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Impending such a strong and terminal word. The pure fact that something is impending (meaning to happen in the future) is a dark and ugly shadow over many people. Especially in this crazy economy we are in. You see when that word impending is used it’s in conjunction with foreclosure, bankruptcy, death. You know what I am saying it’s going to be final.

Why is it that so many people are impending financial disaster within their own lives even when they have seen the signs all around them warning them of immediate change that needs to be taken in and implemented. It sounds so crazy to me that people would still rather live in a shadowed word where they are behind glass walls, just waiting for someone to throw a stone at you.

So forget the impending problems we need to focus on the impending solutions instead. What are you faced with? Foreclosure? Not a problem. Over Leveraged Debt? Again no problem. Are you behind on taxes? Still no problem. No matter what the financial outlook seems like it can always be altered. You do not have to wait for the worst impending situation to prompt you to get help. You have leeway and lead time to get all of your ducks in a row, so to speak.

You know it feels like you are all alone when these types of financial uncertainties take form in your life, however it’s not like you just woke up one day and there was a problem. You had some insider information that warned you about this some time ago. Maybe you just need to step aside and get out of your own way.

Have you ever felt trapped by your fear or emotions? We have all been victimized by it in one way or another well it’s time to get over it. For many positive reasons. For starter imaging eliminating tons of undue stress in your life. How about the increased cash you keep from eliminating debt and start carving out a brighter future? Nothing in life is for certain except that you have to stand up for what matters most.

• Tell-Tale Signs You Have Entered Liberation School I was reading an empowering article this afternoon which really helped me to spark an amazing idea. You know when you hit the wall in your day and you just feel burnt out and complacent in your mundane routine? You just accept it and deal with life as it......
• Death often brings new life My father died today and this is not a cry out for support or sympathy, rather when death comes to visit the stay cannot be too long. It's swift, fast and sometimes can linger on. I spoke to my father just last evening, he was witty and wild on the......
• Using college education funds for real estate Many people aren't aware of the little laws in the IRS tax code that states not what you can put into these types of accounts, they state what you can't put in their instead. So while people are using stocks and going mad with the market place activities, others are......
• Using the power of the Internet and social media for a challenge I haven't been posting regularly for the past week and a half, in fact the last article I wrote was posted about using social media to enhance your real estate business. Since that writing I did after attending that seminar I have had rapid changes come to me in the......
• What's the cost of financial failure What's the cost of financial failure? I had never given this a thought until I had experienced financial hardship in my own life. People never give reason or rhyme to why they have served themselves a bad deal. When financial crisis occurs you wouldn't even begin to imagine the costs......

• Truth Is They say adversity doesn’t make you who you are, it shows who you are. It’s there. There is more than judgement. Like language is acquired by an infant, there is a language behind the mind/body connection. There is a language by which the world is assembled, and having failed to......
• Avoid Credit Trouble By Having A Plan For Financial Emergencies. This is a guest post from Trisha Wagner. One of the leading causes of credit problems for financially responsible people occurs during  or after a financial emergency.  You may pay your bills on time, use your credit wisely and make your mortgage payments, but if you do not plan......
• Is A Compelling Testimony Required To Inspire Others? The blogger behind Budgets are Sexy once asked if a you had to "have a story" to be a respected personal finance blogger. It was an interesting question on many different levels. I reflected on the number of times I've told pieces of my own story here at Frugal Dad,......
• Do You Have to be Thrifty? As the economy continues its upheaval, the word thrifty seems to be on many people's minds. Is it absolutely necessary to be thrifty in times of economic uncertainty? There are many schools of thought on the subject, and while at first glance, it may seem like the only economical choice,......
• The world is not like me Part of growing up is learning that there are more viewpoints in the world than just our own. While we probably all realize that intellectually by now, it's a different matter to actually remain aware of the implications AND apply that knowledge to our everyday lives. It's just too easy......

I was reading an empowering article this afternoon which really helped me to spark an amazing idea. You know when you hit the wall in your day and you just feel burnt out and complacent in your mundane routine? You just accept it and deal with life as it gets served up on a daily basis.

