In other words, Fiverr is a growing marketplace where any individual can purchase, sell, or trade services, similar in ways to other freelance websites except they follow a unique business model which separates them from the rest – the $5 rule.

What makes Fiverr such a great place for anyone to make money, I mean absolutely anyone, is because there is no limit to what you can offer/sell. You’d be surprised how different the marketplace is opposed to other freelance websites. Just looking around their marketplace as I write, I see people offering logo designing, poetry, T-shirt designing, advertising, video marketing, graphics, and much more. They even have a category named ‘Silly Stuff’ and here are just some of the examples that reside in this fun-packed category. “I will make you laugh for $5,” “I will cast a spell for $5,” and, “I will make a video ranting about anything or anyone you want for $5.” The openness and variety of services available in Fiverr is simply amazing and astonishing at the same time. You’d be surprised what kinds of services are available and at what people are willing to buy because I sure was.

One of the biggest reasons why Fiverr is quickly becoming the marketplace for all individuals is because of their overall business model and scheme of their website that makes the atmosphere just perfect for almost any individual to start selling their products or services and start making money – although the scheme of the site sort of reminds me of Twitter (But, simplicity is always good). With most marketplaces, there would generally be only certain amount of services such as web designing, logo designing, and programming which of course requires some level of skill and if you offered something out of the ordinary, most of the time no one takes you seriously and you are left with bad remarks. But here at Fiverr, you will see that they offer services that other freelance sites have and much more. At Fiverr, you’d see many people even purchase services such as writing, poetry, and other fun stuff that people may reconsider posting on other freelance sites. This is what I believe is Fiverr’s greatest edge over other freelance marketplaces.

What makes Fiverr out shine the rest of the marketplaces is that even if you are not skilled at anything such as web designing, logo designing, or programming, you know the general freelance services you see on other sites, there is still always opportunities for you to make money. Creativity is all you really need to start making money at Fiverr. There is absolutely no limit to what you can sell at Fiverr and start making money. The sky is the limit.

I learned later on that it takes four crucial elements for a rose to grow. These same elements are essential for growing a strong 401K. Like roses and redwoods, a 401K needs strong roots if it has a chance to survive.

Here are 4 key ingredients for growing a strong 401K for your retirement.

Key Element #1: Time

Imagine dropping some rose seeds into the ground, covering them up with dirt and then expecting a bed of roses over night. Forget it, because it ain’t gonna happen! If you want your 401K to grow into the financial monster you’ll need, give it time to grow. The best evidence of this is the power of compound interest.

When you owe interest on your credit card, it compounds each month. A $100 credit car bill can become a $132 bill 30 days later. That $32 is leaving your pocket and going to the credit card companies. This is compound interest working against you. But if you’re investing $100 a month in your 401K, each month that interest is working for you.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw my 401K statement. At the time the $50 a month I was investing didn’t seem like much. But with a 50% employee match, that $50 quickly turned into $3,000 6-8 months later! If you continue to give your 401K time to grow, you could be looking at a six or seven figure retirement next egg!

Key Element #2: Regular Deposits

From roses to daisies flowers need water to hit the seeds. If there’s no water there’s no growth. If you’re not making regular deposits into your 401K or IRA, it won’t grow very fast. Here’s a good rule of thumb. When you first start investing into your 401K at work, go with 3%. A year later you should move up to 5%. You may want to set a goal of investing 10% of your paycheck a month, 1-2 years after that. Most employers will match up to 50% of your investment. Here’s what can happen when you steadily “water” your 401K.

One of the best things about a 401K is that you don’t have to be rich to make it grow. Look at what can happen if you make only $35,000 a year.

Let’s say you decide to work 20 years for your employer. And you get zealous and invest 10% of your monthly income. You start out with a 401K balance of only $500. Now we’ll throw in a salary increase of 3% a year, employer frequency match of 6% and a rate of return of 9%.

At the end of your first year you’ll have $5,237.13 socked away for retirement. If that doesn’t make you smell the roses, let’s fast forward to 20 years later. If you stay diligent and keep watering, you’re looking at $299,837.38! Not bad for some time in the old 401K garden.

Keep in mind this is if you don’t get creative. You can be as conservative or aggressive as you want with your 401K.

