Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hil: Book Review

Even if it is 70 years since the book Think and Grow Rich was written, it is still a highly respected and read book. It has sold millions of copies and is a “Bible” for people who are searching financial freedom. The essence of the book is Napoleon Hill’s famous statement: “Everything your mind can conceive, you can achieve” The title says the same, in different words: Think and Grow Rich


The book teaches “The thirteen steps to riches” according to Napoleon Hill.
It offers many questionnaires and practical exercises in addition to all the text. It gives you clear guide lines in how to set goals and reach them and how to make clear plans to follow. You are shown how you can realise your highest potential, and succeed in anything you set your mind to.
It also teaches you not to give up, and see all mistakes as learning opportunities. Napoleon Hill teaches that successful people never considers temporary failure as a permanent defeat.

Napoleon Hill used over 25 years to study over 500 of America's most successful business men in the start of this century. He took this assignment on from Andrew Carnegie in 1908.
Andrew Carnegie was at the time the richest man in the world and had from being a Scottish immigrant with no money, worked himself the way to become a giant steel manufacturer.
Carnegie believed that any one could achieve the same success as him and wanted his success formula passed on to the world. This became Napoleon Hill’s life task.

The success formula is as relevant and useable now as it was 100 years ago. Maybe it is even more relevant, since now people like me and you start to understand that it is not magic and lucky stars that make people rich. It starts with the way we are thinking.
The book teaches you to think differently, and if you are on your way to financial freedom, this one is a must.
The only drawback with the book is that it can be formal and repetitive in the language it is written. (Remember that it was written 70 years ago.)

 

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How to Make Money In the Stock Market: 4 Steps to Make You a Confident Investor

It’s a whole new investing ball game folks. Even just a few years ago, your odds of being able to start investing with as little as £100 were as good as a pig not rolling in mud after a storm.
Sure, people have been writing about investing with £100 for years.
But the knowledge needed to pull it off properly was crazy. And the emotional and practical obstacles to getting started were scary.
Not anymore.
If you’ve always wanted to hit the start (or restart) button on investing, here’s how you can do it with £100.

Is This You?

Let’s be honest.
Most folks believe the investing myths that abound everywhere you turn. I’m talking myths like:

1. Getting started with investing isn’t necessary if you eventually make enough money
2. Investing with small amounts has no benefits
3. You need thousands of dollars (or more) before the investment company gatekeepers will let you in
4. People who don’t know a stock from a bond or how “The Market” works should stay away
5. You should pay off all your debt – regardless of the terms and interest rate – before investing
6. The best returns for a solopreneur or small business owner are always reinvesting in your business

There could actually be some truth to these myths in certain scenarios. I should know since I worked in the investment industry for a decade. But people who these myths apply to probably don’t look and act like you and me.


Every day, a new barrier to investing with small amounts is being invisibly broken down. So, if you’re determined to have your purchasing power grow faster than taxes and inflation constantly devour it, you should be investing now.

