When looking for advice on money, you’ll find no shortage of so-called money experts. The problem with these money experts is that they tend to contradict each other constantly. One might say, for example, that gold is the only true safe investment right now and that in unsure times it always skyrockets in value. Whereas five minutes later you’ll also find a guy who says that gold’s a dangerously over-valued bubble.
Which guy’s right? Well, both, neither – who knows? With investing you do your due diligence as best you can but at the end of the day all investment involves some degree of risk. The truth is, although we can make educated guesses, nobody really knows which way the wind will blow tomorrow and the good advice you get today could be the thing that ruins you tomorrow. This is as true for investors today as it was for Venetian traders in the 16th Century.
The rich and the wealthy know this, and accept it as a fact of life. Just as gravity keeps us all planted firmly on the ground commerce and finance too, are bound by certain laws and principals. If your goal in life is to join the ranks of the wealthy elite, then you must learn and understand the basic principals of money fully.
Luckily these principals are not all that complex. All one really requires is the application of simple arithmetic and basic, down-to-earth common sense. The arithmetic is to learn how the numbers add up and the common sense is to know which numbers belong in which column – i.e. are they assets or liabilities?
These are the subjects you’ll find covered in this section. All of them have been carefully selected by us to educate and enlighten, to teach financial know-how and give practical advise, not false hope and empty promises. You won’t find any “get rich quick” books here because we don’t believe in fairy tales, just prudent financial advice.
Wealth is all about developing the proper mindset, learning to read the numbers and avoiding debt by practicing financial self-discipline. Then it’s just a case of maintaining your motivation and optimism so that, just like the Venetian traders, some day soon your ship will come in.
The Wolf of Wall Street – Jordan Belfort
selfhelp : September 29, 2011 10:56 am : Making Money, Mindset, money-finance-booksThis might be a strange book to have in a SELF HELP Website. But what we want to achieve is simply a portal for all facets of life, including wealth. I have a passion for Wealth creation in my life. I loved watching the Wall Street movie and have read this book a few times. It is a great tale of Greed, poor lifestyle, and valuing MONEY above all else. more »
The Benefits of Outsourcing
selfhelp : July 14, 2011 12:19 pm : Life Skills, Making Money, money-finance-books, time-management-booksOverview
Outsourcing is the driving force of today’s globalized economy.
Many, if not all, of the world’s largest corporations have begun to outsource key processes and operations, from manufacturing to customer service, in order to keep costs low and remain competitive. This, in turn, has helped turn emerging countries such as India and China into major economic powers, boosting global trade. Corporations have embraced outsourcing because it offers considerable financial and logistical advantages compared with doing everything in-house. It boosts productivity, reduces costs and allows for far greater flexibility and efficiency making it one of the two most significant commercial developments since the assembly line. The other being computerization.
Rich Dad’s Increase Your Financial IQ: Get Smarter with Your Money
selfhelp : June 28, 2011 10:16 am : Books, money-finance-books
Robert “Rich-Dad” Kiyosaki is back!
Businessman, wealthy investor, self-help guru, speaker, author of the phenomenally successful Rich Dad – Poor Dad series and arguably one of the most influential writers on the subject of wealth building since Napoleon Hill, Kiyosaki is today’s go-to guy when it comes to money and finance. He’s been featured on various news networks including Bloomberg and CNN and has been interviewed by everyone from Oprah to Larry King.
For over a decade his books have topped various best seller lists including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Altogether his Rich Dad Poor Dad series has sold in excess of 26 million books.
Kiyosaki is the poster boy for “financial intelligence” and this book acts as a sort of companion book for Rich Dad Poor Dad. In it he outlines the five principals of “Financial Intelligence” and then outlines various ways how to improve your “F-IQ” so as to make better informed decisions in your life, finances and investments.
Kiyosaki’s success is well earned as is his reputation for financial acuity. Over the years the author’s works have garnered him legions of fans all singing his praises from the rooftops. Why? Because the advice and insight he gave them ended up making them rich.
This book is simply one of the best books about the nature of money and wealth ever written. Inspired by the author’s experiences growing up in Hawaii, the book is part semi-autobiographical fiction, half financial manifesto. It’s also a roaring great read.
It tells the story of a boy growing up with two “dads”, one rich, one poor. The Poor Dad in question is the boy’s father, a highly educated and socially conscious man but, due to some very misguided views on money, finds himself getting deeper and deeper in debt. Then there’s Rich Dad, his best friend’s father, a straight-talking, straight-shooting, self-made businessman who’s power and influence in the community grows steadily throughout the book. The main story is about the lessons learned when Rich Dad decides to take Poor Dad’s son under his wing and teach him the true value of money and the philosophy of wealth. Each story is divided up into various lessons, which one learns throughout the book.
The genius of this book is that, at times, you forget you’re reading a book on money and just get lost in the story. Some of the anecdotes are quite amusing, others quite touching. All the while Kiyosaki weaves in financial lessons into the narrative, some of which are quite revolutionary. For example, think your house is an asset? Kiyosaki doesn’t, he says it’s perhaps the biggest liability you can own. He also attacks other conventional wisdom such as the notion that a person has to do well in school and go on to college in order to succeed. Kiyosaki disagrees, he claims that the majority of what children are taught in school is of no use in real life and that it only succeeds in churning out future employees. Controversial? Certainly. Thought provoking? Definitely!
In fact, after you read this book I guarantee you will not look at money and rich people in the same way ever again. This book is truly life-changing. It’s the type of book not only will you want to read again and again, it’s also the one book you will not be able to stop recommending to your friends and family.
The grand-daddy of all self help and finance books, Think and Grow Rich was originally written in 1937 by Napoleon Hill after two decades of research. Unlike many, more modern self help books which can seem very dated after just a couple of years, this book is truly timeless.
Encouraged to write the book by Andrew Carnegie, the then-richest man on earth, Hill set out to interview some of the most successful men of the age, including Thomas Edison, John D Rockerfeller and Henry Ford to help him in developing his steps to success.
The steps to success, and the principles involved, have since proved so influential that, three quarters of a decade later, this book still remains a perennial bestseller and regularly appears in top-ten book lists.
It’s also to be found on the bookshelves of some of the most successful, wealthy and influential people of our age, has inspired countless millionaires, and even some of today’s billionaires, who have no hesitation in saying that they owe their fortunes to the wisdom contained in this highly inspiring and motivational masterpiece.
