Thread: A welcome initiative by LynnRE

Originally Posted by LynnRE

Here's the deal. I have business to take care of and won't be back until after the 21st of this month. If enough people express an interest in my providing this information, then I will set up a thread and post it there. This gives plenty of time for people to decide if they would like this information or not. Fair enough?

This will remain an open Sticky thread until LynnRE informs me upon his decision.

Until such time, members are welcome to express their support, thoughts or any suggestion(s) that may assist LynnRE to share his humble introduction for a solution from which members can then decide in participating. Let us hear your views of support ...

YB.

thanks lynn, I think it's a good idea!

Thanks!

I`d like very much to have this info too

Me too Lynn please.

Looking forward to your advice

Please send me info.

luckelement

I'm also looking forward to have info.

First I want to thank all of you who expressed interest in my doing these pieces. But now I have to advise you that you may not want to hear what I have to say, at least not at first. If you do reflect on what I am about to tell you, you may change your initial opinion and realize what I will be explaining to you works. Unless you were born into wealth, the only way to get there is to do what I recommend below.

I must also tell you that I am not affiliated with any investment program I might mention, I do not receive any commission should you decide to do business with any of them, I do not get any referral fees from any of them; I DO NOT GET COMPENSATED IN ANY FORM OR FASHION. Or put another way: I will not make one dime off any of you should you elect to do business with any investment program or product I might reference.

Before I get into the real nuts and bolts of the “HOW” I must give you the preliminary and mandatory things you must do and learn if you are going to be successful. If you don’t, you won’t succeed. Much of what I am going to be sharing with you, I am sure many of you have already heard it before. So here goes:

First, to be successful no matter how much you have to invest is DISCIPLINE. This must become as routine with you as eating. So repeat it 10 times. The next word we have to learn is DEDICATION. You have to be dedicated or it will not work. Now say this word 10 times. While DISCIPLINE and DEDICATION seem to be the same, they are not. The next word you have to learn is COMMITMENT. Now say this word 10 times. The next word you have to learn is PATIENCE. This one is not too hard for those who were part of PIPS, but the manner in which I am using the word is totally different. Again, repeat this word 10 times. I’ll explain more shortly. The next word you have to learn and fully understand is TIME. It takes time to succeed. I know the Internet is full of “opportunities” that promise to provide “riches” in a relative short period of time, but let’s be real they are not real. Many of you have learned this the hard way, but we also have to be honest you still want to believe this time it will be different. It is kind of like changing the name of the book and expecting a different ending. It won’t work. Now repeat the word 10 times.

I know you are saying to yourself, “I have heard all this before, but don’t the rich have ways to bypass all of these words when they invest? Aren’t they privy to special programs that the little guy cannot access and thus create large amounts of wealth in a short period of time?” Now many of you will not believe me when I tell you the answer is ‘NO!’ At least not the way I presented it. One day you too will be able to use the same programs they use, just not in as large of numbers as they do. In short, the only difference between you and the rich is the amount of money invested.

I needed to explain this to you so you will have a grasp of some of the concepts I am going to be explaining. Before I finish this, you will see just how what I said above is true, and if we are successful, one day you too may be investing as much as the rich. But let’s be honest. Right now you are a long way off from this happening. It doesn’t mean that you cannot get there. What you will need more than anything else is TIME! There’s that word again. You will hear it and the others over and over because they all go hand-in-hand. You cannot do one without the other.

You must also determine just how much risk you as a group are willing to take. What do I mean? Everyone of us has a risk tolerance level, but many of us never take the time to determine just what our risk levels really are. Well, you have low risk investments, but of course it takes a long time (there’s that word again) to accumulate a substantial nest egg. The reason being the return is much lower you will receive, but you will receive it. These types of investments are usually Bonds, Treasuries, Money Market Accounts, Certificates of Deposit, etc. You have medium risk, which pays a higher rate of return, but you also assume more risk. Then of course you have high risk, and while the returns are great, so is the chance of loss. High risk means high returns and high risk. There is no investment vehicle/program that is high return and low risk…..NONE. Now repeat that ten times. Let’s put it another way by providing you examples of what I am talking about that just might make it easier for you to understand your risk tolerance:

