David Finkel's Wealth Blog

Three Big Opportunities In the Next 6-18 Months

2007-09-15T05:55:00.000-07:00

Three Big Opportunities In the Next 6-18 Months

Hi Everyone,

I hope your week is going well. It's been a bit rainy in Virginia the past few days, which was a nice change of pace. Heather and I even took our dog Blue for a run in the woods the other day in the rain. It was very refreshing!

Today I want to do something a bit dangerous, which is to go out on a limb and talk about three MAJOR market trends that will lead to some big investment opportunities that I am seeing coming in the next 6-18 months.

It's always risky to do that because the world is always so quick to say "I told you so" if you're wrong, but I'm going to do it anyway because for some of you it might just make a BIG difference in your investing returns.

Now I'm going to have to be fairly brief in this letter, but I've recorded and posted a special audio workshop going into great detail about these three market trends, why they are happening, and most importantly, how you can position yourself to take full advantage of the opportunities on the membership site for Maui Mastermind Online. (Keep reading for the links and for instructions for those of you who are not yet members to follow to get immediate access to the site as a free 30-day trial membership.)

Market Trend One: A continuing wave of foreclosures coming over the next 24 months.

One of the best things about real estate compared to most investments is the relative slow pace at which things change. For the savvy investor, you have several months or longer to anticipate and prepare to take advantage of a coming trend.

Well this is one of those times. We're seeing the middle part of the foreclosure curve and it only is going to get more pronounced over the next 12-24 months before it starts to get better. This is partly driven by the huge wave of adjustable rate mortgages (ARM's) that come into the market in 2005 and 2006, especially "Option ARM's", which are a hybrid adjustable rate mortgage where the borrower can actually pay less than the full payment each month (meaning that these loans actually get bigger each month, which is why they are sometimes called "negative amortization loans".)

If you want to learn the full picture as to why these "option ARM's" were pushed so strongly by mortgage companies, and how a little-known accounting trick was one of the triggers for the whole sub-prime mess we're watching, just CLICK HERE.

Over the next 12-24 months as these option ARM's start to have massive rate escalations--often as high as 3-4 percentage point increases--more and more shaky borrowers are defaulting. (For my investing suggestions to capitalize on these incredible converging market forces, just CLICK HERE and go to the members page of Maui Mastermind Online members site for my latest workshop. If you're not yet a member, click here for a 30-day trial membership for free.)

Now you can understand why investing in foreclosures is going to be one of the most lucrative areas of real estate for single family investors. If, and this is a big if, if you have developed the skills and knowledge base to take advantage of the opportunity.

This brings us to the next major market trend...

Market Trend Two: Because of the uncertainty in the financial markets, it's fairly tough for many borrowers to actually get the financing they need to purchase a home. This impacts sellers (they can't find buyers), and this impacts buyers (they have trouble getting the money they need at rates they can afford), and best of all this trend is only temporary!

And this also affects investors.

For several reasons I think that this "scarcity" of loans for so many buyers will be a short-lived phenomenon. In fact, I think that over the next 6-9 months things will settle down to much more of an equilibrium point with the financial markets as it relates to residential loans. I think it's pretty certain that the pendulum will swing to the side of tighter underwriting requirements for new loans, but there will be plenty of money available to borrow.

This means that we have a reinforcing trend that's happening right now--the lack of loans for buyers has hurt real estate values. This trend reinforces the above "opportunity one" I spoke about earlier. But, and this is a mighty BIG but, this second trend is a temporary one that will get progressively less and less tight.

This shift (strong value dip in residential real estate) will be lessoned when money becomes a little less scared and a little more organized and careful, over the next 6-9 months, which will be a positive force on housing values soon thereafter. (For those of you who want to understand the deeper relationships that drive this second trend, CLICK HERE and listen to the audio workshop I recorded on this subject.)

The third trend...

Market Trend Three: The real estate market responds in with a "lag" of 6-18 months, giving the savvy invest plenty of chances to "cherry pick" great deals.

With the short term tightening of the financial markets, that means that many sellers can't easily find buyers for their properties. This temporarily hurts the value of their properties. I say temporarily because once the lending world swings back (although I still anticipate that lending requirements will be tougher than they were 6-12 months ago), the values will start to climb.

If you're smart, and that means you buy following sound fundamentals and have a cushion to ride out the sluggish market, over the next 12-18 months you'll have lots of opportunities to buy some real bargains.

In fact, if you sharpen up your creative buying strategies like lease options and buying subject to the existing financing, you just might pick up several deals with little or no money down, and with your risk intelligently hedged.

It's an interesting fact that real estate markets have "memories". What I mean is that even after the market turns, there is often a lag of 6-12 months or longer, when sellers still are acting as if they are in the midst of a famine. I watched this happen on the east coast before this last run up in properties; I watched this happen in southern California in the mid-90's; and I'm predicting the same thing will happen again this time.

Again, however, I want to stress the need to be smart about how you take advantage of this opening.

The good news is that you have a little time to learn more. I recommend that if you don't have a solid investing background (and you have chosen residential real estate as your wealth vehicle) that you invest the next 6-12 months to get that education.

There you have a brief overview of these three market trends that I think will make some savvy investors a TON of money.

For the full and detailed workshop on these three trends and how to best capitalize on them CLICK HERE. I recorded a 40 minute workshop on this including what I think the newest twist on short sales is going to look like (and the opportunities are huge for investors who step up to the table.)

If you're not yet a member of Maui Mastermind Online, click here for a free 30-day membership. I'm guessing that you'll love it so much that you'll continue to stay a member for many years at just $9.97 a month billed to your credit card. You can cancel at any time. You've got nothing to lose and so much to gain. Join now!

Sign Up Now and Get a FREE $495 Downloadable Home Study Course!

This powerful online home study course includes eight (8) powerful modules:

Wealth Secrets from Maui Mastermind?-The World's Most Exclusive Wealth Retreat? (4 Classes)
Financial Fluency Starter Kit! (3 Classes)
The 5 Keys to Building a Level Three Business! (2 Classes)
Preemptive Tax Strategy? Increase Your Cash Flow by Radically Reducing Your Tax Bill! (2 Classes)
Investing Secrets to Profitably Invest in Real Estate! (5 Classes)
Introduction to Time Mastery--How to Break Free of the Time and Effort Economy! (2 Classes) Negotiation Strategies to Close the Deal! (3 Classes)
The Greatest Wealth Secret Ever Discovered! (2 Classes)

That's over 16 hours of powerful wealth training you can download or watch over the web!
And the past part is that even if you decide to cancel (which I can't imagine you will when you watch, read, and listen to all the great how to, cutting edge information on the member site) you get to keep the course as my free gift to you for giving membership a good faith go!

