Making Money – A Bold Revolutionary Act in the New World Corrupt Economy

If you want to be secure in this new world economy stop trying to invest in the market and go out and make some real money.  There is a revolution happening like never before where people are either giving themselves over to the system or getting out of the system.

We now have economic slavery by choice ,a system where people work hard and then give their earnings over to a financial system that gives very little back.  This self imposed slavery takes on many names like retirement planning and stock market investing.  It is really is a plank check to take your life savings and do anything and everything an institution desires, in the hopes of making more money but without any of the responsibility of having to perform.

You think I’m being to harsh because you do not understand exactly what happens in the halls of the investment world. If you knew how you were regarded by the real players in the market you would never put a dime in the stock market. Instead you would store your money in accounts with guaranteed returns and look for businesses with real returns that you could OWN.

Revolutionaries don’t follow the crowd into the abyss 

Imagine going out and buying something for $200.00 and selling in for $1000.00. Subtract the cost to acquire a customer from your profit and you have made real money. Making real money is a revolutionary act because you are not supposed to ever get to the point where you realize that the only real profits in this world are the profits made on buying and selling, and they are available to everyone. Learn to sell or deliver a product to people that they are willing to pay for and you join the revolution. Forget waiting to open an account statement every month to see if you made or lost money, that’s for sheep.

Almost every person in America knows someone who made a million dollars or more in some form of business but very few have ever met anyone who made a million dollars in the stock market. Yet we believe in the fantasy of the 401k, IRA, 403B, and the Thrift Savings plan. The whole market crashes at least once every eight years but since 1978 we Americans feel the need to be in the stock market investing game. Why?

The very computer you are reading this on was purchased by the store that sold it to you for no more than half of what you paid and it was manufactured for no more than half of that. Think like a consumer and get broke. Think like a seller and get wealthy.

If you believe that the system you are investing your savings into is a fair one I encourage you to devote some time to read three insightful books that give first hand accounts of actions of Wall Street. Once you read these books you will understand perfectly why the bond market crashed in the 80s, the tech bubble burst in the 90s and the whole market crashed in 2008. More importantly you will understand why it must happen again.

An insightful look at the bond market and all of the games that are played on Wall Street.

The most honest look from inside Goldman Sachs that details the truth of why the housing market had to crash. Provides a long list of firms and people who knew the market was doomed a decade before the crash but just kept on making money for themselves and their firms at the expense of the American people and working people around the world.

A look at the world through the eyes of a fund manager who bet that nobody in the financial markets really knows what they are doing.  He bets against the smartest guys in the room and wins big as they endanger whole economies. After you read this book you will realize that the worst that can happen has not yet happened but it is on its way.

For Revolutionaires Only 

Making money by providing goods and services is revolutionary because it is old school. It’s a “something for something” sort of deal unlike Wall Street investing which more often ”something for nothing.”

Wishing you Wealth, Wellness and Wisdom

Mark Fuller

Manager of Wealth

Wealth Wellness and Wisdom and the Mythology of this Holy Trinity

I usually end my post by wishing you Wealth, Wellness And Wisdom and today I thought I’d address how this things are connected in 2013. Truthfully for the vast majority of people in America they are not on their way to wealth, they are not in very good health, and in spite of being educated they have not yet graduated to wisdom, they are simply smart.

Let’s take a real world example because I really don’t want to be vague on this subject.

Let start with wealth.

It is 2013 and the stock market is back at 14000, btw this is where it was back in 2008 before the crash when it dropped to 6600. In the real world nothing has really changed financially in terms of the factors that caused the crash. In fact, banks are still holding trillions in shadow inventory. Many borrowers have not paid in months or years and the country has still not found and economic engine to replace the run away train that was the real estate market. Inflation is actually incredibly high if you open you eyes. Look at the price of gas, bread, eggs in 2000 versus 2013. People want you to believe inflation is at 3% annually but it is much higher than that and growing everyday. Goods are at least 3 times more expensive than they were a decade ago.

Yet in spite of the economic realities would you believe that over 90% of Americans have never made ANY change in their retirement portfolios. They continue to contribute to their 401k and IRAs after taking major losses at least once every 8 years since the 1970s. How do you explain that as you claim to be headed toward wealth? Where is the common sense and how much time and effort are people putting into understanding whats is really going on?

Then look at health.

There is a developing surge in people seeking natural health practices and wellness. Two major things are driving the run to health, one is the incredible rising cost of Medical care in America and the other is the alarming rate of Cancer and other major diseases in young people. It seems the first law of self-preservation is kicking in and people are beginning to find out that instead of pills and surgery they can be healed of disease by fruits, veggies, and nutrients. This is major unfortunately it will take at least a generation for natural medicine to become the norm and ten of millions will die prematurely because the competing messages from the pharma industry have much better advertising. People will move to Wellness organically because their lives or the lives of someone close to them will have been saved by natural medicine and they will seek more information and make changes.

So where does Wisdom come in?

Wisdom is the ability to use all of your education and experience to discern the proper course of action and pathway in life. I submit that as a country we are slowly developing wisdom in the area of health because we need to do so to survive. However, we are moving backward in the area of wealth building because even as we make more money we are investing in the worst possible places.

You see the difference between Wealth and Wellness is profound. A sick person who is on many prescribed drugs will find natural medicine and in short order become completely healed from the disease from which the suffer. They will never actively seek to return to the drugs because they are in fact HEALED from fruits , vegetables, and nutrients.

In wealth building a person can lose half their life savings in the stock market and fully understand that it is a dangerous, unpredictable place to build wealth and still run back to the stock market if the market begins to rebound. I have heard more people talking about how the economy is back because the market is back at 14000 but if it was there 5 years ago then that is not a gain. The market can come back without the stocks in your portfolio coming back. We just don’t seem to be developing any wisdom when it comes to money. We are getting better at making money in business but when it comes to building true wealth we show no wisdom.

It is worth noting that in the 1970s before the rise of qualified plans(IRA, 401k, Thrift savings) and the rise of Pharma companies we were a much healthier and financially secure country. Imagine if all of the money that was generated in the 80s, 90s and 2000s was never invested in the stock market so when the market crashed the average American would not be losing their life savings. Can you imagine that because that is the way it needs to be for us to get on the true path to wealth building?

Imagine that our grocery stores actually had mostly food in there instead of foodstuff products. Most people don’t even realize that most of the products in a grocery store are made up chemical compounds and not food at all. The only real food in the store are the fruits, veggies and meats, the rest is Cheetos and Oreo cookies.

Take a look at your life and ask yourself are you developing true Wealth, Wellness and Wisdom and if not start seeking to make changes today.

This week I’m going to give you some major resources to help you along the path. I’m going to give you some truths to consider and some resources to explore to help you have a better life. Please subscribe to this blog. I promise to give you something life changing this week and every week and share this info with your friends.

Wishing you Wealth Wellness and Wisdom

Mark Fuller
Manager of Wealth

Young Couples Planning to be Broke..If they stay together at all

Most young couples ages 25 to 45 have conversations and agreements around money related to what they plan to consume not save. 

That’s really it, there is no plan to save and if there is, that plan is not primary or even secondary. The plan to consume is a top priority and thus most relationships are problemactic as it relates to money.

In fact the savings of most young people is really a preconsumption fund, meaning money saved  for retirement is subject to be tapped if a new house, car or private school for the kids comes along and thus it was never a future fund from the start.

At a minimum a family needs three things financially:

1. Life Insurance to totally replace each bread winners income and get the family through all the years they would be dependant on that income.

2. A plan to save at least 1 million dollars by retirement. You will need at least this by the time you retire.

3. An agreement not to blow the future on temporary cars, houses, and other things that come along and derail you from your plan.

It is my belief that 50% of marriages don’t need to end in divorce. Most of it is bad planning and financial stress caused by bad decisions. Keeping your family intact is the best reason of all to do the right thing.

