If you want to be a millionaire, if you want to be smart with your money, if you want to get ahead in life, build security, establish equity, and retire in confidence, then you must, simply MUST become King of your Castle!

You need to buy your first home if you haven't taken this important step yet. If you have bought your first home already, then read on. I know you already are nodding your head in full agreement, but let's briefly review some of really cool things that happens when you own your own home:

Thing 1 : All interest paid on your mortgage is a tax write-off at end of year.

Thing 2: You are building equity, and FAST!

Thing 3: No more landlords, No more thin walls!

Thing 4, tax break, gives you breathing room financially.

Thing 5, Equity. Huge deal here.

Thing 6: The King of your Castle!

Thing 1 : All interest paid on your mortgage is a tax write-off at end of year.

That's HUGE. If you pay $1000 a month on your mortgage, vast majority of this is interest.

You're write-off at end of year, will be around $12,000 as a scheduled deduction on your 1040 to tax-man. See massive benefit this has, come April 15th?

Watch your savings account thrive, or go on an awesome vacation to Jamaica, or buy a new car, or invest in a mutual fund. We’re talking thousands of dollars here, for most Americans, in realized tax savings!

If this isn’t enough to get you salivating, then I don’t even think a bag of money falling from sky will elicit any kind of reaction from you. Come on! Thousands of dollars in tax savings! That IS, in fact, a big, bag of money! Huge, huge, huge.

Thing 2: You are building equity, and FAST!

Last year, mid-2003 to mid-2004, average American home appreciated around 9.5%. Think that's good? In 74 housing markets, appreciation was in double-digits.

Generally, a low appreciation is considered to be around 4%. So, with that kind of amazing track-record, you need to sit down with your trusty calculator and start getting your hands around reality that this could be YOU!

There's nothing that prevents you from buying your home. All objections can be overcome, and all obstacles can be reckoned with.

First, though, get to point where you fully understand power of leverage, as many homeowners have come to realize, with owning your own home.

Thing 3: No more landlords, No more thin walls!

No more neighbors behind sheetrock, no more carports, no more smelly garbage bins, no more gross washer/dryers, no more rude, late-night out of control parties, no more leaky faucets ignored, no more intrusive and neglected bugs and vermin! That was your old life. This is your new life.

This is your home. You own it. You run it. You are master of your domain!

You maintain it, improve it, and take pride in it.

It is American dream, of course, to own a piece of land that you can call your own. I know you feel it in your bones. I know, that you know, that this is true.

So, how does owning your own home, get you to be a millionaire? Well, that's incredibly simple:

Thing 4, tax break, gives you breathing room financially.

Your tax return can be substantial, and this means more money in your pocket, less stress in your bank account.

So, you wanna earn a million dollars, super-duper easy? How would you like federal government to give you a big, huge tax break? Wouldn’t it feel deliciously good to earn a Million Dollars of income, completely tax free? How would you like to earn a million dollars of income passively, quietly, without lifting a finger? Well, put your seatbelts on, folks, because in a brief nutshell, I’m going to introduce you to financial vehicle that you’ve been looking for! Welcome to wonderful world of investing through a ROTH IRA in 5 simple steps:

1. What is a ROTH IRA?

2. Which way should I go…ROTH IRA or Traditional IRA?

3. When Should I start Investing in a ROTH-IRA?

4. How Long Before I Earn $1,000,000 – One Million Dollars?

5. A Checklist

Before we proceed, A couple things to please keep in mind. A ROTH IRA, while completely simple and easy for all of us to understand, is not without complexity, and each individual is different. Laws change, so always check with your financial advisors before proceeding to take action. The information contained in this journal are solely opinions of this writer, so be sure to seek out solid financial advice before making any important decisions. Be sure to do your own research and conduct your own financial assessments prior to changing any investments or making any new financial decisions. While I welcome opportunity to introduce you to ROTH IRA in my own words, please make sure that you assess your retirement plans on your own, alongside those financial advisors that you trust and rely upon. With that said, let’s proceed!

1. What is a ROTH IRA?

a. A ROTH IRA is a wonderful product that came into existence as a result of Taxpayers Relief Act of 1997. It is a new tax-shelter for average American, and a new opportunity to take advantage of certain benefits that were previously unavailable.

b. A ROTH IRA, in part, reverses process from that of a regular traditional IRA account. The down side is that there are no tax deduction benefits for your contributions. The plus side is that contributions you make, are POST-TAX…In other words, you’re not using ROTH-IRA before taxes are taken out of your paycheck. You’re using ROTH-IRA from your Net proceeds of your paycheck, or after taxes are taken out. Why is this absolutely wonderful? Well, I’ll get to that in a minute.

c. Most of us can add up to $3000 (as of 2004) per individual into each account per year. Now of course, if you’re married, then you can add up to $6000 per household, combined into two ROTH-IRA accounts, per year! That’s enormous. Absorb that for a second. You and your family, can invest $6,000 additional monies, per year, in a tax-shelter, that will earn revenue TAX-FREE!

d. After 5 years, principal can be distributed, even though earnings should remain in account to avoid taxation and penalties. What this means is, that you are not restricted completely from this money. After 5 years, options become available to you. This is nice, because this means that you do not, necessarily, need to wait until retirement, to extract funds, should need arise. Of course, early withdrawal penalties may exist as they do in many tax-shelters, however, point is that there is added flexibility in ROTH-IRA, that was previously unavailable.

2. Which way should I go…ROTH IRA or Traditional IRA?...Perhaps!

a. Now whether to go with a ROTH IRA or a traditional IRA account is really up to you and and your financial advisors. This is a subjective decision, and each persons needs and requirements are different. Here are a couple things that I keep in mind, however, when I’m examining ROTH-IRA for my family:

b. Do I have a 401k, and a company sponsored Savings or Pension plan, and a Bonus plan, and a variety of other tax-shelters, and retirement programs? If I do, then perhaps I don’t necessarily need a traditional IRA account, because I already have investments working to my benefit, pre-tax. Perhaps if I were to sit down and do math, I would see that all my pre-tax bases are covered. What I need now, is next step…What I need now, is a way for my family to invest my POST-TAX dollars smartly. What I might need, is a ROTH IRA…Perhaps.

c. Am I planning on extracting EARNINGS of this fund, before I retire? Now, I’m not talking about Contributions. This is an important distinction that was previously discussed. I’m talking only about Earnings. Anyway, if answer is YES, then I may want to look into a regular, typical, standard brokerage account, and forget IRAs altogether. Remember, both ROTH-IRA and Standard IRA are designed as tax-shelters that average American family can use to grow their assets for retirement purposes. If my assets are much larger and robust, then perhaps a ROTH IRA may be small potatoes, too restrictive, and I should just go with a standard taxable account for much greater flexibility…Perhaps.