If you’re more conservative, go with a 5% contribution. At the end of the first year, you’ll have $3,241.06. At the end of year 20, $173,476.54! When you combine time with “watering”, your 401K will grow into the strong fund you want it to become.

Key Element #3: Expertise

Unless you’re a financial wizard with an MBA in finance, let me make a suggestion. Enlist the services of a Financial Planner. Anyone who wants to become a master gardener should learn from one. Treating your personal finances like a hobby is a quick way to retirement poverty! A Financial Planner can show you where to invest percentages of your 401K. Sectors like healthcare, energy and defense normally do well in down economies. Allow them to help you cultivate your 401K. It will grow properly over time.

Key Element #4: Patience

If there was ever a word folks don’t like its patience. I hate waiting. How about you? This is no different when it comes to our money. I want my 401K to grow fast. But that’s not always possible. The markets have moved up and down over the past year. At last count 401K’s have lost 20% of their value. That’s tough to take when we’re talking about your retirement income! But patience is a powerful equalizer. Stick to your plan and be patient. Financial collapses pass. New investment opportunities are out there. If you use patience instead of blind emotion your 401K will rebound.

Practice using these 4 key elements no matter what the economy does. When you do your 401K will grow. During retirement you’ll have money strong enough to sustain you!

Clyde McDade is a Financial Copywriter. He can be reached at accelcs@comcast.net.

Building a retirement plan is no different from building a Christmas tree. You need the right elements to produce the right income for your retirement. And here’s the best part. Your loved ones will also benefit. These benefits will come in the form of college money or beneficiary payments.

Here are the key elements you need to build a retirement plan that’ll keep on giving!

The Right Tree

Some Christmas trees are better than others. I love the “fake” ones, because I don’t have to worry about them drying out or catching fire. Everyone has to have a tree that fits them. Depending on the size of your house or apartment, you need a tree that will go with your home.

The first thing to consider in building your retirement plan is the plan that fits your needs. Here’s a small list of “Retirement Trees” you can use.

Tree #1: Roth IRA (Individual Retirement Account)
If you’re looking for a retirement account that escapes Uncle Sam’s taxes, this is the one for you. A Roth IRA allows you to save money without being taxed when you retire. Even if you pass away, your beneficiary will receive tax free money. Also, you don’t have to worry about an early distribution penalty or taking minimum withdrawals after age 701/2. No minimum distribution rules apply to the Roth IRA. You can steadily earn income and build your Roth IRA until you retire.

The contribution limit for Roth IRA’s in 2009 is $105,000 for singles and $166,000 for married couples filing jointly. And you can put money into your Roth IRA at any age.

Tree #2: Traditional IRA
A Fir tree is the original Christmas tree. It’s the one you could find in any home over the past decades. The Traditional IRA the one that started it all. You can invest $3,000 or more in it. But you have to start taking money out at age 591/2 and remove retirement dollars at age 701/2. Be careful on this one. The original IRA has a pitfall. Remove retirement funds before age 591/2 and you’ll pay a 10% penalty fee.
Making $43,000 as a single or $60,000 as a couple disqualifies you from having a Traditional IRA. This is a great way to build up retirement funds if your employer doesn’t offer one. You can do this through your bank or Financial Planner.

Tree #3: Traditional 401K
You most likely have this one already. Employers will match up to 50% of your contributions and up to 6% of your annual salary. The point is to encourage you to start saving for your retirement. You have several advantages with this one. The plan can be automatically deducted from your paycheck. You won’t have to worry about your money getting sucked up by your checking account. It’s nice to have money you’re investing matched by someone else. You’re basically getting free money from your employer. With the auto and financial industries getting billion dollar bailouts, it’s nice to know someone is throwing you a bone! Unlike the Roth IRA your money will be taxed at current rates when you retire. But you can grow your 401K with the right funds and sectors.

The Right Decorations

After you find the right tree for your home, you’ve got to get the right decorations. You place them carefully on the right spots on the tree. We do this for a few reasons. One, we want it to be visually appealing. Two, it brings the tree to life. And three, it’s a complete waste of time and money not to.

When you pick the right investment plan you need the right asset allocation. Like decorations on your Christmas tree you have to put your money into the right sectors and companies. Here’s an example.

During the “Tech Wreck” of 2000, investors lost 44% value in their technology stocks. Today those same stocks are worth 99% less than they were in 2000! They’re biggest mistake was not diversifying their investments. They put 65-85% of their capital into one sector. When you set up a Roth IRA, Traditional IRA or 401K choose a mix of sectors and companies. Some of these include healthcare, energy or commodities.

