Blog On The Move

Well, you can probably see that we moved our blog from our beloved Typepad to Wordpress eventually and after a very false start a few weeks ago.  Hmmmm, it’s more correct to say that Lea Woodward of www.ProjectWoodward.com moved it for us – and at a very reasonable fee too!

There were issues with our server and if you are not in the know, as I’m not about that level of techie’ness, it can stop you dead in your tracks.  But Lea sorted it out.  Which is ironic as Lea used to be one of my internet marketing mentoring clients – still that’s as it should be, the client outstripping the coach!

Now, for all of you out there who have started a blog on Typepad on my advice, don’t worry!  And keep blogging!

1.  No matter what they say, Wordpress is not as easy to use as Typepad, even with expert instructions

2.  You can very easily export your Typepad blog and import it into Wordpress if you want to, later.

So why have we moved then?

I’m on a mission to get our traffic up, and to improve our Search Engine Optimisation even further and I have finally been convinced that having your blog hosted on your own URL is one of the ways to do this.

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I Love You!

I’m a big fan of The Secret, the film about the Principles of Attraction.   It had it’s limitations and I don’t feel it went far enough on the practicalities of “how to” but I did get the one tip on the second or third watching, about feeling grateful when you are feeling down, which certainly works although it usually breaks our shower when I use it (don’t ask!)

Joe Vitale, while featured heavily in The Secret, obviously feels the same, because since The Secret was filmed, he has written not one but three books elaborating on the “how to” of The Secret’s Secret.

I have read and enjoyed “The Attractor Factor”, haven’t yet read “Zero Limits” but am totally immersed in “The Key (The Missing Secret For Attracting Anything You Want)” which I got for Christmas.  I was reading it last night as I was unable to sleep for various reasons.

I’ve got a lot of time for Joe Vitale (left) – not only because he is a great and prolific writer, but because he has been there, totally on his uppers, but also perhaps because he looks a lot like one of my favourite DJ’s in the world, Danny Tenaglia (right). 

They both have this tough but cuddly Italian American look about them which I find very appealing – lucky I didn’t live in New York or Las Vegas in the Thirties eh?

Before I tell you about this amazing practical tool I have discovered in “The Key” let me tell you that I am the least woo-woo person you are ever likely to meet, beaten only in the down to earth stakes by Steve Watson and Greg Ballard. 

However, I had a very interesting conversation with Greg last week on the early morning train from Worthing to Victoria last week about the developments in the Money Gym and all the events Greg has mentored us through, since the sale of The Acacia (my ex-hotel in Worthing).

I can’t remember even what I said but it must have been vaguely limiting or even negative (quelle horror!) because Greg picked me up on it and said 

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Rich Schefren Is A Genius!

Wealth Creation Rip Offs

Sometimes I’m almost ashamed to be a “wealth creation expert!”  So many scams going on around me, so many people being ripped off, so many dodgy blokes in suits selling unscrupulous products and services.  I’m sick to the stomach when I hear about some of the things some companies do.

Why did I, in 1999, become obsessed with creating wealth for myself and then have this great idea about sharing what I learned – it’s a bit like deciding on purpose, voluntarily, without having my arm twisted, to become a double glazing or timeshare salesman.

Why didn’t I just do it for myself and keep schtum?

The problem is that there wasn’t a Money Gym around when I was struggling financially, when we couldn’t pay the rent and we had to move to my sister’s tiny cottage and cram ourselves in with our kids, her kids, my husband, then her husband (who was supposed to be away at sea but who broke his leg and came home on sick leave).

There was nowhere to go, to get the very basics of wealth creation in one place.

O yes, you could learn about investing in shares, or building a business, or investing in property (real estate) but there wasn’t anywhere to get all the basics and you certainly couldn’t learn about making money online without wading through piles and piles of emails.  So I could see the need and because I was only a few steps away from feeling the pain myself – how could I NOT share what I was learning.

And that grew into The Money Gym – in those days just me and the telephone, coaching clients myself.  It was only with the arrival of ….. Read more..

