I was thinking the other day, about how important it is to be earning a residual or a passive income. At one point I was all set to continue with my corporate career for the rest of my life, relying on my pension to see me through!!! I now realise what a mistake that would have been!

One of my key goals now in life is to make my living by earning a residual income. My husband, Alec and I have realised that the way to make serious money is not by working for somebody else. We have done a lot of reading and research on the subject and know that this is the way that we want to build our future.

I looked up the definition of residual income in the dictionary and it came up with:

(Also called Passive Income) is income earned on an ongoing basis for effort done once in the past.

Now I like the sound of that!! So this means you put all the work in up front, but then get to relax and enjoy the money later on. I also checked out the definition of Passive Income on Wikipedia and it stated:

Passive income is a rent received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it. It is advocated by some authors, especially by R Kiyosaki.

Some examples of passive income are: Landlord Income; Writing a book or a song; Inventing something that requires a patent; Earnings from affiliate schemes; Interest from shares; Pensions

It was because of reading a Robert Kiyosaki book that I realized that I had to earn a residual income. I had stumbled across a Network Marketing company and joined, they recommend that I read Rich Dad Poor Dad. I hadn’t been big into Personal Development until this point so I hadn’t even heard of him.

He explained the subject so well. He described how when you’re an employee you are working towards somebody else’s dream. When you stop working you also stop getting paid. You are basically trading time for money. This is the same for people who are self employed, if you are a one man band, once you stop working nobody will pay you.

Kiyosaki talks about the importance of moving to the B Quadrant (Business); this will ensure you will earn a residual income. I started to think about all the ways that I could make a residual income:

· Rental from property: this is a good option, although the market is pretty volatile at the moment. You also have to have some up front capital to put into this, so it’s a bit of a risky option.

· Royalties from a book or a patent: I’ve always fancied writing a book, but actually doing it is another matter. This would require a lot of time and discipline and actually some talent as well. Writing songs would come under this category also, but I’m probably not very good at that either! I also hadn’t come up with any good ideas that could be patented either

· Earnings from affiliate schemes – this is a good option, you would just require some internet marketing skills to get started with this one.

· Earnings from a business that does not require direct contact from the owner. Now this sounded good to me!! I’ll talk more about this later.

· Stocks and bonds ownership: Again a good option but you need two things – knowledge and capital. As I said before the market is pretty volatile too so probably not the best time to invest!

· Pensions – a good option if you can wait that long – I’m impatient, so not a good option for me!

So the method I wanted to talk more about was earnings from a business that does not require direct contact from the owner.

I would consider Network Marketing as a way to create one of these businesses. It allows you to start a business and move from the E (Employee) Quadrant or the S (Self Employed) Quadrant into the B Quadrant. In an article by Kiyosaki and Donald Trump, Network Marketing is described as being a business for people who want to change their lives!

They recommend Network Marketing as a great way to get the skills and attitude for the B Quadrant. Being in business can be very tough which is why the majority of businesses fail. However in Network Marketing your chances of success are greater. I say this for a couple of reasons; firstly it is a great way to build a residual income business without investing huge amounts of time or money.

You can also build your business in your spare time around your job or your current business. You build it once then relax and reap the rewards. You are also earning money from your business whilst you’re building a residual income. Most businesses take years to break even never mind make a profit.

Another great thing is that when you join an MLM business you work with a Mentor. This automatically increases your chance of success. When you’re working with somebody who has been there and done it already, you can learn from their mistakes and their successes. Napoleon Hill talks about creating a Mastermind Group around you; this is what you do in Network Marketing. You work with your sponsor, upline, downline and sidelines, you can achieve more as a group than as an individual. You’re working towards one common goal – this is very powerful.

So just to sum up, I believe that it is very important for everybody to be building a residual income and for me a network marketing business was the best way forward. I would strongly suggest it for anybody.

by Julie Hanson, (c) 2008

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Should I go into education? Food? Insurance? Network marketing? Heathcare? Options trading? Property? What’s the best industry to be in right now?

Well, you will find that in ANY industry, there will be a minority who will be making plenty of money, while the majority will be struggling to survive.

So my answer to that question is that you can become a millionaire in ANY INDUSTRY, only if you are one of the best! If you are not one of the best, you will never become rich in ANY industry.

You CAN become a millionaire in insurance, property, options trading, children’s education, pest-control, retail, food or Internet marketing ONLY when you are one of the best.

So, how do you become the best in the market? The answer is by being totally, absolutely one hundred percent committed towards your particular career or business.

All successful individuals have one thing in common. They love what they do. And because they have such an intense passion for their particular career or business, they do not distinguish work from play.

Their work is their play and vice versa. As a result, they spend every single day and every waking hour working (to them it’s not work), and that is why they become so good at it that they become market leaders and experts.

Have you ever wondered why Bill Gates, the richest man in the world who is worth US$46 billion still works 18-hour days, every single day? Why doesn’t he just sit back and relax on the beach?

The reason is because like all millionaires, what drives him is never really the money per se; it is the love of being at the forefront of technology.

It was his obsession of ‘putting a computer in every home running Microsoft software’ that made him the best in the field.

Many people have the belief that millionaires are people who are just naturally more motivated, disciplined and focused.

The truth is that when anyone does something he or she loves, the motivation, focus and discipline always comes naturally.

If you find that you lack the motivation and discipline to become successful in what you do, the reason is very obvious. It is not your passion!

Think about it. Do you have a natural passion for something? Do you have a hobby? Like playing golf? Looking at beautiful women or men? Computer games? Football? Playing with children? Haven’t you noticed that whenever you are doing what you love, the energy never stops?

It’s like no matter how tired you are, you will always find the energy to do what you love. Well, this is the secret that will lead to your success and wealth!

You have to find something you are extremely passionate about and build your career or business around it!

When you do, you will find that you will be naturally focused, committed and energized to work at it. When you give your best to whatever you are crazy about, you will become the best!

So start asking yourself:

·’What do I love to do?’ ‘What would I do even if I didn’t get paid?’

·’If I had all the money in the world, how would I spend my time?’

·’Who are people who have made their fortunes around this passion I have?’

I guarantee you that when you start looking for them, you will find no lack of role models you can learn from. Remember, do what you love and you will never work another day in your life!

 

The answer is simple

 

Humans are terrified of anything that they don’t know or understand. In the immortal words of Garth from Wayne’s World “We fear change”.

 

So am I saying ‘Investing is not risky?’ Not at all, in fact if you don’t understand it or aren’t properly educated Investing is incredibly dangerous and risky. But the same can be said about almost every daily activity that we undertake. Whether it be swimming, crossing the road, riding a bike, driving a car or even eating a chicken wing – all of these activities would be highly dangerous if we hadn’t been taught or shown how to do them properly. Luckily for us our parents took us to swimming lessons when we were children but unfortunately for us our parents never seemed to take us to Investment school. Instead they taught us what their parents taught them about Money & Investing – and that was “to earn money you need to work hard”

 

Well I’ll tell you now that if you want to become financially successful and a master of wealth creation you will need to step our of your parents shadows and learn that ‘Rich people don’t work for money, they let their money work for them’.

 

I was first introduced to this concept in high school when I read ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ but it wasn’t until a few years later that I truly understood the concept of having your money work for you.

 

When I finished university I decided I wanted to travel the world for 6 months so I began working my backside off to try and finance the trip. Whilst I was confident of my saving ability in the back of my mind I knew that I could always fall back on some money that my granddad had given me in the previous year. As an early inheritance he had invested $7k (plus $3k of my own savings) into some shares that I knew very little about (other than the fact that if my ‘overseas trip fund’ was running low I had a backup plan).

 

To cut a long story short I managed to have the most amazing trip without eating into my Granddads shares. But more importantly when I was overseas I met a fellow Australian traveler who was funding his trip by trading the stock market in internet cafes all over Europe (earning between $5-$15k per month). Needless to say my interest in the Stock market suddenly grew and as soon as I got home I decided to see how my own shares were going.

 

Well to my great surprise the $10,000 that had originally been invested had now grown to $16,000. So whist I had been climbing the Eiffel Tower and watching the Aurora Borealis in Norway my money had been hard at work. What an amazing and life changing feeling!

 

So how can you learn to make your money work for you?

