“Fern, can you get me 20% return on this money?”

Why did this so sad? Because here is a very intelligent guy with a great career and a good net worth and he doesn’t even have a clue as to what is a possible return with his money.

The S&P 500 Index is a the best gauge of the US equities market, and if you were to chart the returns of this index since its inception to now you will see that it has historically done 6.64%. Now that can be up or down from that –but that is our historical average.

His of getting a 20% return from our markets are about the same chance as getting hit by lightening. Of course, there are lots of commodities speculators, short sale traders, forex trader, and penny stock traders who will gladly tell him what he wants to hear. But they won’t tell him about the risk he needs to take to get that kind of return. They also won’t tell him that any money that he loses right now, he will have a slim chance of making that back now that he is much older. They also won’t ask him what other money is available to supplement his social security benefits.

Financial Illiteracy is widespread and that is why I publish Mindful Money Magazine. We all need to start learning more about how to manage our money and not rely on salespeople who don’t have our financial interests first. You can do this and I can help. Send me an email at fern@wholeheartedway.com and let me know what you need to make the right financial decisions.

Take advantage of FREE Financial advice by fee-only Financial Advisors, February 12. See here for more information. 

The post The 20% Return You Won’t Get first appeared on Whole Hearted Way.

1. Fear of knowing– What you don’t know won’t harm you- so the saying goes. But it also will keep you poor. Those who know how much they are saving, spending and investing have the knowledge to build wealth and keep growing it.

2. Professional help is too expensive– Think it is too expensive to go to a fee-only planner?  You are right. So don’t get the help you need and stay poor. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

If you can’t afford a Financial Planner, then use a Financial Coach and if you can’t afford a Financial Coach, then buy books or take a course in personal finance to get you going in the right direction. Think of it as an investment in yourself -not an expense.

3. Resistance to change– There are so many choices and options out there; so you freeze until you find time to figure them all out. No choice is a choice. By not changing your situation for the better you can stagnate in poverty consciousness for the rest of your life and then one day wonder why you never built up your net worth to enjoy the lifestyle you deserve. Learn how to constantly change your personal finances to build wealth for the long term.

Usually people wait to for a life changing event like a birth, death, career change, retirement, or inheritance to deal with their finances. But with the tools that are available on the internet you can make your own financial plan for very little cost. The trouble is that there is so much “noise” out there. How will you tell what’s a good resource and what’s not? That’s when a good Financial Advisor or a Financial Coach can help you plan your finances around the lifestyle you want and show you the right tools and resources specifically for your situation. Isn’t that valuable to you?

What makes working with a financial professional powerful is the financial knowledge that you can take with you. You are building on a money making relationship with your Financial Advisor. You work hard for your money. Isn’t it time to get your money working for you? Avoid these 3 mistakes and you can build wealth easily.

© Fern Alix-LaRocca CFP® All Rights Reserved

The post To Build Wealth You Must Avoid These 3 Mistakes first appeared on Whole Hearted Way.

Take the time now to have some kind of way to track your income and expenses and investments. To attract money and build wealth, you must be a good steward of money. That’s why so many people who have won the lottery end up in bankruptcy – they never had the skills to take care of the money they had.

Make a resolution to take care of what you have and you will automatically be able to attract more. My coaching clients understand this and the first thing we do together is get a system in place that they use, understand, and maintain. They report better organization, better information to make decisions, and more income for investments. Wouldn’t you like to start the year with that?

The post Attract Money by Being a Good Steward of Money first appeared on Whole Hearted Way.

I had a friend that said he is so glad that he was in an all cash position during the crash because all of his friends lost money. After that he asked me how he can invest for better returns.

First of all no one loses money unless they sell. If you sell every time the market moves up or down- that’s gambling not investing. To invest for larger returns than what you can get in cash or bonds, you need to be a long term player. That means leaving it alone for 5 to 10 years. Are you up for that? (If not, that’s okay but you will need to stay in cash and accept low returns for the low risk you are taking.)

Great! Now let’s figure out how to invest by asking yourself these questions:

What am I investing for? (retirement, college, boat, first or second home,)

How long do I have to invest for this goal?  (10 years or 25 or what?)

How much risk am I will to take to reach this goal? (more risk means more volatility and more long term type investments)

How much money can I invest now and in the future to reach this goal? (What are you will to do to make your goals a reality?)

