Wealth Creation Blog

Yes, it is that time of year when people the world over resolve to improve, but before you get to that, make it meaningful by taking stock of the year just past.

Look Behind To Look Ahead

The best way to set really worthwhile wealth creation goals for the coming year is to take a look behind you to see the financial successes and failures of the year gone by.

A look back on your year will tell you a bit about your efforts at wealth creation. It will tell you

• What worked

• What didn’t

• Where your strengths in wealth creation are (strategy, knowledge base…)

• What type of wealth creation strategy you are most suited to (investments, shares, property, business…)

• Where you are lacking

How’s Cash Flowing?

As you do this, take a look at how your personal finances are arranged. Where is your income coming from and where is it going? What could you do differently to free cash for investment and the creation of financial wealth?

This is an important one, especially if you are just getting started in the wealth creation program. One of the top reasons people do not invest, or never take advantage of programs like ours to create wealth, is that they don’t think they can find any cash to seed their investments.

Assess your income and expenses, read up on where you can find investment money (this was a post a while back, and it is also part of Jamie McIntyre’s book), and commit to finding the cash you need to build the wealth that will secure your financial freedom.

Here are some of the places you should be reassessing on an annual basis to make the most of the cash at your disposal:

• Income—know how much you are really taking in

• Expenses—what expenditures are really necessary? What can easily go?

• Personal property—cash poor? Look at what you could sell off (both the big stuff and the small stuff); this can include untapped property equity, too

• Generous benefactors—friends and family that would lend money to help you succeed.

Get Personal

Financial reassessment encompasses everything in your life. And since the goal of wealth creation is to build a better, more financially secure future for you and yours, I want you to remember to take your reassessment personally. Attend to the financial issues, but pay attention to the lifestyle you want, too. Make sure that as you make financial progress you also make personal progress, because as we know, wealth creation is as much about feeding the mind and spirit as it is about making money. And as we’ve said before, the only real point to all of it is to fund the kind of life you want.

Hoping you find progress in both the year past and the year ahead.

Sean Rasmussen
Wealth Creation Blog
UniversalWealthCreation.com © 2004 - 2008

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Now that you have the general idea of what Jamie McIntyre’s “Baby Bucket” strategy entails, let’s talk about what goes into each of these buckets.

Security Bucket

The security bucket is your security net. This is not a foreign concept to most people, but it is one that is largely ignored. This is your physical cash and savings, as well as anything else that lends you security—insurance, retirement accounts, annuation…

Don’t expect to make big returns on the investments in your security bucket. You should see some small percentage returns, but keep this money as fall-back money. This bucket gives you the security to afford larger, riskier investments that will net better returns.

Growth Bucket

Your next wealth creation bucket is earmarked for growth. Fill this bucket with the things that will grow your investments—the things that are a bit more risky than those in your security bucket.

Your growth bucket might be filled with things like companies (good quality companies), residential properties, share renting, etc.

Momentum Bucket

The momentum bucket would be filled with monies that will continue to support your investments—money that makes money. This is the place for the big risks. You may put a smaller percentage of your money into this bucket, but it has the potential to net the biggest returns, and so can perform as well or better than any other. Each gain in this bucket will snowball to even bigger and better wealth, but you have to take care not to fill this bucket first and not to place everything in this bucket, or you will be wiped out—you’ll defeat the whole purpose of the bucket concept.

Lifestyle Bucket

Creating wealth is really about creating the means to support the lifestyle you want, yes? It makes sense then that one of your buckets should be a lifestyle bucket—an investment that may make a meager return, could possibly be turned into a more modest return, and that meanwhile helps you achieve the lifestyle you want.

Your lifestyle bucket might include a farm or ranch property, winter retreat, restaurant, inn, and so forth.

You have to take care filling your lifestyle bucket, though. This is sort of like when we talked about the appearance of money—just owning a lifestyle investment does not make you rich. Don’t jump into filling your lifestyle bucket too quickly. Start small, and first make sure you fill the financial bucket that can support that kind of a lifestyle property.

I hope you are starting to get the idea and starting to see how this type of diversification can create a firm financial foundation for your wealth creation plan. Attending to each part of the wealth creation puzzle will ensure that you have the things you want, the money you want and need, and the investments to back them.

Sean Rasmussen
Wealth Creation Blog
UniversalWealthCreation.com © 2004 - 2008

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One of the things that is very apparent to people pursuing wealth creation and starting from the low or middle ground is that it is difficult to find the money to fund investment and wealth creation. But as Jamie McIntyre points out, there are many places that you might be spending money that could be used to finance your future, and at the end of the day, perhaps all you need to do is do decide if your waste money is worth it.

