21st Century Academy

Particularly in a volatile market atmosphere, many less savvy investors rely on old myths they believe to be true. It is a natural tendency to panic as the market swings downward and begin selling off assets. Other investors take the opposite tactic, developing a laissez faire attitude and failing to act when they should. Both of these tactics are doomed for failure because they rely on some of the commonest investment myths.

When the Market is Bad, Hold

A long-term investment plan is often built on the premise that no matter what the market does, leaving investment dollars where they are is best. After all, the market will rebound eventually, right?

Sure, the market will rise again, but a stock worth little to begin with will almost never rise to a level that makes it highly profitable just because the market turns. Just like buying antiques, items that were originally worth a lot of money will still be the highest valued decades later. Low-priced stocks need to be purged from your portfolio before they result in even greater loss.

Besides that, how long are you willing to wait? Consider this example. Say you bought shares of a top-rated stock prior to the correction of October 1987. How long would it have taken you to regain the same value? The answer is ten years. Still other stocks have yet to reach the same level of value they once enjoyed. Obviously this is too long if you are ever going to attain financial independence in this lifetime.

When the Market is Bad, Sell

At the opposite end of the spectrum are those investment gurus who maintain you should withdraw from a declining market immediately and place your remaining investment capital elsewhere. This could be just as bad a mistake as holding onto your all your stock certificates in the hopes they will regain value.

Highly valued and strongly performing stocks are always a good investment, no matter the whims of the market. This is just one part of a successful portfolio that will create wealth in the short and long run. Diversification is important. Assess the performance of each investment and make decisions to sell based on more than just the recent activity in the stock market.

When it comes to creating wealth via investments, there is one principle that always holds true and that is to buy low and sell high. Forgo rash decision making and stick to your financial goals – but only when it makes sense to do so.

Often, the only thing lacking in our road map to success is the knowledge of how to reach our goals. Where do you start? What do you need to know? What are common mistakes to avoid?

Perhaps your ultimate goal is to quit working your nine to five job and rely on a passive income stream, Maybe you are ready to retire and you want to feel financially secure. No matter your dream, it is not enough to simply visualise it; you need to plan the path to achieve it. Part of the planning process is knowing what steps you need to take along the way. And you can’t define the steps without first understanding the process.

Feed Your Brain

Everyone learns differently. Some of us learn better using visuals, others have to actually perform a task in order to remember and assimilate it. Most of us need some help finding where to look for the right information and how to go about the process of acquiring knowledge from a logical beginning to a logical end.

This is how the experience of someone like Jamie McIntyre benefits the person just learning how to create wealth. There’s no need to go it alone and figure it out yourself. Use the expertise of someone who has already been exactly where you are now and figured out how to advance beyond that beginner stage to find financial independence.

Endurance Training

No, this doesn’t refer to getting physically fit. Rather, it’s about training your spirit and mind; making them healthy to perform at their utmost. The brain is just like any other muscle in your body; it requires a good workout in order to strengthen.

The process of training your mind begins with increasing its store of knowledge. Once you have educated it, then the process of fine tuning those skills comes into play. The more you learn and the more you use those new skills, the more you will train your mind to stay fit.

Building wealth is a mindset that you must develop, and sharpen. Yes, you can use your current knowledge to get started achieving financial independence, as stated previously. But don’t stop there. Keep on feeding your brain and see just where it takes you. Make the most of today by implementing a training regimen for your brain that includes increasing your knowledge and education. The web can be your friend through sources like blogs, articles, and books and once you spend consistent time on your education and mindset you’ll be on the road to financial security in no time.

One great turn will get you to certain goals; it may even get you to the goal that you have defined as your arrival at being wealthy. But to stay there, it takes more than one good turn. It takes many, and an ongoing, continuing effort to stay on top.

Continuing On In Wealth And Prosperity

So what is the path to follow? How does developing wealth continue?

The continuous path to financial freedom is variable, as all of success and achievement is. It willvary depending on your strategy for building wealth, your interests, your needs, your successes, and even your failures. Moving forward, there are some general things you should consider that will help you stay the course to financial freedom. For instance

• Continuing on in wealth education for increased success and more ways to become wealthy

• Developing new strategies for investment and wealth creation

• Reevaluating strategies and goals

• Scrapping the under-performers for the real money makers

• Diversifying for greater return and security

Staying The Course

This endless work sounds tiring, doesn’t it? And if you’ve met your goals, and achieved that level of wealth success that you were shooting for, why should you have to keep going? Why is important to continue to work to develop financial freedom when you have already achieved that goal?

It’s all about sustainability. A windfall sum of money will make you feel wealthy for a time, but to truly be wealthy—to be financially independent and in control—you must develop lasting wealth. Lasting wealth depends on your continuing to build upon your success for greater success. Lasting wealth is the key to true financial freedom.

The continuing road does not have to be an extraneous effort. Being that you have already come this far, and that you have already learned so much to get here and changed in so many positive ways, you’ll find that continuing on is much, much easier than getting started and making your first money. All you need to do now is to sustain that wealth through continued commitment to your new mindset and lifestyle. But with the world of possibilities and a healthy taste of financial success, no doubt you’ll be energized and raring to go anyway.

To Your Continued Financial Success

Sean Rasmussen
21st Century Academy
Universal Wealth Creation © 2004 – 2008