How tall will you grow?

So is this really the last newsletter of 2009 or the first of 2010?  What an honour to have this place to describe another month in the life of a wealth coach!

I’m sort of in the middle of a house move that’s taking a longer than average time to complete.

We bought a new house two weeks ago and immediately set to, lining up builders (headed by Dave) to put Velux windows in the roof and an electrician (Phil) to re-wire the place, all ready to go as soon as we took possession.

The electrician arrived and as we waited, me expecting Dave to join us, Phil shared “Didn’t Dave tell you he was on holiday this week?”. Builders – they do seem to deserve their reputation!

So we now have two houses, one in a state of some disrepair and being decorated or prepared for decorating as it seems to have last been attended to in the 1970’s. We do hope that, in addition to this becoming a loving family home, a bit of what Gill Fielding calls “buff and fluff” will add value to our new acquisition, almost overnight.

We’ve chosen to take out an insurance policy to cover the mortgage in the event of my death and I’ve discovered that I’ve now reached the age when people will no longer take my word that I’m in good working order but require me to have a medical to prove it! Fortunately this was made easier by the fact that the nurse would come to visit me – and rang the doorbell promptly at exactly 8.30am on Sunday morning. Impressive. The medical was swift, professional and comprehensive. It has been proved beyond doubt that I am a non-smoker and I’ve had my height measured for the first time in over 30 years!

All this activity has set me thinking…

Property. Despite the scorch of being burned by the fallout from Passive Investments and the gloom still oozing around the credit crunch and recession, I find I still have faith in property. Yes, although the Passive blow hurts I guess I’m in a position where I can see how I might deal with this. I also know it has taught or maybe reinforced some important lessons for me.

I guess each of us takes different things from life but in my case, recent events have helped me to learn:

• to be happy being a cautious investor.
• what I thought was due diligence wasn’t diligent enough and I’ll do better next time
• if it feels too good to be true, it might well be
• whether “they” are victims or rogues, I still need to deal with my issues, not theirs
• the worst case scenario is worth preparing for, just in case
• when you’ve done the sums and they add up go for it anyway because nothing in life is risk free.

Perhaps this also reminds me that “Good decisions are based upon experience and that experience is gained by making bad decisions.” Another notch up on the experience scale.

During 2010 I will continue to invest in property, to do my sums and follow my chosen strategy. I might even try something new, letting shared accomodation. Any tips for me? I am older and wiser, in different ways richer and in others, poorer.

And as I look at life over 2009 I see how it is easy to blame others when things don’t go well, whether “others” are family, business colleagues, bankers or political leaders. It’s so much easier to be judgemental with the benefit of hindsight! For me, the important thing is to learn lessons, apply them and to move on.

I get slightly scared and certainly disappointed when I see what looks like the “tall poppy syndrome” in action. You know that…. when seeing a poppy that stands taller than the rest, cut it down so it doesn’t show-up the shorter (underachieving?) poppies! It’s also important for me to use or apply my values to personal and business situations and accept that others may have different values. Doesn’t mean I can’t learn from them and apply lessons to my own life!

Guess I also know that it can be lonely being a tall poppy. How many of you have faced the scorn of family or friends when you have decided on financial freedom and maybe the pain of other people doing the “Told you so” routine when you had the courage to take action?

One of my coaching clients has recently invested in developing their wealth awareness with Gill Fielding… I know many of you will know Gill from either the Wealth Creation Conference, The Secret Millionaire or even Stephanie Hale’s Women Millionaire’s Bootcamp.

When my client returned home, a protective partner pointed out that Gill was a scammer of the highest order, only after her money and… I suspect many of you can fill in the blanks having faced similar situations yourself. It takes courage and determination to stand out from the crowd, to commit yourself to taking action, to growing wealthier and wiser. Even though we know that successful, wealthy people have also learned to deal with losing money before making more, it’s still hard when that’s the lesson we are walking through.

My client has responded by immediately working to strengthen her positive beliefs, to completing a daily gratitude journal and finding a positive community of people to support her progress in 2010. Go for it girl. Be that tall poppy!!

This year I’ve also learned that my feet have grown a shoe size and I seem to have gained half an inch in height….