Become A Millionaire – Part 6

Wealth Expert & founder of The Money Gym, Nicola Cairncross shares the sixth and final instalment of the video series on how to become a millionaire via building a business, investing in property, making money online and the stockmarket.

Become A Millionaire In Just Five Years?

“How Do I Become A Millionaire In Five Years?” asks someone over at my new fave place, Hubpages. They have this great section where you can either just throw a question out there, or ask one of your favourite Hubber.  Well, as resident wealth expert I just had to answer that one, didn’t I?  And what a fascinating article it turned out to be as I got the old calculator out and really nailed it using specific examples of how you could do just that using any of the Lanes of the Wealth Highway.  You can read it here along with some other great answers  http://viralurl.com/moneygym/hubpages or below here on the blog.

OK, at The Money Gym we teach people there is only four ways to make money – using what we call the “Four Lanes Of The Wealth Highway”. People get easily overwhelmed (I certainly do!) and if they feel overwhelmed, they feel helpless and therefore unable to take action.

By breaking it down into the “Four Lanes” we can break down the question of how to become a millionaire within five years and examine each lane to see how suitable it is, as a vehicle to reach this goal, then look at the fastest way to make money in each lane, then examine how achieveable this is, then look at what skills we will need to tackle the plan, then time-line it so we have some interim goals.

Luckily I have lots of experience in this kind of strategic wealth creation planning, as The Money Gym has worked with hundreds of people who have asked a variation on that question many times before.

First though, let’s look at the definition of a millionaire and dare to ask the question “why”?

1. What is the definition of a millionaire?

The official definition is someone who has more than £1 million in assets, after taking all liabilities (debts) into account. And the other consideration to take into account, is how much are they paying for that debt.

Thus who is better off? Someone who has over £1 million pounds worth of equity in their house and a mortgage of £500,000 at 6% over 25 years, with no consumer debt? Or someone who has £1 million of equity and a mortgage of £200,000 at 6% but £100,000 of consumer debt at 14%.

Once you know that £3000 of consumer debt at an average %, who is only paying just over the minimum off per month, will take 37 years to clear…it becomes obvious who is the more financially intelligent person there.

So once we know that you need a million pounds worth of assets to be classed as a millionaire, we can look at questions like “is it better to have a million in the bank or a million in equity in your house?”

The latter is the financially intelligent answer, as the million in equity has traditionally doubled in value every 7-10 years in most of Europe, the USA and Australia, so £1 million in equity will make another million in 10 years. What’s more, there are ways to get at that money legally and tax free!

Whereas £1 million in the bank might be making 6-10% per annum at a push, but the rise in the cost of living and the fact that you will pay tax on any interest at your highest rate (40% or more if you have those kind of assets) will ensure that your million is effectively shrinking not growing at all.

(Don’t believe me about the doubling in value every 10 years? check your local Office of National Statistics website and only today in the press, the Halifax Building Society confirmed that many places had tripled!!)

Moving onto the question of “why” we have to consider the question of why you would want to become a millionaire?

Most people would answer one of the following:

1. Freedom

2. Choice

3. Peace

Freedom from a job they hate, to spend time with the kids, to travel. Choice of how to spend their time, whether to have another baby, where to live. Peace from worrying about money and from having to do things they hate.

Well, you don’t need a million to achieve all that. You just need to create a passive income from your investments to be able to cover your living expenses. See my other hub for a great little drawing on how this works, if you are a visual person.

If you are having a pretty nice life on say $2000 net pay a month, and you are working for that and having tax deducted from your gross pay, then you only actually need to generate about $2500 gross a month from your investments, as there are quite a few more tax breaks for business people and investors than there are for the employed. (A great book to explain this clearly is “Swimming With Pirahna Makes You Hungry” by Colin Turner).

So let’s say a really great living would be $5000 a month and you don’t need a million in the bank, then all you have to do is look at each “Lane of the Wealth Highway” and figure out which one is most likely to get you to a passive income of $5000 a month the quickest.

So what are those “Lanes” then?

