Be Wealthy & Smart

Learn the 3 things you shouldn't change to get rich and stay rich according to Thomas J. Stanley, author of The Millionaire Next Door. I just talked about 2 of the 3 things on podcast #290. If you haven't listened to it, I go into depth about why people are watching the small expenditures and missing the huge ones that keep you from achieving financial independence.

Learn 5 things to do before purchasing a home, why the debt snowball is not the method to use to improve credit quickly, and how to find a loan officer. Before you do anything, first check your credit report and raise your credit score. Go to www.Annualcreditreport.comand get your FREE credit report once annually. Pay off any credit cards using my system and NOT the Debt Snowball. My version will improve your credit WHILE you are paying off debt. The Debt Snowball delays improving your credit until it's mostly paid off. This is because the Debt Snowball leaves the largest balances to be paid last, while credit is improved when you take maxed-out balances and reduce them to half. Therefore, you must reduce your largest balances first, not your smallest in order to simultaneously improve your credit. Listen to my podcasts on how to pay off debt quickly while improving your credit and paying off debt (debt re-do). Here are your action steps: 1) Perfect your credit as much as possible. It's necessary to begin asap. 2) Save for the maximum down payment. 3) Find a loan officer and educate yourself. 4) Get pre-qualified. 5) Be aware with interest rates about to rise, this may be near the top of the market, so don't get into a bidding war and don't overpay. Patience may be your friend here. Of course, if you are selling your existing home to buy a new home, you'll want to listen to my podcast on how to sell your home for top dollar.

Learn why new cars can be a deterrent to your wealth and what opportunity cost means. Maybe you like cars or you just want a new car. Perhaps you want to buy a new car because it's for safety (too many miles), or status (need it for your job/image), or change of objective (had a child), etc. Whatever your reasons for a new car, re-think it because cars are one of the largest deterrents to your wealth. Take a doctor who grosses $1 million a year, but has virtually no wealth accumulated. How does that happen? Moves from house to house. Buys a new car every 3 years. I've talked about the cost of moving - commissions, loan fees, remodeling to sell, remodeling after purchase, etc. Buying homes and cars too frequently can be deterrents to your wealth. For now, let's just focus on the car. He HAD to have a new BMW 650i. MSRP is $99,000. Let's look at the true cost over time, which is what would the money be worth if you had invested it? We call that Opportunity Cost. What is the depreciation on the car? According to edmunds.com, depreciation on a BMW 650i is: 1. $10,168 2. $5,837 3. $4,987 4. $4,249 5. $3,627 Total in 5 years = $28,868 Mind you, this is happening every 5 years and total depreciation is $29,000. Let's call it an even $30,000 for ease of math. Over 5 years it's $30,000 in depreciation. Let's take the $6,000 depreciation, which he is getting nothing for, and see what it would amount to in 20 years after being invested in the stock market. On average, the stock market over the long term will compound at about 10% per year. We'll take $6000 per year, invested at 10% for 20 years. Remember, this is money that is the depreciation on his car, not money he will ever see go through his fingers. It's lost forever, like making a bad investment every 5 years and your investment is worth less. What is the opportunity cost if he had invested the $6,000 per year instead? Guess. So $6,000 x 10% x 20 years = $418,380. Can you believe it? Do you see why cars are one of the largest deterrents to your wealth? According to Kelley Blue Book, average price of a car was $36,270 in January 2018. New-car prices have increased by $1,360 (up 3.9 percent) from January 2017. Looking at edmunds.com, if you bought a car for $29,873, the minute you drive it off the lot, you've lost $2,559! By the end of year 1 you've lost $5,687, year 2 another $3,607, year 3 another $3,173, year 4 another $2,813 and by year 5 another $2,524. Guess what the total depreciation is over 5 years? $17,804 or a 60% loss! According to edmunds.co, a new car loses 11% the minute you leave the lot, during the first 5 years loses 15% to 25% each year. After 5 years the car is worth 37% of what you paid for it at the dealership. Let's say you invested the $17,804 or $3,560 per year. Invested for 20 years at 10% is $248,238. Invested for 30 years at 10% is $706,278. Remember, you're not shelling out cash, this is money slipping through your fingers! These are the kinds of things that make a difference to your wealth. It's the choices you make. Does that make sense? Hopefully you agree that new cars are not helping your wealth. What can you do? Here's 5 things for you to do: Buy gently used cars in mint condition with low miles. That way a lot of the depreciation is already gone. 2. Don't buy new cars until you have achieved your financial goals. Until then, it's not a good investment and the opportunity cost is too high. 3. Buy buy cars that are too expensive. Put a limit on how much you spend. 4. Listen to Be Wealthy & Smart podcast #10 about cars that last for 250,000 miles. 5. Beware of cars that are coming from the Houston flood! There are thousands of damaged cars from Houston that will hit the auction blocks. Most used cars will be fine. Make sure your dealer didn't buy the car at an auction. It's better to know who the previous owner was and where they lived. Do your due diligence before you buy.

