Five Simple Ways To Create Wealth

There is no one road to wealth. But you can put the odds of creating wealth on your side by following a few simple precepts.

1. Spend less than you earn. This is often the most overlooked scenario, because many people believe it's a matter of cutting back on your current standard of living -- a strategy that's almost impossible for most people.

Stop looking at your budget as a fixed pie that must be cut up into different size pieces to cover your regular bills for housing, telephone, electricity, car expenses and insurance. Instead, concentrate on thinking about how you could expand the size of the pie.

Take a look at how you're spending your time, as well as your money. Perhaps instead of dining out this weekend, you could earn an extra $100 by becoming a waiter or bartender. Instead of shopping at the mall, you could be a salesclerk earning some extra cash. Instead of paying for a baby sitter, you could take care of a few other children on Saturday or Sunday, freeing working parents to do their errands. Then, instead of spending the extra money you earn, you should invest it so the money can work for you.

2. Make your money work as hard as you do. The real secret of financial success lies in making your money do the work, so you can relax. But that requires accumulating enough investment dollars so that the growth and earnings can free you from the need to punch a time clock. Many people argue that they'll never get to the point where they won't have to return to work because they can't afford to set money aside today. But don't overlook the power of compound interest.

3. Make sure your money is working for you, instead of against you. Just as your money can work very powerfully for you if you make the right decisions and stick to a plan of regular investing, wrong money decisions put potholes on the road to success. The classic example is credit-card debt.

4. Remember: If you don't see it, you won't spend it! If you take a close look at your paycheck, you'll notice a lot of deductions before you get to the amount you can cash or put in the bank. Money set aside for wealth building should be treated in the same way.

5. Create savings and investment goals. Set your own goals. But never set a goal you can't control. Your targets can't depend on your boss giving you a raise; they must be reachable by your own efforts. You might need to invest in yourself by acquiring more education so you can qualify for a job that pays more. You might need to take more risk in your investments, or in your lifestyle by taking on a job that pays commissions instead of a fixed salary.

Yes, these are certainly simple. But in the world of money management, simple steps are often the most effective.

http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2005/08/five_simple_way.html

