COULD GOVERNMENT ISSUED CRYPTOCURRENCIES BE THE FUTURE?

Prominent economist Mohamed El-Erian sees a future in which an “officially sanctioned” cryptocurrency will exist.

GOING CASHLESS

“We are moving away from cash,” El-Erian says. “Go to Sweden and you’ll see how fast.”

In Sweden, just 2% of the country’s transactions are conducted with cash, and that number is expected to decline further down to 0.5% by 2020. Countries like Canada, the US, and the UK show similar stats.

Despite his predictions, El-Erian understands that we are still years away from cryptocurrency US dollars:

Change in consumer habits and trust in the new medium doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not something that we’re going to see in the next three to five years.

WHO BENEFITS FROM GOVERNMENT ISSUED CRYPTO?

Governments launching their own cryptocurrencies via private blockchains seems like a smart move as the dollar and other fiat currencies continue to lose value and more citizens discover Bitcoin. Venezuela was the first major country to pull this off after suffering from a hyperinflated currency and severe economic issues.

However, given that the whole point of Bitcoin is to subvert government and bank control over an individuals money, its hard to see how a crypto dollar that tracks all of your transactions, earnings, and tax liabilities will be the favored choice by citizens. A government controlled cryptocurrency goes against the blockchain ethos of decentralization and self-governance, making it no more valuable to regular citizens than today’s fiat money.

What may become a useful crypto-currency for institutions to trade services across borders may not be what is adopted by citizens’ seeking autonomy over their spending and finances.

Despite this, countries like the US, who have a dominant position on the world stage could ensure that a government-issued cryptocurrency becomes as ubiquitous and in-demand as the current fiat US dollar.

‘BITCOIN IS OVERPRICED’

Unsurprisingly, Mohamed El-Erian is skeptical about Bitcoin’s status as a currency, and has in the past claimed that Bitcoin is overpriced and that governments “will not allow the amount of adoption that it is currently priced at.”

His comments show a fundamental lack of understanding of how the technology works, and how the act of ‘allowing’ is simply not a choice in a decentralized globally distributed system.

Perhaps El-Erian’s prediction for governments issuing their own cryptocurrencies is less about migrating away from cash and more about trying to usurp Bitcoin and maintain control over financial markets in the long term.

Bitcoin economist Saifedean Ammous has been quick to respond to El Erian’s thoughts on government-issued cryptocurrencies.

"Nothing can be both ‘government-issued’ and ‘like bitcoin’. Government currencies are already mostly digital. Making them any more ‘like Bitcoin’, by introducing cryptographic payment clearance & automated monetary policy, can only mean ending government control over them."

On an institutional level (e.g., government to government or bank to bank trading on private blockchain ledgers) it sounds like officially sanctioned cryptos would be a successful initiative, but for general user adoption, I certainly wouldn’t bet on it.

Source: http://bitcoinist.com/government-issued-cryptocurrencies-future/

Today is Your Most Important Trading Day

Had a bad run of trades? 

You sat down at the computer last week with your cup of coffee and your favourite pair of lucky slippers on, just another trading day. You were making good progress, and there was a little whisper from way back in your head saying, 'I think we can do this. We're getting there...'

And then you went into self-destruct mode. Trade after trade of emotional trading, the monster coming out of nowhere and taking control, firing off orders like a stereotypical office-manager flipping notes at the pole-dancer after one too many drinks.

It hurts. Hurts like hell.

But tomorrow will be different, right? You sit in the corner of the room after the trading destruction derby and feel awful about yourself. You go for a walk and try and figure this shit out. It needs to change and YOU need to change.

You get revved up and ready. Tomorrow will be different. You're going to change and become more disciplined.

Right?

Except, you've been saying that for six months, a year, longer even.

Until you come to realise that you only ever have TODAY to trade effectively, you are going to continue making excuses and mistakes.

Every day when you wake up and sit at that computer, that is your most important trading day. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Today.

You want to be a trader? You need to be willing to focus yourself TODAY. The discipline needs to be there TODAY. The ability to follow your rules ODAY and never mind how long your setup is taking, or the loss you made yesterday that you want to make back.

It sounds like it should be easy, but it isn't. We all have 'off' days. You know the ones where we wake up and it feels like a greyness has settled over the world. We don't want to work, we certainly don't want to do anything difficult.

But guess what? Today is the most important trading day. And when you are feeling like that, you should underline those words on a post-it and stick it to your computer monitor. Because those are the days when the damage tends to be done.

When you feel like that, try this... Just don't trade.

I'll give you a minute to get over that ground-breaking statement. It can be hard to grasp.