You have nothing to lose and so much to gain so I hope you give it a try. Click here to register now!

I hope you enjoyed what you learned and that I sparked some deep thinking on your part.

My best to you,

David Finkel

P.S. We still have 34 spaces available for that free 90-minute tele-class on Thursday,
September 20th at:

5pm Pacific
6pm Mountain
7pm Central
8pm Eastern

The tele-class is titled "The Seven Bottom Lines of Investing for Maximum Passive Income" and is available this one-time-only for the first 250 registrants. There are currently 34 spots open and they will be going fast so if you are interesting in learning how to increase your passive income make sure you REGISTER NOW!

The call will not be repeated so if you want to attend, make sure you register while there is still room! Click Here to register.

7 Bottom-lines to Increasing Your Passive Income‏

2007-09-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody,

Last week I taught a special conference call for Maui MastermindTM Online members that talked about the three biggest mistakes that people make when they are chasing after passive income.

The call was a HUGE hit. (If you are a member, just go to the membership site and you can listen to the entire recording of that call. For those of you who want to get a free 30-day trial membership and listen to that call, just click here. I'm betting that you'll love it so much that you'll stay a member at just $9.97 per month after your trial membership has ended.)

This got me to thinking, wouldn't it be incredibly valuable to do a special call where rather than talking about the biggest mistakes that I see people make when investing their net worth for passive income, instead I share the "bottom line" steps you need to follow to increase your passive income.

After all, it's one thing to learn from the major mistakes I've seen people make - mistakes that have cost them thousands of dollars in lost profits and even more painful, lost principle-- but it's even more powerful to focus on the things that work to boost returns and safeguard principle.

I watch so many people follow poor advice and go down blind alleys in their sincere search to create better passive returns on their investments. They just didn't know how to go about doing it. It doesn't need to be that way. When you really understand a few basic guiding principles, you are able to make such smarter, more profitable decisions--consistently.

I've been focused on this subject over the past few years. Part of this focus comes out of my managing my and Heather's investment portfolio. But what really drives me in this area is my love of distilling and teaching the best of what I learn with clients like you.

In fact, I've been obsessed with this subject for the past six months as I've been designing a brand new workshop called, "Wealth Vehicles" that I will be teaching one time only this October. (If you want to learn more about this one-time-only workshop and register, CLICK HERE.)

Now while it would take me several days to fully cover the subject of how to most effectively and profitably invest your entire net worth strategically across a portfolio of investments for passive and passive residual profits (which is why I have created the Wealth Vehicles workshop), I set myself a massive challenge...

"How can I share the 7 "bottom-lines" of effectively, reliably, and profitably investing your net worth for passive income in one 90 minute session?"

The more I started thinking about this the more excited I got about the idea. It's my deepest passion to share strategies, techniques, and ideas that empower you to grow your wealth. What better way could there be than to share the lessons it's taken me a decade to learn through painful trial and error on how to maximize my passive income through my investing!

So that's exactly what I'm planning on doing and I'd like to give you this personal invitation to join me for this session as my FREE guest. (Yep, as long as you're willing to listen with an open mind and take action on what you're learning, I'm willing to let you join me for free!)

Join me for a special conference call class called, "The Seven Bottom Lines of Investing for Maximum Passive Income".

The call is free, but the number of spots in the class are strictly limited (more on this in a moment.)

The 90-minute tele-class is scheduled for Thursday, September 20th, 2007 at:

5pm Pacific
6pm Mountain
7pm Central
8pm Eastern

There are two conditions to this.

Condition One: The conference line currently can only handle 249 people (actually it has room for 250 people, but I needed to save one space for me on the line!) This means that you are going to have to register for the call (again it's free) on a first come, first serve basis. When those 249 spaces are gone, that's it. There will be NO make up time for this call (I will be recording it to post on the Maui Mastermind Online membership site, but that is for members only.)

I don't want you to miss out and since this invitation went out to a lot of people (currently close to 90,000 people read this weekly eLetter) hurry up and register right away. CLICK HERE to register.

Condition Two: This tele-class is for serious wealth builders only! If you are only "curious", and aren't deeply committed to creating financial success and freedom for you and your family, please don't take up one of the limited spaces.

This call is for people who will actually USE the information and strategies I'm going to share with you to increase your passive income. If you join the call that means you are agreeing that you're someone who is a doer, who will take action on the ideas you learn.

Those are the only conditions. I hope you will choose to join me for the call. I promise that if you're serious about the subject you'll profit immensely from the ideas I'll cover.

Again, to register for the call CLICK HERE. If you act fast enough to get one of the 299 spots then after you register online, you'll be immediately taken to a webpage that lists the call-in number and PIN code for this tele-class. In addition, there will be a "reminder" record of the call-in information in your client history on mauimillionaires.com which you can access by going to "your account" in the top right hand corner of mauimillionaires.com . Once there, simply click on the "order history" button and you'll see the free tele-class listed there. When you click on this class it will again show you the private call-in number and PIN code for this 90 minute tele-class.

That's it for today, later in the week I'll have another eLetter for you on my take on three huge opportunities that I see for investors in the coming 6-18 months. Look for that eLetter on Thursday night or Friday.

I hope you have a great week ahead of you!

My best to you,

David

P.S. To register for that free 90-minute tele-class on September 20th called, "The Seven Bottom Lines of Investing for Maximum Passive Income" just CLICK HERE!

P.P.S. Feel free to forward this eLetter on to your friends or associates if they are interested in joining us for the class, provided they register while there are open spaces for the call left.

Wealth Tips from the Guy Who Literally Wrote the Book‏

2007-09-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody,

I have a very special eLetter for you today that shares some of the interesting details from an amazing phone conversation I had with best-selling author and wealth strategist Stuart Lucas.

