With the recent volatile financial markets, many 401k plan participants are asking for guidance on how to manage their 401k plan assets.

Here are some tips.

Keep Doing the Right Thing

Continue to make contributions to your retirement accounts. Our economy isn’t the greatest right now, but the fact remains that practically all of us will retire from the work force at some point in our lives. Even those of us who love work and can’t imagine doing anything else will come to a point where we can’t work any longer.  Make sure you read up on current trends and services available at website resource pages like 401k2.info.

We need to be pay for our lifestyles during our retirement years somehow, and I believe Social Security is simply not going to cut it for most of us. That means we need a backstop, and that backstop is our own savings and investing.

Let’s take a look at a hypothetical example of the importance of regular saving and investing. Consider a 25-year-old in 1973 who got a job making $21,000 per year and saved 10% per year. This particular individual received a 3% cost of living increase every year, and a 10% promotional increase once every five years. The savings were invested in a diversified portfolio of stocks.

By sticking with the savings plan through thick and thin, and keeping that portfolio invested in stocks, despite the big short-term swings in value, this saver, under these hypothetical assumptions, had an account value of more than one million dollars by 2007.

Everyone’s situation is different, and this is merely one example, but this saver displayed particular traits that I believe are associated with long-term investing success. More importantly, these are traits that I believe you can replicate and use to improve your situation whatever your particular facts and circumstances may be.

Don’t Succumb to the Market Roller Coaster

It is common for people to have an emotional reaction to the market’s ups and downs. Emotions change as markets move through their normal cycles. As prices go up, we feel good about ourselves. Optimism turns to enthusiasm, then exhilaration, and peaks at euphoria. Inevitably, markets move both up and down. During the downward swings, our emotions turn darker, and they seem to be at their worst?despair?when the market news is the most bleak.

Many studies have documented how individual investors, and even professionals, chase performance. When markets are doing well, investors get less concerned about risk and put their money to work in investments that have been doing well recently. Too often that means investing while looking through a rearview mirror. In the real world, that simply doesn’t work out too well.

One recent example of this behavior was during 2006 and 2007. The stock markets in other countries were performing quite well. When we looked at mutual fund investors as a whole, almost all of the money that was going into stock funds was going into funds that invested in foreign stocks. This happened just in time for foreign stocks to do extremely poorly in 2008—in fact, much worse than U.S. stocks.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Generally, if you have money available, I think it’s a good idea to take some of your account and invest it in foreign stock funds as a way of diversifying away from any bad markets in the United States, but it’s all about finding the right balance. Good investing is rarely about having an all-or-nothing attitude, but that’s exactly what often happens when investors are always looking at yesterday’s good ideas.

Think About Risk

Investing is always about finding that delicate balance between our desire for high rates of return with the dread and pain that comes from losing our hard-earned money. Determining the level of risk you’re comfortable with is incredibly difficult and sometimes is revealed only when rough times, like now, arrive.

My general rule is that if you can’t sleep at night because you’re worrying about your investments, then you’re probably taking on too much risk. But before you make dramatic changes to your investment allocations, keep in mind that determining the right level of risk for your portfolio shouldn’t be solely driven by whether big swings in the value of your portfolio bother you. Your capacity for risk matters, as well.

Capacity refers to whether your financial situation allows you to take risks. For example, I generally encourage younger investors to be more aggressive because they have decades to make up any losses. Here’s why. Based on historical experience for the U.S. stock market from 1926 to 2007, during short periods of time, stocks have sometimes done incredibly well and, at other times, have done poorly. If you need to pull a large amount of money from your investments within the next year, the stock market is not a wise place to put it.

For those investors who are able to commit their money in the market for longer periods, the results have been much better. For example, the worst five-year period in the stock market had an annual average return of negative 12.5%. But when we look at all the five-year periods, 87% were positive, 97% of 10-year periods were positive, and since 1926, there’s never been a 20-year period where stocks lost money.

