Entries Tagged 'Money Strategies' ↓

It’s possible to make money investing against the trend, but it’s not for beginners. It seems the trend on Wall street now (the middle of October 2009) is up. So why would someone want to bet against it? More importantly, how do these people make money doing it. The answer requires constant monitoring and the ability to get in and out of the market quickly. I checked into this thing at the beginning of the summer and found that you need a “trading account” with one of the brokerages and that means having a healthy amount of money in your account. The reason, is that normally trades take a couple of days to settle, even though they happen in an instant. How is this possible? Well, until your trade is settled, the money you are using to cover that trade has to be in your account, if not, you are trading on credit and the brokerages will not lend you that credit unless you can cover your bets. If you are interested in finding out more about bucking the trend or “shorting the market”, here’s a pretty good article. Let me know what you think and please share this article.

Are HSAs (Health Savings Accounts) right for you? My understanding is that they don’t work too well for people who need frequent medical attention. The other thing that always occurs to me on this subject is, why do I need some administrator to manage may savings plan? One reason might be that if you are very sick or injured, the HSA will act as catastrophic insurance. I suppose If you have enough money, you don’t need insurance. But for the rest of us there are also new plans coming out called HRAs that are similar to HSAs except that they will be at least partly employer funded. For more information on both and whether they could work for you, see this AP article on consumer directed health plans.

Getting out of debt is serious business. It takes work but if you are committed, you can follow a plan and see your progress. In this article from the British newspaper The Mail you get 8 rules or steps to follow. Some of them are pretty obvious, others seem more insightful. I thought the idea of trying to use cash whenever possible was a good one. This is a subject most people don’t even think about until it gets bad. Follow these steps now and you can keep your debts from getting worse.

Chances are you have already joined twitter, but If you haven’t been getting the results you want, then here is a system that not only gets you followers, but covers all the basics for making money too. That’s why we are here, isn’t it. Honestly I believe that Twitter will make me rich. I have told that to people for a few months now and it is working. So check out Twitter Traffic Exposed. I know you will find it valuable. So let me know what it has meant to you. BTW, ignore the irritating dropdowns if you try to exit the page. In fact the drop-downs give you the first videos and those alone are worth money because of the tips they contain.

I have written before about Bob Firestone’s sales coaching materials, but it seems like this is a good time to remind people how to make more in this economy. I know I am personally confronted with the need to convince clients more than ever. If you are up on your sales skills, it is much easier. The key is to overcome objections and provide the client with what they really want anyway. For building your business or making sales, Bob’s coaching is a must. Let me know what you think.

Rather than continue with the story provided by my financial advisor, I found a better explanation in Sunday’s New York Times. What’s good about it? I believe it is more accurate and it gives some hints about the recovery. Speaking of recovery, I plan to spend a lot of time on promoting your business and making sure that you prosper during this recession. Here is the link to Alan S. Blinder’s article.

I just had lunch with a designer friend and we were talking about, you guessed it, the economy. I told him that my wife and I had made an agreement not to talk negatively about the economy and not to be a part of doomsday discussions. We further agreed that we would avoid watching negative news. As I explained in an earlier post, the recovery starts with us, with our attitudes. One innovation I am recommending is making a stand on the web with a video about your company. Video not only helps with your search engine results, it is a chance to let your customers know how you can help them make 2009 a great year. Happy 2009!

Is this the bottom? Most people seem to think the economy is in a kind of free-fall. Most people I talk to just get a worried look and say something like, ” I hope Obama can turn this thing around.” Others give me their own sad story about what the recession has done to them. I mentioned a few posts back that we can all focus on doing what we need to make things better. I would like to have the luxury to sit around and feel sorry for myself, but it’s a waste of time. My best cure is to talk to my wife, who won’t let me cry about the injustice of it all. I also spend a lot of time promoting myself and other people and it is paying off. I’ve gotten a lot of photography assignments since September of this year. Many of the jobs were a result of picking up the phone and just reminding people that I am available and I enjoy working with them. I don’t spend much time discouraged and frankly this kind of tenacity is something I had to learn from T. Harv Eker’s courses. In particular, he offers a Guerilla Marketing course that changed my life. I hope that course is still available because everyone with a business needs it; especially in this economy.

