Financial FreedomWritten by Roger Sorensen
Freedom - what a beautiful concept. According to Webster's Dictionary word freedom means "Liberty of person from slavery, detention, or oppression"; "the capacity to exercise choice, free will" as well as "exemption from an unpleasant or onerous condition". Is that what you think of when you think of money and freedom in same sentence? Ask most Americans and they'll say that having "enough" money means freedom to them. Freedom from a boss, from debt, free to go where they want and do it when they want to. Yet if you look at their lifestyle, take a peek in their checkbook and you'll see that they don't really want to have that much money. If they did, wouldn't they cut back their spending and utilize unspent money in a wiser manner? A few dollars here and a few dollars there and it will all adds up over course of a four decade long working career. If you saved $7 a week, placed it in an account earning 4-6% interest in 20 years you will have nearly $20,000. Who couldn't use an extra $20,000 in next two decades? Of course, younger you are when you start saving $7 a week, more money will grow by time you need it. While we're looking at their checkbook, how much do they give away for charity? There is something about charity that not only makes us feel good about helping others, it also doesn't seem to make us any poorer. If you doubt me, try donating 5% of your income over course of a year and see if you are any worse off after that year than you were before. Now take a look at average Americans credit cards. Nearly 2/3 of us are in bondage to one or more credit card companies. Yes, I know that I said bondage and that is exactly what debt is - bondage. If you are in debt you can not exercise your free will to do what you want because you have to make those payments to pay back what you have borrowed. *On a sidebar - nearly everything purchased with a credit card is a consumer good meaning that by time you receive bill next month, you have already used item you bought. I call this PLUN plan - Pay Later, Use Now. Can anybody say stupid? Financial Freedom means exactly what it sounds like - freedom to use your money, your resources, your time in any manner you wish (within reason and legality of course). You don't have onerous condition of having to work for a credit card company, a mortgage company, or any other lending agency and having to pay interest on money borrowed years ago. After all, if you owe somebody something you have to work to repay your debt so you are in fact working for that lender. Not a pretty thought. So if you agree that financial freedom is a desirable condition then why aren't more Americans striving to reach this goal? Some of us are lazy, some don't care, and a few have given up, but most just don't know how. To help you know how, at least as much as I can in this short article, there's two things you can do and one you really should do.
| | THE GREAT STOCK MARKET SECRETWritten by Al Thomas
THE ALCHEMIST by AL THOMAS THE GREAT STOCK MARKET SECRET When stock market is going up and all your stocks and mutual funds are making money you feel like a genius. It is too bad that some folks don’t remember what happened in 2000. Of course, right now we are in one of those genius phases. Your broker and financial planner are encouraging you to buy, buy, buy. And I can’t fault that at this time. You remember back in 2000 how many times they told you to buy, buy, buy while market was going down, down, down. Are we in another of those periods now that are leading up to a humongous crash? Hey, I don’t predict, but I do listen to voice of market. The great Wall Street mantra is “buy a good stock and put it away”. Did you keep WorldCom and Global Crossing? Even if these were exceptions because of fraud a smart investor would not have lost any money. In fact he could have made a nice profit.But Al, they went under! Yes, I know, but smart money still made out because they sold near top. As a former exchange member and floor trader I was not right every time I bought something and I especially did not like giving back nice profits that had accumulated. You don’t have to be psychic to know when to sell and don’t think you are going to be able to pick top. A really smart trader waits for a stock or fund to start up and then jumps on it with both feet. When
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