Know the Breakdown

Many people get stuck with investing because they feel they need to know the perfect investment before starting.
Here’s a secret everyone should know:
There is no such thing as a “perfect” investment. There are only suitable or appropriate investments, some of which you might already know about.
You could get tips from Warren Buffett all day long or even incredible education in less than two pages, but the fundamental process can be the same for everyone.
Here’s the breakdown to get you moving, educated, and joining a new generation of confident investors.
1. Answer Some Initial Considerations
You don’t need to know every investing definition, process, and principle before starting.
But you do need to know your investing goals up front. Beyond ensuring your purchasing power is keeping up with the hidden bite of taxes and inflation, do you need money to pay for higher education, retirement, a future wedding, a new car, or that vacation you richly deserve? Answering this question will determine the account structure you need to pursue these big goals.
You should also consider how much to invest initially and periodically, especially if you have debt or are self-employed. Do this based on more than just financial analysis though. The health, emotional, and mental angles are essential too.
2. Choose an Investment Account Type
You could open a limited partnership, futures, or foreign currency account (among others). However, the newly empowered investor probably will find them too complex, too expensive, and too risky.
Instead, base your selection on the answer to this core question:
Do you want to invest with a focus on retirement, higher education, or something else?
If retirement, pick among retirement options like an Individual Retirement Account (U.S.), Tax-Free Savings Account (Canada), or Individual Savings Account (U.K.). If higher education, choose among options like a 529 College Savings Plan (U.S.), Registered Education Savings Plan (Canada), or Junior Individual Savings Account (U.K.). If retirement or higher education doesn’t suit your needs, the plain vanilla account is a great option.
3. Select an Appropriate Investment
Remember there are no perfect investments for you, only suitable or appropriate ones. And among all the investment types under the sun, picking one between stocks, fixed-income (i.e. bonds), mutual funds or Exchange Traded Funds, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT), and commodities will generally be appropriate for most people.
Just make sure you first understand core investing principles like risk tolerance, diversification, liquidity, rate of return, and keeping costs low before making a choice.
Filters and screening tools can be your best friend here, so use them liberally.
4. Picking an Investment Company
It starts getting easier now because your choices of account structure and investment type aren’t offered by all investment companies.
Separate from each investment company’s online functionality, support methods, and pricing model, the core decision point will be how little money the company requires to open an account and invest in specific securities.
Consider signing up for automated periodic investments to further decrease the minimum balance amounts required if otherwise too high. Just about every country has investment companies with no minimum balance amounts for certain investments or minimum amounts as low as £100.
Tools at The Motley Fool, FindTheBest, Financial Highway (Canada), and Money.co.uk (U.K.) can be really helpful.

Boom! You’re Investing

After the account is opened and you’ve placed your first trade, you’re rocking and rolling as an investor. Your investment balance might be small-time, but you should feel big-time confidence that your money can now grow to pay for your future needs.
Plus, it feels awesome to fight back against the ever-present grip of taxes and inflation.
When you act on these steps, your mind and spirit will thank you for liberating your time, money, and talent. Your pocketbook and bank account will thank you too.
So what’s it going to be folks? Commit to getting started (or restarted) with investing and let us know when it’s happening in the comments!

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3 Ways to Start Saving Money

I started my account with just £25. Each month I increased it by contributions by £10. Because the amount was so small, I found it easy to do, and it never caused any financial strain. We took our monthly credit card payment and applied it towards our retirement savings. Because we had already adjusted financially to making our credit card payments, it was easy to apply the payments towards retirement. It was a great and effective strategy – one that anyone can do.
I notice many couples and individuals do exactly the opposite - they wait to see how much money they have at the end of the month before putting it towards their savings. Not surprisingly, when that time rolls around, they discover there’s no money left! I know the "invest in yourself first" concept can be challenging for self-employed professionals who can’t predict exactly how much they’ll make during any given month. My recommendation is this: make your payments automatic by choosing a time of the month when you’re most likely to have cash coming in from sales, projects or clients.
Some people resist the "pay yourself first" concept; they want to maintain a sense of control over when their money leaves their checking account. Or they resist because they feel like there’s too little “wiggle room” - they’re living from paycheck to paycheck and it seems that there’s absolutely no extra money for savings. While it's good to notice resistance to automating your savings, you need to be honest and ask yourself: Is my current system working for me? Is my savings growing? Is my debt getting paid off?
So, how do you pay yourself first?
You do it, by just doing it. You do it by being willing to try a new approach. I always tell my clients, “start small and grow tall - increase your contributions gradually over time”.
It’s a lot easier than you think. And once you’ve done it, you can watch your savings grow and your debt shrink, with little thought or effort.
The best place to start saving is in a money market account or a money market fund.


So, again, here’s what you can do now:
1. Make saving a priority.
2. Open a money market account or money market fund. You can check research rates on money market accounts – I especially like ingdirect.com
If opening a money market account or fund feels too intimidating, open a regular savings account at your local bank. After you’ve done some additional research, transfer the money to a money market account or fund.
3. Start with as little as a £25 (or less) per month and make it automatic Pick a day of the month shortly after you typically receive income. Gradually increase your savings each month by 1% of your income or £10 a month. Then congratulate yourself for taking a big leap towards financial health and happiness.

