Wisdom of Rich Dad

Most of us know what life insurance is: you pay a monthly or annual premium and in return the insurance company pays your nominated beneficiary or estate a lump sum when you die.  Over the years life insurance has grown, with a multitude of policies to suit nearly every kind of need.

1. Buying Life Insurance From Mortgage Lenders When Arranging A Loan

Another common mistake is buying life insurance from a mortgage lender or bank who is lending the individual money to buy a home. Banks like to cross sell a variety of products to their customers, and when individuals seek financing for the purchase of a home, they suddenly become a captive audience to the bank who is making the loan.

The financial institution will try and add on a variety of insurance products in addition to the mortgage or loan they are making, and the deals on offer may not always be the best deals that can be picked up were the individual to approach an insurance adviser or a specialist.

It is better to buy life insurance from a specialist financial adviser, largely because they have a better understanding of the products on offer, and how they compare to rival products and probably have a bigger offering.

Individuals should also not be afraid to make an adviser work for their money and feel no pressure to commit. Advisers may be commission driven and financial products such as life insurance provide remuneration to advisers through a commission structure.

2. Life Cover through superannuation fund providers

Life insurance through your superannuation fund may seem like an easy option, but just make sure you read the fine print.

A life insurance policy through your super fund may not cover you for the right amount. This means that if something does go wrong, you may be severely underinsured, leaving your loved ones with insufficient funds during an emotionally turbulent time.

3. Buying Life Insurance directly without underwriting

Life insurance products sold directly without underwriting, often sold aggressively via television advertising, may cost double compared to equivalent cover which is fully underwritten.

Another point to note is that non underwritten types of life insurance policies often have exclusions on previous medical history.

Speak to your trusted insurance adviser about your personal life insurance needs and compare different life insurance quotes.

I would like to briefly talk to you about opportunity. Many people fail to see opportunity before them – either because they claim they are too busy or because they just are not looking in the right place. Or maybe it’s because they have immersed themselves in life: from their job to their children, there really isn’t much time for anything else.

Oftentimes, people miss opportunities before them because of these reasons – or should I say, excuses.

A great opportunity lies ahead of us over the next few years. Those who have prepared have already reaped the benefits and will continue to do so. There are people out there profiting off of this recession. There are people who have used this recession as their opportunity.

I would like to share a quote with you to further explain what I mean: “Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity.” Most often attributed to a Mr. Henry Hartman, on whom I was unable to find information, this quote resonated deeply with me since I first heard it.

Instead of looking at the recession as a bad thing, look at it as an opportunity to accumulate wealth. Look at it as a stepping stone for your retirement goals. Look at it as a chance to start a business. Look at it as a chance to prepare.

As Robert Kiyosaki, entrepreneur and author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, has said: “This crisis is the biggest opportunity in the history of the world.” This statement could not be more true. It just depends on how you look at life.

I firmly believe that, in America, anything is possible. I believe people come here looking for a better life. Whether rich, middle class, or poor, there is always a chance for you. While we may not all start off in the same position in the marathon of life, there are always opportunities for us to cross the finish line together. Don’t let fear or self-doubt stand in your way.

So what can you do to start? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Get your financial education, as Kiyosaki always says. (And yes, there is ALWAYS time. It just depends on what you want to spend your time doing).

2. Read magazines and newspapers like Forbes, Money and The Wall Street Journal. Watch channels like Fox Business and CNBC. CNBC is a great place to learn about money and entrepreneurship.

3. Read as many books as you can. My suggestions to get you started are: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Kiyosaki, The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L. Friedman, and The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss.

4. Don’t ever stop being a student. Take classes and attend seminars on finance, economics, and investing.

5. Learn about handling your personal finances.

6. Get out of bad debt as quickly as possible – particularly credit card debt.

7. Save money and invest in things like real estate – so your money doesn’t lose value. There are many opportunities for novice investors out there as property values continue to decline. Do your due diligence. (You may even have a chance to help somebody in foreclosure by assuming their mortgage).

I have implemented, or am in the process of implementing, all of these strategies. They are all things I have read about or learned about over the past few years. I would not recommend them if I didn’t think they would work. Some things may not work for you. That’s fine. The point is to try things and learn things that will make life better for you and your family.

Here’s to your success this year and in years to come.

I’ll see you at the finish line.