1. Property Investment

2. Business

3. The Stockmarket

4. The Internet.

Now, I’m going to largely leave the stockmarket for now, as the learning curve involved is a bit steeper for most people, but briefly, in order to generate 12 x $5000 a month, you would need to be generating $60,000 per year from your investments.

If you assumed that a good investment was generating say 20% per annum (and I know of many simple strategies that do that and more) then you could say that you would need to have $300,000 invested to generate $60k a year at 20% return.

The other challenge with the stockmarket is that you have to sell, to realise the cash, and that incurs charges, and capital gains tax.

Lane 2 is Business and this is the way many of the wealthiest people in the world have made their money.

I’ll cover that next!

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Rent To Own Explained

As a Wealth Coach, one of the most frustrating things is when you come across a really GREAT way to make money, but due to promises to your business partners to FOCUS, FOCUS & FOCUS, you can’t take advantage of it!

At our property workshop last month, we heard about not just one but TWO stonking opportunities and I am gagging to learn how to do both.  The first was UK based, the second USA based, and both were systems for making money in just such a financial climate as we are experiencing now.  But as I say, I have promised to focus on The Money Gym for now.

The UK based opportunity is built around the concept of “Rent To Own” and helps out two sets of people – it’s a real win/win which is why I like it so much.  Briefly, it matches up people who HAVE to sell their home but can’t for some reason, and people who desperately want to buy, but can’t yet for some reason.

Imagine Michelle for a moment.  Even thought she’s working, she’s been struggling ever since her divorce and the credit card payments and utility bills are mounting.  She is about £5500 in total behind on everything, and her credit rating is taking a pounding.  Although she had refinanced to buy her husband out, and she hates to do it, Michelle has decided to sell her house, which the agent told her about 4 months ago should fetch £200,000, rent a flat, and start again. 

However, she’s let the house go a bit, the garden needs work, the kitchen and bathroom have seen better days and the carpet has suffered over the years.  The only offers she had in the early days fell through.  She has no money to do it up, and the only offers she is getting now are from property investors who are only offering 20-30% under what the house is really worth.  Every month that goes past is making things worse to the tune of about £200-400 and interest and late payment penalties are killing her.  If she sells for less, say £150,000, to get a quick sale, she won’t have enough to pay off the mortgage off, pay off all the arrears on her bills and credit cards,  and start again. 

Who is going to help her?  The bank?  No, they just want their money.  The electricity board?  No, they are sending very nasty letters about court.  Her family?  They would if they could but they are struggling too and if they lend her cash, when will they ever get it back?  The estate agent?  No, they are employees who go home at night and sleep well.  They would like a commission but this house ain’t selling yet!

Now imagine Mike.   Mike is earning very well, and he’s a great builder but Mike has a problem.  He’s just arrived from Poland and while he’s a sound bloke and has some savings,  he has no credit record so can’t get a mortgage yet.  He’s just brought his small family over but they are renting and they keep finding their landlords are jittery about the market and keep selling their houses out from under them!  Moving every six months is stressful, costs about £600 a time and he’s worried about uprooting the kids from their new school again.

Along comes Jim.  Jim is a Cashflow Investor.  Jim offers Michelle just a touch under the full asking price for her house, say £190,000 perhaps, which is way and above the other offers she has had, and says that he will give her a lump sum on agreeing the deal, to clear her arrears and move to her new place.

The only difference is that she won’t complete on the sale for 2 years.  In the meantime, her mortgage will be covered, her money worries sorted, and her credit rating will be repaired.  She could even buy again in two years’ time if she wants to.  The fully comprehensive legal paperwork is signed and Michelle goes off to start her new life.

Meanwhile, Mike has already been to look at Michelle’s house, loves it and is intending to move in, having agreed a considerable deposit from his savings with Jim which facilitates Jim’s deal with Michelle.   He’s going to renovate the house because while he’s renting it now, he’s agreed with Jim that he’s going to buy it in a few years’ time for say £220,000 – a touch above today’s valuation but it gives him and his family security and time to build up a credit rating.  He’s paid Jim a significant deposit which will be deducted from the final payment, and he’s going to overpay his rent each month to accumulate even more deposit for when the time comes to buy it.

