Myths of Investing - The Best Strategy to Fast Track Financial Independence Fast!

Fast-forward 2 years. How do you see your life unfolding?

Will you be still working – by choice? Will you be retired and living off a government pension? Will you be self-funded living your dream?

Hope is not a strategy!

We are all moving inexorably in the direction of that which we’re focused or else moving with the herd.

Be wary of the herd mentality.

Your financial destiny will be dictated by one of the following financial scenarios:

• Inheritance
• Savings
• Gambling/Lotto
• Investing and leverage

Lets do the exercise of quantifying how much you would need in order to fund an $80000 per year lifestyle.

Let’s assume you own your cars, house and toys

Incidentally as you no longer have a job that consumes over 40 hours per week – you will have a lot of extra time in which to spend your money.

$80k less tax equates to $65k. If you have a partner this figure is now around $33k each or $630 per week.

Food, petrol, clothes, travel, presents, home maintenance, car depreciation, movies, meals out, concerts, hobbies, sporting events, general bills including, heating, electricity, rates, pay tv, broadband, mobile phone……

$80k per year is not extravagant for most people.

Some will respond by suggesting that they could survive on $30k -$40k per year – that’s fine but we’re not talking ‘survival’ here.

Ask the question how much do you think you would want in order to sustain a great standard of living and consider yourself financially independent? Me? That’s not for this blurb but it’s certainly a lot more than $80k per year.

Anyway back on topic.

How is this nest egg going to manifest?

Pension? I’m guessing that may account for $25k

Savings? $1 million invested in a term deposit may get you $60k per year, reducing annually as inflation kicks in

Inheritence? Good luck!

Leveraged Investments?  Assuming you don’t have a crystal ball, what level of risk are you willing to accept in order to build your safety net?

Where is all your money going?

Home.

A home loan of $360k taken out over 25 years will result in you paying the bank $800k! That’s if you never refinance for over due credit cars, car replacement, kids education, renovations etc

It gets worse!

This is after tax.

 You will have to earn almost $1.2 million JUST to pay off your home.

You could use some of your ‘spare’ cash to invest in another Investment Property. That’s another $360k. Sure this probably won’t cost you as much, what with the tax benefits and rent etc BUT is reliant on you actually having an extra $200-$300 per week to play with AND to be astute (lucky) enough to pick a realty market that appreciates faster than inflation

The share market. Your mate at the pub usually has a good tip or two and loves to tell stories of how well he’s doing BUT still drives a 10 year old car and let’s you pay for his round! Remember the day you think is the best day to buy stock is the exact day someone else thinks is the time to sell!

Start a business. Lot’s of great tax deductions. Petrol, home office, mobile phone, trips abroad.

Do you have any qualifications in business, accounting, finance or marketing?

Do you have the confidence to take a couple of years off work and invest thousands of dollars upfront into inventory, staff, insurance, offices, warehouses, advertising etc?

All sounds too hard – maybe it’s best to resort back to hope! Let’s hope the herd I’m in takes the right turn and we all beat the system and strike gold and accidentally achieve our dreams and goals...

Me?

I’ve spent a long time researching and analysing most of the above and have concluded that the highest return lowest risk and least stressful investment strategy is…..drumroll….a low cost established home based business.

It’s a no brainer. To retire in 10 years on $80k per year would require well over a million dollars outside of your home equity and that’s subject to the ravages of inflation. To create an income online of $80k per year would take 1-5 years

To partner up with me click below

Full details HERE

Engagement Versus List Building

After recently launching my training site for budding online entrepreneurs @Keypoint Learning I've returned to the reason I'm actually online. 


My motto is that:

 I'm online to have fun, network with like minded people for mutual inspiration and to fund my travel and lifestyle ambitions.

In a nutshell that's my definition of life balance. Many online marketers seem to have different motivations. I constantly see them masquerading as friends on the social networks, posting only to blatently pitch their unsolicited message to anonymous connections they've shamelessly collected as a misguided list building exercise.


Misguided? When someone who I've never interacted with connects with me via Twitter or Facebook I find myself much more enthused if their 'followers' number in the 100's rather than the tens of thousands. Mass followers originate occasionally from some form of guru or celebrity status, but more often from the pursuit of building a list

I recently conducted an exercise whereby I direct messaged 100 'connections' who had solicited a follow request, with a specific and personal comment relating to them ie non automated. The reciprocal result was ...... eerily empty. There is a whole world of Tweeters sending automated messages to 1000's of loose connections none of whom have any inclination to respond. Pointless.