Let’s take a quick look at how this can work to your advantage.

401K Asset Allocation Plan

On paper this looks pretty good. Your assets are spread out in sectors that normally perform quite well. But what if you got aggressive and moved up to 75% into your growth stocks? If that sector takes a huge hit, you could lose what most 401K folks lost. At least 20% of their 401K’s value! By putting money into the right places, your retirement fund will continue to grow even when you take some losses.

In “How to Build a Strong Portfolio in Your 401K” Samuel D. Swisher, JD of Vantage Financial Partners Limited writes:

“It has been shown that 94% of the variability in a portfolios return is explained by the asset allocation mix and not by security (stock) selection or market timing.”

He’s saying putting your eggs into a bunch of baskets instead of one is what makes your 401K grow.

Now folks that’s financial advice even Santa can’t give you!

Opening the Gifts

Okay, so you’ve picked the right tree, decorations and put them in the right spots. Your tree is glowing and the gifts have been piling up. Your 401K, Roth IRA or Traditional IRA has done the same thing. You’ve picked the right plan, put money in the right spots and money’s been piling up like Christmas gifts under the tree.

When it comes time to retire you’ll get a gift you won’t forget. Depending on how much you’ve invested, your employer match, etc., you’ll open a financial gift of 6 or seven figures! And trust me when I say you deserve it.

Take the time to carefully build your Retirement Christmas Tree. When you do you’ll have a gift that keeps on giving to you and your loved ones. From myself and the folks at www.retirementcalc.com, have a Merry Christmas!

Clyde McDade is the author of the upcoming e-book, “How to Grow More Money for Your Retirement and Child’s College Fund.”

I knew the issue of withdrawing money during a down market is real because when the money is taken out of the account it is no longer available to help recover when the market eventually turns positive. In addition, I wanted to know what the best asset allocation would be to weather the storm of a down market.

There are only a few sources in the literature that deal with the issue of retirement withdrawals. These models tend to be extremely conservative. They severely restrict the money you can withdraw in order to be statistically certain that your money will last.

I was looking for a more realistic model for examining the impact of withdrawals on retirement savings accounts. I realize that there are no guarantees of future performance. Nevertheless an examination of past performance and a look at how major market downturns impacted that performance seemed like a prudent approach to understanding how to optimize my withdrawals.

We constructed the Retirement Calculator based on these historical scenarios. We examined the last fifty years of stock and bond performance. The calculator begins with the 1973/1974 market downturn and continues thru the most recent major downturn of 2000/2002. Both of these downturns were significant with stocks falling more than 40 percent.

The Retirement Calculator assumes you were unfortunate and began withdrawing money in 1973 for a period of 30 years. The calculator looks at various asset allocation strategies between stocks and bonds and shows you the optimum asset allocation for managing your money thru these downturns. It shows the optimum withdrawal rate so that your money has a reasonable chance of lasting a lifetime.

The calculator also includes additional features. The inflation factor allows you to adjust your withdrawals to compensate for annual inflation. For those who invest in mutual funds or employ a financial advisor a feature is included for reducing investment performance to account for the management fees that are included in these services.

The Retirement Calculator shows that using just the historical long term average return for market performance can lead to erroneous results. There is definitely an impact from withdrawing money from your account during market downturns. The greatest value of the calculator is that it shows you that you don’t have to live in fear of major market downturns. You can withdraw a significant amount from your savings even though the market is falling.

The calculator shows you that you can successfully withdraw significant amounts from your account by using asset allocation to weather those market downturns.

Robert J. Phillips
Chief Retirement Consultant

Not only are you concerned about college money for your kids, but there’s your own retirement. Dealing with a sunken 401K is like trying to raise an old ship. Both are fragile, but if you follow a few simple steps it can be done. But first, let’s take a look at why you may not have started the salvage process.

Four Reasons We Don’t “Salvage” Our 401K’s

As a hard working single mother you’re attached to every dollar you make. When you opened that envelope and saw your 401K statement, it hurt. This is because the first reason we don’t salvage a 401K quickly is emotion. Think of all the hard work and hours you put into building it. You’ve dealt with overtime, rude customers and aching muscles. Finding out most of it was wiped out makes you angry.

Second, you realize it’s lost too much value. The loss is so steep you feel like you can’t make it up again. It’s like finding a ship at the bottom of the abyss. The damage is so extensive, why bother to put it all back together?

The third reason is understandable. When something is difficult and we don’t want to do it, it’s easy to procrastinate. With a 401K you realize too much time has passed. Why go through the trouble of building it back up again?

And the fourth reason may surprise you. Maybe you decided to take other money and invest it elsewhere. You’re so ticked off it’s easier to focus investing in something else. I can’t blame you there. But remember something about your 401K. You can grow it at any time. Don’t leave it at the bottom of your personal finance ocean. It can be salvaged and even rebuilt to sail toward retirement.

Here are four easy ways to pull it off!

Four Easy 401K Salvage Methods

Salvage Method #1: Slowly Add Value

Long before salvage experts bring up a ship, they attach lines or straps. But they do this slowly. It took weeks for divers to attach lines to one sunken ship. They had to make sure they were in the right spots. This is no different with salvaging your 401K. When you first started building it, maybe you added money at a steady clip. But in these tough economic times, moving slow is wise. Start by contributing 3-5%. You need all the money you can get from your paycheck. But putting in even 3%, let’s you know you’re still saving for the future. In time you’ll be able to contribute 5-10%.

Salvage Method #2: Earn Side Money

When I was fourteen I needed to make some extra money. What did I do? During the summer I mowed lawns. I invested an extra 2-4 hours a week and it literally paid off. What can you do to add a few extra dollars to your income? Here’s what the money will do. First, it’ll allow you and your kids to have a little fun. Catch a movie or go to a special lunch. But here’s something else it’ll do. You won’t have to invest more of your paycheck into your 401K. Let’s say you can make an extra $1,200 per month writing resumes. Feel free to keep $800 for yourself and invest $400 into your 401K. You pick what side job you can do to earn some side money. I assure you it’ll help you to salvage your 401K.

Salvage Method #3: Move Slowly

Expert Salvagers have a surprising method for moving a sunken ship. It’s one I never thought could work. Once the straps or lines are in place, they’ll begin to raise it. But they don’t always bring it to the top. Instead the ship or submarine is moved underwater. They won’t fully raise it until it’s near the dock. Once the value of your 401K starts to rise, keep adding money slowly. Don’t be tempted to invest 7, 8, 9 or 10% to your 401K, right now. If you move like the expert salvagers do, you’ll be docking in your retirement sooner than you think!

Salvage Method #4: Restoration

Restoring an old boat or ship takes time. The work done is comprised of skill, patience and care. The same ingredients are needed to restore your 401K. The goal isn’t just to start putting more money into it. You want to make sure it’s strong and beautiful. For your 401k that means making it diversified with steady growth. Ask a Financial Planner to help you pick the right mix of mutual funds. They’ll know what’s bringing in a good return and ones to avoid.

As a single mother its tough out there. Personal Finance can be a “taboo” term to deal with. But if you start by using these simple steps, you’ll get back on course for a much deserved retirement!

Clyde McDade is the author of the upcoming e-book, “How to Grow More Money for Your Retirement and Child’s College Fund.” He can be reached at accelcs@comcast.net.

Here’s a look at the four rings that land you there.

Ring #1: Credit Cards

Most Americans rack up credit card debt. It’s so easy to whip out the plastic for items like gum on up to Christmas gifts. Once you replace cash with plastic your 401K can dwindle like sand in an hour glass.

The average U.S. household carries $9,840 in credit card debt as of 2007. This is up 25% since 2000. Let me ask you a question. What can $9,840 do for your retirement each year? With the power of compound interest you’d be sitting on top of 7 figures for your golden years! But it’ll never see the light of day if you keep relying on credit cards.

The current financial mess has caused an increase in credit card delinquencies. The American Bankers Association reports that credit card delinquencies rose to 4.51% in the first quarter of 2008. This beat the five year average of 4.4%!

Let’s say you open a 15 year 401K with $9,840. If you make an average salary of $40,000, earn an annual 3% salary increase and invest 5% of your salary, here’s what will happen. With an employer match of 50%, and a 9% compound interest rate you’ll end up with $140,067.78! Stretch that out to 30 years or more and you’ll hit 7 figures for your retirement.