Learn how some people got wealthier faster and the reasons why. This is an article in Investor's Business Daily from April 30, 2018 by Paul Katzeff.

Learn 17 potential places to invest a small amount of money. It's listener question day! Here is our question: Linda, I only have a small amount to invest, about $300 to $500. Where should I start? Sam There are many options you have. Since I don't know anything about your circumstances, I'm going to give you a list of choices. Assuming all your consumer debt is paid off. If not, start there to get back to stability. 1. Start an emergency fund. Keep it in a separate (no-fee) checking or savings account, if possible. 2. Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are both great ways to reduce your income taxes by paying for medically-related expenses with pre-tax money — that is, money deducted from your paycheck before income taxes are calculated on your pay. You put money into that you use to pay for certain out-of-pocket health care costs. This means you'll save an amount equal to the taxes you would have paid on the money you set aside. 3. Pay 1/12 extra on your mortgage to pay it off faster and save thousands of dollars in interest. 4. Invest in an ETF or mutual fund. ETF's are passive, mutual funds are actively managed, but more expensive. Spyder S & P 500 fund (SPY, .09% expense ratio) or Vanguard All Market Index (VTI, .05% expense ratio). Dividend Aristocrats – 25 years of consecutive increasing dividends (NOBL, .35% expense ratio). 5. Term insurance. Creates an immediate estate in case of your untimely death. Can buy $100k to $500k depending on your age, health, gender, smoking, dangerous hobbies, etc. 6. Silver coins, still about $25 a piece. 7. Shares of stock. One share of Disney to get the special stock certificate, or Starbucks, etc. 8. REIT. Vanguard REIT (VNQ, .12% expense ratio) Now for some ideas outside of the box… 9. Bitcoin 10. Hire a CPA – to help you reduce your taxes if you make $75k + 11. Subscription to IBD, WSJ or Kiplinger's 12. Condo down payment fund 13. Start a business 14. Have a garage sale to raise more funds 15. Hire an organizer 16. Buy a bus pass 17. Invest in a computer to start an online business Although you can consider all of these, if you are around age 30 or under, making your first real investment, I'd start with the Vanguard All Market Index ETF.

Learn the one thing to focus on for financial success this year. This is the most important thing you can do financially this year. You'll have to listen to find out what it is! Please subscribe to the Be Wealthy & Smart podcast and get new episodes as soon as they are added.

Learn 3 ways to protect your wealth when interest rates are rising. The economy operates on cycles. There is a key indicator of where we are in the cycle. The key indicator is interest rates. Interest rates are controlled by the Federal Reserve. They set the rates and determine when to raise interest rates. Interest rates are the cost of money. It's how much we pay to borrow money from banks. It's something I want you to pay attention to because many people were surprised by the crash of 2008. They thought housing prices would only go up. They thought is would continue forever. But interest rates were rising, which meant the Fed was slowing down the economy. When rates rise, people rush to buy homes. There can be a big boost to prices at the end of the bubble. If you don't understand it, you can be caught thinking you have to rush out and buy a home because appreciation is going crazy. Just as people do that, the market slows, sale reduce, until prices have to drop and supply increases. It can become a downward spiral. Be aware when interest rates are being lowered, that is positive for the economy. When interest rates are rising, it's negative (slowing) the economy. That's not the time to take a big risk, it's time to reduce your risk. Step 6 to wealth is "Protect your wealth." It means don't stay too leveraged too long. Here's what you need to do: 1. Pay down high interest rate debt. 2. Refinance from variable rate mortgages to fixed rate mortgages. 3. Start being more cautious with real estate, which is interest rate sensitive. Take less risk. When interest rates rise, it's a time to become more cautious with real estate. Not the time to be over-leveraged. Watch the cycle and understand what rising interest rates mean and where you are in the cycle.

Learn stock market investing insights and why investing is important to you becoming financially free. Investing in the stock market doesn't have to be difficult. It is very important for you to know how to invest in the stock market in order to achieve financially independence. Here are the reasons why you should know how to invest in the stock market: 1. It's affordable. It has low account minimums: $0, $0 for IRA's, or $500. 2. It has low fees like $5.95 or $6.95 a trade. Low internal fees. For example, SPY has a .09% expense ratio. 3. It is easy to invest. Little knowledge is required to invest like a pro. 4. Long-term performance will average around 10% annually. Everyone needs a money engine. 5. You need to have higher rates to compound to become financially free. Investing in the stock market does entail risk. The stock market drops 20 - 30% every 5 or 6 years. Expect it and plan for it. One way is to invest 1/12th per month and dollar-cost-average into the stock market. I'm excited to celebrate my 400th podcast! All of my podcasts are listed on http://lindapjones.com in the podcast tab. They are evergreen so the mentoring is relevant all the way back to podcast #1.

Learn about entrepreneurship from global CEO branding expert and Firestarter co-author Raoul Davis Jr.

Learn how to maximize your investments so your 401(k) or retirement plan will accumulate $1 million. About 150,000 people have a 401(k) of $1 million or more in 2017 and 152,000 IRA's have $1 million or more. Here are the steps to take: 1. Start as soon as possible. 2. Invest the maximum or at least get the match. 401(k) & 403 (b) = $18,500 Roth IRA benefits phase out (you can't contribute) if you earn too much money. IRA $5,500 3. If you're over age 50, add the catch up provision. 401(k) $18,500 + 6,000 = $24,500 IRA $5,500 + $1,000 4. Invest in stocks. 10% average annual return. $3,000 per year for 35 years @10% = $978k $8,000 per year for 25 years @ 10% = $952,000 $24,000 per year for 15 years @ 10% = $939,000 5. Don't use target funds. 6. Get comfortable with risk. 7. Stay the course.

Learn what assets make up your asset allocation and how to decide how much to invest.

Learn what to do to make a dreary job like doing your taxes, fun! April 17th is Income Tax Day. This podcast will help you get through it with more fun and like a breeze!

Learn why being wealthy is a choice. Recently I saw a tweet. Here's what it said: "You spend $20 a day eating out. That's $600 a month. Add drinks it's $800 a month. In 3 months you can buy a ticket anywhere in the world. You can travel, you're just too lazy to cook." There certainly is truth in it for travel, but also for wealth building. $800 a month is $9600 per year. At 10%, in 10 years that is $193,199. In 20 years it is $669,407. In 30 years it's $1,904,571. Thirty years! Is it all about retirement? No! There's a balance to living today vs. putting aside money for tomorrow. Going back to our original example, what if half was for travel and half for investing? In 10 years, $4800 invested at 10% is $96,599. In 20 years, $334,704. In 30 years, $952,285. What your priorities are is up to you. Which brings me back to my original statement. Wealth is a choice, or rather a series of choices that you make. What are you choosing to spend your money on? Are you being mindful with your spending? Are you investing anything for the future? These are questions I've already answered on previous podcasts like the 5 spending priorities, how to begin investing, how much to invest, etc. I'm asking you because most people are not mindful with what they spend money on. You can be wealthy. You can be frivolous. But you can't be both because wealth takes deliberate action. Which are you choosing?

Learn 7 ways to use your tax refund and 2 that will build wealth for you. Often people use a tax refund to pay down debt or save money for a large purchase, but there are 2 more things to consider doing with your tax refund that will help you build wealth. Listen to this podcast for 2 more ideas you can use your tax refund for that may be more beneficial to you financially. You may also want to listen to the Be Wealthy & Smart podcast about how saving money can make you rich.