Stuart is not only the author of the best-selling book, Wealth, (which I've literally recommended to several thousand people over the past 18 months and strongly recommend to you), but he is also someone who comes from a very unique background in terms of wealth, and his Wealth Operating SystemTM (WOS). You see, Stuart is a member of America's wealthiest families. He is a fourth generation to E.A. Stuart, the founder of Carnation (maker of Carnation Evaporated Milk and Coffee-Mate Non-Dairy Creamer) which the family sold to Nestle in 1985 for over a billion dollars.

I want to share with you some of the highlights of that unique conversation so that you can use these ideas on wealth to reach your own financial goals.

For those of you who are Maui Mastermind Online members, CLICK HERE to listen in to the recording of the entire phone conversation.

For those of you who are not members yet, but want to get a free 30-day trial membership and then access the full conversation, just CLICK HERE.

Even for the Wealthy, Talking about Money with Your Family Can Still Be Taboo
Money is an emotionalized subject in our society, even for the wealthy. When of the first things Stuart and I talked about was an experience he described in the introduction to his book, Wealth.

He was watching how his family was spending down their wealth faster than it was being replenished. This was in part due to the frictional costs involved with managing your wealth (advisor fees, brokerage commissions, etc); in part due to the drain of taxes and inflation; and also due to the growth of his extended family with each successive generation.

It was an important family value for Stuart to pass on the same benefits that he had received to later generations.

But unless they did something different, the family fortune would dissipate over time.

So he did something very scary--he organized a family meeting to talk about money. You can read about that meeting in his book (it will surprise you) but the thing I want to highlight is how scary and intimidating calling for this meeting was.

Imagine, even in one of America's wealthiest families money still can be so difficult to talk about openly. Remember, your WOS impacts you in many ways, and your comfort and facility with talking about money is one of them.

Don't duck the tough conversations. Talk with your family (especially your spouse or partner) and decide together on what matters most to you.

You Can't Manage Your Wealth In Isolation

I think one of the things that really struck me when we talked was something that I first read about in his book, Wealth. Namely that managing your wealth is not something you can do in isolation from other parts of your life.

Your values, your goals, your timeline, your current financial status, your tax situation, and your spending habits all have to work together in a coordinated, strategic manner.

And the first place to start with is with your financial values. This drives the conversation.

To talk about your investments in isolation from your values and these other considerations is a recipe for disaster.

The Fallacy of "Beating the Market"

Have you ever dreamed of picking the perfect fund or the hottest stock and riding it to the top? I talked about this with Stuart (who is exceptionally experienced with creating investment strategies that outperform the market) and it was interesting to note how similar we stood on this.

For the average person it is almost impossible for them to count on being able to beat the market over the long haul. With hundreds of thousands of full time financial money managers out there looking for any advantage they can get, any new information is quickly priced into the market. The bottom line? For the average investor, they are better off using a passive strategy of indexing a section of the market (e.g. the S & P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, etc.) versus looking for the next hot fund or security.

If you are going to choose the aggressive approach of beating the market, then you're going to have to pay your dues of time and energy to develop the advantages to let you do that.

Quite frankly the average investor in publicly traded securities will never be able to do this, hence why the indexing strategy is best for them. This is even more true when you factor in the frictional costs of transaction fees and taxes with an actively traded portfolio.

Now I've just given you a taste of what Stuart and I spent a full half-hour talking about. Again, for those of you who are Maui Mastermind Online members, CLICK HERE to listen in to the recording of the entire phone conversation.

For those of you who are not members yet, but want to get a free 30-day trial membership and then access the full conversation, just CLICK HERE.

Also, buy and read his book, Wealth. It's a fantastic book on the subject especially for those of you who are committed to reaching Level Three in your life.

I have a few "announcements" to share with you and then this eLetter will come to a close.

Announcement One: The midnight September 5th deadline is fast approaching.

For those of you who still want to take me up on my special offer to attend the Mini-Maui event AND Financial Fluency workshop this September in Atlanta you need to register now!
The special $797 price for BOTH workshops is only good through midnight Wednesday September 5th. After that the price is going up to $1,497!
So register now! Click here to register or get more information. Or call our office at toll-free 1-888-889-0944.

Announcement Two: Diane and my newest book, The Maui Millionaires for Business, is scheduled to be released and out in bookstores by October 12th. I'll have more information about the book, including a free "sneak peek" of several chapters for you later next month. Just wanted to keep you posted. Of course, for those of you who want to get the first copy off the press, you can always pre-order now!

That's it for the announcements.

I hope you had a great Labor Day weekend.

My very best to you,

David

P.S. If you enjoy getting my regular eLetters on building wealth, investing, and financial fluency, then why not pass along the ideas to a friend? Please feel free to forward this email to a friend or tell them to get any of the free eBooks or wealth resources at our website www.mauimillionaires.com . They'll automatically get my once or twice weekly eLetter.

P.P.S. Better yet, tell them about the upcoming Mini Maui event. They'll learn crucial wealth skills and their $500 tuition (or $500 of the $797 if they take me up on the package offer before it expires at midnight on the 5th) will go to benefit up to 25 different charities. Click here for more information on these events. Or call our office to register at toll-free 1-888-889-0944.

Three Reasons Why Foreclosure Rates Keep Climbing‏

2007-08-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I'm actually writing to you from Minnesota. Heather and I are going to a family summer camp with her family. It's like stepping back in time!

This morning before we left I read in the paper how the Fed lowered its short term rate for banks to borrow from it by half a percent (to 5.75 percent). The housing market has been on my mind of late. In fact, yesterday I recorded a special online class on it for members of Maui Mastermind Online (see below).

In this eLetter I thought I would share with you an article I wrote for you about a year ago on the rise in foreclosure rates and the three factors that were driving it. It's interesting to see how much of what I observed has come to pass and then some!

Then at the end of this eLetter I'll share some new observations I have about the mortgage meltdown and housing market in general.

I hope you enjoy!

*******************

Three Reasons Why Foreclosure Rates Keep Climbing

REASON ONE: Changing mortgage underwriting guidelines.

There was a time four decades ago that in order to get a loan to buy a home the borrower needed a 20 percent down payment, strong credit, and stable income that was at least three times as high as the mortgage payments. But the world has changed, and so has the lending market.

