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Columns : Investing in You - Glenn S. Ferguson Last Updated: Feb 6, 2017 - 2:32:04 PM


Financial Planning - What Would You Do With A Million Dollar?
By Glenn S. Ferguson
Mar 30, 2010 - 6:35:42 AM

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This is the question Lincoln Bain asked on his Face Book page recently -  “If I gave you a million dollars today what would you do with it?” He got more than twenty-nine responses  the last time I checked and here are some of them:
  1.  I’ll give it away and bless others who are less fortunate than I.
  2. Invest in my own business.
  3. Buy my dream home and car and then invest.
  4. Sit on it quietly until I'm over the excitement and able to make prudent financial decisions so I wont go broke again.
  5. Pay all the bills and put the rest in the bank. When I make a profit then I would buy a house and a new car.
  6. Buy a brand new gold rope chain with the pendant made of my initials encrusted in platinum and diamonds...then I would start my dream business and the rest for my kids college fund!
So now its your time - What Would You Do With A Million Dollars?  I could ALMOST see you salivating - A million Dollars Wow I would...  

Quickly followed by disbelief that it can actually happen - You having a million dollars.

The amazing thing though is that if you earn an annual salary of at least $26,000.00 you already have a million dollars. As you will earn more than $1 million dollars over your working lifetime of 40 years.  There is one problem - you will get it one pay cheque at a time.

Which makes it even more important that you answer this question and answer it soon, because every pay cheque you get means that there is one less pay cheque you will be receiving. And the longer you take to answer this question will means less money and time to do what you really want to do.

The challenge for you then is to decide whether you will use your million dollars to create wealth or simple give it away?

Will you chose debt or wealth? As you cannot consume your money and create wealth at the same time. Nor can you service debt and build wealth at the same time. But without answering this question you will continue financing your current lifestyle with debt and as a result you are giving up the opportunity for a secure financial future.

And to see how well you are doing in building wealth.  Simply multiply your age by your current income then divide by 10.  The result is the estimated “net worth” you should have for your age and income.  If you are age 35 with an income of $40,000 your net worth would be 35 x $40,000.00 = $1,400,000.00 - $1,400,000.00/10 = $140,000.00.  

Unfortunately, you may not even be thinking about your “net worth” but this is your most important number because it tells you what  you own. And the number you should be paying attention to as it is the true test of your wealth creation.

While you have been encouraged to get a job and earn money,  nobody has taught you about managing your money and creating wealth.  And now you have gotten yourself so deep in debt that you do not have any money left at the end of each month to invest and create wealth. But this is the one thing you must begin focusing every pay cheque you receive on.

So it is incumbent on you to answer this question as soon as possible because you need to immediately begin improving your financial literacy and learning:-
  1. how to manage money better.
  2. how to get out of debt.
  3. how to make sound investments.
  4. how save for you children's education
  5. how to start or grow a business.
  6. how to earn multiple streams of income.
As you only have a limited amount of time before your stream of pay cheques representing more than $1 million dollars evaporates and you will be forced to depend on your wealth. And did I tell you what wealth is?  It is not the size of your house or the year or model of your car or flashiness of your jewelry.  

Wealth is simply how long you can go without a pay cheque!  Unfortunately, eighty percent of wage earner are living from pay cheque to pay cheque. What about you?

Taking Control of Your Money workbook
is helpful resource to get you started on managing your money better so that you can own your pay cheque again and start creating wealth.   

Copyright © 2010 - Glenn S. Ferguson

Glenn Ferguson is a Speaker, Coach and Syndicated Writer, helping you to painlessly take control of your money to create wealth for you and your family. Email to: glenn@financialcoachingwithglenn.com  Web site: www.financialcoachingwithglenn.com Tel: 242-327-2453   Fax: 242-327-2456



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