Learn how to delay filing your taxes until October 15th. If you're not ready to file your taxes on April 15th, you can file paperwork to delay. An estimated 14 million people will file extensions in 2018. I do it every year and it's one of the best decisions I make! It feels like such a luxury to not have to file until October. This year the deadline to pay tax is Tuesday, April 17th. That's because the 15th is a Sunday and Monday is the Emancipation Day holiday in WA DC. To be able to file later than April 17th, you have to file the right forms. File IRS Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File US Individual Tax Return. You will have an automatic extension to submit your paperwork until October 15. You can file through a computer, or submit a paper version. You can also have a tax professional submit it using IRS e-file online. Be sure you understand, the money is still due on time! If you don't pay enough tax, you will owe interest and possibly penalties until it's paid in full. Again, the money is still due on April 17th! Please don't misunderstand me! Sometimes you just want some more time to get the paperwork done, or you may be waiting on some special forms, such as a K-1. K-1's come from alternative investments like partnerships and can be slow to arrive in the mail. They often don't arrive at your door by April 15th, so an extension is necessary. Remember, your state taxes are NOT included in the extension, so check with your state's agency for their rules. In summary, you can put off filing the forms, but you still owe the tax, so be sure the money is in by April 17th and properly request your extension. Then you have until October 15 to get your return filed.

Learn what the next group of tech stocks might be that will outperform the FANG stocks. Here is the article from Marketwatch: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/if-the-faangs-have-got-you-down-its-time-to-win-with-the-wnsss-stocks-2018-03-29

Learn why saving money is so important to wealth building.

Learn why wealth is about making the right choices and avoiding the wrong ones. Just wanted to pause for a moment and ask if you knew Betterment is the largest independent online financial advisor with more than $10 billion in assets under management with more than 300,000 customers? Their service helps to improve long-term returns and lower taxes for retirement planning, building wealth, and other financial goals. Betterment's tax coordinated portfolio can increase a portfolio's value by an estimated 15% over 30 years. Their annual advisory fee is only .25%, with unlimited messaging access to their team of licensed financial experts through a mobile app. Of course, investing involves risk. For listeners of Be Wealthy & Smart, you can get up to 1 year managed free, visit http://www.betterment.com/bewealthy.

Learn the 5 best performing international mutual funds for 10 years.

Learn what mutual funds have outperformed the S & P 500 on a 1, 3, 5, and 10 year basis. According to Investor's Business Daily, these are the top performing mutual funds in the Large Cap category.

Learn what advice I gave to a college student/driver who is eager to be smart with his money. 1. Pay bills on time. 2. Contribute to 401k and get free money. 3. If in between corporate gigs, contribute to an IRA Is it all about retirement? It's much easier the earlier you start. You'll need to set aside less money and be richer if you start earlier because you have compounding on your side. For example, even if you are putting away less now, you'll have twice as much money later if you start 10 years earlier. 4. Pay off credit cards, go on cash basis if you have balances. 5. If you handle credit responsibly, get credit cards with miles for air and hotel. 6. Set spending priorities like travel, car, home, etc. Don't waste money on eating out and bar bills or other things that aren't important to you. Treat money as a tool to get what you want. 7. Save as much as you can. 8. And of course, listen to my podcasts from #1 all the way to this one! Listen to the Wondery podcast, Safe For Work here: wondery.fm/wealthy

Learn what investment books I recommend and also what I recommend before investing, in addition to reading.

Learn how to use cycles to determine when to be more cautious with investment real estate and protect your wealth. Interest rates indicate a slowing economy. This podcast talks about how to use interest rates when investing in real estate and how to protect your wealth.

Learn 3 things to do to stop feeling overwhelmed. Overwhelm can slow us down, keep us from achieving goals and slow down our wealth building. Here are 3 things to do to get out of feeling overwhelmed.

Learn which debt to pay off first and how to decide. This is a listener question about paying off a real estate loan on rental real estate. I show you how to determine which debt to pay off first and how to think through the rationale.

Learn a true story about how cash on hand saved a family.

Learn 5 tips for emergency cash management. Yesterday, one of my Be Wealthy & Smart VIP Experience members mentioned that her bank had experienced a DDOS computer attack and that the ATM machines were not working. Here's what she said: Hey Linda! If you weren't aware, a "technical issue" took down almost all of XYZ bank yesterday. More than 24 hours later, they're still only partially back up. Millions of customers (me included) have been unable to access their accounts. Debit and prepaid cards aren't working and paychecks and tax refunds are missing. It's a huge mess...and a big wake up call to many. I'm actually ok. My paycheck hit early Thursday morning before the outage and my debit card seems to be working. I have some groceries and about $300 cash on hand. So I'm actually fine. Not happy, but fine. Any further suggestions on how to prepare for things like this in future? I know you've talked about it, just don't remember where... I have their accounts, plus another account at a completely different virtual bank (for emergency funds). But the only way to access the funds is via transfer to my XYZ accounts. Maybe open an account at another local bank and link the virtual bank account there too? And clearly, I need more than $300 cash on hand... Yes you do! Those are good questions and I'm sorry that happened to you, but I'm glad you're being proactive to plan for a possible longer interruption of service. I believe it is important to have a good amount of cash in your possession. Now you'll want to know how much. That's not easy to answer because it depends on how much you make and how much you spend on items like groceries, gas, medicines and other necessities (for example if you have babies, diapers are a necessity for you). I'd say have about 20% of a month's income if you can. I also recommend having it in low denominations, not 50's and 100's, but 20's, 10's, 5's and 1's because it may be difficult to get change for purchases if there's a cash shortage. For example, a few years ago I went to Greece and it was during a banking crisis. They were limiting how much cash you could get per day from the ATM's and cash was hard to come by. None of the restaurants would give us any change back for our purchases! They just claimed they didn't have any cash and we were out of luck getting any money back. A $22 lunch ended up cost $40 because they wouldn't make change. You never know if someday we could have a problem with electronics either by hack, natural disaster, a bank holiday or some other reason. Don't get me wrong, I'm not predicting the end of the world. I just think it's part of smart planning to have cash on hand. I also think it's smart to diversify by account. Having a brokerage account is a good complement to a bank account because you have access to a money market, which you can use for savings, in addition to your investment accounts. It's very easy to wire the money to your bank from a brokerage if you need to transfer funds. Not having all of your money in one institution is a good idea. You never know what can happen. Remember during the financial crisis in 2008, banks like Washington Mutual were fine one day and in need of a bailout the next. Remember, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures deposits up to $250k per depositor. A single deposit account is insured up to $250,000. Joint accounts are 50/50 ownership and insured up to $250,000 for each individual named on the account, totaling $500,000. It's Linda here. Just wanted to pause for a moment and ask if you knew Betterment is the largest independent online financial advisor with more than $10 billion in assets under management with more than 300,000 customers? Their service helps to improve long-term returns and lower taxes for retirement planning, building wealth, and other financial goals. Betterment's tax coordinated portfolio can increase a portfolio's value by an estimated 15% over 30 years. Their annual advisory fee is only .25%, with unlimited messaging access to their team of licensed financial experts through a mobile app. Of course, investing involves risk. For listeners of Be Wealthy & Smart, you can get up to 1 year managed free, visit http://Betterment.com/bewealthy that's betterment.com/bewealthy. I'll post these links in the show notes and on my website. Now that we've established opening a brokerage account in addition to your bank account, let's talk about why people switch brokerages. According to IBD and Technometrica, 25% of investors have switched their online broker in the past 5 years, vs. 18% five years ago. The main reasons for switching are: 1. Cost - 39%. Clients are sensitive to fees and commissions. 2. Other - 21%. Not sure what that is, but we'll come back to this. 3. Convenience - 16%. Ease of use. 4. Bad experience - 9%. Customers had bad service or a complaint with a representative. 5. Execution - 9%. Trades aren't executed at the price expected. Other - 21%. Not sure what that is, bu

Learn how to keep track of your bills so you never have to pay a late fee. I recently saw a statistic that was startling to me: 23% of people pay bills late and have to pay late fees because they are unable to find their bills. Wow! 23% is a lot of people. That's millions of people! They can't find their bills? Are they losing them in their inbox or in the mail? It's easy to lose electronic bills, I can understand that, but it's a bit harder to lose a hard copy. Think of the late fees that are happening! This is costing people hundreds of dollars per year and they could be investing that money and growing wealth. There is also a ding that happens to your credit score when you are late. I had a friend who had an awful time one time when she moved out of state. Her address didn't get changed on some of her bills and as a result they were forwarded to her too late. Some didn't reach her for a month. Even though she paid them as soon as she received them, because they were a month late she had a mark on her credit score that took 7 years to go away. It's not good to be losing your bills, so let's talk about how to fix this. First of all, there is no penalty for having your bills mailed to you instead of emailed. If you are a chronic late bill payer because you are losing your bills online, you can do one of two things. You can set up your bills for automatic payment through your bank so you don't miss a due date. Some people like this because their bills are paid automatically. Others put their electronic bills in a folder and have a spreadsheet of the day of the month their bills come due, so each month they know when they have to be paid by. I'm not good with spreadsheets, so I prefer the low-tech way! I also like to review my bills before I pay them, so you might think I'm old-fashioned, but I attribute my system to my great credit score! Most of my bills are still received by mail. When I receive them, I open them up, I look inside at the due date and write on the outside of the envelope of the bill the date it is due. I put it in a designated drawer. As more bills come in, I repeat the process and file the new bills in by the most current date on top and oldest date in the back of the stack. So if I have 3 bills sorted by date, it would be the soonest to pay on top, with the next soonest date due, and then the farthest date away. I usually pay my bills online through my bank and pay them two or three days before the due date. My mortgage is set up (with extra principal added) as an auto pay. So let's review what might help you find your bills and pay them on time so you can avoid late fees: 1. Open your bills immediately and record the due date on the envelope. 2. Put your bills in a designated area, whether it's a letter holder or a drawer. 3. Keep arranging your bills by date due, with the soonest on top or in front. 4. Pay your bills 2 or 3 days before the due date. 5. Set some or all bills to autopay if you are comfortable with that. If you're a chronic late bill payer, that's probably your best option. 6. If you are good with spreadsheets, you can keep a spreadsheet of the dates your bills are due and refer to it at least once a week. Staying on top of your bills will not only keep your credit score high but also save you hundreds or thousands of dollars in late fees.

