Be Wealthy & Smart

I went to San Diego a couple of days early and stayed in an Air Bnb for the first time. Moved to a suite at the Westin on Broadway for the mastermind meeting. What is Masterminding? Is it another form of brainstorming? Yes, it's similar. It comes from a term used in the book, Think and Grow Rich. It's when everyone brainstorms and focuses on ideas for one business at a time. It's incredibly powerful and kind of like a mini-focus group research project. The "mastermind" is the group and the activity of spending an hour talking about plans for new services, products and implementation is extremely valuable. For video of Angela Ahrendts, former CEO of Burberry, go to my fan page to watch. www.facebook.com/lindapjonesfanpage My friend buys companies. The big issue is mindset. Afraid to fail. Sarah Blakely, billionaire & CEO of Spanx read Wayne Dyer's book - How to Be a No Limit Person. Her father taught her to embrace failure. How did you fail today? Are you afraid of failure? Is it keeping you from even trying? Are you afraid to not be perfect?

Learn how much money the average worker has saved in retirement, 3 steps to take if you're behind on saving enough, and why you need to prepare for early retirement even if you don't think you need to. 77% of workers have less than $250,000 saved for retirement. The next largest group has less than $1,000 saved! If you save 1% more of a $50,000 income, then: 4% for 30 years @7% grows to $217,370 5% for 30 years @7% grows to $271,000, a 25% increase! 3 things you can do: Boost savings. Delay retirement. Cut spending. Use catch up provisions to save more. Traditional and Roth* IRA's allow for an extra $1,000 catch up or $6,500 contribution instead of $5,500 when you're over age 50. Pay attention to modified AGI limit: Single $117,000 - $132,000 Married $ 184,000 - $194,000 Roth contributions are phased out at these levels. SEP IRA $53,000 maximum on $265,000 considered compensation (25% of compensation) 401(k) and Solo (k) Standard contribution is $18,0000, catch up is $24,000 (over age 50) Simple IRA Employers match up to 3% Standard contribution is $12,500, catch up is $15,500 (over age 50). Boost Social Security 8% annually for each year you put it off. Only take 4% out of your retirement plan and you likely won't outlive your income. Retirement income + Pension + Social Security + Side Hustle = Retirement Income Can you downsize your home and use equity for retirement? Save more on the front end and save more for retirement as soon as possible. Start saving in your 20's if possible. The sooner the better!

Learn reasons Americans don't retire when they want to, how many retire unexpectedly, and how confident they are or aren't about affording a comfortable retirement. About 45% of Americans are retiring earlier than they expected and also 45% are retiring about when they planned. 5% are retiring later than expected. Why people retire earlier than planned: 1. Hardship 60% 2. Able to afford it 35% 3. People desire to do something else 25% 4. Company changed, downsized or closed 5. Other work related reasons 6. Care for a family member 7. Change in required skills

Learn about buying your first home, what to look at, and things to avoid so you have a smooth transaction. It starts with having a financial/economic plan for buying a home and do lots of due diligence before buying a home. Get a thorough inspection. Jules also covers documents, title insurance, closing costs, etc. Jules can be reached at his website (along with more information about real estate transactions at www.JulesHaasAttorney.com. His phone number is 212-355-2575 and email is [email protected].

Listener question Friday - Linda, I used to have a self-directed IRA but closed it. Now I'm planning on opening one up again to invest in things, including precious metals. It's saying XX Bullion prefers XX Depository, but will ship your metals to any depository you choose. If it has to go into a depository, what depository would you recommend?

Learn all about our trip to Naxos, Greece aboard a 110 ft. yacht which was televised this week and last on the Bravo TV show, Below Deck Mediterranean. Note: This podcast has NO financial information in it and is just about our trip! We appeared in "Episode 9: Fever pitch" on June 28th. Hear me discuss the crew, eating Ben's cooking, wave runners, the tender to the beach, how Bobby carries us, Ben cooks s'mores. How were the s'mores with strawberry peeps? Ben couldn't source the ingredients in Greece. We appeared on "Episode 10: Charter from heaven, charter from hell?" on July 5th. Next day breakfast, wave runners, jeweler, excursion on tender with Bryan and Tiffany, change for dinner, violinist, dinner (and unfortunate combination of motion sickness med and alcohol). Could use some love on my FB fan page (www.Facebook.com/LindaPJonesFanPage) or Instagram page, @lindapjones. Breakfast, give largest tip of the season and said good bye. Hannah says we are her favorites and she loves us! She misses us already when men acting like "frat boys" come on the yacht. More photos and stories on my blog. www.lindapjones.com/blog

Learn from reinvention expert Pamela Mitchell about how to find your passion, become an entrepreneur and find success. Pamela was called "The Queen of Reinvention" by Fortune magazine. She's a former entertainment exec-turned-coach. Pamela Mitchell is founder and CEO of The Reinvention Institute and host of The LiftOff Project podcast. As the nation's premier expert in reinvention, Pamela has appeared on CBS, CNN, NPR, MSNBC and the Today Show, and has been profiled and quoted in top publications including The New York Times, Businessweek, TIME, Men's Health, and Real Simple. She is the author of The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy, a Harvard Business Review Top Shelf Recommended Pick. Links to the mini-course and Pamela's book can be found at www.lindapjones.com/careerreinvention.

149: Crazy Surprise! Learn what's going on as I pull the curtain back and let you in on what's happening in my personal life. If you've been listening to me for a while, you know I stick to business and get to the point pretty fast. I want you to get value from my podcasts. Today is a little different because I am letting you in on what's happening behind the scenes in my life. The exciting news is on June 28th and July 5th, I'm going to be on a new reality TV show called Below Deck Mediterranean. It's a new show, the first season of a spinoff. I've been a fan of the original show, Below Deck Caribbean, for years. Below Deck Med is about the crew of a yacht in Greece called the Ionian Princess. They take on new charter guests and the show follows how the charter goes, the relationships the crew has and the drama that ensues. This Tuesday I'll be on the show as a charter guest. I'm with 5 entrepreneur friends/clients and we had an amazing time. I can't give details of what we did because I agreed to keep that confidential until after the shows air, but I can tell you I had an amazing time cruising in Greece! You can see some initial photos of our trip to Greece on my Instagram before we got on the yacht. My Instagram is @LindaPJones and there's also a @BeWealthy&Smart Instagram - check it out while you're there. It's an entirely new crew on the show except for Chef Ben Robinson who is also on Below Deck Caribbean. Things are definitely crazy and racy as the crew of 12 thirty-somethings have their share of drama and hookups! If you want to know more, you'll just have to watch on Tuesday, June 28th and July 5th on Bravo TV at 9pm ET/PT, 8 CT. Boy have I been shocked watching the show and seeing what happens with the crew below deck! I have to warn you, I didn't expect to see what's been going on at all! All was calm above deck! Watch it and let me know what you think! I'll be back with some more bonus episodes this week. Hint hint.