Today home buyers can get zero down loans with adjustable rate mortgages that cause their loan balance to actually increase every month (called "negative amortizing loans"). In fact, lenders today have loosened up their requirements on credit standards (witness the explosion of "sub prime" loans) and income levels (with many lenders requiring only twice the income of the total home monthly payment).

As you can imagine, this loosening of the financial requirements means more borrowers will default on their loans. They have less equity. They have a smaller cushion to make the monthly payments. And in many instances they have lower credit scores.

Just to be clear on this, I personally think many of the mortgage industry changes are good ones. I love the idea that more people than ever are able to get access to financing to purchase their home. To me this gives ordinary people the chance to build wealth and enjoy the freedom of owning their own home.

But there is a downside to this too, when you add in the societal push to buy the "most expensive home you can qualify for a loan for". This influence I think causes many homeowners to get in way over their heads. Hence the need for investors like you and I to be there to bail out many of them for a fair profit.

In many cases the lenders themselves make this profit possible by accepting less than what's owed (aka: "short sale"). Now don't go feeling to bad for the lenders since most loans are bundled up and sold on the secondary market (i.e. wall street) in such a way that the risks are spread and investors make a high enough rate of return to cover the cost of the defaulting loans. In fact, this financial flexibility and growth of the mortgage industry to source off the loans in collective bundles is what has allowed the lending world to offer so many more potential loans for would be borrowers. Again, in and of itself I think this is a very good thing--for borrowers, for lenders, for investors, and for the country as a whole. It's just when you add in the other element I just talked about along with poor financial fluency that so many borrowers get into trouble.

REASON TWO: Toxic Mortgages

A recent Business Week cover asked, "How Toxic Is Your Mortgage?" (September 6, 2006). In the 14-page feature article the Business Week reported on the alarming rise in "option ARM loans". These are adjustable rate mortgages that offer several payment options to the borrow, including one option, called the "minimum payment" that is less than the cost of the interest so that the loan grows bigger every month. According to the article, up to 80 percent of all option ARM borrowers make only the minimum payment!

In 2005, Countrywide Home Mortgage (the nation's number one mortgage lender) had a 500 percent increase in "option ARM" loans! According to the article more than 20 percent of all option ARM loans in 2004 and 2005 were worth less than the outstanding loan balance! And if the real estate market fell by just 10 percent that number would double to 40 percent!

Are you getting a sense of why in earlier wealth tips I suggested that prudent real estate investors would be ready to buy with cash? There will be a lot of properties that are in need of saving. Shortsales, as a technique to buy properties in foreclosure where the lender accepts less than what is owed just to get the defaulting loan off its books and make the best of a negative situation, will be one of the most important buying strategies for investors to master.

And if that wasn't enough, in 2005 lenders gave 43 percent of first time buyers loans for 100 percent of the purchase price (National Association of Realtors) leaving these homeowners vulnerable to the slightest economic quiver.

REASON THREE: A Shift in the Real Estate Market

The headlines are everywhere. The cover of The Economist read, "Has America's Housing Bubble Burst?" (August 26, 2006). USA Today reports about the declining real estate market.

What's happening?

The answer is that another market cycle is playing out in the real estate market. The huge growth of real estate (from 2000-2005 the total value of American homes skyrocketed from $9 trillion to $22 trillion) was drastically slowed and in many parts of the country, especially the Midwest, is declining in value.

When you add this decline in the real estate market to the loose lending trends of the past decade what you get is a recipe for a massive increase in opportunities for foreclosure investors.

*************

Well, reading through that past article you'll see how much has happened. Countrywide announced a few days ago that it has totally tapped out its line of credit. This is basically the biggest mortgage lender in the country saying that it is in bad financial shape!

The subprime default rate is 15 percent! And there are currently over 1 million home owners behind on their payments in the U.S.!

I see this as a time of great emotional extreme, and any time you have a big swing in emotional perception in a market there are opportunities for those people who have the experience and skill to intelligently invest in the market. I see this same opportunity happening over the next 12-24 months in the foreclosure market.

In fact, I just recorded a special Online Workshop on this very subject called, The Sub-Prime Meltdown and Foreclosure Opportunities. In it I'll share with you what I see to be the best opportunities for savvy investors in the residential real estate market. In it I cover the 3 factors that have combined to make now a time of huge opportunity to invest in foreclosures. Plus you'll learn bottom-line suggestions for taking best advantage of this window. Members click here to access it.

Not a member yet? No problem, click here for a free 30-day trial membership. After that your membership is just $9.97 per month auto-billed to your credit card. Each week we add cutting edge updates to the site just for members. You can cancel at any time (but why would you want to?)

Well that's it for this eLetter. I hope you enjoyed the ideas on the foreclosure and housing market. Take care and wish me luck at camp with my family!

My best to you,

David

P.S. For those of you who signed up for your free trial membership to Maui MastermindTM Online last time, thank you. What are the rest of you waiting for! Go ahead and take me up on this free 30-day trial offer. If you don't like it you can cancel and you'll never pay a dime. Plus you'll get to keep the $495 downloadable wealth course that new members like you get as a free gift just for trying it out! Start your free 30-day trial membership right now!

P.P.S. If you enjoyed this eLetter why not forward it on to a friend? You have my permission to post it on the web or email it out or add it to your company's eLetter. All I ask is that you don't edit it down and that you keep the links active.

I'm Back from Maui Event

2007-08-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Heather and I just got back from the Maui MastermindTM event late last Saturday and most of the jet lag has worn off, but the excitement hasn't.

This summer's Maui MastermindTM was incredible. What made it so special?

Well part of it was that Heather chose to be a participant in the event and that thrilled me. And part of it was hearing back from returning graduates how they had applied earlier strategies, ideas, techniques, and insights from Maui to their business lives to create amazing results.

For example, one participant shared how he applied the key lessons from last year's Maui to upgrade his medical practice in a way that made him a million dollars of extra income.

Another returning grad told me how the ideas on how exactly to strategically invest her entire net worth in a comprehensive way (our proprietary Wealth MapTM process) was exactly what she needed as she moves into the next phase of her financial life.

But really the best part was the informal time I got to spend sitting down and just talking, hour after hour, with the participants about their lives, dreams, and plans. This is how mastermind groups get formed and real power comes from this type of deep networking and relationship building.

