The Life Changing Journey From Mile Marker Zero

This is the first in a series of articles about the journey of a life time: the journey to make significant change; a journey that has a beginning but has no absolute ending, only a set of pre-planned destinations along the way. These destinations will change over time and become clearer as you learn what the real meaning of the journey is.
Every journey starts at the beginning. This "beginning" is the point at which you decide to go in a different direction. You decide to take an action that creates a move in a direction you may not have been going before. Or, at least, a direction in which you have been directed by someone who has been to the destination you desire to go. As with all journeys, this journey will have a Mile Marker 0.
The Mile Marker 0 on US Hwy 1 in the United States is located at the corner of Fleming and Whitehead streets in Key West, FL. It is the end of the highway near the Southernmost Point in the U.S. If you are here, you must decide to change direction and head off on a journey to another place or you will end up in the ocean; all wet and maybe drowning.
Mile Marker 0 is the point at which you decide there will be a change. It is the point at which you decide there will be no more going south (no further down). It is the end of one journey and the beginning of another. There must be a change in direction if you are to arrive at the ultimate destination your heart, mind and soul truly desires.
You probably do not have the skills, knowledge or mindset necessary to reach this destination but, you are looking for a map; a map that has been drawn with explicit instructions and marked with interesting stops along the way. This map has been generated by others who have been where you have been, made the same decision to change direction you have and have reached the ultimate destination you so strongly desire. How did they find the way? The same way you are going to find the way: by following a well-defined map outlining the route which is posted with mile markers along the way to ensure you get to where you want to be.
The road you travel must have "drunk bumps" on it to remind you to stay on the road and in your lane. "Drunk Bumps" are those small, reflective speed bumps found on the outside and center of a road lane for the purpose of getting your attention when you become distracted or weary. These "bumps" are other travelers you find along the way who you will build relationships with. These people will be available to you, lest you stray from the roadway or get lost.
It doesn't matter the change you are trying to make. It only matters that you want to change. You are now standing at Mile Marker 0. Where do you want to go? Do you want to start your own business? Do you want to rebuild a relationship? Do you want to be free of an addiction? The key to the beginning is the desire to change. Turn in a new direction and start following the map others have drawn for you from their experience of their "time in the seat".

P(dot) Mark Cook is an ex-funeral director.embalmer and current poet, writer, internet marketer, teacher, leader, logistics and Excel expert, husband, son, brother and friend.
Pdot Strives to Believe in the Possible and Live the Amazing.

How To Become Relevant

Have you ever wondered how others keep making things happen? Each letter in the word RELEVANT will give you an action step that you can use to move into greatness.
Read and proceed with 8 strategies that you can begin to implement today.
(R) Reinvent Yourself. Look at the career of Sean Combs. He started off as Puff Daddy. Puff Daddy emerged into P Diddy who innovatively became Diddy.
The fast pace of the internet allows you to create a brand in seconds. The time it takes you to set up a Facebook or Twitter account is how long it will take you to get noticed.
(E) Enjoy what you do. Find the fun in your work. Search for ways to bring the happiness to your environment. When you are passionate and excited others will see and take notes. This makes it easier to make deals when you are wanted.
(L) Learn form others. Research what seminars are taking place in your area. Listen to podcasts and tele-seminars. Seek out a mentor who can take you to the next level. Watch videos of how people speak and conduct themselves.
(E) Entrepreneur your expertise. Use what you do best and give your job a rest. Use what you know to grow. Even if you never leave your job being in business will help you get some tax write offs.
(V) Visit your elders. Life is about paying dues and paying respect. Give back to the generation that has given to us. (Discuss hanging out with Bubba)
(A) Ask for feedback. Golden nuggets of wisdom are found when we ask those close to us how can we improve?
(N) No Your Way. You have to say no sometimes. Every opportunity is not for you. Learn what is for you and not for you. Learn how to make the most of each opportunity that is right for you.
(T) Teach others. Keep your legacy growing. We are taught so that one day we will teach. Passing on the knowledge keeps entire communities and cultures alive over centuries.
In these days and times in order to be relevant you have to reinvent yourself so you can enjoy what you do. When you learn from others you can entrepreneur your expertise. Take time out to visit your elders and ask for feedback. When you no your way and teach others the life you leave behind will be forever relevant.