Today is your most important trading day. And every day, focus number one is protecting your account. If you feel like rubbish, the best defensive move can be to simply stay away.

Approach every day like it is your only trading day. Don't allow yourself to slip and then assure yourself that tomorrow will be better. In trading, you don't have a guarantee of tomorrow. That damaging behaviour you keep carrying out WILL one day pull your ability to trade from under you. The account will disappear and you will be left with nothing. It won't matter what you tell yourself on your walks or when you're rocking back and forth in the corner of the room. Because you will have allowed yourself to forget that TODAY is your most important trading day, and that will have finally caught up with you.

If you want to succeed, in trading or anything else, you need to come to terms with the fact that all you have is today to make it happen. Your focus and your drive and your determination needs to be there today. Not tomorrow. Not yesterday.

Think of the constant dieter. Always tomorrow. Always next week. And in the interim, they continue on with the destructive behaviour that continues adding to their problem and making it more difficult to overcome.

Now think of the person who loses all the weight. They decided that TODAY is their most important dieting day. All of their focus and determination went into it and they stuck with it on every today.

If you want it, whatever it is, go get it TODAY.

I hope you've all had a great trading week!

James Orr

Source: http://www.thinklikeatrader.co.uk/2018/05/today-is-your-most-important-trading-day.html

What Is Happening To Crypto? Here’s The Truth… (And Some Things To Consider)

In this video Crypto Zombie discusses what is happening with the markets and cryptocurrency as a whole.

GDPR and Blockchain: How the US’ Lack of Preparation Could Swing the Balance of Power to Europe

This op-ed on GDPR and blockchain was written by Robert Chu — CEO of Embleema, the patient-driven healthcare blockchain, and Former SVP at IMS Health (Now IQVIA) — and Alexis Normand, former Head of B2B of Nokia Digital Health

Internet privacy advocates are surely disappointed by Mark Zuckerberg’s mid-April performance in front of the US Senate. After Cambridge Analytica misused 87 Million Facebook users’ accounts for political purposes, the young billionaire demonstrated that Internet platforms do not know how to regulate themselves. Asked by a senator about the nature of his business, Zuckerberg responded simply, “We run ads”.

It seems of little concern to Facebook whether our data defines us as consumers, patients or citizens. Asked about which rules would seem more desirable, Zuck barely conceded that the General Regulation on Data Protection (GDPR) which comes into force in Europe at the end of May, offered “many good things”. However, It’s not clear what there is to “like” for Facebook.

2018, thus far, really has been the year where data privacy and how our data is being utilized by technology companies has come to the forefront of media and the public’s consciousness. As European companies ready themselves for GDPR May 25th kickoff, the world has been made well aware of the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal and the Russian meddling in the US Presidential election, with data-driven advertising being their weapon of choice. But this is not just an issue for 2018 — 15.5 million Electronic Medical Records were breached in the US in 2016 according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.

GDPR imposes costly and significant obligations on platforms to avoid abusive data harvesting: there is “clear and explicit” consent to Terms & Conditions. These will limit the collection of information to only that which is necessary for the service to run. This feels like the sword of Damocles is hanging over the heads of Facebook and Google because nobody uses their services to be profiled, but the old adage “you are not the customer, you are the product” has never rang truer.“We run ads”: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

GDPR also establishes a “right to be forgotten”, to have embarrassing or damaging material taken down and erased from the public domain. Companies will need to provide a record of data processing, which generates significant overhead. The ability to hold on to one’s data history will become a right in Europe, the same way one can keep hold of the same mobile phone number when changing service providers. In health, the portability of patient records will facilitate the coordination of care, including treatment for complex diseases. 

Facebook has since admitted that it would not implement these rules for its US users and has gone to great lengths to reduce its exposure to GDPR. It is also possible regulators are increasingly reluctant to weaken US tech giants as the pressure from China increases. The Red State is now on par with the United States in terms of number of patents in artificial intelligence (AI). Its president Xi Jingping made AI a centerpiece of his Made in China Plan for 2025, aiming to take world leadership. AI has become a security issue whose importance goes beyond our private lives.

Europe has lost the AI battle, but is serious about Blockchain & Privacy.

Like Don Quixote, Europe wants to be the moral flag bearer for consumer rights, holding firm the belief that the GDPR and defense of privacy will in time garner a competitive edge. If the argument was only audible in Mountain View or Shenzen, perhaps the Masters of AI & the Universe would shine a smile. But for how long?

