At MindShift.money, we’re an online community founded on the principle that people have been brainwashed by money myths and limiting beliefs about money, prosperity and Freedom.
That’s why we set out to create a “new normal.” A new way of thinking about money where Financial Freedom is normal.
When it comes to Making Your Money Work For You, one of our bedrock investment principles is this…
We Don’t Trade the Market. We Don’t Try to Beat the Market.
We don’t gamble.
We understand the odds are stacked against even the “investment professionals.” Even the professionals, using sophisticated computer trading algorithms, don’t consistently beat the market.
So what hope could there possibly be for the ordinary person?
Let’s take a step back and consider the “trauma” associated with the Trump election story and its effect on the stock market over a 24-hour period.
Do you think that fewer people bought bread or beer on Wednesday or Thursday because of the election results?
Do you think people decided not to drive their cars or use electricity because of the election results?
Of course not!
No matter what happens in the political arena, the economy or the stock market… people still need to consume everyday goods and services. Life goes on.
People continue to order books from Amazon, subscribe to Netflix, buy toothpaste, go to Starbucks and buy Big Macs.
These are precisely the kind of companies you want to invest in.
The legendary Warren Buffett has long been an advocate for targeting companies that are:
- Consumer monopolies, selling products where there’s no effective competitor. Companies with a GLOBAL brand;
- Companies in businesses that are easy to understand;
- Companies that can adjust their prices upward in response to inflation; and
- Companies that have a history of increasing both earnings AND DIVIDENDS, year after year.
It’s all about Investing for Cash Flow. Buying shares in stable companies that provide you with a predictable, passive income stream, year after year.
That’s the secret to your Personal Financial Freedom.
Not trading, not buying low and selling high, not trying to “beat” anything.
The secret is to build an income stream that replaces the money you earn from your job or business. So you’ll no longer need to exchange your time for money.
When you target companies with the longest history of dividend growth, you can be confident that they are high-quality companies with the potential to withstand any kind of short-term market turmoil, and to deliver strong returns over time.
The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index is an excellent example of a group of 50 companies that have increased dividend payments every year for at least 25 consecutive years.
It’s no surprise that many of these companies are household names.
Companies such as AT&T, Clorox, Colgate-Palmolive, 3M, Johnson & Johnson, Wal-Mart and McDonald’s.
You don’t need to hire a money manager to tell you what to do with your money.
You don’t need to hear their excuses when their quarterly reports reveal that once again … your portfolio has declined in value.
Meanwhile you’re paying them commissions and fees as high as 1.5% or 2% per year!
The stock market will always be unpredictable, subject to recurring cycles of bull and bear.
When you ignore all the “noise” from the “talking heads”, pundits and self-described experts, you will be well on the way toward building a solid financial framework, with a diversified portfolio of cash-flow generating investments (including, but not limited to stock investments) that will buy your permanent Financial Freedom.
Dr. Tony is the co-founder of MindShift.money and the best-selling author of three books on personal and business finances. Having achieved Financial Freedom at 27, Dr. Tony believes that through Financially Fit Bootcamp and Cash Flow Cure everyone can get there. He has made it his life’s mission to help others live a life where their money works for them—not the other way around.
Thank you for the suggestions re: best companies to invest in! What percentage of income is the ideal to invest?
Hey Joanna! Firstly, awesome question! And I want to give a little MindShift here and restructure your question in order to answer it with greater benefit to you…
The real question here is about what percentage of your income you choose to Pay Your Future Self First. This is the amount to automatically pay yourself 72 hours after you receive your paycheck, before you pay your mortgage, rent, groceries or anyone else. The first distinction is in paying YOU first. Ideally you want to aim for 20% of your take home income that you put aside at the beginning of the month and send to a seperate account..lets call it your Future Self Fund. However, most people get scared by this % and cant see a way for them to save 20% of their income immediately. So what we suggest is just starting with something by choosing a number that you can manage and action right away, and set up the automate savings to occer. The next step is to continue to Pay Your Self each month (increasing the amount you save each month if you can)until you build an emergency buffer of savings in that account. This buffer needs to be at least 3 months of your expenses before you can consider investing. Once you start having savings in this account above the 3 month buffer you can then begin to invest that.
Does this make sense Joanna?
boom! thanks Makaylah. definitive steps to financial freedom.
You’re welcome Larry!