Using the Mind to Heal the Heart

In Saint Exupery's The Little Prince, he states, "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye." The heart is not just a physical organ, it is an energy center, a place of consciousness, a space of expanded awareness of the existence of essence, the essence of the universe which is love, that lives and pulsates inside of us. It is our most natural state. Our "other" states are those of lifetimes of learned distortions of the essence of our True Self.
My teacher says, "We use the mind to heal the mind." He is referring to the True Mind, which lives near the physical heart, not the brain. All distress that isn't life threatening is based in learned distorted perspectives of our mental patterns, sometimes referred to as "belief systems." These belief systems repetitively replay like cassette tapes in our mind. Our belief systems can either perpetuate a state of well being and ease, or a state of distress. Some of us who may already be working with positive thinking, understand this concept. But the question is, if "positive thinking" were really that effective, why hasn't it worked for me consistently? Why do I still struggle with old repetitive negative hurts?
If you look at a cell under a microscope its natural life force impulse is to move. If you restrict its path, in one direction, it will look for movement in a different direction. If you continue to restrict its path until it can no longer find a path for movement, it will pulsate in place, its walls will begin to thicken, and finally, it dies. Inherent in our nature are spontaneous creative impulses looking for life force expression in every direction. When one direction is thwarted, we create defenses, we then look in another direction until we can find movement. The more restricted our possibilities for movement, the thicker our walls become. These restrictions and walls create rigid patterns in the neurological matter of the mind.
The subconscious and unconscious mind retain these deeply patterned thought rigidities. These patterns have an energetic dynamic that originated in our childhood, infancy, and uncountable past life times. These unconscious patterns express themselves as restrictions to our present life interactions, relationships and ambitions. They cause us pain, distress, a sense of low self esteem, insecurity and other limitations. As much as we may possess an intellectual, rational understanding about "why" we may feel defensive or insecure in a particular situation, it often does not diminish our feelings of discomfort. Our frustration lies in the knowing presence of our True Mind that senses we are capable of more pleasure.
When we explore the invisible electromagnetic realm of the physiological and energetic dynamic that contains the constricting experience of discomfort, the light of consciousness exposes the distorted cellular memory message and brings about a "combustive experience" that necessitates change. Conscious awareness of the emotional content, life force (unconstricted breath), and cognitive understanding, release the cellular trauma from its rigidified state and allow that once stagnant rigidified energy of the belief systems to again flow freely. It can feel something like an internal shower of tingling sensations, that can be experienced as invigorating, highly stimulating, small body spasms, or fluid electricity that floods throughout the body. This energy then "washes" over the mind, the experience itself bringing new insights and clarity where there might have been confusion or doubt.
This process is not "magical," it is physiological, though our responses to it sometimes feel as though it is miraculous, enlightening, and uplifting. This process is the activation of the body's natural innate self-correcting healing mechanism bringing us closer to the heart's natural state which is one of unconditional love and The True Mind's natural state, which is one of clarity and serenity.

Laura Fine has a Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from San Diego University of Integrative Studies and a Masters of Arts Degree from University of Miami. She has practiced as a licensed Holistic Health Practitioner for 30+ years in the field of body/mind therapies and is co-founder of Lionheart Institute of Transpersonal Energy Healing. Laura originated The Energy System of Acting (ESA), and is a graduate of the Barbara Brennan School of Healing as well as two years of Kabalistic Healing with The Society of Souls. She has taught at several alternative healing schools and developed a research project in wholistic healing for post-surgery heart transplant patients at U.C.L.A Hospital. Laura's career has bridged the creative and healing arts having worked for twenty years professionally in the theater as a director and acting teacher such institutions as Manhattan Class Company, Barnard College and Riverside Shakespeare Company in New York. Having faced, survived and healed from a life-threatening illness, Laura has a recognition and value of each moment of life and compassion for the struggles of the mind and heart. She shares her experiences in her book, "Laura's New Heart, A Healer's Spiritual Journey through a Heart Transplant", also available through Amazon.com. Laura Fine is currently the director of Lionheart Institute of Transpersonal Energy Healing in L.A. http://www.LionheartInstitute.com, 818.640.6444.

