If you can master these seven gears of riches you will own a rock solid financial fortress that runs like a well-oiled machine.

Most of my clients are not balanced when we first meet. When you can appropriately balance these 7 gears they will feed off of each other and you could have a wealth creation perpetual machine. How are your 7 gears working together?

1. Income from job and/or business is your life blood to live your life and pay all your bills. I don’t feel we were put on this earth just to live, pay bills, and die so this cash flow must be large enough to pay your bills and live a certain lifestyle with options such as vacations, nice home, automobiles etc. When your cash flow is weak you cannot plug up your wealth drains nor can you fill in the other 6 gears. You should be working toward a results driven income so you are not limited by other people’s opinions of what income you should make. One of my mentors told me years ago that profits are better than wages. He was so right and for many reasons.We will be exploring several ways to immediately increase your income in future articles. I want to give you several options to make extra money and for some of you that might lead to an entirely new career in the future. There are millions of families whose lives would be greatly influenced for the better if they just brought in an extra $1,000 to $2,000 of monthly income.
2. Investments are the second critical gear and there is a seemingly endless supply of places you can invest money that could make you wealthy and other seemingly endless supply of places that could also take all your money and leave you poor. The secret is to find a few core investments that you understand very well and work those investments. Become an expert at even one or two solid investments and focus your efforts in those areas. One of the biggest mistakes people make is to put all or most of their efforts to just their investment gear and little effort into the other main gears or drains of their financial life.
3. Cash on hand is seemingly self explanatory and is not a difficult concept. However, even though it is a simple concept many people focus on putting so much into investments that if a short term cash need arises they might not be able to satisfy that need. They also might be able to satisfy the need but at a cost of selling investments at losses or incurring penalties and fees to get their cash needs met. Cash set aside is usually thought to be low interest bearing but that does not have to be the case. There are great financial vehicles out there that will allow you quick access to cash while still giving you a decent return on your cash as it sits in the account.
4. Guaranteed income is the income we can count on after our job or business income either goes away completely or drops significantly. Do you know how much income you need every month to live your current lifestyle? Would you like to live even better? Most retirement accounts such as IRA’s and 401k’s make no guarantees on how much monthly income they will provide in your retirement years. Do you have a pension? How much will you receive from Social Security? Will Social Security be there in the future for your retirement years? The Social Security Administration’s own web page says that if you retire after a certain year you will only qualify for 77% of the current amount given to you as your projected retirement account. A successful and abundant retirement will require safe and stable income.
5. Debt elimination or reduction will be critical to a worry free life and retirement. If you have a $2,500 house payment and $2,000 of that amount goes toward principal and interest you will have $2,000 more net cash flow if you can pay that home off in full. You will learn how to do that faster and easier than you ever thought possible in future articles.
6. Long term care or home health care in your older years. Most people’s plan for dealing with long term care boils down to one word……..Hope! Hope is not a strategy but there are strategies that are little known that can aid you should you ever need extra money for long term care or home health care. If this one gear falters it can systematically destroy all the other gears you have been working so hard to build. The average cost for care varies by state and even by city. Many times, by simply reallocating existing assets you can control the potential back breaker of long term care or home health care without expensive long term care policies
7. Estate or legacy is what you would like to leave behind in this world after you move on to the next one. Would you like to give family more options in their lives as far as education or opportunity? Do you have a special cause or foundation you would like to help long after you’re gone from this life? Would you like to make sure that all your hard work doesn’t go to Uncle Sam after you pass away or to a greedy court system? A proper estate plan is critical to closing out your financial life and leaving a positive influence behind generations after you’re gone from this world. If you want to determine who is entitled to what than a simple estate plan is a must.