Well maybe not entirely. It's akin to a massive letterbox drop. If 1% respond then that may be an acceptable ROI but.... it's a real killer of relationship building though. The irony is of course that if these Tweeters took the time to actually personally connect with just 100 - the impact would be extra ordinary.

For this reason I've become more choosy with who I connect with on Facebook and have no desire to accumulate too many disinterested number chasers. Twitter? I'm happy to accept 95% of requests with minimal expectation of real connection - and there is some value as a broadcasting forum.


Where's this blog heading? Sorry to ramble on. The message relates to the under rated value of engagement. If you read a blog that has some interest maybe take a second a hit the like icon - it's a minimal commitment but ....you guessed it -it's a form of engagement.


Perhaps the odd comment. (no pun intended - odd comments are often quite funny!)  There is a whole community of bloggers who spend half their lives commenting on other blogs just for a reciprocal comment. That to me seems pretty manufactured - though not a criticism


Real engagement is a habit that takes time - but like most interactions offline and online the reward maybe surprisingly is that the reward and self satisfaction more often comes from the giving than the receiving


Almost forgot! My latest Video updating my primary online business My Paid Vacations

Get Online FAST and Protect and Build Your Market Share

Consider this:


In 1996 there were less than 20 million people online. Today there are well in excess of a Billion! It is estimated that more than one in five people on the planet is connected. 


The landscape has changed utterly, and you know what? It’s virtually untapped. It’s like the dawn of the industrial revolution. We’re just stumbling around in the dark trying to figure out what’s happening. 

Most people will sleep walk through this historical period of unlimited opportunity only to awake years later and wonder what happened! No kidding...

The message is this. Tap in fast. Get involved and evolve with the technology. Those that embrace the medium will attain successes that previous generations could only dream about. 


And for one simple reason. It’s called Leverage. The ability to leverage other peoples’ skills and resources is absolutely phenomenal.

Traditional Marketing strategies are no longer effective. How has your return on investment on your Yellow pages advertising changed in the last 5 years? If you are marketing to a demographic under 45 then I'd guess the answer is sobering


A half hearted attempt to embrace Twitter Facebook and other social media forums just won't cut it. 

Put yourself in the shoes of the super busy 24/7 digitally connected and consider how your decision making process evolves. 


You're on the road iphone4 or ipad in hand. You need two new TYRES/NEW ACCOUNTANT/DENTAL procedure - what do you do?


This is what I do. Google 'cheap tyres Innaloo' 'accountant North Perth' 'dentist Scarborough'


5 seconds later my choice has been narrowed to less than half a dozen businesses. Are you on this list? 


I haven't got time to get 10 quotes - what I want is convienience. When I click on your website - does it convey instatntly why I should call you NOW?


Drive by traffic equates to google search.....





I've found you what next? Wow you offer a discount voucher valid for next two days for all new clients! Free car wash with all purchases over $80! You bulk Bill!


Sure, I'll drop my email address in the box for an update on how to get 10% off all purchases made in the next 12 months.


Cool I don't think I'll bother scouring the 'net for any other companies - I've got a 'coffee catch up' with a friend in 30 minutes.


It's not that complicated. Get found. Have a compelling offer and attract an email address!

Work With Me!

Floating Lead Capture Pages Can Transform ANY Business FAST!

The title sounds like a Click Bank advert promising the world at the click of a button - and there's more....


Seriously if you've been online for more than 5 minutes you've probably heard that there are 3 keys to succeeding online

Build a LIST

Sell to the list

Repeat the process

Pretty simple huh?

Not really of course. Where's this magical list coming from? Sure if I had a list of 200k loyal subscribers who like and trust me enough to actually open my emails and then click through on my links, then this whole Internet Marketing gig would be pretty good wouldn't it?


So many questions!


If you've read my ebook 'Rip Up The Rule Book' (click on the Penguin Pic on the right) you'll know that I am a great advocator of differentiation. Following the Pied Piper can have unfortunate consequences BUT I think it goes without saying that building a targeted audience and capturing their details (email) gives you enormous leverage.