If you’re relying on credit cards during the credit crunch, your hopes of a fat 401K are dying by the interest point.

Ring #2: Pay Day Loans

Okay, okay. I’m as guilty as the next retirement hopeful on this one. If you haven’t fallen into this little trap, don’t follow in my footsteps. It took several months to get out of this and I won’t be back.

The Center for Responsible Lending reports that the pay day loan industry sucks $3.4 billion out of our wallets each year. Did you know 91% of pay day loans goes to folks who take one out 5 or more loans per year?

When you need some quick cash it’s easy to run down to your local loan shark, I mean pay day loan center. On the surface everything seems fine. You hand over your banking and employment information and they hand you cash. It’ll be conveniently taken out of your account on pay day. But in reality you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Guess what? You’re Peter!

This is how the cycle worked for me. I’d get a pay day loan for $800. The fee cost me $95. Yes, I had real cash in my hand, but the $800 plus $95 was coming out in a week. The money got me by, but things came up and I needed more money. With loans and fees ranging from $595-$895 coming out of my account, it caused a “loan roulette.” With creativity and patience that money could’ve went to my 401K.

Let’s use this same formula for $595 being invested yearly. With employer matches and compound interest, your 401K will rake in $106.393.03 after 15 years!
Stay away from this path of quick cash. Just like a casino in Vegas the house always wins.

Ring #3: Check Roulette

The banking industry has been working on a hot scheme for the past ten years. It’s called the “overdraft fee.” Banks offer clients the convenience of covering bounced checks. It’s supposed to cover essentials like a car or mortgage payment. But the fees can add up. Most fees range from $20-$50. But the scheme works in favor of the banks. They’ll pay a large ticket item like your rent. Then smaller checks for gas, clothes or a night out on the town will bounce. The bank “comes to the rescue” and pays these items for a fee.

You’re responsible for the amount of each check bounced and the overdraft fee. You might be able to get away with this for awhile. But unexpected expenses come up. When you’re writing checks hoping they’ll be covered by the bank, it’s called “check roulette.” Sometimes the ball lands in your favor. And other times it won’t.
Banks don’t have to tell you how often their fees go up. They can also give your account a “false balance.” This is when the overdraft protection limit is higher than the actual balance. It looks like you have more money than you really do.

Constant overdraft charges can snatch $4,000-$6,000 a month from your account. In the end your 401K has less money to make it grow. Using the formula above your retirement will be worth $118,795.68.

Risk your money on your 401K rather than check roulette.

Ring #4: Overspending

If you don’t understand money or how to manage it, this trap is easy to fall into. Have you ever asked yourself why you spend money? Do you do it to feel better? Or do you believe you deserve something “special?” There’s no doubt you’ve work hard for your money. Blowing it on things that won’t help you enjoy your golden years is not worth it. To find out if you’re overspending, carry a small notepad and pen for a week. Every time you buy something write down the cost. When I first did this I discovered I was spending $25 a week on snack food! Think of what $100 into your 401K can do for your retirement.

Ring #5: Debt

That’s right my friend, the big “D”! America is carrying $2.6 trillion in consumer debt. If you’re drowning in debt having enough money to enjoy retirement won’t happen. There are plenty of sad stories of those who can never retire. Instead they have to hold down a job to make ends meet. How do you wrestle your 401K money from this 5th ring?

First, start paying yourself. No one has worked harder for your money than you. Have $25-$100 per paycheck automatically sent to a savings account. When it reaches $5,000, roll 10% into your 401K. Its money you won’t see until “Retirement Day.” While you’re leaving it alone your 401K will grow.

Second, get a reality check. Sit down and list out your monthly expenses. These will include your mortgage, car payment, groceries, utilities, etc. Find categories where you can save money. When we realized we were blowing $150 a month on tanning and gym memberships, we got an apartment with both at no charge.

Third, make a budget. If it weren’t for our electronic check register, we’d be financially blind! A budget is a warning sign to not go over the edge. It’s okay to set aside some “mad money” for fun activities. But budget for it. A budget keeps you from overspending.

Fourth, get all the help you can. I hesitate to recommend debt relief agencies. Some are as predatory as pay day loan centers. There are many good books on the subject. If you’re looking for something radical, I’d highly recommend “The Total Money Makeover”, by Dave Ramsey. He has a hot plan for getting out of debt fast! Another great read is “Money, Everything You Need to Manage Your Personal Finances Wisely”, by Peter Sander, M.B.A. Read as many books on debt management and personal finance as you can. And of course you can always read articles on our sites.