For younger investors, a heavy dose of mutual funds that invest in stocks will usually make sense. For older investors, those who have less time to make up for any losses, it makes sense for them to be less aggressive. Whatever the right risk tolerance is for you, review the options in your plan and select the ones that makes sense for your situation.

As I mentioned earlier, in order to choose the right level of risk in your account, you ultimately need to make a choice regarding how much of your account value you will be investing in stocks. That’s typically referred to as your asset allocation. In the example of our saver, the asset allocation was aggressive. In other words, the money in the account was invested in mutual funds that invest in stocks. That may not be appropriate for everyone.

Let’s assume that you’re more comfortable with taking your account and dividing it. You decide to put some money into mutual funds that invest in stocks and the rest into mutual funds that invest in bonds, or fixed income investments. That’s perfectly okay if it best matches your situation.

Rebalance Your Investments

My fourth recommendation is to stick with that allocation by rebalancing your investments from time-to-time.

For example, assume an investor chose to place 60% of his or her account into mutual funds that invest in stocks and 40% into mutual funds that invest in bonds. If left unattended, that percentage will change over time. If our investor had selected this allocation in 1994, by 1999 the account had become 79% stocks and 21% bonds. This is a much riskier account than it was originally set up to be. It became riskier because stocks did better than bonds during those five years, and gradually came to make up a bigger piece of the portfolio.

We suggest investors rebalance their portfolios to bring them back in line with what they had originally intended. Keep in mind that a portfolio with a large percentage in stocks would probably have done quite poorly during the so-called tech-wreck in the early part of this decade.

Let’s assume our investor had set up this asset allocation in the year 2000 and left it unattended. By the end of 2002, the account would have been 41% stocks and 59% bonds. This is a much lower level of risk than originally intended, and would also have been costly to the investor but in a different way. This investor, by not having enough invested in stocks, probably would not have gained as much during the years in the middle part of this decade.

What effect could rebalancing have on risk and return over time? Let’s consider the effect an annual rebalancing strategy had on the risk and return of a portfolio over a long period of time.

In our example, a rebalanced portfolio was less volatile, which I think most of us would agree is a good thing. The rebalanced portfolio also had slightly better returns. In this example, you’re able to see why we think rebalancing makes sense, because under certain conditions it can lower risk and increase return.

Rebalancing does require effort on your part. It requires you to periodically monitor your account and adjust either the amount you have invested in different investments, or to change how new contributions to your account are allocated. To make this process easier, your plan may have an investment choice where rebalancing is done for you automatically.

Periodic rebalancing is always a good idea, but it is particularly appropriate right now. Since the latter part of 2007, the stock market has taken investors on a wild ride. It would not surprise me if you were to take a look at your account right now and find that it is out of balance and deserves some attention.

Take a Close Look at Your Account

While you’re rebalancing your account, take a close look at what’s in it. When you allocate your contributions, which investments are they going toward? Do you still feel good about those choices? Your plan might have added new choices since you enrolled. Now is a good time to take a look at those new choices and see if any of them make sense for you.

It’s also a good time to take a look at your contribution level. Does that level still make sense? For example, one suggestion I make to investors is to reconsider their contribution rate whenever they get a boost in their wages. Let’s say you contribute 5% of your pay to your 401k account. You then receive a 3% pay increase. I recommend taking part of your pay increase, for example, one-third of it, or 1%, and boosting your contribution rate to 6%. Doing this allows you to enjoy your good fortune today, and also helps secure your future.

Treat Your Account Like a Lockbox

This year has been tough for many working families. In times like this, it’s tempting to tap into your retirement savings accounts but the penalties and taxes will cost you in the short and long term.

Treat your retirement accounts as a lockbox, only to be opened when you reach retirement. Every one of us encounters unexpected financial difficulties at one point or another during our lives, including unexpected medical bills. In order to build sufficient wealth so that we’re able to retire we need to, as much as possible, emulate the saver we looked at earlier. That saver built wealth because through thick and thin, the contributions continued and he resisted the urge to withdraw from the account when times were tough.

