The Wealth Connection

The Wealth Connection

By: Debra Novotny

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes -- Envision your life 10 or even 20 years from now. Where do you plan to be? What are you doing and with whom?

Most of us between the age of 35 and 50 years hope to be retired to some degree in 15 to 20 years or less. We see ourselves living on retirement funds enjoying life and family. I have never had a client tell me they see themselves penniless or sick. Yet, these same clients fail to have a full plan.

They may have a retirement fund at work and other investments but how are these performing? Did you plan a financial foundation? What does your Wellness Investment program look like?

Many people tell me they don’t have a financial foundation program or Wellness Investment program in place. Regardless of age and health it is never too late to start planning. It is better than no plan at all. In this article I will give you 2 of the 21 most important Wealth Connection Steps I offer in my online course.

Ask yourself, how does wealth connect to your health? Does it at all? Today most people would agree that finances play a part in how we feel. Lacking funds can add stress to one’s life and play a major part in your health. Ill-health can rapidly eat away at savings if you do not have a wellness plan other than health insurance.

In fact, I advise you rethink health insurance. What I mean by this is that it is what it says it is. Health insurance is for ill-health issues. Only a few “health insurance” programs are wellness insurance.

Health insurance also dictates the kind of care you can receive. Wellness insurance on the other hand is still an emerging system. A few companies do offer these types of plans and we do not endorse any insurance company as my job is to educate you a bit and you must look at what is right for your specific needs.

The wellness insurance programs I have seen work like this. The self employed or business can purchase these programs. They have major medical benefits for hospital and sometimes prescription drugs. They also have a “fund” where part of your premium goes that earns interest. That’s right interest. You can use this money for any type of care you desire including alternative medicine of your choice. Any funds you don’t use in a given year stays in your personal account earning interest year after year. At a certain age you can take this money out and use it. I have seen accounts that reach 30k and more. Why buy health insurance you do not use?

Step One

Look into Wellness Insurance programs. Only purchase from a known insurance company. One whose name you have heard of in the past that offers regular polices as well. It is buyers beware market so do your research.

Step Two

What amount do you personally put into your saving account each week? Most people say I have it drawn from my paycheck. This is not what I mean. Think about how much you spend each day on simple things like coffee or food. Can you spare $5.00 per week? I have only met one person who said they couldn’t even save this much. Six months later this person who didn’t become a client phoned me and said they had been doing it and it really worked. Here’s the plan short and sweet – I go into more detail in my online program. Contact my office for more details of how to receive a free 7-part on line e-course.

Each week whether you have your paycheck direct deposited or not; have as much as you can afford withdrawn from your account and placed in a savings plan at an investment firm like Charles Schwab. Use who you wish and make sure they have an automatic withdrawal program and that the funds go into a savings program.

Every quarter double the amount you are putting in. If you find you really aren’t missing this money from your daily life; double it every month. Don’t be surprised if you start looking forward to saving and adding more to how much you ‘put away’ each week.

Once this account is equal to 6 months income we move this money into a different type of account I go into future foundation steps in the online program. But we keep putting funds into the savings.

What happens is we have at the base a 6 to 9 month savings account earning a bit better than a bank savings account. Next level is a certain type of money market with the same amount of funds earning a slightly higher interest rate, and so on up through Our Wealth Mastery program.

Point in fact, recently “Today on MSN” offered a glance at the habit of millionaires. Simple foundational planning won hands down.

Bonus Tip

Invest in your wellness. Visit an alternative doctor like a NCCAOM licensed acupuncturist. This ensures you are seeing someone who has completed an accredited program at an Oriental Medical College. Many acupuncturists are licensed through medical doctor or chiropractic programs. These programs lack in training and number of hours to meet. Make sure your practitioner is an active member of The National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Even if you love your doctor, choose a NCCAOM acupuncturist for this job – after all would you take your child to a gynecologist just because they deliver babies?

Or if you own a Porsche would you take it to a Honda dealership just because you also own a Honda. No, we take our loved ones and possessions to the experts. Do the same with your health.

Why do I suggest an acupuncturist? They are trained in wellness care and health care. Oriental Medicine practitioners know how to work with all types of illness and keep you well. Plan ahead even if you feel great get an evaluation now and follow a wellness program so that you continue to feel great into your golden years.

A wellness program may simply mean visiting your acupuncturist and massage therapist one time each month. Add up the dollars you save by not getting sick.
Invest this savings in your financial foundation.

If you have health issues, think how you will be in 10 years from now if you keep ignoring and minimizing your health, using drugs or having surgery without exploring other options. Acupuncture is virtually painless and offers greater relaxation than even massage.

Is Your Business Safe

Is Your Business Safe?
By: Sue And Chuck DeFiore

Well, is it! Do you back up your files on a regular basis? Do you have a back up plan in place? What’s important to your business and what isn’t? What happens if you get hurt, who will run your business? Do you have customers come to your business? What if they get hurt, are you covered? What about all the equipment you have, is it covered?

These are all questions a home based business owner, (in fact, any business owner) should have answers to and plans in place for.

You must have a system in place to back up your files. Since most of us use computers today, be sure you back up at least once a week. If you really want to be efficient and make it easy on yourself, get a Maxtor hard drive with the one button back up feature. For less than $200, you can not afford to be without one if you have a lot of files. If you don’t have that many files then a Zip drive will suffice. We have an I-Omega that cost us only $70.

Ok, you say what should I back up? Anything that is important to you. Your customer database, templates you use on a consistent basis. If you are like us and sell e-manuals, and books, you need to have them backed up. We have all of our products backed up on disk, CD, and a mirror copy of our hard drive. We back up once a week. We use the Maxtor drive with one button back up. However, if I am working on a project, I back it up every time I make a change. In fact, whenever I am working during the day I use a working disk that I save to in addition to saving on my hard disk. When I save a document I am working on, I then go to save as and save it on my disk drive. This avoids not having an up to date document if my computer crashes. So your backup would consist of files you use a lot, customer database, your products, and anything else that is imperative to keeping your business up and running.

Now what do you do with these back ups. Well, if you are smart you have a Safe that is fireproof, and you put your disk and hard disk back ups in the Safe. When you do your weekly back ups you pull them out and just overwrite them. If you haven’t made any changes on your product disks then you don’t have to do them. You want to be sure your Safe is fireproof for at least 2 hours. We have a Sentry Safe. While not an inexpensive business expense, it is a very important one. Depending on how much you need to put in a Safe cost will vary. In addition to having back ups in your Safe, you should also have a set of back ups that are located off site. For example, a safety deposit box is a great place for back up copies, important papers etc.

As a business owner you also need to have disability insurance. So if you get hurt you are covered until you are up and running again. There are number of companies that deal specifically in disability insurance. I would suggest however you check them out carefully, and ask to speak to long time customers for references. You want to be sure they pay when you need them to without having to go through hoops, or canceling your coverage afterwards.

And most important is an insurance policy. The best home business policy we have found is by Hartford Insurance. They have a policy specifically for home based businesses. They cover everything. Obviously cost will depend on the limits you set. This is the best policy we have found out there. For those of you who are AARP members you can call 1-888-466-9675 to inquire about this program. By the way, if you are 50 and over becoming a AARP member is a must.

If you want to keep your business and yourself safe be sure to implement the procedures outlined. Believe us, you will be glad you did.