Learn why positive thinking helps your wealth building. I've always said creating a wealthy mindset and how you think is so important to your wealth building. As you know, it's Step One of the 6 Steps to Wealth. Recently a study was done with children about whether thinking positively affected them. Here is the article: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/05/stanford-university-study-positivity-makes-kids-smarter.html So we know positivity will impact your success. It's like you are steering but your mind is the engine and has the power. You have to direct it to where it will go. Just like it impacted these kids, it also impacts you. How you think is going to determine whether or not you reach your goals. As Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right." He became one of the wealthiest men in the world. I like to modify that a bit and say, "Whether you think you can be wealthy or think you can't be wealthy, you're right." It's up to you. I'm encouraging you to think yes I can! Review episodes of how you can get your brain to think more positively by listening to podcasts 318, 313, 308, 23, and 3. You may have to go to my website to find the earlier ones at http://lindapjones.com/podcasts.

Learn the 10 things you should know about the tax act. This comes to us from CNBC.com. This podcast clears up misnomers about the tax act. A copy of the article is posted on my website at http://lindapjones.com. See podcast #378. Get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth" and subscribe to my weekly newsletter with wealth building tips at LindaPJones.com.

Learn 3 savvy things to do to get rid of debt. I've also included my favorite way to save thousands of dollars in interest.

Learn one crucial thing for you to review under the new tax act. In this podcast I review some changes made under the new legislation and the one thing you must do to be smart with your money. A link to the article is on my website at www.lindapjones.com.

Learn how and where to begin investing and why it shouldn't be with individual stocks. This is a listener question from Instagram. She said, "I'm listening to all the podcasts, reading all recommended books (and then some) but I get stuck with hoarding knowledge/questions and not actually taking action. Still trying to figure out how to read charts, prospectuses, where do I go for p/e ratios, and what are all those other #'s and %'s, etc.? There's the investor part of this question and the mindset part, so I'll cover both. If you'd like to get a short wealth building idea from me each week, sign up for "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth" at www.lindapjones.com.

Learn the causes of the stock market's wild swings and how to know when the bull market will resume. What is causing the swings in the stock market? Why have we gone from low volatility to high volatility? How will you know when it is over? I share with you details from one of my Be Wealthy & Smart VIP Experience webinars. It's my investing inner circle just for members. I go in depth about: What the market is telling us about volatility going forward. What is causing the stock market to drop? What are the signs to watch for to know if it is over? Check out the Be Wealthy & Smart VIP Experience here: http://lindapjones.com/vip Limited offer, use promo code "SMARTVIP" and save 50%!