The Importance Of Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking skills are at an all time low in the US. In public and private a huge segment of our population seems incapable of logically and intelligently thinking thru an issue or problem. What exactly is critical thinking? While definitions of critical thinking can vary slightly, a good basic definition is the ability to use reason, experience and intelligence to evaluate and solve an issue. Also to evaluate the quality of your information and to arrive at a logical, common sense solution.
Imagine you have a student about to learn about the American Civil War. One teacher tells the student that the war started in 1861 and ended in 1865. The South had slaves, the North didn't. The war was fought to keep the Union together and also to free the slaves. At the end of the war over 600,000 thousand men had died. The teacher then tells the student to memorize these facts for a test. A different teacher tells a student about the preamble leading up to the war, maybe focusing on the problem of adding free states and slave states to the Union. In addition they might talk about the rights that states possessed to succeed, and that most states would never have agreed to enter the Union without this ability to leave. This teacher might also add that freeing the slaves didn't enter the picture until after the war had already started. Then after giving the student this information, and the opportunity to get more on their own, they would tell the student to give it an honest, thoughtful evaluation and arrive at their own conclusion. The first teacher is pushing propaganda and the second is trying to instill critical thinking in the student.
Unfortunately our culture in the US has bred a citizenry that is happy with sound bite news, shallow analysis and superficial concern. A lack of critical thinking and understanding of issues naturally leads to an easily lead and manipulated population. Too many people passively accept information being dumped on them with absolutely no serious or thoughtful analysis. The so-called Elites are more interested in maintaining power then they are in any specific ideology. That is why people of both sides of the political spectrum need to fight to make sure they keep all of their Liberties and have unfettered access to information (this does not include reasonable National Security secrets). Controlling the availability and dissemination of information is how the busybody elitists keep control and maintain their power. This is why a limited government and more local government is so important. The less government is involved in peoples lives and the closer it is to home, the more people can affect change. As a consequence people will be using their critical thinking skills more often and the resulting thoughtful and reasoned decisions will make for a more informed and stronger country.

Increase Your Brain Power - Can You Be The Next Einstein?

Well they say Einstein was a man who was able to use 7% of his brain while most of us only use 3% of it. They also say that our memory is much better than 10,000 10 GB USB drives. The point is 'they' always say stuff which either motivates us or demotivates us. For a majority out there, increasing mind power is not really much of a concern. But, for those who actually want to do it, the solutions are not difficult.
First off, one fact needs to be acknowledged - not everyone has a powerful mind. Not everyone is born with a brain that can solve Einstein's Riddle - 'Who Owns the Fish'.
Why?
Simply because not everyone has brains that can solve mathematical or logical riddles!
So, even though Einstein's riddle is considered to be the toughest riddle of the world, it does not stand as the final psychometric test. If you are a wizard of logic, you will solve it, but those who aren't, can't. That, however, does not determine that someone's brain power is lesser than yours. Maybe they are the artistic types or the creative types who can create things from scratch. So, just because they can't solve the riddle doesn't make them any inferior.
Can you increase your brain power?
Certainly! Everything in this world has a solution, and Einstein didn't come from outer space. Some individuals are born and brought up in environments that automatically increase their brain power without the need of extra efforts. So, to be like them, you have to live like them.
So let's get started!
Here are simple ways which can substantially increase your brain power. Again, don't expect to be the next Criss Angel! Increasing your brain power has nothing to do with being an illusionist. But, you can expect to become more efficient at work or at college for sure. Try out these exercises and you'll gradually realize how it works.
Deep Breathing
How many of us practice that? Almost no one actually! Nobody wants to take out time just to 'breathe'. But, believe it or not, deep breathing does have a huge impact on your brain power. The process here is simple -- the more oxygen you inhale, the more oxygen goes to your brain. The result? You feel relaxed and your brain becomes more active. All you need to do is to breathe deeply through your nose which would draw more air to your lungs. Either make it a regular practice or do it whenever you have the time - your call!
Improve your posture
Most people may snort when they read this. However, your posture has a lot to do with your thinking process and brain power. Sit up straight, do some glute bridges daily to reduce stress on your spine, and try sleeping on your back. All these exercises contribute towards improving your posture. The better your posture is, the more enhanced your thinking ability will become.
Meditation helps!
Everyone recommends it and it's not that hard to do. In fact, most of us meditate without even knowing it. The easiest way to meditate is to close your eyes, sit up straight and pay attention to your breath. All you need to do is exhale slower than you inhale. It will relax your body and brain, and eventually increase your brain power.

Conventional Wisdom From the Aged

Wisdom is the soundness of judgement. It is the ability to know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. The ability to know what to say, when to say it and how to say it. Many people make the mistake of thinking that simply because someone is educated s/he is wise. They mistake knowledge for wisdom.
I know of many educated fools. They have very impressive resume's yet they lack the principal thing - wisdom. My late grandmother never went to school. In fact she never got to step into the vicinity of any school. Yet when she spoke many wanted to hear. She advised all. Young and old, men and women, boys and girls. Despite her lack of formal education she had wisdom. She was the greatest influence in my life. she taught everything about life especially integrity and dignity.
Years later after she passed on I sat down to reflect on her legacy. I realized she had taught me the major thing. That is to be a student of life. To seek to learn all you can from life. That life has its upturns and downturns and that neither my crying nor whining will make things better. That just like everyone else I will have to work to eat. Its amazing that in our schools we do not have wisdom as a course or subject yet without it on is lost. Through her wisdom I learnt many invaluable lessons.
I learnt that when you hate someone and you keep a grudge against someone, you hurt your self more emotionally than the person you hate. I also learnt that the greatest thing you can have in life is love. That love opens doors. That with love a parent wins over an impregnated teenager back into her heart and helps rebuild her life. One of the lessons from my grandmother was that the guide in your heart should the peacefulness in your heart whenever you are doing something. If your heart is not peaceful then you are not in agreement with what will be going.
My grandmother taught me that in life not everyone will see meaning and rationale in whatever I will seek to pursue in life. She told me that I will never be able to please everyone at the same time. She told me that I had to remain focused on my goal and not listen to naysayers and discouragers.