So what have you learned in 2009 and how tall will you grow?

Here’s to a great Christmas and New Year celebration and to a prosperous 2010!

Why I Have Sent Tudor Equity A Cheque For £2.5k With A Smile On My Face by Clare Hanbury

Money Gym Subscriber Clare Hanbury-Leu says: The relationship with Passive Investments was built on trust. I have trusted them to find the right properties – to renovate them to a high standard – to rent them out as quick as they can – to advise on the best mortgage deal – to re-mortgage and turn things around as soon as they can etc.

Most of us must be happy to accept risk to put so much trust into the hands of people we don’t know well. My friends, my financial adviser, my partner all felt nervous of the arrangement and advised against it but I pursued it – uncharacteristically ignoring their advice. My instinct felt strong on this one.

I have been involved with Passive Investments for 3 years and have two properties. The rental on one of these was a little slow in coming and the turnaround on the first mortgage again a little slow. I had one property fall through and lost a bit of money on legal costs and survey etc. All this said, I have been delighted with the results of the investments to date and delighted with every contact I have had with the company. I have felt totally supported by them. I like having them in my life. Every glitch, every query has been dealt with quickly, politely, humorously.  I have been happy to talk to two potential clients and chat through my experiences with them.

I have had some contact with Greg in the last few months and found him open and straightforward. He is an ideal business partner. Even prior to my contact with him there was no doubt in my mind that these are very tough times for the company with its peculiar business model that clients pay when we have done well and not until then! I am staggered that he has stuck at it as long as he has with no salary. I know he has worked for the future of his own properties (which is good thing) but he has also worked free for me too!

When the letter came though last week, the trust I had placed in them suddenly felt foolish. However after a few minutes indulging in panic…most of what I felt was what a WASTE of the talent and expertise that is this team. I felt upset that I would not complete the portfolio. I felt nervous about having to deal with the properties on my own and I felt frustrated to have to do so when they have a good system in place. I have a property in London too which I manage myself and would much rather it was in Passive’s care! Then I read that Steve wanted to keep things going with the team there and I was keen to know how I could help.

So…..there is this 2.5k (which is a LOAN) to help Tudor Equity capitalise – this is money that the very same advisers, partners friends etc will describe as throwing good money after bad – but I don’t think so. From a numbers point of view…Because the 15K back payment /property has been reduced to 10K this means that by the end of completing the portfolio of 5 properties, there will be a SAVING to me of 25K from the original agreement AND I’ll get the 2.5 loan back.

Hmnnn why is this a difficult one to agree to? I guess that it’s difficult because of trust. Do I trust them again? The way I see it is that they have ALREADY done so much for me re: my properties that they have ‘earned’ this AND if the team don’t think they can make a go of it because there are not enough of us signed up – we’ll get the money back anyway…and if they DO think they can make a go of it – well I am willing to give them an opportunity to do so.

My cheque is on its way to them with a smile on my face. I really want to help keep this business going and I am grateful to them for giving us a chance. I have not yet spoken to anyone outside of Passive and I have not looked on the internet to read what is being said so my words are unaffected by others’ opinions.

I don’t see any point in NOT supporting the team now. I feel the market is not only stabilising but strengthening – I think we all know this and what we also know is that we have a dedicated team and they will be even more so if this can go ahead. I really hope there are enough of us to give them a chance to navigate a path to creating a robust business again. I’m sure they can do it. The banks won’t help but I will.

Clare Hanbury B.Ed (Cambridge) MSc (London) MA (London)
International Development Consultant ClareHanbury.com

Passive Investments In Liquidation | The Money Gym

Read The Latest Money Gym Statement Here>>>>

Nicola says: Following the shocking news that Passive Investments have gone into liquidation, and that Andy Shaw and Greg Ballard are being made bankrupt by one of their larger creditors, many people are asking us to comment, both on the blog and in our private google group.

When I first met Greg and Andy, back in 2004 I think it was, they struck me as two highly intelligent, funny, energetic, successful guys, who had been in traditional business before, who thought very differently to many people and who had created a FANTASTIC model for investing in property. They were also helping their friends and family invest in the same way, on a fairly small scale, as well as building their own portfolios which numbered about 150 properties in those days.