Realistically, it’s impossible for me to sit here and say never touch the money in your 401k account prior to your retirement. It would be terrific if our lives played out in such a fortunate fashion. I do think, however, that withdrawing money from your retirement account should be a last resort.

Withdrawing money from a retirement account is very expensive, and, therefore, is a costly source of money. For example, if you withdraw money from a 401k prior to age 59½, not only do you need to pay taxes on the amount you withdraw, but you also owe a 10% penalty for withdrawing early.

Think about that for a moment. Imagine you have a $20,000 balance in your account and withdraw it all for some reason. You don’t get to keep the full $20,000. If you’re in a 20% tax bracket, you have to pay $4,000 in taxes plus another $2,000 in penalties. Suddenly, your $20,000 has shrunk to $14,000.

Time is our most precious asset, and stock markets can move with amazing speed and direction. What surprises many investors is that the stock market is forward-looking. It moves based on what conditions savvy traders think will occur in the future.

For example, right now, I think we’re in a recession and have been in one for some time. It seems like a bad time to be invested in stocks, right? That’s true up to a point. If we knew with perfect foresight that a recession was coming, it would make sense to avoid stocks. Unfortunately, that kind of crystal ball insight is a far rarer commodity than is generally supposed.

What matters for stock investors right now is when we’ll get out of this recession. If history is any guide, the stock market will start recovering well before the economy itself starts turning around. Historically, when that happens, the stock market tends to move up quickly.

In my experience, too many investors wait to get back into the stock market until after the economic storm clouds have cleared. Unfortunately for them, by waiting for the all-clear sign, much of the opportunity for gain is no longer there. If you’re investing in equity mutual funds, resist the temptation to try to time the market by jumping out of those funds and trying to get back in at just the right time.

Mike Roe

If you watch tv these days you hear on the news about the problems that the American economy is facing that have spread to the whole world. A sentiment of gloom and doom is widespread and some people start fearing or even get panicked. You as an MLM distributor it is natural to start wondering how this turmoil is going to affect your home business and what measures can you take in order to protect it.

Well, the first thing you have to do is to close the tv and start relying more for your information on the printing press and the Internet. It is not that they cover different the things, but it has more do to with you and how you receive the information. When you watch tv it is more easy to get involved emotionally while your critical judgment goes down. Something that is not happening that easily when you read the information instead.

When you keep your calmness and you start seeing things more clearly and your logic and common sense prevail over your feelings, you would see that the sky is not falling, nor it would be the end of the world as we know it. Things like that happen all the time throughout history and the economy is always recovering after some point and we get into a new round of increased prosperity and economic growth. So there is no need to start fearing or get panicked about your future and lead yourself to take irrational decisions that can more harm your future than help it.

On the other hand, as a participant in an MLM business opportunity you have one more reason to not lose your sleep at night. During recessionary times, like the one we are living now, network marketing opportunities tend to grow even more. People have one more reason to start thinking seriously about their financial future and improving their lives as their jobs might be under threat in an economic environment that is hard to replace them easily. And of course no one is dreaming of getting rich from the stock market or from an increase in his home value. The only way out is to start his own business, which is the only way to real wealth creation that cannot be substituted from speculation as we saw it happening the last years.

Of course, an MLM business as we know it it’s offering a lot of advantages to average people with no experience in business. That makes it very attractive for ordinary people who want to start their own home business and improve their financial future. As a result expect an increased interest from people for your network marketing business and start sharpening your skills in order to increase your chances to convert them to distributors in your downline.

The future belongs to those that won’t scale down their efforts and promotion budgets out of fear and worry about the economic downturn, but will scale them up instead and start spending more to reach the big numbers of new prospects that would be interested in improving their life and their economic future with your MLM business opportunity.

So now it’s not the time for you to be anxious about the economic future and start fearing or panicking. Now it’s the time to become aggressive and start making the most of the increased number of prospects that will enter your marketing funnels. Start spending more to advertising, fine-tune your MLM marketing systems, and don’t leave any chance to make your presence wherever prospects might appear.