Learn why the Brexit leave vote won, what it means for Europe and the US and the impact it will have on investments going forward. Brexit is the term for the British exit from the European Union or EU. It voted 52 to 48 to leave. This impacts things like trade tariffs, migration, auto and car regulations. The politicians engaged world leaders, celebrities, and everyone they could to vote to remain. Really about 3 things: 1. Unelected government in Brussels having too much control. Non-elected leaders in power. 2. Immigrants a problem - more than 1 million immigrants have poured into Europe. 3. People never voted for, and do not want political union and the interference the European Union. Do you get that? These leaders in power were NOT elected by the people. They took power and control without elections and in many cases without disclosing who is really in control behind the scenes in Brussels. May cause problems for other European countries. Scotland may want to leave UK. Spain may take control of Gibraltar. Catalonia may leave. We don't know if the EU will survive. Even the Pope is saying European countries need to figure out how to work together. PM David Cameron resigned effective in October because he campaigned for Britain to stay and since he lost the vote, he felt he should leave. Boris Johnson, a member of Cameron's Conservative Party and former Mayor of London voted for independence and some people speculate he may be the next PM. In general, it is believed young people voted to stay and the older people voted to leave. Interest rates low and headed lower. Currencies may be headed lower and companies who trade may have to sign new agreements. This will be negotiated for 2 years between independent Britain and the rest of Europe. It will likely get worse before it gets better. Unsure what the banks will do and if it will negatively impact trading partners. According to Vox News: "If you are Nissan or some other car producer with major production in the UK, today, the same safety standards and environmental standards allow you to sell everywhere in the European market," Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. But if the UK leaves the EU, "you would no longer be able to sell into other European markets, not because you face a small tariff but because you'd have to go through another set of safety certifications. This kind of thing would be repeated in every industry you can think of." Financial companies are already talking about moving headquarters from London to Germany or France. In 1958 EU was 6 countries, 28 today. EU loses the 2nd largest economy. Pound was down 8% today to a 30 year low. Will be good for trade because English goods will be more affordable. European financials (banks) are down 5 - 16% which is worrisome. Deutsche Bank is one to watch due to the derivatives it holds. Some people speculate a downgrade of it's credit could cause another Lehman moment. According to Martin Armstrong, the real problem with the Euro is when they created the Euro, they did not consolidate countries' debt. Individual countries having economic problems and high levels of debt causes problems for everyone because they don't want to be responsible to bail out other countries, such as Greece. They also have a one interest rate policy for the EU, which means the ECB (like our FED) can't provide stimulus to just one country without doing it for all 18 euro countries. Such confusion, oh my! The EU agreement allows for 2 years to negotiate an exit, so expect it to be a long road ahead. In the end, this was a vote for democracy, for the people, for freedom and independence from politicians who took power without being voted in. The EU was a governing body who took control, for example with immigration and having to take Middle Eastern refugees. The terror attacks in Paris and Brussels are said to have been a deciding factor for the exit. How does this impact your investments? Today the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.39%, the S &P was down 3.58% and the Nasdaq down 4.12%. -Expect multinationals who trade a lot with England and Europe to be down until they have more clarity. Boeing was down 5.26% today, Starbucks down 2.58% and Apple was down 2.81%. -Expect a continued flight to safety. -Expect money to flow into the dollar and make it stronger which could contribute to a recession here (listen to my podcast #144 about "7 Signs Why a Recession May Be Looming". -Expect money to flow into US markets for safety and stability. -Expect precious metals to move higher as an alternate safe haven - gold was up 4.91% and silver was up 2.43%. Mining stocks' ETF (GDX) jumped 5.92% today. -Inverse ETF SDS (double short S & P) was up 7% today. -Expect increased volatility in stock markets. The VIX (VXX) was up 24.32% today alone! This could spill into our markets and cause a drop…if it does, it's a buying opportunity because it will be short lived. Longer term I see a

Learn how to analyze stock performance by checking the 1, 5, and 10 year performance numbers. Research is from FORTUNE magazine, June 15, 2016. Too often investors pick a stock that has only done well for one year. Look at the longer-term, especially 3 and 5 year numbers or 5 and 10 year numbers. I'm sharing numbers from 2015, but my point is to get you to think differently. What companies have done well for one year? 5 years? 10 years? What stocks have had excellent performance for 10 years? Do other research, but these companies should be looked at and considered if you're investing in individual stocks. The performance is all double digit. I will share the chart on my website show notes for podcast #147 so I can upload a photo of the chart.

Learn what smart moves LeBron has made that are very different from other successful pro athletes, high-paid actors and lottery winners. Congratulations to the Cleveland Cavaliers for winning the 2016 NBA Championship! I've been reading about LeBron James and what a smart businessman he is. I have to agree. 1. He knows a good deal when he sees one. LeBron signed a contract right out of high school. Under the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, he signed a 3-year deal worth a maximum $12.96 million. 2. He keeps his options open. "Next year, LeBron is expected to have the highest salary in the NBA for the first time in his 13-year career. He knew this in 2014, which is why he became the first megastar player to take a one-year contract (with a one-year player option) in the midst of his prime, and why he did the same this past summer, positioning himself to cash in on the upcoming salary-cap spike." 3. He takes equity positions. When a headphones company called Beats came to him in 2008 looking for marketing help, LeBron put an equity stake ahead of making immediate cash. He gave pairs of Beats headphones to his Team USA teammates. Perhaps he knew images of the product at the Beijing Olympics would help launch the brand. Beats later sold for $3.2 billion to Apple, and James made tens of millions. 4. He thinks long-term. Just signed a lifetime deal to wear Nike shoes. It is believed to be the first lifetime deal in the shoe and apparel company's 44-year history. No disclosure on the amount of the contract. Also, there are no personal blemishes to his reputation. 5. He thinks outside the box to create new roads less traveled. His production company, SpringHill Entertainment, currently has deals for shows with Starz, Disney, Showtime and NBC, and a development deal with Warner Bros. He's not afraid to think of new projects and to do something that hasn't been done before. 6. He thinks like an owner. That's why he recently left McDonald's to become an investor in an upstart pizza chain, and why he has cut back on commercials. Harden is getting paid for pitching Taco Bell; LeBron is trying to make his money from owning a franchise like Taco Bell. The other big-business announcement James made last week was a $15.8 million investment in Uninterrupted, a social-media platform he and his partners created last year that allows direct interaction between athletes and fans. 7. He contributes to charity. LeBron set up a family foundation and has a program called "I promise", paying college tuition to qualifiers. His foundation will donate $41 million to pay for 1,100 kids. The irony is he skipped college to join the NBA, but it certainly paid off for him. Now's he's giving back in a profound way by investing in young people and providing a way for them to have a better life.

