Money Gospel
Me with Jack Gill from Vanguard Ventures, a successful Venture Capitalist
It's been a while since I've posted. Many things have occurred in our nation in the past weeks. Hurricane Katrina and Rita have caused devastation and despair to many. Luckily, my neighborhood in Clear Lake was not devastated by Rita and my property and belongings are intact. My heart goes out to the victims that had worse fate. I attempted to console some of the victims that evacuated to Houston from New Orleans. I even took one of the victims into my home for some time.
These events and others have created a sense of paranoia in the public. As a citizen, I am concerned about the divine acts that are chastening our nation. Our economic future is in question, given the impact of inflation and unemployment that have resulted. In these times, many question what in fact is important in life and what must be done to protect and live in accordance with life's values.
As I mentioned earlier, my business is financial planning. Hence, many of my views are shaped from a capitalistic belief system. I believe that everyone should develop his/her own talents and strengths to serve our nation's needs, and be compensated given natural supply and demand factors of the economy. From my perspective, the ability to earn a decent wage and enjoy the fruits of one's labor is the ultimate freedom of expression. My mission is to assist individuals and families to take control of their financial lives by focusing on six key areas that make up our financial lives:
1) Current situation: Your net worth is the barometer of your financial state. This is your report card and should be monitored periodically for a status report on how you are growing or shrinking your assets.
2) Adequate protection: Everyone should try to protect the things that they can't afford to lose such as the ability to earn and income, as well as assets that cannot be easily replaced (home, car ,etc.)
3) Accumulation of wealth: Once someone has satisfied the need of money to live by, they must make an effort to amass money to grow by. This can be done in several ways such as investing in stocks, real estate, bonds, precious metals, capital equipment, etc.
4) Taxes: Almost 90% of Americans overpay on taxes. This is our biggest expense typically, and strategies exist to lower this burden and put more money towards your goals.
5) Retirement/Finaical independence: You should set goals to have work be optional eventually. This occurs when your assets produce enough passively to cover your expenses.
6) Estate planing: We will all leave this earth one day, but while we are here, we should have wills and trusts in place to make sure that our assets are distributed properly when we are not in a position to manage their distribution.
This is the Gospel that I preach. I liken my mission to the mission of the preacher, whose aim is to have the people reach spiritual perfection. Though this goal, is different for each person, the ultimate goal will be reached by following strict disciplines under the guidance of natural laws.
posted by Malcolm Sykes @ 10:49 AM
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