Building Wealth

For the first 30 or so years of working, saving and investing, you’ll be first in the mode of getting out of the hole (paying down debt), and then building your net worth (that’s wealth accumulation.). But don’t forget, wealth accumulation isn’t the ultimate goal. Decumulation is! (a separate category here at the Hub).

The Greatest Prospector in the World

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7ca4643d950f4bd09e96de75113a3031-GP_Cover_frontThe Greatest Prospector in the World is the title of a new work of “Business Fiction” focusing on the six “secrets” of sales prospecting success. The author is Ken Dunn, CEO and Founder of Las Vegas based Next Century Publishing.

The six secrets are slowly revealed over the course of a charming tale that begins in the year 1910, a story Dunn describes in the book’s subtitle as “A Historically Accurate Parable on Creating Success in Sales, Business, & Life.”

For those who wish to skip on to the six secrets, they are laid out in the short Afterword, in which Dunn acknowledges a literary debt to Jim Stovall’s Ultimate Life Series and Og Mandino’s classic The Greatest Salesman in the World.

Dunn himself is no slouch in the world of sales prospecting: after an early career in police work he started businesses in property management, finance, direct sales and publishing.

You can find more at the book’s web site, www.greatestprospector.com. Also check out Dunn’s recently launched ReadersLegacy.com, which is a kind of Facebook for book lovers. In an interview in his Toronto offices, Dunn described Reader’s Legacy as “Facebook meets Amazon.” The site even features a kind of literary currency called “Lit Coins,” (reminiscent of Bit Coins).

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Kenn Dunn (Twitter.com)

The 6 secrets of Sales Prospecting

I’ll reveal the titles of the secrets but you really need to read the story to get the context. As the cover image shows, it’s all about prospecting for gold nuggets.

Here are the six secrets:

1.) Dress for the Weather

2.) Know what you’re looking for

3.) Use the right tools

4.) Get in the River, Even when you don’t want to

5.) Make it Fun

6.) Work Hard for Six Days, Rest for One

 

 

 

David Trahair’s contrarian stance: Be a loaner, not an owner

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125_Enough_Bull_High_Res_Cover_FinalBy Jonathan Chevreau

Financial Independence Hub

In this summer’s series on the 7 eternal truths of personal finance, one of the articles was entitled Be an Owner, Not a Loaner, which reflects the usual financial industry advice that stocks are more likely to generate long-term investment returns than cash or bonds.

There is of course a contrary view to this eternal truth and it’s best contained in the new second edition of David Trahair’s book, Enough Bull, originally published early in 2009, right at the bottom of the financial crisis..

Trahair, a chartered accountant and author, could as easily have titled his book Be a Loaner, Not an Owner, because he’s adamant that stocks (i.e. equities), whether individual or pooled through mutual funds or ETFs, are just too risky for the average person.

The book cover includes a small image of a bull (as in a steer), so clearly the title Enough Bull is a double entendre: as in no more bullish prognostications on the stock market, as well as no more bovine excrement, whether dispensed by the animals or financial advisors.

Skeptical about the financial industry and its central belief in stocks Continue Reading…

Why tech-savvy millennials are automating their investments

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Profile picture_Mike Katchen
Michael Katchen, Wealthsimple

By Michael Katchen

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

When we launched Wealthsimple 12 months ago, investors in Canada had just two options to manage their money: Do it yourself or hire an advisor.

Doing it yourself is low cost, but overwhelming for most investors. It requires a level of knowledge, interest, and confidence to manage your life savings completely solo. Hiring an advisor is easy, but can be expensive and intimidating, even if you have a large enough balance to meet high account minimums.

At Wealthsimple, we’re building a third category: automated investing with on-demand advice. This new category combines the low costs of doing it yourself (DIY) with the real advice and sophisticated approach of a full-service advisor.  We built cutting-edge technology to automate a passive investing approach and digitize the entire account opening and reporting experience. It’s convenient, allowing customers to open an investment account in 10 minutes, with no paperwork or branch visits required. And it’s not just robo-investing or robo-advice, it’s real advice delivered by real Portfolio Managers by phone, email, video chat, or text message.

So who uses an automated investment solution? Definitely not your average investor!.

What an automated investment client looks like

In an industry where 90% of clients are over 50 years old, clients of automated investment services are almost half that age. The average Wealthsimple client is a first-time investor, just starting to put money aside for both short and long-term goals.  Our clients range from 19 to 89, but 80% are under 40 years old and the average is under 30. Continue Reading…

Maximizing Finances as a Young Adult

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business, people and money concept - smiling businesswoman with dollar cash money over gray background and forex graph going upBy Jenna Batten

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

For young people seeking to become financially independent, one of the most important underlying principles of frugality is making the most of your existing assets. Put simply, this means learning how to spend only what you must, how to invest strategically, and how and when to save.

Here are a few tips on how to address each of these points:

Spend Wisely

Being frugal with your money is always a good idea, and for some it’s a fairly basic practice: you spend only what you need, when you need to, without gratuitous or unnecessary expenses. However, even those who believe themselves to be strategically frugal with their finances may be surprised to see how many costs they can cut if they really sit down and analyze the situation.

Thankfully, doing so has become easier than ever before thanks to, you guessed it, an app—or rather a whole slew of apps, designed to assist in financial tracking. You can read about a number of these apps at Daily Worth, although the most popular options are Mint and GoodBudget. Both tools help to provide you with a comprehensive, visual display of what you spend and what your overall financial situation looks like.

With these sorts of tool handy, or simply with a detailed financial tracking system of your own, you can effectively create a budget based on your own financial situation and your particular habits. You can then adjust your spending habits wherever possible to ensure that you’re spending no more than you really need to.

Invest Strategically

Continue Reading…

Create a Money Machine: The Effect of Compounding

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Billy Kaderli, RetireEarlyLifestyle.com

By Billy Kaderli, RetireEarlyLifestyle.com

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Our adventures around the world allow us to interact with many younger travelers in cafes and restaurants. Travelers are a great source of information about where they have been, places to stay and where to avoid. Things to do and the best way to get to a destination are often the topics of conversation.

Many times we are asked about how we can afford to travel for so long and then there’s the predictable wistful response: “I wish I could do what you’re doing.”

That’s when I tell them they can.

I explain in simple terms about investing and how they can create their own pension or annuity or as I like to call it a “personal money machine.” It is right about now when their eyes glaze over like they are speaking with their crazy uncle at a Thanksgiving Dinner.

I bring their attention back by saying they have something that I do not have; time. Usually I get a nod and a blank stare. I go on and ask if they know what “compounding” is. More often than not, they do not have a clue. These are college grads or they are taking a break from school to pursue their traveling bug. But to my surprise they do not understand the concept of compounding, which, in my opinion, is the easiest way to build wealth.

According to Investopedia, the definition of compounding is “the ability of an asset to generate earnings, which are then reinvested in order to generate their own earnings. In other words, compounding refers to generating earnings from previous earnings.”

Bingo!

Sweet simplicity.

The earlier you invest, the sooner Findependence

Continue Reading…