What if Europe, like the “knight with the sad face”, was actually visionary? Blockchain, as a breakthrough technology is already reshuffling cards. “History has more imagination than men”, said Lenin who knew a thing or two about revolutions. The hype should not make us blind to the profound transformation operated by Blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin.

The First Age of the Internet was that of information. The constitution of databases, search engines, and the combined knowledge of users, together brought down transaction costs and freed many segments of the economy from imperfect information and geographic distance. By monopolizing these technologies, US tech giants captured the benefits of all these efficiency gains.

We are entering a Second Age, that of the “Internet of Currency” or its equivalent, the exchange of certified information. Blockchain is a peer-to-peer IT infrastructure that records a transaction between two parties in real time for all participants in a network so that it becomes tamper-proof and immutable. It offers the means to certify, without any third party, an exchange of information, which can also be an economic transaction. Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, a development platform for Blockchain apps summarizes: “While most technologies aim to automate workers on the periphery performing repetitive tasks, Blockchain automates the center. Instead of putting the taxi driver out of work, it puts Uber out of work and lets the driver work directly for the client. “Europe is far more serious about data privacy than the US, the authors argue.

The disruption goes further, because the very business model of the company which operates the network switches from maximizing profit to maximizing exchanges between nodes in the network. Indeed, blockchain companies act like Central Banks within the economy they generate, paying themselves by issuing tokens, like Disneyland gives you vouchers to use on different rides.

Taking a familiar example in healthcare, Blockchain offers the patient a rare opportunity to share their data seamlessly with a doctor or laboratory, being compensated automatically for each exchange. This is a paradigm change for the data exchange industry, which currently lets large data brokers take the bigger slice of a $15billion cake, leaving the patient with zero compensation. In short, Blockchain would give patients back ownership over their health data.

In all sectors where traceability is critical, blockchain essentially removes the need for a trusted or not so trusted third party, and any “rent” that he might perceive from his privileged position as owner of the marketplace. Blockchain reduces the cost of coordination between stakeholders of a network. This could be the demise of Silicon Valley’s centralization of data and power, and perhaps even of modern capitalism as we know it. Had Karl Marx lived in the time of blockchain, he would finally have found a way to free workers from companies becoming monopolies and capturing all the “added-value”.

A new divide is emerging between AI-powered platforms, which are hostile by design to privacy protection, and blockchain-powered decentralized network: a conflict between monopolies and libertarians, Big Brother and Crypto, the United States and Europe. This is good news for individuals and end users who can no longer simply trust institutions to protect property over data. This is good news for Europe, which can reset the meter by combining GDPR and Blockchain. This is very bad news for Silicon Valley. It invented the sharing economy of your physical assets that AirBnB and Amazon have captured the better share of. Now, old Europa is writing the rules for the sharing economy of your digital assets. Tomorrow, we will all be the CEOs of our data.

Investing for Those Starting at Zero

Over the past decade and a half I’ve had the chance to teach investing and money concepts to tens of thousands of people all over the world. And I’ll tell you, the results for each of these people is exactly the same. As you pursue your journey to become an investor, you can gain an important new vision of how money works. You’ll never look at it the same way again. Your confidence will grow. And you’ll have a great time along the way.

I’m the author of two books, Stock Market Cash Flow and 401(k)aos that help people learn some of the problems they are facing with retirement. I also show you how we can solve these problems.

The road to becoming a successful investor might have some bumps along the way. It’s completely normal. Bumps in the road do not mean that you are failing. It just means you’re on the journey.

With each of my own failures along the way, I have faced a point of decision to either move forward or quit. When you decide to stand up and move forward, you transform that failure into a lesson learned rather than an ending point to the story. I’m so grateful for my mistakes. I know that sounds weird. I’m not saying they were fun, and I’m not saying I want to repeat them.

One of my greatest mentors is Robert Kiyosaki. He’s the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, the best-selling personal finance book of all time. I’ve had the chance to work closely with Robert and his personal team during my time as a Rich Dad Advisor for paper assets.

For those who really know Robert, he’s much more than an author. He is an entrepreneur and an investor extraordinaire. One of the most powerful lessons I’ve ever learned from him is this: “We must know the difference between an asset and a liability if we are going to invest successfully.”

My purpose isn’t to help the person who already has millions of dollars. Instead, my goal is to help the single mom starting from scratch. It’s for the father who was wiped out by medical bills and is trying to climb out of bankruptcy. This is for the college student who is struggling to find a field of study she feels passionate about, and deeply wants to become an entrepreneur.

I have started businesses and purchased real estate without any money. The purpose of this article is to help you begin to see how anyone can start at that same beginning point and find success. Whether your desire is to start a business, invest in real estate, trade stocks, or buy commodities, this information is designed to help you achieve your goals even if you have nothing to start with.