This is where you get a lesson from the school of liberation. Yes liberation, you see so many people have become stagnate and displaced from their original goals and intentions that once in a while people need a giant wake up call.

If you are suffering financially in your personal life and or business then you should be getting excited. This is a moment in time you should get down on your knees and be thankful and forever grateful that you got to experience this first hand. You see you are about to get liberated from poverty, challenge and above all else get the power to take back control of your life.

You know when you used to have it all. Wouldn’t it feel great if you could have it all once again? Go ahead and take a trip back to school. The school of liberation through hard knocks. It will do you some good I promise.

• One man can make a difference Call it bragging or whatever you like I really don’t care. I have made the commitment to change the world or at least the largest portion of it that I have the ability to touch. Personally I may not be able to save the planet although I sure am......
• What’s Your Social Economic Profile You’ve heard the news, read the stories and even seen the victims of devastation as the economic crisis spins out of control. You hear a different story on every channel on the television. A new family crisis, a new company going under and of course a new bailout plan......
• This Is The Last Blog Post I'll Ever Write It's actually over. All of the time invested in creative, research, years in business experimentation. All for nothing; you know when you finally throw in the towel and hang up your boots. Have you ever had one of those moments where you just say forget it time for change......
• When it comes to doing deals what matters most to you? As I sit ready to leave this evening to enjoy festive occasion with the staff and friends of our real estate operations I take a moment to reflect on the years past and all that has happened to this point in my life so far. I reflect the emotions of......
• Death often brings new life My father died today and this is not a cry out for support or sympathy, rather when death comes to visit the stay cannot be too long. It's swift, fast and sometimes can linger on. I spoke to my father just last evening, he was witty and wild on the......

• Golf Profile for Ryan Patrick Armour Ryan Patrick Armour was born on February 27 in 1976 and is an American Professional Golfer on the PGA Tour team. He attended Ohio State University, and earned third team All-American honors in 1998. In 1995 and 1998 he was selected to the All-Big Ten squad, and also played in......
• Powerful Connection Intimacy is a vital force in life. The willingness to embrace your newborn child. The willingness to open your home to an elder in need. There is something beyond "moral code", and to my belief a moral code alone is insufficient to allow right action to endure. We have the......
• How Ignoring One Piece of Advice Can Help You Succeed Image by striatic via Flickr "Quit now, you'll never make it. If you disregard this advice, you'll be halfway there." - David Zucker We've all seen somebody cover their ears and start singing "La-la-la-la-la, I'm not listening!". If not, I hope you at least know what I'm talking about.......
• Why Are We Lonely? Loneliness is an interesting topic though at first it might seem quite shallow. We all feel we experience it and we are all right, but the question is why? Why in this great heavily human populated world do we feel lonesome? Any ideas? Fear? Fear to open your soul? We......
• Confidence Hypnosis 'Confidence', as defined within Confidence Hypnosis, is not just a positive feeling in the body; it is also a state of mind, an approach to life, which tends to lead to self-acceptance and success.  It encompasses focus, effort and commitment as well as the ability to both accept and......

When it comes to purchasing a home you know the basics, you need to get prequalified for a mortgage, then find a Real Estate Agent or Realtor that you can trust. Sure this sounds easy enough and for many people it is.

However if you’re intimidated about where to start let this article be your beginning guide to sourcing out a new home or if this is your first time ever looking to purchase your home then this article will shed some light on the subject.

Here’s the article that has your 7 tips for preparing to purchase a home. Also when you are ready to take that step forward please don’t hesitate to give me a call. I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area. Centrally located in Concord.