Wishing you Wealth Wellness and Wisdom

Manager of Wealth

What Tim Bradley can teach us about Undeserved victories in Business and Life

The sports world is up in arms about this past Saturday nights championship fight between Bradley and Pacquiao. Many are screaming that the fight was fixed and that Bradley clearly did not win that fight. Even Bradley looked as if he didn’t feel he won the fight. But there are a few important lessons to be learned by Bradley’s unexpected and possibly undeserved win over Pacquiao that the public and especially business people should not miss.

Lesson One – Sometimes you lose when you think you should win and sometimes you win when you think you should have lost. Life is not fair.

Tim Bradley controlled the one thing that he could control about the outcome of the fight. He trained hard, came to the fight prepared and gave everything he had. People are screaming that the fight was fixed but anyone who watched that fight saw Bradley fight with his whole heart and do his very best. If the judges fixed the fight they clearly didn’t tell Bradley before hand.

In business everyone has major and minor setbacks but what most successful people won’t tell you is that a great deal of massive success is also about dumb luck. Ask Warren Buffet, Bob Johnson, or Mark Zuckerburg how much luck, timing, and undeserved good fortune helped them become champions in business. Like Tim Bradley they worked hard to prepare but they also showed up to the fight and won. Many with even more talent failed or never achieved success on such a massive scale.

Lesson Two – It’s going to be painful win or lose

People are so mad at the outcome that they totally missed that undefeated Tim Bradley fought almost the entire fight with a fractured foot. Could you go 12 rounds with a broken foot against one of the greatest boxers in the world? Business like boxing is a world where you sure to get your butt kicked each time you make a mistake and drop your guard or make a bad decision. Sometimes you keep making the same bad decisions and you keep getting punched in the face like Bradley did each time he didn’t block the left jab.

In the end no judge could have given Bradley the fight if he hadn’t stayed on his feet and made it all 12 rounds fighting his heart out. You can’t win the game if you aren’t there at the end and if you watch that fight Bradley went through a lot of pain to be there at the end. 

Successful business people all have a story about fighting against great odds. financial misfortunes, bad markets, lawsuits, and outright disaster but most who stay focused, come out the other side and win big. Unfortunately the majority quit too early and only have stories about the pain but not the reward. Bradley could have quit and I’m sure he wanted to.

Lesson Three – When you get an undeserved win be humble about it and gracious to the loser because chances come around

I gained total respect for Tim Bradley because of how he handled things after the decision was given. He complimented Pacquiao on a great fight and acknowledged that the crowd didn’t agree with the decision but he would keep his word and give Manny a rematch in November as promised. He showed so much class in that moment and didn’t fake it like he had really beaten the Pac Man. He got lucky because he was prepared well and finished the fight strong. He didn’t get a big head about winning because he knew he needed to do better and that he wasn’t the best fighter that day.

In business we all have some victories that are right place right time victories and we see others who are more talented fail. It is important to be humble and acknowledge our good fortune especially to ourselves. Being grateful and humble is a hard lesson to learn in America because we have a bragging culture but we also have a country full of people who were lucky to be born with opportunities they did nothing to earn. Bradley showed how to win with class.

A good friend of mine told me Bradley was clearly out classed in the fight and didn’t think Bradley ever has a chance of beating Pacquiao. I totally disagree. Go look at the Ali vs. Frasier where Frasier beat Ali like he stole something but Ali came back and took Frasier out in the next fight. Look at Ali vs Foreman”Rumble in the Jungle”, Ali was losing the entire fight and almost died in the ring but walked out a champion. Look at Moorer vs. Foreman, where a 50 year old George Foreman became Heavy Weight Champ of the World on one punch at the end of the fight.

In Boxing and in Business you always have a punchers chance even for an undeserved victory,

 

Wishing you Wealth Wellness and Wisdom

Manager of Wealth

 

The Myth of Dollar Cost Averaging

Tony Brayboy of Matrix Wealth Management

Maxing out you 401K sets You Up for Higher Taxes

Tony Brayboy of Matrix Wealth LLC speaks at the Wealth Breakfast in Baltimore

The Truth of the 401k

If you have a 50% loss in the market you have to have a 100% gain to get back to even. So for those who think the market is back please watch this video and keep that in mind. There is an alternative.