I immediately knew that our Money Gym clients would love to meet them and hear about this method of investing in property, getting your money back out and going again, as the need to leave money in a property was frustrating many of our clients. We organised an Open Day at my hotel, The Acacia, and many of the clients who were there wanted Greg & Andy to do it for them, like they were doing for their nearest and dearest. Greg and Andy put together an offering, and I spread the word into the Money Gym group of clients and subscribers.

I introduced them to Gill Fielding, my first wealth mentor, who immediately invested with them, ditto Maria Davies. Gill then started presenting this opportunity for them. When Gill could no longer present, Maria Davies took over for a while.

Everyone loved the concept, especially busy professionals and people who wanted to invest in property but didn’t have the first clue about how to go about it. Most people really took to Greg and Andy too, as they shared their knowledge freely, helping many, many people make money along the way. I particularly remember one lunch where they helped a Money Gym client to negotiate a purchase, making him an extra £80,000 along the way. They then took him under their wing and mentored him for a while in his own property deals.

Pretty soon, they were so swamped with people wanting them to invest for them, that they had to create a company to handle the demand. Passive Investments was born.

We are also aware that they then developed a “private investor” scheme whereby people with money sitting idle in a low interest bank account lent the money to Greg and Andy personally for bigger property projects, and because I was not one of those people, I didn’t find out any further details and they never sought a public platform for that opportunity though the Money Gym.

My sister Sarah and brother-in-law Nick invested, my sister Heather invested, Steve Watson and I both bought a “place” each too. I would have happily bought more “places” if I could. The company still owe us for some of the second “place” so my family and I are all out of pocket as well as those of our clients who chose to invest alongside us.

One ray of hope is that those of our clients and family who have properties may make up the monies they have lost (by having paid a fee for a service that now won’t be delivered) AND may ultimately end up better off, due to now not having to pay Passive the agreed “back end” fee on the eventual refinancing of their properties.

Judith Morgan, ex-accountant, Money Gym client and now our business partner, invested the entirety of her inheritance from her Mother into her two “places”. This should have meant ten properties in the fullness of time but she only has three. Her portfolio could not be grown once it became impossible to achieve mortgages or re-finance.

I have heard some horrible stories going around about things that Greg and Andy are supposed to have said and done and while I have no personal knowledge of those things, I’m working on the “innocent ‘till proven guilty” theory. I have always liked and respected Andy and Greg, and I feel sure that most of the rumours are unfounded.

Only yesterday Andy’s website was apparently hacked into, allegedly by someone known to the company, and a personal message to members and investors was changed beyond all recognition to cast the worst possible light on Andy. Here is a link to Andy’s correct personal statement.   Remember to click on the Free User button and then the blue Download button.

We have also been re-educating our clients during the credit crunch to take a more active role in managing ALL their investments, including this one which was originally intended to be passive.  You might want to read about one of our clients (who is not alone by any means) who feels that she will go forward with Tudor Equity, the company that some of the management team is putting together to take the portfolios forward.

Feel free to comment on the blog here but be aware that we reserve the right not to publish any comments that are potentially libellous or are simple repeating content from other people’s blogs or emails.

Later Note: James Tickell, director of Portland Business & Financial Solutions, the insolvency practice chosen to disband the Passive Investments empire, says the matrix of firms will formally enter liquidation on 11 December.

Contact:  London Office, 43 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5JG, Tel: 020 7925 2651 / Fax: 020 7925 2652 / Office email: post@portbfs.co.uk

A Week In The Life Of Another Wealth Coach: Annie Kaszina

Many years ago, when I was starting out along my own Money Gym journey, Nicola told me in that tone of hers that brooks no opposition: “You have to be bare assed in the Universe”.  (Why me?  She didn’t say that to all her clients!)

