Stock Trading – Watch the Chart

Isn’t it shocking after months of accumulating your stock and fund portfolios carefully and thinking that you are going to sit and watch your money grow, you woke up one morning to see headlines like this “Stocks Extend Plunge…Dow falls 227 points…. Dow falls 306 points etc etc” staring at you in your face. Whether you are investing in America or elsewhere in the world, you are and will definitely be affected. Your heart sink!!

And for those who are still waiting for the right time to enter the stock market, you will probably be thinking that this is logically the right time to start your stock accumulations and by watching the happenings in the world, the movement of world markets it will be able to guide you to some money making trend.

Also, some will be thinking, “Will the price drop further?” “Shall I wait a little longer?”

Well, for small players and common people like us who just want to invest our spare money to earn some good money, we are always at the tail end of the game. When we go in to buy the good stock that just came out in today’s news, we are actually buying from the big players who already have their pie and eat it.

With the impending news of a threatening recession, are we sane to go into stocks investing, but you thought, the prices has gone so low, its almost tempting.

Yes, by all means, go ahead to accumulate your portfolios but be forewarned ---- “You must watch the chart”. Monitor the downtrend on where and when it will end. Look out for stocks with a promising growth in the future and has a growth record of at least 10 years. Watch the price range and determine the price worth you putting your hard-earned money into.

Be patient and try not to be rash… its worth all the work you are going to put in doing your stock survey.

Happy Watching the Chart!!!

How to be a Millionaire?

Does it take money to make money? People always say that the rich will get richer and the poor gets poorer and the gap gets wider. Every country the Government are trying their best to bring the gap closer by giving subsidies to the poor, providing opportunities and assistance so that they can live better. But we still see poor people everywhere; from dirt poor (homeless) to the just-barely-make-it poor.

Have you ever pondered how the rich gets richer? Or how the poor gets poorer?

My personal opinion is that both questions have the same answer. Let’s not waste time in “poor getting poorer” but if you do have the time to survey the poor, you might get to learn from their mistakes and how not to make them. I feel it is better to learn first hand from the rich and find out how the rich gets richer.

As you can see from today’s stock market volatile situation and it is admittable that it is now not so easy to make money just from investing in stocks or the mutual fund as it is very closely related to the market trend.

Let’s learn from the already self-made millionaires of the world. What are they characteristics and their attitudes towards life:-

80% of the world’s millionaires are

Physically:

• ordinary people (like you and me) who make it on their own and in his/her generation.
• Their wealth is accumulated slowly and steadily.
• Only 20% inherited their wealth and the rest never inherited a single cent.
• Most wear inexpensive cloths, drive home-country made cars
• About 50% of them still live in their first purchased house
• 20% of them are retired, 55% self-employed, remainders are working professionals
• All of these millionaires invested approximately 20% of their household income yearly.

Emotionally:

• They have winning attitude
• They always think positively
• They are always questioning to better themselves
• They are always on the look out for better and sure investment opportunities
• They do not take risk; only calculated risk
• They are the doer
• They have the “never-say-die” way of life

After studying the physical and emotional aspect of self-made millionaires, the question we should pose to ourselves is “How can we be like them?” Majority of us spend more than we earn. We are always lamenting about not having enough and we are probably spending our next pay check before it even arrive, thus creating a debt situation.

We live beyond our means, we spend more than we earn while self-made millionaires do the opposite, they spend less than they earn.

They live beneath their means.

Very simply put: They simply spend less!!

And continuously looking for ways to make money out of the money they did not spend.

If you need to learn more, you may want to read some of the related posts in this blog under the category of “Wealth Creation”. Be warned – it is not easy to do what the millionaires do but it is simple. Have fun changing the way of life.

Be a Master Builder of Your Life

Watch this — Building Life

I watch this slide-show by an anonymous writer and I find it to be true to life. Whatever we choose to do in our life, we need to do it with our heart, otherwise, we will end up like this excellent carpenter with immaculate carpenter skill but who built his own house shoddily.

Remember, your life is yours to live. You don’t live it for your parents, your spouse or even for your children. Evidently how you live and die rest fully upon yourself in your own two hands.

Be a master builder of your own life and allow the next generation to emulate your good example by living a healthy, wealthy and happy life. Take care of your own health, work hard to build your financial wealth and while doing both stay happy.

Spenders versus Savers

It is a universal fact that it is easier to spend than to save. Human has high level of needs and that is the main reason why we spend more than we save. Statistics showed 1 in 20 of us are unable to control the urge to spend, men and women alike.

It is also true that we spend as much as we earn if not more. There is never enough. If you have been working for 10 years and more, you can make your own comparison.