Chris Kosman

At the mention of the word “investment”, some peoples’ mind, i.e. those that are not properly informed will go straight to equity investment. This is because of the popularity that equity investment has gained. There is no denying the fact that equity investment is a sure way to financial freedom, especially when you are informed on the principles of wealth creation through equities. Another reason for this popularity is the fact that you can start this investment with a very little amount of money, and still hope to climb to the top of the ladder in a short period of time if you have good investment ideas.

On the other hand, real estate investment is equally good. In fact, it can give you more money than equity investments. The price of stocks or shares may drop and take some time before picking up again, but in real estate, it is not so, rather, the price of land is constantly on the increase. It is good to the level that immediately you pay for a parcel of land, the price has automatically changed to a higher level that same day. The price of land hardly goes down. Another factor that is to the advantage of the real estate investment is the population figure. A country like Nigeria has a population of over 140 million, with an increase of 3-4 % annually, this makes the demand for land and houses to be very high, and government alone cannot meet up with this demand. This alone, makes investment in the real estate sector of the economy to be a gold mine.

Real estate investment simply means to purchase or manage land or landed properties. When we talk about landed property, we are referring to houses like residential, hotel, office accommodation etc. These are the ones that are very common in

Nigeria, but of recent, investors are now moving into setting up event centers development, shopping malls, etc and these are very rewarding in terms of return on investments. Just as some factors are responsible for the movement of the price of stocks, there are certain factors that drive or determine the demand and supply of real estate investments. These are factors that make the price of the property to either move high or go down and this depends on people, place or environment and one of these factors is the geographical factor. This has to do with the location of the property. The economic, social or political activities in an environment have a lot of roles to play in determining the value of a property. Any property in the centre of core governmental or politically active areas, or the economic nerve center of a town or city, always attracts premium price tag. Even if the property is not aesthetically designed, the environment will still push up the price. On the other hand, a beautifully designed structure, with expensive sanitary fittings and well laid terrain, but is located in a poor or remote area will not attract a good price as it is supposed because of the environment where it is located.

There are many other factors that determine the value of a property, but that will come up in my next post. Keep a date with me here.

Invest wise.

Eze ThankGod ik

Health is Wealth – this is what the wise men suggest and stands true in all regards.

Having loads of wealth and no health to enjoy and make fun in life makes no sense. Similarly to earn wealth you need proper health. Hence keeping healthy is the basic key to success.

In the lifestyle that we lead today we are surrounded with so much pollution and unwanted, unhygienic factors that it is a must to be cautious enough keep the ailments away form yourself. In short your health entirely lies in your own hands.

One of the most common ailments these days is the respiratory ailment. Asthma being the most known respiratory disease there are several others alongside that you must be aware of. One such ailment is bronchitis.

Bronchitis is a sort of a respiratory illness affecting the bronchial tree of our body. That is, in this ailment bronchi of our lungs becomes inflamed. It is a common disease among tobacco smokers & people ho are living in the areas where there are high levels of air pollution. In case you one among those affected with bronchitis, here are some points you must understand about this disease.

1. Bronchitis is of two kinds depending on the time it lasts for in the body – Acute bronchitis lasts for only 10-12 days. On the other hand, chronic bronchitis might also take 3 months to 2 years.

2. It is easier to prevent acute bronchitis because it is mainly caused due to some viral & bacterial infections.

3. Also there are some cases where this ailment comes from some fungus. The individual suffering with acute bronchitis experiences persistent cough along with mucus, shortness of breathe, feeling of fatigue, mild fever, mild chest pains, feeling of coldness, vibration inside chest while breathing, etc.

4. When acute bronchitis is caused due to virus, it is usually the same virus as that of common cold. In case of such viral infections, the doctors suggest that there is no need of any special medications. The only means of getting well is talking lots of rest and drinking loads of non caffeinated & non alcoholic beverages.

5. In case one is affected with acute bronchitis caused due to the bacterial infection, the usual antibiotic medications can treat him/her well. In such remember two things – one contact the doctor and take the anti-biotic that the expert suggests rather than taking just any medicine without prescription and two, increasing the humidity in the patients’ house would really help. You can do this by placing wet towels all across the house or placing room humidifiers.

6. Generally, acute bronchitis lasts about 10-12 days only. Yet, it is closely followed and/or associated with flu and cold. So, many a times during the healing process coughing does not end and bronchi in the lungs keeps irritating. In case the coughing lasts longer than a month, the experts advise you to consult the physician immediately, before the conditions get worst. This is because, cough occurs for several other reasons as well.

As the wise men say, prevention is better than cure, here are some easy tips to prevent the bronchial diseases:

1. Wash your hands more often that too every time very thoroughly.

2. The smokers must understand that smoking can increase this ailment to vast extent, so they must quit smoking immediately in order to prevent this disorder.

3. Our environment now a days is filled with extremely polluted air. So you must invest in some air conditioners, curtains and filters for your home to purify the air as much as possible.

4. Bronchitis, the respiratory illness can affect you any time, any where, and at times we do not even come to know about the ailment. So you must understand the signs & symptoms of this disease in order to know when ever you become a victim to it. In case of any information you need, do not delay getting to your doctor and seeking some valuable knowledge.

5. Remember, bronchitis is preventable provided you decide to live a healthy & hygienic lifestyle.

Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/preventing-acute-bronchitis-11-easy-tips-708872.html

Ever since the traditional “first Thanksgiving”" celebration in 1621, there have been many subsequent celebrations. I have read that the first recorded Thanksgiving observance was held on June 29, 1671 at Charlestown, Massachusetts by proclamation of the town’s governing council.

During the 1700s, it was common practice for individual colonies to observe days of thanksgiving throughout each year. Those observances were to be a day set aside for prayer and fasting.

Later in the 18th century it was common for each of the states to periodically designate a day of thanksgiving in honor of a military victory, an adoption of a state constitution, or an abundant crop. There was a Thanksgiving Day celebration in December of 1777 by the colonies nationwide, commemorating the surrender of the British at Saratoga.

But it was President Abraham Lincoln, on October 3, 1863, who issued a proclamation calling for the observance of the fourth Tuesday of November as a national day of Thanksgiving. Here is that proclamation:

“The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.”

“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.”

“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.”

“In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.”

“Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth, by the President, Abraham Lincoln.”

Thanksgiving was proclaimed by every president after Lincoln. But Franklin Roosevelt made it one week earlier, on the 2nd-to-last Thursday in order to make a longer Christmas shopping season. Public uproar against this decision caused the president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. And in 1941, the Congress finally sanctioned Thanksgiving as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November.

Perhaps in these days we are living in, it is a good idea to stop and be thankful for what we have. We still have a lot to be thankful for.

Michael A. Verdicchio

It’s hard not to get pulled along by the riptide of holiday business this time of year. Shopping, partying, wrapping, and gifting keep your attention focused outside on external obligations. The whole season can easily pass with barely a thought to the impact of the season on your inner nature.

However, this is a very potent time to nourish your aliveness, to deepen your human experience, and to truly know your value in the world. Here’s a reminder of the depth of inner transformation available to you at this time of year to add to your outer holiday cheer.

All of the holiday traditions invite us to reflect on the symbols of darkness and light and their impact on being human. As human consciousness evolves over time, our understanding and interpretation of these symbols deepens.

Like maturing children, each year more of us have the capacity for understanding the holidays in ways that grow beyond self-centered fantasy and superstition to how we can bring greater joy and aliveness into the world we share with all other beings.

Rather than the simple joy we can deliver by giving a festively wrapped gift, the greatest bliss we can add to the world requires more from us than a trip to the store, shiny paper, scissors, and tape.

Our greatest gift to the world comes from our experiential understanding of the darkness and light of our own consciousness. The best of who we are comes to the world by the challenging process of facing our own darkness, what we don’t know, what we assume to be true. By facing what is dark and unknown to us, we increase our own light.

We trust that the darkness of winter is a necessary part of nature’s cycle of life. Like fruit seeds need the darkness of soil to take root in the world, so too the new in us takes root in the darkness of winter.