Today is Listener Question Day! Brian asks: Dear Linda: Thank you for podcast #125, which brought me back as I began to drift into investing outer space. I want to know how earnings forecasts are made; what are they based on? Are earnings forecasts the same as earnings predictions? Are they based on past earnings? Because I didn't think we used a company's historical data when looking at current market trends. Thanks, Brian Thank you for the questions, Brian. Earnings forecasts are a compilation of information that is obtained by stock analysts at brokerage firms from a company's management and their own estimates. As you know from my podcast "What makes stocks go up?", earnings are what matters! Analysts are called "sell-side" analysts because they are "selling" their research to large pension funds, portfolio managers, and other institutional managers. Their job is to estimate what a company's quarterly and annual earnings will be. Since earnings are reported quarterly, 4 times a year the actual numbers are compared to the consensus's numbers. To calculate them the net earnings are divided by the number of shares outstanding, for an estimate per share. For example, $1.20 earnings per share or EPS might be $12 million/10 million shares). Coverage is initiated with either a "buy" or "hold", rarely is the term "sell" used because often the investment banking side of the firm may have a relationship with the company and wants to support the stock price rather than encouraging selling it. The consensus is made up of an average of all the analysts estimates. For large cap stocks that can be over 100 analysts and for a small company it may be only a few. Once the consensus number is calculated, sometimes there is a "whisper" number that emerges which is a rumor of a different number (often higher) than the consensus. If a company is growing quickly, a whisper number used to get thrown around indicating the company is doing better than was forecasted and as a result it may boost the stock more. Fair disclosure laws (known as Regulation Fair Disclosure or Reg FD) made this illegal and companies now have to give all investors access to this information at the same time. A publicly traded company has rules about when they can release information to the public, so analysts fill the void and try to calculate what the earnings will be. They can meet with management and talk about sales projections, stores opening and closing, overseas trends, etc. and the analyst then puts the pieces together to come up with an estimate of what he or she thinks earnings will be for the quarter and the year. It's a big deal when a company misses estimates by having slower growth or lower earnings than were expected. This happened to Apple recently and they lost $47 billion in market capitalization in one day. That's because money managers manage their portfolios by following what stocks have increasing earnings and a stock becomes a real darling if it is increasing earnings at an increasing rate (but you already knew that because you've been listening to me). You can listen to the podcast on Apple in podcast #125. When a company misses the consensus earnings estimate, even by a penny per share, it's a big deal. A stock can drop like a rock in that case because the thought is that the company's growth is slowing, which means it might be time to redeploy the money invested in it into a company that is growing faster. To answer your questions, yes, historical data is considered when analysts are trying to predict the future. They will take into account what I mentioned earlier and try to get as close as possible to the actual numbers. When actual earnings reported beat the forecasted earnings, usually the stock rises because it has "exceeded expectations". If it meets consensus earnings, it often will sell off a bit because it only "met expectations", especially if the stock price has risen going into earnings season. That's an old Wall Street expression known as "buy on the rumor and sell on the news", which is what often happens during earnings season. One bad quarter can impact a stock's price negatively for fear that it's a trend of future slower growth. However, if there's a good explanation such as a colder winter with more snow caused shoppers to be snowed in and stay home thereby temporarily depressing sales, there's some leeway allowed. But if there's a trend of slower sales that persists and turns into lower earnings, it will eventually be reflected in a lower stock price. The best thing to do is keep finding those companies that have earnings rising at a rising rate. That company will continue to exceed expectations until they don't. Hopefully by then they are the size of Apple's market cap and one of the largest companies in the world. Before I go I'd like to share some listener reviews. Thank you for subscribing, rating and reviewing the show! You can also share the podcast with friends by clicking the little box with an up ar

Learn 7 Signs Why a Recession May Be Looming. 1. Corporate profits are tanking. Corporate profits have been weak since late in 2014 according to JP Morgan economist Michael Feroli. Growth in corporate profits has been negative since Q3 and Q4 of 2015 and flat Q1 of 2016. The three main reasons corporates are under so much pressure are the strong US dollar, collapsing oil prices, and rising wages. "Declining corporate profits as measured by US equity EPS have been closely followed by, or coincided with, a recession 81% of the time since 1900," said Dubravko Lakos-Bujas at JP Morgan. Paul Mortimer-Lee from PNB Paribas projects that the risk of recession over the next 12 months is somewhere between 40% and 50%, depending on how terrible the incoming labor market data looks. Some people speculate there is little to no earnings growth expected globally. 2. Unemployment report Only 38,000 jobs were added - far short of the 160,000 estimated. 3. The dollar has been strong since 2015. Strong dollar makes US exports more expensive. Other countries' currencies are pegged to the dollar so it hurts their exports too. 4. ISM (manufacturing) report has been neutral. An indicator of 50 is neutral. March was 51.8, slightly expanding. Last 5 months were over 50, prior 5 months under 50. 5. Construction is declining. -1.8% is the largest drop since 1/11. 6. Baltic Dry Index (shipping) is very low. BDI measures iron ore and coal. More ships built to transport iron ore and coal have been scrapped so far this year than in all of 2014 as the commodity slump stunts the life expectancy of bulk carriers. Twenty-nine Capesize vessels with an average age of 21.4 years have been turned into scrap through March 4, according GMS Inc., the world's biggest cash buyer of ships for recycling, citing data from Clarkson Plc. That's a faster pace than the 93 destroyed all of last year and the 25 in 2014. The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of what shipowners earn from transporting commodities, has plunged to the lowest in more than 30 years amid slowing Chinese demand. 7. Consumer spending is a bright spot, or is it? Biggest increase in 6 years (mostly autos). Scary trend of auto loans for 125% of car value.

Learn why wealth building requires investing, that frugality is not what is going to make you rich and the steps to move forward. In financial articles, I often hear people say the secret to being financially successful is "spend less than you earn." Spending less than you earn will obviously keep you out of debt, but it won't make you rich. People miss the point. Spending less and earning more are not the crucial parts of wealth building. (This is what drives me crazy about the frugality movement). Its really all about investing. Remember the "6 Steps to Wealth" and step 4 is investing in a money engine and step 5 is compounding at a high rate? Those are the crucial steps to wealth building! So the question becomes, how are you investing? What are you investing in? Why are you investing in those things? Have you consciously thought, "where is the best place to invest now?" meaning "where is the place that is going to grow my money best or at the highest rate?" Because THAT is how wealthy people think. Then they look for those opportunities, opportunities to compound at the highest rate possible without taking foolish, undue risk. It's not about gambling. Or buying a lotto ticket. Those are things that leave winning to chance. It's about controlling what you invest in as much as possible to build more wealth. Obviously you don't "control" a stock, but you do control choosing a stock or the company you're investing in. That's why people join the VIP Experience, because they want to know where I think the best place to invest is. www.lindapjones.com/joinvip Action steps included.

Learn where you're wasting money, what's really causing problems with saving money and 6 ways to have more money at the end of the month. This is listener question Friday. Here is our question for today: Linda, I make a good income but at the end of every month I don't have any money and I can't seem to save money. What can I do? Thank you, Chris Well Chris, this is a common problem. Many Americans make a good income yet have nothing to show for it. An article says the poorest Americans percentage-wise spent almost as much on restaurants as the richest. 16.6% of their money is spent on eating out. Only the top 20% spend a higher percentage than that at 17.8%. My friends in NYC made a high income and couldn't afford to buy a home. The most common problem is eating out too much according to this article. As Elizabeth Warren and her daughter, Amelia Tyagi, revealed in their book The Two-Income Trap, the problem wasn't lattes and other frivolities. In fact, the cost of everything was significantly lower than it was in the 1970s. Warren and Tyagi demonstrated that the problem was the fixed costs, like housing, health care, and education cost the average family 75 percent of their discretionary income in the 2000s. The comparable figure in 1973 was only 50%. According to the article, people also spent more percentage-wise on gas and groceries. It comes down to making smarter choices. Planning instead of being too spontaneous. Here are 6 suggestions to help you save money: 1. Plan your meals and eat fresh food. Learn simple, quick recipes. Stay away from processed food and fast food. 2. Plan your trips and use public transportation when possible. (airport $5) 3. Pay yourself first. Put 10% of your paycheck aside first. 4. You can use apps to help you (like acorns and digit) to help you save. 5. Open a brokerage account and start investing asap. 6. Move closer to your job so you can walk or ride a bike.

