An article by Rachel G. Fox, an American teen actress and singer I’m 16 and my generation and I go quickly from one thing to another. We’re not emotional, we stay mostly detached, and we have an icy exterior to assist us in coping with our world. But this morning, I received a tweet to me @FoxonStocks that touched my heart and my core. The Tweet said:
From @ClayTravels: @FoxonStocks Rachel Inspired by you. I have just typed my NY Resolutions up.
I immediately replied and wished @ClayTravels wisdom, wealth, and Many Happy Returns. The fact that I had some influence to motivate someone to improve their wealth and financial situation is amazing and it sparked happiness and enthusiasm in me to want to inspire lots of people to learn and do positive things to make their financial lives better. It is not easy to understand the financial markets, investing, trading, and all of the places to put your money but do it now.
My Fox on Stocks Video series will be ready for you to watch soon to help you jump into trading and investing. In the meantime, here are Six Steps to get you on track with your money in 2013. At the end of the year, you’ll look back and be glad you did this instead of spending too much time watching other people and video game characters and whatever else. Take care of your own house and your own self first….. then you’ll have time and money to do whatever you want.
Step 1: Assess Where You are Financially.
Look at your current financial situation and be comfortable, not complacent, with it. You may earn excellent wages, but perhaps you don’t save enough. You may be saving a lot, but you are paying too much in fees on your funds so you are not earning what you should. You may have some profitable long-term investments, but some non-profitable ones and want to move them but don’t know where to move them. You may have great income that you’d like to save some of…. if you could just figure out where you could earn more than .05%.
Define your situation based on:
• Earnings, • Savings (Bank, CD, Brokerage, Other), • Investing (Retirement and Non-Retirement), • Trading • What else you do with your money, such as operate a business, invest in racing horses, buy real estate.
Step 2: Feel pleased about what you are doing well.
This sounds stupid, but do it. If you make great money, feel thrilled. If you have ok earnings, but have a tight plan and save with discipline, embrace that characteristic. By identifying what you do well with money, you will encourage yourself to do it more and more to enhance your financial standing.
Step 3: Decide what you don’t do that well and decide if you want to do it better.
This will take honesty to assess this. If you make medium wages and are satisfied with them, then be comfortable with that. If you are not satisfied with medium-wages, then decide that you want to make more. Making this assessment accurately will allow you to know the action you must take to improve.
Another suggestion may be that you are not investing or trading because you don’t know how or know enough. If you are happy to hand your money to an investment advisor, be comfortable with that and accept the good and the bad from it. If you are not happy to hand your money to an investment advisor, then decide that you want to do something to increase your knowledge about investing and trading.
Step 4: Identify what action you can take to do something better with your finances.
If you want to make more money, identify 10 ACTIONS you can take to make more money.
– If you want to take the money you have and you want to invest in real estate, identify 5 ACTIONS you can take to obtain real estate that is profitable. – If you know you are paying too much in mutual fund fees, identify the ACTION of compiling a list of 10 – 50 mutual funds that do not carry a fee (no-load). – If you want to know the difference between an ETF and a mutual fund, identify the ACTION of reading 5 articles and afterward, deciding whether a mutual fund or an ETF is best for you. – If you want to learn to invest in dividend paying stocks, or in bonds, identify the ACTION to find 30 stocks that pay out great dividends, or identify the ACTION of reading 3 websites about bond investing.
– If you want to take the ACTION of opening up a new trading account, list 5 websites, such as www.comparebrokers.com, to research then pick the best brokerage account company for you.
Be concrete in identifying an ACTION or ACTIONs to improve your financial status.
Step 5: Consider the tax implications of each ACTION.
You can depend on an accountant to do the paperwork, but do the research to find the percentage you will have to pay in taxes for each action you identify.
For up-to-the-minute news about tax rates on income and many investments, check www.taxfoundation.org. Research as many websites as necessary to provide you with concrete percentages for each ACTION you will be taking.
Step 6: Take the ACTION or ACTIONS you identified in Step 4.
Open a new trading account, go after that long overdue raise, compile a list of 30 high dividend paying stocks then choose and buy shares in your favorite one or ones…. Whatever ACTIONs you identified in Step 4, do them. You may be hesitant or even fearful, but take ACTION. Be euphoric in taking the ACTION. Be proud of yourself and take a minute to enjoy the fact that you took ACTION because you are doing what most people just talk about. Then continue
• Identifying things you want to improve on financially, • Identifying ACTIONS you want to take, and
• Taking the ACTIONs you have identified.
To be on your path to being your financial best in 2013 and beyond. Many Happy Returns,
Rachel
Rachel G. Fox is an American teen actress and singer best known for playing Kayla Huntington on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives.