Entrepreneurship - The Failure of the Economy Has Brought America Back to Its Roots

By S Koonopakarn

"Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing."

Thomas Alva Edison, American, Inventor & Entrepreneur, (1847-1931)

If the first thing you do when you get home from a hard day's work is to flip on the evening news, it is no wonder to me why we, as a nation, have lost our edge in leading the world economically, technologically, and spiritually. We have lost our way. We were once the nation that was responsible for the creation of the telephone (Alexander Graham Bell, 1876), the automobile assembly line (Henry Ford, 1913), the airplane (Wilbur & Orville Wright, 1903), the light bulb (Thomas Alva Edison, 1879), and even discovered electricity itself. However, there has been a steady decline in American inventiveness that has lead to us to this moment in our collective economic history. Rather than nurturing our greatest asset (creativity) and continuing to lead the world on the strength of our intellectual and creative genius, we have devolved into nothing more than a nation of consumers of foreign products. This is a documented fact that has resulted in an ever growing trade deficit that, unless we drastically change our ways, will keep us in national debt, forever.

For the past few decades, we have only mastered the appearance of being busy. We have given up on all our dreams, found a "comfortable", minimally stimulating job with good pay and "benefits", and turned off our creative brains. Although as children, we imagined, created, composed, and envisioned fantastic solutions to problems we encountered, as adults, we keep busy at our jobs, in front of our idiot boxes, and in our super-sized malls consuming, that we can not even imagine having time to think for ourselves. And in this way, advertisers and big business have us where they want us.

"Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged."

Thomas Alva Edison, American, Inventor & Entrepreneur, (1847-1931)

America still creates and develops the most incredible and cutting-edge intellectual property and products in the world, however it is big business with Wall Street connections that dominates the vast majority of these creations. Huge corporations like Microsoft (with billions of dollars in stockholder and investor money) would acquire all the rights to any potentially promising (or competitive) programs only to impart its corporate brand of mediocrity to it. The eventual result is a product that has been limited in vision and stripped of all its heart and creative passion. This is how we, as mutual fund investors, are subsidizing America's creative failure and promoting our national indebtedness. This is invention in the new, consumer nation of America.

In this new corporate, Wall Street-run state, the inventions to change the world for the better are fewer and further between. And the creators who imagine them, who put their blood, sweat, and tears into them, and who dream of the better world ahead because of their invention are seldom familiar with the ways of business and copyright law and other measures of intellectual property protection. And to them, a few hundred thousand dollars would make a significant and immediate difference in their life. And all too often, the unfortunate end of the story is an idea or invention squandered, a few hundred thousand dollars mismanaged and lost, and an American economy that is incapable of competing against nations that nurture their intellectual talent.

Plenty of creative people hold on to their ideas, however without financial capital, many world-changing ideas die on the vine. Where is the financial support for these ideas that would elevate our economy, as well as, our national pride? Why are we spending billions of dollars bailing out banks and huge corporations that have failed by their own unethical actions without considering that financial support for entrepreneurs and small business, who make up over 50% of the American economy and employ millions more people than big business, would be substantially more effective in keeping our economy from failure? The determining factor was and is that there aren't millions of dollars spent on lobbying for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Bailouts for big business is not the solution for an economy that has been languishing since we have displaced our focus from creating and developing intellectual property and products; it will be the entrepreneurs and small businesses that will power the economy back to strength. However, this can only happen when policy makers create a more supportive environment for entrepreneurs and small businesses. As the credit market continues to be extremely tight despite the big banks being recapitalized by our tax dollars, small businesses, the employers of millions of Americans, suffer to maintain their business operations and pay their employees because of limitations imposed by their big bank creditors. It is a case where those companies who acted selfishly in the first place, were entrusted with tax payer money to act differently-should we really be surprised by their same old selfish actions?

"Be courageous! Have faith! Go Forward!"

Thomas Alva Edison, American, Inventor & Entrepreneur, (1847-1931)

Although all seems like doom and gloom, it is as Thomas Edison said: "Have faith!" Entrepreneurs do not have the luxury of a lot of things, most of all, pessimism. In spite of the concerns of small businesses and entrepreneurs having thus far fallen on deaf ears, this is not enough of a reason for the true entrepreneur to become discouraged. So, I am incredibly encouraged when I see that in this depressed economy, more and more people are seeing and seizing the opportunity. Since the beginning of massive layoffs and the stock market collapsed on the news of the coming recession, there has been an increase in the number of small businesses started. See what happens when creative Americans unplug from their daily "busy work" and have time to dream and imagine again!

To be an entrepreneur is to be courageous. Not much is truly certain, however here is what is certain-lenders, by definition, will and must lend, and so, that day must come around again. And history has shown us that there is no better investment than the passion and drive of the American entrepreneur.

S Koonopakarn is the CEO and Co-founder of Saintly Assistance Financing & Equities Group, LLC, an Atlanta-based investing and consulting company that specializes in real estate and retirement investments. He has the investment plan that will get you back on track to an early retirement without depending on Social Security and without sacrificing lifestyle. Find more articles and creative investment solutions on his blog here at http://www.SecureYourFutureNews.wordpress.com

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Stock Investing Vs Real Estate Investing Profits

By James Leitz

Both stock investing and real estate investing have the same basic financial objectives. People invest money in both to make money from growth and/or income. Growth through price appreciation (increase in value or market price) is where you really make money, the big bucks. Here we compare the two investment options in terms of profitability and other factors.

Let's talk about a $20,000 out-of-pocket 10-year investment in both investment options investing by traditional standards ... like it has normally been done throughout the past 50 or so years. No unusual economic circumstances, no HEAVY leverage (borrowed money) involved. Now let's look at both investment options.

Stock investing: The stock investment is $20,000 invested in a no-load S&P 500 Index fund which tracks the performance of the stock market. Over the long term the stock market has returned 10% a year. This is our assumed return, plain and simple.

Real estate investing: Here you buy a house in Middle America USA for $100,000, putting down $20,000, the traditional 20%. You average 3% a year in price appreciation. You rent it out to maintain an even cash flow. In other words, your rental income covers your mortgage payments, all repairs and maintenance, fees, taxes and so on. Plus, to keep it simple we assume that what you have paid off on your mortgage is absorbed by other expenses over the 10 years. So, if you were to sell after 10 years we will say that you still owe the bank $80,000. Sorry, this investment option is not so plain and simple to describe.

Let's compare the profitability of these investment options.

Stock investing produced yearly average returns of 10%. Over 10 years $20,000 grows to $51,875 when compounded at 10%.

Real estate investing produced average yearly gains of 3% on $100,000. Growing at 3% a year the value of your house grows to $134,392 in 10 years. We are assuming that you still owe the bank $80,000, so the net value of your investment is $54,392. In reality you would owe less with a conventional mortgage. On the other hand this difference could easily be offset if extraordinary costs were incurred over the 10-year period.

You had $20,000 of your own money invested to make money. The score after 10 years: Stock investing grew your money to $51,875 and real estate got you to $54,392 under our traditional assumptions. In terms of profitability there wasn't much difference.

But you and I both know that when you invest money to make money your success really depends on how well you know and play the game ... no matter what arena you invest money in. For example, if you are good at selecting, improving, managing and financing real estate properties you can do much better than the above example.

You can also make over 10% a year in stock investing if you know how to invest in the stock market. The problem for most folks is that they don't know how to invest in stocks, they are uninformed. Hence, stock investing for most folks is risky business.

On the other hand, TRADITIONALLY (not so in 2007-2009) many people are comfortable with real estate investing because they are familiar with real estate (they see it every day and likely grew up in a house). Real estate properties have historically gone up in value without many violent downswings. The stock market usually experiences a downturn (bear market) every few years.

Other basic differences in our two investment options follow.

Real estate properties require active management, and lack good liquidity as an investment. Selling a property can be costly and time consuming. On the other hand, real estate investing has traditionally been a good way to invest money and make it grow without taking much risk. Various investing techniques can be employed to enhance profits ... financial leverage being among them.

Stocks offer high liquidity, meaning that you can sell a stock investment quickly and easily with low costs. No active management is involved; you just buy or sell over the phone or on your computer. On the other hand, you are inviting trouble if you try to make money here and haven't spent time learning how to invest in stocks. Risk is always a factor when investing in stocks, especially if you are uninformed.

A retired financial planner, James Leitz has an MBA (finance) and 35 years of investing experience. For 20 years he advised individual investors, working directly with them helping them to reach their financial goals.

Jim is the author of a complete investor guide, Invest Informed, designed for average investors or would-be investors of all levels of financial background and experience. To learn more about investments and investing and his new financial guide go to http://www.investinformed.com

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Analyzing Your Business

By Jennifer Cools

Starting your own business is perhaps one of the hardest things you have to do. Most individuals want to have their own company so that they would not have to work for others. Yet, you have to prepare yourself for the countless problems you will encounter while building it and maintaining it. Before starting the business, you have to make sure that you have attainable goals. Being able to make your business grow is another undertaking you have to surpass. You have to have the heart that you will make this business a success no matter what.

Not because you are the boss or owner of the company, it means that you will not take time in getting to know how the internal workings of the business it. Everyone in the organization is important so you have to make sure that you hear each out. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of every department enables you to know which needs to work harder. For example, when you see that the marketing department is not doing a good job implementing their strategies, you might want to interfere with it and give them a head's up.

Knowing these things would help you assess the business itself whether it is growing or not. This also gives you a bigger picture of what is happening in the company that you started. Making changes will surely come but you also have to look closely whether it would do you good or better postpone it for a few more months or years. In addition, when you see that there is a new trend or tool related to your field, you could ask your staff to check whether the business would be able to use it or not. Evaluation is necessary in everything you do. You should not trust your instincts at times especially if what you want to try is relatively new.

In each evaluation, honesty is also important because if you do not tell the truth, the business may cease to exist. You have to work with facts here to know what is going on. By merely lying, you are putting not only yourself but also the whole company in jeopardy. Be responsible enough to communicate with your staff and ask them if there are any troubles. Everyone commits mistakes and it takes plenty of guts to do that. However, think of this as something positive since you are telling the flaws and they would do something about it.

Analyzing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (S.W.O.T.), enables the business to become stronger and more efficient. You too would be able to improve the areas that need improvement. As for the well-off areas, you would also have time to assess what else you could do to maintain their stature. The S.W.O.T. analysis is one of the best things you could ever do for your company. Everything you need to know is possible with the aforementioned kind of analysis. You would surely be able to make your company a better one after this.

For more tips and information about article marketing and startrankingnow, please check out our website at http://www.startrankingnow.com.

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Stocks Vs Real Estate - The 4 Ways You Can Multiply Your Money Faster & More Securely in Real Estate

By S Koonopakarn

Between stocks and real estate, most investors tend to stick to one type of investment or the other, depending on what they are comfortable with. But the only issues that should matter when considering an investment is what kind of "true" return on investment can I get verses what is my risk to earn that return. Hands down, real estate is far superior to stocks in terms of both high ROI and security.

Before we begin this discussion, it is important that I point out the major mistake made by just about every other writer who has ever written on this subject; in every comparison of stocks to real estate, either the Dow or S&P values are used as the basis of measuring stocks' performance, however it is rarely mentioned that the Dow is a select sample group of only 30 stocks and that the original companies of the Dow are not the same as the present companies that make up the Dow Jones. Recently General Motors (GM), along with government bailed out Citigroup, were dropped from the Dow because they both fell below $5/share, and they were replaced by Cisco Systems ($20/share) and Travelers ($40/share). The real estate equivalent of this would be to choose a portfolio of properties in the beginning and then removing a poorly-performing shack from the collection and replacing it's valuation with a stronger performing Trump Tower. Such a practice makes it impossible to truly measure the performance of the stock market, however it is clear that whatever gains can be measured are "slightly" inflated, if not completely overstated.

Now that we understand the shortcomings of prior comparative analyses, we will choose to use the S&P 500, despite the previous discussion, with the understanding that this provides a slight advantage to stocks, for we will show that real estate is still superior, even in a comparison favoring stocks. There is an abundance of circumstantial evidence all around us for this fact. The most significant and lucrative investment most people make is their primary residence. 85 to 90% of the wealthiest individuals in the world built and hold their wealth in real estate.

What specific ways does investing in apartments and rental properties help us multiply our money faster? There are 4 major ways:

1. Appreciation. This the gross increase in valuation of the asset. When the stock price increases to a higher value or likewise, when a house increases in value, appreciation is the profit from this change in valuation. Of course, a decrease in value is also possible in both types of assets, and the result of this is negative appreciation. This is the aspect that is most often focused on by previous comparisons. However, despite being the most important income with investing in stocks, appreciation is the least important of the ways of making money in real estate. Individuals who focus on appreciation in real estate are not investors, but speculators, many of whom were the hardest hit because of the burst of the housing bubble.