Call me at 925-335-6357 or stop by Burton Real Estate 2095 Salvio Street, Concord, CA 94520

• The rise of the sophisticated real estate investor Whew what a weekend! There were 10 year old girls screaming all weekend. Oh yeah I was at my little girls birthday bash all weekend we had fun and here on this misty rainy Monday. I had a few moments to reflect on the past event as I rose......
• Here is part three of this report var YAHOO = {\'Shortcuts\' : {}}; YAHOO.Shortcuts.hasSensitiveText = true; YAHOO.Shortcuts.sensitivityType = ["adult"]; YAHOO.Shortcuts.doUlt = false; YAHOO.Shortcuts.location = "us"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_id = 0; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_type = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_title = "Real Estate IRAs: Secrets Revealed - Part Three"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_publish_date = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_author = "help@trustetc.com"; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_url = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.document_tags = ""; YAHOO.Shortcuts.annotationSet = { "lw_1212114071_0":......
• Retirement of a giant and the rise of future leaders Retirement of a giant and the rise of future leaders I looked as if I was a deer staring in the headlights when I opened the news this morning. You see I have been buried in tons of different activities and meetings over the last several weeks as I have......
• Mortgage rates dropped – along with stocks and bonds With all of the anticipation of the credit crunch underway and news of Fannie Mae needing bail out money to stop the bleeding and weakening of our economy mortgage rates dropped right along side stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Also with the news that mortgage giant Indy Mac would......
• The only investment you will ever need. Featured in todays Money magazine. An article that clearly states the sad state of affairs in our financial planning community today. According to these 7 stocks you must own the average rate of return is huge. A whopping 5.1% per year average across the 6 out of 7 stocks picks......

• Macau Real Estate Continues to Boom Despite all the doom and gloom over the visa restrictions, the Macau Statistics and Census Service indicated that 8,396 real estate sale and purchase contracts with a total value of MOP8.0 billion were made in the first half of 2007, up by 30.6% and 65.5% respectively year-on-year. In the second......
• $15,000 Homebuyer Tax Credit Added to Proposed Stimulus About a week ago we brought you a post describing a proposal by Senators Cardin (D-Maryland) and Ensign (R-Nevada) that would give first-time homebuyers a $20,000 tax credit, replacing the current $7,500 credit. Unfortunately, it appears this proposal has failed to move forward. However, on Wednesday night the Senate unanimously approved......
• Do You Need A Billion Dollar Home? In a previous article, I mentioned that Donald Trump just sold the world's most expensive home. Actually, the world's most expensive home belongs to steel tycoon Laxmi Mittal and is valued at $125 million. However the world's most expensive home is currently being built by Indian billionare Mukesh Ambani, son......
• VegaStream - VoIP & Emergency Services VoIP and Geographic LocationThe emergency services have come to rely on certain features of the traditional telephone system to enable them to do their jobs and to safeguard against misuse of the general public's privilege to call them night or day. The key feature is the Caller Line Indication......
• Weaky #21: The Mortgage Bankers Association's Underwater Mortgage Back in 2007, we all thought there might be a real estate bubble about to pop. But most of America was still stupid and buying up real estate thinking prices would go up forever. Home ownership was the American dream, and we all wanted to own our own home. Even......

When it comes to wealth creation planning is the most crucial element. This requires forethought as well as accountability to your financial advisers, your actions as well as your overall strategy for amassing wealth.

Planning your way means you actually sit and evaluate your past, present and future financial needs. You need to stop and simply ask yourself “Is this where I need to be financially, do I have enough funds at the end of the month left over or am I barely scrapping by? Have I been contributing to my retirement?

This is your first assignment and you cannot I repeat cannot go any further without performing this simple step. I have often wondered why people don’t take the time to make these very important plans in the first place.

Very few people have actually stopped to plan out their needs for retirement or their short term financial strategy either. Most people contribute to an IRA or 401K plan and rarely check to see if the plan is going towards helping their futures. Simply put many people are blinded when it comes to financial planning and making sure that they have enough saved up to cover them in case of sudden financial set backs.

Simple things like ignoring the needed maintenance of a home or vehicle can suddenly cause financial strain when you don’t have the needed funds to cover major repair costs. People live on equity and credit cards as a means of having extra capital available on demand.

This si fine until you realize that the credit cards and interest are eating up every last cent you make. For many this is a true fact and we’ve seen it before especially during the economic crash of 2008. People were loosing everything due to poor financial preparation. Even as the crisis continues people are complacent with what they should do about money.

More often than not families experience pain and short falls of capital which lead to stress, relationship or marital complications and the mental anguish , and eventually a realization of change sets the precedence for the moment.

