Your Dedicated Online Wealth AdvisorPractical tips for managing your money, and making money online!

      Learn to make money online! 0

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Having a hard time at work? Ridiculously long working hours? Demanding boss? Political colleagues?

Well, what you need is the cash. Ya? And I believe there are happier means to earn that cash. Why stress yourself over that meagre sum of salary every month? Learn how to earn more online from veterans who are now living the life of their dreams. With a little investment, you can pull yourself out of the rat race too!

Here, I will share with you some of the money-making tools that people employ to earn an income online, WORKING FROM HOME.

1. Mark Warren’s Ultimate Wealth Package
Your website will work similar to the way Wal-Mart works. Wal-Mart does not sell any of their own products and yet they are one of the most profitable companies in the world. Your website will sell other companies products and you will receive a commission for each sale. This means you don’t have to create, ship or inventory any products. You won’t have to answer any customer support emails or deal with any of the other stresses and headaches that come with selling your own product. The amazing thing is that even though you will be selling other companies products you will receive 75% commission on each sale which means for a $100 sale you received a whopping $75.

2. Paid Survey Program
Get paid for your opinions!
Online surveys - $5 to $75 per survey!
Online focus groups $50 to $150 per hour!
Try new products - keep the products and get paid too!
Preview movie trailers - $4 to $25 per hour!

3. Nick Mark’s - Mulitple Streams of Income
This system is so unbelievably easy that all you do is follow the system outlined for you in the materials you receive when you join Forex. We’ll tell you which products to sell, which affiliate programs to join, which keywords to buy at google, and give you all the steps to get started with each of your streams of income. You could start earning money within 15 minutes of joining Forex, and you can earn money anywhere in the world.

4. SaleHoo Wholesale Directory And eBay(R) Sources
SaleHoo gives you access to Product suppliers you won’t find anywhere else as well as clothing, electronics, everyday goods and big ticket items, super-cheap no-name brands and top-label products at unbelievable prices. And every supplier is thoroughly reviewed, so you get no nasty surprises!
Thousands of people worldwide, just like you, have joined SaleHoo to gain access to the amazing deals you can get by purchasing direct from the source. Many of them are now running successful businesses reselling these products for profit!

5. The Rich Jerk
A few of the topics I get brutally honest with you about are Affiliate Marketing, Pay-Per-Click Advertising, Search Engine Optimization, Copywriting, and Wholesale Buying & Selling of the hottest consumer products on Ebay. And a lot more. I cover it all. I will show you EXACTLY how I make ALL of my money. And when I say “exactly”, I mean it.

      Money-Making Tips! (Part 2) 0

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Keep your mind open… be creative!

In addition to the simple money-making tips suggested in Part 1 of this article, there are other alternatives that require more time and effort, but works just as well! So, pick one and start earning some money!

Be a Breeder
If you have pet hamsters and fishes, and have too many of them (because they simply breed too fast!), instead of giving away free to your friends and relatives, sell them! Or exchange for something else! Otherwise, you can bring them to the local pet store and ask if they would ‘adopt’ your pets and pay you a nominal sum.

Be a Tutor
If you have strong academic results, you could provide tuition to the students in your neighbourhood! Otherwise, you could teach a skill too. Computer repair, cooking, dancing, singing and such are good alternatives as well.

Be a Courier
Yes, you can help companies or neighbours courier items to places near your school, work place, or some malls that you hang out often. At times, people might need to courier an important package and prefer someone that they trust.

There are many others, so keep your mind open and be creative! There are lots of services and products that people would gladly pay you for! Stop wasting your time on games and idle chatting on the phone!

      Money-Making Tips! (Part 1) 0

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You don’t need capital to earn some pocket money!

When I was an undergraduate, I was given a humble sum of pocket money every week. After deducting food and travelling expenses, I was reduced to a pauper. So, with a friend, we figured out some money-making avenues, that do not need much capital and pays for our occasional hearty meals! Here, I’ll share with you some of the tips. It will not make you rich, but it will help you to use your time more wisely and earn some income for yourself!

Be a Flyer Distributor
There are numerous event agencies, property agents and such who are in need of flyer distributors. They are usually too busy with work to distribute their marketing flyers themselves. You need not have contacts with these agents to get the job. The next time you see a flyer, call the person (they usually have their contact numbers printed on marketing flyers) directly and ask if they would like to employ your services!