We also spent a good bit of time talking about combining philanthropy with business and how we as a Maui community are committed to touching the world.

To my mind it was the way we came together as a group and stepped up to a HUGE charity challenge. This includes raising time, talent, and money for diverse causes like women's shelters, housing for families who are homeless, children in orphanages around the world, financial fluency education for teens, and much more.

And this is why I am so excited let you know about a special offer I'm making you to entice you to join us at our "Mini-Maui"workshop on September 14th and 15th in Atlanta that we are hosting to raise money for these and dozens of other charitable causes.

But I don't want you to come just because you'll be helping out great causes, consider that a side
benefit. I want you to join me because when you do, you'll learn the strategies and concepts you need to break free of the rat race once and for all, and step to the next level in your financial life.
That's it. Plain and simple. Come join us because it will help free you from the stress and struggle that financially traps so many good people. You deserve more and you can have it. And I want to show you exactly how you can get it.

And just how do I plan to make this offer so irresistible? Well I guess you'll just have to read this letter to find out. (Hint: It may have something to do with the very BIG discount off of a newly updated wealth workshop I am teaching at the same hotel right after the Mini-Maui event that I'm offering to give you.)

Have you ever wondered what really happens in Maui that sparks people to willingly pay $30,000 to attend?

And then pay to come back a second, and a third time?

Have you wondered what Maui MastermindTM is actually like?

I mean, this summer over 90 percent of the participants signed up for next year's Maui MastermindTM event on the spot.

How could any "workshop" really be worth that kind of money?

Well come to the Mini-Maui event and you'll find out for yourself, and for a fraction of the normal $30,000 price.

But first let me tell you about that totally revamped workshop that I have just created that we're holding on September 16th and 17th (the Mini Maui event is on the Friday and Saturday and this new workshop is on Sunday and Monday at the same hotel.)

Because if you register for the Mini-Maui workshop at the same time you register for this brand new workshop (appropriately enough we call it, "Financially Fluent!", you'll save $1,700!

Exactly What You'll Learn at Financially Fluent

Before I give you a detailed overview of exactly what you'll learn when you attend Financially Fluent, let me share with you what two participants said about the last time we offered this workshop:

"Great workshop for charting your course towards wealth and financial freedom." Derrick P.

"It's like an MBA on steroids for like a ridiculous fraction of the cost." Olly F.

And I've totally redesigned the course and have added several brand new modules that I've never taught like this before. So here's exactly what you'll learn.

The workshop will be broken into three parts, one for each of the three levels of wealth.

Part One: Level One Wealth

How to Know Exactly Which Stage of Wealth Building You Are Currently At!
10 Ten Essential Level One Wealth Concepts You Must Master to Become Financially Free!
The 5 Action Steps to Move From Level One Wealth to Level Two In 6 Months or Less!

Part Two: Level Two Wealth

How to Cultivate a Network to Help You Accelerate Your Wealth Building!
The 15 Essential Level Two Wealth Concepts You Must Master to Build Your Asset Base!
The 2 Wealth Tracks and How to Know Which Path Is Best for You!
A Simple, 5-Step Action Plan to Blow Past Level Two Wealth Building in as Fast as 24 Months!

Part Three: Level Three Wealth (all day two)

The 6 Ways to Leverage Your Wealth Building to Become Free FASTER!
The 21 Essential Level Two Wealth Concepts to Transition to a Level Three Lifestyle!
A Proprietary 6-Step Plan to Create a Personalized Wealth MapTM!
How to Build Your Wealth Systems so that You Have BOTH the Money and the Lifestyle!
The step-by-step Action Plan to Transition Into Level Three Wealth

The Three Types of People This Workshop is Right For

One: People who know that for them to succeed financially that they must become financially fluent, and they are open to learning these skills in an accelerated fashion at this concentrated, information rich event.
Two: People who are already well along the path to financial freedom who recognize the value they get by leveraging outside experts and perspectives to refine their financial education and wealth plans.
Three: People, tired of being financially powerless, and who are willing to take action to take control of their own financial destiny.

So if you fall into one or more of the above categories then I urge you to join me for this powerful wealth-creation event.

Now here's my very special, limited time offer for you:

Special Offer!

TWO Seminars for Less Than the Price of ONE!

The next Mini Maui event will be held this September 14th and 15th in Atlanta. Originally Diane and I designed Mini Maui as a way for people to get a taste of while at the same time we raised a lot of money for charity. We were astounded at the end of the first event to add up the tally and find that we had raised over $320,000 for charities! (So far in 2007 we've raised over $600,000 from these events for charity.)

Now imagine how we felt when so many emails and letters flooded our office just like these two:

"It was fantastic spending a couple days with other investors and business owners. I met some wonderful people. Now I am focused on immediately implementing much of what I learned during the two days. I already have a new Mastermind group I have been invited to join. I am also looking to some fellow attendees for opportunities to partner up on some investment opportunities. I am also considering hiring an assistant to free myself from many of the daily tasks that take much of my time that could be spent on more important/wealth producing activities. This event has changed the way I do business."
- Michael P.

"I had been following the typical MBA path of working up the corporate ladder, only to find myself worn out, uninspired, and at risk of the next lay-off. The Maui Millionaires Wealth Weekend did for me in two days what two years of business school did not: face my limiting beliefs about money, and point me towards a new direction of wealth building. I now have an expanded context that goes beyond relying on corporate America. Instead I am developing key leverage points to build wealth in ways that will get me closer to the fulfilled, independent life I want."
- Clarissa D.

By itself Mini Maui is $500, with the money going to charity (less the hard costs of the event, we not only won't make a dime from the event, but we'll publish the financials of the event up on the web within 90 days of the event to keep all of the financial part totally transparent.)

The Financially Fluent workshop is a "for profit" event and normally is priced at $1,997.

Now here is that very special offer I have for you: Register for BOTH workshops right now for just $797! That's $1,700 OFF the normal tuition!

Think about it, that's just $200 per day for the four days of information packed, wealth producing workshops!

Why so inexpensive?

I'm doing it to make it a total no-brainer for you to attend so that together we can raise more money for charity. ($500 of your ticket will go to the "charity" part--the Mini Maui--and $297 will be for the Financially Fluent workshop. That way we raise $500 per ticket sold for charity.)

