Financial Fitness Pro

Life Stages

In my latest article, I will address one of the comments a number of our readers have shared with us over the past week. Several readers have told us that "building wealth" sounds great, but they just don't have time to think about this due to other life events and priorities.

The way I'd like to respond to this comment is to outline an illustration of the life stages we go through and the various events that will be competing for our attention:

1. Your Roaring Twenties: At this stage, most of us are concerned about graduating from school, finding a good job, and paying down debt if we've financed our education. As we start to accumulate some savings, most of us will find a way to spend most of our income stream on discretionary expenses such as eating out with friends, buying a gadgets or wardrobe, and taking an occasional trip / vacation somewhere. If we're lucky, a few of us may be thinking about saving or, even better, investing this money.

2. The Thirties: By now, you're either advancing in your career or thinking about what you want to do professionally for the rest of your life. If you're in a steady relationship, you also may be thinking about settling down if you haven't done so already. This means you'll have some big expenses in store if you haven't dealt with them already such as owning your first home or paying for your wedding. If you're already past this stage, then you may be thinking about starting a family if you haven't done so already.

3. Forties and Fifties: I've lumped the next two decades together because I haven't yet seen a specific differentiator between the two. In general, individuals are reaching the height of their earning power. The areas for concern can include but are not limited to retirement and saving for your kid's college tuition. I've also met many individuals who are starting to re-think their investment strategy and their financial goals at this stage. One of the key concerns is, "Will I have enough and what do I need to do to hit my financial goals?"

4. Your Sixties: By now, you should be enjoying the fruits of your hard work over the past three to four decades. If you're working, you do so because you want to. If not, then you're working because you haven't met your financial plan and don't have enough to provide for your own retirement. Assuming you're in the latter, there is heightened urgency to build your net worth and cash flow so you're able to comfortable deal with rising healthcare costs and other similar expenses that will come up over the next two or three decades afterwards.

Even if this profile isn't 100% accurate to your unique, individual situation, I've intentionally sketched a life stage profile to show the types of real-life events that will distract you from improving your financial education and building your wealth.

If you don't start now regardless of whatever stage you're at, then when are you going to build your financial plan? You should start today without delay.

Bonus: I'm going to help you get started. During this past week, I discovered an incredible offer from Jay Minton at National Training Institute. If you check out his link in the upper left, he's giving away a free book, DVD, and eBook. All you pay is the shipping and handling. It may be worth your time looking into this especially if all you have to give up is a latte or two or bringing a brown bag lunch to work instead of eating out. I am not affiliated with this offer and will not make a penny if you decide to take advantage of this offer. If you decide this isn't for you, then I encourage you to review my recommended reading list and visit your local library to start building your financial education!

To your wealth and success!

Brion,
Co-Founder, Financial Fitness Pro

Financial Fitness Pro

Vote For Us!

Financial Fitness Pro has entered the Webbie World "People's Pick" content. We're currently ranked at #6 this week and climbing. So, don't delay; vote today!

Financial Planning News Update

An interesting development happened today. As I was discussing the Financial Fitness Community (aka "blog") concept with one of my advisors, I discovered that he regularly writes a weekly column for a local newspaper. Upon further discussion, he granted me permission to reproduce all of his articles on our official weblog. I've just posted one of his articles on the website. Check it out!

The Power of Body and Mind

Summary: Not only does one need to develop the right attitude, one also needs to increase their financial education (or “capacity”). As you embark down this path, the “body” must also play a crucial role as you exercise your brain.

If you want to read more of my original article, please visit the official Financial Fitness Pro Blog. I will be writing and posting financial articles there regularly.

Cheers,
Brion

Financial Fitness Pro Website Launches

My wife recently launched her business on-line called Financial Fitness Pro. Her mission is to help promote financial education and wealth accumultion through community discussion about relevant products, services, and training.

While the site is still in its early stages, it is starting to take shape every day. I encourage you to review the site and send your feedback to info@financialfitnesspro.com.

Donald Trump's Words of Wisdom

Last month, my wife and I attended the Real Estate Wealth Expo hosted by the Learning Annex. One of the keynote speakers was The Donald himself.

While many of you have seen at least one episode of "The Apprentice", imagine being able to sit down with him for an hour and have him personally give you advice on success, business, and life. Well, that's exactly what he did for over 61,000 people.

Here's what he had to say:

1. Need to love what you do or else you will not be successful
2. Never give up
3. Stay focused
4. Be paranoid
5. Know when momentum is slowing down
6. Go against the tide only if you have the talent
7. Have to be really careful about people b/c you never really know a person that well
8. Some people are lucky; others are not (but you can help create “luck”)
9. Get even! If someone screws you, go back and get even.
10. Have a prenup or else business will be seriously at risk
11. Power of positive thinking

While some of this is common sense, some are also slanted based on Trump's own personal and business experience. Thank goodness Trump didn't copyright this material or else I wouldn't be able to help you save the admission fee and share this info!