Be a Service Provider
If you are well-versed in troubleshooting computers, televisions, air-conditioners and such, you could provide your service on a part-time basis. Let your friends and relatives know about your skill and charge a fee for service rendered.

Be a Broker
Being a broker means playing “middle man” to transactions. For example, if you have a friend who is a property agent, ask if you were to introduce a potential client to him, could he pay you a broker fee. So, you get paid for introducing clients to him, without doing much work! Some companies do have such policies as well, you simply have to ask.

Be a “Junk” Collector
Well, I don’t mean you literally search the rubbish dumps for gems. Be smart and eye for things that people throw away - because it’s old, because it’s dusty, because they don’t need it anymore, because it’s too bulky and taking up too much space, because because because… There are countless reasons why people throw stuffs away. Some are still in working condition, but perhaps a little old and dirty. Pick up some cleaning and polishing skills! If you see something that is worth more than a penny, pick it up, clean it and sell it online! You can check out eBay and Yahoo! auctions. Any amount that you sell for is profit for you! It may not be a large sum of money, but what was your cost in the first place?

      Love and Protect Your Wealth 0

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Wealth Management, The Simple Rules

No, you do not need a doctorate in wealth management or financial planning to do well financially. Learning all the rules of game but not playing your cards right forfeits all you have.

We do have all the skills we need to play our cards right. And there’s alot to learn from your family and friends. From the people that I interact with, I’ve learnt that some behaviour, though sometimes repulsive can be put to good use when dealing with wealth.

Guard your wealth, the way your kid guards his toys (repulsive behaviour?)
Yes, they say sharing is kind, is what we should practise. I’d say it doesn’t apply to wealth. Well, unless you have too much of it, like Bill Gates, then yes, please share with the less fortunate. If you don’t even have enough for yourself, guard your wealth like how your kid guards his new robot. The bottom line is, have enough for yourself first, then decide on how much to share. Being overly generous makes you look like an idiot in wealth management and hurts your savings significantly over time. So, guard it till the day you have more than enough to share.

Love your wealth, the way you love your wife
Loving your wife means you try your best to keep her by your side (the same goes for your wealth?), by spending time on it, nurturing it day after day. Yes, you need to spend time on your wealth (otherwise, how do you manage it? Got it?) Spend some time, say every 2 weeks, to go through your financials. Always be up to date on your financial status.

Know how much you are earning, spending, including your savings, liabilities, loans etc… Keep a spreadsheet so you can plot a graph for it when you need it. Nonetheless, love your wealth and make sure nobody meddles with it, unless you say so.

      Loans - To Take or Forsake? 0

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Learn when to take up loans and when to forsake them.

Most of us are paying for some kind of loans. The fresh out of school kid is paying for his study loan, the guy next door is paying for his car loan and the married couple is paying for their housing loan. At some point of our life, we find that taking a loan is inevitable.

So, when do we take up one and when do we say no?

A good starting point would be to ask yourself what is the purpose of the loan. It could be for a new business you are thinking of starting, an MBA you would like to pursue, a car you are mad about, a house your kids would love or that Italian sofa your wife keeps yakking about.

For that new business
Make every effort to determine the profitability of your business (you need the profits to pay off your loan, right?). Talk to your lawyer if you are inexperienced in this. Business ventures should be made with care.

For that MBA
For the career minded, if you are thinking of taking a loan to further your studies (eg. MBA), do some planning. Determine what is the salary difference for those with an MBA and those without. You would need a pay raise to pay off that loan! Check with your employer whether they provide study loans (if they do, they usually have interest rates lower than the banks).

For that sleek convertible
For the car you are mad about, think twice I would say. If you are going to take a huge loan just to get that sleek convertible that your friends are going to wow about, forsake it. After a few months, your convertible would have lost its wow factor and you? You would be strapped with a loan that is going to take you years to repay. Not to mention the amount of money you would have saved for your retirement if you hadn’t taken up that loan.

For that house by the beach
For the house that your kids would love, talk to them. Tell them what they would have to forgo if they want that house. Be it toys, dresses or that latest mobile phone. Give them a week to think about it. Most kids would would go for the mobile phone.

For your wife
For your loving wife’s Italian sofa, offer her something else of equal value but not as useless as an overpriced piece of furniture? Say, get a comfortable normal priced sofa, but invest in a better bed (you spend more time on your bed than your sofa, right?). Still, you shouldn’t be taking loans for furniture. They would have worn out in 2 years but you would still be stuck with your loan. Discuss with your wife what you can afford and what you can’t.

The 3 Golden Rules

1. Before taking a loan, always determine the purpose of that loan. Getting a loan is the fastest way to get cash, but is it worth that long term commitment?

2. If you have taken the loan, repay it as soon as possible. Never take up a new loan to pay for a previous loan or your credit card debts. It adds on and on and doesn’t help the least bit. Seek financial advise if you are twirled in this vicious cycle.

3. Once you have repaid your loans, always think twice before taking up huge loans again.

Some loans are inevitable. Like the housing loan that we need so we can afford a shelter over our head. Take that loan but only for a decent house, not that house by the beach. You can have that when you have accumulated enough wealth to afford it.

      Living within your Means 0

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Adopt a lifestyle you can afford

The average amount that a person spends in a month is mostly based on his lifestyle and spending habits. A guy with a simple lifestyle (takes public transport to work, eats at fast food joints and only spends on what he needs) would most probably spend less than one who drives an BMW to work, eats at classy restaurants and lives an extravagant lifestyle.

So what kicks off an unaffordable lifestyle?

Little rewards, Big leakage
Many of us enjoy showering ourselves with “little” rewards, like taking a taxi when you think it’s late or there are too many people on the bus, or splurging on a sumptuous meal after working overtime for a week. We tell ourselves that we don’t do it often anyway, so it’s probably okay. But, silently, all these are creeping into our lifestyle and making it a habit. Soon, we find that we are spending much more than we should and we can hardly pinpoint the leakage of wealth!

Peer Pressure
Yes, your friends are doing really well, they are getting houses and cars and wearing diamonds that you need to pawn your underwear to afford. And no, you do not need to compare your financial status with your friends. If your friends can afford that extravagant lifestyle, so be it. You do not need to follow their footsteps or compete to see who has a bigger house, bigger car and bigger diamonds. These are not going to see you through your retirement. If your friends are spending so much on these, they most probably don’t have much left to save for their retirement? So, never be pressured by friends or salesmen to commit on items that are going to cost you dearly. Live within your means and have the last laugh when you retire at 40 and see them slog till 60 with that big house, rusty car and yellowish diamond!

So how do you live within your means?

First, jot down your gross salary (the amount you bring home each month). Then, list down your expenses below it. List them in detail, like house loan repayment - $500, groceries - $300, electricity bill - $200, not unknown lump sums under a miscellaneous category. If you are unsure where your money is draining to, it’s okay. Draw up a worksheet like those Excel spreadsheets, and fill in tomorrow’s date. For a month, diligently record down your expenses. Yes, every SINGLE day. This is the only way to spot your wealth leakage.

After a month, tally your income and expenses. If you are spending more than 80% of your paycheck, you are definitely spending too much! You should save at least 30% of your income as a guideline. From your expenses worksheet, spot your wealth leakages and eradicate them. They are most probably luxurious items or multiple “little” rewards. Don’t fool yourself by consoling yourself that it’s just this month that you overspent - because it’s your wife’s birthday and you had to get that diamond ring for her, or oh, you had to buy that plasma TV that you’ve been eyeing for so long and it’s on sale. Well, next month it would be your grandma’s birthday and the following would be your wedding anniversary. What next?

Every little pleasure you indulge in and every impulsive costly purchase builds up on your expenditure and kills your budget. Always pay yourself (that 30% you need to save) first, then allocate your remaining budget and live within it!

The 3 Golden Rules
1. Know how much you earn and how much you can afford to spend each month. If you can’t even work this out, how ould you know you overspent? And on what?

2. Do not get influenced into getting big ticket items. If the salesman tells you the item is only on sale today, that you’ll miss the offer tomorrow and you have to make a decision immediately, say NO. If you can’t make up your mind at any oint of time, always say NO.

3. Pay yourself (for savings) first, then allocate the remaining amount for expenses. Balance your lifestyle and live strictly within that budget.

Otherwise, you’ll never have the last laugh. Most probably you’ll be the last to laugh.

      Investment: To Jump or Dump? 0

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“Planes are safer on the ground but they are meant to fly” by Anonymous

With some spare cash in the bank, most of us would contemplate on whether to put it in fixed deposits and earn a meagre 3% interest or to put it to greater use by investing it (but undertake a higher risk). After asking around, you find people investing in all kinds of commodities, from gold to bonds to properties.

So, what do you jump into and what do you dump?

Assuming you have limited resources (I mean cash here, and I suppose everyone has a limit), you would need to decide on what reaps the most profit, as in return on investment.

Before jumping into investments, determine how much risk you are able to undertake. Will losing half of what you invested threaten your retirement plans? Will losing 5% of your investment drive you nuts? In investments, risk and returns are almost always inversely related. Therefore, it is important that you find a balance between the two.

How fast and how much your money grows in a specified period of time depends on WHERE you place your cash. Well, you could place it under your pillow and earn zero interest with no/low risk (well, hopefully your house doesn’t get burnt down). Or you could place them in a savings account and earn 0.25% interest with low risk (hopefully the bank doesn’t go bankrupt). Or you could place them in fixed deposits and earn a relatively higher interest rate of 3% with low risk (hopefully you wouldn’t need to take out the money before the term ends and forfeit all your interest). Or you could invest them in less volatile bonds and funds and earn a non-guranteed 6% profit at low/medium risk. Or you could invest them in volatile stocks and earn a non-guranteed 20% profit at high risk.

Whichever option you decide on is mainly based on your financial goal and risk tolerance level. Placing your money in a savings account may be one of the safest places but it reduces the potential rewards that it could have generated if it had been invested appropriately.

Is this the right investment?
If you are staying up late all night watching over your investments or calling your fund manager every five minutes to check on the status (even in the middle of night), dump the investment and look for something within your comfort zone. You should be comfortable with the amount of risk involved and the returns accompanying it when dealing with investments.

The 3 Golden Rules
1. Remember that risk and returns are almost always inversely related. Look for the balance point.
2. Doing nothing about your wealth most probably means your wealth will end up with nothing more.
3. Find a comfort zone for your investments. Risking your health over financial gains is one risk you should never undertake.

      Property Investment Basics 0

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With so many properties in the market to choose from, many investors are spoilt for choice.
How do you choose the right property to invest in?

Investors, like you, look at the Return on Investment (ROI) to determine if a property is worth
investing in. What a property is worth is still reliant on the demand and supply curve.

For investors who are buying to rent out while biding time for property prices to climb, do your sums
well before committing to a property. For a start, you’ll need to determine the ROI, the demand for rental in
your district and how much monthly rental your property can fetch.

So, let’s look at how we determine the ROI in the property market:

First, we determine the purchase price of the property.
Suppose the apartment costs $500,000 and can be rented out for $2,000 a month, or $24,000 a year.

Your ideal ROI would make out to be 4.8% (24,000/500,000). However, this is the ideal value, not
the true market value. What you can expect would be something less than that. We’ll need to factor
in the taxes, maintenance costs and other expenses associated with maintaining an apartment.
Therefore, your ROI could drop to just 4% or less.

If you are satisfied with your ROI, check out the demand for your type of property in the district.
You can check the rental of similar properties and who are the people renting them. A studio apartment near
a university could command a higher rental than a big bungalow off city. Family sizes are gradually
decreasing in size and big bungalows could be of lower demand in some countries. Always check the demand before committing to a property investment. If you are unable to rent it out, or at a less than expected price, you could stand to lose in the long run.

Always spend some time to research on a suitable property before a purchase.

      Credit Cards: Sign or Sigh? 0

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How do you manage your growing stack of credit cards?

A number of us own a credit card or two, while many of us own one from each major bank. Each card provides a different set of benefits, we say. Do we really need that many cards?

What makes you and I go through all the hassle of credit card application for so many cards? The convenience of having the extra cash when you need it? The little gifts you get to exchange for with the points you clocked with your purchases? The pack of discounts that accompanies each card? Or the display of social status when you flash a Platinum card?

Whichever your reason for having those plastic cards in your wallet, if they are causing you financial problems, it is time to face reality and bid (some of) your plastic foes farewell.

The Power of Convenience
For the masses who keep credit cards for convenience sake, you are playing with fire. Convenience means you conveniently sign away your savings and conveniently purchase big ticket items that you do not need. Yes, it is very convenient to have a credit card, especially when you are overseas and have run out of cash. But doing that makes you feel wealthier than you really are, and gives you a false sense of financial security. It’s easy to plant your signature above the dotted lines, but paying for that signature is far from easy.

Points for Gifts
Credit card companies do have a way to make us sign, sign and sign. They bribe us with point incentives for making hefty purchases so we don’t feel too guilty about it. But think about it, how many of us actually managed to exchange the points for something decent after a year of card flashing spree? We have so many cards that the points are spread so thin, they either expire after some time (since it’s too little to exchange for anything from the catalogue), or you reluctantly use up all your points to exchange for some dining vouchers that you might not use or eventually forget. If you managed to exchange for some decent products, you are probably spending too much?