You are given $1,000 in $1 bills. You are told to go out into the back yard and throw all the money in the air. Whatever lands in your yard you get to keep, and what doesn’t, you lose. Now understand all your neighbors are going to do the exact same thing. So how do I determine how much risk am I willing to accept? Simple, here are the factors I did not mention when I told you what you were going to do: First, the wind is blowing at 100 mph. Second, you have no fence around yours or your neighbor’s yards. Third you must toss the money at least 6 feet into the air.

Now, if you are willing to do that then you are a high risk person. You realize that the odds are against you that any of your money will land in your yard, but you also realize some of your neighbor’s money just might blow into your yard. By the way, for all those Internet programs that promise the moon for a little bit of money? Well the wind is blowing at 1,000 mph and there are no neighbor’s doing the same thing. Hope you got the message.

Now let’s use the exact same scenario as above, but with this modification: Let’s put up fences 3’ high around all the yards. Of course you have a lot better chance of more money staying in your yard than before, as well as more money blowing into your yard. This is called medium risk.

Now, this time we will put up a wall 5’ high in all the yards, and this is what we call medium to low risk. Some of your money will stay in your yard, and some from your neighbor’s will land in your yard. If we put up a wall 7’ high, this would be low risk. Even throwing the money 6’ high and the wind blowing, some money from your neighbor’s might end up in your yard, but 99.9% of your money will stay in your yard. This is low risk. Even with low risk you can lose money with the exceptions of these investments: Money Market, Certificates of Deposit (herein called CD’s), and Treasuries (T-Bills).

It is always good to diversify your investments. Initially you won’t be able to do this, but as time goes by you will be able to begin diversification of your investment portfolio.

So if I don’t have a lot of money to invest, how to I accumulate it so I can? Since I don’t know any of your financial situations, and it is not necessary I do for what I am about to share; I am going to assume you have the minimum amount available to invest of $100. The same principles I am about to share will work with only $25, but it just will take longer to get there; but you will get there. So how do I make $100 turn into a lot of $$$ over TIME? Well, you do it in small steps. You have two options for you to use.

One Option is to find 9 other friends who also have $100 to invest and form an investment group. Instead of $100, you now have a combined total of $1,000 for investing as a group. Since $1,000 is still lower than most mutual funds or CD’s require for an initial investment, what good does it do us to form this club? This is where the words COMMITMENT, DEDICATION and DISCIPLINE come into play. The group must COMMIT to investing in the group’s fund a set amount each week of say $25. You must be DEDICATED that you will do it each and every week for years. You must have the DISCIPLINE that you will not be tempted to do something else with the money you have committed to investing each week.

You take your initial $1,000 and invest it in a money market account. As a club, you must elect officer’s and set up bylaws (telling how, who, what, when) on how investments will be bought, sold and risk’s the club is willing to take. These bylaws can always be amended as your financial conditions change, and maybe members of your group change. I would highly recommend that you have no more than 10. My only reason for suggesting 10 is because it allows you to get to your goal a little quicker than with fewer members. Still my ideal number is 5, but that is what works best for me. You can have as many or few as you feel comfortable with in the club. My suggestions are merely that, suggestions.

Once you get to where you can start diversifying somewhat your portfolio from just a money market, then you would want to consider a short-term CD, or selecting a mutual fund company to invest. Once you are in the mutual fund, when you use a family of funds (Fidelity, American, Putnam, etc. are examples of a fund family), you can transfer funds from one group of funds to another group of funds within the family group of funds at no additional charge to do so. Which fund group you select is up to you. Even though you have now moved out of your money market into CD’s or a family of mutual funds, you must still continue to put aside $25 each week into your money market account. When this amount of money grows to the amount needed to invest in other investments, you will then diversify your portfolio again by selecting a different type of investment program. This will be consistent no matter how big your portfolio grows to over time. Eventually you will have funds in a Money Market, CD, Mutual Funds, and then you will have the ability to explore other investment options. Once your club has reached a level that it is considered a “qualified investor” it opens doors to trading options, futures, commodities, forex, etc.. This is where you will be using the same investment vehicles the rich use, but just at smaller dollar amounts than they do. All it took was TIME, COMMITMENT, DISCIPLINE, DEDICATION, and PATIENCE.