I have experience this first hand. I know what lies ahead down a dark dusty highway, peril at every twist and turn of fate. Wishing and hoping for a miracle that will never happen until you set the change into motion. Planning takes a little time to asses where you are and where you need to be.

Start with yesterday and today these are simple; do you have a savings account for necessity, one for contingency (emergency) funds, and finally do you have enough cash flow to cover all of your needs starting with your future? If you answered no to any of these questions then you need to stop and implement changes before you go any further.

Next we look towards the future, what is in your current retirement account are you saving every dime you can. You know that the rising costs of food, fuel and inflation will devalue your dollars purchasing power. So what does this all mean? Simply explained you will need to make more money in the future to cover your necessities of today.

Your dollars need to work harder than ever before. If you thing a 10% ROI is s good deal I can prove to you that you need more. More than what you have ever expected. To receive a residual income of say $5000.00/ month your going to need at least $2,000,000 in cash with a ROI of 4% to earn the $5,000/mo. Are y9our needs more than five thousand then adjust accordingly. How are you going to get there? If you had $100,000 in an account with a 10% ROI your money would double approximately every 7.2 years.

Using this formula you can see how long before you wish to retire vs. how long it will take to retire. It would take over 30 years to make the $2,000,000 amount. Are you willing to put in another 30 years to reach that goal or are you ready to make a shift in your habits to produce better results than what you are currently receiving?

Planning your way to wealth is the only true way to achieve the true success and financial independence you have longed for. So take the time to make your plans take the action to realize them and enjoy everything life has to offer by simply taking a look at your financial situation and planning your path to wealth and prosperity.

• Retirement of a giant and the rise of future leaders Retirement of a giant and the rise of future leaders I looked as if I was a deer staring in the headlights when I opened the news this morning. You see I have been buried in tons of different activities and meetings over the last several weeks as I have......
• The Only Phone Service That Pays You To Be A Raving Fan, Start Getting Social Get paid To Talk All Day Imagine owning your very own telecommunication Company without actually having to run it. It was so eloquently mentioned by Dell CEO Michael Dell; “Content, Commerce & Community.” Let me back up here for just a second. I was discussing social media topics with a friend of mine. He mentioned......
• The tipping point When you reach a point where reaction takes place. All of the steps to complete the puzzle have taken form and the picture is in view. I just had an aha moment and realized at least one of the errors of my ways. You see as a new internet entrepreneur......
• E-Waste Plus Wall Street, Times The Mortgage Market Equate To A Toxic Mess E Waste, mortgages, Wall Street, credit derivatives, rising credit deficit and the bet against America. I was watching 60 Minutes last night, it was very disturbing to learn exactly what has been going on both in the technology sector as well as the financial markets. Both topics showed me......
• The costs of education in a time when our State's deficit is at an all time high I just read in the paper the other day how our state of California is proposing to cut the high school exit exam due to the exorbitant deficit in this state. Our leaders want to remove the one test that states the quality of our future leaders, decision makers etcetera.......

• Social Media and The Future of The Internet Internet marketing, originally, was intended to be a relatively simple and profitable experience for would be online marketers.  However, for most newcomers to Internet marketing, their first online experience is of some self appointed "guru" shouting at them: "Just plugin to our turn-key system and we'll show you how to......
• Faxless Payday Loan Helps Tina Pay The Car Mechanic & Free Her Car From The Impound Lot! "Faxless Payday Loans came to our rescue! To get money deposited in my checking account took just a couple hours and a short application. It was easier than I could imagine! I was able to pay to get my car back." --Tina R., Philly, PA Payday loans? Peer-to-peer loans? Personal......
• a clear and present danger: the humanities The US government currently has a debt of over $9.2 trillion dollars. In every measure of economic growth the US lags behind Europe and the emerging economic superpowers of India and China. At the same time, over $90 billion dollars will be spent in 2008 on financial aid. At least......
• Retirement Planning 101 It is a really good idea for you to have plans when it comes to your retirement. Planning is really only one of the steps that are involved in achieving the life you intend for yourself after work. A plan is going to serve you well when it comes to......
• Five Steps to Financial Freedom Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to wait until payday to write a check for your bills? What if you could just pay for stuff and not have to worry if the money was there? What if you no longer enjoyed your job and you could just quit......