Together, Financially Free and Mini Maui are normally $2,497. But, if you act now, you can get both events for $1,700 off, for a total price of just $797! It's like getting two back-to-back wealth workshops for the price of one!

And rest assured that we've designed both these workshops to fit together in one incredible four-day experience. Some come join me in Atlanta and learn the inside rules of money and wealth.

This special price of $797 to attend BOTH the Financially Free and Mini Maui workshops is available for a limited time, so please register now!

I'd hate for you to miss out on your chance to learn what it really takes to build wealth and financial freedom. What better way could there be to start the new year?

Join us and register now!

My best to you,

David

P.S. It's not enough to be just financially literate in today's world – you have to be financially fluent! Get the skills you need to take your wealth-building to another level PLUS sample the magic of Maui with the Mini Maui for just $797. Register now!

P.P.S. Seats are selling out fast! Please don't wait to sign up for the Financially Fluent workshop plus the Mini Maui at $1,700 off! Register now while there is still room!

Getting More Accomplished in Less Time

2007-08-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody,

Imagine you were able to transform your relationship to time, balance, organized, and focus so that you were able to work less and accomplish more.

How would that impact your life?

Over the last 20 years I've had a passion for learning how to structure my time for maximum results.

It started off back in the days I used to be training to play in the Olympics (for about 8 years I played on the United States National Field Hockey Team). I had to figure out how to balance a rigorous training schedule with being a self-supporting college student.

But my biggest breakthroughs have come in the last five years as I've learned that hours worked have no bearing on results accomplished or dollars earned.

Once upon a time I thought that the way to become wealthy and successful was to work hard. But that is a Level One or Level Two reaction, NOT a Level Three solution.

In today's letter I want to share with you several key insights to help you get double or triple your results in half the time. Ready? Let's begin!

Leverage--Getting Twice the Results in Half the Time

People always seem amazed when they hear that I run five companies, sit on the board of two others, author an average of one book and 5 new workshops per year, and manage my family's investment portfolio. And I do this working an average of 32-35 hours per week.

Not only that but I also read over 100 books each year, exercise an average of four times each week, and take a minimum of 2+ months of vacation every year.

I'm not trying to impress you with this, far from it. I have no illusions about myself. But there are certain things that I am world class at, and my use of time is one of them.

Hence, I am merely using myself as an example of how much you can accomplish if you leverage your time using some simple yet profoundly powerful strategies.

It's exactly these strategies and techniques that I want to lay out and discuss with you in this letter. You see, I know you.

You're overworked, stressed out, feeling at times like you're having to run just to stay even, let alone get ahead.

You're drowning in information and struggling to find an effective way to structure and organize that information.

Most of all you're frustrated. Frustrated that you have too many "small" things that get in your way of focusing on the big stuff that really matters.

You crave a sense of control and balance in your life, and you'll do just about anything to enjoy them.

You just don't know how t get that control and balance back.

In the past you've chased after results and balance by working harder. You've tried working longer hours. You've tried working harder for the hours you do work. You've brought work home with you, worked while on your "vacation", multi-tasked while driving, eating, and probably even while sleeping!

And yet it hasn't helped. The more you do the more you find that is left to be done. It's a vicious cycle.

A Simple Secret that Holds the Key

I want to let you in on a little secret. Working harder is not the answer. It wasn't yesterday nor will it be tomorrow.

Working harder is a Level One or Level Two reaction to the fear you feel that you have so much to do. It will NOT get you the results you crave.

In fact, the harder you work, chances are the less you'll accomplish that really matters. I know this sounds easy for me to say, but hang in there with me as I walk through a key concept with you.

Many of you have heard of "Pareto's Principle" which states that 80 percent of your efforts produce 20 percent of your results, and that 20 percent of your effort produces 80 percent of your results. Well if this is true (and my experience shows me that it is) then let's apply this concept more rigorously.

If you take that 20 percent of your actions that generate 80 percent of your results and apply the same distinction, then 20 percent of that 20 percent produces 80 percent of 80 percent of your results. That means that 4 percent of your effort (the 20 percent of 20 percent) generates 64 percent of your results.

And if you can bear with me for another math moment, apply this distinction one more time...

This means that 1 percent (20 percent of 20 percent of 20 percent) generates 50 percent of your results! Think about it--1 percent of your highest leverage work produces 50 percent of all your results!

I used this idea to create something called the Time Mastery Pyramid™, which is an actual formula I developed about 12 months ago for you to quickly and accurately quantify the per hour value of four distinct types of time: A Time, B Time, C Time, and D Time.

D time is the 80 percent of unleveraged, wasteful time that only produces 20 percent of your total return. I call this time the "80 Percent Mass".

C time is the leveraged 20 percent that produces 80 percent of your results. I call this time "Leveraged Time".

For most people this is the only distinction they have ever made about time. And while it's better than most people have, if this is your only distinction on time, you are never going to earn what you are capable of earning, both in terms of income or net worth.

Next there is B time. This is the highly focused 4 percent that generates 64 percent of your results. I call this time the "4 percent Sweet Spot".

And finally, there is the top of the pyramid--A time--the "Magic 1 Percent". Fully 50 percent of your results comes from these activities.

Did you know that most people not only have no idea what activities of theirs fall into the above four categories, but they don't even know they exist? How in the world can you create more A and B time if you don't know what activities constitute A and B time for you?

Here is the real question for you: What activities do you do that fit into each of the four time categories above? What are your D activities? What are your C activities? What are your B activities? What are you're A activities?

When you really get this distinction and shift your focus from "putting in hours" to upgrading the type of work you do (more A and B time, and less D time) in the hours you do work, the results are amazing.

Let me share an example with you. Imagine you are an attorney who charges $300 an hour. What would your D time activities be? Things like fixing a computer glitch, or making copies, or sorting out mail, or any of the things you do that you cannot bill a client for! What should you do with these activities? Delay them, delegate them, or dump them. You simply cannot afford to do them yourself.

What would your "C time" activities be? Anything that is a billable time for you. This could include working on a legal brief, or reviewing a contract, or updating a client. Understand this: C time can provide you with a great income, but you will always have to work exceptionally hard to earn it. This is the trap that catches most high income professionals. They seek to increase their earnings by cranking out more hours. MISTAKE! More hours will only take you so far.
Plus when you get there you'll be exhausted from all that work, and you'll be a stranger to your family!