Michelle’s happy, Mike’s happy and Jim’s happy.  Jim will make a lump sum on completion of the deal, and an extra monthly cashflow starting immediately.  The property is being done up (forcing up the value) and looked after well.  By the time Mike comes to buy, the property could be valued at £280,000 as house prices have risen in line with the national average of 10% per annum, and the work Mike has done has helped too.

Mike gets a 80% mortgage on £280,000, of £224,000, gives Jim his £220,000 less the deposit paid and the extra monthly instalments paid, so Jim gives Michelle her £190,000 less the advance he paid her from Mike’s initial deposit. 

Jim puts the balance in his pocket and he’s pleased because while he’s put a lot of work into learning how to do this properly, how to market effectively for prospective sellers and buyers, how to explain the deals clearly to interested parties, and into  some gentle education of his lawyer on how the legalities work, the whole business is booming now. 

He is averaging about 2 deals a month and he thinks he can manage a few more deals per month, now he’s giving up his day job.

Find out how you can learn how to do this too at http://viralurl.com/moneygym/cashflowinvestor

But I’m 69 – What Can I Do As A Pensioner To Create Wealth?

I just received this email from P who is frustrated to read my email about the 70 year old who is leveraging her equity to create a nice life.

"Dear Nicola, Thank you for sending me this email about this 70 year old.  I wish instead you could tell me how at 69 and living in rented property, and with only the basic state pension to live on, that I can start to make some money.  I am trying to get back to work which involves working 24/7 for 15 days caring for people much older than myself. Sincerely, P"

Now, on the face of it, it might seem that P should be looking at one of the other Lanes of the Wealth Highway, like business or the internet.  Because of P’s existing work commitments, perhaps starting a part time business might be a little bit of a stretch, but there is no reason why they couldn’t start earning a part time income from the internet.

I would start by starting a blog (or using something that is free and even easier than a blog, my new pet favourite traffic & income generating tool at http://viralurl.com/moneygym/hubpages  and then starting to chronicle their experiences as a cash-strapped pensioner, starting out on the road to creating a more comfortable lifestyle.

Do you think that other pensioners wouldn’t be interested in reading about that, about what works and what doesn’t, about good resources to use themselves, and P could be making a passive income from Google Adsense, Amazon commision and eBay commission and not least from recommending the Money Gym book and earning £12.50 per sale via Clickbank.

Then they could join other affiliate schemes via www.CJ.com – like SAGA or one of the breakdown associationgs or insurance companies, that cater for the over 50’s, and earn commission from them too.

The beauty of internet marketing is that as long as you can sit up and use a computer, you can earn an income.  Even if you are disabled or get easily tired, you can learn to earn an income online.

HOWEVER!!

I often say to people that they shouldn’t be put off exploring the property lane of the wealth highway, just because they don’t own any, and in fact, at our property days, we always take time to go around the room at the end of the day, and ask them, "what have YOU learned today that you can take away and put into practice for YOUR wealth creation?"

All of our experts can tell you how to earn money from property without having any yourself, but this seems to be a major hurdle to get over for most people.

P could come along on Saturday, learn what makes a good – or even great – property deal, and then go and find some property deals locally (you can look them up on www.RightMove.co.uk ), and then sell those deals onto more money-rich but time-poor investors, for between one, and one and a half per cent of the purchase price.

On a property that sells for £200,000, that could be a lump sum of £3000 – how many months would P have to work at their current job to earn that kind of money.

So if there are ways to make money from property without actually owning any (and that’s just ONE way that I know of) then what stops people doing it?

Belief.

Belief that it’s possible, belief that it’s possible FOR THEM, belief that we are actually there to help them learn how to do it.

Because if the belief was there, P would be coming along on Saturday.

To find out how, to hang out with people who are doing it themselves, to surround themselves with positive, up-for-it people.

We can’t MAKE you come along, you have to take a leap of faith. 

Equally, we can’t help you unless you make that leap of faith.

