Call It Your “Buy My Own Island” Plan.
Call It Your “Buy My Own Island” Plan. By Natalie Pace. Including 6 Easy Tips for a Fiscally Fit 401 (k).
Retirement plan. Who picked a name that sounds about as inviting as a root canal for your most important budget line item? How about my “Buy My Own Island” plan? Wouldn’t you get a little more excited opening up one of those?
Did you know that the stock markets, on average, have returned over 9% annually for the past 40 years, which is higher than real estate (6.4%), bonds (8%) and even gold (8%)? Your “retirement” plan is really your ticket to financial freedom – if you start thinking of it that way (instead of the envelopes that you file in a drawer without looking at them).
If the thought of managing your own 401 (k) makes you postal, relax and take a deep breath! This is the beginning of having more fun with money. You’ve always wanted to win the lottery, and this is your chance to earn while you sleep. It’s not as hard as you think, and you are not going to lose it all, provided you follow a few basic rules of thumb. Besides, most employers will match at least a portion of the money you put into your 401 (k), which is like an instant raise!
How can I say you won’t lose it all when the markets dropped? How do you easily and effortlessly make “money while you sleep” when the headlines are screaming about a Depression all the time? Below are 6 easy tips that work in bull and bear markets.
Freedom Plan Starting Point:
1. Tithe to Yourself. Take 10% of your gross income and allocate that to your new Freedom Plan, aka 401 (k), Roth IRA, etc.. Ask if your employer will match at least a portion of your contribution. If you are self-employed, your tithe to your Freedom Plan should be the FIRST check you write each month. (You can set up your own Individual Retirement Account through any online or brick-and-mortar brokerage.)
2. Play it Safe: Take a percentage that is equal to your age and assign that to safe investments. Money Markets, bonds, FDIC-insured Certificates of Deposit and Treasury bills are lower risk than stocks. If you are ultra-nervous about investing or if we are in a recession, add 10-20% to the safe part. 20-year-olds keep 20% safe because they still have another 45 years to get it right before retirement. 60-year-olds keep 60% or more safe because they are retiring in 5-10 years and need to be sure that they’ve got enough in their Freedom Fund to live the great life!
3. Diversify: Diversify the remaining money into 10 different exchange-traded funds – 4 hot industries and six diversified by size (small, medium and large) and style (value and growth). You can weight into higher-performing assets, like small cap stocks, and assign less into lower-performing asset classes, like the Bailout Index, as you desire, but make sure that you are not over-concentrated in any one sector.
4. Bi-annual Beauty Treatments: Plan on looking at your Freedom Plan at least twice a year to make adjustments as needed. For instance, between 1998 and 2000, NASDAQ doubled. In 2003, NASDAQ returned almost 50%. Clean energy was the top performer in 2007, earning 60 cents on every dollar. In between there have been two major recessions. By rebalancing your “pie chart” once or twice a year, you can see and capture your gains easily and effortlessly. And you are protected against downturns because you have enough safe.
5. Enron-proof your Freedom Plan: invest no more than 10% of your Freedom Plan in your own company stock. The biggest mistake employees at Enron made wasn’t working for Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, it was investing (and losing) 57.3% of their nest eggs in the company!
6. Get Educated. You can learn more about these strategies in my book You Vs. Wall Street and get the details you need to really implement them. Learn how to pick a great Certified Financial Planner, the Top Investing Mistakes and more. Also, join me on my BlogTalkRadio radio show on Wednesday mornings at 9:00 a.m. for fun, easy answers to your money questions. Want to know who picks up the check on dates these days or need help surviving the stock market rollercoaster? Get real solutions and answers for the challenges of a bailed out world!
You can do this. You have what it takes. The more you learn, the more you’ll gain. It all starts with the first monthly deposit, and a new plan based in the best strategies. Invest with wisdom, calm, faith and confidence, instead of fear, loathing and stomach acid. May your freedom plan yield as luscious a future for you and your loved ones, as mine has for me.
About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace, is the author of You Vs. Wall Street and CEO of one of the most respected, independently owned financial news corporations in the U.S. She has been ranked as a #1 stock picker from TipsTraders.com and has partnered content with Forbes.com, Sohu.com, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and more. She has appeared on Fox News, Good Morning America, CNBC, Time Magazine, More Magazine, USA Today, NPR and national radio shows. Ask her your money questions on her weekly radio show on BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace!
Follow her on Twitter.com/NataliePace,
YouTube.com/NataliePaceDOTCOM and
Facebook.com/NatalieWynnePace.
For more information please visit, http://www.nataliepace.com.
Activate links to:
http://www.perseusbooks.com/perseus/howtoorder.jsp?isbn=1593155514
BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace
Twitter.com/NataliePace
YouTube.com/NataliePaceDOTCOM
http://www.facebook.com/nataliewynnepace#/group.php?gid=79747546715&ref=ts
http://www.nataliepace.com.
Retirement plan. Who picked a name that sounds about as inviting as a root canal for your most important budget line item? How about my “Buy My Own Island” plan? Wouldn’t you get a little more excited opening up one of those?
Did you know that the stock markets, on average, have returned over 9% annually for the past 40 years, which is higher than real estate (6.4%), bonds (8%) and even gold (8%)? Your “retirement” plan is really your ticket to financial freedom – if you start thinking of it that way (instead of the envelopes that you file in a drawer without looking at them).
If the thought of managing your own 401 (k) makes you postal, relax and take a deep breath! This is the beginning of having more fun with money. You’ve always wanted to win the lottery, and this is your chance to earn while you sleep. It’s not as hard as you think, and you are not going to lose it all, provided you follow a few basic rules of thumb. Besides, most employers will match at least a portion of the money you put into your 401 (k), which is like an instant raise!
How can I say you won’t lose it all when the markets dropped? How do you easily and effortlessly make “money while you sleep” when the headlines are screaming about a Depression all the time? Below are 6 easy tips that work in bull and bear markets.
Freedom Plan Starting Point:
1. Tithe to Yourself. Take 10% of your gross income and allocate that to your new Freedom Plan, aka 401 (k), Roth IRA, etc.. Ask if your employer will match at least a portion of your contribution. If you are self-employed, your tithe to your Freedom Plan should be the FIRST check you write each month. (You can set up your own Individual Retirement Account through any online or brick-and-mortar brokerage.)
2. Play it Safe: Take a percentage that is equal to your age and assign that to safe investments. Money Markets, bonds, FDIC-insured Certificates of Deposit and Treasury bills are lower risk than stocks. If you are ultra-nervous about investing or if we are in a recession, add 10-20% to the safe part. 20-year-olds keep 20% safe because they still have another 45 years to get it right before retirement. 60-year-olds keep 60% or more safe because they are retiring in 5-10 years and need to be sure that they’ve got enough in their Freedom Fund to live the great life!
3. Diversify: Diversify the remaining money into 10 different exchange-traded funds – 4 hot industries and six diversified by size (small, medium and large) and style (value and growth). You can weight into higher-performing assets, like small cap stocks, and assign less into lower-performing asset classes, like the Bailout Index, as you desire, but make sure that you are not over-concentrated in any one sector.
4. Bi-annual Beauty Treatments: Plan on looking at your Freedom Plan at least twice a year to make adjustments as needed. For instance, between 1998 and 2000, NASDAQ doubled. In 2003, NASDAQ returned almost 50%. Clean energy was the top performer in 2007, earning 60 cents on every dollar. In between there have been two major recessions. By rebalancing your “pie chart” once or twice a year, you can see and capture your gains easily and effortlessly. And you are protected against downturns because you have enough safe.
5. Enron-proof your Freedom Plan: invest no more than 10% of your Freedom Plan in your own company stock. The biggest mistake employees at Enron made wasn’t working for Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, it was investing (and losing) 57.3% of their nest eggs in the company!
6. Get Educated. You can learn more about these strategies in my book You Vs. Wall Street and get the details you need to really implement them. Learn how to pick a great Certified Financial Planner, the Top Investing Mistakes and more. Also, join me on my BlogTalkRadio radio show on Wednesday mornings at 9:00 a.m. for fun, easy answers to your money questions. Want to know who picks up the check on dates these days or need help surviving the stock market rollercoaster? Get real solutions and answers for the challenges of a bailed out world!
You can do this. You have what it takes. The more you learn, the more you’ll gain. It all starts with the first monthly deposit, and a new plan based in the best strategies. Invest with wisdom, calm, faith and confidence, instead of fear, loathing and stomach acid. May your freedom plan yield as luscious a future for you and your loved ones, as mine has for me.
About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace, is the author of You Vs. Wall Street and CEO of one of the most respected, independently owned financial news corporations in the U.S. She has been ranked as a #1 stock picker from TipsTraders.com and has partnered content with Forbes.com, Sohu.com, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and more. She has appeared on Fox News, Good Morning America, CNBC, Time Magazine, More Magazine, USA Today, NPR and national radio shows. Ask her your money questions on her weekly radio show on BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace!
Follow her on Twitter.com/NataliePace,
YouTube.com/NataliePaceDOTCOM and
Facebook.com/NatalieWynnePace.
For more information please visit, http://www.nataliepace.com.
Activate links to:
http://www.perseusbooks.com/perseus/howtoorder.jsp?isbn=1593155514
BlogTalkRadio.com/NataliePace
Twitter.com/NataliePace
YouTube.com/NataliePaceDOTCOM
http://www.facebook.com/nataliewynnepace#/group.php?gid=79747546715&ref=ts
http://www.nataliepace.com.
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