Got Financial Regrets?

Got Financial Regrets?

Seniors report that their number one financial regret is not starting to save early enough. What is your biggest financial regret? 

Here are common financial regrets people have and what to do about them.

1.      Not saving early enough. Procrastination will cost your financial freedom. Anyone 22 years of age and entering the workforce has the time on her side to start saving, no matter your profession and income. Time is in your side. Time is more important than money. Fight the urge for instant gratification. Get started saving today!

2.      Not saving at all. You can start today. Anyone starting at 40 years of age and still become financially free in 20 years or way less. Become an aggressive saver. Get rid of debt; invest in your financial education your self-education.

3.      Not investing enough in oneself. The more you learn the more you learn. The best investment you can ever make is an investment in yourself. You are the best asset you own. Why are you leasing such valuable asset to others for such small returns? If our brain is one of the most important parts of our body, how come then we invest so little in it? You will surprise yourself on the returns of investing just 3% of your income in yourself. 

4.      Not defining and having the means to live your dreams. Yes, dreaming is no longer cool. They current education system is the number one killer of dreams; it trains people to get out and fight for a job. The media takes care of the rest. Instead of choosing a profession, choose your lifestyle first. Define your lifestyle. Find people with the lifestyle you want and learn from them; then do what they have done under their mentorship. Success is predictable; be cautious, so is mediocrity. Be in the minority of dreamers and legacy chasers.

5.      Getting in and staying in consumer debt. If you cannot delay gratification, especially early in life, then financial freedom is not in the cards for you. If you have not saved enough cash to buy what you want, you have not earned it yet. This is the most common trap people fall into. Arrogance keeps you in slavery. 

6.      Not starting your own business. When you understand the rules of money you will understand why owning the right business is the best type of income to have. The way income is generated matters a great deal. The risky thing today is to depend on a job for income (used to be the safest). The safe thing to do today is to own the right business (used to be the riskiest).

7.      Not asking and getting the proper help to become financially fit. Financial freedom and financial literacy go and in hand. People don’t lack money, people lack understanding of money. Learn to play defense, offense, and the principles of money. Make sure you are getting advice from those that are financially free. Stop spending time and money and start investing time and money.

The best time to start becoming financially fit is NOW. You don’t you ask me HOW?

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets.          

Be blessed and be a blessing to others

Carlos Fontana

Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61346-494-6

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."

Got real education?

What is real education?

Real education only comes when we learn from those that have results in life. School only helps us to succeed in school; self-education helps us to succeed in life. Our traditional educations system has become watered down and inadequate to prepare us to live a great life. From the beginning of time men and women that made the greatest contributions to humanity were involved in a great education, real education, and self-education.

1.    Discovering and staying in the path of knowledge and wisdom.

Discovering knowledge through the love for learning and wisdom through the application of knowledge.

2.    Learning with the purpose to prepare for what is to come.

Enduring the valleys of life and staying humble while at the peaks of life.

3.    Crystallizing our ideas, goals, and dreams.

Molding our attitudes so we can stay hungry forever.

4.    Developing our God-given skills and abilities.

Learning how to think.

5.    Managing our tensions and our resolving conflicts.

Internal tensions and external conflicts are crucial to growth and progress.

6.    Getting equipped to live a great life.

Defining and chasing our dreams.

7.    Discovering and practicing creative leisure.

Working, learning, and having fun at the same time.

What is holding you back from living the life you always wanted to live? A real education.

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets.          

Be blessed and be a blessing to others

Carlos Fontana

Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61346-494-6

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."

The Understanding of Money

The Understanding of Money

Understanding money is the key to our financial freedom. Money sticks to those who understand it, respect it, and put it to good use. The Federal Reserve is NOT Federal and it does not have Reserves. Currency is not money. What we call it money around the world is not money, it is currency. Real money has value; currency is a promise of value. Fractional reserve banking provides unlimited amounts of currency via loans, Fiat money. We have to pay it back with interest by using our most valuable asset, our time.

1.      Real money and currency are tools to serve others.

Time is an even better asset to serve others.

2.      We have no control over the value of currency.

Those in control of the supply of currency control the value of our currency.

3.      Money reveals our character.

Good people do great things with money and you know what bad people do with their money.

4.      Real assets, not currency, have real value.

Assets produce income. The right assets require little time to produce income.

5.      Time is more valuable than assets.

Assets are created to give us the time to serve others.

6.      Debt is the modern form of slavery.

We become assets to those in control of the value of currency and to real asset owners.

7.      Currency does not provide security.

Security comes from the ability to acquire assets that produce a continued supply of more assets.

Is your head spinning yet? You are not alone!

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets.          

Be blessed and be a blessing to others

Carlos Fontana

Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61346-494-6

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."

Got White Privilege?

White Privilege Defined

What is white privilege? How can one recognize it?

Here is a story of a very close friend. The friend happens to be a white friend.

1.      Started working at the age of seven. Started school at the age of eight. Work always came before school. Often had to get up at 5 am to do chores before walking one hour to school. Had one thing helping, a very easy to detect parent privilege.

2.      Loved school just as much as work. Soon was at the top of the class. Everyone else thought that school hard. Thought school was easy. Loved math and knew math was critical to achieving anything in life.

3.      Worked very hard during school breaks. Was not bothered by those who had an easier life early on. Knew that success would only come from doing what others were reluctant or refusing to do.

4.      Loved college and immersed in studies. Found learning fascinating. Always prayed to God to give good health and the ability to study and prepare. Prayed like everything depended on God and worked like everything depended on self.

5.      Chose to get a great education. Did not care about being popular. Care most about learning and enjoying the work at hand. Accumulated great experiences at young age. Listened to people that had results.

6.      Went to work for a great company. Researched best companies to work for, those that were profitable and rewarded great performance. Chose the company that hired individuals that were hungry with a positive attitude and outlook on the future.

7.      Took on projects that were very difficult. Preferred to do work others rejected. Saw all people with great potential. Inspired others to do their best.

Is it fair this friend is enjoying the white privilege today?

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets.          

Be blessed and be a blessing to others

Carlos Fontana

Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61346-494-6

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."

10 Things that Destroy a Nation

10 Things that Destroy a Nation

Can bad leadership destroy a nation? You bet it can. Remember the grand vision of uniting our nation? Was it poorly implemented or there was another vision implemented? When the wrong ideology coupled with corruption is implemented the greatness of any nation is eroded. Could the Great American Train be headed for a crash? When financial, health, and wisdom are derailed a crash is eminent. All bad leadership has to do is to execute well the following 10 things and we end up with a nation in the brink of chaos. There is a severe drought of good leadership in our land. We need new and strong leadership to bring an urgently needed paradigm shift to avert the crash and become a third world nation as a consequence. When the same isn’t working shouldn’t we let our voices be heard so we can change the course of history?

1.      Weaken the nation financially. Accelerate the level of national debt. With national now at $20,000,000,000,000 (that’s $20 trillion) our nation has severely been weakened. Promote the idea that debt is now normal. Give it a fancy name. Call it quantitative easing so folks think it is the right thing to do. Business debt sits at $20 trillion as well. Consumer debt is at $20 trillion too. In a little over four decades the total debt burden increased from $2 to $60 trillion. Do you think our borrowed standard of living can continue forever?

2.      Weaken the nation’s education and healthiness. Centralize education and healthcare. Dumb them down. The media controlled by government becomes in charge of informing the masses. Break up the family structure and accelerate the numbers of uneducated. What is our world ranking in education? How about health?

3.      Weaken the nation militarily. Pull the support and encouragement from those fighting for our freedoms and they will not only lose the trust but also the respect for those in power. Can you remember when America had the strongest military in the world (hint JFK and Reagan)?

4.      Weaken the nation spiritually. Remove God from all public institutions and places and prohibit praying. Instill relativism, liberalism, and devalue God’s laws. Do you long the time in history when we were strong spiritually?

5.      Weaken the nation patriotically. Downplay patriotism and instill fear. Divide the nation. Promote the racial divide and don’t reward earned distinction. Do you still have that strong sense of pride to be an American?

6.      Weaken the nation morally. Disregard the sanctity of life from conception. Have government laws supersede God’s laws that no longer foster ethics and morality. We could have an additional 50 million people if all those abortions had not been performed. Would we be now fighting over immigration?

7.      Weaken the nation economically.  Have a strong centralized banking system and foster strong ties between government and big business. Create a financial matrix to trap people so they don’t know how to escape. Don’t you feel that something is wrong but you cannot quite pinpoint the real problem? There are couples today holding five jobs between the two of them and still cannot make it. Could they maybe have six or seven jobs?

8.      Centralize and increase big government. Instill the belief that government has the solutions and will take care of the population. Offer something for nothing. Entertain them to death (sports, concerts, gambling, lotteries, and some dirty dancing too.). Value pleasures over responsibility. Can you remember when it was honorable to accept the hard life early on so you could have an easier life later on?

9.      Promote distrust in businesses. Keep messaging that profit is a bad word. Increase regulations to discourage new and existing small businesses. Do you know of any great nation without great businesses?

10.  Give preference of one religion over another. Promote hatred among religions. Keep them distracted from the real commonality among religions. Have we made any progress at all when it comes to religious discrimination?

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets.          

Be blessed and be a blessing to others

Carlos Fontana

Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61346-494-6

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."

The Democratic Political Matrix

The Democratic Political Matrix (DPM)

The DPM is real. If you don’t believe the following, you are a part of the DPM system. The time to get out of the DPM is now!

1.      The DPM is a rigged system of control that preys on the masses that are blind to the truth.

2.      The DPM as created to explore those not even aware that DPM exists.

3.      The DPM entices the masses to believe the government is better than they are to educate their children, run the economy, and spend their money.

4.      The DPM is a system created to be run by the media.

5.      The DPM was designed to keep you broke and enslaved by believing in something for nothing, especially free food and entertainment.

6.      The DPM was designed to erode your freedoms by surrendering responsibility to big government in exchange for a false sense of short term security.

7.      The DPM was designed for you to voluntarily sign up to be a slave for the rest of your life.

Please share with others; our community, our country, and our world will be a better place because you did it.

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s story.   

Be blessed and be a blessing to others

Carlos Fontana

Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61346-494-6

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."