~ Matthew Sapaula

A few years ago, Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki wrote a profound book titled, “Why We Want Your to be Rich”.  This was eye-opening work which shares shocking facts about the American economy that most Americans don’t realize.

Whether your are rich or poor…the fact is the American middle class is disappearing…quickly.  It is no secret that we have losing manufacturing and jobs to countries overseas by the millions. Middle-class families like the one I was raised in are having a tougher time each year.  Staying ahead of the economic shifts which affect retirement planning, the ability to send our kid’s to college, keeping gainfully employed and staying on a path aimed towards financial security is tougher and tougher when you don’t put time on our side. (Yes, that means STOP procrastinating!)

Some might say that we are already in financial slavery to banks and credit card companies.  A favorite Proverb of mine says that, “A borrower is a slave to the lender.”  Do you owe anyone money?  How does that feel when you walk in the same room with them and you haven’t settled your debt?  Catch my drift?

In short, you have to decide whether you want to be rich, because there will no longer be a middle-class America.  It’s either you are going to be rich…or poor. 

In an age of consumerism, it is easy to get the “financial handcuffs” shackled on our wrists before most kids graduate college and enter the workforce.  Families have to continue borrowing to keep up with lifestyles they can’t really afford.

A Saturday Night Live spoof with Steve Martin displayed a parody on actually buying something only when you have to CASH to do so!  That’s right, don’t buy stuff you can’t afford!  I know, easier said than done.

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don’t have time to analyze a bunch of properties, I’m just too busy…”. Do you really lack the time or maybe you are just not willing to make time?

How about the money for down payment, repairs, etc. That loser inside of you says “You don’t have enough money!” but have you really tried to manage your money and see where all your money is going? Have you really taken steps to ensure that you are consistently building your financial freedom account (FFA) along with the other “money jars” needed to effectively manage your money?

You want to start to do something worthwhile but then again, that loser inside of you says “Stop… let’s wait until the timing is just right” and all that crap. It’s just like waiting for all the stop lights on the road to turn green before starting to move. Good luck!

That voice of the loser inside may also say “Why should you even bother doing something that’s way out of your comfort zone…” and instead convinces you to just endure a comfortable life which is often synonymous to a tolerable but often meaningless existence. Maybe it’s time you realized that no one became ultra successful by living a comfortable life. If that was true then those millions of people who do nothing but watch TV all day would have become rich and successful by now. Ouch!

Focus on the winner inside of you!
Maybe we should all stop listening to the loser inside of us that never runs out of excuses and holds us back from becoming successful real estate investors! Don’t you think it’s about time that we focused on listening to the voice inside of us who actually says how we can we make things work, the winner inside of us?

It’s that winner inside of us that would realize that one needs to make time instead of complaining that we don’t have enough time for real estate investing. The winner inside of us discerns what things are truly important and worth doing and helps us find the time we need no matter how “busy” we are and then this allows us to consistently look at properties and analyze them as it would really take about a hundred properties before finding that one gem of a deal.

It’s also that winner inside of us that somehow finds creative ways of financing those great real estate deals that we may find even if the loser inside us says we don’t have enough money.

Lastly, that same winner inside of us will also coax  us out of our comfort zones and make things happen to achieve financial freedom in spite of a little discomfort that we may experience along the way.

 No more excuses please!

Many people have concluded that the HELOC is the best choice for financing home improvements, putting a child through college, debt consolidation or any of the other occasional heavy demands on funds beyond the regular household budget.

The HELOC offers important advantages in terms of lower interest rates, the ability to take out a loan in installments, and the opportunity to set off payments against income tax.

While it is still possible to find a fair HELOC offer, the economic downturn has made it harder to find HELOCs since banks are naturally concerned over the falling value of the property equity that secures these loans.

Given the decline in the easy availability of HELOCs over the last two or three years, you can expect to have to spend more time to find a bank that offers the HELOC arrangement you desire. Should someone offer you a HELOC deal on unbelievably good terms, it is likely to be very tempting.

Before rushing ahead to sign along the dotted line it pays to carefully investigate this amazing deal. In the world of finance, the too good to be true offer should instinctively cause you to stop in your tracks and look carefully in every direction; more likely than not accepting this deal will cost you dearly.

Typical Tactics of HELOC Tricksters

Fraudulent HELOC schemes encourage their victims to take out loans with repayments arranged to fall short of the amount needed to cover the principal and interest owed, and consequently the debt and payment installments are going to rapidly increase.

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