Being, naturally, a rather private person, I resisted, and Ms Cairncross was vindicated, as usual, when the seam in my trousers split dramatically from waistband to crotch in a very public place.  (I do think she had meant her words metaphorically in the first instance…)

This week, this Money Gym coach has been doing something she still doesn’t feel that comfortable with; writing, at some, length about herself.  Naturally, I blog, I write an ezine (or two) for a specific, long term, niche of mine– warning: this material is not for the fainthearted – and I use anecdotes from my life as a parable, but writing at any length about ‘my story’…Yuk!  Still, that is what I have been doing for Gerard Donovan’s forthcoming book about coaches and coaching,  ss well as being under the Wealth Strategies spotlight!  “Too much exposure”, I say.  It makes the trouser splitting option look quite attractive.  (It’s also a tried and tested way to empty a room!)

Nor does the writing stop here.  I’m also completing the final revision of the business book written with my wonderful business partner John ‘Bald’ Donnelly: “You Don’t Have To Know The Answers, Just Much, Much Better Questions”.  The antidote to conventional business books, this is fast, funny and goes straight for the jugular, faster than a Rottweiler with attitude.  It is, I guess,  the unlikely first fruit of the partnership between an ex-Fluffy Alternative Therapist and an ex-Corporate Soldier who served, allegedly, under the retail equivalent of Attila the Hun.
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Financial Freedom | Financial Intelligence | Your Journey Starts Here!

Secure Your Financial Freedom By Building Your Financial Intelligence!  The only difference between rich people and poor people is what they know (and what they do in their spare time)

** Enjoy This Free Chapter **

“The Money Gym | Wealth Building Workout”

By Nicola Cairncross, Founder of The Money Gym

FOREWORD BY GILL FIELDING

C4’s “Secret Millionaire”

As I spend most of my waking life involved with money, finance and wealth creation in some shape and form, it was inevitable really that I would eventually meet Nicola Cairncross, which I did in around 2001. I am proud to say that we soon became firm friends and colleagues, co-mentors and support coaches for one another.

So when Nicola asked me to write the foreword to this book The Money Gym, I, of course, immediately said yes.

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My First Wealth Creation Mentor Gill Fielding on “The Apprentice – You’re Fired”

I was surprised and thrilled to see my first ever wealth creation mentor Gill Fielding (“Secret Millionaire”) on BBC2’s “The Apprentice – You’re Fired” last night.  You can re-watch it here >>>>

Secret Millionaire Made Me Cry (Again!)

Well, it’s back for Christmas and thank goodness for that.  Make up all over the shop and bawling my eyes out and loving it – what am I talking about?

Why, it’s Channel 4’s  The Secret Millionaire Changed My Life of course!  You all know Gill Fielding was my first wealth mentor and changed my life completely due to a completely random meeting (or was it?)

Gill was on the show originally and I’m not sure if she’s on the show tonight but I’m watching every minute anyway.

The best bit about the show is that you get to catch the bits you missed – like Kavita and her Sisters With Voices project.  The look on Kavita’s mum’s face when she saw her on stage, talking to her grand-daughter’s school was an absolute picture.

And the very likeable Hilary Devey, who seems quite lonely in her mansion, saying she’s got about 12 proposals of marriage – how lovely and quirkily funny is that!

All this on top of reading Yanik Silver’s accounts of how his Maverick Entrepreneur’s programme helps various entrepreneur’s charities…………if only I fancied white water rafting.

Perhaps I should contact Hilary and suggest we form a British Maverick Entrepreneur Ladies club – we could spa and shop for charity?

The Game That Changes Lives

Judith Morgan asks:  Have you read Robert Kyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad?  It’s about the very first book we recommend at The Money Gym. It’s accessible, and even in my recent cull of personal development books for Children in Need, I hung onto the entire purple Rich Dad series. I probably won’t ever read them again, but I will dip into them for reference when working with clients and it makes me feel wealthier just knowing I have them on my shelves.

But even more powerful than the book and reading the series, is playing the game. In fact, I think this may be Kyosaki’s piece de resistance.

I bought the game ages ago and promised to teach some friends how to play. James was so keen, he couldn’t wait for me to learn the rules so he borrowed the game, read the rules and then taught me! Its the perfect teaching tool. You learn a lot by playing, I often learn just as much by facilitating others as coach and banker.

What did I learn, specifically?