Learn the 4 steps to automate your personal finances and the apps and websites to help you. Interview with Jen Turrell from the "Financial Fluency, Speaking the Language of Money" podcast. Here are the 4 steps: 1. Automate bills at your own bank for free. Batch your bills on the 5th and the 20th. 2. Set up a separate bill pay checking account that is attached to autopay bills. Add up all your regular bill amounts. Live a month ahead and put a month's expenses in there as a buffer. Automate your savings too. 3. Audit your purchases and see if you can cut any subscriptions or impulse buys for your emergency savings account. 4. Turn on automation and make sure all our bills get paid. Monitor your system. Resources: Book: I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Remit Sethi Apps: Acorns, Digit Websites: Mint.com, Betterment, Motif, Ellevest, WorthFM by DailyWorth Listen to Financial Fluency, speaking the language of money on JenTurrell.com or iTunes.

Learn how to raise kids that are financially fit and savvy with money. Interview with Shannon McLay from Financially-blonde.com. Tweet: Financial literacy begins in the home. @financially-blonde @lindapjones Here are the 7 steps to raising financially fit kids: 1. Say no. Limit the things you say "yes" to and learn to say "no" more often. 2. When you say "yes", have a budget and constraints. A "yes" is not an unlimited budget. Give them parameters and explain the cost to the family. Let them contribute. Give them a dollar limit to pick out a toy. 3. Use cash to teach your kids about money. Let them count the money and be aware of how much they have. Don't hand over credit cards and debit cards or it will become a mindless swiping activity. They don't have an awareness how much something is worth or how much is left on the card. 4. Allow them to fail. It's ok to let kids experience failure with money. Make it as realistic as possible. Let them use their money even if they spend it all and can't buy something else. 5. Let them be responsible for their wants. Parents are covering their needs, let the kids cover their wants. 6. Teach them to work to earn their money. Show them that specific tasks must done to make money. Use rewards charts with points for chores like making their bed, cleaning their room, doing the dishes, etc. You can also create bonus money they can earn. 7. Allow them to participate in family financial decisions. Money is still a taboo topic in peoples' homes, but kids need to know the decisions you're making as parents. Let the kids see your family budget. Talk with them about charitable giving too. Heifer.org – Buy a goat for a community and help cure poverty. Bonus tip: How to get your child to invest! Talk about investing. Let them choose individual stocks. Companies they patronize are a good place to start, ie. Nike and Dunkin' Donuts. Explain how they are part-owner as a shareholder.

Today is listener question Friday. I received an email about asset allocation and I thought that would be a good topic to podcast about. Asset allocation is how you decide to divide up your equities and fixed income (stocks and bonds) as determined by your risk tolerance in order to minimize risk and maximize return. Think of it like a pie that is cut into varying sized pieces. Each piece of the pie is called an "asset class". Asset classes include: large cap growth, large cap value, mid cap growth, mid cap value, small cap growth, small cap value, international stocks, REITs, commodities, emerging markets, bonds and cash. The overriding concept is that it's difficult to determine which asset class (pie piece) will perform the best, so you want to have a little of the important ones. Traditional AA is Aggressive, Moderate and Conservative and most investors feel they fit one of those categories. Aggressive - Has 20 or more years until retirement. Moderate - Has less than 20 but more than 5 to 7 years until retirement. Conservative - Has 5 to 7 years until retirement or is in retirement. The mistake a lot of people make is to be too conservative too soon. Age determines a lot of it. So does risk tolerance. If young and aren't aggressive, won't get to where you want to go because the stock allocation is what is going to get higher compounding rates. So you want to be as aggressive as you can for as long as you can because most of the time this has been in your favor. So what are some traditional asset allocation models? For a long-term growth investor, you should consider an aggressive asset allocation model such as: 90% equities, 10% fixed income. For a moderate investor, you should consider an asset allocation such as: 70% equities, 30% fixed income. For a conservative investor, you should consider an asset allocation such as: 50% equities, 50% income. See www.lindapjones.com/asset-allocation for the asset allocation percentages mentioned on this episode. With interest rates at 30 year lows, you have to be careful about interest rates going up and bond valuations going down.

Learn how to overcome financial stress, why finances can affect your health, what kind of stress money can cause, and how to overcome health issues related to money. According to the American Psychological Association, 73% of respondents cited money as a significant source of stress in their lives…and for people coping with existing health problems financial and interpersonal stress can exacerbate their conditions. It can lead to ulcers, migraines, back pain, anxiety, depression, heart atttacks, lost sleep, marital issues… Three out of 4 Americans are in debt according to the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances. If you're in debt, tackle it head on. There are many things that are within your control like: a) Talk to the credit card company and asking for a lower interest rate. Many companies will try to accommodate you if you've lost your job or have health issues in the family, for example. b) Talk to a debt consolidation company. Companies can consolidate your debt into one payment and it usually does NOT hurt your credit. Credit is only impacted negatively if you write off a debt. c) Talk to a Financial Planner and see if they can help you reorganize some accounts and get you back on track. You may be able to take money from a Roth IRA for children's college, etc. d) Sell something that will generate cash. Sell a painting, jewelry, sports equipment, an RV or motorcycle to get cash and pay off debt. If you have to pay to insure it, that's even better! e). Get a side hustle. Become an Uber driver, work for TaskRabbit, rent out a room on AirBnB or get a part time job using your talents as a fixer upper, painter or window washer. Here are 5 tips to overcome financial stress: 1. Your stress is caused by how much you worry, not how much you owe so try to worry less by trying to meditate. Meditation can clear your mind and reduce your heart beat. It clears your thoughts and gives your brain a rest. 2. See what really relaxes you. Watching TV might be what you think relaxes you, but it might not. You might actually feel more relaxed by walking, being in nature, gardening, going to the beach, hiking, etc. 3. Exercise. You don't have to go to the gym, you can play music and dance, do lunges across the room, work with hand weights, walk the dog, ride your bike, etc. Be creative about your exercise. Think like a child. Yes, you can go to the gym but you don't have to. 4. Cut out unhealthy habits like smoking or drinking too much, which can leave your brain feeling foggy. 5. Journal your frustration. Get it out of your head and onto paper. It's a confidential way to scream and yell and get your anger out.

Learn the advantages and disadvantages of renting vs. owning a home, how to decide what's right for you and the ONE thing that should be the deciding factor. Advantages of Home Ownership: Forced savings in the form of equity Tax benefits (interest deduction) In control You own the property Can do what you want to it Benefit from prices rising Disadvantages of Home Ownership: Mortgage interest to pay and mostly interest at first Debt around your neck Can be foreclosed Pay for repairs, maintenance, insurance, yard Property tax Advantages of Renting: No real responsibilities other than rent No cost of repair or maintenance No Taxes or insurance Might be less expensive than buying No down payment Opportunity cost of down payment Flexibility to move, change neighborhoods or states Disadvantages of Renting: All the money goes out the door Opportunity cost of down payment - could earn $$ or 0 Can't personalize the rental to your liking or make upgrades At end of 30 years, own nothing You have a landlord Owner is in control - can raise rent, be a bad landlord Owner benefits from price rising You are paying for owner's house Financial Example Rental Own $1,000/mo. $300,000 purchase price x 20% down = $60k $240,000 loan @4.5% interest $1,000/mo. vs. $1,216 (tax deductible) $800 after tax +insurance +maintenance +repairs $1,000 vs. = $1,000 est. Consider: How long you plan to live there Moving is bad - commission, moving costs, remodeling, furniture Overpaying for a home - have to pay off more than it's worth Bubble? One expert stopped here…at $1k vs. $1k Noooo! At end of 30 years, $0 vs. $300,000 (possibly more)! The forced savings is the critical element to consider!

