My Personal Finance Blog

Is investment language intimidating? Do financial goals of security, or pursuing a dream or being worry-free of debt seem out of reach? Building a level of personally defined wealth is within a person’s control with investment understanding, sound principles and discipline.

Lipscomb honed his personal investment strategies over two decades. His claim is that he became a millionaire before the age of 40. As an employee in a worldwide computer component manufacturer, the perspective of successful wealth building strategies start and end with this book; unless there he authors another book. Lipscomb’s career is not as a financial planner. Instead, on faith that his ethics are sound as stated, his ideas presented are from personal experience and research. His style makes otherwise a jargon heavy field, understandable and at times entertaining.

Lipscomb focuses on stock investments because it is what knows best and offers rich, plain, anecdotal examples of what to do and what not to do. Adding credence to his own success with stock investing, his book has examples of both hard copy and internet based information sources for improving awareness of the why and how of stocks. The best read to self-educate is the Wall Street Journal and with a “put this book down and call or go online right now,” command, how can this be any stronger stated? Lipscomb refers to investor journals or websites to both read and study as well as to avoid. He does the latter by only emphasizing the sources to select.

Understanding risk and reward in investing is foundational, but what is it really? First, he gives, with several pages of discussion, a dry, dictionary definition of, “risk is the degree of probability of losing various amounts of money during a specified length of time.” Halfway into this level of explanation, he offers the same amount of explanation that most can more easily relate. Risk then becomes more metaphorical. “Like seatbelts and airbags reduced the risk of injury during accidents, dividends reduce the risk of loss while owning stocks.”

Lipscomb’s second to last chapter, specifically titled, “Be Ethical, Be Vocal,” spotlights investor’s ethics. He talks about high profile cases including Martha Stewart’s illegal gain from insider trading. The aim of the chapter encourages stockholder participation in company votes, board meetings and conversations with executives. Well rounded involvement encourages all stakeholders to do the right thing. Lipscomb’s own ethics appear through every chapter as he cites examples like this one that he faces in his investing. Achieving Prosperity makes an otherwise complicated personal life endeavor for many, easy and down to earth. It’s an encouragement and motivator for anyone wanting to control his or her financial future.

-ForeWord Clarion Reviews by Patricia Weber

Achieving Prosperity: A Realistic, Ethical Guide to Building Wealth by Todd Lipscomb; AuthorHouse; Publication date, 2006; Page Count: 145 pages; ISBN: 1-4259-4513-9

There are many wealth creation strategies and investment techniques available to those who are looking to create a passive income. These fall into three main categories. Running a business, investing in property and investing in the share market. Although there are many options in each of these areas, finding the right wealth creation strategy for you is not that hard.

The formula for Wealth Creation is relatively simple. In order to increase your wealth, you need to increase your wealth generating activities. Most of us start out trading our time, for money. We get paid an hourly rate for doing a certain job. The problem with this is that in order to increase your income, you usually need to increase the amount of hours you sell to your employer or clients. Which in turn reduces the amount of time you have to spend on yourself, your family and doing the things you enjoy.

In order to increase your quality of life, the only realistic strategy is to increase your income, and reduce the amount of hours you work. How do you do this you might ask? By using time tested wealth creation strategies and investment techniques to create and then increase your passive income.

Creating a Passive Income gives you more time and money to spend on living your life.

Passive income is generated when you are making an income without having to work for it. For example if you own a business, that you have setup to run completely on its own, or if you own shares in a company that pays you annual dividends, or perhaps a piece of real estate that generates capital or rental returns.

All these investment techniques earn you passive income. because you are not limited by the amount of hours you can spend per day working on them. Instead of working for money, you now have money working for you. This is the true essence of any effective wealth creation strategy. Maximum return for minimum effort.

Another great way to leverage your investment capital is to use stock options. There are literally thousands of ways to use options, both as a speculation tool and but as a way to hedge your other investments. But options can also be used to create passive income through becoming an option ‘writer’ instead of a ‘taker’.

Writing options is a lot more like holding stock and making yearly dividends but instead by writing options you can actually make a passive monthly income and still be protected against any large market moves.

There are also hundreds of ways to setup these option strategies, and of course these is always some risk involved in any investment. But with a proper understanding of the strategies you are using and with vigilant risk management, the end results can be nothing less than spectacular.

If you are looking for coins with definite investment potential, gold coins are an excellent place to start. Though they are expensive when starting out, the investment value of gold itself makes them a very attractive option. And, because gold is bought and sold routinely on the commodities market, it is easy to stay on top of the price of gold, making it easy to follow the price of your gold coins. Which makes gold coins the equivalent of stocks or bonds for the coin collector.

Admittedly, it is not always easy to get into the market for gold coins. After all, gold is expensive, so coins made from gold are going to be pretty pricey. However, there are usually several weights available, so you will be able to find something that will fit your price range. However, when looking for gold coins, it is usually fairly easy to find a dealer. Many coin dealers are attached to the gold coin market and, if they cannot sell them to you directly, they will be able to connect you with someone who can.

There are also several internet merchants who offer gold coins, but it is a good idea to be careful when shopping online. After all, there are a lot of proper merchants out there, but there are also a lot of shady folks looking to make some quick money. So, before purchasing online, do some research and check the vendors out thoroughly. Be especially careful of anyone selling coins for prices that are lower than the market value for gold. This is a case where anything that seems too good to be true absolutely is too good to be true, because nobody is going to sell you anything at a loss – especially not a commodity like gold.