29 Valuable Facts About Millionaire and Billionaires

The average millionaire goes bankrupt at least 3.5 times.  In the United States, approximately 7% of households are millionaires.h A 2010 study argues that millionaires (those in the top 1% of earners) pay approximately 40% of all taxes in the United States.e According to the book The Millionaire Next Door, only 20% of millionaires inherited their wealth. The other 80% earned their cash on their own.h Half of all millionaires are self employed or own their own business Half of all millionaires are self-employed or own a business. Around 80% of millionaires are college graduates. Only 18% of millionaires have Master’s degrees. Eight percent have law degrees, 6% have medical degrees, and 6% have PhDs.b The preferred car of millionaires is a Ford. Cadillacs are second and Lincolns are third. Many millionaires avoid high-priced cars in favor of a more economical set of wheels because cars are investments with little return.j Only 20% of millionaires are retirees. Around 80% still go to work.h Just 17% of millionaires or their spouses attended a private elementary or high school. However, 55% of millionaires’ children have attended/are attending private schools.h Many millionaires think that the ideal occupations for their kids are accountants or attorneys. Tax advisors and estate planning experts are also in the top the list.h Most modern American millionaires today (about 80%) are first-generation millionaires. Usually the fortune they build will dissipate by the second or third generation.h Those with Russian ancestry have the highest concentration of millionaire households in America. The Scottish rank second and Hungarians rank third. English ancestry groups rank fourth. The Russian American millionaire group has approximately $1.1 trillion, or nearly 5% of all the personal wealth in America.h Most American millionaires are manager-owners of businesses.j Research indicates that the longer the average members of an ancestry group have been in the America, the less likely they are to become millionaires because they acclimate to a high-consumption lifestyle. On the other hand, first-generation Americans tend to be self-employed, which is a significant positive correlate of wealth.h Spending money on cigarettes has a significant opportunity cost Smoking three packs of cigarettes over 46 years has a significant opportunity cost. If a person invested and reinvested just that cigarette money over those 46 years, he or she could create a portfolio worth over $2 million. Researchers note that the value of a small amount of money over time can be significant.j Contrary to common belief, many millionaires do not live in mansions or in highly prestigious neighborhoods.j A pentamillionaire is someone with the net worth of $5 million. A decamillionare has a net worth of $10 million. A hectamillionaire (a.k.a. Ultra-High-Net Worth) has a net worth of $100 million.b Carlo Slim Helu, a Mexican billionaire worth $69 billion, is considered to be the first “world’s richest man from a developing nation.” He has lived in the same modest home for the past 30 years. His wealth is equal to 5% of Mexico’s economic output. He earns almost $30 million a day.f Billionaire Bill Gates announced that he would donate his wealth (estimated to be $61 billion) to charity and that he would leave a maximum of $10 million to each of his three children.f The largest increase in the number of millionaires in the past year were in India(21%), China (16%), and Singapore (14%).d There were 185,000 millionaires in Canada in 2011, up 14% from 162,000 two years previously.i Four of the youngest billionaires in the world are connected to Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker, Eduardo Severin, and Dustin Moskovitz).g There are approximately 1,226 billionaires in the world. Women make up 8.5% of those.a In the year 1900, there were only 5,000 millionaires in the United States. In 2000, there were more than five million. Before the Great Recession, there were 9.2 million households worth $1 million or more.c,d In 2008, there were 10 million people around the world who were classified as millionaires in U.S. dollars.d Singapore has the most millionaires per capita One in five people in Singapore is a millionaire, making it the city/state with the most millionaires per capita. It has 188,000 millionaires. The number of U.S. millionaires dropped by 129,000, to slightly more than 5 million in 2011.d,i The first African American woman to make it onto billionaire lists is Oprah Winfrey, who is worth approximately $2.7 billion.a The term “millionaire” was first used in French in 1719 by Steven Fentimen. The first time the term was printed in America is believed to be in the obituary of Pierre Lorillard II, a tobacco manufacturer, in 1843.b On average, millionaires are 61 years old with $3.05 million in assets.g Today’s millionaires in the U.S. are made up of managers (17%), educators (12%), corporate executives (7%), entrepreneur/business owners (6%), and attorneys and accountants. The $5 million+ group is made up of corporate executives (17%) and entrepreneurs/owners (12%).c  Common Characteristics of Millionaires h Live below their means Lead frugal lifestyles Are self-employed or own their own business Plan and study investments Are not always at the top of their class (some didn’t even go to college) Are self-made List of the Richest Billionaires (2012) i Rank Name Net Worth in Billions Date of Birth Country of Citizenship Business #1 Carlo Slim Helu $69 January 28, 1940 Mexico Business Magnate #2 Bill Gates $61 October 28, 1955 USA Co-founder and Chairman of Microsoft #3 Warren Buffett $44 August 30, 1930 USA Business Magnate #4 Bernard Arnault $41 March 5, 1949 France Construction and Real Estate #5 Amancio Ortega $37.5 March 28, 1936 Spain Fashion Executive #6 Larry Ellison $36 August 17, 1944 USA Founder of Oracle #7 Eike Batista $30 November 3, 1956 Brazil Mining and Exploration Magnate #8 Stefan Persson $26 October 4, 1947 Sweden Chairman of H&M #9 Li Ka-shing $25.5 June 13, 1928 Hong Kong Business Magnate #10 Karl Albrecht $25.4 Feb 20, 1920 Germany Founder of ALDI discount stores Top 20 Countries with the Highest Millionaire Density i Rank Country Percentage of Population with Millionaire Status Total Number of Millionaires #1 Singapore 17.1% 188,000 #2 Qatar 14.3% 47,000 #3 Kuwait 11.8% 63,000 #4 Switzerland 9.5% 322,000 #5 Hong Kong 8.8% 212,000 #6 United Arab Emirates 5.0% 57,000 #7 United States 4.3% 5.1 million #8 Israel 3.6% 83,000 #9 Taiwan 3.2% 246,000 #10 Bahrain 3.2% 8,000 #11 Japan 2.9% 1.6 million #12 Belgium 2.9% 134,000 #13 Oman 2.5% 12,000 #14 Ireland 2.2% 33,000 #15 Netherlands 2.1% 152,000 #16 Saudi Arabia 1.9% 92,000 #17 Australia 1.6% 132,000 #18 Denmark 1.6% 41,000 #19 United Kingdom 1.5% 411,000 #20 Canada 1.4% 185,000

http://facts.randomhistory.com/millionaires-facts.html

How to get ahead by being generous

Traditional wisdom says business is a dog-eat-dog world, but new evidence turns that old saying on its head: the people who rise to the top may actually be the most generous.

That uplifting finding comes from Give and Take, a new book by Adam Grant, a management professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Givers are a huge asset to the companies they work for because they make others more effective. They have larger networks that make problem-solving faster and easier. They take the initiative to mentor and train new hires. They pick up the slack when others are overworked. And they foster a sense of loyalty among employees and customers.

Grant also identifies two other groups of people: matchers and takers. Both have middling success. Takers put their self-interests first, which increases stress, lowers collaboration, and harms working relationships. Matchers give only as much as they get, so their relationships feel transactional and their networks tend to be smaller.

Anyone -- even matchers and takers -- can learn to become more giving. Here are five strategies to help you become more generous in your professional life: 

1. Reconnect with someone. Reach out to someone you've lost touch with, then ask what they're struggling with right now and how you could help solve the problem. By extending a hand, you reestablish a connection and deepen the relationship. Your generosity creates good will between you, a great way to strengthen your network.

2. Anticipate others' needs. Givers focus most of their energy outward. "They pay more attention to what other people might need," Grant says. To do that, ask your colleagues if they’re struggling with anything whenever you chat about work. You might know how to help immediately, or an idea might come to you later. Sometimes just listening is help enough, and the more you listen, the more you'll find proactive solutions that preempt future problems.

3. Practice five minute favors. Your time is valuable, so focus on what Grant calls "five minute favors," which are favors you can do very quickly, such as an email introduction. Dedicate a specific time for these favors, such as Friday afternoons or ten minutes at lunchtime. For more involved favors, ask yourself, "If I'm going to spend a lot of time helping this person, is this something I can help with uniquely, or could someone else do it as well?"

4. Give in ways you find meaningful. Sustainable giving stems naturally from activities you enjoy. "Giving is hard to sustain if it constantly feels like a chore," Grant says. Think about what you love doing, such as connecting two people together, sharing your knowledge, or mentoring others. Find ways to help that resonate with your values and interests.

5. Act like a matcher with takers. Givers need to be careful that self-interested people don't take advantage of their kindness. "Giving is most risky when dealing with takers," Grant says. When you help a taker, be assertive about what you want to get in return. Ask them to help you with a specific task, or pay it forward by getting them to help someone else.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226307

Time Scavengers- Wasting Your Time

Once of worse problems of working on the internet is the inevitable distractions, how much time do you waste on things you know you shouldn't but cannot quite help yourself.

It's not difficult to waste a whole day watching tv and video and then the spouse comes home and you reassure them  you have of course had a productive day.

And it is very easy to deceive them as well as most of the time what we are doing could be good or could be bad. The trouble is the person you deceive most is yourself  because you will have acheived a very expensive   nothing!!

Whats to be done can we try and change our habits over night schedule every second, this will make this a job and you might as well go and work the 9-5 with others if you are going to do that.

No you must decide the times which are the most likely to be productive for you, if you feel you can only work hard for an  hour or two hours then you must stick to it. Better to work extremely hard for a short period of time than to do nothing for 8 hours.

Luckily I found a free utility which can start addressing some of these issues its called rescuetime at rescuetime.com it monitors all your time on the internet and what you are doing so if like me you just spent 5 hours watching back to back episodes that you could not wait on. Then its there and if your really brave get your spouse to check up on what you did for the day. Maybe you can plan some reward in there.

But whatever you do if you do not get scheduling under control the you will eventually fail and the alternative is you would be better off staying at work.

Mike Bell

10 Questions to Ask Before Quitting Your Job to Start a Business

Giving up the security of a full-time job to start your own business is a risky, often stressful move. "The biggest reason people don't end up quitting is the fear of uncertainty. They don't know what might happen and they don't want to give up the security that they already have," says Sean Ogle, who quit a job in finance to live in Thailand and run a virtual search engine optimization and Web consultancy.

How do you know when the time is right to make the leap? Here are 10 questions to ask before you quit your job

Are you just miserable in your current job?
Some people who think they want to be entrepreneurs are just unhappy in their current roles, says Pamela Slim, the Mesa, Ariz.-based author of Escape from Cubicle Nation (Penguin, 2010). Developing a thorough business plan can help you avoid any impulsive decisions. "In addition to wanting to quit, you have to have a viable business idea and an effective marketing and operations plan," she says. As you work on your plan, she advises, keep your job and income as long as possible.

What will your new day-to-day routine be like?
Instant freedom can be dangerous. Ogle recommends developing a daily schedule to follow, just as you did in your 9-to-5 job. "When you now have all of this free time it gets really easy to say, 'Oh, I'll do that later'," he says. The week after quitting his job, Ogle started going to the gym at the same time he would have arrived at his old office each morning. And after the gym, he worked the same hours that he did for his former employer. How will you raise money to keep the business going? 
Lack of capital is one of the main hurdles to entrepreneurship. Rather than figuring out cash flow as you go along, it's best to come up with realistic projections as part of your business plan before deciding whether you can afford to leave your job. Your business may not be profitable for three to five years, so it's important to be realistic about how you'll support yourself financially, says Sharon Lechter, author of Three Feet From Gold: Turn Your Obstacles Into Opportunities (Sterling Publishing, 2009) and a financial literacy expert in Phoenix. Anticipating your financial needs "allows you to focus your energy on building your new business rather than worrying how you are going to pay the bills," she says.

Have you factored in possible unforeseen costs?
When Jody Dyer launched Blackbird Tees, an apparel company in Richmond, Va., she was surprised by the many expenses her business plan hadn't anticipated. We spent "thousands of dollars experimenting with different fabric styles and inks, messing up screens, destroying shirts, making the wrong color choices," says Dyer, who sells her products on Etsy. "At the time, those errors were financially crippling." Rather than going out of business, Dyer fell back on freelance copywriting gigs to make ends meet. "Supplementing your income through freelance or part-time work can alleviate some of that strain," she says.

Are you willing to take on multiple roles?
Starting a business means you'll be wearing many hats. "One day you are the tech person, one day you are the salesperson, one day you are the cleaning person," says Shobha Tummala, founder of an eponymous chain of beauty salons in New York City. "You can't have an ego." So before leaving your job, you need to decide if you will be happy performing a variety of functions, from marketing to maintenance. 

What are your strengths and weaknesses?
As you consider the multiple roles, be honest with yourself about what you're best at and where you need to improve, Tummala advises. Perhaps you need to beef up your programming skills or understanding of finance--or find a partner with a complementary skill set. If you don't have a way to overcome your weaknesses, it may be best to stay in your current role. 

Who are your future customers--and competitors?While you may not be able to thoroughly test the market potential for your business concept, you should at least understand who your likely customers are and what kind of competition you would face. If you're not quite sure, consider pursuing your idea part-time, suggests Ellen Rohr, president of Bare Bones Biz, a small-business consultancy in Rogersville, Mo. "You can test your plan and adjust it in a soft launch before you sink too much into an unprofitable venture."

 Is your support network on board?
To help ease the transition, you should share your entrepreneurial plans with family members and see if they support the tradeoffs involved in starting a business. Be quite explicit about the risks, Slim says. "When one person goes into business, everyone in the family unit is affected." If your partner and other members of your support network are reluctant to back your idea, you may want to rethink quitting your current job.

Do you have a backup option?
Developing a plan B before going off on your own will help you avoid getting blindsided. Is there something you can do part-time if you need to temporarily bring in money, or will you need to seek new full-time employment and put your plans on hold? To keep your options open, stay in contact with recruiters, previous employers and other networking contacts.

How will you avoid burning bridges? 
If you decide to quit, remember that your employer could be helpful to you as you launch your new venture. Rather than resign abruptly, figure out a way to leave in good standing. Give plenty of notice to help your employer handle the transition. And be open about your future entrepreneurial plans, Ogle says. "Usually [companies] will understand it, and even offer to help out however they can." Employers can assist by giving you flexible time off or retaining your services as a consultant.

 http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226035