Well the brilliant thing is you get to learn by doing, you can try on the maths and the emotions of investing in shares, properties, businesses and opportunities, just as we teach our clients to do in real life. But often they are scared of actually doing it. Who isn’t? I know I was.

It’s well documented that when I joined The Money Gym I had no intention of investing in property ever again, I had been doing that in the last recession and ended up with two repossessions. However, typical of me, I did attend the weekend where Gill Fielding, Secret Millionaire, taught us how the maths worked. Of course, I got the maths instantly and I must admit it was heart-stoppingly sexy. But nevertheless, my body language was all revealing, I sat with my arms crossed throughout. Nope, not going there.

What changed my mind? Playing Cashflow 101. I knew what I should do but I couldn’t force myself to face my fears and re-visit the property market, such was the residue of pain from 1987-1992 more than a decade later.

But in the game you get to try on what it would be like to dip your toe into any market. You learn how to evaluate an investment opportunity and you see what happens if you do it, and what happens if you don’t. You know what they say, the NLP-ers? Your body can’t tell the difference between doing it and trying it on for size. So you get to feel the real emotions too. All sorts of them, good and bad.

You get to learn about yourself. The first few times you play the game, you play it just like you live your life. Imagine that – how does the dice know to just give you paycheck after paycheck after paycheck with nothing changing in your life? Or send you Doodad (waste of money) after Doodad?

Some complain they just didn’t get the breaks. Yes, sometimes that’s true. But what can you learn from that?

Some ride the roller-coaster from babies to divorce to bankruptcy and bounce back. It’s just the way we are… or can we, should we, change?

We all learn that its easier to get out of the Rat Race if you are a janitor than an airline pilot. And why’s that? Because we all tend to live up to our income whereas the goal in the game as in The Money Gym and in life is to create a gap between your income and your expenditure, and to use that money wisely in a way which creates passive income from investments.

Some people are born knowing how to do this. Most of us are not. But we can all learn and Cashflow 101 will teach you how to do that in a safe and supportive, nay fun environment.

The other day we played it with our crack Women Talk Money team at The Money Gym and three of our six delegates immediately signed up to play more games, so beneficial did they find it – and these are not our beginner clients, still so much to learn.

It’s fun, sure. But don’t let that distract you, there’s some very deep learning going on, frequently on an emotional level. You get to observe yourself play. We allow time for discussing what we are learning as its happening. You get profound lightbulb moments about the way you have always operated and why that isn’t working and how you can change. You discover that tithing, and giving back and helping others brings a speedy positive leg-up for you.

You find out that you are better at maths than you thought, that any idiot can do this stuff. You watch others and see yourself in them – overly timid – overly brave. You see that you live beyond your means and waste your money or conversely that you are scarce. You realise that you have no plan, do not visualise, are easily distracted from your purpose by fun and the social element, you are reminded about focus, going after what you want and yes (my favourite this one) throwing precisely the number on the dice that you want.

Cashflow 101 teaches that collaboration is more productive than competition and that there are so many ways of “winning” the game of money.

I used to run these games once a month at my flat in Canary Wharf where I had room for a dining room table. Then I sold my games to Philly before discovering that I missed playing the game and so I have bought some new games and we have played a handful of times during the last few weeks and am more convinced than ever that this is the best learning tool about money that I have come across during my wealth creation journey.

I am quite a strict teacher. It takes about 4 hours to learn to play. I want people to arrive on time and concentrate, focus on what they want, take it seriously even though we laugh and cry. But I dont want them coming just for the craic – yes, its social and fun, but if you allow yourself to be distracted by that, that in itself tells me something about you. Are you more interested in the people, in the tea and cakes, than learning anything about yourself and about how you are with money?

But have no fear. I really think I am getting to be quite a gifted facilitator now, albeit I need to lean back after the first hour and let you do your own sums and make your own mistakes. It does help to have a coach teach you how to play and help you along the road to financial freedom. I ask people to really imagine what that would feel like, making millions, winning, losing, holding half a million in your sweaty palm. Many of us have never dared to do that, not really believing it could be true for us.

