From the category archives:

Real Estate

31 FLAVORS to Create an Abundant Retirement

July 25, 2010

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

Missed Fortune RadioThis week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Complimentary Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, July 27th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern).

The topic is “True Asset Optimization: How to Choose the Right Investments.” You’ll learn how to maintain liquidity and guarantee safety of principal while earning a healthy, tax-free rate of return that outpaces inflation.

Register now by calling 1-888-76-Radio (888-767-2346). If operators are busy, please call again.

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

Investors Losing Confidence in Traditional Investments

Investors are getting tired of the slow gains for a few years only to have those gains, along with original principal, be lost rapidly.

In 2008, most people lost 31 percent from their IRA and 401(k) and are still not back to what they had in as their initial principal.

Investors are getting fed up with the same traditional advice of investing in IRAs and 401(k)s, to postpone taxes and to have to deal with market volatility for the long-term gain.

According to a new survey from Prince & Associates, 81 percent of investors with $1 million or more in investable assets plan to take money away from their current advisor. An even larger number, 86%, plan to tell other investors to avoid their advisor.

Only 2% plan to recommend their firm to other investors. That’s of critical importance, because wealthy investors often get investment advice from each other.

Deferring taxes to a later date as taxes continue to rise, lacking liquidity, and placing the rate of return for a retirement nest egg in variable products are only three of the major problems with these traditional investments.

How Can You Gain Confidence and Prepare for an Abundant Retirement?

The first step to gaining confidence is to avoid falling into the investment traps that so many others are facing by deciding not to use the same investment advice that they are.

Why would you defer taxes knowing that the trend is that taxes are rising? Why you would place your retirement hopes into a volatile market and hope to time the market correctly?

By learning the 31 FLAVORS of Missed Fortune, you can:

  1. Choose tax-free investments instead of tax-deferred ones
  2. Have liquidity so that you can access your money when you would like to
  3. Enjoy safety of your principal where you can lock in gains using indexing.

FLAVORS stands for “fortunes lost amidst valid optimization and reallocation strategies.” Implementing 2 or 3 of the 31 can generate $70-80 thousand dollars a year for retirement that is tax free and will continue to be replenished year after year no matter what is happening in the market.

The 31 FLAVORS can show you key points in the different financial aspects of your life that can allow you to sleep comfortably at night knowing that you are not gambling with your retirement. They include:

  • 6 FLAVORS regarding choosing the wrong investments for retirement
  • 6 FLAVORS about your home and real estate
  • 3 FLAVORS on proper tax planning and avoiding unnecessary taxes
  • 7 FLAVORS on asset management
  • 5 FLAVORS regarding risk management
  • 2 FLAVORS about credit and debt management
  • 2 FLAVORS on estate planning

Meet with a Missed Fortune advisor and learn how to implement these 31 FLAVORS and guarantee yourself an abundant retirement.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders

The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg.

Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

{ 0 comments }

The 31 FLAVORS of Missed Fortune

April 8, 2010

“FLAVORS” stands for “Fortunes Lost Amid Valid Optimization & Reallocation Strategies.”

The following are the 31 most common ways we see people losing money. Read them to consider where you may be losing, then meet with a Missed Fortune advisor to plug the holes.

Retirement Planning (choosing the wrong investments):

1. Using short-term investments for long-range goals and long-term investments for short-range goals

2. Putting money in “crawl” investments such as CDs and Money Markets

3. Putting money in “walk” investments such as annuities

4. Thinking that IRAs and 401(k)s are the best way to save for retirement

5. Postponing qualified plan distributions until age 70½ and/or taking minimum distributions

6. Not employing one of your greatest assets—home equity via a reverse mortgage

Your Home and Other Real Estate:

7. Not employing the lazy, idle dollars trapped in your home and other real estate

8. Sending extra principal payments against your mortgage

9. Paying large cash down payments when acquiring real estate

10. Paying unnecessary capital gains when selling rental income real estate

11. Not realizing that you can buy property without down payments or credit.

12. Renting your residence instead of owning (buying) it

Tax Planning (paying unnecessary tax):