Silas Matamanda is a dynamic motivational speaker and author who is passionate about inspiring people to become who they were meant to become. He has written a book entitled "What you need to know about happiness" yet to be published. He is also a Research Scientist and an Internal Auditor.

Find Your Special Talent And Develop It

"The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one's destiny to do, and then do it." Henry Ford
Wise words indeed from the great Henry Ford, who found his special talent which was engineering while growing up on the family farm. He then went on to produce the model T car which was the first mass produced car of it's time and revolutionized the car industry.
We were all born with a special talent, something that we can do better than thousands of others out there and finding it is something that can only be done through constant learning and practicing of new skills.
Some, like Henry Ford, are lucky enough to grow up in the right environment, the one that is responsible for their discovery of their talent but most of us have to discover our special talent on our own.
The world needs our gift and if we don't endeavor to discover what it is, then it will go stale. However, if we make it our personal mission to constantly improve our existing skills and acquire new ones as we grow, we shall surely find that which is ours to excel in.
Once you discover what it is that you are naturally good at, stick at it and constantly seek to improve on it so that you become incredibly gifted at it. Don't try to be good at everything because that is a tall order for even the most intelligent of people. Use your skill to prosper and create abundance in your life because an advantage is only an advantage when it is used.
That which you are naturally gifted at is obviously going to be the thing that you enjoy doing most, which is another reason why constant improvement is important. Imagine doing a job you love and making lots of money from it at the same time!! Most people think that is something that is unreachable for them, like a distant dream or a wish. The fact is, that all it requires is for us to keep on trying to improve in many areas, and through the constant improvement, we will see that we shine more in one area than the others, then all we need do is take a closer look.
"Follow your bliss and doors will open for you that you never knew existed. Follow your bliss and the Universe will open doors for you where there were only walls." - Joseph Campbell
Don't settle for mediocrity because this might be the only life there is, we can't say for sure. Life is about exploration and growth and when we are not doing either of them, we are stagnating and feeling depressed and unfulfilled aren't we? Start discovering, start living!

Get Rid Of Those Excuses And Live

There are so many people out there that hold themselves back with excuses and reasons why they never achieve anything. Unfortunately, excuses may seem valid or sometimes reassuring but in the end, you achieve nothing and this is why it is in your best interests to stop excuses once and for all. Completely put a stop to them and I mean COMPLETELY, because one excuse breeds another and so forth until a person does nothing but make excuses. You are either a person that makes excuses or a person that gets things done, there is no in between.
Negative language
The human brain has enormous storage space and whatever you put in, you will get back, so just imagine the amount of excuses you can have stored there, one for every situation imaginable. Why not store reasons for achievement and growth and solutions to problems instead?
Common negative language that fills people's minds are sentences like:
1. I am not educated enough
2. I'm not smart enough to do that
3. This is too hard
4. I can't...
5. I never...
6. I'm not that kind of person
This kind of thinking damages confidence and limits a person from achievement or growth. So try to wipe out negative thoughts from your thinking and replace them with a positive version such as "I can" or "I am." Paint whatever picture you wish, after all, it's your canvas
Forget yesterday, concentrate on this moment. Think about what is best for you now, take the action that has the most benefit and the biggest reward. It's quite simple actually, because when one realizes that everything is ultimately an individual's choice when it comes to things like, how we react to circumstances, other people's opinions and our future; then we lose the fear and stop making excuses.
Make your own decisions based on what is best for you and that means not listening to anyone else, because most people base their opinions on what they have experienced themselves, or their own limiting fears and beliefs. They are ruled by their past and as a result, any advice coming from them is invalid and doesn't apply to you. Decide, today that you are going to be the person YOU decide. Excuses are only fear and lack of confidence controlling you, so grow your confidence and conquer fear by replacing any excuse with a positive reason as to why you can and will do it!