2. Depreciation. This refers to an estimation of the "loss" of valuation of investment real estate as a result of deterioration or obsolescence. The wear and tear is not tabulated from a list of specific damages, but rather takes the cost of the asset and spreads this cost over the legally estimated useful "lifetime" of the asset, 27.5 years in the case of residential property. When running your real estate investing as a business, this tax deduction can be huge, along with tax-deductable expenses, in offsetting income and legally decreasing your tax liability. There is no equivalent to this in offsetting capital gains from stock income.


3. Amortization. This refers to the building of equity in a property as the mortgage on it is paid off over time. This is another way of expressing the advantage of leverage in investing in real estate-the ability to buy an asset with only 3 to 25% of the purchase price and pay the rest off over time, preferably using the asset's own income, is unheard of in the world of stocks.


4. Cash Flow. This has to be the sweetest money from your real estate investment; after all expenses, this is what is left over to go straight into your hip pocket. This is analogous to stock dividends, however the company in which you hold stock has the ultimate decision as to whether they will offer you a dividend, and they can change this decision without consulting minor stockholders. A properly structured real estate investment will provide positive cash flow FOREVER. And, again, if you run your investment as a business, this passive income will not be subject to self-employment tax.

About the only clear advantage that stocks have demonstrated over real estate is the relatively greater liquidity that is provided by having a ready market of buyers. However, the knowledgeable and experienced real estate investor understands this, and the investor builds a list of buyers and recruits real estate agents and brokers onto his or her team for this very reason. Even in a tough market, as exists today, investors are able to move property and maintain liquidity.

In addition, the clear and widely acknowledged advantage that real estate investments have over stocks-the ability to leverage your money and credit to buy the asset and the tax advantages and other streams of income benefiting owners of rental properties-are often greatly underestimated and understated. The accumulated tax savings and other hidden income streams when added up is a more than significant amount of money; all the annual tax write-offs translates into more money to leverage and reinvest into more income-producing real estate, and this cycle of reinvesting is the process that will multiply your investment money at a rate that the best stock can never hope to keep up with.

S Koonopakarn is the CEO and Cofounder of Saintly Assistance Financing & Equities Group, LLC, an Atlanta-based investing and consulting company that specializes in real estate and retirement investments. He has the investment plan that will get you back on track to an early retirement without depending on Social Security and without sacrificing lifestyle.

Find more articles and creative investment solutions on his blog at http://www.SecureYourFutureNews.wordpress.com.

And coming soon, we will be relaunching the Saintly Assistance Financing & Equities Group LLC Website at http://www.S-A-F-EGroupLLC.com.

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The Two-Word Secret Weapon to Effective Leadership

By Stephanie Robey

Performance. Management.

"Performance Management" is a term coined by Dr. Aubrey Daniels in the late 1970s to describe a technology for managing, both behavior, and results, the two critical elements of what is known as performance. As an entrepreneur and a leader it is critical in your business.

Performance Management includes goal setting and motivation. It means being 100% clear on what you want. It also includes "encouragement" and "rewards and consequences". It is the single thing that can spur people on to greater accomplishments while strengthening their skills. Read that last sentence again.

What does this mean to you as a leader?

1. Constantly communicate your performance expectations
2. Set realistic but stretch goals. (This means, if you already make $1000 per week, set your goal to $2000.)
3. Be forgiving, but be aggressive. (Something's just won't work and accept it.)

WL Gore & Assoc, makers of GoreTex, the versatile and durable fabric used in outdoor products like tents and rain gear is an excellent example. When the company started, money was tight. The engineers had been working on an experiment and ended up wasting $1000 of material. They were devastated.

Mr. Gore walked in and saw the engineers with their long defeated faces and asked what's wrong? After listening, Mr. Gore simply responded, "well, try again tomorrow."

You see, Mr. Gore knew some day that the $1000 was simply an "investment" in creativity and down the road it would look minuscule. He was a true leader and understood the power of motivation and de-motivation and the importance of staying the course.

As an entrepreneur, understand the importance of keeping it positive, staying the course, and seeing the big picture. It'll show up as results not just to the bottom line but also in the lives of those you lead.

Don't manage anyone, but do set the bar high for expectations. Mr. Gore understood that his engineers were just "in the game." He brought the perspective that they were all in it to "win," and to simply try again tomorrow. Do this with your own business and watch what happens.

Performance + Management = Success.

Steph Robey, Internet and Home Based Business Entrepreneur

Stephanie Robey has 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She's started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com. You can meet her at http://www.MeetStephAndDave.com - her current Internet venture.

For a FREE 7-Day Video BootCamp: Self Employed And Rich, go to http://www.SelfEmployedAndRich.com?t=ezines

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Ten Challenges to Successful Self Employment

By Andrew Cox

Being your own boss is so tempting! No more working for the Man. No more politics. Total control over everything. Time to smell the roses. Time to capitalize on all those experiences and skills that you have acquired.

What follows are ten areas of challenge that face everyone looking to make a successful leap from working for an organization to working for themselves. Successful people have stepped up to these challenges and made them work for them.

In the questions that make up the ten challenges there are no right or wrong answers. But each one requires some real thought and decision making. Being your own boss is not for everyone, and every year lots of people find that out. And lots of other people hit the ground running and never look back. Use the ten challenges to decide, commit and prepare so you never have to look back.

First - Motive - Why are you thinking of doing this? What makes working for yourself so attractive? If the answers are based on opportunities to build on what you've already done - as the next step in a career path - as a sound use of resources - that's good. If your answers are focused on a negative - a bad boss, a bad job, a bad career, or anything else that is based on getting away from something, think twice.

Second - Commitment - Are you ready to make the commitment to be successful? What represents success - to you? How good have you been on commitment so far? How passionate are you about what you plan to do? In an organization it's fairly easy to ration your commitment and effort and do what needs to be done to survive. When you are on your own that just doesn't work. You gotta be totally committed . Commitment and passion go together. A friend - a corporate person - once described the condition of the self employed as "the servitude of the self employed." It's servitude only if you're not totally committed and passionate about what you do.