When it comes to planning for retirement you really have only a few choices to make for your future. Strategically speaking many people take the approach of “I hope it works.” People really never give their retirement a thought until it’s to late. When they decide it’s time for retirement is when people decide to take a look at their accumulation of wealth for a hard 30 to 40 years of work.

It’s at this time when people realize they have not set enough aside funds to carry them from retirement date to the end of their lives. Realizing that they have to embark on a new career just to compensate for their costs of living and the needs of the individual. Rising costs of living are enough to drive the value of your dollars to an all time low.

With a little patience, goal setting and a needs analysis for the individual needs and the needs of the family through the time of their retirement years. People expect that the flow of cash (income) will never stop; yet with a twist of fate, peoples lives can be affected in an instant. This is some of the areas people need to consider for their goal planning and choosing their “NUMBER”.

What’s the number you ask? The number is the “NET” income you need to achieve after retirement takes place. So let me ask you to stop for a minute and figure out your number. If your current expenses require a monthly budget of $5,000 while you are working; you’ll need to almost double it to cover your taxes, medical needs, and the standard costs of living.

By the time you retire you loose certain advantages, for example your home will be paid off so your tax deductions are reduced, medical costs increase since you loose your benefits at retirement. Certain perks that may have come with working suddenly disappear. What if your income suddenly stopped before you were ready? Have you ever given that a thought? If not you should, at a minimum you need three to six months of living expenses socked away to cover any sudden pitfalls in your income.

So how do you plan strategically for retirement and the normal bumps in the road that can pop up in your path at any given time during the travels of your life? Simply put you need to be proactive in your affairs and handle yourself first. This means you ALWAYS pay yourself first! Then you move about your personal business.

Set up your incoming income stream(s) to work for you instead of against you. The first priority is to take care of your retirement and pre tax dollar savings. By setting up your retirement savings you tackle two birds with one stone. A) you are creating a better future for you and your family; B) you are reducing your tax liability and therefor you are saving on the amount of income tax that you pay.

You need to check with your tax person or CPA to make sure you are not saving too little or too much. This way you are reducing your overall exposure to the tax laws and keeping more money in your pocket.

Secondly you need to make sure you are setting aside 10% of your income for personal expenses in the bank. You need to build a nest egg equivalent to three to six months of monthly expenses to shore up your confidence and set you ahead of the rest of America.

Once you have established these cash reserves you can pull back and your cash savings and start a new stream of income not based for retirement, these are accounts to keep liquid money available for quick access and no penalties. By the way liquid investments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, cd’s, and etf’s etc should not be used as the main source for your retirement. Strategically planning for your retirement means seeking out the best opportunities for capital appreciation, preservation, and conservation. What I am suggesting to you are solutions that aren’t commonly expressed or shown to people by the big financial institutions.

These large institutional financial companies are showing you a path for disaster, look at the dot com bubble bust, the most recent melt down in our economic system. People lost thousands to millions of dollars overnight. Stocks are risky in fact one of my mentors called it “legalized gambling” which in fact is the truth.

Your placing your hard earned dollars into a stock(s) which allow companies to leverage your money for there benefit. If they make a profit you share in the winnings; however if the CEO makes the wrong decision(s) it’s your loss! Whew that’s a lot to think about, your trying to create wealth, build your future and all of the sudden BAM!

You just lost your precious nest egg, you’re about to retire and the next thing you know you are faced with the option to keep working and don’t retire or retire and live a miserable, uncomfortable lifestyle. Strategy means you plan through the mini setbacks, allocate & diversify properly. One of the best ways that you can prepare for retirement is by placing “select pre-developed real estate [land banking] into your portfolio.”

When doing so you need to know how to locate the the property, look for the crucial signs of future development, have an exit strategy or use the specialists who know all of these details and then some. Strategic land banking is one of the surest ways to grow your retirement portfolio, avoid risk exposure to the stock market and preserve your capital.