The answer lies in A and B time. B time for this attorney might include building relationships with other professionals who refer over business. Or putting systems in place in their law firm so that their staff can get better results without needing so much of our fictional attorney's time. It might also include creating an accounts receivable system that increases the collection on all the firms billings by 10 percent. You get the idea.

What would A time look like? This could be speaking at a large conference where this attorney is able to generate new client relationships for his or her firm that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars of billable services. Or it could be writing a book that can be used to generate new business for the firm.

See the difference yet? D time is by definition something that you should get off your plate. C time is time that you do your work more effectively. A and B time, however, are when you step out of the "doingness" of the work and do something that improves your capacity to create results, or significantly pushes back your limiting factor (e.g. generating new clients, improving a critical system, etc.)

In fact, by focusing on upgrading your USE of time instead of focusing on increasing your hours worked, you can often double or triple your income, while at the same time lowering your working hours.

It's worked for me. Seven years ago I worked 65-75 hour weeks. I now earn more than double what I earned back then and work less than half the hours.

Trading time for dollars is a Level One or Two reaction. Upgrading your use of time to create more with less is the Level Three solution!

So now here comes the big question: How can you have more A and B time?

You won't get it by "trying harder". And you won't get it by sitting down and saying, "Okay, let's have A time right now."

Sorry, it just doesn't work that way. That would be like a parent saying to their three year old, "Right, let's have an hour of quality time right now Junior." How well do you think that would work?

What I've discovered is that to get more A and B time you have to fundamentally alter the way you structure your day and your week.

In fact, when you learn and master the ways to structure your time you will automatically enjoy more A and B time.

Focus Days and Push Days

Let me share with you a powerful concept to help you get more A and B time, and to minimize the D time that gets in the way.

I call this technique "Focus Days" and "Push Days."

Let me share with you the way I use it in my own life.

Mondays and Wednesdays and Fridays are my Push Days. These are the days that I "push" key projects and the "work" I do forward--step-by-step. These are the days I am accessible by phone and email. These are the days I hold many of my phone meetings.

On these days I "get stuff done".

I have set aside my Tuesdays and Thursdays as my Focus Days. These days I turn off the phones and email for the majority of the day, and focus on doing the highest value activities I can for my businesses. For me that usually means I am writing on these days. I'm writing new books; I'm writing sales copy; I'm writing business plans for my teams to implement.

In fact, I often leave the office and work remotely these days. I go to a library and write there. Or I go to a café and work there. (I find that removes the temptation to do C and D work that seems to live in every corner of my office.)

Here's the most amazing part--I can accomplish HUGE results in 3 to 4 hours on my Focus Days that I never would have accomplished if I stayed in the office "doing" the work all day long.
(In case you're wondering, I often will check in at the end of the day for 30-45 minutes to answer the most important phone messages or email.)

Now maybe you can't set aside two full days a week as Focus Days, but you can find one day a week, or at the very least HALF a day a week as your Focus Day.

There are so many other ideas I want to share with you about how to master your use of time. Ideas like creating "Prime Time" blocks to get more B and C things done on your Push Days. Or, how to leverage a personal assistant so that you accomplish more with much less effort. Or, how to handle the infoload of email, project notes, to do's, etc that threatens to drown most people.

But I am running out of space and time.

For those of you who are committed to get the very best results in half the time, I strongly recommend a brand new course that I recorded last May called, "Time Mastery: How to Ten-fold Your Results In 12 Months or Less".

The course walks you through the complete and comprehensive time mastery system that I created for own personal and business life. It covers how to manage and organize information and handle email; how to structure your time to create more with less; how to live the life you've always dreamed of living.

And it's the exact same system that I use that allows me to earn more than 99.99 percent of other people in the world working what for many people is just part- time hours.

In fact, the system is unlike any other time "management" system you've ever seen.

But don't take my word for it, prove it for yourself. Try out the program and see the results.

Because I wanted to make you this better than risk-free offer to test out the program.

Order the Time Mastery program today, and if after going through the course and applying the ideas and strategies to your own personal situation you haven't seen dramatic and fairly immediate results, simply contact my office for a full, prompt and courteous refund. PLUS we'll give you a $250 credit good off any of our other courses priced over $500. And you can take up to a full year to test out the course. I know you'll love it and I'm stepping up to guarantee that you do.

In a sense I'm guaranteeing you'll love the program, or I'll pay you $250 for your time trying it out. Either you love the program, in which case you'll use the ideas to pay back the investment a hundred times, or you don't, in which case you'll get a full refund and get that $250 credit.

Either way you win.

This special "better than your money back" guarantee is valid for the next 5 days so please, if you are truly committed to getting the results that you are capable of and want this generous guarantee, get the course now. Orders after this five day period will still get our normal full one year money-back guarantee, but they won't qualify for the $250 "thanks for trying it out" credit. Click here to order.

Thank you for listening to the ideas I shared today on getting more accomplished with less time and effort.

I will talk with you later.

My very best to you,

David

P.S. Try out the Time Mastery course today and if you aren't absolutely thrilled with the value you can return it for a full refund and get a $250 credit off any of our other courses priced at $500 or more. This extra guarantee offer is valid for the next 5 days. Order now!

What Would I Do If I Were Starting From Scratch Building Wealth

2007-08-03T11:55:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Things here in Hawaii are going great. The event is amazing so far. We've got one more day to go. It's been even more special this time because my wife Heather was one of our participants this year. I'll give you a recap of the event in a few weeks when I get back to the mainland.

But in this letter I wanted to share with you about a different topic--lessons I've learned along the way as I've built my wealth.

I imagined we were sitting together by the side of the pool here in Hawaii and you asked me, "David, if you were starting out all over again from scratch, knowing what you know now from having done it before, what would you do to build your wealth the second time around?"

It's an interesting and critically important question. And to the best of my ability, here is my answer.

First, I would know how doable it really is. The first time around I thought I could do it. I hoped I could do it. I dreamed I could do it. But if I were starting over again from scratch, this time I would know I could do it.