How To Challenge And Replace Limiting Beliefs

Beliefs are so deeply embedded within our minds that we often don't even realize that it is they that are in control, and not us. People tend to blame outside forces for their current set of circumstances, when in actual fact, the problem lies within and not without.
The cause of what is happening in our outer world lies within us, not without. Our beliefs are the cause and the effects are the circumstances whether good or bad.
Beliefs become firmly rooted in our mind due to a moment in our lives, usually when we are younger, when something happened or someone said something that stuck with us, and we reinforced it by internalizing it and thinking about it often. Our personalities are developed this way naturally, although I think it was meant to only be for those beliefs that serve a useful purpose. As using our mind is not exactly something that is taught us from a young age, we unwittingly program countless negative beliefs into our system without really knowing what we are doing.
There are ways to challenge and replace those negative beliefs though and one of the best ways is to bring them to the surface and analyze them, showing them for what they really are. They are nothing more than deadweight pulling us down and holding us back from ever achieving anything substantial.
Ask yourself these following questions and answer as truthfully as you can, because in doing so, you are facing them for the first time and can go about replacing them.
The questions:
1. How did this limiting belief form in the first place?
2. Who came up with the idea of it originally, you or someone else?
3. How does this belief limit you?
4. What caused you to decide that this was true for you?
5. Does the belief serve you in any way at all?
6. How is it helping you?
7. If you hold onto his belief, what will the consequences be in regards to your family, health and career?
8. What would you like to believe instead?
9. With this new belief, how will things improve?
10. How will this new belief make things worse?
11. What is the best thing that could happen based on your old belief?
12. What is the best thing that could happen based on your new belief?
13. What might stop you from adopting this new belief?
14. How will your new belief fit with your view of yourself?
Once you have answered these questions you should have come up with a new belief to replace the old one, as well as realized that the old one is useless baggage that needs to be offloaded.
In a notebook, draw a grid with 3 columns. Head column 1: "life area" and in this column put all the areas of your life, each in a separate row. Head column 2: "Limiting beliefs" and for each area of your life write a limiting belief that is holding you back. Finally, head column 3: "New empowering beliefs" and in this column, write the replacement beliefs.
Each day look at the grid and keep the new beliefs fresh in your mind. Repeat them over and over throughout the day as affirmations. Whenever you feel the old beliefs resurfacing, brush them aside and bring your new belief to the fore with repetition. Within 30 days, you will have reprogrammed your mind with a new belief, and sometimes it takes less than that, it all depends on you. Good luck!!

Investing in Your Emotional Well-Being

Emotions are the responses you make to situations, but aren't necessarily an accurate interpretation of the events around you. Everyone has them, but we all display them differently. Investing in yourself emotionally is a very important investment. Some of us are emotionally stronger than others. We know there are people out there who rarely, if ever, cry; they are resilient to any situation or circumstance and have a poker face that wouldn't give anything away. Some would say these people have achieved a high emotional tolerance, not letting emotions appear at the worst of times.
Then, there are those of us who aren't quite as strong, we tend to wear our emotions on our sleeves, crying during Hallmark Commercials, trying to keep it together when we speak to a superior about an issue at work and panicking at the mere thought of something going wrong - we tend to show our emotions more fluently than others.
Neither of these types of emotional people are right or wrong. We all display our emotions differently and that's apart of making us unique. But, knowing when to show emotions and having control over when you don't want to is a trait we may be able to invest in.
Part of being emotionally strong requires you to get lots of rest. Being up all night with children or going a few nights without sleep could end up in a session of tears or misguided anger and frustration. For example, I have a daughter who will work 60 hours a week and when she gets home after being overly exhausted, you can bet she is easily derailed. Sometimes she will take things more to heart because she is tired, and will end up crying. Other times, she can just seem more irritated at every little thing.
I'd like to assume that having instant emotions like she does means she is mentally and physically exhausted, and perhaps, she isn't as emotionally stable as normal. But, like I tell her, there are many things that can be done to help her get back on track towards a more stable emotional state.
First thing you need to invest in is uninterrupted sleep. Studies show that adults require as little as seven and as many as 10 hours of sleep per night. Investing in things that make your bedroom and bed environment comfortable (like lighting, music and calming bedding/walls) will help you create an oasis. You should also try going to bed at the same time every night, don't eat late night snacks and do relaxation exercises or meditation to help you get the sleep you need.
Next, you may need to recharge your batteries. Have you ever called your employer and said you are taking a mental health day off? Try it. Then, invest the whole day in you. Try pampering yourself, turning off the phone, avoiding the computer, staying in bed until you catch up on your sleep, taking a leisurely bath, or attending a museum or sports event. Do something you enjoy and forget about all of your stresses for one day.
There is one more thing that needs to be done to keep you emotionally healthy, body conditioning. This included exercise, eating healthy and keeping your immune system strong. You should try yoga, it help focus your mind, clear your thoughts and centre your psyche. Also, investing in a full our cardio workout class will help release endorphins in the brain, which causes what is commonly known as a "natural high".
Life isn't perfect and neither is the world we live in, but another way to keep a healthy mind is to remind yourself of all the positive things around you while you push the negative away. Read positive quotes when you are down, take a step back before responding in an uncomfortable situation and always remember to take a deep breath and smile. Having the discipline and determination to do so and to make the choice to be around positive people will add to your self-confidence, courage and self-esteem. Investing in your emotional well-being is well worth it. And for those of you 'rocks' out there, it's okay to shed a little tear.

