Sounds crazy, right? But that’s exactly what 80% of people actually are … just too damn busy to be able to stop for five minutes and plan … anything. Most of us are on life’s hamster wheel, feeling it’s spinning so fast that we don’t have time to plan the basics let alone handle the important stuff? Sound like you too?

Putting off basic stuff like getting organized – so we can “stop and smell the roses” occasionally – let alone worry about the future! Let’s face it, it’s the future. It’s a long way off and we are too busy – we’ll deal with THAT later, right?

Unfortunately, it’s wrong! Most of the people that come to see us arrive at the point of time when they are staring down at a mountain of debt or realizing they haven’t got a plan for wealth creation. What about retirement? Usually there is still time to work out a plan, but the plan would have been much easier had it been worked out when time was an issue, I mean during the crazy times when kids were in school or jobs were in the fast-paced stage. Worry can now take its toll.

No matter what your “time” of life is, the secret is to get organized. Get organized with your time, you have more time. Get organized with your money, you have more money.

The secret to building wealth is get organized. As you do, the rest will fall into place and the happier you will be.

It is amazing just how we allow our perceptions and assumptions to rule what we do and achieve. How many times have you missed out on success simply by assuming what someone else is thinking? Or, having the perception that an event isn’t for you or needed for some reason? This can hold you back financially. It can also limit your happiness and lead to depression! Want to know why? It’s just how our brains work – they’re attuned to our knowledge and confidence levels.

Let me explain; imagine you see a couple of your friends or work colleagues having a chat, they occasionally glance over at you and keep talking. Depending on our confidence level and self-esteem we will make one of two assumptions. The confident person will assume they are noticing your great outfit or commenting on your latest success or achievement. A person lacking confidence may assume “they are talking about me … what have I done … they don’t like me” and go into a downward spiral of negative thoughts.

What has this got to do with building wealth? WE. THINK. ABOUT. MONEY. ALL. THE. TIME. And, we often waste so much time and energy assuming or guessing what other people have, are doing, or thinking that we leave little time or energy for improving our own lives.

The mind is a funny thing, it controls so much! It can push you forward or hold you back for years. Yet, you are in total control of what you think and how you think. It can be so easy to fall into the trap of low self-esteem and believe the worst. Yet, it is just as easy to turn it around and build amazing self-confidence which can lead to great financial success.

It might be time to refill your mindset bucket.

It is amazing how we tend to just accept some banking fallacies as fact. Like a home loan takes 30 years to pay off – did you know that the Latin definition of ‘mortgage’ is ‘agreement until death!!’ Seriously! The other trick that most of us fall into is to use the banks’ money on a credit card and then pay for it forever.

Recently, I received an invitation to increase my $7K credit card limit to $14K (I was “a good payer”). Reading the fine print pointed out that, by paying minimum payments (which most of us do), it would take me 66 years to repay the money had I increased my limit! 66 YEARS?!

The same goes for our mortgages too. Your 4% LOW interest mortgage is really costing you upwards of 60% or more! During the early years of a home loan, most of the payment goes toward interest thanks to the large outstanding balance.

The easiest way to save the most money is to offset your money against debt at all times. Don’t think that having your money in low cost bank accounts with ‘high interest’ is the way to go. You will never earn as much interest as the banks are charging you, period.

The next big hint is – don’t have money in savings accounts if you have credit card debt you are paying interest on. It just makes no financial sense.

The banks tell you how to do your banking which is really like asking the mouse where to put the cheese. Using a strategy of cash flow banking is my preferred financial platform for fast debt. It puts you in control, not at the mercy of the financial institution. If you want to learn more, this is just one of the life hacks in our ebook which you can download here.

Investing young brings the valuable advantage of time to any carefully diversified portfolio.  It’s smart to place earned income in an employer matched 401K.  It’s smart to also start your Roth IRA, which it can be argued, is much more valuable in the long run depending on whether you think taxes will increase over the next few decades or if you believe your income needs will lessen at retirement.

Funds outside an IRA can be invested in the longer term fixed income portion of your diversified portfolio.  A properly structured high cash value life  insurance policy is a versatile way of securing that million dollar retirement, providing for possible long term care needs and also leaving a legacy to your family or charity.  This vehicle for securing wealth and lowering the tax burden is so poorly overlooked, mostly due to the fact that financial advisors don’t understand life insurance as part of a fixed income portfolio.  Most financial advisors are not educated in insurance products, they will place your assets in appropriate risk equities or bonds.  That’s how they get paid.   If they don’t  understand or are not licensed to sell insurance they will not sell it or advise you to buy it. 

It is likely that they will advocate for term insurance, which is less expensive and then tell you to ‘invest the difference’.  This may not be the best choice, but it is serving them by getting more funds to invest for you thereby increasing their income on your behalf.  The picture on the desk of the family in Hawaii with matching floral shirts is of them, not you.