Be Wealthy & Smart

Learn why new cars can be a deterrent to your wealth and what opportunity cost means. Maybe you like cars or you just want a new car. Perhaps you want to buy a new car because it's for safety (too many miles), or status (need it for your job/image), or change of objective (had a child), etc. Whatever your reasons for a new car, re-think it because cars are one of the largest deterrents to your wea...

Learn how some people got wealthier faster and the reasons why. This is an article in Investor's Business Daily from April 30, 2018 by Paul Katzeff.

Learn 17 potential places to invest a small amount of money. It's listener question day! Here is our question: Linda, I only have a small amount to invest, about $300 to $500. Where should I start? Sam There are many options you have. Since I don't know anything about your circumstances, I'm going to give you a list of choices. Assuming all your consumer debt is paid off. If not, start there to ge...

Learn the one thing to focus on for financial success this year. This is the most important thing you can do financially this year.  You'll have to listen to find out what it is! Please subscribe to the Be Wealthy & Smart podcast and get new episodes as soon as they are added.  

Learn 3 ways to protect your wealth when interest rates are rising. The economy operates on cycles. There is a key indicator of where we are in the cycle. The key indicator is interest rates. Interest rates are controlled by the Federal Reserve. They set the rates and determine when to raise interest rates. Interest rates are the cost of money. It's how much we pay to borrow money from banks. It's...

Learn stock market investing insights and why investing is important to you becoming financially free. Investing in the stock market doesn't have to be difficult. It is very important for you to know how to invest in the stock market in order to achieve financially independence. Here are the reasons why you should know how to invest in the stock market: 1. It's affordable. It has low account minim...

Learn about entrepreneurship from global CEO branding expert and Firestarter co-author Raoul Davis Jr.    

Learn how to maximize your investments so your 401(k) or retirement plan will accumulate $1 million. About 150,000 people have a 401(k) of $1 million or more in 2017 and 152,000 IRA's have $1 million or more. Here are the steps to take: 1. Start as soon as possible. 2. Invest the maximum or at least get the match. 401(k) & 403 (b) = $18,500 Roth IRA benefits phase out (you can't contribute) if you...

Learn what assets make up your asset allocation and how to decide how much to invest.

Learn what to do to make a dreary job like doing your taxes, fun!   April 17th is Income Tax Day. This podcast will help you get through it with more fun and like a breeze!

Learn why being wealthy is a choice. Recently I saw a tweet. Here's what it said: "You spend $20 a day eating out. That's $600 a month. Add drinks it's $800 a month. In 3 months you can buy a ticket anywhere in the world. You can travel, you're just too lazy to cook." There certainly is truth in it for travel, but also for wealth building. $800 a month is $9600 per year. At 10%, in 10 years that i...

Learn 7 ways to use your tax refund and 2 that will build wealth for you. Often people use a tax refund to pay down debt or save money for a large purchase, but there are 2 more things to consider doing with your tax refund that will help you build wealth. Listen to this podcast for 2 more ideas you can use your tax refund for that may be more beneficial to you financially. You may also want to li...

Learn how to delay filing your taxes until October 15th. If you're not ready to file your taxes on April 15th, you can file paperwork to delay. An estimated 14 million people will file extensions in 2018. I do it every year and it's one of the best decisions I make! It feels like such a luxury to not have to file until October. This year the deadline to pay tax is Tuesday, April 17th. That's becau...

Learn what the next group of tech stocks might be that will outperform the FANG stocks. Here is the article from Marketwatch: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/if-the-faangs-have-got-you-down-its-time-to-win-with-the-wnsss-stocks-2018-03-29

Learn why saving money is so important to wealth building.

Learn why wealth is about making the right choices and avoiding the wrong ones. Just wanted to pause for a moment and ask if you knew Betterment is the largest independent online financial advisor with more than $10 billion in assets under management with more than 300,000 customers? Their service helps to improve long-term returns and lower taxes for retirement planning, building wealth, and othe...

Learn the 5 best performing international mutual funds for 10 years.

Learn what mutual funds have outperformed the S & P 500 on a 1, 3, 5, and 10 year basis. According to Investor's Business Daily, these are the top performing mutual funds in the Large Cap category.

Learn what advice I gave to a college student/driver who is eager to be smart with his money. 1. Pay bills on time. 2. Contribute to 401k and get free money. 3. If in between corporate gigs, contribute to an IRA Is it all about retirement? It's much easier the earlier you start. You'll need to set aside less money and be richer if you start earlier because you have compounding on your side. For ex...

Learn what investment books I recommend and also what I recommend before investing, in addition to reading.  

Learn how to use cycles to determine when to be more cautious with investment real estate and protect your wealth. Interest rates indicate a slowing economy.  This podcast talks about how to use interest rates when investing in real estate and how to protect your wealth. 

Learn 3 things to do to stop feeling overwhelmed. Overwhelm can slow us down, keep us from achieving goals and slow down our wealth building. Here are 3 things to do to get out of feeling overwhelmed.

Learn which debt to pay off first and how to decide. This is a listener question about paying off a real estate loan on rental real estate.  I show you how to determine which debt to pay off first and how to think through the rationale.

Learn a true story about how cash on hand saved a family.  

Learn 5 tips for emergency cash management. Yesterday, one of my Be Wealthy & Smart VIP Experience members mentioned that her bank had experienced a DDOS computer attack and that the ATM machines were not working. Here's what she said: Hey Linda! If you weren't aware, a "technical issue" took down almost all of XYZ bank yesterday. More than 24 hours later, they're still only partially back up. Mil...