Buy Low, Sell High

Be honest now! Has this ever happened to you?
You've clambered onto a roller coaster, as part of a dare or simply because all your other friends have rushed aboard. You then tried your hardest to make sure the terror in your heart is not betrayed by even the slightest tremor on your face!
Unfortunately, very soon after the ride began, you felt your stomach stay at the top of the rise even as the rest of you hurtled down?
  

Well, if you’re a glutton for punishment - and adrenalin-inducing thrills - you’ve probably done that more than once, sometimes in the same afternoon, while on holiday in some magical place like Disneyland, perhaps. Intriguingly, there are great similarities between the emotions felt during a roller coaster ride and those experienced during periods of great investment volatility.

I can say that with confidence because I've gone on my fair share of roller coaster rides, mainly in the US, and I’ve spent many years observing, participating in, losing and gaining at the serious game of equity investing, primarily in my home country of Malaysia. 

I’ve lost money as markets crashed, and made money as those same markets recovered.

Through all my travails, what I’ve learnt is that when it comes to riding the investing ‘roller coasters’, my emotions are not the best barometer to guide my actions.

Let me tell you why:

When markets are high, I tend to get greedy and feel the urge to jump in with even more money.

When markets are low, I suffer pangs of fear and panic that cause me to want to bail out.

And I have done both often enough to realise that those courses of action are usually the wrong things to do at those times. In hindsight, it almost always seems the best course of action would have been to do the exact opposite of what my gut feelings were shouting out for me to do.

Now, Confucius once pointed out, “A superior man is the one who is free from fear and anxieties.”

I’m inclined to agree with that ancient Chinese sage, but the truth is when it comes to investment markets, only two emotions tend to reign supreme - fear and greed.

And both breed anxiety!

Therefore, if you want to have just as an exhilarating a time in the investment market over the long-term, as you do on a wild roller coaster over the short-term, put in place strategies that allow you to exercise almost Vulcan-like control over those pesky emotions!

 And, if you lack the self-discipline of Star Trek’s Sarek, Spock, Tuvok or T’Pol, as is the case for almost all humans, then embed strategies that allow you to distance your investment decisions from those emotions.

In my day-to-day work as a Securities Commission-licensed financial planner in Malaysia, I utilise two strategies called dollar-cost averaging and value-cost averaging that allow investors to protect themselves from their own highly developed tendencies to give in to fear and greed at the worst possible times. 

You already know that the oldest formula in the world to make money in business or investing is to buy low and to sell high.

Frankly, in the game of growing long-term wealth, nothing has ever been invented that can beat that easily understood strategy.

Whether it’s wheelbarrows or widgets, pharmaceuticals or paper assets, the only way to grow rich is to buy low and sell high.

Thankfully, in the investment world you can employ excellent strategies like dollar-cost averaging and value-cost averaging to effectively buy low and sell high.

In the case of dollar-cost averaging, you invest equal amounts of money, at equal intervals, regardless of market conditions. The net result over many years is that you end up doing most of your buying at the lower end of the price fluctuation band.

You end up buying low.

You then can wait for a time of market strength to sell high!

Value-cost averaging is similar in concept to dollar-cost averaging, but instead of investing equal amounts, you invest variable amounts that are (kind of!) inversely proportional to the market level. So the higher the market is, the less you invest, and the lower it is, the more you invest.

But if all you have today is a small amount of money to start with, I would urge you to save a bit of that money in the bank each month to build up your emergency buffer account, and then invest the rest in a proven mutual fund or unit trust fund, which is an investment vehicle that pools or collects relatively small contributions from many investors with similar financial aims.

The key thing is to get started.

Procrastination may be best known as the thief of time, but in the world of personal finance it is actually a much more effective thief of future wealth!

Don’t let it rob you... blind!

My advice:

Act today – increase your knowledge, save your money, and commit to becoming a lifetime investor!

Intelligent Borrower or Economic Slave?

Is it possible to live in our 21st century and stay out of debt? Most people would say no. Yet, there are those who are debt-free.
But even then, is it desirable to totally eschew or abstain from debt when it seems as though the global retail economy is powered by rising levels of consumer borrowing?
To answer that question intelligently, the first thing you should do before you read anymore is ask yourself whether you believe debt is a curse or a blessing. Well?
I've found a large part of my work as a licensed financial planner, consultant and professional speaker revolves around urging people to extricate themselves from the clutches of clinging debt!

