This is a guest post from Lloyd Watts, as part of his virtual book tour. His book is titles The Flow of Time and Money: How to create a full and prosperous life.
Most people have a desire to be successful, wealthy and fulfilled.  And yet, if you look at how most people spend their lives, you will see that they are spending both their Time and their Money in a way that will not lead to Wealth or Fulfillment.
Why would we want Wealth and Fulfillment so much, and yet act in a way that prevents us from achieving them?  There …read more

This is a guest post by Heather Johnson.
You’ve heard the success stories probably more times than you can count. People always talk about how they built their own personal wealth and had excellent success in their financial endeavors. Unfortunately, no matter what people say, there’s no perfect way to build wealth, and for every far-fetched success story, there are probably many more stories of failed attempts at making cash. That being said, I’ve decided to offer some practical advice on building personal wealth, and obtaining personal financial security. It’s not some get-rich-quick …read more

Will the Fed cut interest rates? That is the question on many minds right now, and one that could affect you in your quest to build wealth. Inman News is reporting that the Fed may cut interest rates:
Expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut the federal funds rate this year rose Tuesday after Sen. Chris Dodd said Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is “prepared to use all the available tools at his disposal” to keep money flowing to mortgage lenders.
And what does this mean in terms of your life? Well, if the Fed does cut interest rates (and some think this …read more

Plastic is becoming the trend. And I don’t mean credit cards. I’m talking about the debit card. According to the Federal Reserve and the American Bankers Association, 33 percent of purchases are made with debit card. That ties with cash for the #1 method of paying for stuff. I was surprised at first that credit cards are only 19 percent. Then I thought about it.
Why we love the debit card
We are constantly being told that credit cards are the root of all evil, and to avoid them. But we love the convenience of doing nothing more than swiping a piece …read more

One of the big financial planning trends right now is debt management. People seem to be drowning in debt, and the management of said debt is a quite lucrative industry. But the fact of the matter is that if you want to truly build wealth, you have to do more than manage your debt. You have to get out of debt.
In many cases, debt management involves shifting debt about, trying to lower monthly payments (and hopefully interest rates), in an attempt to make it “easier” to get out of debt. Sometimes, these debt management programs actually spread out how long …read more

Yielding wealth is about more than just earning more and spending less. It’s really about building wealth based on what you understand about how money works. This means that you need to have a solid understanding about the difference between assets and liabilities. Whenever you look at your financial situation, you look at it in terms of assets and liabilities.
Assets
Basically, assets are things you want to have, and liabilities are things you want to limit. Assets are things that create wealth. They grow in value and can provide some sort of return on your investment. A house is often considered …read more

One of the most important concepts to understand when yielding wealth is cash flow. You need to know how much money is coming, and where it is going. And you need to know how much is being yielded by assets and investments. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to ceate a cash flow chart. There is a great cash flow worksheet available here.
Make sure you include all sources of income, and where it is going. Then take a good look. Is your money flowing to things that give little return? Could your cash flow be …read more

While yielding wealth and building a solid financial base has its finer points, the fact of the matter is that the whole concept can be whittled down to 3 main keys. It is important to understand these three things if you want to understand how you can begin to build wealth:

SAVE. This is one of the most important items. You have heard again and again: “Pay yourself first.” Well, it’s true. You should start out by paying yourself first. If you have the ability, you can have some of your money directly deposited into a savings account. Do this. It …read more