 

Well as I found out this question is harder to answer that you might expect. After learning about my shares success I couldn’t help myself from telling everyone I knew but for some strange reason no one seemed to share my enthusiasm. All everyone could say was “be careful, the stock market is very risky’ or they would tell me stories about how their ‘nephews, cousins, friend had once lost all their money on the stock exchange’. At this stage my head was starting to hurt and I didn’t know who or what to believe. Just recently I found a great quote by Kurek Ashley that summed up the position that I was in perfectly:

 

“The most expensive advice you will ever get, is free from poor people”

 

If you look at what this quote really means you will be able to understand why the average person believes that investing is too risky. It is simply because your typical ‘poor to middle class’ person is receiving their advice from a fellow ‘poor to middle class’ person. Surely this is a case of the blind leading the blind, or at best the blind leading the severely visually impaired.

 

If your child wanted to be a professional gymnast and you knew nothing about gymnastics what would you do? Obviously you would find the best Coach/School and you would let them teach your child. Well the same principle applies if you want to be financially successful. You need to find Mentors, books, DVD’s, Seminars anything or anyone that knows more about Wealth Creation than you do and gradually build up your knowledge. Then eventually like a professional surfer glides over the waves you can successfully let your money work for you rather than drowning in an ocean of uncertainty and risk. As Warren Buffet once said “Risk is not knowing what you’re doing”

 

So you are now faced with a few options

 

Not invest and spend the rest of your life ‘working for money’Invest your hard earned money before you are educated enough, loose your life savings and in turn become one of those people who tell everyone else that “Don’t invest, it’s too risky, the stock market stole everything I had”Or you can dedicate yourself to learning about Investment strategies and techniques and gradually build up your confidence until you become a successful Investor and let your money work for you.

 

So are there risks with Investing? YES of course there are, but like swimming, crossing the road, riding a bike and driving a car once you educate yourself you lower these risks and in turn get to enjoy the wonderful benefits.

 

Surely NOT investing is the biggest Risk of all.

 

For access to a Free Investment DVD and an amazing Free Wealth Creation pack valued at over $1000 simple go to http://www.sharespropertymoney.com/ Take your first steps towards a successful financial future and begin your education today.

 Get rich quick investment strategies are something that you have to distance yourself from. Majority of people who tried their luck the easy way were burned at the end. In fact, there are even cases where veteran investors were also duped by schemes, so you have to be careful. The first thing that you should ask yourself is how the investment would grow double and triple in just a few months. If there is no logical or believable explanation, then you should not even consider the opportunity. Probably the only way your money could grow that high or that fast is if you invest in illegal activities, which you never want to get involved in. In order not to be tricked by smooth talkers into such scams, you need to know what you are investing in. It is best to study the opportunity first so that you will have a good grasp of how the investment will help you achieve your wealth creation goal.

 Many people claim that a penchant for gambling is part of good stock market strategies. If you have so much money to spare, then probably gambling with your investment strategies is alright. However, if you are an average bloke who dreams about getting rich via investment in options, mutual fund, foreign exchange and stock market, then you should not be too eager to gamble. You should never base your decisions on pure gut feel. It would always be better if you somehow make an intelligent assessment of the situation and consider your options rather than jumping on an investment with eyes closed. Besides, even good poker players do not solely base their play on chance, but instead on great inference and analytical skills.

 One of the mistakes in investment strategies that you also need to avoid like plague is the “set and forget” attitude. In movies people who invested in Apple (like Forrest Gump) suddenly find themselves as millionaires after a couple of years. In real life, however, this is hardly the case. Thus, when you invest in the stock market (or any type of market, for that matter), you should always track your investment or money. Learn when to sell and buy and you will go a long way.

As we grew up, our parents and teachers instilled in us a mindset that prescribed a certain pattern of wealth creation which for lack of better terms we could refer as slavery. These mindsets, we have carried into adulthood.

Ask any average person and they will tell you unequivocally that the only way to success is through employment. The truth is that, employment, though good and important, limits one’s potential and creativity. Employment simply means you are working for someone else. In employment, you don’t have an option, you have to continue working for you to earn. Once you stop working, you stop making money.

As for those who venture into business, the mindset is always based on selling commodities. These ways, though important, are not the only avenues of wealth creation.

We need to move beyond working for money to a place where money begins working for us. This means that even when you stop working, you will still be making money. One business idea would be trading in shares at the Stock Market, buying of government bonds (lending to the government), doing multi-level marketing business where you depend on your network and of course online business like affiliate marketing.

Its time we expanded our minds to accommodate other ways of wealth creation.