However, we know that you won’t regret it if you do.

There is one other important component of course, that has to happen after the workshop day. 

Action.

We can show you how, but we can’t do it for you.

You will have to learn how to make money, then take the action.  Or nothing will change.

See you there!

http://www.TheMoneyGym.com/MGPresents –
click on the Property – 16th February button and scroll down to book.

Nicola

Improve Your Google Listings & Drive Traffic To Your Online Business

No! This is bad!!

I woke up at 5am with my heart racing with excitement about Hubpages!!

http://viralurl.com/moneygym/hubpages

Bit of background……I’ve been exercising my "delete" finger on everything new coming into my in-box recently, trusting that it there is something important I need to know about, it will jump out at me OR come back again and again till I "geddit"……and so it came to pass with Hubpages.

Tim Brocklehurst (who is coming to do a Money Gym Presents day for us soon) sent it out first, then I read about them in the excellent report downloadable from the Stompernet.com website, then finally, someone else mentioned them or sent a promotion about downloading a report on how to use them properly, and I thought "Enough! Let’s check this out now"

http://viralurl.com/moneygym/hubpages

Absolutely free to set up an account, great fun and very intuitive to use and almost effortless to integrate your Adsense publisher code, your eBay affiliate PID code from CJ.com and your Amazon affiliate code.

I have set up a main Money Gym hubpage, and now I am working through my key phrases, creating an original hub around each, either writing something original or using one of my previous articles, but each hubpage is being linked into a group called after my main key phrase as identified by our new SEO expert blokey (more to come about him later).

IN ONE DAY THIS IS MY SEARCH ENGINE LISTING RESULTS:

1.  within one day one of my hubs has been tagged a Hot Hub with a score of 73 and is listed in the Hot Hubs Page 1 on Hubpages – viewed over 50 times so far

2.  I have one "fan" and have had some "fanmail"

3.  Google alert for the key phrase Money Gym has come in – the Hubpages hubs have been indexed

4.  if you search on my main key phrase, our site (thanks SEO blokey) is on Page One on google, and my hubpages hubs are No 4 and No 5 on PAGE ONE on Google – in one day!!

5.  If you search on another particular key phrase, our blog is Page One on Google, at positions 4 and 5, while my personal site is about Position 8 – no hubpage yet so must set one up pronto

Talking of social networking sites, some of our YouTube videos on our channel at http://www.YouTube.com/Wealthcoach have been viewed over 100 times already – since uploading 2 weeks ago.

This is proof that social networking works. And it’s free apart from your time setting it up.  Think leverage – if you write an article or blog post, how many places can you use it?

Next stop WikiHow – which I found when I put in "become a millionaire" in Google – http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Millionaire – never even heard of it till then!

NICOLA’s ESSENTIAL SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES / ACTIVITY

1.  Your blog – blog every week or even more if you can (doesn’t have to be your stuff remember)

2.  Hubpages – get over there now http://viralurl.com/moneygym/hubpages

3.  Ecademy – remember the first 50 words of your profile are what Google index and then show in the results (make sure two or three of your key phrases are in there)

4.  YouTube – create little videos using Camtasia, powerpoint and an audio mic, then edit in Windows Movie Maker

5.  43Things.com – still ranking highly

6.  MySpace.com – 1 million people joining every week now!

Hilariously, when you log out of Hubpages whose bloomin great ad do you see? 

Andy Shaw’s book – as large as life!!  He really has got a crack team on board now!

Cheers
Nicola

Set up your account today
http://viralurl.com/moneygym/hubpages

How To Become A Maven In Your MarketPlace

I’m going to get right to the point…you know what a fan of Rich Schefren I am – his business coaching programme is having a major impact on The Money Gym and I honestly feel that I’m going to be studying the materials in there for the rest of my business life.

One of the things he’s most keen on is helping you to seize the attention of your potential future customers by becoming a "maven" – this is someone who is seen as an early adopter, an authority on their topic, someone to be trusted to recommend things.

A bit like you are reading this and hopefully trust me to only recommend good stuff, because I was lucky enough to be ….

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