Learn what to do when the stock market is volatile. The stock market pulled back 1600 points in one day. A new record. I saw one TV reporter make a big deal of a 500 pt drop because that's what happened in the crash of 1987. Percentage-wise that was a 22% decline vs. a few percent. Yesterday the Dow dropped 567 then gained 567. Don't pay attention to the number of points it moves, pay attention to percentages. Now that the Dow is so much higher at 25,000, it would take a drop of 5,500 points to equal 22% like in 1987. Stock market pull backs, and crashes, are part of investing so you need to have a strategy to handle them. Rather than hoping they won't happen, you have to accept them as part of investing and learn what to do because the stock market drops about 10% every 11 months on average. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped 20% 12 times since the end of WWII. That's about every 6 years. You have 3 choices whenever there is volatility: Buy, hold or sell. Since there are bigger corrections every 6 years, that is the best time to buy. It will also feel the most scary. People will move from complacency to panic. It's just how it works. You can hold for the long-term. It's good to make sure your asset allocation is where you want it to be. If you are going to need the money in less than 2 years, then you may want to be aware of how much risk you are taking. Is it the right amount? You usually don't want to sell, because there are dead-cat bounces that happen after a large decline. Panic selling is never a good idea. So your options are really hold or buy. If you're dollar cost averaging like in your 401k, then you are buying regularly and automatically. It's common for funds to invest at the end of the month, and if the market is a little lower than the month before, then you will buy lower. Start to think opposite of the crowd. Watch the sentiment indicators. They poll investors and tell us whether they are optimistic or bullish or pessimistic or bearish and what percentages are which. Usually if 60% are optimistic bulls, then the market will pullback and get a little fear back. Fear is actually good because markets are said to climb a wall of worry. When too many people are expecting it to move higher, it's like everyone is on one side of a boat and you know what happens then. More volatility happens until the fear comes back into the market and some move to the other side of the boat. So here are some things to think about: 1) Is your asset allocation (percentages in small, mid, large, etc.) correct for your age and circumstances? The younger you are, the more you want in stocks. 2) Are you keeping a long-term view? 3) Volatility is part of investing. Usually the best thing to do is nothing. Just ride it through, unless you want to buy. 4) The only thing that will help is time, so give it time to work it's way through. 5) Expect pullbacks, they are normal and eventually end.

Learn how to shorten the path to wealth. It's listener question Friday! Yesterday a listener asked me what was the quickest way to become a millionaire? Although getting rich quick is not recommended because it's usually accompanied by high risk of loss, I want to talk about something related to it that is important for you to know. First, let's talk about what creates wealth? When creating wealth, the one thing that matters the most is the rate at which you compound money. It's not all about how much money you have to start with. Compounding grows your money and creates additional money. Learn more by listening to the podcast. If you'd like short wealth building ideas emailed to you once a week, join my email list at http://lindapjones.com by opting into the "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth."

Learn 2 things wealthy investors believe about working with financial advisors. This comes from a Spectrem Group survey. The survey graphics are posted on my website at http://lindapjones.com. While you're there, get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth." Subscribe to the podcast to get updated when new shows are uploaded!

Learn one way you may be missing out on free money that could add up to $100k or more to your retirement plan. This is an article from CNBC.com. The link to the article is here: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/28/missing-the-employer-match-could-hurt-your-retirement-goals.html This episode is sponsored by Betterment: Did you know Betterment is the largest independent online financial advisor with more than $10 billion in assets under management with more than 300,000 customers? Their service helps to improve long-term returns and lower taxes for retirement planning, building wealth, and other financial goals. Betterment's tax coordinated portfolio can increase a portfolio's value by an estimated 15% over 30 years. Their annual advisory fee is only .25%, with unlimited messaging access to their team of licensed financial experts through a mobile app. Of course, investing involves risk. For listeners of Be Wealthy & Smart, you can get up to 1 year managed free, visit betterment.com/bewealthy that's betterment.com/bewealthy. I'll also post these links on my website at: http://www.lindapjones.com/how-to-find-free-money-for-your-retirement/

Learn why wealth building is about making good decisions. An example is the popular trend of buying subscription boxes which could be usurping your future wealth. Find out why $1,000,000 could be the opportunity cost. Be Wealthy & Smart has over 1.2 million downloads. Subscribe and don't miss a single episode! Get easy wealth tips at http://lindapjones.com.

Learn if a Financial Advisor is a good fit for you and what the signs are to look for with Joe Saul-Sehy of the Stacking Benjamins podcast. In this episode, I interview Joe Saul-Sehy. He's also my co-host (along with Miranda Marquit and Doug Goldstein) on the Money Tree Investing podcast. Joe and I talk about what makes a good Financial Advisor and when to cut them loose. Did you know Betterment is the largest independent online financial advisor with more than $10 billion in assets under management with more than 300,000 customers? Their service helps to improve long-term returns and lower taxes for retirement planning, building wealth, and other financial goals. Betterment's tax coordinated portfolio can increase a portfolio's value by an estimated 15% over 30 years. Their annual advisory fee is only .25%, with unlimited messaging access to their team of licensed financial experts through a mobile app. Of course, investing involves risk. For listeners of Be Wealthy & Smart, you can get up to 1 year managed free, visit: http://www.betterment.com/bewealthy I'll also post these links on my website at http://lindapjones.com, podcast 368. Please subscribe to Be Wealthy & Smart so you're updated when new episodes are available and leave us a review - we love to hear from you!

Learn how the tweak made in a prior podcast moved my credit score from 817 to a perfect 850. This is part two of a podcast I did about investigating a 30 point drop in my credit score, even though I pay it off every month. I made a tweak in podcast number 251 and I share the results with you on this podcast. Even if you pay your bills off every month and don't carry a balance on your credit cards, there's one thing that might be impacting your credit negatively. I fixed it in podcast 251 (listen for all the details on how to raise your credit score) and on this podcast I give you the awesome results of the tweak. My FICO score report is posted on my website at http://www.lindapjones.com, podcast 367. Get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth" at http://lindapjones.com. Please subscribe to the podcast to get notified as soon as new podcasts are uploaded.

Learn the one thing to focus on for financial success this year. This is the most important thing you can do financially this year. You'll have to listen to find out what it is! Please subscribe to the Be Wealthy & Smart podcast and get new episodes as soon as they are added.

Learn the 6 things about millionaires you may think are true but aren't. We learned in Be Wealthy & Smart podcast #286, that $2.4 million is what most American's consider "wealthy". See that podcast for other interesting facts about millionaires. Link to the Business Insider article is here: http://www.businessinsider.com/fascinating-facts-about-american-millionaires-2017-11/#theyre-not-all-filthy-rich-in-fact-95-have-a-net-worth-between-1-million-and-5-million-1 The link to the Millionaire Next Door book is here: http://amzn.to/2D31rWE Get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth" at http://lindapjones.com.

Learn what regions/countries are the best performers on a 1, 3, 5, 10 and 15 year average annual return basis. Chart from Investor's Business Daily is posted on my website at http://lindapjones.com, podcast 364. Get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth" at http://lindapjones.com.

Learn which asset classes have performed the best on a 1, 3, 5, 10 and 15 year basis. Review of U.S. Diversified Stocks like the S & P 500, Large-cap growth, Large-cap core, Multi-cap growth, Midcap growth, Multicap core, Large-cap value, Multicap value, etc. Chart from Investor's Business Daily is posted on my website at http://lindapjones.com, podcast 363. Get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth" at http://lindapjones.com.

Learn the top performing global equity sector funds of 2017. The chart from Investor's Business Daily is posted on my website with the bonus chart of top performing Fixed Income funds. You can find them on my website at: http://www.lindapjones.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=13352&action=edit Get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth" at http://lindapjones.com.

Learn the best performing ETF's for 2017 that are the 10 Largest ETF's by assets. The article is posted on my website at http://lindapjones.com. Get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth" at http://lindapjones.com.

Learn the best performing ETF's for 2017 that are U.S. Diversified Stock and Sectors. The article is posted on my website at http://lindapjones.com. Get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth" at http://lindapjones.com.

Learn 10 Financial Moves to Make in 2018. Here are some suggestions to improve your finances in 2018: 1. Review & rebalance portfolio - Make sure you are diversified 2. Consider strategic investments in high growth areas What can you buy low? Commodities? Uranium? Miners? 3. Reduce debt Refi or pay off 4. Save and invest more - Savings accounts have low interest rates, investment accounts offer potential of higher compounding, but have more risk. 5. Think over large purchases Do you really need a new car? Do you need to move? Could you invest instead? 6. Time, Money, Compounding Rate are the 3 things that effect your wealth. Time = years to retirement Money = amount to invest Compounding rate = % you compound money 7. Consider how big picture changed and how it will affect you New tax law, lower taxes? Interest rates rising Cycles are changing 8. Things that didn't change Your work? Income? Mortgage? Your goals? Your retirement age? 9. Start a side hustle for extra income? - Never easier to start a business 10. Make time to learn about investing. To get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth", go to www.lindapjones.com.

Learn last minute steps you can take to save money on your taxes in 2017. This is adapted from an article in Investor's Business Daily. It takes into account the new Tax Reform act. This may help you stay in a lower tax bracket and save you some tax dollars. Please subscribe to the podcast! Get "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth " to get to financial freedom faster at http://lindapjones.com.