Third - Business - What business will you be in? What value do you bring to the marketplace? Can you express your value to a stranger in thirty seconds? Many people feel they know where they are going and don't need to write it down. That's a mistake. A business plan doesn't have to be a long, complicated document. But it should be a legitimate plan that answers those questions. For many people working in companies the switch from having the prestige of the organization behind them to being a Lone Ranger is tough. You have to know, behave and promote what you do - and state it in ways that have people asking you "How do you do that.?"

Fourth - Customers - Who are you going to sell to - and who's gonna want to buy? What is going to be your market? How are you going to market what you do? Do you have contacts in your profession or industry that can help you hit the ground with that first sale? It's tempting to think of everyone as a prospect, but that's a trap. If everyone is a potential customer, the truth is that no one is a prospect. Be very careful of "business opportunities" that have high entry costs and paint a picture of the whole world as your prospective market. Defining and focusing on a niche is a must.

Fifth - Preparation and Credibility - How prepared and what " chops" do you bring to the table? How have you prepared and what does your target market demand of the successfully self employed? What certifications, product relationships, technical skills, references do you bring to the table?. How does your Summary of Experience and Qualifications read?

Sixth - Critical Personal Skills - What are your influence skills? How are you going to shift from being an authority in an organization to being an influencer in your own business? How will you work with very little leverage? How good are you at asking - asking for work, for meetings, for the business? Do you have the personal discipline to work hard with no one looking over your shoulder?

Seventh - People Network - What are your relationship skills and abilities? Who is in your network. How big is your file of names of people? How big and diverse is your Universe of people? Are you comfortable asking for referrals? How good are you at reaching out for help, relationships, partnerships, associations?

Eight - Baggage - How much mental and behavioral baggage do you have to throw away in order to be successful on your own? What are the things that have to change ? No admin, no HR, Accounting, or PR staff support. The old days of budgets as the barometer of success are over. Not making mistakes as the way to success? Not when you're on your own. All of us carry a set of assumptions built on our experiences. Being conscious of how those assumptions may get in the way of success is critical to change and growth.

Ninth - Sales and Marketing and Business Development - How are you going to deal with going from being in demand in an organization to looking for work? Within organizations work and opportunities go to the most effective people The most effective people are used to being sought out for opportunities and assignments - their phone rings - their E Mail box is full. Even the very best self employed person must constantly be searching for opportunities, for suspects, for prospects - their phone won't ring based purely on capability.

I asked a very successful consultant in the personal development business what was the highest value position in his organization. He didn't hesitate: Sales - getting the business. He felt that was 70% of the equation for success. I challenged that on the basis that the work had to be delivered in order to get paid, to get referrals, to establish relationships for the future. He agreed that was all true, but, in his opinion, getting talent to do the fulfillment work - be it seminar leaders, coaches, writers and course developers - was a hell of a lot easier than getting an effective sales and business builder.

Tenth - Self Knowledge - Are you an opportunity person - or a consequence person? Opportunity thinking is critical to gaining customers. So is optimism - it's a quality that can keep things going even when things look bleak - as they invariably will. How well do you know yourself? How well aligned are your perceptions of how you impact people with the reality of how you affect and impact others? If those are far apart, they need to be brought into alignment. You need to know what you're good at - not just what you think you're good at.

Being self employed covers a lot of different scenarios. No two people or businesses are exactly the same. Neither are their motivations. The answers to the ten challenges in this article will differ tremendously from one person to another - even in the same self employment niche. But the ten challenges can help you determine the why, what, when, where, who and how of your own business. They can help you be more successful - if after answering them, being in your own business remains your chosen path.

Andrew Cox helps his organization clients select, develop and retain the right people in the right jobs. He works with his individual and team clients to help them better understand their own Behaviors, Attitudes and Motivators, and Personal Skills as the critical step to increased success. He started Cox Consulting Group LLC in 1995 after extensive experience in executive selection and development, sales and sales management and organizational development with Fortune 500 companies. He has worked with a wide range of organizations, managers, leaders and emerging leaders. He is professionally certified in the use of a wide range of Behavior, Attitudes and Motivators, and Personal Skills assessments and uses them as key tools for improved success in people selection and development and in helping clients achieve personal and team growth. Contact Andy at acox@coxconsultgroup for a complimentary report on your Behaviors and be amazed at what you can learn about yourself as the first step to increasing your effectiveness in your universe of people. Go to http://www.coxconsultgroup.com for more information on the Cox Consulting Group and to learn more about the tools that can help you and your organization meet and exceed your goals

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Real Estate Vs. Stocks - The Other Side Of The Story Every Real Estate Investor Needs To Know

By H. Scott Miller

The Wall Street or Main Street (real estate) debate is well covered territory by both the print and TV media outlets and perhaps was a topic of discussion at a recent cocktail party, wedding reception or real estate investment social event you attended.

Given the recent run up in the stock market (3Q07), the increase in interest rates, the limitations being put on non-owner occupied financing and the flattening or depreciating property value issue plaguing some of the country’s real estate markets, what is the better investment (from a return on investment standpoint) for both the short and long term, based upon today’s market?

If you are one to believe what you hear and or read (and it isn’t your fault if you do---a lot of money is spent to program your perception and belief systems) then you believe Wall Street is the better investment vehicle.

Discussions like these and comparisons of ROI (return on investment) between Wall Street and Main Street rarely account for and ignore the following:

1). The concept of leveraged capital: Up to recently, you could control a hard asset (real estate) with no money down---this can't be replicated on Wall Street...Even now, you can control a 100K real estate investment for between 5-10K---even if you were to use stock options, you still can't leverage yourself with OPM the way you can with real estate.

2) The benefits of tax deductibility: Real estate is the only investment that allows for a tax deduction when purchasing, owning/controlling and selling real estate---not so with Wall Street.

3) Differing ways to profit: Wall Street offers only two ways to profit from the stock market---capital appreciation and dividend payouts. On the other hand, investment real estate offers at least 8 ways to profit:

- Rent roll (rental income)

- Mortgage Payoff (thanks to your tenants)

- Property Improvement

- Purchase Profits (buying at a discount)

- Government Benefits (tax credits, tax deductions, rent vouchers, etc.)

- Strategic Property Management

- Property Appreciation

- Inflation

4) The concept of leveraged equity (profits): This is where the divide between Wall Street and Main Street widens. Let’s compare a $10,000 investment made by two investors (one invests in Wall Street and the other invests in Main Street) to better illustrate the profound profit differences: ·

Investor Y invests $10,000 into Wall Street for an annual return of 6%. ·

Investor X invests $10,000 (5,000 towards a down payment and 5,000 towards closing costs) to purchase a real estate investment worth $100,000 which appreciates 6% annually.

