Investing – It’s Not a Dirty Word

Investing for your financial future is something that I have written about regularly in this blog. Makes sense, right?

However, when I am speaking with people just like you about investing, the common theme has been that you don’t know where to start.

Can you relate to that feeling?

Normally the issue comes from one of two things…

Sorry to be blunt about it , but either you are scared or procrastinating. The good news is that you can overcome both of these issues relatively simply.

I’m Too Scared to Start

Being scared is simply the emotion of fear which you will have developed over the years because of three circumstances that I believe are the root cause of a fear of investing.

First is a lack of knowledge…

Unfortunately, despite the obvious benefits that would result, we are not taught how to manage our money in our formative years. This stuff is just not taught at school.

Managing your money is something that you have to learn from observation, most significantly, from your parents.

If you parents haven’t been good money managers, then your chances of developing positive money management skills are severely impeded.

So having reached adulthood with no formal training on how to manage your money and how to invest, it is not surprising that you feel apprehensive about where to start.

But knowledge is something that you can attain, and it is never too late.

Stay with me here and I will give you some tips to overcome this fear that you can implement straight away.

The second circumstance that is likely causing fear is the horror stories…

If you watch any television, which I suggest you don’t, but if you do, it is a good chance that you will have seen the horror stories of people who invested their life savings into something and lost it all, either due to a scam or some market crash. Given what is happening in the world right now, test me out on this one. I can gaurantee the media will be full of fear this week about the markets.

If you see this often enough I can totally understand why you would be scared to get started…

And this leads to the third circumstance, which is the right timing.

If your knowledge is limited and you have seen a number of the horror stories, your next concern is ‘when is the right time to invest’…

What if the market crashes as soon as I put my hard earned money into an investment?

I get this emotion completely, because I used to think this every time I invested. It was like the market knew when I was putting money down…

Once you acknowledge that the market doesn’t know who you are, the solution to this problem is actually quite simple.

You set up a regular investing plan so that timing becomes a non-issue, you are always in the market…

Which correlates with the mantra that investing is a long term activity, so just keep doing it and riding the ups and downs.

You will make great progress as the years tick by, and you don’t have to worry about what the media is blaming for market moves today or tomorrow.

Procrastinating – I’ll Do it Later

This is one of those habits that we all have.

The thing that you will no doubt know, is that later never comes.

More and more I am hearing people say that they have plenty of time to worry about their future and they will get to it later, when they are ready.

Well some cold hard facts, the longer you put it off, the more it is costing you.

A delay of one year now could cost you more than $1,000,000 in 40 years. Have a look at the chart here to understand how.

Procrastination is the one nation that you don’t want to visit 🙂

Four Tips to Get You Started

To overcome the fear of getting started and the habit of procrastination, here are four tips to get you started today and on your way to a financially free future.

Number One: Structure

The very first thing you need to do is get your bank accounts set up in the right way to support your efforts.

This is the pillar of everything that follows in your investing activity.

Having your bank accounts structured so they take care of the flow of your money gives you enormous power.

The basic structure requires that you separate your accounts by type of expense, so you have living expenses, debt termination, wealth generator, bills, future planned expenses and emergency funds all in separate accounts.

The effect of separating your money is that it develops discipline. You can only spend the money available in your living expenses account…

Once it is gone, you have to wait for the next pay to arrive. The discipline this develops will set you free. If you want to get my system and resources to set this up, you can here.

Number Two: Automation

I have studied a number of successful investors and wealthy individuals, for more than 25 years now. All of them will tell you that there is no secret to success and wealth creation.

And to an extent they are right.

But if I was to deviate from this advice slightly, I would suggest that ‘automation’ IS the secret to financial success.

Once you have your account structures in place, the absolute genius of the process is to automate the money transfers each pay.

Once you have determined how much money needs to go into each account, automate the transfer.

Make sure the transfer occurs in the first 48 hours after the pay arrives…

This takes all the emotion out of the process, it ensures it happens, and it develops the discipline you want to make it succeed.

Automation is truly the secret sauce… It cost me tens of thousands of dollars to discover this, and you can have the system that show you how to do it for less than $100. You can thank me later 🙂

Number Three: Debt Termination

To succeed in creating your financial freedom, you need to eliminate consumer debt.

That’s things like credit cards, store cards or car leases.

When you analyse your money allocations, the goal is to have some left over each pay period.

This is the money you use for debt termination and step four.

Part of this money should be used to eliminate debt, starting with the smallest debt first.

Number Four: Wealth Generator

As mentioned in number three part of your surplus each pay will go to your wealth generator account.

This is where the magic happens…

Each month (or week, fortnight), some of your money comes into your wealth generator account and this is what you use to start building investments.

Initially you are looking for investments that generate more cash, such as stocks, bonds or property.

As these investments grow they will generate more cash, which you can use to cover your living expenses.

This results in more money being available to build your wealth and eliminate your debt.

And this is where the cycle of growth and compounding will set you free.

Conclusion

There you have it, some ideas of what you can do today to ‘get started’ and investing for your financial future.

Whether you have already started or just thinking you should, these tips are the foundations of success, the steps that will guarantee your success with money. I know that’s a big statement, however it is fact. By implementing these steps into your daily life you are creating the enviornment for success, and that is the key to success with anything you do in life, the right environment.

If you want to learn more about these steps, grab your copy of my course that shows you how to do it for less than $100 here. And if your someone who is ready to get moving in the fast lane, take advantage of my no-cost Wealth Generator brainstorming session by clicking on the link below. I would be delighted to help you get started.