Many times when I visit a client, the concepts of “becoming an owner and not a loaner”, being able to truly earn high interest rates, the rules of how money works, and how to have income for life are all foreign – as they were for me before I became educated, trained and licensed. The idea of becoming wealthy and leaving an inheritance for your children’s children seems a phenomenon that is only read or dreamt about, especially when people are not paid what they are worth at their J-O-B. The question then becomes, how is it possible for the average middle class family to position themselves to have the type of income that will afford them the ability not to have to work into their retirement years? The answer comes when you learn how to generate money from your investments that will pay you for the rest of your life and that of your family.
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One of my families is an elderly couple. The wife is 73 and the husband is 64. They work full time, five days a week AND are ministers. They realize had they known the concepts that I recently taught them, they would have been set. Instead they are forced to continue punching the clock in order to make sure they will have enough to retire comfortably.
Read: Failing to Plan Could Be The Death Of You
Here are 5 Tips I taught my clients:
- You must become the “Primary Investor”. Unless you have $100-250K to invest with large investment firms, the banks, insurance companies and credit unions are usually your only option to save and possibly get a decent interest rate. The problem is, the rates being offered are significantly low for you, while the institutions keep the larger share. So…becoming a “Primary Investor” allows you to earn what the banks are able to earn. It gets rid of the middle man and allows you as the consumer to now have a shot at wealth.
- You must understand and implement the “Rule of 72″. This is a banking rule that was discovered by Albert Einstein. You take the interest rate being offered to you, divide it into the number 72 and the number you get represents the approximate amount of years it will take your money to double. So…most banks are offering 0.01%. If you had $10,000 to invest, how many years will it take that $10,000 to become $20,000? You got it…720,000 years. It may sound ridiculous but this should be clear as to why many middle income families are suffering.
- You must establish a “wealth building” account and save systematically every-single-month. Many of us are playing “catch up” as it relates to saving. We are paying the high cost of waiting. Nevertheless, it is not too late. But…you MUST have a wealth building account to get you where you need to be. This is the type of account where you are now Primary Investor, earning a high enough interest rate and now you’re investing every-single-month, come hell or high water. You can use a tax-free account (ROTH IRA) to save. Your money needs to remain in these type of accounts for at least 5 years or until you’re 59 1/2 in order to remain “tax free”.
- You must not eat your principal. Once you have been investing for a period of time and now you are ready to retire, you should not withdraw your money in one lump sum. You should draw an income from the total amount and live on the interest ONLY. That’s why the wealthy are wealthy. They live on the interest of their principal balance allowing their money to grow for years and years…feeding their children and their children’s children (a principle the God desires for His people). You’ve heard of people who win the lottery and less than 10 years later, they are broke haven’t you? Often times its because they spent the money. No one educated them on how to invest it to have an income stream every single month. Just think, if you save $300,000 over the course of years, you might be able to have $15-30K coming in every year. That’s HOT!
- You must teach your children so they can maintain the wealth when you’re not here. We must educate our children on wealth principles that will help break the cycle of poverty. Many of us don’t know the concepts I speak of because our parents didn’t know. It’s not their fault. No one taught them. But once you learn, you have an obligation to teach your offspring so that they have a chance at being wealthy – a lot sooner than you or I ever did.
Read: Financial Freedom – Are Baby Boomers Outliving Their Income?
Listen, we owe it to our families, communities, friends and foes to become educated in the area of finances. We cannot hope that social security or any other system will be available to meet our needs when time comes. At the end of the day, it is our responsibility to make sure that our families needs are met, not the government or any other entity.
If you are not implementing the aforementioned principles, you can always shoot me an email and I can put you in touch with someone in your area that can help you, if I am not licensed there already. If we don’t buckle down, we will continue to perpetuate the same broke mentality we have for decades and everyone will be forced to live hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck, moment to moment. What a scary concept. We have a lot of work to do y’all. I’m glad being “broke” can be repaired. One family at a time.
Until next time,
Ingrid
Regional Vice President (Primerica)
Financial Freedom: 5 Tips On How To Have Income For Life was originally published on elev8.com
