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Mike’s Finance Tips

6 Tips For Financial Success

📝 Create a budget
🆘 Keep an emergency fund covering 3-6 months of expenses
💸 Spend less than you make
📊 Buy low & sell high in the market
☝️ Always contribute to the full match in a 401k
📈 Invest your money in assets that appreciate, not depreciate

Studies estimate that the average person will need $1.8 million to live comfortably in retirement until death or they reach age 92 💰

And it’s absolutely possible for anyone to reach that but you must stay disciplined and follow your plan! 📝

You can choose to INGEST a $2.95 coffee per day or INVEST that $2.95 daily and instead of spending $43,000 on coffee over the next 40 years you could have earned more than $175,000 by investing. Assuming 6%/year 😮

“Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship”

5 Keys To Build Wealth

📝 Create a budget
💰 Invest at least 15% of your income every year
📈 Invest in assets that appreciate, not depreciate
💸 Increase your investment contributions as your income rises
🙏 Give back to others less fortunate as you attain wealth

💸 7 Streams of Income 💸

1. Primary Job Income
2. Dividend Income
3. Side hustle
4. Online sales / Selling things you no longer use
5. Rental Property
6. Capital Gains
7. Royalties

☝️ Learn to make money while you sleep – it can be done!

47% of Americans don’t save a single penny of their paycheck 😳

1. Get on a plan 📝
2. Create a budget 📑
3. Stop making excuses for why you can’t save 🚫
4. Sacrifice a little now so you can live better later 💰
5. Invest often & let compound interest do the heavy lifting 📈

60% of Americans have less than $1k saved 🙈

The average American basically cannot pay their bills or feed themselves within 2 weeks of not receiving a paycheck 😟

Identify a habit (coffee, cigarettes, alcohol etc) that isn’t necessary & replace it w/ an investment in yourself 📈

😨 Millennials spend $838/month on nonessential items.

👎 49% of millennials said nonessential spending contributed to their credit card debt.

📈 Instead take 1/2 or even 1/3 of that monthly spending & leverage it into investments that will produce income for YOU later in life.

Nearly 55% of Americans age 25-44 save less than $1000/year. This is an EPIDEMIC & nobody’s talking about it!

Make it a priority to increase your investing/savings by a MINIMUM of 1% each year.

No one is saying you can’t enjoy the present but always have a plan for the future. 👌📈

98% of the rich consider good health to be one of their most important personal assets (US Trust study.)

And this one is easy:

  1. Eat right 🍎
  2. Exercise 💪
  3. Sleep well 📵

Without being healthy, no amount of wealth will improve your quality of life.

If you want to improve your life, start by taking control of the things you CAN control:

– Your habits 🍔🍟💳

– Your attitude 😩❌ 😆✅

– Your network 👨‍👦 👨‍👧‍👦

– Your physique 💪🏋️‍♂️

– Your gratitude 🙏🎁

– Your productivity ⌛️💰

Without being healthy, no amount of wealth will improve your quality of life.

It doesn’t make sense to try and get 4%-7% returns from the stock market (or from savings) if you are paying 16%-30% interest on your credit cards.

Pay off all your credit cards first—and keep the debt off you—then invest in the stock market.

Ask yourself:

  • Do you budget your money, or spend it all each month?
  • Do you have a lot of credit card debt, or a lot of investments?
  • Do you make installment payments, or are you receiving dividends?
  • Do you get bills in the mail, or are they all automatically paid online?

If you don’t manage your money it will manage you — with bad debt, liabilities, and needless anxiety.

Money is a great servant but a terrible master.

Whenever you travel anywhere as a tourist, always watch out for the tourist traps. ☝️

Never eat in a restaurant that is nearby your hotel. And avoid buffets at all cost, unless its included for free.

Also keep an eye out for the old upsell, extra add-ons that you don’t need (for your flight, car, or hotel).

Before you start to invest, there are 6 things you should do:

💹 Build an emergency fund
💸 Pay off bad debts
📝 Define financial goals
💰 Increase cash flow*
📒 Know your net worth
📚 (Constantly) educate yourself

* This doesn’t necessarily mean to get a higher paying job. It can also mean to cut unnecessary expenses.

Money traps to AVOID!

🚙 Car out of price range
🏡 House out of price range
👸 Expensive life partner
📝 Having no financial plan
💍 Overly expensive wedding
🍸 Too much partying/drinking
💳 Not using credit wisely
💹 Not investing

☝️A good investor knows how to manage money & how to avoid money traps.

How to make (and keep) yourself broke:

  • Not having an emergency fund 💰
  • Not tracking your finances/spending 📝
  • Spending money on stuff you don’t need🎀
  • Trying to impress others with status 🚘
  •  Not saving anything for retirement 😭

We all have areas to improve! #makeithappen

The average American millennial’s debt is:

  • $16K Credit card 😧
  • $30K Auto loan 😥
  • $51K Student loan 😭

The lesson? Don’t be an average millennial.

The 5 worst investments you can make:

  1. Time shares ⏲️
  2. Penny stocks 📉
  3. Online surveys 📝
  4. Bank CDs 🔒
  5. Worthless degrees 🍎

These might seem like good investments at first, but if they are taking time/money away from you with little to no return, its not good. 💸

How well do you know your financial terms?

Lets see:

  • income = money coming in
  • salary = money coming in that you work for
  • debt = borrowed money
  • good debt = borrowed money that generates more income
  • bad debt = borrowed money that takes money away (credit cards/student loans)
  • expenses = money going out (on things you need)
  • liabilities = money taken out (on luxuries/stupid purchases/kids/emergencies)
  • investments = money set aside today for a bigger return/profit in the future
  • assets = an investment that generates money
  • passive income = money generated by your assets without you working
  • cash flow = total income, minus total expenses

Disclaimer: This finance tip was written for educational and entertainment purposes only. This is NOT financial advice. Always do your own research and please consult with a licensed attorney before making any serious investment. We are not responsible for any investment decisions that you choose to make.