Someday Isle

Imagine a peaceful island with soft breezes, lush green grass, gentle waves caressing the shore and clear blue skies above sprinkled with puffy white clouds. Add an array of reds, purples, yellows and pinks in the fragrant flowers gently blanketing the landscape. Serene, soothing and relaxing. Tempting? Probably, but not very profitable.

Look at your life. Really take a serious look at your career. Are you passing time on Someday Isle instead of taking charge of your life? Are you letting the days slip into weeks and months and years? Oops, retirement age peeks around the corner. Are you hiding your head in the sand like an ostrich and making excuses. If you don’t face it maybe it will solve itself. Not likely. Have you made the decision to stand up and take action? Life is a choice. Choose, take action, or face the consequences.

The old standard belief of “get a good education, work hard and the company will take care of you” no longer applies. Corporations are outsourcing to other countries, downsizing, and dissolving retirement plans. At one point “defined benefit plans” were normal; the company funded your retirement. Now the standard “defined contribution plan” is more common. You contribute to your own retirement and when your contribution runs out, your checks stop. Abrupt, but real. Remember hearing “If it is to be, it is up to me.” Believe, if it is to be, it is up to you. Success is a choice.

The time is now to declare that you are ready. Act. If you are like most Americans in their 50s you have saved $50,000 and invested in very low return mutual funds. Your financial manager probably tells you that you are earning 5 or even 8 per cent. They may even attempt to convince you that you are doing better than the market. Reality check. Inflation is about 10% per annum. If you earn 5% to 8% and the money manager takes 2 to 3% of that, you are going backwards. The money manager is making more than you do. You do the math.

Why are you procrastinating? Why are you putting off decisions? Not sure which way to turn, so you do nothing. Time is passing. Retirement age looms closer and closer and your bank account cries.

Success is a choice. Golden hours, days, weeks, months and years are slipping away. It is time to move away from Someday Isle and join the real world of responsible people.

What are you thinking?

Someday I’ll start my own business

Someday I’ll get serious about providing for my future

Someday I’ll learn how to get out of debt and stay out of debt

Someday I’ll learn how to manage my own investments and make money for myself.

You will never get rich on Someday Isle. Working a job does not provide for your future either. Most people are working paycheck to paycheck. How do you plan to live when the checks stop arriving? What holds you back from taking charge of your life, your finances and your future?

Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki’s book “Why We Want You to be Rich” urges people to start their own business. In Kiyosaki’s cash flow quadrant he lists employee status as the least desirable section of the four squares. Yes, it requires less effort – someone else tells you what to do. They also have the power to tell you goodbye.

Self-employed – ok, you are a step above. At least you stepped away from the “tell me what to do group” and stepped off shore into the unknown. You decided to take action. Congratulations! You earn all the profit from your actions; however, stop working and you stop earning.

Business owner – ah, you are earning from the efforts of others as well as your own work. Stop working for awhile and you keep earning. Much better – this is called leverage. You’re making progress. You still earn all the profit from your efforts as well as profit from the labor of others.

Investor – the top of the mountain. Now your investments earn for you. Your money works for you instead of you working for your money.

Once you reach investor status, go on back to that paradise island. This time you arrive in your yacht with a staff of investments to support you in luxury. Wow, is it ever worth the journey.

Let’s recap how you traveled from Someday Isle to Paradise Isle. Far too many people struggle to achieve financial success at the cost of their personal life. All the typical excuses “I need to provide for my family’ or “the only way to get ahead is to work long and hard.” What price do you put on your life, time with your family, and your stress in the process? Your children are going to grow up whether you are home or not. What are you missing? What are they missing?

Franchises cost a small fortune, take years to recover your investment and still require long hours every day. Brick and mortar businesses control your time, usually require employees, and cost overhead for rent, furniture and fixtures. Network marketing involves a low startup cost, work from your home, and still provides all of the benefits of a franchise or brick and mortar business. Read chapter 27 of Trump and Kiyosaki’s book “Why We Want You to be Rich.” “Why Do You Recommend Network Marketing” clearly explains the reasons to start a network marketing business. Listen to the wealthy if you want to become wealthy.

Your income generally becomes the average of your 5 closest friends. Listen to and learn from those you choose to become. Be careful whose words you give free rent in your head.

Are you ready to make the choice to move from Someday Isle to Paradise Isle? Come on in, the water is warm and the feeling is so nice.