or how much money I could make. I grew up in a small town in the Midwest, and a 6 figure income early in my career wasn’t even a realistic dream… only because I didn’t know! I had not been told that this was possible, and I surely didn’t know anyone that had accomplished this. Now, I’m still learning all of the things that are possible and the possible ways to achieve my dreams. You can’t fix what you don’t know, so unless you realize you can truly be wealthy, you won’t become so.

If you are so lucky to see just how financially successful you can become, how anything is within our grasp, then it opens up the world of opportunity for you. Once you recognize this, you can take action to achieve the previously “impossible.” Read, listen to podcasts and audiobooks, and reach out to people with similar interests. Realize that you can have anything that you want if you put your mind to it. Seriously.

2. People don’t decide to be successful

The first step towards success is always to DECIDE to be successful. As I always say, financial success is a decision; it is a process. YoPro Wealth is here to help you through this process, but you have to first make the decision and commitment to obtain what you want. Once you do this, truly decide and commit, you will not let anything get in your way. Nothing can stop you. You build momentum, everything seems to begin to flow and the compound effect repeatedly takes place getting you closer and closer to your dreams. But most people cannot or do not make that decision. You can’t get to your goal without that first step, so take it. It isn’t easy, but it is worth it. Commit. Decide. And you will realize true financial success.

3. Procrastination

There is always, “I’ll do this tomorrow,” or “it isn’t the right time” or “once this happens, I’ll start to get serious about it”… You know when you hear those phrases that they’re not true. The time is never exactly right! You have to start right now. The longer you delay, the easier it becomes to delay even more. The time is now. Start before it is too late.

I am a recovering perfectionist, so my excuse used to be that it wasn’t good enough yet. I started this blog before I’m happy with everything, and I’ll start the podcast before I’m a pro. But by starting, and not procrastinating, I will make more progress and more improvements in a shorter time period, and thus, reaching my goals quicker. Don’t delay. Take control of your financial destiny starting today.

In addition, the way that I fight procrastination is by putting a deadline with every single goal or task that I have. A goal without a deadline is only a wish. Larry Stevens, CEO of the great efficiency/productivity hub Opus Workspace, told me that, “87% of millionaires have a consistency, and that consistency is that they have a to-do list with a ‘by when’ date assigned to each item.” Adding a deadline makes it more competitive and adds an element of accountability. Help yourself be more productive. Since I’ve added this extra element to my to-do list habits, my productivity has shot up immensely.

4. Inability to delay gratification

I know many people that cannot stop themselves. As soon as money comes in, it is gone. As soon as they have $500, they have a new iPad. Never mind that they have $55,000 in student loan debt. One of the top characteristics in building financial freedom is DISCIPLINE. You must make a financial plan and stick to it. It is hard to delay that instant gratification at first, but it is absolutely necessary. As Brian Tracy says in the video, “If you cannot achieve budgeting as a habit, it’ll be impossible for you to achieve financial independence.” So, prepare a budget and start to build your wealth today (mint.com is a great place to start!).

I built a way to handle impulse purchases that is quite easy to follow. For any purchase over $100, I use what I call “The Honeymoon Rule”. If anything costs over that amount (or whatever value you set for yourself), do the following:

A. Decide if it is a good purchase (but don’t buy it yet).

B. Then, wait 30 days and re-evaluate the potential purchase.

C. If it is still a good decision to buy it after the emotions of the moment are gone, then you should buy it.

We often hear of “buyer’s remorse”, which is just the opposite of this principle. People buy something during the “honeymoon” phase when emotions are high, and we think we cannot live without the item! Then, we come back down to earth and realize that this was merely an “impulse”, and thus stupid, decision. Implement ‘The Honeymoon Rule’ and practice discipline today. It is a sure way to get you on the path towards wealth!

5. Lack of time perspective

How do I say this?… There is no such thing as “get-rich-quick”! There are no overnight successes. Again, financial success is a decision and a process. It takes some time and some effort. That is hard to hear for most young professionals, but it is true. We want to get things NOW, but we have to realize these truths if we want financial freedom.

As young professionals, we have the most valuable resource for wealth on our side – time! With time, we can utilize what Albert Einstein calls, “The most powerful force in the universe,” and “the greatest mathematical invention of all time” – compound interest. Compound interest is one of the key ways to wealth. If you invest $10,000 now and it is compounded at 10% per year, in 25 years that $10,000 turns into $108,347! If you buy a $35,000 car (and assume you could have made the same 10% per year), it is the equivalent of $379,000 in 25 years. Would you pay that much in your 40’s for a car today? I didn’t think so. From a financial perspective, keep a view of the big picture.

Compound interest only makes sense if you have a long-term view of wealth. People know that it is wise to have a big picture mindset, but few actually make their decisions this way. You are one of those people that do! You are the future millionaire and you now know that it takes a bit of time to get there. Plan now, understand this, and wealth will be yours.

Action steps:

Evaluate, how do you stack up for these 5 reasons? What is holding you back?
Realize that the world, and your financial future, is in your hands. And that anything is possible!
- Dream big.
- Write down your ambitious goals. (I use Evernote to record these.)
With your finances, think big. Think long term.
- Implement ‘the honeymoon rule’.
- Remove impulse buys from your life, and prove that you have financial discipline (a key characteristic to wealth!).
Decide to be wealthy. Seriously, make the decision, and do not look back!
Take one single action that will help you improve one of these 5 things today.

Passive Income

By Austin Netzley

Passive income streams are absolutely vital to the wealth of a young professional looking to create financial freedom early in their career. There are so many different ways to create passive income. I currently have 4 streams of income, and am working on more.

Please contact me at [email protected] for more information on how YOU can create passive income and “retire” at 27 years old like I am.

Passive & Residual Income:

Multiple streams of income are a huge part of becoming wealthy, and will be a big focus for YoPro Wealth. With working income, you only get paid once for the work that you do. With residual and passive income, you get paid over and over again for your efforts – even while you sleep! These other income types are very similar. Passive income is derived from investments in which the individual is not actively involved (doesn’t require effort from you). Residual income is recurring payments after an initial effort. Examples of each include:

Passive income: online advertisements, affiliates, rental property, royalties from invention, dividends and interest from stocks/bonds, etc.
Residual income: books, songs, network marketing, online training courses, etc.

It is easy for young professionals to create financial freedom – all that you have to do is create passive income that exceeds your expenses. If you keep expenses low, then this is relatively easy to achieve.

Archives for October 2013

Ways to Wealth