You can invest in companies accounts receivables and many other types of non traditional investments that are more secure than stocks or other types of investments that are not as receptive to market volatility. Your retirement is something you need to take seriously. I have many friends who are approaching their early to mid forties and they have no cash reserves or retirement nest egg to speak of.

They are working a plan that will ultimately set them up for failure and certain disaster. The differences in planning for today versus tomorrow are quite simple. You have the ability to fail in your planning for the short term and still have time to recover from the losses. However when you don’t plan ahead for retirement you are risking the comfort and security for your future.

You’re older and the Government places restrictions on your contribution limits, your age prevents you from having the time to successfully rebuild your retirement nest egg to a point that it can sustain you for the rest of your years.

Sure people bank on the inheritance they may receive I have a friend right now that is doing just that; she’s unemployed and the inheritance monies is being held up for many months while the trustee takes care of paying all of the creditors and lien holders, sell the shares of stock and remove their share of the proceeds before the disbursements ever take place.

Now she is facing eviction, loss of her car and other parts of security that comes with being financially prepared. Creating wealth isn’t rocket science, it’s a simple mathematical equation that simply says it’s not how much you make it’s how much you keep.

More and more people are faced with job loss, foreclosure, bankruptcy and other financial hardships that place unneeded stress, health implications and burdens that can cause sever health problems. Being financially sound creates peace and comfort in your life. Take the time to learn the knowledge, plan your finances strategically and retire with surety and ease.

• Top five reasons to own pre-developed real estate in a down market Many investors are rushing in to swoop up the great deals in real estate with our current state of economic trends. With many foreclosures on the market and more arriving there everyday. However with all of the great deals on the market there are tons of profits to be made.......
• Using college education funds for real estate Many people aren't aware of the little laws in the IRS tax code that states not what you can put into these types of accounts, they state what you can't put in their instead. So while people are using stocks and going mad with the market place activities, others are......
• My recent propert comparables. I finally got it though lets refresh for a moment. As I mentioned spent the better part of four years living this way. Until the day I became homeless. I lived that way for some time with my wife and I living the life that felt like we aere fugitives......
• Is your time “too important to run mundane errands? Just outsource then...”. Virtual assistants are popping up everywhere and handling tasks all over the spectrum. Outsourcing is the wave of the future from office assistants, gift getting, date scheduling and a variety of other tasks that would normally eat up our valuable work day hours. A simple task of scheduling an......
• A proven formula for a better retirement The issue of retirement has been surfacing around the social media and content of conversation for sometime now. One of the most outstanding issues is the fact that the corporate pension and retirement plans are going by the wayside. Individuals are being forced to take control of their retirement portfolios.......

• Review of Millionaire By Thirty Douglas Andrew’s book reads like a rejected first draft of Rich Dad, Poor Dad and right off the bat, it’s kitschy premise (ripped right from the above book) falls more than a little flat. In order to illustrate his points, the author relies on his sons and their imaginary......
• Is It A Good Time To Invest In Real Estate? Even though I've experienced phenomenal returns in real estate, I think its getting exceedingly difficult to invest in that asset class. If you're flipping houses and you have a good buying and selling system in place, then the story is different, but thats probably your full-time job. If you a......
• Commercial Real Estate Investing For Beginners: You Bought a Course From A Real Estate Guru? What the HECK did I just buy from that fast talking clown? Will This Real Estate Investing Course Work For Me? Emily Cressey Real Estate Investor and Coach When you're just getting started in real estate investing, it's easy to get caught up chasing big dreams and money. Especially......
• Is A Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Right for You? If you are looking for a way to profit from real estate and property without investing exorbitant amounts of money in illiquid, difficult-to-manage rental properties, a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) might be what you need. There are many infamous real estate investors (think Trump) that have made a fortune......
• The Mortgage Crisis and Investments in Real Estate According to regional and state real estate analysts, the factors which previously fueled the housing boom of the last few years are easy to explain. The factors that fueled this boom in the real instate industry ranged significantly, including: - Interest rates that were historically low. - Flight-Risk Safety Investments......