Escaping the 5th ring of financial hell will ensure a fat 401K for your retirement.

Clyde McDade is a Financial Copywriter. He can be reached at accelcs@comcast.net.

Inbound links pointing to your website are vital if you want to improve traffic to your website. Inbound links will improve your websites rankings for organic search engines and provide another path for visitors to find your website. Getting links from high traffic, authority sites are weighted more than most links. The main objective in most SEO campaigns is building high quality, one way links to your website.

One of the best and easiest ways to accumulate one way inbound links to your website is to list it in web directories. A few of the better ones are the Open Directory Project, Yahoo and the Authority Directory.

The ODP is free to submit, but it could take a very long time to get reviewed. The percentage of those that get accepted there is not very high either. Yahoo’s directory takes about seven days for review and costs $299 per year. The fee at Yahoo is non-refundable and acceptance is not guaranteed there either. The AuthorityDirectory.com charges a small annual fee and review is generally completed within 48 hours. Your site is not guaranteed to be accepted at the Authority Directory either, but in most cases they refund the fee if your site is not accepted.

Exchanging links with other sites is a risky way of collecting links. If you accidentally exchange a link with a banned site, it can actually hurt your sites popularity or get your site banned. Google and many other search engines have made statements that they are devaluing reciprocal links.

Building links is a never ending cycle. Links drop off and new ones need to be established if you want to continue to rank highly. It is important for you to realize that link building is an on-going process. If you want to rank highly in the search engines, you are going to need to steadily build links to your site. Link popularity will make the difference between your site appearing on the first page of search results or not at all.

Inbound links can generate traffic to your site in two different ways. Traffic that comes from click through traffic and better organic results in search engines.

Click through traffic comes from visitors to the site your link is located at just clicking directly on the link. This can become highly relevant traffic if the site your link is located at gets a large amount of traffic. Traffic increases due to organic search results can be huge.

Inbound links help you achieve traffic through both click through traffic and organic search results. Directory listings are a great place to start with your link building campaign.

When you would like to auction your goods with the use of the E-bay site, make sure that your E-bay site has a compelling and a well defined description of what you are trying to auction and sell. You can only attain this by making specific details of what you are selling. Vague and double meaning words should be avoided in defining specifically your items.

Make an exact and defined category of your item listing. By carefully choosing your category, it will be easier for your items to be easily searched by people who may find it interesting. Although, in reality, categorizing your items may be a difficult thing to do but it is one of the best ways to do achieve good results in auctioning your products.

To better capture the descriptive words of your items, it is suggested that you include a picture on your item. A single picture far better explain your goods or items, rather than with numerous worded descriptions. Therefore, to make it easier for your prospective clients to have an easy grasp of what you are selling, explain it thru visual representation a picture.

Realize that although this idea might not apply specifically to you—at least at the present time—it certainly will apply to many readers. Moreover, even if it does not apply to your particular situation, it is worth thinking through anyway, because you certainly have many friends and associates it does apply to and you will be able to share it with them. I am going to explain this idea to you as if you were a married person with a family to support and you are either the sole breadwinner or an important contributor. Now one of the principal reasons for wanting the amount of money you desire is to provide for your family, and not just in an adequate manner.

After all, you want them to live life to its fullest. Realize, therefore, that as long as you live and are able to follow the plan outlined in this book, you will be able to do as you want with respect to your family. However, if you really stop and think about it, you will very likely agree that you would want your family to live “the good life,” even if you were suddenly removed from the picture—wouldn’t you? Jokingly you might say, “No, who cares if I’m gone.” But this is not a joking matter. This is a very serious matter. Of course you care—I know it and so do you! Now, if you’re alive and healthy, you will create this wealth for your estate. But what if you die or are permanently disabled? Well, our society has taken care of that situation as well; we have “Life Insurance” and we have “Disability Insurance.”