Seductive Discounts
Since points can only be materialised into products (regardless of quality) after purchases, credit companies came up with discounts that you get to enjoy while using the card - 10% off your dining bill, 5% off your petrol, 1% rebate and the list goes on. Personally, I do find discounts more attractive than point incentives, especially if the restaurants that I frequent are in the list. I’m sold. But many times, we find that we tend to visit more of these restaurants every month now that wow, we have a discount card! And we end up spending more than we should!

Platinum Status
So, does flashing a platinum card make you look more prosperous or poor? Yes, it would have shown that you are earning a significant sum to be able to own that card. And yes, well, you are also telling the world that you now need more credit from the banks. Credit cards are literally instantly approved loans from the bank, yet you are feeling proud of yourself for having borrowed a greater amount than your companion. An irony?

Unlock the Secret
Then, are we supposed to cut up all our credit cards and fall back to cold hard cash? The answer is a simple No. Though misuse of credit cards may land you in financial troubles or even bankruptcy, they do come with benefits too. For example, you could actually save a few dollars with the discount schemes provided or pay for your meals when you are cash strapped in a foreign land. The secret is for you to amplify the advantages of the card and mute the disadvantages.

So how do you do that?

The 3 Golden Rules
1. Never swipe out of convenience. Always ask yourself if you really need the item. Or are you simply buying on impulse? Personally, I wouldn’t buy the item on my first visit, especially big ticket items. I would wait for a week or so and see if I still want that item. Most of the time, I simply forgot about it or simply too lazy to travel back to that same shop to make the purchase. It works for me all the time. Try it out.

2. Make full use of the discounts, but never buy something just because you have a discount. Only use the discount when you need to buy something, not the other way round.

3. Try to keep to one or two credit cards at most. It is simpler to track your spending, plus you consolidate all your points into just two cards (so you get to exchange for that decent looking vacuum cleaner) and you would not forget to pay your credit card bills and end up with hefty fines and interests.

Credit cards are only plastic cards with a magnetic strip at the back. They do not have the power to drive you to debts. You are the one who approved of all your debts by frivolously leaving your signature on clusters of paper. Think about your financial status before you sign anything from now on!

When your next credit card bill arrives, make sure it doesn’t make you sigh.. If it does, make sure you are heaving a sigh of relief, not remorse.

      Cents and Sensibility 0

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Be sensible when dealing with coins

When I was younger, I used to think that coins are worthless, that I wouldn’t be able to buy anything with those few cents. Most of the time, I would waste them on little items like candies or snacks. It never occurred to me that if I had lots of coins, it could be a significant sum too.

The pure existence of the “piggy bank” (those coin boxes that looks like pig) suggests that someone intended for us to save the coins as well? “Piggy banks” have its roots tied to kids saving up their coins for rainy day. So why can’t an adult do the same? Not literally using a “piggy bank” maybe, but its the same idea I guess.

There’s a computer fraud called the salami method where a person (usually a computer programmer in a bank) rounds off a fraction of the cents to his own account. You wouldn’t notice the difference of $128.43 and $128.41, would you? Yes, 2 cents isn’t much, you can’t even get a sweet nowadays. But, what if he was siphoning from hundreds of thousands of accounts? Let’s do some mathemathics. Say he siphons from 500,000 accounts, 2 cents a month. Well, he would be getting $10,000 a month! This shows the importance of cents!

Start Saving your coins
I keep an empty can (Yah, those Campbell soup cans will do) for my coins. I have a coin pouch that I use when I’m out, to keep the coins I get during the day. After each day, I come back and empty the coins into my can. You will be amazed how fast the can fills up!

What next?
Once the can reaches the brim, pour them all out and start counting them! See how much you have saved! Bank in the coins along with your monthly savings. Do not splurge them on unnecessary items thinking those are extra cash. Keep them for your savings!

The 3 Golden Rules

1. Don’t waste your coins on small unnecessary items.

2. Get an empty can/coin box. Save your coins in it. Do not empty it until it’s full!

3. Once full, bank them into your savings account. Do not splurge them on anything!

I wouldn’t encourage you to keep several cans of coins just because you are too busy (or lazy) to bank them into your account. Keeping that extra cash in a can/coin box instead of your bank account means you are forgoing the interest that it would have generated (no matter how little it may be).

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