Am I willing to commit to this over the long term to achieve my goal? (Although goals can be modified, you still need to commit to meeting your target)

Investing is easy but answering the above questions is the hard part. But the answers above are an essential part of what you will need to be a successful investor. Why? Because if you don’t know what you are aiming for -you won’t hit it. If you don’t know what it will take to achieve your goal, you won’t contribute to it’s success.  If you don’t have a goal and just want the maximum return, you will surely lose your money.

My clients who know what they want, and how to get and are willing to do what it takes to achieve that are successful in accomplishing their financial goals. Are you?

The post Do-It-Yourself Financial Plan Step#4 Financial Goals first appeared on Whole Hearted Way.

Do You Know You Have a Money Personality?

Here’s a related question for you. Ever wonder why you procrastinate about financial matters? It may be due to your deep-seated money personality. We’ve all developed money habitudes and attitudes over the years – learned from our parents, our teachers and our peers.

Some of the information we absorbed about money may not be serving us so well now. For example, if you were raised in an atmosphere of scarcity, you may spend your whole life craving things you can’t afford and you now overspend to get them. On the other hand, if you grew up with abundance, you may expect things will always come easily to you. If your mom was a spendthrift, you may become one too or, you may overcompensate by becoming a miser.  If your dad procrastinated about important money decisions and took the attitude “things will work themselves out”, you may find yourself taking the same approach.

My Money Story

My mother and father were extremely frugal, especially my father. He didn’t want anything. Buying him a gift was torture because it was impossible to figure out what he would like – except peanuts, he loved peanuts.  So my siblings and I would end up buying him canisters of planter’s nuts for any occasion that required a gift.  His frugality rubbed off on my mom. Going out to eat with her is challenging. She’ll look at a menu and always order the cheapest thing on it – or a side salad.  Not a comfortable experience when you’ve just ordered filet mignon.

We kids would only get the “necessities” – food, clothing (thankfully we wore school uniforms!) and shelter. So, I learned early on that if I wanted the “extras”, I needed to find a way to buy them myself. This was probably a good thing, as I became self-sufficient at a very early age. But I also rejected the frugality of my parents and have been known to indulge myself on occasion. I’ve worked hard to find a good balance between being frugal and being extravagant.

Can you change your money personality?

Like anything with psychological or emotional roots, it’s possible but it takes work.  Deborah Price is the author of Money Magic, Unleashing Your True Potential For Prosperity and Fulfillment. She is the founder of the Money Coaching Institute based in Petaluma, California and she has developed a money coaching curriculum with the aim to “combine both practical financial guidance with sound psychological principles to help you transform your relationship with money and lead a more purposeful and prosperous life.”

In my own financial planning practice, I find that the more I know about my client’s money type or personality, the better I can serve them. To that end I have each client fill out a money personality questionnaire, which seeks answers to such questions as:

• What messages did your receive about money as a child growing up?
• How did you parents handle money?
• Did you feel like you got an adequate financial education growing up?

Most people are perfectly willing to do this exercise and seem to find the opportunity to explore the emotional and psychological aspects of money cathartic. If I interview a potential client who is in financial trouble and I sense a pattern in his/her life, I will often suggest they work with a money coach first as a precursor to the more technical financial planning work.

If you think that you may be acting in ways that sabotage your chance of financial success and it’s become a pattern  – read, sign up for a workshop, talk to trusted friends or advisors, or engage a Wealth Coach.

-Cathy Curtis CFP, Curtis Financial Planning

The post Financial Planner Helps You Discover Your Money Personality first appeared on Whole Hearted Way.

WomenandMoney051910

80% of American women will find themselves the sole keepers of their personal finances at some point during their lives, however, most of those women feel financially insecure, despite controlling more wealth, having more education and being more involved in financial decisions.

What you will learn from this audio file:

• How your money personality affects your money behavior

• 3 simple money truths that every woman needs to know

• How comprehensive financial planning helps women.

Cathy Curtis CFP also tells you where to get her free 10 Simple Money Truths eBook.

The post Women and Money-You Weren’t Born to Shop; How Your Money Personality affects Your Bank Account first appeared on Whole Hearted Way.

Besides, he has an annual shareholder report that makes me laugh every time, and yes, I am a shareholder. But it doesn’t matter if you have invested in Berkshire Hathaway or not, here are some of the best investing tips everyone should live buy:

1. Understand what you own. Some people take this too literally. Mr. Buffett didn’t have a clue about technology until he met Mr. Gates and now he is a big tech fan. Word to the wise- when you don’t know, partner with someone who does.