Here is how the two investment approaches differ:

a. In the 3rd year, Investor Y has a capital appreciation value of approx. $1,900---Investor X has an equity appreciation value that is more then 1000% higher (approx. $19,102).

b. In the 5th year, Investor Y has a capital appreciation value of $3,382---Investor X has an equity appreciation value has multiplied tenfold ($33,382).

c. At the end of 10 years, Investor Y has approx. $7,900 in profits---Investor X has more then $79,805.

d. At the end of 20 years, Investor Y has more then doubled his original investment (with profits exceeding $22,000)---so has Investor X, who has earned approximately 2200% on his original $10,000 investment (accumulating more then $220,714in equity).

Additional arguments could be made about the speculative nature of Wall Street or the volatility of the stock market & the differences between a hard asset and a paper one, but remember this:

- Everybody needs somewhere to live---you can't live in a mutual fund...Real estate will always be in demand regardless of the market circumstances...(This is the “demand” side of the law of supply and demand)

- God stop making land on the 7th day (unless you live near a volcano)---you can't build a house on top of your IRA...Real Estate will benefit from diminished availability (supply) as our population continues to expand due to natural reproduction and immigrant influx…(This is the “supply” side of the law of supply and demand)

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H. Scott Miller is a nationwide commercial and residential investment lending professional specializing in the creation, management and growth of real estate wealth from a mortgage prospective. He is also the author of "The Not So Funny Games That Lenders Play With Your Money That Can Cost You A Fortune Every Time You Get A Mortgage" which is freely distributed at The Mortgage Inner Circle.

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The Importance of a Business Plan For Entrepreneurs

By Eric Powers

A business plan is an indispensable tool for an entrepreneur and not only because of its importance to the fundraising process, but because of how it helps businesspeople crystallize their strategy and evaluate their process. These are the three major reasons to create a business plan if you are a hopeful entrepreneur.

Fundraising

Most literature on business planning focuses on the need for a plan to encourage external investment into the company, whether it is through loans or equity investment. Most funders will not consider putting money into a company without seeing a well-written, convincing business plan. An entrepreneur must make sure the plan speaks in terms the funders will understand, and meets their requirements for the qualifications of the management team, funding requested, and financial return.

Strengthening Strategy

When strategy is an amorphous concept, existing in the minds of the various company founders, it is loose and perhaps even contradictory. It also does not necessarily make use of the best research on the market, customers, and competitors. The process of creating a business plan requires the entrepreneurial team to go through this research and analysis systematically, creating a better foundation for strategy. Having to write down the strategy also creates an opportunity to make sure all of the founders are literally on the same page about what they intend to do. If they are not, fruitful discussions can be started which are better to get out of the way at this early stage while plans are still much more flexible.

Evaluating Progress

Finally, while the action plan outlined in the business plan is being implemented over the first months and years of operation, the business plan is both a guide and a means to see how well the results of the business stack up to the projections made early on. The pro forma financial statements can make this type of evaluation very easy. Make sure that the original pro formas are kept in spreadsheet format so that actual financials can be laid out alongside them. If your budgeted targets are saved in your accounting software, such as Quickbooks, this kind of comparison can be even easier and variances can be measured automatically.

Eric Powers is associated with Growthink, a business plan consulting firm. Since 1999, Growthink's business plan consultants have developed more than 2,000 professional business plans for entrepreneurs and business owners who have raised more than $1 billion in growth capital. Call 800-506-5728 today for a free business plan consultation, or visit http://www.growthink.com/businessplan.

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Real Estate Vs Stock Investing

By James Leitz

Investing for big gains is a game of buying low and selling high. You don't make the big bucks in real estate investing by collecting rents, or in stock investing by receiving dividends. Price appreciation, or rising prices, is the key to big profits in both arenas. The difference is that in one game the BUY decision is of greatest consequence, and in the other the SELL decision usually determines success or failure.

In real estate investing the BUY decision is the vital half of the equation, and in stock investing the SELL decision determines whether you win or lose. How to invest in real estate amounts to buying a property "right". How to invest in stocks profitably boils down to knowing when to sell. Let's take a look at these two distinctly different investments, starting with real estate.

In real estate you need to know what price to pay, where to buy, and how to best finance a property. This requires knowledge of local markets, as well as skill and experience in arranging deals and getting favorable terms when financing them. A bad decision in the buying process, which includes all of the above, can result in problems that have no good solution. This is especially true when a bad economy is accompanied by a bad real estate market.

Here's an example of why the buy decision is so important in real estate investing. Put another way, here's what can go wrong in real estate.

As real estate values are soaring in some parts of the country, Matt buys a property for $300,000 in a hot real estate market. He puts little down to maximize the effects of financial leverage. His goal is to sell the property a couple of years later for $400,000 or more. He plans to rent it out in the interim.

The economy falls into recession and the real estate market turns sour. Properties aren't moving and prices are falling. Two years after his purchase, properties comparable to Matt's can't find a buyer for $200,000, and he owes almost $300,000 on his mortgage. He also has a mortgage on the home in which he lives, and can no longer afford to make payments on both.

Matt is between a rock and a hard place, because he did not buy right. Financial leverage worked against him, and his real estate's lack of liquidity makes it impossible to sell without negative consequences. In the future, someone who knows the ropes will likely make a wise buy decision and take control of his property.

In stock investing you can not get heavy financial leverage, but you have high liquidity and can sell quickly and easily for as little as $10 in commissions. Knowing how to invest in stocks requires that you learn the stock market game. In this game, you must know when to sell.

If you buy a stock that turns sour, you can quickly sell and take a small loss. Unfortunately, most stock investors never learn the game. Here's an example of what can go wrong in a stock investment.

The stock market is hot, and Drew buys 1000 shares of JKL at $20. A year later it's at $30. Then, economic bad news starts to dominate the headlines and the stock market reacts by falling. Drew watches as his stock falls to $25...$20...$15 ... over the next six months. In that period of time the stock market was down about 15%, but JKL was down 50%.

Drew tells himself that when his stock returns to $20, where he bought it, he will sell. A year later JKL is at $5 and still falling. The stock is selling for pennies within weeks, and then stops trading. Drew just lost 100% of his $20,000 stock investment.