At this point in your journey, don’t become too preoccupied with getting across the finish line. Instead, I want to help guide you to the starting line. I don’t believe there’s any one recipe I can hand you that will magically make you millions. What I can give you are the principles used by the rich every single day. As a result, you will gain an understanding of how you can create something valuable from nothing.

In my travels I have met tens of thousands of people who have the heart and desire to succeed, yet feel the heavy challenge of starting at square one with nothing.

Doesn’t It Take Money To Make Money?

All of us carry a lot of beliefs about money, and our beliefs tend to guide our actions, our feelings, and our thoughts. By the time you finish going through the Nine Secrets of the Rich that I have put together for you, I am willing to bet that you will no longer believe that it takes money to make money. If you do, perhaps investing on your own isn’t the right path for you.

There are two reasons why I believe this notion of needing money to make money is false:

1. My personal experience has taught me that it’s 100% possible to achieve good success when starting with no money. I have personally reaped many thousands of dollars in cash flow for me and my family starting with nothing. And I’m going to show you examples of that, large and small.
2. In my circle of friends and mentors, I’ve seen firsthand how other people have accomplished the same thing. They have shown that it doesn’t take money to go out and make money. I’m going to show you many of their techniques, philosophies, and how simple it can be for an average person to do the same thing.
   
   

Here’s even more proof for you. Consider the following famous wealthy people:

• T. Boone Pickens is an oil and gas investor worth about $1.2 billion
• Donald Trump is an icon in real estate, and his wealth is worth somewhere between $3 billion and $7 billion
• Richard Branson is an amazing businessman with multiple companies under his Virgin brand, currently worth about $4.5 billion
• George Soros is known as a master of paper assets (my favorite, of course) and is worth about $20 billion dollars
• And Warren Buffet, perhaps the greatest investor ever, is worth about $53 billion according to Forbes, and he has had success in almost every asset class

Now think about this: What if we took away all of the wealth of these people by taking every last penny from their bank accounts. Where do you think they would be in five years?

Since they don’t have any more money, do you think they would be destined for poverty?

Would we see them on the streets homeless without hope of ever getting it back?

Or do you believe that they would find their way back on top?

When I ask this question to groups of investors, almost everyone realizes that these icons would become rich again. If that is true, how could they do it? If it takes money to make money, how can a person that is absolutely penniless climb up to the highest levels of wealth again?

Is it because of dumb luck happening again and again to the same person?

Or is it because they possess some type of knowledge that other people don’t have?

The Answer Is Education

These people, and many others, have risen to the top for a reason. They have taken responsibility for their financial education and learned how to invest properly and wisely. They didn’t take shortcuts. They continually improved their financial education levels until the inevitable outcome was huge success.

If a person wants to be a concert pianist, the only thing that stands between where they are now and performing on a stage is training, mentors, hard work, and time. The catalyst for everything is education.

You will see that the secret ingredients to every worthwhile investing strategy are education and effort. If you are willing to put in a little work, a little time, manage risk wisely, and get out of your comfort zone, you can begin to experience your own success.

My greatest concern in showing you how to invest with no money is that some people may assume that they don’t have to do anything. There will still be important lessons to learn and legwork to be done. There are no shortcuts. In the end, though, I believe you will find it’s worth the effort.

Source: http://www.richdad.com/Resources/Rich-Dad-Financial-Education-Blog/April-2018/Investing-for-Those-Starting-at-Zero.aspx

Alternative Ways To Invest In Stocks (That Don’t Require You To Be A Stock Market Expert)

There are lots of alternative ways to invest in the stock market. Some are certainly more complex than others and may require a financial degree to get your head around, however others are relatively simple. Not only that – you don’t need much money to try out these investments. Here are just a few unique ways to make money out of stocks.

Use a robo-advisor

Many people hire a stockbroker to identify the best places to invest, however stockbrokers won’t always guarantee you the best deal – many will choose stock based on the commission that they get from the exchange. Fortunately, there are now robo-advisors that can offer unbiased advice on investing based on hard facts and figures. These are essentially pieces of software that monitor all the stock prices out there to find you the best deal for your needs. It takes all the confusion out of shopping for stocks whilst not having to rely on a commission-hungry broker. That said, most of these programmes aren’t free and charge a small fee for using them. Others are free, but require a minimum account balance. Comparison guides can help you to find the best robo-advisor for you.