Here's the thing. If by some miracle someone stumbles across your website (excuse the irreverent language!) you have one opportunity to impress them enough for them to click through your links and maybe join a business venture or purchase something BUT that is rare.

Like an ADHD 6 year old who's had a gallon of red cordial - no sooner has the thought occurred to them to check your stuff out than some other shinier distraction catches their eye and a million clicks later they're laughing their socks off at some YouTube video involving the misadventures of someone's cat and parrot -with no earthly idea how they got there!!!


Maybe that's you!


Below are some lead capture links that I use to add stickiness to my websites. They solicit a direct request for information in return for something of value


PS that last bit is hugely important. I might offer potentially $100's of dollars of ebooks, videos and so forth just for an email address.


Check these out for yourself

Free Gifts on your Website

Work With Me Site

Specific Niche Website

List Building With Social Media

PPS: I don't generally like the PPS but anyway if you'd like to hook up with me for more hands on help then I have a proposal that might interest you (limited time-really) 

WORK WITH ME

Crazy Twitter Experiment!

As I hit the 3000 Follower mark It has occurred to me recently that my Twitter connections have been neglected and too anonymous. The pursuit of chasing the numbers has diluted a lot of the whole point of the network - which is presumably to to connect with like minded people.

I am undertaking an experiment that may take a few weeks and that is to send a non automated message one at a time to each of my Twittter connections and see how many show enough interest in responding.

So many Tweeting and yet so little engagement

I would be hugely amazed if 5% of my 'Followers' actually took time out to connect tangibly but that in itself would be awesome and authentic.

So anyway if you've meandered here via a Direct non automated message from me via Twitter and would care to leave a comment that would be enlightening and hopefully in the spirit of what the whole social networking thing's all about - I look forward to reciprocating...or perhaps you think I'm just crazy trying to change the 'rules'!

Comment? 

Review: Global Horizons (My Shopping Genie) and Global Domains International

Let me start off by stating that this blog rarely ventures into the Business Review arena. It's usually a self serving way to drive traffic to the website of those marketing the business. 


Alternatively the equally annoying practice of opening with a headline such as 'Is acme a SCAM!' uuurgh I hate that style of covert marketing.


Anyway enough of the babbling


I just received an unsolicited email (No opt in had been used) which is a bad start from someone representing Global Horizons. (My Shopping Genie) I rarely click through but as I had heard a little bit about them I thought I'd go against my instincts and have a look.

It's certainly a very well presented opportunity. Professional videos and well scripted. Certainly quite different to the over the top Click Bank hyped to the hilt rubbish that keeps showing up in my in box.


The voice over is English which will raise a few eyebrows - sounds like the strange try hard guy from the UK version of the office!

As a product an application/genie that tunes you into best deals online - it may well have some serious merit and sounds like a good idea that will have a market. The business opportunity that is presented is another story.


The pitch is 'earn $8k per month within 8 weeks!' who wouldn't be interested? A compelling headline for sure but here's where I began to remember why another similarly named business Global Domains International (WS) failed to get me on board.

GDI has stood the test of time and I have no doubt that many have earned good incomes from the opportunity. It has a VERY low entry fee of $10 per month and it's pretty hard to really lose much money - except perhaps in the marketing costs BUT....


Both businesses play the game of compounding returns - that just plain messes with your head. Here's how it goes..take a dollar and double it every dayfor 30 days and work how much you've accumulated. WOW who'd have thought it'd be so much!


Both these businesses make assumptions that you can simply double your 'network' every month and 'voila' you're rich


With GDI you will need a network in the vicinity of 8000 in order to earn 6 figures - and that's not counting all those who will join and do nothing or drop out within 12 months. If all those 8000 participants were to have the same ambitions you would need to multiply that # by 8000!!!


Global Horizons works on a similar principle. Entry is a modest enough $190 with a monthly fee of $29 but will require nearly 5000 participants for you to hit that elusive 6 figure mark. These sort of programs require you to get in very early and tough luck on those that arrive a year or so down the line...


I prefer businesses that offer the opportunity to retail a product or service to the masses which is sustainable and requires building a network in the low hundreds rather than multiple thousands.


If you've chosen to go down that path I wish you well I have no gripe against either company but that's my honest review.


Openings are currently available to work directly with me

CLICK HERE:

7 Keys To Massive Success Online

CLICK HERE - Your 5 Month Plan

CLICK HERE - Work With Me?