As the days get darker and darker, centuries of proof that the season will change, the sun will return, and the days will become longer allow us to have faith that this year will be no different. We can relax and embrace the darkness, even to celebrate it with lights made more beautiful by the blackness. It doesn’t even feel like faith, we know we can trust the return of the light, the return of the sun.

But not so with our inner darkness. It is hard to have faith that something good will come from allowing ourselves to be in that place of not knowing. Most of us don’t have faith, let alone trust that allows us to embrace the dark’s transformative potential.

Nonetheless, this time of year holds the promise and opportunity to learn that the same energy that returns the sun to us, will also bring light to our darkest, innermost places. If we allow ourselves to embrace our not knowing and remain open to the same Source that returns the sun to us each year and each morning, we too will birth something new.

Whatever is difficult, unknown, hellish, or undone for you this season, know that it is not that way to punish you, to prove your badness, or to defeat you. What is dark for you holds the seed of new birth, new light – your expanded consciousness.

It is the tending of this tender seed – acknowledging, nourishing, and allowing it to grow in the light of your compassionate awareness – that will bring you fruit in time. That fruit, that shiny new thing is what we really want under all the pretty wrapping this year.

To give yourself the greatest gift of the season, take time to explore your challenges, frustrations, and dreams. In journaling or sacred conversation, make space to listen to your heart’s deepest desire and your soul’s greatest longing. Honor your depth with words and images. Create a simple collage that speaks to the seeds in you this season. Water them with daily attention while intending for the most optimal, abundant, and loving outcome for you and all those touched by your light. This season, may your loving presence to your own challenges blossom into blessings for the world.

And now I invite you to advance your success today by getting your Free Inner Secrets Intro CD when you visit innersecretsforyou.com. You’ll receive the tips you need to help you take the next step in facing any challenge to your success.

From Dr Rebecca Coleman – Health & Wealth Transformation Expert

Dr Rebecca Coleman
http://www.articlesbase.com/nature-articles/the-winter-solstice-return-of-light-marks-the-beginning-of-the-winter-season-695548.html

Older adults were anxious about the economy long before this crisis. Retirees feeling very confident of a financial secure retirement fell to 29% in April down from 41% a year earlier, according to a survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute – the lowest level in 10 years. Younger folks trying to increase their income with better jobs are limited by the increasingly sour labor market. So how does one get wealth and keep it? Follow these tips:

? Keep your mind on your money and your money on your mind- Don’t obsess about losses or gains but now is the time to focus on getting every percentage of interest or capital gain that you can. Review all cash and CDs and keep looking for higher interest rate offers.

? If you own rental properties, lock in high rental rates with a lease. If not, don’t forget to increase the rent each year by at least the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation.

? If you own stocks or stock mutual funds, don’t go crazy changing things around. Keep a diversified portfolio of different kinds- large cap, mid-cap, small cap, international, etc. Also keep a diversified portfolio of different styles- growth, value, blends, core, etc.

? Watch your tax bite. It’s not what you earn but what you keep. Take all of the deductions you legally can. Get a leg up on any capital gain distributions before the end of the year so there will be no tax surprises. Call or email your mutual fund distributor to find out what capital gain dividend distributions you will be paying taxes on. I am expecting a lot of people to be in for a surprise of big losses on their statements and big tax liability for the end of the year. Be forewarned!

? Don’t ever think you can sit in cash and be okay. You won’t. That’s a guaranteed loss. Inflation will eat away at your investment and job earnings as your expenses go up.

? Very few people get rich working. You have to make your money work for you. That means having investments like stock, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, etc. With investing that means risk. With risk comes reward. Figure that at least once and probably more you will end up losing money. So what? Painful yes, but a necessary part of getting rich and staying there.

? Don’t let greed overtake good common sense. If it is too good to be true- it is. Most people get rich slow not fast and they develop good habits that preserve their wealth, too. As your net worth grows and you commit to more investments, don’t let anyone talk you into putting the whole wad into one venture. It is much easier to bounce back from a small loss than a large one.