Learn how much money you need to invest in stocks. I worked in the mutual fund industry for most of my career. That's where professional money managers manage a pool of stocks, bonds or a combination on behalf of investors. The investor pays a commission or fee or both for it. One of the reasons mutual funds became so popular in the last 50 years, was not only because of professional management, ease of purchase, good relative performance and diversification was because they had a low minimum initial investment. Prior to mutual funds, you had to buy shares of stock and that could be expensive. Mutual funds had a $500 or $1,000 minimum and to buy 100 shares, called a round lot, of stocks was 100 x $30 = $3,000 for one stock, which offered no diversification. All your eggs were in one basket. Today we have more choices of where to invest money - ETF's are the biggest change. We can invest in unmanaged, diversified baskets of stocks, bonds or both. Instead of having a professional manager, it's a static group of stocks, for example. Could buy a biotech ETF with just biotech companies in it. ETFs are priced like a share of stock, so they require very little money to purchase. But what about if you want to buy shares of stock in a company? How much do you need to have to invest in a single stock or a few stocks? According to my mentor, William J. O'Neill, "You can begin with as little as $500 or $1,000 and add to it as you earn and save more money." O'Neil started investing at age 21 with a 5 share purchase of Proctor & Gamble stock! You can buy shares of one or two companies with $1,000, don't try to buy 10. If you have $10,000, you can buy 3 or 4 good quality stocks. Use my suggestions and only buy companies whose earnings are increasing at an increasing rate. Pay attention to earnings! Don't buy a stock because you like their products! That's only one touch point to consider. IMO, buying individual stocks is a great hobby and valuable skill to learn. But be careful, if you don't know what you're doing, it's easy to lose all your money. If you take the time to learn and study, you can make great returns. For example, if you bought Facebook (FB) just 3 years ago, a $5,000 investment would have grown to $12,000 or 240%! That's not an isolated incident. Action plan: 1. Read "How to Make Money in Stocks" - link is on my Resource page. 2. Get your IBD weekly and start studying what they recommend - the IDB 50. (No, I do not receive compensation for recommending this). 3. Start paying attention to who is beating expectations. If you haven't listened to my podcast about Apple (#125), do that because you'll find out what happens to a stock that misses it's targets. It's companies that BEAT expectations that win, companies that don't lose big.

Learn how to choose a Financial Adviser and what questions to ask for investment advice. Interview with best selling author of Rich as a King, Doug Goldstein. Places to check up on Financial Advisers: Finra.org/brokercheck CFP.net Sec.gov/investor/brokers.htm Doug's book: Rich as a King Doug's website: RichAsAKing.com

Learn 2 ways you can make money during a stock and/or bond market decline: inverse ETFs and Puts. Listener question: Hi Linda, I've been listening to you and I'm concerned about the stock and bond markets. How do you recommend I protect my account? Christy There are 2 ways you can make money during a stock and/or bond market decline: Inverse ETF's and Puts. Inverse ETF's are Exchange Traded Funds that make money (go up) when the market declines. You are buying futures, and this was not possible a decade ag????. It was something only professional traders could do. You have to be very careful, it's not something to buy and hold. You want to trade and be in and out of these. They can move against you quickly. There are about 75 inverse ETF's providing protection on US equites, government and corporate debt, foreign markets and commodities. One of the most popular inverse ETFs is ProShares Short S & P 500 (SH). If the market dropped about 10%, it would go up about 8%. At the time of this recording, the S & P is up 1% and SH is down 1.9%. The other thing you can do is buy puts. Puts are a bet on the direction of the market. If you think a stock or index is going to decline, you can buy a put, where you risk a limited amount for a specified period of time, typically 30 days???. They are based on time and price. If a stock goes below a specified price you are "in the money". Part of the price is determined by the time you are holding the option. As it gets closer to expiration, it loses value. You limit your risk to the amount invested. Can expire worthless. Both of these are difficult to get right because you have to know when to buy and when to sell. Timing in a bear market is tricky. Markets tend to go down a lot faster than they go up. They also tend to rebound sharply, so it's moving in the opposite direction and can cause large changes in the price if you hold too long. The timing is very tricky on either strategy so be very careful when trying to implement them. The other thing you can do is simply wait in cash. By waiting in cash you can wait for a downturn and dollar cost average (that is invest in regular intervals) to buy back in. That will give you a lower average cost basis and allow you to get in at a low price. Bernard Baruch used to say, "Buy when there is blood running in the streets." I say, "Buy when the news is at it's gloomiest. When no one wants to buy, that is the time you'll get the best price." With the stock market in its 7th year of expansion, it's reasonable to take measures against a market decline. Use these strategies judiciously - again, I caution you NOT to buy and hold or worse, buy and forget you own an inverse ETF. They are volatile and can move against you quite easily. Personally, I'm sitting out of stocks and investing in alternatives that are not correlated with the stock market. That way, I can take my time and wait for the right opportunity to get back in. Cycles tell us another big tsunami could be headed our way, so IMO it's a good time to sit out.

Learn are a few of the important terms you need to know as an investor. 1. What is a stock? Shares in a company. A way to raise capital. It creates wealth. Increases in value if growing earnings. Risk is limited to amount invested. Example of Tory Burch - wants to open boutiques worldwide and sells stock in an IPO - Initial Public Offering - to do it and raise capital for boutiques, inventory, etc. 2. What is a bond? An IOU; debt from a corporation, government or municipality. Supposed to be less risky than stocks. Considered more conservative investments. Moves inversely to interest rates. Cycles in interest rates run about 30 years. 3. What is asset allocation? The percentage allocated to stocks and bonds, a virtual pie chart. The most important factor in Modern Portfolio Theory; a finding by Henry Markowitz, Nobel Prize Winner. Asset allocation is where the majority of returns come from. A rising tide lifts all boats. It's not from stock picking or timing the market. It's from the choices you make about where to invest. In theory, should have more stocks when younger and more bonds when older Used to be 100 - (your age) = % in stocks, ex. 100 - 20 = 80% stocks. That's harder to do today since bonds may have a headwind of rising rates, which means lower bond valuations. Asset allocation today requires some creativity how you receive income and reduce risk in your portfolio. 4. What is a dividend? Net profits paid on stock shares or can be kept as retained earnings. The yield on a stock. Usually paid quarterly, but can be a one-time dividend or a regular dividend. It's not guaranteed. Check the track record. Can reinvest dividends or take in cash. High growth companies typically reinvest rather than pay dividends, so dividend paying companies tend to be large, established companies. 5. What is the S & P 500 Index? Standard and Poor's 500 largest companies in US. Many people don't realize it's a market-value-weighted index - a stock market index whose components are weighted according to the total market value of their outstanding shares. The larger the company, the more weight it has in the index. If you want all the companies to be equally weighted, that's a different index fund, but they do exist. An index is a form of measurement - compare competing large cap funds to it's performance. Every manager is paid to outperform an index. Large cap US funds are typically measured against the S & P and how it's performed. 6. What is the Dow Jones Industrial Average? Also called "the Dow", it is an index made up of 30 industrial companies. Invented by Charles Dow back in 1896. An industrial company used to be more steel, railroads, cotton, tobacco, oil, etc. now includes technology companies like Microsoft. It also has companies like Walt Disney, Exxon, GE, Coca Cola, Proctor & Gamble and Apple. Here's some trivia for you: what is the only company in the Dow that is original to the index? General Electric. When people say "the market is up today" they typically mean the Dow. Small number of companies, not as indicative of the broad market. It also is market weighted, so the largest companies carry more weight in the performance of the Dow. 7. What is Nasdaq? Nasdaq stands for the National Association of Securities Dealers automated quotes. Started out as an electronic market in 1971 vs. an open outcry, auction market that the NYSE is. That is humans vs. computers for trading. It began with smaller companies, but now is better known as a technology index because companies like Microsoft and Intel went public there then rather than migrating to NYSE, they stayed in NASDAQ, probably due to electronic nature and seeing the future being more electronic than with human specialists. The term "Nasdaq" is used to refer to the Nasdaq Composite, which has over 3,000 companies that are part of the Nasdaq and includes the world's foremost technology and biotech giants such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon, Intel and Amgen. 8. What is MSCI EAFE Index? The index founded in 1969 includes a selection of stocks from 21 developed markets, but excludes those from the U.S. and Canada. MSCI EAFE stands for Morgan Stanley Capital Index, Europe Australia Far East. Ranks the largest companies outside of the US and Canada. Outside of US only - international or foreign stocks. 9. What are Emerging Markets? Emerging markets are developing economies, many of which are experiencing rapid growth and industrialization. These countries possess securities markets that are progressing toward, but have not yet reached, the standards of developed nations. They are international stock markets that are not as well developed or mature as developed countries. They are loosely defined as having completed certain reforms and economic development programs to open up their economies and emerge onto the global scene and are considered to be fast growing. You tend to hear about the BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. 10. What are RE