Because of that, many people assume I believe all debt is bad... even downright wicked. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth.
  

In all fairness, though, I'm sure the title of one of my books, Liberty! From Debt-Slave to Money Master, helped entrench that 'Rajen-thinks-all-debt-is-bad' perception among many who've heard of that book but have never read it.

The truth is few things in life are correctly viewed in monochrome! And debt isn't one of them.

Most of life involves the full spectrum of colour and hue. That includes the emotive subject of debt.

Just like fire, debt can be a great friend if properly harnessed. But, also like fire, it can scar you for life or even permanently snuff out your breath if it is permitted to rage out of control.

Liberty! teaches - in stories involving three young men - principles and strategies that work well for those who want to get out from under the sometimes overwhelming burden of consumer debt.

In most countries, typical consumer loans are taken on for years at a stretch to buy items that go down in value, sometimes precipitously during just the course of the outstanding loan!

In most cases, for most people, I believe too much consumer debt is indicative of a well-entrenched inability to exercise one of the key criteria for long-term success, a commitment to delayed gratification - the willingness to give up something good today in anticipation of something far better tomorrow.

Embracing a philosophy of delayed gratification is, at least in my opinion, indicative of a person of superior emotional intelligence.

Mature people can exercise delayed gratification with regard to consumer items. Immature people can't, won't or simply don't!

The dividing line often has little to do with chronological age.

Yet I believe there is one type of debt that - under the right circumstances - can be productive.

It is viable business debt, although even here intelligent restraint should be used!

In this instance, money may be borrowed, say at 10%, to engage in productive economic activities that yield perhaps 30%, 40% or more.

The ability to do this again and again leads to burgeoning, upward spiraling profits, which are the cornerstone of sound, vibrant capitalism and the goal of all self-respecting capitalists.

Still, let the record show that I vehemently disagree with the oily character Gordon Gekko played by Michael Douglas in the iconic 1980s movie Wall Street. In it, Gekko declared, "... greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works."

Not to my mind. Not now, not ever!

I believe unadulterated greed is cancerously evil. But a healthy desire for profits, as long as they are achieved by ethical business practices devoid of gouging others, are not merely good, but wonderful.

After all, the fair exchange of useful goods and services for money is the cornerstone of a healthy economy. For instance, a simple, personal example where I exchange an understanding of the principles of sound time management for money is found at this page which features another of my books, this one entitled Unshackled.

Our entire way of modern life is centred upon the benefits of profits earned honestly.

Bernard Baruch described it best, I think, when he wrote, "Society can progress only if men's labour show a profit - if they yield more than is put in. To produce at a loss must leave less for all to share."

If you believe Baruch's statement, and I believe it is wise to do so, then for your own sake make it a point to sit down tonight - there's nothing like striking while the iron is hot - to figure out how much you owe and to whom. Do all this figuring on a large sheet of paper.

As you do so, identify which financial debts are productive, good business-type ones, and which ones are the more common destructive, consumption-type that only make financial institutions richer at your expense!

Then embark upon a focused programme of debt-eradication within the second group.

For this part of the exercise, here's what I suggest:

1. List all your debts on another, fresh sheet of paper;

2. Then decide whether you want to  adopt one of two great strategies:

a) Paying off your debts in order of the most expensive ones (meaning those with the highest interest rates) first ; OR

b) Paying them off in order of the smallest ones first.

The first strategy (2a) is mathematically more efficient, but I have found the second (2b) more emotionally satisfying.

Use the first if you're super-disciplined. Use the second if you're like most of us mere mortals and in need of quick reinforcement through positive feedback!

In closing, I wish you all the best in crushing the monster of excessive consumer debt and thus rescuing your future income streams from being devoured by this implacable foe.

Soar As High As You Like - But For God's Sake, Get Your Safety Net In Place First!

Have you ever been to the circus and watched aerial artistes go through their motions on a high wire act?
If so, you should also have noticed, at least in passing, that the safety net strung out directly below the acrobats serves a seriously important function!
Similarly, to succeed in our financial lives, we too need a 'safety net'. My advice to my consulting clients and to audience members, when I speak professionally, is to establish just such a cash buffer.
More specifically, I urge people I care about to establish a reserve fund of between 3 and 12 months' regular expenses. I usually call this reserve fund or cash buffer or economic safety net an emergency buffer fund. Its fundamental purpose is to provide both fiscal and emotional stability during times of personal economic upheaval.

You see, for most of us normal people, our biggest asset is not anything that shows up in a conventional net worth statement.