But you say I am not interested in having or being a part of an investment club. How do I do it on my own? The exact same way as above. The only difference is it will take you longer to get there, but you will get there. You have to COMMIT to setting aside the same dollar amount each week. You cannot deviate from this commitment. You must be DEDICATED you will not quit. Once you decide not to set aside the amount you have committed to, the game is over. It is too easy to let it slide and before you know it months have gone by without your setting aside any money for your investment program. Think of it this way, Two months of not setting aside this amount of money will make you take 3 years longer to reach your goal. If you miss Six months, it will take 9 years. I hope you get the idea that you must take this seriously, and once you do it consistently for a year, it will become a habit and way of life. You will also start to see a small reward for all your dedication. I said “SMALL” reward. It takes TIME to see large rewards, but they will come. It takes PATIENCE because in the beginning you will not see any significant returns on your investment. You must be DISCIPLINED to do it week in and week out without fail. It must become a mandatory habit for you, and should you miss you will feel guilty until you do make it up.

Until you set your mind to doing this, it will not succeed; nor will you. The way to riches is not a “get rich quick” proposition like you have been led to believe. But with all those ‘WORDS’ I had you repeat, you can. If you are not COMMITTED, all is for naught. If you are not DEDICATED, all is for naught. If you are not willing to allow TIME to work for you, all is naught. If you do not have PATIENCE, all is for naught, and yes if you do not have the DICSCIPLINE, all is for naught. You must have all of these attributes working for you, or you will not succeed. There is no short-cut to wealth. But the law of compounding interest will work and work well for you if you let it.

One more time, repeat these words: DISCIPLINE, DEDICATION, TIME, PATIENCE, & COMMITMENT = SUCCESS. I hope this initial post has been of help to you, and I will go into more specifics on my next post. I will discuss the various types of Mutual Funds, what a diversified portfolio consists of (by percentages and by types of investments), as well as some other options once you get your portfolio above $25,000. That is if you want to know more, and feel this has been helpful to you. Wanted to add that all the numbers used were for illustration purposes. If you can invest more per week, do so; or if you have more than $100 to start do so.

Thank you Lynn for focusing, what I am sure, most will try to swallow TRUTH as being the hardest and esp. repeating and reminding oneself... 10 times or MORE I would further advise... before stepping into a real world where money is made first from savings or spare cash that can be afforded to be LOST and the next chapter is again a new one with even broader smiles... without a wince of sorrow or regret!!!

If any of you, and there's plenty among you, who have no trouble facing this, (but for those who ARE NOT???)... It is very difficult indeed to understand but do have some pity or compassion for those who are always becoming the losing end from those out there aiming to scam the poorer ones.

Thank you for your generous tips and audacious advise shared Lynn.... I'll smile and silently say it to myself 10 times or more... gimme a Guinness first!!!

Originally Posted by YogiBrood

Thank you Lynn for focusing, what I am sure, most will try to swallow TRUTH as being the hardest and esp. repeating and reminding oneself... 10 times or MORE I would further advise... before stepping into a real world where money is made first from savings or spare cash that can be afforded to be LOST and the next chapter is again a new one with even broader smiles... without a wince of sorrow or regret!!!

If any of you, and there's plenty among you, who have no trouble facing this, (but for those who ARE NOT???)... It is very difficult indeed to understand but do have some pity or compassion for those who are always becoming the losing end from those out there aiming to scam the poorer ones.

Thank you for your generous tips and audacious advise shared Lynn.... I'll smile and silently say it to myself 10 times or more... gimme a Guinness first!!!

Remember it is the words you are to repeat 10 times, not the Guiness! Bummer isn't it.