Knowing how to invest in stocks is mostly a matter of knowing when to sell. Drew did not make a bad buy decision when he bought his stock. It went up 50% the first year. His problem was that he did not know when to sell. While the rest of the market was sliding, JKL was falling out of bed, and Drew ignored it.

Drew should have sold as soon as he realized that his stock was performing worse than the stock market in general. He could have avoided a loss for only $10 in commissions.

A retired financial planner, James Leitz has an MBA (finance) and 35 years of investing experience. For 20 years he advised individual investors, working directly with them helping them to reach their financial goals.

Jim is the author of a complete investor guide, Invest Informed, designed for average investors or would-be investors of all levels of financial background and experience. To learn more about investments and investing and his new financial guide go to http://www.investinformed.com

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New Projects Require a Crisply Polished Elevator Pitch

By Geoff Ficke

Each week we receive a number of unsolicited business proposals in our marketing consulting business. Some are submitted by mail, some by e-mail and a number are the result of phone contacts. We have developed a methodology of quickly weighing the commercial viability of each. This is important as we strive to manage our time, and potential clients can receive proper initial guidance from us as they pursue their goals and dreams.

The key initial indicator we evaluate when weighing a newly presented Business Plan is the Executive Summary. This is typically the very first section of a Business Plan and provides the reader a focused snapshot of the proposition that is being offered. It is crucial that the Executive Summary be pithy, exciting but believable, and drives the reader's curiosity to delve into the interior of the Business Plan. The Executive Summary's that we typically review do not usually do this. They all too often do not reflect the actual quality of the product, new service or business concept that is being described. This is opportunity lost.

Many of our initial contacts come via telephone. Remember, we almost never have met the caller reaching out by phone to introduce their proposition. This verbal presentation, in order to create and maintain interest, must also contain an Executive Summary. On the telephone, however, this crucial summary takes the form of an Elevator Speech.

What is an Elevator Speech? Simply put, an Elevator Speech is a condensed, on point verbal description of your concept, your background and your goals for the project. It is historically called an Elevator Speech because it should always be assumed that the delivery will occur in a tight space or time frame. The ability to convey the importance of an ideas potential must be able to be presented coherently, concisely, clearly and with professional elan by the presenter.

Much like written Executive Summaries, the Elevator Speeches we hear are almost always delivered in a halting, bumbling, rambling, incoherent manner. Entrepreneurs have often invested considerable time, energy, and often monies in their concept. It is an interesting reality that so many do not take the time to properly craft and perfect the delivery of their Elevator Speech, the all important verbal Executive Summary for their opportunity.

There are many reasons that prospective inventors and entrepreneurs should have a powerful Elevator Speech. Remember, you only get one chance to make a great first impression! Make it count. The telephone is more personal than mail or e-mail. A well delivered Elevator Speech is a positive eye opener for decision makers. The listener will gain a stronger, more defined mental impression of the presenter and the business proposition on offer.

Here is another reason the Elevator Speech is crucial. There is a huge universe of products and business ideas chasing a finite amount of funding, licensing, partnering, strategic alliance and placement opportunities. When the chance arises to present your idea, you must be ready and able to deliver the details and leave "a great first impression". You never know where or when this situation to introduce yourself and your concept to a decision maker will occur.

All successful entrepreneurs are always SELLING. On an elevator, at a ballgame, at a trade show, at a shopping mall or networking at a business function, you never know when you might meet someone who can change the trajectory of your life. Practicing and perfecting a brief, exciting Elevator Speech could be the key to unlocking a great commercial opportunity. Do not waste the possibility.

by: Geoff Ficke

Geoff Ficke has been a serial entrepreneur for almost 50 years. As a small boy, earning his spending money doing odd jobs in the neighborhood, he learned the value of selling himself, offering service and value for money.

After putting himself through the University of Kentucky (B.A. Broadcast Journalism, 1969) and serving in the United States Marine Corp, Mr. Ficke commenced a career in the cosmetic industry. After rising to National Sales Manager for Vidal Sassoon Hair Care at age 28, he then launched a number of ventures, including Rubigo Cosmetics, Parfums Pierre Wulff Paris, Le Bain Couture and Fashion Fragrance.

Geoff Ficke and his consulting firm, Duquesa Marketing, Inc. (http://www.duquesamarketing.com) has assisted businesses large and small, domestic and international, entrepreneurs, inventors and students in new product development, capital formation, licensing, marketing, sales and business plans and successful implementation of his customized strategies. He is a Senior Fellow at the Page Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Business School, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

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The 4 Things All Entrepreneurs Must Know to Succeed in Business

By Louis Lim

To start and sustain a new business is a very exciting and challenging enterprise for most people but it entails the greatest risk of failure. Many wide-eye entrepreneurs go into a new enterprise, unfortunately, with more aspirations than common sense and put themselves at more dangers of failure than necessary.

Most new entrepreneurs go into their ventures with often a correct mindset i.e. to be their own bosses and make financial successes of them. However, like in any human enterprise, success requires more than motivation but an essential set of knowledge and skills. The simple formula for success is generally motivation, knowledge and skills.

However, there are four essential things that a new entrepreneur must know to succeed. The first, is to know you have customers to sell to and you can provide for what they need. This is called 'Having A Ready Market". A new entrepreneur more often calls on customers they already know when they were working somewhere else or have ready customer who asked for their services when they start. Starting with customers is the best reason for a new business. This becomes harder with a retail business and knowing how to find the best location becomes a great challenge.

The next thing for success in business is mastering marketing. Marketing is basically about communicating with and selling to your customers. It can be as basic as having or being a good sales person. The chances are if you have no selling skills you are less likely to succeed in business. And this applies whether you are doing a conventional business or Internet Marketing! Marketing in general, entails more than direct selling; it is about promoting your product or services successfully to your clientele. Your objective is to create a reputation or brand which people trust so that they would consistently buy from you. Having consistent sales is what makes a company succeed!

The next essential factor for a company's success is how a business is financially managed. The many dramatic failures in the corporate world in recent times had often to do with company insolvency. For a new entrepreneur, understanding financial management and cash flow is critical. Failure to understanding cash flow is one of the main reasons why a company fails.

Last but not least, for a company to have success, the management must know how to deploy its resources. This could be about how to motivate and deploy its employees in furthering the company's marketing and financial objectives. Also knowing how to allocate funds for running the business or acquiring essential assets is another operational requirement. There are also other resources like technical or intellectual assets. For this, an entrepreneur either learns the operational skills himself or employs one who knows them.

A simpler way to learn how to start a business without having to master the complexities of a conventional business is internet marketing. For anyone, going through an internet marketing course would allow the basics of entrepreneurship to be acquired. The author's resource box below would lead you to a very excellent program. Starting a business would not be as difficult.

Wishing you every success!

Louis Lim is a highly qualified Certified Management Consultant who promotes entrepreneurship as basic skills for financial security! Louis has identified Internet Marketing as the latest opportunity for those seeking financial independence. He has decades of experience consulting for many firms and mentors many business people. He shares his business skills on the internet. To learn a skill how on to make money online, go to http://www.TheSuperFastAffiliate.com.

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How To Start Your Own Business While Working For Someone Else

By Monica Carter Tagore

Many people think the only way they can launch their own business is to immediately ditch their day job and go off on their own. But there is another way to pursue your entrepreneurial dream - and keep bringing in money, too!

If you are considering launching a small business but are not sure how to do so because you do not have a lot of money, going into business while still working for someone else can be a viable choice.

When I launched my company, I did it from the comfortable vantage point of working for someone else. That allowed me the flexibility of having predictable income generation while in start-up phase.

Launching a business while working full-time for someone else requires organization and the ability to focus. That's because you will most likely be doing two full-time jobs - the work at the "day job" and work for your new baby, your company.

When I began preparing for and then running my company, work days often stretched well into the night. I would work a full nine or ten-hour day as a journalist, then go home to work another six or seven hours on my business. Make no mistake, operating a business while working full-time for someone else can be a challenge. But that challenge can be successfully faced.

Here are five tips for operating your own small business while working for someone else

1. Realize you will sacrifice leisure time. When you are working two full-time jobs, you will not have a lot of time for "extra" activities such as outings with friends or watching television. Realizing upfront the extra commitment of time will help you set realistic expectations for your time. This can also help you communicate with those in your life that you will sometimes be unavailable during this critical time, as you work hard to get your business off the ground.

2. Set a time frame. When you launch your business while working for someone else, set a time frame for when you will leave the "day job" to work full-time for your company. This is important because it will give you a target to shoot for and will help you set benchmarks - amount of money you will save by a certain date, for example. This also will help keep your business a priority, and not relegate it to permanent "side business" status. I left my "day job" two years after forming my company.

3. Create a business plan. Many entrepreneurs launch businesses without investing the time into developing a business plan. They want to "wing it," because they have the plan in their heads. That can add undue stress and contribute to the high failure rate of new businesses. I launched my business without a business plan, so that's why I emphasize the importance of having such a plan. My business became successful even though I started without a plan, but the lack of a business plan cost me in unnecessary expenses and time. The business plan I have now helps me structure my business in such a way that I know if expenditures are in line with my needs or if they are unnecessary. That saves money. And having a business plan also means you spend time on things that support your business, instead of on things that do not.

4. Use "found" time. When you are operating your own business while working for someone else, it's important that you maximize your time. That means using "found" time. Found time is those small increments of time that usually are filled with nothing or unimportant tasks. For instance, instead of using your break at work to smoke outside with your co-workers, you may now use this found time to make phone calls to potential suppliers or distributors, or others you must connect with for your business. Found time can be the time you use to find out about licenses you need for your business, conferences, events, etc.

5. Organize your finances. The biggest reason you have remained with your employer likely is financial. You need the money. So that means evaluating your current expenses and needs, and seeing how you can cut back and what your bottom line amount is to live and support your business. Put everything on the table. See what can be cut to help you reach the financial target you set when you established a time frame for leaving your day job. When I was organizing my finances and preparing to leave my employer to work for my company full-time, I eliminated cable, reduced dining out, and even shopped at thrift stores. Sacrifices you make can help you find the resources to dedicate to your business and nurture it to success. Once things pick up or your cash flow from your business is on the grow, you may resume some of the things you sacrificed earlier - or you may find your life is quite fine without them!

This is also the time to consider future expenses and how you will address them - what will you do about health insurance, for instance? Will you work from home or have an outside office? How will you fund all this?

These five practical - real-life - tips can help you properly prepare for successfully running your own business one day, even if you start it while working for someone else today.

Monica Carter Tagore is a successful entrepreneur and author. She is an award winning newspaper columnist and the publisher of the Knowledge Wealth Series. She presents workshops on goal achievement, success, and entrepreneurship, and is the author of Zoom Power: Your Key to Hitting Your Personal, Business and Financial Targets. Learn more about her work at http://www.knowledgewealthseries.com

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Business Startup - Full Time Or Part Time?

By K. MacKillop

Many potential entrepreneurs have a hard time deciding whether starting a business part-time or full-time makes the most sense for them. On the one hand, dedicating yourself full-time to a startup seems like it would give your idea the best chance of success. On the other hand, starting out part-time allows you to keep your regular job while testing your business idea. The best option for you depends on a number of factors and the weight you give the advantages and disadvantages of starting out full-time or part-time.

Full-Time Startup

The advantages of starting up your business full-time are obvious. Without the responsibilities of another job, you are able to commit your full attention and time to the startup, which is likely to shorten the time until your business is up, running, and making money. Since you are relying on your business taking off to provide you with income, you will be highly motivated to make good decisions and have extra incentive to succeed (especially if failure to launch means you have to go back to working for others!). If you need to seek outside investors, your willingness to risk taking on your idea full-time will give you credibility with them. They will be more likely to take a risk on entrepreneurs who are willing to take on significant risk themselves!

Starting out full-time gives you the time to comprehensively plan all aspects of your business. You are available during regular work hours on either coast to talk with suppliers, advertisers, trade associations and anyone else with information you need to make the best plan. You are able to spend more time networking and researching the industry so that you fully understand the opportunities and threats you can expect to encounter. The extra time and dedicated focus also make it easier to change direction if you realize the barriers to starting your particular idea are too great or if you identify better startup opportunities along the way.

The disadvantages of starting out full-time mostly involve the increased risk. Without a separate income, it can be difficult to get your business off the ground, especially given that startups tend to take twice as long and cost twice as much as you originally expect! You need to have enough cash on hand to cover your personal existence during the planning phase and are more likely to need outside financing (even if just a few thousand dollars) to launch your idea. If it takes longer than expected to start making sales (which it almost always does), desperation can lead to bad decisions and knee-jerk reactions that produce less profitable outcomes. In an ideal world, you could start your business full-time with enough working capital to sustain you for twice as long as you think it will take to get your idea in motion. That way, you have the breathing room to make the best decisions for the long-term success of your business idea.