Assuming that you were earning just $24k annually 10 years ago, you get along fine with your income and expenses and now 10 years later if your earning has increased let say to $60k annually, I am sure you are not just spending $24k but that you probably are spending $60k or even more. If you are spending more then this will equate to the fact that you are in debt.

Conclusion here is, if you are one of those who said to yourself that you will start saving when you are earning more, stop it, because it will never come to that. If you do not have a financial plan in place, each time your earning increase you will have this other thing that you need or something that you are committed to. And “poof” there goes that additional amount of money you have.

So, are you a spender or a saver?

Savers

If you are a saver, fine and good but just saving your money is not enough to guarantee you a good retirement plan that will give you the lifestyle you are so used to now.

Read about “Put your money to work for you” and some of the posts here under “Invest” category. Find out how you can put your savings into earning money for you over the next 20 or 30 years before you opt to retire.

Spenders.

Spenders beware! Are you in the high-income, low net-worth category? It’s time to make drastic changes if you are reading this and you are aware that you are spending too much. Similar to people with tendency to violence, they are born with an extra “y” chromosome. You are probably born with a defective chromosome maybe a “s” chromosome :). You are born to shop, shop and shop. Or you may be suffering from a sickness called “shopaholic”. Following are 2 ways to help you fight your “sickness”, they can work but it takes some will power:-

1. Pay yourself first – before you can get your hands on your money end of each month, commit by auto-transfer the amount you want to put away to a special account where you have taken out with no “ATM” card. (Read about some posts here in “Wealth Creation” category).

2. Lock away all your credit cards. Credit cards are meant for convenience and building your credit score but if you are unable to control your spending, the best way is to get rid of the spending avenues. Keep only enough cash for you to get by daily and by all means avoid window shopping. The temptation may be too much for you to resist the inconvenience of running to the bank. After a while you will hopefully (depend on individual and the strength of your will power) get use to your forced new lifestyle of minimum buying and live with this new found lifestyle comfortably.

Rich Dad’s Words of Wisdom

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost, from ‘The Road Not Taken’

At times, when we come to the crossroads of our lives, where we turn is what we will make out of our lives therefore it is important that we make the right choice. Most people will not take the road less traveled due to the fear of the unknown.

Fear of the Unknown

Among all the fears, this is the most potent to human advancement. If you do not know whether you are suffering from this fear then you won’t able to “cure” it. Ask yourself truthfully whether you are afraid to venture into the unknown; whether you would take up a task you totally do not know anything about or you will accept a job that you have no idea how to do? Beware this fear as it may stagnate you. Stagnate your mind and soul and keeping you stuck on a spot. Get out of it, try a little adventure and feel the exhilaration.

I read the book, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and here are some of Rich Dad’s words of wisdom:

• You are what you Think.
• A job is a short-term solution to a long-term problem.
• A highly paid slave is still a slave.
• Why climb the corporate ladder when you can own the ladder?

Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something - Plato

All these wisdom words are good and fine. I suppose we need to understand them and learn to use them to our advantage, to guide us along and to help us make an effort to change our way of thinking. That is what wise words are all about – a guide and a constant reminder to make the right turn.

How much do you need to retire?

I think the most common question asked is “How much longer to your retirement?” or “At what age do you plan to retire?” But, with the advance in technology and the financial climate changing, the more apt question would be “How much do you need to retire?”

Famous and smart celebrities have the privilege of saying “The question here is not at what age I wish to retire but its at what income I want to retire”. If this ring true for you, you’re blessed.

In fact, it is no fun to retire at your retirement age; be it 55, 60, 65 or even 70. Think about it, how much fun you are going to miss by the time you wait for your retirement age to retire, let say at 60 on the average. If you are young now you probably would not be able to imagine what its like to be 60. Go look around and take a person at that age now and find out how his/her physical, mental and health abilities are.

Majority of us would take our retirement age for granted. We accept that we will retire when it comes the time that we need to retire. Or that we will retire when we are not employable. But, the question here is “Is this how you want to live your life?” Are we allowing an “accepted fact” to rule our lives?

Let’s change our thought patterns, let’s think out of the box a bit for now. Let’s say you live a simple life and that you will survive comfortably on a constant income of $5,000 per month without having to work. How can you plan towards that kind of residual income?

Of course with that kind of income you can only take care of your daily expenses and maybe can afford to save up for an annual holiday. You will have to have your medical insurance intact, just in case you get sick and the better bet is to keep yourself healthy by eating right and exercising regularly.

You will need a $1.2 million to put in a bank earning you a 5% interest to have a monthly $5,000 earning. You got your answer. But it’s not that simple. You will need a lot of planning financially in order to achieve that goal.

Seek a financial planner’s assistance or if you are savvy with money management and have your own financial education, read some of the posts here and seek out what can work best for you.

Happy working towards your retirement!!!