A net worth statement is nothing more than a simple listing of material assets and liabilities, which allows for quick calculation of your net worth position. It’s quick because your net worth is mathematically derived by this simple formula:

NET WORTH = ASSETS minus LIABILITIES

Typical items that show up on the plus side of a net worth statement are key assets like cash, stocks, mutual funds or unit trusts, vehicles, gold, real estate and jewelry. Normal liability line items are home mortgages, credit card balances, car loans and family loans.

All these are important, but the biggest asset a person has is not one of the key assets I've just mentioned. No! The biggest asset for most of us is our capacity to earn money for 20, 30 or 40 years at our jobs.

Yet, let’s face it, virtually all of the money most of us will ever earn evaporates into the financial atmosphere as personal expenses, interest charges and taxes.

Clearly, to be successful financially, we have to reduce that seemingly persistent rate of evaporation. Let me be blunt:

Our long-term future wealth can only be built from the bricks and mortar of the financial surplus we set aside each month.

This surplus should usually be invested in assets that fluctuate in value. (This is closely tied to the concept of investment risk. If you would like to learn more about that intriguing subject, click here.)

It has been historically proven through more than 200 years of equity market data that those most able - both economically and temperamentally - to ride the ups and downs of markets are the people who tend to accumulate the most wealth throughout their lives.

Yet, to successfully ride those nerve-wracking but eventually profitable fluctuations, you must have a safety net, the strong strands of which are made of cold hard cash. This safety net is your emergency buffer account.

However, if you’re concerned that you don’t know enough about investing to risk putting down real money in real investment markets, then what you need as much as an emergency buffer account is an easy, personally activated education programme.

My FREE ebook 26 Books to Take YOU All the Way to the TOP! is just such a resource, which is aimed at helping begin a five-year self-study programme in personal finance, economics and investing.

Now, as I was saying about the ups and downs of markets, you will find that fluctuations in investment asset values usually go hand in hand with the dips and rises of the general economy.

The perverse side of Nature that has caused Murphy’s Law (‘if anything can go wrong, it will’) to gain such wide prominence is that in most cases when you need extra cash because of a downturn in your personal, internal economy, the entire external economy also chooses that moment to falter.

The only way to safely ride the bumps in our economies - general and specific - is to have our financial safety net in place.

So, look at your own circumstances, check your various bank balances, other savings and investment balances and figure out just how long you can last if a catastrophe takes place today that stops you from actively earning a living for one full year.

Be honest now, can you last a week, a month, three months, six months, nine months, or a year?

Only you can answer that question.

I hope you do so because the answer you give the person you see in the mirror will help you confront honestly where you are in your life’s financial journey.

Again, your willingness to invest resources in educating yourself is directly correlated to your chances of long-term success in the financial arena. If you see yourself as a rookie in this field, then my very first book, Your A-Z Guide to the Stock Market – And all You Need to Know About Capital Terms, is a great resource. It contains 1,001 terms that are usefully cross-linked to help you take a self-directed journey of financial self-education. (You may learn more about it here.)


PRACTICAL STEPS YOU CAN TAKE!

Here are my guidelines on emergency buffer establishment for your consideration:

If you are employed by an established, healthy company that is unlikely to go bust anytime soon, put in place savings amounting to between three and six months’ normal expenses. If your boss loves you to bits and can’t get along without you, three months is plenty. But if your boss would love nothing better than to tear you to bits and spit out the pieces, err on the high side!

If you are self-employed, running your own business, make sure you have at least six months’ expenses available in savings if your business is in good shape with many clients who pay on time. If business is shaky, then opt for an increased buffer size. Having a full year’s reserves is generally more than enough for most people.

Warning: It may take as long as three years to build this buffer. So, keep at it and save diligently.

And remember, your emergency buffer is for emergencies, not for exciting ‘opportunities’ like a great sale at the local department store! Having your buffer will give you financial stability, which will quickly morph into emotional stamina during otherwise traumatic periods in your life.

Also, your enhanced financial stability will help you weather the ups and downs of the investment markets.

Just one point before I conclude: If you currently have very little saved as a buffer, you are in a financially precarious position.

It is imperative that you reduce your near-term expenses and build up your reserves as fast as you can to your targeted sum.

For most people, doing so usually takes anything from 12 to 36 months. It’ll be a long slog, unless you suddenly have a massive bonus land on your lap or have an investment rise suddenly in value and are savvy enough to take some profit and park it within your buffer fund.

Do yourself a favour. Don’t bank on or hope for some strange occurrence to provide you with the funds needed to weave your safety net. Just do the work and set the money aside in a safe place where yields may be low but certainty of being able to get your money back is absolute.