Where Money Gets Wasted

Of course there are living expenses that you cannot escape. Those are not the monies we are targeting here (although if you live extravagantly or above your means and you are justifying that lifestyle as a living expense, that may be an area of spending that needs targeting). What we are really taking about here are the many large and small expenses that you keep that you could live without and not risk life or limb, sustenance or housing.

Take a look at where your paycheck goes. Account for everything. Recurring bills and living expenses will be easy, but also look at the little places that you are throwing money. These might be things like

• Coffee breaks

• Lotto

• Lunches/dinners out (or ordered out)

• Entertainment

• Recreational activities

• Interests you spend on, but never follow through on

• Wasteful living

• A hobby

• Spending on quantity, not quality

Some people find it helpful to keep a journal and a receipt for everything they do for a period of time—say for a week or a month. In review, it becomes obvious that there is a lot of fat in the budget that could go—numerous little expenses, and some big ones, that just don’t need to be there.

Sometimes an early wealth creation strategy requires you to sacrifice convenience a bit, but in the end tightening your belt will really pay off. Keep in mind that you can always replace the few cuts you’ve made later—but in bigger and better style, but you can never get back the time and resources you’ve lost that could have funded an earlier, more successful plan to build wealth and achieve financial freedom. I guarantee you’ll never miss that silly purchase when you are rich.

Sean Rasmussen
Wealth Creation Blog
UniversalWealthCreation.com © 2004 - 2008

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Wealth creation programs are not all the same. Many are so complicated that, although they work, they could never be used to any successful degree by an average person. On the other hand, there is at least one program out there (thank you, Jamie McIntyre and 21st Century Academy) that can really help the average man or woman succeed at building wealth and achieving financial freedom.

Characteristics Of A Fitting Wealth Creation Program

To find success in wealth creation, you have to choose a course or program that will suit your needs and lifestyle. This should be a complete package that feeds your mind, body, spirit, and financial needs while still fitting into your life. Here is what you need to be thinking about when you choose a course or program for building financial wealth.

Ask yourself, is this program…

• Understandable?
Do instructors/authors speak in a language that you can understand or do they talk in financial jargon that is foreign to you? Are concepts sensibly arranged or haphazardly thrown together? Does one concept build upon the previous?

• Proven?
Have people actually used this wealth creation course and made money? Have people achieved the results that are promised? Have you been given any testimonials or references of these people?

• Supportive?
When you become stuck on a concept or on a step of the plan/financial program can you contact a mentor or teacher and get some clarification and assistance? Do other resources exist (like articles, forums, etc.) that you can go to for ongoing reference and support?

• Starting at the beginning?
Does the program take you from the point you are at now and teach you how to create wealth from the very beginning? Or does it tell you to come back when you’ve put thousands aside?

• Affordable?
Is this a program that only the rich can access or are payment plans and options given to help you fund your financial knowledge?

• Accessible?
Does this program expect you to chase seminars to remote locations around the world or is there a balance of seminars offered at strategic locations and at home or online?

• Interesting?
Is there enough useable information being presented with enough interesting investment strategies to interest you long enough to see the program through or is this a one-size-fits-all type of deal with the option of take it or leave it?

Find a program that has all of these components, and you’ll find a program that you really can use to succeed and create wealth. Make sure that your wealth creation program is well-suited to your life and your needs.

Sean Rasmussen
Wealth Creation Blog
UniversalWealthCreation.com © 2004 - 2008

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We’ve talked about making the time for wealth creation, now let’s take a look at the things that might be taking time away from wealth creation efforts.

To figure out where you can find—make—the time for wealth creation education and implementation, answer this question:

How Do You Spend Your Day?

Yes there are things you do on a daily basis that distract from the time that could be allotted to programs to create wealth, and yes some of them are unavoidable (at least for now). But in almost everyone’s life, there are things that they do that are not productive, are just wasting time, or are unnecessary because they are not returning on your time investment. So take a look at your average week, and figure out what those things are. For many of us, these are things like,

• Watching TV

• Surfing the internet (unproductive surfing, not surfing that is being used for work or in building wealth)

• Commiserating and wishing that you had more time

• Working long hours for no more pay or compensation

• Travelling to a far off job rather than working nearby

• Procrastinating and justifying your procrastination because the work ahead feels overwhelming

• Time passers—puzzles, games…

• Hobbies

Not all of these are evil things by any stretch of the imagination, but replacing them with time spent on learning about or implementing wealth creation strategies can be just what it takes to make the time to build financial wealth.

Remember that once you get the ball rolling you will find it easier to make time, and you will actually have more time, because you will be replacing that work day with passive streams of income, enjoying the freer lifestyle that is the goal of creating wealth.

Tell me, then—where can you make the time for a better financial future?

Sean Rasmussen
Wealth Creation Blog
UniversalWealthCreation.com © 2004 - 2008

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