I read a great article today on the Huffington Blog. The author, Richard A. Smith argued that job searches in this economy may be met with frustration, and that the key to a new job is to identify a problem that a company has. Once you know the problem you can start working on possible solutions. Finding a solution to a company’s pain could get you a new job. I agree with this post in principle, but I don’t think it is any easier to solve a company’s problem than it is to solve your own issue of finding a new position.

I also think that this presents an overly pessimistic view of our future. Having said that, there is merit in doing research to make money. When you do get an interview, you will need to know everything you can about your target company. And of course the web is a great place to look. In particular, I would begin looking at their website. But don’t just look at the home page. Poke around and see if you can find the annual report. If you can stand it, go ahead and read it. You could learn where the company is going and even if you really want to work there. Then, if you think you’ve learned all you can from the website, set up a Google alert for the company. You have to point your browser to Google.com and set-up an alert that sends you an email when articles or blogs mention the company on the web. It works pretty well and you’ll be surprised at what you can find with some help from Google.

Now if you are turned off to working for someone else and want to start your own thing, you will still benefit from research on the web. More Money Rules is a good place to start because I’ll continue to feature business opportunities every week. One area that has worked for me is earning money with a web based business. In particular, there is a lot of money to be made in affiliate marketing. But here again, it is not a get rich quick solution, regardless of what some people promise. The more I get involved, the more I realize that it takes work and it takes doing your homework on the web.

One program I have explored looks pretty good. It’s called Affilorama and presents a huge amount of information in a series of videos. It also provides a pretty realistic time frame for developing an affiliate business instead of the usual pie-in-the sky. I am planning to go through the program myself to see if there are things I could still learn to do better. This is not the only way to make money on the web, but I know some people who are doing pretty well marketing affiliates.

The economic downturn does not have to be as bad as people seem to think. When I say this to people they usually object by pointing out the rising unemployment and the foreclosures and similar evidence. I don’t want to ignore these issues, but they tend to overlook the importance of attitude and belief systems. You may not be able to put attitude in the bank, but your chances of having money are much greater if you have a positive view.

Now because people need facts to change their beliefs, here are a few things to consider: Money and value are created by agreement among groups of people. You only have to remember that in some cultures shells have been considered very valuable and used for money. Another example is the way the international community and World Bank have just decided to “forgive” the debt of certain countries. One moment there was a huge weight that crippled the nation and the next it vanished, just because people said so.

The same thing can happen now with this recession. The whole world is starting to suffer because there is a widely held story that we we are falling toward a depression. The world press reminds us daily so we don’t forget about it and continue to act like the sky is falling. In fact, I read an article in the New York Times the other day about the moral decadence that has caused our fall. So now we are supposed to pay for our sins? I don’t think so because this kind of thinking does not work. This is the kind of thinking that lead the League of Nations to impose reparations payments on Germany after World War I. To punish it? Well, we all know how well that worked.  Most people believe it helped cause World War II. And it was precisely the realization that as a group of nations we can cooperate to invent value, that allowed the Allies after World War II to quickly rebuild Germany and Japan. Where did that money come from? Let’s face it we are being asked to believe a story (financial doomsday) that is causing a lot of suffering and could cause much more if we don’t do our part to stop it.

What to do now? I recommend not listening to people who are spreading the idea that the sky is falling. I also believe that we can ask our political representatives to explore ways to get governments to cooperate and end this thing. But the biggest source perpetuating this madness is the press. We need to call them on their irresponsible part in causing everybody to suffer. I believe folks have already had enough, the media needs to start looking at ways to rebuild now.

I know from practical experience just how powerful changing my attitude can be. I’ve been an entrepreneur for over 20 years and I have had my up and down periods. What I’ve discovered in the last couple of years is that it is vital to find a way to keep yourself positive. It can be a challenge especially given the news. I recently discovered a very useful set of programs offered by Tom and Penelope Pauley. I am not sure how they can offer this whole library for $35, but that is the price. The multi-volume set, Get The Money contains the Pauley’s books plus seven other money guides and a newsletter. An awesome way to keep your mind and your actions focused on building wealth.