All You Need Is Cash

The Best Way To Invest Money

2007-03-10T22:14:00.000-05:00

Investing money doesn't need to be a big venture. As a kid, you may have sold lemonade on the front lawn in the summer. Your Mom bought the lemons and sugar, you made the lemonade and took your business outside. Maybe you made a profit. The point is, if you were competing with half a dozen other lemonade sellers, you'd think of ways to make yours better. Perhaps the best way to invest money for this lemonade stand are the highest quality of lemons, lots of ice and some bright streamers or balloons to make your stand a stand-out.

As adults, most of us simply aren't informed enough to be able to figure out what our best way to invest money might be. There are so many possibilities. You have the 401K and IRA funds, mutual funds, stocks and commodities, day trading, Certificates of Deposit and bonds. These are long term investments of varying risks and payback. These also involve a lot of paperwork, tax reporting and the inevitable special schedule to fill out. If you can afford it, it's best to hire a professional to keep up with these types of investments.

Your budget will decide the scope of your investment possibilities. Starting a small business on the net requires a minimal investment with a lot of potential. In this case, your best way to invest money in your enterprise might begin with your business plan, your product or products and an advertising campaign. If there's a market for your product and you can reach them, you might well quit your day job. Many people, with proper planning and a quality product, have successfully launched businesses that produce a good living with very little time spent running the business once it's off the ground. An online business allows you total freedom of movement. You can be vacationing in Greece while selling your product and receiving income.

Some people believe the absolute best way to invest money is in land or a home. It's a hard case to argue, if you time your purchase to maximize your return.

If you study housing market trends, you'll find cycles of boom and bust markets. Remember the dot.com bust? When times were rich and interest rates relatively low, dot-commers were buying mansions in Lake Tahoe for scandalous prices. A few years later, home prices fell back into reality, and people found themselves stuck with a mortgage payment that didn't match up to the current market value of the home. Many found themselves faced with foreclosure.

If you save your money and have patience, you'll be the one with cash in a buyer's market. As a long term investment, land could well prove to be your best way to invest money. Land always appreciates in value, over time. Given proper legal preparations, you can pass the value of this investment on to your kids, tax free. Now that's what I'd call the best way to invest money!

Bankruptcies After The New Law Change

2006-09-22T10:57:00.000-04:00

I have a confession to make... I'm in way over my head when it comes to debt. It's my own fault and I admit that. For several years, I couldn't afford to buy anything I wanted, so I paid with plastic. Little did I know that decision would come back to haunt me. I owe close to $20,000. My credit score is very high and I am very proud of that, but I live paycheck to paycheck, not always have the slightest clue how I will pay my bills each month. And I'll also admit that last year, when I heard that the laws for bankruptcies were changing, I contemplated filing. I hated the mere thought of contemplating something that I knew would hurt my excellent credit.

As the deadline for filing bankruptcies before the new law approached, my wife and I debated for days. In the end, we decided to not do it. I realized that it was our own carelessness that had gotten us into debt and I should accept responsibility for it. Our best friends however, chose to file while only being in debt a few thousand. What I found exceptionally irritating was the fact that right before they filed, they purchased two brand new cars and went on a cruise. Basically, since they charged the cruise, they didn't pay a cent for it. To me, that's the same concept as stealing.

The amount of bankruptcies in 2005 jumped almost 30% as people rushed to get their filings completed before the new laws took hold. Personal bankruptcies totaled almost 2.1 million across the country. Those statistics make it the largest number of bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period in our history. That's scary. Think about that - 2.1 million people found themselves in financial trouble last year. Everyone who filed has their own reasons, whether it be credit card debt, job loss or medical bills. The list of reasons goes on for miles. As a matter of fact, high medical bills are the main reason for the large number of bankruptcies. Let's face it, most people do not have adequate health care. All it takes is for someone to get hospitalized or ill and suddenly they find themselves in severe debt. That's worse than scary, it's sad.

I understand the need for the new laws, I really do. That doesn't mean I agree with them in every case. The reason that laws are changing is because too many people were taking advantage of filing bankruptcies. They'd charge up their credit cards with new furniture purchases, exotic vacations, and many things they absolutely had no true need for. Then, they'd file for bankruptcy and like magic - their money woes were over. On the other hand, since the new laws have gone into effect, the people who face overwhelming debts that could not be controlled are facing more hurdles in order to get a fresh start. Is that fair? Of course not. But, as you know, it only takes one person to ruin it for everyone else - and many people (and their lawyers) did.

If the main reason for the onset of bankruptcies is high medical bills, why doesn't the government take a look at altering those issues? If credit card companies are complaining that they don't get paid when people file for bankruptcy, why give people such a high credit line? Sure, many bankruptcies could be avoided with some common sense usage, but what about those who really are struggling? Who is looking out for them?

Here's To The Business Opportunity Seekers

2006-09-22T10:26:00.000-04:00

I've been involved in online marketing for many years now. Since I'm fairly successful at what I do, a lot of friends (and even a few strangers) have asked me for some advice about how they can make their online MLM venture work. I usually tell them that it doesn't matter what kind of product they have because the real key to increasing sales (and, therefore, the bottom line) is to increase the size of their sales force. In other words, they have to know where to find business opportunity seekers who are ready to make money.

The good news is the fact that there's no shortage of business opportunity seekers out there. That's because everyone has heard by now that there is very good money to be made on the Internet and they want to grab a piece of the pie. The bad news is that not every business opportunity seeker is right for your venture. Instead of wasting time and money on a widespread advertising blitz that mostly reaches people who have no intention of following up on your offer, you should limit your ads to a select group of business opportunity seekers who are genuinely interested in your sales pitch.

That sounds easy enough. But how are you supposed to find these business opportunity seekers in order to get your message out to them? The best way to do so is to purchase a few hot mailing lists from reputable sources. These mailing lists contain hundreds of names and email addresses of business opportunity seekers looking to join legitimate operations like yours. These are people who willingly submitted their contact information and are waiting to hear from you. That's what makes targeted mailing lists infinitely more valuable than generic lists. You won't have to worry that the people you contact via targeted mailing lists might view your pitch as spam. Your emails will only go out to a captive audience of eager prospects.

I will offer you one caution here. Prior to purchasing a mailing list of business opportunity seekers, be sure to check into the seller's reputation. The last thing you want to do is spend good money on a list that contains stale names or invalid email addresses.

So if you're ready to expand your sales force or pitch your products and services to targeted business opportunity seekers, then I suggest that you consider purchasing some MLM mailing lists. You'll be amazed at how much easier it is to close sales when your prospects actually want to hear from you.