But, let’s get back to your thinking again—you might be saying to yourself, “Life insurance, what a rip-off. This guy Bob Proctor really doesn’t know where he is coming from.” Well, let me tell you, that when it comes to life insurance, I believe I can claim to be an authority of sorts—for I have conducted seminars for the insurance industry for almost ten years, and I have had close to 50,000 people from that industry “go through” my seminars. Therefore, I can assure you, that when I say approximately 95% of the people whom you talk to are almost completely ignorant when it comes to the subject of insurance, I am not “talking through my hat.” Granted, many of these people hold important positions in business and industry, in government, or in the professions, and because of their positions, it would be very easy to just assume they know “of whence they speak.”

But the sad fact of the matter is, many of them are either badly misinformed or completely uninformed when it comes to the important subject of life insurance. Understand this—there is no way to replace your income and create a certain and instant estate other than life insurance; and statistics indicate that although most people are insured, the vast majority of people (at least 90%), are dangerously underinsured. That is to say, when they die, most people leave behind only enough money to pay for their funeral and possibly enough money to cover their family’s living expenses for one year!

The unfortunate part is, that for a relatively small sum of money, these people could have had their financial affairs set up in such a way that if something did happen to them, their financial goals would be reached by their families automatically. Since this book is designed to help you reach a substantial, financial goal, I felt duty-bound to include the information on life insurance. The book could not be complete without it. (Keep in mind there are only two ways to earn money: people at work, or money at work.) You will be happy to know the remainder of this book is designed for the person who is going to LIVE,.

For you to answer this question, it would probably be a good idea for you to decide what you want the money for. But to simply say, “I want the money to live on,” is not good enough. You should realize our society is structured in such a way that the government will “keep you.” In fact, in most places, they will even mail a check to you—you can sit at home and still receive a “living wage.” At this point you are probably saying to yourself, “Oh yes, I know that, but I want to live better than that.” Well, let’s get specific—how much better? Bearing in mind that this kind of an exercise is going to require some serious planning on your part, get out a sheet of paper and draw up a list of all the “things,” or “activities,” that you plan to spend money on over the course of the next year. To assist you in getting started with your list, I have outlined several sample categories below: Food, Rent/Mortgage, Clothes, Automobile, Utilities, Education, Vacations, Recreation, Insurance, Savings. Understandably, these are just a few of the many possibilities; so keep working on your own list until it is complete! And remember, you do not fill in the amounts you are now spending. Rather, you take each item on the list, visualize how you want to live and then fill in the amount of money it will cost you to do so.

For example, you might only go out to a nice restaurant to dine on very special occasions, but you might visualize yourself spending a very enjoyable evening out for dinner once a week, where the service is excellent, the food is even better, and the environment is fit for royalty. How much would that cost? — that is the figure you’re looking for. You could be driving a car that is getting old and is showing signs of rust, but you might visualize yourself driving a brand new car of your choice, that you trade every year or two. How much would that cost? Remember, you do not have a contract to live forever, nor is this a practice run—this is your life and you should be enjoying it to the fullest extent humanly possible! Therefore, you should have the amount of money you need, to provide the things you want, to live the way you choose to live. Let me caution you—it would not be unusual for your mind to be playing tricks on you at this point.

You could be thinking, “This is really crazy. I’m never going to have the money to live the way this book suggests.” I want to remind you, however, that there are many people who do have enough money to live the way this book suggests—and they weren’t born with it—and no one left it to them. They were “Born Rich” in the sense of having the God-given potential to succeed (everyone is), but like most people, they were at one time short of money. Understand that you too can succeed, and you will, if you will only do as this book suggests. As I am writing this, I feel compelled to digress for a few lines, to remind you that you have great resources of talent and ability locked up, within you, just waiting to be expressed. In this vein, I can vividly recall listening to a tape a number of years ago, that Earl Nightingale made on “Attitude.”

I must have listened to that tape literally hundreds of times and there was a part on it where he said, “Now, right here we come to a rather strange fact. We tend to minimize the things we can do, the goals we can reach, and yet, for some equally strange reason, we think others can do things that we cannot.” Earl went on to say, “I want you to know that that is not true. You do have deep reservoirs of talent and ability within you, and you can have the things you want.”

I wouldn’t even want to speculate on how many times I heard that section, without really understanding what he meant; and then one day I heard it, and every cell in my brain seemed to resonate with the truth of what he said. I suddenly realized what he was “driving at” and I knew deep down inside of me, if they can do it, so can I, if I am willing to pay the price. Please understand you too can do it, because what Earl had to say is as true of you as it was of me. But part of the price for you, is to figure out …