Part-Time Startup

Starting your business part-time can be frustrating as it takes longer to get off the ground, but the advantages can outweigh the irritation. Most entrepreneurs that work on a business part-time do so because they are still working a full-time job for someone else. That steady income can relieve a lot of pressure, allowing you to take your time to find the best answers to every startup issue and possibly self-fund the entire startup. Working on your idea part-time reduces your risk all around. If you discover during your planning that you need to modify your idea or completely change direction in order for your business to succeed, it is easier to do so without significant loss. If you need more time to save up or raise the capital needed to finance your idea, you still have your regular paycheck to fall back on. Once your business is up and running, you can build your customer base until the business is profitable enough to replace your regular job before you commit to the business full-time.

The downside of starting your business on a part-time basis is that it can be more difficult and take much longer to get your idea off the ground. Your attention is pulled in different directions, especially if you have personal obligations to attend to outside of your regular work hours. It can be difficult to adjust to working a job and a half because often it seems like all of your time is spent working. The remedy, of course, is to manage your time well and schedule enough hours per week to work on your idea. But when you know you have the paycheck coming in whether you work on your business or not, it can be easy to become distracted or slack off. Be sure not to work on your business idea during your regular job hours -- you won't want your employees taking your time to work on other things, so show the same respect for your current boss.

Another difficulty that entrepreneurs often experience in starting a business part-time is balancing the responsibilities once the venture is up and running. For any business, there are growing pains -- periods during which you have to shuffle priorities and decide whether to hire some help in order to meet the demands of your growing business. If you are already working full-time, these periods can be even more stressful because the time you have to dedicate to the business is limited. Many entrepreneurs find themselves pulling the occasional all-nighter, outsourcing some tasks, or hiring an employee sooner than planned.

Get Started!

Some entrepreneurs are unable to dedicate the hours to work on their business idea even part-time, instead starting up on a spare time basis. This can work out, as long as you are able to commit time consistently, at least a few hours per week to developing your business. Periodic startups -- where the entrepreneurs does a little work on an idea, ignores it for a few months, then puts in a few more hours, etc. -- are less successful. The marketplace changes so rapidly that any more than a few weeks out of the loop can make what you know obsolete. Spare time startups can be very successful, however. Remember that just 3 hours per week of work for one year adds up to nearly a month of full-time hours!

Starting your own business is a huge endeavor that takes quite a bit of time and energy. Deciding whether to jump in full-time or not can be a difficult choice in some cases, but for others the right decision is obvious. Whatever you choose to do, be sure to develop and use a time-management system that works for you and ensure that the time you spend working on your idea is productive. If you are serious about asserting your independence, you will find the time to make your idea into reality!

K. MacKillop, a serial entrepreneur with a J.D. from Duke, is founder of LaunchX and authors a small business startup blog. The LaunchX System, a five Unit series of step-by-step business startup procedures, key software and more, assists entrepreneurs in developing a business idea into a successful company. Visit LaunchX.com and get on the road to starting a business today.

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Financial Ed is the Only Thing Between You and Wealth

By S Koonopakarn

I know where you are coming from. When my father left my mother, she didn't have career prospects in this country, so we lived off of the meager child support payments he'd forced my mother to accept, a mere fraction of what she was due according to the law.

So we made do. And we tightened our belts, pinched pennies, and shopped sales and clearance racks. This stretched our money to cover our family of four, however, budgeting did not allow for savings or retirement planning for my mother. Her needs took a back seat to the needs of her children. She entered the golden years of her life with no financial savings and was completely dependent on social security.

Our experience is not uncommon, it is utterly American. Since the beginning of America's Golden Age, that period following World War II that made us the wealthiest nation in the world, there has been an ever growing rift between the upper and middle economic classes. The biggest reason for this is a difference in financial education.

We've all heard the saying "It takes money to make money." However, we are also privy to a multitude of stories about lottery winners and professional athletes who, despite receiving millions of dollars, lose it rather than grow it to a point of infinite wealth. This can only mean that the truer proverb is "A fool and his money are soon parted"; it clearly takes much more than money to make money.

Henry Ford was once asked what he would do if he lost every cent he had, and he confidently replied that he would have his wealth back and more in a couple of years. He is not alone, for in building their businesses, the wealthiest entrepreneurs in America learned the skills necessary to build great wealth from humble beginnings. Again, we see that it is not money, but something within us that can not be lost nor taken away, that is the true origin of wealth.

The wealthy have knowledge that separates them from the middle class. It is this knowledge that is the root of Henry Ford's confidence that he could build his wealth again even if he had to restart from nothing. It is the knowledge that could give YOU the same confidence and more importantly, the means by which to lift yourself up from where you are, to a place where you could have everything you can imagine.

Dream big! As big as you can, but know that if you continue to have the middle class mindset, you will have great difficulty attaining what you dream of. You can not depend on others to look after your prosperity and retirement. Once upon a time, companies provided comprehensive retirement plans that took care of their retired employees for the rest of their lives, and the Social Security system promised to care for those taxpayers who contributed and reached retirement age. As company profitability became more important than company honor, the defined benefit (DB) retirement plans disappeared, replaced by the defined contribution (DC) plans such as the 401K that exist now. These plans require that the employee contribute to the plan, and what is present in the plan at the time of retirement is what can be withdrawn; live too long, and your plan will inevitably run out of money. Will Social Security make up the difference? Only if it still exists; through mismanagement and a practice of the government "borrowing" from the Social Security program, the latest estimate is that Social Security will be completely exhausted by 2037, four years earlier than previously thought, according to Martin Crutsinger, an Economics writer for the Associated Press.

It must be accepted that there is no bailout coming for us. There is only a simple choice. You can continue along in your ignorant bliss while other people "invest" your money as they see fit (or worse, as benefits THEM). Or you can learn to take control and make the decisions that will bring prosperity to YOU and your loved ones. Take it upon yourself to SECURE YOUR FUTURE!

S Koonopakarn is the CEO and Cofounder of Saintly Assistance Financing & Equities Group, LLC, an Atlanta-based investing and consulting company that specializes in real estate and retirement investments. He has the investment plan that will get you back on track to an early retirement without depending on Social Security and without sacrificing lifestyle. Find more articles and creative investment solutions on his blog here at http://www.SecureYourFutureNews.blogspot.com

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