The Michael Masterson Journal

Issue No. 29 - $1.91	Saturday, February 13, 2010
"Make a decision to be successful right now. Most people never decide to be wealthy and that is why they retire poor." Brian Tracy Springing Yourself From the Trap of Financial Dependence Are you a doctor, lawyer, or other professional? How about a salaried employee? If so, you're in a trap. And you'll never get out unless you listen to me today. In my book Automatic Wealth, I talked about this "trap." Here's what I said... "At the end of the day, you are charging for your time. And if you want to make more money, there are only two ways to do it: 1. "Charge more per hour. 2. "Work more hours (though there are only so many hours you can work and still have a life)." Professionals and top executives, you may be surprised to know, don't make as much money as you'd think from watching television. As they improve their skills, they earn more for every hour they work. Eventually, they might even earn one or two million dollars a year. To earn that money, they have to work hard. Often that means 10- to 14-hour workdays. But when you own your own Internet business, your income isn't dependent on the number of hours you work. You can make money when you are on vacation. You can make money when you are sick. You can make money when you are sleeping. All you have to do is get the thing going and then hire a few superstar employees to do the work for you. You pay them a good salary, and take the profits as they come. If you are being paid by the hour right now, you know exactly what I mean. You may be earning good money, but it's hard to enjoy your success because you are always up to your eyeballs in work. Retiring is an option. But when you retire, you lose your active income. That's not good. I know. I tried it for 18 months. I was rich and retired and happy to write poetry and paint bad paintings. But I was always worried that I would run out of money or that one of my investments would tank. That is not financial independence. I promised myself that I would never fall into that trap again. Financial Independence I'm a big believer in financial independence. (I'm a big believer in every sort of independence, including emotional and personal independence too -- but that's a subject for another day.) Being financially independent means exactly what it says: You are not dependent on anyone or anything to pay your bills. How much you make has nothing to do with financial independence. I know plenty of doctors and lawyers who make high six-figure incomes but are deeply in debt and always worried about their future. Having a million dollars in the bank doesn't give you financial independence either. Given the interest rates you can get on a bank account these days, a million dollars is barely enough to feed and house a dog. And having a substantial real estate or stock market portfolio doesn't necessarily make you financially independent. If you need to make, say, 6 or 8 percent on your money to pay your bills, you are not going to feel comfortable. You are going to go to bed each night worrying about the market. So What Is the Secret? The secret to being truly free of money worries is to have multiple streams of income, each one of them enough for you to live on. That way, if one stream dries up completely you still have another or even another to fall back on. Here's what I said about that in Automatic Wealth... "Natural moneymakers make most of their money by practicing a single skill within the context of a single industry. Don't be fooled by financial gurus who tell you otherwise. But they eventually develop many streams of income. "Many master wealth builders I know enjoy a dozen sources of income. Some are modest, some amazing. That's the great thing about creating cash flow. Although you never know what will happen with any individual income source, if you get enough of them started, one will turn into a river." Develop Clarity of Mind and Wealth Building Will Be Easy The day after I decided to get rich (which I've written about many times in ETR and in my books), I woke up a much smarter guy. I no longer believed I could slowly work myself up the corporate ladder. Or that having a hundred thousand dollars in the bank would give me peace of mind. I was no longer willing to trust anyone with my financial well-being -- not my stockbroker, not my bond broker, not the pundits I was reading or my friends or family members who had "advice" for me. Most of all, I wasn't willing to trust the company I worked for to guarantee me a lifetime of income. Before I made wealth building my number-one priority, I was chasing after so many goals that I was confused and vulnerable to all sorts of self-delusions and bad advice. I can tell you stories about the foolish decisions I made: The townhouse I bought in the wrong Washington, DC neighborhood with a negatively amortizing mortgage The "beautiful" 1955 Ford Thunderbird I bought for $15,000 that eventually cost me twice that much in repairs and improvements The small fortune I invested and lost in a furniture business before I knew anything about selling furniture But once I prioritized my goals, it was no longer possible to make bad decisions like those. I had developed an instant and permanent instinct about wealth building that has never left me. You can do it too. And you will never again be confused about financial decisions. When you face a challenge or problem, the answer will be clearly and boldly evident. It will be impossible to ignore it. After that, growing wealthy will become relatively automatic -- as it is for me now. The Eight Rules for Financial Independence When I decided to become rich, I began to keep a journal of thoughts I had about making money, losing money, and building wealth. One chapter of that journal had to do with financial independence. And the eight rules I came up with then are the same rules I follow today: 1. You can't truly trust anybody but yourself with your money. 