13. Not claiming enough withholding W-4 allowances (to get bigger tax refunds)

14. Not maximizing tax deductions and itemizing them on your tax return

15. Not understanding the huge difference between tax-deferred and tax-free growth on savings and investments

Asset Management (choosing the wrong strategies):

16. Trying to time the market (thus buying and selling at the wrong times because of emotion)

17. Relying on the purchase of commodity products rather than employing proven investment strategies

18. Not maintaining liquidity with all assets (the ability to get your money when you need it)

19. Not keeping your principal safe (protecting yourself from potential loss of principal)

20. Not earning a rate of return greater than taxes and inflation, and the cost of those funds

21. Not fully understanding the power of compound interest

22. Locking up serious cash in gold and other precious metals

Risk Management and Insurance:

23. Not funding your life insurance properly or using insurance for superior capital accumulation

24. Not letting Uncle Sam pay for your life insurance (by redirecting otherwise payable income tax)

25. Not structuring your health insurance for optimum efficiency with the proper deductibles

26. Not structuring your auto and homeowners insurance efficiently with the proper deductibles

27. Not understanding safe, positive leverage (the ability to own and control assets with very little or none of your own money at risk or tied up in the asset)

Credit and Debt Management:

28. Not maintaining your credit score at 720 or higher

29. Paying off debt (including your mortgage and student loans) the wrong way

Estate Planning:

30. Having too much liability exposure and losing hard-earned assets to losses and frivolous suits

31. Not eliminating or reducing unnecessary estate tax through the use of trusts and life insurance

{ 2 comments }

The Negative Experience Transformer - Step 1 of 7

December 12, 2008

The Negative Experience Transformer is a 7-Step Unique Process to Transform Disappointing Experiences into New Opportunities

Step 1: Be Grateful

I know-it may sound counterintuitive for the first step during a difficult experience to show gratitude. But you’d be surprised, it can work wonders. Try it with me now.

Conduct a simple gratitude assessment by identifying those people and things for which you are grateful in your life. Borrowing from the Bible, it says in Thessalonians 5:16 - 18: “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks….” In other words, take a moment and count your blessings.

Feeling a little better yet? Here’s why-you’re shifting your mind to a positive space.

You see, lack of gratitude is one of the greatest barriers to personal progress. If you think about it, we manifest ingratitude in different ways. There are times we may feel sorry for ourselves. We look at others who are succeeding, and we might feel insignificant. Other times, we may work hard to succeed, but then we take all the credit. We resent the suggestion that others were involved in our success. And if we live in very advantageous circumstances, we might take things for granted. Some children of wealthy parents are “born on third base,” and they grow up thinking they hit a triple. Whatever our position of ingratitude, it can lead us to becoming cynical, or it can put us at risk of becoming depressed or fearful when life throws us a curve ball.

Conversely, gratitude is a self-generated attitude that allows us to discover endless meaning and value in every circumstance and relationship-even the negative experiences. For example, we can be grateful that we grow closer to loved ones during times of poor health, or that we become more resourceful when in financial trouble.

To make gratitude a habit, try this therapeutic exercise I’ve learned to incorporate in my daily life.

  • At the start of each new day, I take a few moments to reflect on someone or something I’m grateful for.
  • On my TO DO list, I will often write on the bottom of the page FIVE people or things I’m grateful for that day.
  • I select a person each day to whom I’ll give special attention, write a personal note or leave a voice message.

In real estate, when we say that a property has appreciated, it means that it has gone up in value. In the same way, when we’re grateful, we’re increasing life’s value. I wish you the best as you take the first step in the Negative Experience Transformer process: developing a more constant “attitude of gratitude” that will go a long way in turning “bad situations” into “glad situations.”

Douglas R. Andrew

Tagged as: , , ,

{ 0 comments }