Sorry to bang on again about the wonderfully abundant and ace manifester Janet Swift but I swear the turning point in her life was when she decided to drive from Gloucester to Canary Wharf once a month to play, so determined was she to turn things around. You get the chance to try on new hats, you see. To play boldly, to play timidly, to borrow big, to pay off debt, to collaborate, to go it alone – your body feels the fear and you do it anyway under my somewhat bossy guiding hand!

See what our Money Gym clients say about playing Cashflow and come along and join us for a series of six games January to June 2009 in London SE1 on Thursday and Friday evenings. Book the whole series, there are only 15-20 seats on each evening (four games) max. Nicola and I will teach and facilitate and as you get better, I will invite you to teach others, surely the best way of learning? And surely our cheapest coaching you can buy. Bargain, take it from me, one who learned how to buy her first BTL property by playing the game. And it only took me about a year! Guess what? Now I have six!!!

And here’s a tip. Practice throwing the dice. See the number you want in your mind’s eye, and practice, practice, practice until you can throw it. Visualise 5 spots, and then throw a five. Let me know when you can do it. That should keep you busy over the Christmas holidays!

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUDITH’S PERSONAL BLOG AT:
http://www.JudithMorgan.com

Business & Money – You Have Your Say!

Business & Money – inextricably linked according to our latest Money Gym survey. 50% of you who responded want a successful business with over 27% of you wanting to run a successful business that you can work on, and travel with, anywhere in the world.

Trailing in way behind was “a million pound property portfolio” desired by just 13.5% of you, with only another 13.5% of you wanting to be debt free. I’ll tackle those two topics later in the week, but I bet the property portfolio would have been higher this time last year!

What is a successful business?

Everyone has a different definition and I think it depends what kind of a life you want. If you want a nice easy quiet life, with lots of time for leisure activities and hobbies, then a nice home-based or lifestyle business would be good for you.  You might want to look at a network marketing opportunity like Avon, Telecom Plus, Virgin Vie or Success University.

Or even something more down to earth and local like a babysitting business, gardening or something where you buy into an existing successful system, like Judith’s Cleaning Biz opportunity.  My friend Kim – a great hairdresser – has made a great business working from home 3 days a week, in her lovely salon, entirely depending on word of mouth referrals and able to pick her kids up from school and knock off early if she wants to.

If you want a bit more excitement then you might want to build a global business with lots of staff and a high-flying lifestyle.  If you want high-flying but no team, then a consultancy business might be for you.

By any definition, a successful business is one that covers all its overheads, pays its taxes, makes enough profit to create a long term financial cushion to be able to ride out peaks and troughs in the market or economy, and pay you a handsome salary AND dividends on top!

When I was in my 20’s and 30’s, I would have defined a successful business as one that paid me enough to pay my household bills, without having to work away from home.  My expectations have been raised quite dramatically since then!  As have my outgoings.  But also my income luckily.

Not without a lot of pain though, due to having NO CLUE about what a successful business looks like, acts like or needed from me.  About 100 books, and at least FIVE business mentors later, I might be getting there.

I think it also depends on your level of corporate or business experience when you start, where you set your expectations, and whether you have read any of the great wealth creation or business books like “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki or “E-Myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber which are certainly eye-openers.

Working with Judith Morgan, serial successful entrepreneur, and hanging out online with gurus and business coaches like Rich Schefren has changed the way I think about business for ever, too.

There is no right way or wrong way to think about what a successful business means for you, but do try and define it. If you begin with the end in mind, you will find it a lot easier to put the plan in place to achieve that success for you.

Here’s a recording of our weekly live TV show where my guest Sarah (who’s in the startup phase of her business) discuss the challenges and why she’s even bothering!

Businesses seem to go through phases…in the early days it’s all about attracting clients or customers and so many don’t get past that hurdle.

When we then surveyed our mailing list about what was stopping them creating a successful business some interesting answers came up….

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Money Gym Live – Highlight #1

Nicola nearly didnt’ make it to her speaking engagement at the National Virtual Assistant Conference on Saturday – hear the story of the rogue singing taxi driver live here! Nicola also talks about using your intuition, how Nicola met Gill Fielding, Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire, and how to make good decisions….

[youtube:http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UZJrT5LDCAU]