2. Don’t buy when everyone else is buying. So difficult to do but very rewarding when done.

3. Buy when everyone else is selling. This crash was the latest big opportunity to buy more. Did you?

4. Buy value. He doesn’t ever buy on the hunch that a company is going to grow. He buys stock in companies that already have a lot of value but aren’t priced high to reflect that value.

5. Stay liquid. If you have all your chips in, you can’t make anymore bets, and you can’t take advantage of opportunities as they come up. Keep cash available to invest.

6. Don’t get swayed by the next “potential” Apple. Growth and fame does not mean profit.

7. Be a long term player. Even though you may experience lower returns than the overall market, if you believe in your positions and stick it out you will find consistent positive returns over a longer period.

Investing tips to put on your wall every time you want to buy or sell.

The post 7 Investment Tips From One of the Richest Men in the World first appeared on Whole Hearted Way.

I use a tool called Mind Mapping. Mind mapping tools are a great way to get the creative juices flowing. Mind mapping is done with plain white paper and a pencil. You write your main word or idea in a bubble in the center of the page (retire early or buy vacation home). You then create branches coming out of the bubble with everything you can think of that’s related to the topic. You can create as many branches and sub-branches as you wish, with links and arrows between related ideas.

Mind mapping is more than simple list-making. There seems to be something about the lack of lines, which imply relative importance or order of doing things, as well as the act of getting something down on paper instead of just circling in an endless mental loop that can lead to intense creativity and solution-oriented thinking. I use the mind mapping tool at FreeMind which is free to brainstorm business management and development.

Having a hard time to make a decision? Mind mapping is a great technique for couples to use for planning investments, college planning, retirement wishes or deciding whether to stay in your home or buy a new one. MindJet is another free mind mapping tool.

What most people like about mind mapping is that it keeps them from thinking in a linear fashion. You are also able to see relationships, the big picture, and details all at once.

If you are suffering from indecision, try mind mapping tools to help you get clear about your next step.

The post Your Mind Map Tool for More Money first appeared on Whole Hearted Way.

Until this regulation is in place and agencies in place are cracking down on unethical, fraudulent practices, investors must take the necessary precautions to ensure they are not at risk. I have written an article on this for you: Trusted Financial Advisor Or Broker? Discover the Difference With These 6 Guidelines

Build relationships with financial professionals who you know are doing the best for you, not just because your cousin Vinnie referred you to them.

The post Protect Yourself From a Ponzi Scheme first appeared on Whole Hearted Way.

• Time to think past frustration, fear and/ or anger and get educated about possibilities. Your greatest worry in the unknown.
• Time to look at all the options. Rarely is a situation so black and white that workable options don’t exist. (If you know me well, you know that I have to look through an entrie store before I buy anything. LOL!)
• Time to review risk tolerance and plan for the next phase of your investments. Can market opportunities overshadow risk for you?

The key to success is a clear understanding of your needs, knowing what to expect, and being prepared. You need to where you stand and what you can do now and into the future. My strategy conversation is an opportunity to understand your concerns and help you move forward from where you are to where you want to be.

Many of you have reviewed my audio file where I talk about my one-on-one Coaching Program to help you look at your options in all areas. Most of you haven’t worked with a Coach virtually so I want to let you the benefits of working with me in this manner. In the past, I had employees and a 1200 sqaure foot office space in downtown San Mateo with clients all over the Bay Area and in some other states. Now I work out of a home office with an iphone and professional headset. I work with clients all over the world- most of whom I have never met and we all love it. The benefits to you are:

• Clients are set up to learn/listen/participate in a session, and there is almost a (healthy) expectation that something terrific will be created, presenced or discovered during the session itself. In other words, wisdom and action plans can be created, instead of just information being transferred.
• Clients feel more confident in sharing personal stories that they wouldn’t in person. Because of the freedom to share personal or meaningful things, clients tend to act more quickly and get results faster. We are there to work together and hear/be with each other without the distractions/diversions of clothing, uncomfortable chairs, stress of driving to the office, opinions about another hair style, etc.
• Clients can reach a goal, make a change, prove what they learned, or fix a problem in a session, not just after it. This approach helps the client to learn more deeply and to assimilate the information/skills completely because they are using it, not just learning/understanding it. Big difference. When focusing on desired results, clients learn the information/skills 2-10 times faster/better/deeper (as compared to theoretical learning).
• Clients who have different learning styles are accomodated quickly. Coaching sessions can be recorded for future review for auditory learners, personalized checklists, and worksheets, and outlines are available for visual learners and kinesthetic learners can take notes.

The post Here’s How You Can Benefit In This Crisis first appeared on Whole Hearted Way.