Try micro-investing apps

Micro-investing apps are great for anyone regardless of your budget. They save up your spare change in a savings account and then use this to make small investments in available stocks. These apps recommend the best places to invest and you get to choose whether or not to invest in them. They’re essentially robo-advisors on your phone that also encourage you to save up money to invest with.

Try spread betting

Spread betting isn’t so much a form of investment but rather a form of gambling based on how much you predict a stock will rise or fall. Spread betting in the UK is becoming more popular and there are software programmes out there that can help you get into the swing of it. Such programmes can weigh up the risk of whether a stock is likely to rise or fall. You can do spread betting with commodities like gold and oil and foreign currencies.

Join an investment club

Investment clubs allow you to put money in each week into a pot. This money is invested with and the profits are then shared out amongst everyone. By teaming together, investment clubs are able to take advantage of stocks with high minimum investments that might otherwise be too expensive to invest in alone. This is only one form of crowdfunding and there are all kinds of other groups such as mutual funds groups and real estate investment clubs for investing in property. Some investment clubs may be aimed primarily at the rich and may require high weekly contributions, however others may only require a small contribution each week.

Collaborative Post

Source: https://blog.themoneyshed.co.uk/alternative-ways-to-invest-in-stocks-that-dont-require-you-to-be-a-stock-market-expert/

A Guide to UK Property Bonds

There are loads of investment opportunities available, offering varying levels of risk and rates of return. Property investing remains one of the most popular, however, particularly given the returns available in the UK market. Property bonds are one of the options you have if you want to invest in UK p

What are UK property bonds, however, and how do they work? We’ve got the answers to your questions.

What Are Property Bonds?

With a property bond, you invest in part of a property development. Your investment is typically secured by an asset, such as the land the property will be built on. Developers can issue multiple property bonds on a single development. As a result, the cost of individual bonds is relatively low – considerably lower than the cost of the overall development.

How Do Property Bonds Work?

Developers issue property bonds for planned developments to raise funds for the construction work. In other words, property bonds are an alternative source of finance for the developer.

The bonds are usually issued for a fixed term, often in the region of three to five years. The fixed term is typically set for a period of time that allows the property developer to complete the construction and generate a return.

How Do Property Bonds Generate a Return?

The returns you get from a property bond investment typically come from the developer completing the property and then selling it. The returns you get may also be funded from rental income generated by the property.

In other situations, developers will generate returns for property bond investors by refinancing the property.

Who Are Property Bonds Suitable For?

There are two main types of investor that property bonds may be suitable for:

• Small investors
• Hands-off investors

Small investors are those who don’t have access to the capital required to make a traditional property investment. Traditional property investments include buying land and building on it. Alternatives are purchasing properties to renovate and sell for a profit or purchasing properties to rent as a buy-to-let landlord.

The amount of money required to invest in a property bond is often much lower than traditional investments, making property bonds an option for smaller investors.

Hands-off investors, on the other hand, can invest either small or large amounts of money. In fact, a hands-off investor could have enough capital to invest in a property bond that covers the entire cost of development.

Hands-off investors choose property bonds because they don’t want to become involved in the actual development work. This could be for many reasons, including not having the time.

Are There Any Risks?

All investments carry risks, and there are risks when investing in property bonds too. Whether this investment is right for you depends on your personal circumstances. You should get advice on these matters before deciding to invest.

What Should You Do Now?

If you decide property bonds are an investment option you would like to explore further, you should research the market. There are many property bond products available, and each is different.

Finding the right opportunity, however, can get you into the property investment market and will generate a return.

Collaborative Post

Source: https://blog.themoneyshed.co.uk/a-guide-to-uk-property-bonds/

OMN E001 | Money Mindset | Jamie Keeling & Kevin Bennison

Jamie Keeling (Little Grey Says Blog) and Kevin Bennison (SWL Training) discuss money mindset, limiting money beliefs and how to master your financial destiny!

Turn $40 into $10 million - Grant Cardone & Warren Buffett

What skills does it take to turn $40 into $10 million?

Find out in this great video from Grant Cardone and the one and only Warren Buffett!

Control Your Financial Outcome - Grant Cardone

Be the master of your financial destiny with these top tips from one of the World's greatest sales pros!

You Being Rich Isn’t a Fantasy

How to become a millionaire or multi-millionaire or even hecta-millionaire (100 million units) isn’t taught in schools or colleges. In fact, most ofsociety frowns on anyone who talks about getting rich; some even protest against those who have created financial independence. It’s a funny thing that schools teach you how to read and write, how to domath, how to know history and geography, and how to pass a test—but they never broach the subject of how to get rich. Getting super rich seems to be a topic reserved for fantasies, movies, and drunken what-if games. Most have come to believe that becoming a millionaire is for the lucky sperm club, business owners, gold diggers, lottery winners, athletes, rappers, and inventors. But it’s not true. Millionaires and the super rich come from all walks of life. In fact, just to debunk one of the myths, I’ll tell you that four out of five millionaires today work for someone else. 

The reason most people never get rich is that they never even consider it a possibility. They are convinced by those close to them to simply be satisfied with whatever their financial situation is. The other reason is that people fundamentally do not understand money. Very few people know how to get money, even fewer know how to keep it, and almost no one knows how to multiply it. Just look around and you will see signs of this everywhere. Even in one of the richest countries in the world, America, 76 percent of people live paycheck to paycheck, some 50 percent of Americans have no money for retirement, and 47 percent of Americans don’t have $400 for an emergency. If these statistics were true in a poor country, it would be one thing, but America is considered a wealthy country. 

Turn on the television or go online and you will see endless, ridiculous financial advice. Financial pundits suggest saving tricks where your path to wealth is finding the lowest price for a product or putting more air in your tires to save gas. This piece of advice always cracks me up: “If you don’t drink coffee out, you’ll save another $700 a year.” You can save $700 a year for the next fifty years and you won’t be rich, you’ll just be old. Another pundit preaches all debt is bad, and that by avoiding debt you will somehow be financially free. “Never borrow money under any circumstance,” the previously bankrupt advisor promotes. He overlooks the reality that almost all the super rich have used debt to multiply their wealth. Flip the channel and you’ll see fancy graphics making a case that you should turn your money over to the boys on Wall Street who, smarter than you, will invest in stocks, bonds, and financial instruments they can’t even explain. Ask your parents for money advice and they will recite their path: get a good job, buy a house, contribute to your 401k, be grateful you have more than most, and pray everything goes right. 

I have never wanted to just have “enough,” in fact, truth be known, I have always wanted to be rich. While I do believe in prayer, I don’t expect God to take care of my finances and I certainly don’t want to leave it up to everything “going right.” At a very young age, I noticed how the people who made the decisions and had the power of choice all seemed to be the people with money. I wanted to be one of them. I didn’t want money for the sake of money, but to be able to have the power of choice. At the age of eight, one of my first experiences with money was walking to the local grocery store. I had a quarter in my pocket to spend at the store. I was excited, giddy, and I felt powerful. I was walking to the store with my brother fondling my quarter when I dropped it in the street and it rolled into a manhole. I got onto my hands and knees, only to discover my arms were too short to retrieve the quarter. I got up wet, dirty, angry, and wanting to cry. I remember going home and telling my father how I had lost my quarter. My father said to me, “You shouldn’t play with money.” My grandfather later grabbed me and said, “Son, the problem isn’t simply that you lost the quarter; the problem is that it was your only quarter.” Since that loss I have been fascinated with the idea of amassing enough money so no single event or loss would ever cause me to be without. 

If you can relate to what I’m talking about, get on my new Playbook to Millions. It’s a program I put together from my 30+ years of experience going from broke to becoming a millionaire over 100 times over. Later this year I’ll be selling this thing for $5,000 but for those who commit to it early—right now—it’s marked down to just $495. You can and should be a millionaire, and you shouldn’t have to wait until you’re old to become one. Get your Playbook today.

Source: https://grantcardone.com/blogs/grantcardone/you-being-rich-isn-t-a-fantasy

How to master trading psychology | Brett Steenbarger

Trading and investing is such a great way to grow your wealth... if you know what you're doing!

But it's not just all about reading technical price charts and fundamentals... the psychology behind being in the markets is the main thing that so many people miss, and what causes most to fail.

Master your psychology with these great tips!

CREATE A MONEY MACHINE

HARNESS THE POWER OF COMPOUNDING

Posted by: Team Tony

Legal Disclosure: Tony Robbins is a board member and Chief of Investor Psychology at Creative Planning, Inc., an SEC Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) with wealth managers serving all 50 states. Mr. Robbins receives compensation for serving in this capacity and based on increased business derived by Creative Planning from his services.

How? Step one to financial freedom is to tap into the power of compounding.You can absolutely become financially independent in your life without ever having to make a fortune in annual income. It starts by giving up the illusion that you have to hit a home run or make a giant score, and instead decide right now you will make your money work for you so you don’t have to.

Let’s make this real with an example from Burton Malkiel, author of the classic finance book A Random Walk Down Wall Street. Imagine two brothers; William and James. William invests $4,000 annually starting at age 20 – and at age 40, he stops. His brother James invests $4,000 annually starting at age 40 – and at age 65, he stops. Now, imagine these brothers, now both 65 years old, are comparing their returns.

Which brother has more money in his account at the age of retirement?

The answer is William who started sooner and tapped the power of compounding. But here’s the kicker – how much more does he have? Get this – 600% more!

The end result is William ends up with $2.5 million, and James – who saved all the way to 65 – has less than $400,000. That’s a gap of over $2 million!

This example – and the corresponding advice to tap into the power of compounding – applies to you no matter where you are on your personal timeline. It’s a power that gives you an insurmountable edge and a money machine for life. In fact, Albert Einstein once called compounding the most important invention in all of human history!

The best part about this is you can take full advantage of the power of compounding today. Here’s how: Make the most important decision of your life right now by deciding what portion of your paycheck you will pay yourself – off the top – before you spend a single dollar on your expenses. How much of your paycheck will you leave untouched no matter what else is going on in your life?

Decide on this number today. The rest of your life will be determined by your decision to keep this percentage of your income in order to always have money for yourself and your family in your future. Do this, and you will be building a money machine that makes you money while you sleep, doesn’t stop working if you stop working and enables you to walk the path to financial freedom.

Team Tony

Team Tony cultivates, curates and shares Tony Robbins’ stories and core principles, to help others achieve an extraordinary life.

Source: https://www.tonyrobbins.com/wealth-lifestyle/create-a-money-machine/

5 COSTLY INVESTING MISTAKES

Posted by: Team TonyLegal Disclosure: Tony Robbins is a board member and Chief of Investor Psychology at Creative Planning, Inc., an SEC Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) with wealth managers serving all 50 states. Mr. Robbins receives compensation for serving in this capacity and based on increased business derived by Creative Planning from his services.

#1 WRONG ASSET ALLOCATION

The top financial minds in the world differ in their strategies and approach to investing, but the common denominator is how they avoid making the following mistakes. Whether you are brand new to investing or you are a seasoned investor, you could be making these investment mistakes.

Anybody can become wealthy; asset allocation is how you stay wealthy.

Asset allocation is the most important investment decision of your life. It’s something that most investors may have heard of (or even fully understand) but know little about the practical application. Asset allocation protects you from a lack of diversification, from falling in love with one type of investment and not owning a variety of different types of assets.

However, asset allocation is more than just diversification. You may be diversified across asset classes or investment types, but are you also diversified across risk?

Asset allocation means dividing up your money among different investment classes (such as stocks, bonds, commodities, or real estate) in specific proportions that you decide in advance, according to your goals, needs, risk tolerance, and stage of life. 

Yes, that’s a mouthful! Let’s walk through what that really means for you.

In order to create successful asset allocation think of it as your favorite sports team. The best teams have both an aggressive offense and a strong defense. And, most importantly, the coach knows the strengths and weaknesses of each. You want to set up a specific proportion of your portfolio as your tail end, or defensive position – we call this your Security or Peace of Mind bucket. In this bucket you will allocate lower risk assets, designed to protect you if your offensive players take a hit.

You will then set aside a specific portion of your money to be your offensive strategy – this is your Risk/Growth bucket. It is named this because although it will likely be the real wealth-growing portion of your portfolio, it is also the riskiest and most volatile.

Finally, you have a Dream bucket. This is for the really fun things you want in life. The dream vacations…the outrageous gifts… you fill in the blanks. You can fill this bucket by setting aside a proportion of your money like these other two or you can fill it when you have big wins – like a big bonus. This bucket isn’t meant to give you a financial payoff; it’s designed to give you a greater quality of life and keep you inspired to keep making your dreams a reality.

Because asset allocation is the most important investment decision you will make, it’s very likely that you’ll seek help in building that portfolio and filling those buckets. Take advantage of a free evaluation of the health of your own asset allocation and see how you compare to professionally designed portfolios. And when you do seek help, be sure not to make mistake number two.

#2 USING A BROKER INSTEAD OF A FIDUCIARY

You may have recently heard President Obama exhorting the Department of Labor to update their regulations of the financial industry and implement a fiduciary standard.

Why is the executive office concerned about the regulations of your broker? Because currently, brokers – also known as registered representatives, financial advisors, wealth advisors and more – are held to a “suitability standard” which does not require them to have their client’s best interests in mind. (Learn more about the fiduciary standard here.)

