10 Foundation Steps To Building Wealth That You Need

If you are going to learn something then learn it from one of the best. Recently I had the pleasure to do just that. Mr. Money (Mark Rothstein) elaborated on all the foundation blocks necessary to build great wealth, for maintaining wealth and ultimately creating financial freedom for you and your family. What I took away from that day is priceless. I am on my path to financial freedom thanks to my commitment to create these 10 foundation steps as follows; 

1. Money Management- Otherwise know as your monthly cash flow or your budget, except it has to be more than that. If you don't know what's coming in, where it needs to go or even what the plans are for your cash do you think it's going to end up in the right place. My favorite money management system that I blog about puts you into the habit of dividing you income into pre-determined different categories. Each category with its own investing, saving and spending rules. This allows you to set goals which you need to write down as rules for yourself to follow. If you can't decide on or know what to do with your money, it's simple, go get educated on how to manage your money or make investments, go out and ask as many financial advisors as you can to find out what's best for you. Remember it is your money and therefore yours to control and protect.
2. Do Estate Planning - Far too many people leave this until it is too late and your assets and the decision of where/who controls your assets ends up in the hands of the government. The right thing to do is declare where you want your assets to go in the event of your death. That way you know all your efforts are helping the people who matter the most to you. There are tax laws out there that will potentially tax your beneficiary and your estate prior to the funds being transferred or even generate back taxes due, don't put this burden on your loved ones. Enduring power of attorney, in the event you become incapacitated you'll want to have a responsible person with details of your pre-define decisions to act on your behalf. This is deciding your health care situation in the event you are unable, like how the bills get paid, long-term disability or even long-term care. Lastly a statement of desires to clearly identify how you want to be remembered.
3. Credit and Debt Management - This perhaps sounds too simple but make sure you have a plan to get out of debt and to you are going to stay out of debt problems. Building wealth and collecting assets is not about over extending or leveraging yourself to a point where payments begin to take away assets. Yes you are already managing your money but you have to put in place a plan on how to get out of owing for things, remember you want to become the banker not the debtor. Once you have this plan and your guiding rules, you must commit to executing the plan everyday. A special note is to investigate lowering your interest due by increasing your credit rating thus making the payment more effective in reducing the principal owed. Pay down or pay off those credit cards known as revolving debt, once these are at zero get a confirmation statement and keep them at zero this can also boost your credit rating. A for this trick on utilization you must be very disciplined, your can take advantage of your utilization rating by increasing your line of credit limit such that your amount owing is less than 30% of your limit. But be warned of the temptations to spend and use that extra credit, this method is for those who have control over themselves and manage their money wisely.
4. Income Taxes- One of the biggest ways too loose your wealth is by over paying taxes, meaning paying more than your far share because the governments are not going to return the extra. To get the most benefit which is to not pay more tax than you need to, work with a great tax accountant someone who has demonstrated success with other rich people. The first thing you need to learn is what's safe to deduct, how to avoid being audited and the type of legal entity your business should be for the best tax protection. Basically you need to always ask why am I paying this tax and can it be reduced or eliminated to your tax specialist then take the necessary actions to benefit and keep more of your money. I'm not saying cheat the system, I am saying make it easier for the government to count your tax contribution by giving them the minimal.
5. Insurance- OK everyone hates paying for something that you get no return on and as much as you do not need insurance today for protection all of your assets do need it, always protect them first or you'll lose them. Make sure you have complete coverage for life, medical, long-term care, disability and include your family. All it takes is a slip or a fall and either you can be out or your asset taken. Act now before and not after you have to learn the lesson the hard way, why not learn why it's so great to already have insurance that protects you as opposed to the cost of not having any. Bottom line 'Just Do It'.
6. Understand to Predict the Economy- It is near impossible to predict the future but knowing what indicates changes to the base economic state is not so difficult. Start with knowing how the government influences the economy, the impact of the monetary system to your investments, meaning when to be an investor (or change your investments) vs being the bank and lending. Understand whose economy impacts your wealth building plan, how does the unemployment rate or retail sales change your growth or are you invested in other developing nations unrelated to your local economy. Just like you reduced your taxes (which is the government fiscal influence) you need to avoid having money in markets that can cost you more, know what indicators to watch that change your investment growth.
7. Investments- Understand investing is such a large topic that you will be learning all your life unless you take it one investment vehicle at a time. Don't load up on different types of investments until you fully understand the first one and create, your strategy for this investment (write it down) as this plan will keep you one track. Create a plan knowing when to move or change your investment, have the escape plan in place so once you have hit your growth target you can combine it all into your next opportunity. Overall you need to set yourself some ground rules as your learn different investment vehicles, back to managing your money wisely, guidelines to minimize loss from all or any investment, how to balance for unpredictable events or even the investment moves in reaction to a natural disaster.
8. Real Estate - There has been a lot of wealth created through real estate and there is opportunity for more. You just need to know what type of real estate to be in (residential or commercial) which market location and how it can hurt you. Positive cash flow from any real estate investment is always the goal, you make you capital gain when you invested at below wholesale price not when you sell it later. Real estate is always about the cash flow, the numbers each month must add up in your favor, knowing what can change them, having protection against costs and how to increase the value your clients pay are key. Most times it is not glamorous but more like repetitive profit checks if you have done your research, due diligence and negotiating right.
9. Plan for Retirement- If you are creating and mastering all of these foundation blocks the number one question should be why, what's in it for me. Retirement is really for freedom and with all of these steps to building wealth in place you will be financially free. Creating a plan of what you want to do in retirement is like making the list of your desires if you did not have to work anymore. What would your lifestyle be? What kind of spending habits or traveling would you do? You've got to figure this out now and put a number to it so you have a financial target to hit and then take the actions to grow your wealth to meet your retirement goals. Having the plan of how much you need in the future to cover your retirement monthly bills, how many years to you have to live a free lifestyle, not to mention any taxes and where the funds will come from are important things you need to know. Certainly expecting the government to flip the bill for your worldwide travel adventures is most likely not going to happen. If anything the government will claw back in taxes anything they give out so planning for yourself with your own investments. Learn about variable annuities these vehicles can continuously pay you in retirement. There are many different types and options with all but you need to know your future plans and how much you need to invest now for these vehicles to pay you for life.
10. Money and Relationships- We have all heard that money is the number one cause of most breakups. So it is extremely important that you and your significant other must be on the same page with respect money, cash flow and retirement planning together. Commitment to each other includes the financial aspects for your future lives together and your retirement freedom. Both working together for the same goals and understanding the plan, the money management and investments are keys to the relationship. Remember you are in this together or not at all.

So there you have it, build your wealth by creating these unbreakable foundation blocks that are interconnected so all your money grows and stays on top. I recommend any chance you get to attend an event where millionaires or money managers for millionaires are speaking make whatever effort in order to attend, the knowledge and insight shared is invaluable. Think of it this way, a small idea from a millionaire just might be a $50,000 change in your lifestyle.