2. The harder someone tries to convince you to trust him, the less you should. 3. However good a track record someone has, never believe that he/she can't suddenly start your losing money. In fact, if you are like me, the moment you invest will be the moment his/her track record starts falling apart. 4. All markets rise and fall. Don't ever believe anyone who assures you that they can predict the future. 5. If you don't learn to spend less than you make, you will never have peace of mind. 6. Most of what you buy when your income is above $100,000 is discretionary. Don't' fool yourself into thinking you need a big house or a fancy car. 7. In making financial projections for yourself or a business, always create three scenarios: one that shows what things will look like if everything goes as hoped; one that shows what will happen if things are mediocre; and one that shows what will happen if things fall apart. 8. Know that the third scenario is optimistic. Add these up, and you will come to one inevitable conclusion: The only way to be truly financially independent is to have multiple streams of income, each one of them sufficient to pay for the lifestyle you want to live. When I began to develop multiple streams of income, I did it the "chicken entrepreneurship" way. I started out small and built slowly. I never took large risks. And I never gave up my day job. These are the income streams I have today: A local rental real estate portfolio An international rental real estate portfolio An interest in a half-dozen companies My consulting income My income from bonds My income from dividend stocks Each of these streams is greater than the amount of money I spend every year. So if five of them suddenly disappeared, I would still have enough income to live on without diminishing my lifestyle. And to back that up, I have a stash of hard assets that I could live on for the rest of my life. That is a lot of financial security. I don't know anyone else who has that much. Maybe it's a reflection of how deeply untrusting I am. Or maybe it means I'm simply more independent than most of the people I know. You don't have to emulate my plan. But if you want financial independence, you should think about having more than one or even two streams of income. This gets us to 5 Days in July, Early to Rise's Internet business building conference. Many ETR readers are interested in getting into Internet marketing. But most of them have not actually started a business. They are planning and reading and hoping and dreaming. But they are not getting started. When I meet them at ETR's wealth-building bootcamps and ask them what is holding them back, they come up with a variety of reasons: I don't know enough yet. I haven't picked a product to sell. I don't understand direct marketing well enough. I don't understand the Internet well enough. I'm waiting till (fill in the blank). And that's why the Early to Rise team has taken conferences to a new level: After just five days with them this July you'll leave their event with a fully-functioning Internet business. It may seem like an impossible idea, but it's been done for the past four years in a row. Richard Mix came away from the event four years ago with the foundation for his first web business (selling designer dog "accessories"). Today he makes $5,000 to $10,000 a month from his online ventures, which now also include offering website development services to other aspiring entrepreneurs. "The ETR conference gave me everything I needed to get going in my own venture. All I had to provide was the nerve and the desire to make the leap," says Richard. Julie Broad quit her job and started working on her Internet business (revnyou.com) full time after learning the same techniques and skills as taught at 5 Days. She made $500 in January of last year. In March, she made $5,000. "Pretty much everything I am doing today is a result of something I read, heard, or saw during ETR conferences," explains Julie. Sharon O'Day, a total Internet newbie, came to the conference three years ago to learn how to market to her niche, Baby Boomer nearing retirement. And now her site, plan-b-retirement.com, is a go-to resource. Says Sharon, "I learned the simple-to-use website software, how to design my site, SEO, copywriting and list building. And that's just scratching the surface. I truly left as a near-expert Internet marketer!" At the Five Days in July Conference the Early to Rise team doesn't hand you a website and products... they help you make your own business to your own specifications. They don't quite hold your hand – but it's close. You learn direct marketing fundamentals, market research, product creation, copywriting, search engine optimization... in short, everything you need to know to get your business off the ground and on the road to replacing, and then shortly, well exceeding your current income. And you don't need any previous experience or expertise in business, marketing, or technology. It's totally geared to the beginner. If what I've said about financial independence makes sense to you and you would like to develop a second stream of income, sign up here. ETR will be sending out updates regularly in the months and weeks leading up to the conference in July. You will also get first "dibs" on a spot at 5 Days and the opportunity to get in at the lowest price. [Ed. Note: Michael Masterson welcomes your questions and comments. Send him a message at AskMichael@ETRFeedback.com.]
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