Awesome content, great article, it just makes so much sense. Money doesn’t have to be that confusing or fearful after all. The excitement just keeps growing…love learning about my money now and future investing opportunities to come. Nearly at this point. Yahoo!!
Thanks Makaylah. In order to buy stocks you need a brokerage account, any recommendations on companies to work with? Freedom!
Short and simple answer is no, we don’t recommend any specific companies to work with for setting up your brokerage account. However, I think there is greater depth to this question that I’ll talk to.
Your end objective is to build your Freedom Generator which is made up of cash-flow producing assets. If you are using stocks as one component of the mix of cash-flow assets then first you need to determine if you are going to purchase these by yourself, or choose a key specialist to be on your team to assist you with this.
If you choose to buy them yourself, then you want a low brokerage account and to be mindful of the fees you are paying to buy the stocks or shares. Generally, you don’t want to pay more then 1.5% as a fee for each transaction.
If you choose to have a specialist on your team who buys the stocks on your behalf. Before doing this, be aware of how that specialist is paid and ensure that their interests are aligned with yours. A lot of stock brokers get paid on the transaction (buying and selling), so their interests would be to have you trading shares more often which is not what you want to be doing if your goal is to achieve Financial Freedom. To build your freedom generator you want to continue to be getting more and more assets that are cash producing on a regular basis. Once you have got them you don’t typically want to be selling them down unless a different strategy comes into play.
Hope this helps and gives you more education from your question. 🙂
Great article and good to have Makaylah bring out the process of the Freedom which I am finding is challenging but very worthwhile.
Keep up the awesome effort Barry!
I do not see how shares generate cash flow one can use in retirement unless you cash it and then you lose its share value if it increased in monetary value . Dividends have a thirty eight% tax if cashed so you lose that amount of cash before you get the money.
Great question Renee! This is possibly a mind-shift moment if you wish to receive it.
Most financial guru’s talk to you about trying to grow your money, its the normal language in financial education and financial services. However, to truly be financially free you need to build a Freedom Generator that produces cash flow every month which covers your monthly living expenses. But this is not the conversation that most of financial services will try to have with you.
When you are building your Freedom Generator and acquiring cash producing assets (which for this example let’s use stocks or shares) you need to look at them based on their yield (the cash flow and dividends that they produce).
And yes, when you are making money in any scenario their is tax to be paid. And you just need to factor that in and ensure you are in the most tax optimized environment.
Most of financial services will talk to you about growth, growth, growth. The truth is, it doesn’t matter what strategy you take… you just need to ensure that whatever it is, it can turn into cash-flow. You must retire with cash-flow. You cannot take growth down to the grocery store and buy bread…you take cash.
So we want to get you into a position where you don’t need to sell your growth down to buy groceries. We want you in a position where you are living off the cash-flow that your assets are producing/generating.
There are a lot of stocks, shares, property etc that will not meet that criteria, so therefore you wouldn’t select them. But there are assets that do meet this criteria, you just need to understand what you are looking for and find them.
I hope this helps 🙂
Hello there. First of all, I am confused my this message in the article: You don’t need to hire a money manager to tell you what to do with your money. I thought the way to be financially free was to be able to know where your money was going and that it was all good, without having to check on a constant basis. Currently, I have been putting some money into a savings fund similar to a mutual fund with $75/month. Now I won’t be able to get out this cash for another 5 or 6 years, but in the meantime, I am wondering about how to get paid now while I am still young. Can you please be as specific as you can to help me determine what I should be doing and telling my financial advisor or friends who know about the financial industry? I do not want to be scammed.
Hey Misha! It can be very tough to know exactly where to put your money to produce a sizeable cash flow, especially when starting out. You will come across so many different pieces of advice, and my experience has shown that most advice fails to give any specifics. If you think about it, this a good way to tell reputable sources from shady ones. Good advice rarely gives anything specific. Be very careful of anyone telling you exactly where to place your money, because most of the time it involves you losing to some shady deal. Best thing to do right now is continue on the path you are on, and try to increase your PYF amount. In the meantime, educate yourself either in trading stocks, real estate, or starting a business. Once you have a good foundation, you will be better prepared to place your money for cashflow.
I’m just learning ur approach
Hi Gita welcome and her are here to help you . Is an interesting and empowering ride and when it all comes together you will not only be in control but will feel a whole lot better.