Learn about billionaire Carl Icahn, how he made his money, what stocks he owns and his outlook on the stock and bond market. Carl Icahn is an 80 year old investor worth $20 billion and one of the 50 wealthiest people in the world. He owns 90% of Icahn Enterprises, an investment fund, the symbol is IEP. He's a shareholder activist, one of the original corporate raiders and greenmailers. That means he buys stock in companies and causes contention with management about why their stock is undervalued, to the point that they pay him to get rid of him. He's famous for trying to takeover companies and they either succumb to his management suggestions or pay him to go away. Attempted to takeover Nabisco and was paid $600 million by Philip Morris to go away. Carl Icahn gained fame in the 1980's by taking over and attempting to take over some large companies like Texaco, TWA and American Airlines. He was successful taking over TWA. It went bankrupt and eventually re-emerged. More recently he's been contentious with managements of Netflix, Dell, Family Dollar, Ebay and Apple. With Apple, he wanted them to pay out retained earnings in the form of a dividend and to buy back stock. He has since divested himself of all his Apple stock in the 4th quarter of 2015, which used to be his largest holding. He says it was due to being worried about Apple and things going on in China. I was at the airport last fall and in the CNBC store waiting for my flight. On the TV was Carl Icahn talking about why he expected a big decline in junk bonds and the stock market. He's been very vocal to caution investors, particularly bond investors, because he believes there's trouble ahead. Judging by how he's invested, I'd say he thinks it's soon. His company is short credit default swaps and broad market index swap derivatives, which means he is betting that junk bonds (low rated corporate bonds) and stock market indexes will go down. He says he's more confident about markets dropping 20% than increasing by 20%. His company is 149% net short (due to leverage). Icahn Enterprises has a phenomenal long-term track record, but the last 2 years have been poor. Last year they were down 18% and they are down 12.8% in the 1st quarter of this year. Some of the companies he currently owns includes: Paypal, AIG, Herbalife, and Freeport-McMoran. He is one of the all-time greatest investors - don't rule him out. I always pay attention to what the billionaires are doing because they typically follow cycles, which I do too. It gives you some ability to see what's coming, because cycles repeat at regular intervals. This is something billionaires know, but most investors don't. It's changed my investing perspective in the past few years and something that has allowed our VIP Experience to be up 25% YTD when the S & P is only up 1%. Like Mr. Icahn, I also am expecting some declines in the stock market and have positioned my clients in assets other than stocks.

Listener Questions - How to Get a Spouse on the Same Page; Broker/Dealers And now for listener questions... From Jacob: Hi Linda! I just wanted to thank you. I have listened to your first 20 podcasts and I am a believer. I am a hairstylist, and I give quality service for a dollar store price, and I have been pretty unsuccessful. Your podcasts have been helpful for helping me understand why. I'm developing a brand and your information has been so helpful. The next thing I do today is to give you a 5 star rating on iTunes. Thank you thank you thank you! I also want to know, how to get a spouse on board with becoming wealthy? My personal mentoring clients have struggled with this. 1. The first thing I do is explain the difference between how women and men invest. Men comfortable with risk, women like security. You're already at odds! He wants to grow the money, she wants to protect the money. A woman's #1 fear is being homeless. So the nest - your home - is important. BTW, I believe that's why women usually want to keep the home after a divorce, which is not always a good thing to do. 2. Get on a common page with what you want. Couples often don't discuss their long term goals. Are you wanting a second home? To retire at the beach? To play golf? Ski? Agree on what you can agree on and work on compromising on the things you can't agree on. 3. Spender vs. saver One spouse is free with money, one is more careful. Set your priorities for your money. Put retirement high up - go to podcast #122 & #123, "Prioritize your money" and "Spending, saving and investing for retirement." 4. Agree to move homes infrequently. Make a long term plan for your home. Don't buy a condo downtown and then move to the suburbs to have a child, unless you can stay there 20 years. 5. Have a date night. David Bach suggested it in the book, Smart Women Finish Rich. Discuss your goals for money. Get on the same page! 6. Allow for "dream" items. She may want an expensive handbag. He may want an expensive Italian bike. Put gift budgets for 3 holidays (birthday, anniversary and Christmas or Hanukkah) together. Keep one eye on spending today and one eye on tomorrow. Next question... From Celine: Linda, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience about wealth, I find your podcast very educational and easy to follow for people with different backgrounds. so thank you and please keep up the great work! I wanted to ask if you could recommend the best 2-3 banks/brokers/investment services where to open an IRA? I know you don't endorse products or companies but I hope it's ok to ask if you can advise on what you've seen working best for IRAs. Thanks so much! IRA is like an envelope and you put investments inside. My 3 favorite brokerage firms: Fidelity Schwab Scottrade vs. Vanguard investment company. May limit your investment choices. Next question... Linda - your introductory jingle is horrible! Please get something more age appropriate and gender neutral. Ha ha! It's intentional. It's for your positivity and as an affirmation to have a rich life. The idea is to have you repeating the words over and over as a mantra. Repetition creates new neuropathways in your brain and changes your subconscious beliefs. It's intentional for your wealthy mindset. The singer/songwriter of LIFE, Beckah Shae, gave me permission to use it and I love it. I hope you do too - eventually!