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How to make Passive Income : Financial Freedom

The internet has become a worldwide phenomenon and alot of people have cashed a whole lot of money out of the internet.

What is Passive Income
 
There are primarily two types of income. There is passive income, which is having to put the time in to it to get money in exchange. For example, you work a job to earn money, this is active income. However passive income is something you do not have to go back to and it makes you income. For example you put a ebook online and you sell it, this is making passive income. Below are ways you can make passive income and make that step towards becoming financially free.

e-Book Sales
Selling e-books online is a great way of generating income. This is probably one of the easiest ways on how to make passive income online.  You’re essentially leveraging the Kindle store on Amazon and putting up your own e-book for people to purchase and download.  The secret to this method is doing the correct research and making sure that your Kindle book is optimized in their search and recommended product list.  For example, you could easily create a Kindle book called “Top 10 Success Principles Of Steve Jobs” and sell it on Kindle for a couple bucks.

The only downside to Kindle is that the potential to make a lot of money isn’t as high as creating your own information product or doing affiliate marketing, but it’s still a great, easy, and simple way to on how to make passive income online.  Amazon and Kindle does all of the selling for you, all you have to do is put the Kindle book up on their marketplace.

Click here tor the Kindle Direct Publishing page.

Selling Information Products
 
An information product is any type of product that provides information that the purchaser is seeking.  You would provide the information as a product on your website in the form of an e-book, audio or video program.

For some examples, go to the Clickbank Marketplace and you can view all of the information products people have created in the many available niches.  All of these websites and information products are designed to solve peoples problems.

While creating information products is a great way to make passive income online, it can take some more time than the other business models mentioned.  For an information product, you’ll need to create a website, sales letter, a digital product, as well as do the marketing and traffic generation.  It does require more skills and some experience, but it’s the best long-term and steady passive income stream mentioned here.  This business model also has the most potential to earn the most money over the other ones too.


Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing gives you the ability to earn a commission for promoting other peoples products. Most information and physical products online have an affiliate program that you can sign-up for. When you sign-up, you’re given a special link to promote that product with.  Anyone that buys that product through your link will earn you a commission.

You’d then get the blog to show up in Google for those specific keywords that people are searching for, the visitor would then view your blog, and then click your affiliate link to purchase the product.
You can also do affiliate marketing through a YouTube video, a mailing list, or even through social media.  In my opinion, affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to get started as you don’t have to worry about creating your own product, sales letter, or dealing with customer support.  Your only job is driving traffic to the person’s website.

Click here for the Clickbank affiliate marketplace.

Amazon Review Websites 

This method is essentially the same as affiliate marketing, except you’re promoting Amazon products.  Amazon has an affiliate program that anyone can sign-up for that allows you to promote any product on their website.  You can sell TV’s, Computers, Books, Movies… anything.  With Amazon, you don’t get the same commission structure as an information product (mentioned above with Affiliate Marketing), but if you promote expensive products such as TV’s or Computers, you can really make a lot of money even if the commission is quite low.
The strategy here is the exact same as the Affiliate Marketing method mentioned above.  However, there are a few other strategies that you can implement to really be successful at Amazon Review Websites, mentioned in the training resource section below.  This type of method is also really great to plugin to your existing website.

Click here for the Amazon Associates affiliate program.


Google Ad Sense

Simply add Google Ads to your blog or website.  When people visit your website and click the ads, you get paid by Google.  Simple as that.  Very easy way to make money, but the amount of money you get paid for someone clicking the ads depends on how many advertisers are bidding on them using Google Adwords.  There are some people that only have Google Adsense on their website or blog and do quite well, while others simply add a few of the ads to their website as another stream of passive income.

Click here tor the Google Adsense page.

Making an income online is no easy worker and I am not saying there is overnight success, it takes hard work to make a passive income. But if you persist at it you will become successful

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