Remembering that you have to invest to keep ahead of taxes and inflation will motivate you to grow rich and by diversifying and accepting losses along the way, you will preserve the wealth that you accumulate.

Fern LaRocca

Many people have got the desire to reach and achieve financial freedom and achieving this status has proved to be a very tedious task. The process has corners and sharp bends which one has to overcome and you also have to be smart for you to be successful in any business and look at ordinary things in more ordinary way.

Opportunities to make lucrative cash are many in life, but people avoid them for fear of losing cash. Everything is possible in this world if only you overcome fear. However, many people have failed to overcome fear and have ended up living a miserable life. There are many business opportunity plan has been labeled as a scam in some quarters.

At the same time there is also some of the legally registered business that gives people the opportunity to work at home and increase their income. It involves online selling of a wide range of products with very handsome commissions. The basic idea behind this hugely successful venture is the pay forward concept. This concept involves creating a network of friends who you introduce to new products.

Your friends are also supposed to introduce new products and during this a linked and independent network is created. One gets an opportunity to sell many products and earn higher commissions when they introduce new friends to the network. If you take your time to understand how it operates it becomes the simplest and easiest way to make lucrative cash.

Most of the online money making opportunities makes you rich and let you enjoy all the pleasures of life that comes with increased income. These kinds of opportunities are becoming very famous among people. There is a rapid growth in the field of online marketing and thus people are making use of this to earn money.

It does not cost much to become a member to join any business opportunity. You need to pay only an administration fee, and you instantly become a member. Top-notch marketing training is provided and above all constant support and hand holding. Within a short duration of time you could be making money easily.

Mary Hooper
http://www.articlesbase.com/affiliate-programs-articles/wealth-creation-by-ez-wealth-solution-689332.html

Self storage investing is a great, risk free way to increase your net worth quickly. Any investor will tell you that the key to being a successful investor is to owe several low-risk, high value properties. This will stabilize your portfolio and allow you to make greater financial risk in the future. While demanding a reasonably high initial investment, these opportunities have huge earning potential and relatively low upkeep expenses. This means that, once your initial investment is recouped, then you can quickly generate a large and consistent profit margin. This means that you can quickly increase your net wealth, thereby allowing you to further invest in the property or other real estate opportunities.

A profit margin is the gross profit minus all controllable and non-controllable deductions. These can include labor costs, inventory, regular maintenance, interest payments, or taxes. What is left over after all the deductions is the net profit. This is the amount that the owner would theoretically take home at the end of the day. Some businesses offer higher potential profit margins than other businesses. In order to be a successful real estate investor, you must retain as many of these money generating opportunities as possible. By securing stable sources of income, you can then reinvest in other riskier opportunities that may offer even greater profit possibilities. The bottom line is that the more profitable properties you own, then the higher your net worth.

Self storage investing can offer you a stable, first step in generating a higher net worth. By being a business that is typically more profitable, a self storage unit can be a great way to consistently generate income. This is possible because a self storage facility has relatively low monthly maintenance costs. There is no inventory to tie up capital, there is a minimum commitment to labor costs, and depending on the location of the property, taxes associated with the property can be next to nothing. All the money, therefore, that is created by the actual service being rendered (in this case storing goods) is then translated directly into profit. Obviously, the higher the profit, the more money you make.

Once you have found several properties that have consistent monetary return, you can then branch out into other real estate opportunities. These opportunities may be riskier, may demand more initial investment, or may not have the consistency of your self storage investments, but they offer a greater earning potential. Since you have diversified your portfolio by self storage investing, you can more easily take these risks without losing the shirt off of your back.

Therefore, by being stable and consistent, self or mini storage facilities can help create a strong money making base from which you, as the investor, can draw upon for other real estate or commercial investments. These other commitments might be riskier or demand a greater initial investment, but they may have the potential to be tremendous earners. Thus, by relying on the risk free environment associated with mini storage ownership, you can greatly increase your personal net worth.

Allan Smithz
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/self-storage-investing-a-riskfree-way-to-increase-your-net-worth-740537.html