First, let's see if you qualify for a Traditonal or Roth IRA. Annual contributions to both accounts are the same in 2016 as in 2015 -- up to $5,500 per person, or $6,500 for individuals who are 50 or older. You may earn too much to fund a Roth, because they're available only to individuals whose modified adjusted gross income doesn't exceed a maximum of $132,000 in 2016. For married couples filing a joint tax return, eligibility requirements end at $194,000. With a traditional IRA, you may be able to claim a full income-tax deduction for your contributions, as long as you don't have access to a retirement plan at work, such as a 401(k). Single filers who do have access to such a plan can take a full deduction if they earn $61,000 or less, or a partial deduction up to $71,000 in 2016. The income limits are trickier for married couples filing jointly. If you have access to a plan, the limits are $98,000 to $118,000; if your spouse has access to a plan but you do not, the limits are $184,000 to $194,000 for joint filers. Remember: If your employer does not offer a retirement plan, you can get the full tax deduction for traditional IRA contributions regardless of your income. Roth over Traditional IRA Why I like Roths over Trad IRAs is your money is tax-free forever. In a Roth IRA, you don't have to take mandatory withdrawals at age 70-1/2 and you can keep contributing to it. Roth IRA's a definitely the way to go, if you qualify. I was at a party and met 2 retired doctors recently who are close to age 70. When they found out I'm a financial expert, they both told me about their unhappiness with Required Minimum Distributions starting at age 70-1/2. These are required withdrawals you must make from a Traditional IRA and are based on your life expectancy. If you don't take out the required Min Distr. from a traditional IRA, there is a 50% penalty. They will be forced to take money out and likely pay tax on it, whether they want the withdrawal or not. It's a forced liquidation so the govt can collect taxes. Had they had the opportunity to invest in a Roth IRA, they wouldn't have to do Required minimum distributions, which will likely cause them to pay tax and maybe put them into a higher tax bracket. What they could have done is take distributions between age 59-1/2 and 70-1/2 to avoid any penalties. (There is a 10% penalty if you wd money prior to age 59-1/2), but you can also avoid it if you qualify for one of 9 exemptions: They include death (for withdrawal by a beneficiary), disability and qualified college bills like tuition, fees, books, supplies, room and board. Other reasons include a first time home purchase, unemployed and have medical insurance premiums, medical expenses, call to active duty in the military, IRS levy, and substantially equal periodic payments until you're 59-1/2. I'm not going to go into the nuances of each one of these, but I'll put it in the show notes on my website if you think one or more may apply to you. Go here for all the details on the exemptions: www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/02/111202.asp If you don't take tax efficient withdrawal now, the Traditional IRA will keep growing and you could have a lot of tax later when you have to take RMD's at 70-1/2. With a Roth, you don't have RMD's at any age, you can leve beneficiaries a large, tax free account and you'll be in control of your account w/o income tax concerns. You can move money from a Traditional to a Roth, but that will trigger tax on the pre-tax amount, which are the contributions that were tax deductible and any investment earnings that followed. But all Roth IRA distributions will be untaxed after 5 years and age 59-1/2.

Learn 9 things to consider before investing in a crowdfunded company, how small investors can be venture capitalists and the 2 classifications to buy shares. 2 Classifications: 1) $100k of income and $100k of net worth. Can invest up to 10% of lesser of income or net worth, up to $100k maximum. For example, $100k income, $500k net worth, could invest ($500k x 10% = $50k). 2) Under $100k income and $100k net worth. Can invest up to 5% of lesser of income or net worth, whichever is less. Compare that to $2k and choose larger number. So if you make $50k and have $150k net worth. 5% of $50k = $2,500 vs. 5% or $150k = $7,500. Lesser is $2,500 and is more than $2k so $2,500 investment is allowed. See more details at www.ZacksInvest.com for a crowdfunding portal. 9 Reasons to consider before investing in a crowdfunded company: 1) No liquidity 2) High risk of loss 3) Early stage companies are not fully tested in the marketplace 4) Long-term commitment 5) Questionable accuracy of information 6) Investing in a product or a company? 7) Is there a wide moat? 8) Dilution 9) How specialized?

Listener QuestionsChristy has 2 questions:Linda,I love your show and I've been binge-listening to old episodes.I've always been really afraid of investing and intimidated byanything related to finances. Your show is shifting my perspectiveand helping me take charge of my future with confidence. Thankyou!I have two questions. 1. What other resources (besides yourshow, and mailing list) would you recommend to someone who istrying to learn about this world with no prior knowledge. I want tolearn as much as I can as fast as I can, and there is no end to theamount of books and podcasts, and blogs about the market,investing, business and economics, where is the beginning?Thank you, Christy. I'm so glad the show is giving youconfidence and shifting your thinking! That's why I'm here! I thinkmany financial experts make investing too difficult and technicaland it just doesn't have to be that way. I also believe thatthere's a mental connection to wealth and your thinking isparamount, so I include mindset, belief, and positivity into wealthbuilding because from my experience that's also important.Everything I share with you is from my experience of wealthbuilding and not what I GUESS will work, but what I KNOW works.If you're hungry for more knowledge, then I suggest you startwith the financial books I recommend. Go to lindapjones.com/booksand get the list of 7 fantastic financial books I recommend foryour must-read library. All these authors have a similarperspective on money and investing like I do and I highly recommendthem.Part 2 of her question is:2. I've started investing in Silver Eagles. I'mPlanning on holding on to them for the foreseeable future. But ifand when I do want to sell, what is the most practical way?Thank you for all you do!As you know, I like silver Eagles for many reasons - theirincredible growth potential, low initial investment and protectionfrom problems with the dollar due to excess government debt and thecurrent cycle we're in. Good for you for investing in them!When you want to sell, the dealer you bought the silver fromwill likely buy them back from you at the "spot" silver price -what the pure metal sells for per ounce on the commodity exchange,plus commission and a profit. It's usually about a $3 extra charge,but it varies depending on the market and the dealer.I usually get asked where can you buy silver?

Learn what rewards are available with credit cards, are they worth it, which are best and why it might be something you shouldn't do. Websites mentioned to track points: Mint.com and AwardWallet.com A credit card enthusiast tells you how to use credit card reward programs to your advantage and pitfalls to avoid. Main cards discussed are Chase, Discover, Amex as well as airline cards. Points for airline miles, hotels, groceries, gifts and cash back.