They oftentimes work for large, name-brand firms that are working only to make a profit. So, the person you turn to, although kind and trustworthy, is working in a closed-circuit environment, where the house it set up to win. A fiduciary, on the other hand, is independent and free of conflicts (or, at a minimum, they must disclose). A true fiduciary advisor never receives commissions to sell you a specific investment, or what you might call “having a dog in the fight.”

So what does it cost you to receive conflicted advice?

Using a broker instead of a fiduciary costs Americans one percent point of their return annually, according to The President’s Council of Economic Advisors. One percentage point may not sound like much, but one percentage point lower return could reduce your savings by more than a quarter over 35 years.

In other words, instead of a $10,000 retirement investment growing to more than $38,000 over those 35 years (after adjusting for inflation), it would be just over $27,500.

#3 INVESTING WITHOUT TAXES IN MIND

Insiders know that it’s not what you earn that matters, it’s what you keep. In fact, tax efficiency is one of the most direct pathways to shorten the time it takes to get from where you are now to where you want to be financially.

Did you know that the average American will pay more than half of his or her income to interest expense and taxes (income tax, property tax, sales tax, tax at the pump, etc.) over the course of their lives?

You can guarantee that this seriously impacts your ability to created compounded growth for your future life. There is no good reason to pay more in taxes than you have to, and every reason to avoid unnecessary taxes. Tax efficiency = faster financial freedom. Talk to your registered investment advisor, your CPA and utilize resources such as MONEY: MASTER THE GAME and this blog to discover 100% legal strategies for maximum tax efficiency.

#4 OVERPAYING FOR HIGH-COST MUTUAL FUNDS

For years, we have been sold the lie that mutual funds are the most effective way to grow our 401(k)s. Unfortunately, it’s just not true. The truth is that 96% of actively managed mutual funds do not beat the market over a 15-year span. Active managers are trying to beat the market by being a great stock picker. And the 4% that does beat the market is changing all the time, so betting on a jockey that won the last race does not mean that he will win again. Chasing performance is a fool’s errand.

How badly does this actually hurt us? Over a 20-year period – December 31, 1993 through December 31, 2013 – the S&P 500 returned an average annual return of 9.28%. However, the average mutual fund investor made just over 2.54%, according to Dalbar, one of the leading industry research firms. That’s nearly an 80% difference!

To add insult to injury, the “all-in” cost of mutual funds is on average 3.17% per year, according to Forbes. This is when you add the management fees, the transaction costs, the sales loads, etc. Perhaps this number doesn’t sound high to you. Consider this: The market was “flat” between 2000 and 2009, a period known as the lost decade. There were lots of ups and downs, but nobody made money. If you were paying 3% annually during this period, your $100,000 portfolio would have approximately $70,000 (or be down 30%) at the end of this “flat” period.

You put up the capital, you took all the risk — and they made the money.

#5 FAILING TO DEVELOP THE DISCIPLINE OF REBALANCING

To be a successful investor, you need to rebalance your portfolio at regular intervals. This means you have to take a look at your buckets and make sure your asset allocations are still in the right ratio. From time to time, a particular part of one of your buckets may grow significantly and disproportionally to the rest of your portfolio and throw you out of balance.

Let’s say, for example, you start out with 60% of your money in your Risk/Growth bucket and 40% in your Security bucket. Six months later, you check your account balances and find out that your risk/growth investments have taken off and they no longer represent 60% of your total assets – it’s more like 75%. That means that only 25% of your money is safely in your security bucket. It’s time to rebalance!

The challenge with rebalancing is the emotional and psychological discipline it takes to actually do it. When a portion of your portfolio is doing really well, it’s easy to be hypnotized into the illusion that your current investment successes will continue forever, or that the current market can only go up. This is what causes people to stay with an investment too long and end up losing the very gains (and often more) that they were originally so proud of. The rules of rebalancing don’t guarantee you’re going to win every time. But rebalancing means you’re going to win more often.

How often do you need to rebalance? Most investors rebalance once or twice a year. Some rebalance more frequently, choosing to watch their portfolio more closely and adjusting when it starts to shift, but too frequently can hurt you as it doesn’t give a chance to “let your runners run.” The number of times you rebalance does have an impact on your taxes, however. If your investments are not in a tax-deferred environment, and you rebalance an asset you have owned less than a year, you’ll typically pay ordinary income taxes instead of the lower long-term investment tax rate.

Images copyright @connel/shutterstock, @Phase4Studios/shutterstock, @Anatoli-Styf/shutterstock

Team Tony

Team Tony cultivates, curates and shares Tony Robbins’ stories and core principles, to help others achieve an extraordinary life.

Source: https://www.tonyrobbins.com/wealth-lifestyle/5-costly-investing-mistakes/