Of course, because gold is a commonly bought and sold commodity, the value of your gold coins can be tracked easily. The price can be found online, in the newspapers, and on the evening news. And, because the prices of gold coins are tied to the price of the gold that it contains, you don’t have to worry about the coin market itself. While collectible coins may have upswings and downswings, gold not only increases in value over time, but it also tends to keep its value very well. Which means that gold coins are a way to stabilize your investments as you place your money into a very tangible resource.

When looking for a solid investment that does not require a great deal of knowledge and research, gold coins are a very good place to start. They are easy to find, their value is easy to determine, and they are steady, reliable investments that will hold their value better than almost anything else. And, let’s face it, gold coins are just plain neat to look at. So, if you are looking for a tangible, sturdy investment that is not only valuable, but attractive as well, gold coins will make you happy every time.

Like most successes in life executing a great plan goes far to assuring success. Investing is no different. To succeed as an investor the first step is establishing the right foundation. What is the right foundation? There are many opinions, but take it from someone who has operated from the wrong foundation that a lot of debt on your personal balance sheet is destructive to your investing plans.

The wise would be investor will take drastic steps to assure they don’t have any debt and that they are operating on a cash basis. This basis is provides a strong foundation from which even relatively modest earnings can create success.

How does one accomplish this? Well, perhaps a better place to begin is where not to start. We should not assume that we are somehow simply better disciplined and smarter than other folks. The statistical facts don’t support this. Do you know that on 2.7% of mortgages are paid early. Do you really believe that as a starting point you are better than 97.3% of people? To succeed, most will benefit from assuming that you are not different.

Where to begin? You must begin with a behavioral make over. You have to move from spender to saver. You have to move from consumer to producer. You have to become a money producing machine and allow the “snowball” begin to develop momentum. (Warren Buffet’s biography by this name is a good place to learn about the Snowball theory).

Having decided to keep debt out of your life provides you the firm foundation on which financial success can be laid. With laser like intensity and unwavering attention you will spend your time from this point reducing costs, eliminating luxuries, increasing income and increasing debt payments. In a relative short time, you will be debt free.

However, to get there you new behavior requires some foundational steps. First, put away $1,000 as an emergency fund. Emergencies are not Christmas. Emergencies are not normal car maintenance. Emergencies are those contingencies that can throw off your new resolve to eliminate debt. Next, you will pay off your debt by focusing on the smallest items with as much as you can pay and minimizing the larger debt payments behind that. Your ever increasing debt payments will eliminate the whole batch in a surprisingly short period of time. Next, you will fund your emergency fund with 3 to 6 months cash reserve maintained in highly liquid accounts. Last of all you will eliminate your house debt and move toward 15% of income wealth savings. In 5 years, you will be almost financially independent. In 10 years, you will be completely free. And, at retirement, you will have the options to spend your time as you feel appropriate. This path laid out by Dave Ramsey is a proven and when put on paper obvious path to financial freedom and power.

Solar energy is power generated from the heat of the sun. The sun illuminates and provides heat and warmth on the surface of the earth. Technologies that capture and store solar heat for an extended period of time can be applied to benefit homes, offices, and factories. They can transform solar energy to run devices that provides warmth and lighting during night time or during cloudy days.

You can make use of solar energy yourself by learning how. Solar energy as a resource is free. However, the cost of materials and equipment you need to tap that resource ranges from high to low, depending on what suits your needs. The good thing about it is that, unlike oil or gas heaters for which you pay every month, you spend less and less for energizing and heating your home with solar energy. Without ill effects on the environment, solar power can cool, heat and ventilate your home.

If you are thinking about having your own solar power for any particular use, it would be easier if you try to find a solar collector first. A solar collector is any material such as clear plastic or glass that can attract and capture the energy brought on by the heat of the sun in concentrated quantities. An example of a trapped or captured heat is when a car that has sat out in the warm sun all day has become exceedingly hot so that you need to open your windows in order to let the warm air escape from your seats and compartments and allowing the car to cool inside. A greenhouse is another example. It has the same effect as its glass or clear plastic walls and roof can attract the heat of the sun and trap it inside to keep the needed amount of heat for the plants to grow normally and efficiently.

Also, tapping solar energy for home use can offer you optimum benefits if you familiarize yourself about what an active and a passive home means. These are two types of solar homes which give homeowners choices on which part of the homes they want energized or what equipment they want run by solar power. Solar energy can be used to warm your home, heat your water, as well as generate electricity for lighting at night. Consequently, you will need to consider the cost which a particular type of solar home entails when you choose the type of solar home you want.

Passive homes do away with special facilities or materials for heating. They merely use their windows for maximized entry of sunlight. The sunlight gets stored by having the doors totally closed during the warmest hours of the day and keeping the heat trapped inside. In the evenings, thick curtains can be used on the windows to keep this heat concentrated inside the home. This allows the natural heat of the sun to warm your home without using any special or elaborate equipment and materials.

Active homes, on the other hand, use equipment such as blowers and pumps. Substitute heating sources also need to be used when the sunlight captured during daytime is not enough for the heat to circulate inside the house. Active homes use specially-designed boxes placed outside to attract sunlight and store the heat, thereby providing more supply of energy to heat the homes. These boxes heat water or air inside pipes and ductwork which in turn facilitate the circulation of heat inside the homes.

In the long term, solar energy is cost-effective. It can heat our homes without spending for artificially-generated heat. Solar energy does not harm the environment and can be found anytime and wherever the sun shines.