What you'll learn are how investing is different from gambling,how it's similar to gambling and why real investors are far fromgamblers! I just returned from Las Vegas. I'm not a gambler, mainly because I respect how much effort it takes to make money. I didhowever sign up for a card to get a discount at a nice restaurantand along with that came a guaranteed ace. So I did find myselfseated at a blackjack table with some chips in front of me. I accepted the guaranteed ace and was dealt a 21. I left the table up $2! Lol! That shows you what a gambler I'm NOT! That got me thinking, some people have told me they think investing in the stock market is gambling and I wanted to address that and why I don't agree with it. Investing is a legitimate way to grow money and compound athigher rates. -My 5th Step to Wealth -Necessary to get higher rates to retire comfortably and build wealth. 2. You're investing in companies, not making a wager. - If done correctly, shouldn't be all or nothing -Gambling is win/lose on each wager -Investing in stock options, betting on the direction a stock's price will move, is more of an all or nothing bet because options can expire worthless. -You are limiting the amount of loss to the amount you pay for the option. -Closer to the definition of gambling perhaps. -Other option strategies include writing or selling an option on an underlying stock you own. that is a more conservative strategy. You can generate income from writing options against the stock. It's low risk and provides income. 3. People who think investing in the stock market is gambling don't understand how it really works. Some people do treat it like gambling because they haven't taken the time to learn how to invest properly. They buy a stock on a "tip" and hope it "wins", like spinning the roulette wheel. But for BWS listeners, you know thatstocks go up because earnings are increasing. You want to find a company that has increasing sales and profitability. One that's growing and can go from a small fish to a large whale over time.That's not from luck or a tip, it's from studying the numbers and understanding what makes stocks go up. If you haven't yet listened to podcast #47 about what makes stocks go up or podcast #125 about Apple and when to sell a stock, go and listen before you invest, otherwise, perhaps you are just gambling. Real investors are learning the metrics of companies - as I mentioned, sales, revenues, profits, earnings per share and net income. Warren Buffett reads the company's annual report before investing and looks at all the numbers, ratios, and statistics of acompany. If he likes the numbers and the stock price is significantly below what it's worth, he invests. It's buying stocks on sale. I will say gambling and investing do have one thing in common - that's managing your emotions and not letting them get away from you. To be a good investor, you have to keep a cool head and think like a contrarian. When stocks are down, that's a good thing, they're on sale. When they are up, it's riskier and something to monitor. Too often, investors are jumping in when a stock makes a new high because they let their emotions run away from them. A better plan would be to make sure the numbers are good, then buy on a pullback. You want to think differently than the crowd. Thinking like an investor and not a gambler will certainly serve you well in your wealth building. Your action step for today is to pick a company you might consider investing in and study it. Find out how it's earnings have been performing. Have they been rising at an increasing rate? What does their product pipeline look like? How much debt do they have compared to equity? Are they #1 in their market or a competitor that has the opportunity to become #1? Arm yourself with the facts and take the emotion - and the gambling - out of investing. If you want to get a jumpstart on a comfortable retirement and your wealth building, go over to my website bewealthyandsmart.comand get my free report "11 Quick Financial Tips to Boost Your Wealth". There are 11 things you can do and learn about so that in less than 15 minutes you can make a huge difference in the wealth you have over your lifetime. Do these things and benefit, miss just one and it can set you back years. Go now to bewealthyandsmart.com.

Learn how to separate the stock from the company, what to look for when you buy a stock and why you don't want to judge a stock by how it's done in the past. Today we'll talk about what happened to Apple recently, as an example of why not to fall in love with the stock. What I mean is "don't fall in love with a stock just because you love the company." You'll also learn my reasons to sell a stock.

Hello and welcome to my 2nd anniversary show! Yes, it was exactly 2 years ago today when I started the Be Wealthy & Smart podcast. Today I'll share with you the best of the best episodes - that is which ones you've liked best and I'll take the #1 rated show and give you a podcast within a podcast about the most popular of all topics! Here's a little background on how far we've come in 2 years: Today BWS has listeners in #143 countries. 80% in the US, and 20% around the world. Our top countries outside the US are: Canada, UK, Australia, China, South Africa, Korea, Sweden, Philippines. But we also have listeners in such far away places as: Oman, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Peru, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Afghanistan. Thank you so much for listening, tuning in and subscribing to the show! We've also gone from 0 to 101 reviews, 96 of which are 5 stars, so thank you everyone who has written a review. If you're a regular listener and you haven't left a review yet, please do that and let me know what you think of the show, or at least wish me a happy 2nd anniversary! It helps new listeners find the show and since all the content is free, it's you're way of saying thank you and I really appreciate it.

Learn why you want to start saving for retirement the moment you have income and why it should be higher on your priority list than it might be. Last episode I was talking about spending priorities and I gave you my list of 10 spending priorities. Spending priorities are a way for you to decrease impulse spending and really focus on matching your money with your priorities. If you know where you want to spend money, you'll be less tempted by purchases that are thousands of dollars and totally unplanned. Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT a fan of budgets, unless you have a very limited income and must watch every penny. But for people who have excess money every month, I think budgeting can feel like a diet - too restrictive, you want to go off it as soon as it starts and it may give you a bad relationship with money because you always feel guilty when you spend. Rather, I think you should have spending priorities and be very clear on what they are because then you are matching your money with what matters most to you. What matters most HAS to include retirement savings from the time you begin to earn income. Ten percent (10%) into a retirement plan and ten percent (10%) into savings (so it's available as an emergency fund and for more investments outside of your retirement plan), will get you on the path to building wealth and having a comfortable retirement.

Learn how to prioritize your spending following the 10 essentials and 6 questions to ask yourself. This will keep you growing your net worth and keep you away from impulse spending.

Learn 3 things John Paul DeJoria and other billionaires commonly do. Their habits, thought processes, attitudes. How they evaluate business opportunities.

Learn how to make money on Amazon using Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA). Hear Brad DeGraw's story about starting with $100 and now having many products selling on Amazon under his brands. Learn the steps to become successful, what not to do, and why you need to tap into emotions to sell. Brad shares his formula: Problem, Fantasy and Desire and explains why it's important to have for each product you market. The steps Brad mentioned are: (First decide to be successful - it's always mindset first!) 1. Select your market.2. Search products and social media. Check competition.3. Read 1, 2, and 3 star reviews on Amazon products you're considering to see how you can improve them.4. Find suppliers5. Sample products6. Get good images and copy7. Connect with bloggers for them to write about and review your product. Brad's website is AmazonSherpa.com. Tools & apps he recommends are: Scan Power - $10/mo.Profit Bandit - $10/mo.JungleScout.com That Kat Radio podcast

Learn my favorite economic indicators I use to follow the economy. Find out why I don't go to their websites and what they are telling you about the economy and possible direction of the stock market. This was a listener's question I answered. I'll also show you the website I go to to find out the direction of the stock market, see when it's about to rollover and keep myself from buying at market tops and selling at market bottoms. They include: GDP, Consumer Confidence, Consumer Price Index, Housing Starts, Employment Situation Survey, Producer Price Index, ISM Index, Baltic Dry Index, S & P 500 Index, and MACD.

Learn what emotions are underlying credit card debt. How past, present and future emotional fear can cause spending that is out of control. How to change your negative subconscious beliefs with positive ones. Why and how shopping effects your brain.

Learn more about why opportunity cost is a key to your wealth building, how you might have the wealth you want in your backyard and what NOT to do with your money.

Learn 5 Ways to Make Doing Your Taxes Fun! How to get motivated, work through negative thoughts and get your taxes done with a smile.

Learn why being credit worthy may be more important that your credit score. Interview with Steve Stewart of the Money Plan SOS and No Debt, No Credit, No Problems podcasts. Don't build your credit score, build your wealth.

Learn why you should have a will, what will happen to your assets if you don't have a will, the government's plan for your assets, what happens with joint bank accounts that you may not want to happen. We discuss real cases that have caused problems and the most common issues amongst families inheriting money. If you have an elderly parent across the country or that you are caring for and have siblings, this is a MUST listen!

Learn about "Money". How it grows, compounds and builds wealth. The 6 Steps to Wealth. How debt figures into wealth building. Why you MUST invest to become wealthy.

Learn the pros and cons of paying off your mortgage, why opportunity cost matters and the one reason you might consider all the facts and choose a different course of action.

Learn the 3 ways to evaluate ETF's vs. Mutual Funds, why the 80/20 rule is important and the most important thing when choosing an investment.

Learn what to do, what not to do and one example of wealth building that required little money in an individual stock

Learn why "money is like a newborn baby. You have to prepare for it and learn about it BEFORE it arrives. If you wait until after it arrives to start making preparations, you're screwed." - Linda P. Jones

Learn the 5 things you must do to start a successful business.

Learn how to make money with blogs and Craig's List