In fact, I would know I could do it not just because I had done it before, that's too obvious. I would know I could do it because of all the other people I've seen start with fewer advantages, fewer resources, who went on to create amazing fortunes for themselves. I didn't have all these powerful and positive references the first time around.

I've literally seen school teachers go on to build multi-million dollar portfolios; mechanics go from fixing machinery at less than $10 per hour to owning Level Three businesses that made them multi-millionaires; and highly paid but totally overworked professionals who quit the rat race and went on to create the Maui MillionaireTM lifestyle.

Knowing that it's possible would mean that I would not be so scared the second time around. Believe it or not, I slowed myself down immensely the first few years because I was just too scared to really play full out.

For example, when I started investing in real estate in 1997, that first year I could have easily picked up 20 more investment properties than I did. People were willing to almost give me their houses because the market had been so bad in San Diego for so long. Considering those 20 properties would have doubled in value over the next 4 years, that fear cost me several million dollars.

The same thing happened with my early businesses. I was too scared to call on the big clients or sell at the major conferences. I stayed in my comfort zone far too long. And that was simply a matter of fear. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of the unknown. Don't ever think that I don't have to battle the same demons of fear and uncertainty you do. It's part of being human. But the second time around I'd realize that I didn't have to be so afraid of feeling afraid. I'd recognize, like I do now, that it's how I act in the presence of my fears that determines my results, not the absence or presence of those fears.

What has your fear cost you this time around?

Next, I would have stepped up my thinking and playing to do larger business and investment deals earlier. I stayed too long in my small niche of investing in residential real estate and being satisfied with small businesses.

Third, I would have made sure I more effectively and strategically planned, monitored, and directed my financial progress. I wouldn't have done things "investment by investment" but rather I would have created an integrated plan right from the start. Plus I would have made sure that I didn't fall in love with the active income my businesses generated, but that I also invested for passive and passive, residual income along the way.

Speaking of which, if I were doing it all over again today, I would be much more aware of controlling my spending, especially on taxes and lifestyle expenses, so that I got myself financially free as quickly as possible. Then from that place of financial freedom I would have grown my lifestyle out of my passive and passive, residual income.

Another painful lesson that I learned the hard way, that I would definitely do it differently the next time around, was that at a certain point when I had accumulated a significant net worth, I needed to shift my investing focus from creating passive income (think one time paydays like a capital gain you get when you sell an asset that you own for a healthy profit) to passive, residual income (think recurring money that flows to you each month or quarter without you having to work more than 10 hours per month to secure it.)

It's really only been in the last few years that I finally "got" that last lesson. For me, it was sparked when I sold one of my businesses. I got a BIG wire transfer for the business, but I lost the six-figure monthly income that went with the business. So there I was, on the other side of the "cashing out", only to discover that building wealth and transforming net worth into passive, residual income were two distinct skills.

I could go on and on with "lessons" I've learned this time around, but I want to end with one more key lesson. This lesson is a "given" for me know, but it most certainly was NOT when I started out in business 12 years ago.

So what is this final lesson? Simply this: It can happen faster than you could ever imagine, but will probably take longer than you dream.

What a strange thing to say, but in my experience it's totally accurate. You will be amazed with how you can literally go from zero to millions in as little as 36 months, but you've got to hold true to your dreams when you find that it takes longer than you dream it might take.

The average person dreams of wealth this year (in the next 30 days would be even better). Well, that's probably not going to happen. So most of them get started, don't see immediate results, and give up. They quit. They throw in the towel. And they settle.

If only you can get yourself to get started, but hold on longer than you think you can, learning as you go, it's amazing what you can accomplish financially.

My first year in business I made something like $35,000. Not a lot of money is it.

But within 7 years I was earning well over a million per year. My net worth had grown at the same pace (faster actually). What if I had done what the average person had done after such a dismal first year?

I would have quit after the first year saying that it just wasn't working. In fact, I could have made more money (income and net worth) working for someone else in year one... and in year two... and maybe even in year three... But by year four there was no way I could earn the kind of income and wealth I had created for myself by working for someone else.

These same lessons can and will work for you.

I hope these insights are useful for you. In fact, I have recently put up a new Maui MastermindTM Online audio workshop titled, The 10 Most Important Wealth Lessons I've Ever Learned. In it I go into much greater depth about the kinds of insights that I've shared with you in this letter so far. Maui MastermindTM Online members click here to access the class.

If you're not a member yet, click here for a free 30-day trial membership if you want to access the class (and dozens of other classes on investing, financial fluency, tax strategy, and building businesses).

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Join me at Mini-Maui September 14th and 15th in Atlanta (and extend your stay and attend "Financially Fluent" workshop at the same hotel on September 16th and 17th!)
Click here for details and to register.

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That's it for this week. I hope you enjoyed the ideas on "starting over" I shared with you. I know that if you apply them they have the power to make a big difference in your financial life.

My best to you,

David

P.S. Maui Mastermind Online members, click here to access the new updated audio workshop called, The 10 Most Important Wealth Lessons I've Ever Learned. Not a member yet? Click here to sign up now and get instant access!

P.P.S. If this article struck a chord with you, you have my permission to forward it to your friends or post it to your website or blog. All I ask is that you leave the links in and don't edit what I shared. Fair enough?

Stop Overpaying Your Financial Advisors

2007-07-30T12:14:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I hope you had fun over the weekend. Heather and I are out in Kona for the summer Maui MastermindTM which starts today.

I wanted to talk to you about saving thousands on the fees and money you pay to your financial advisors. A few weeks ago I was reading an article in "Worth" magazine about this very subject.

The article shared the results of an interesting survey of 1,500 "affluent" investors, with affluent defined in 3 categories:

Group A--Those with $1-5 million of investable assets.

Group B--Those with $5-10 million of investable assets.

And Group C--those with over $10 million of investable assets.

The article showed the results from several studies done from 1995 through 2007. Here are the three bottom-line results that the article shared.

Finding One: Wealth builders today are 3-4 times more likely to negotiate fees with their advisors than they were in 1995! (For those in group A, in 1995 only 5.2 percent would try to negotiate a lower fee. By 2007 over 22 percent would!)

It’s also interesting to note that people in group C ($10 million or more of investable assets) were 2-3 times more likely to negotiate lower fees!

There is a moral to the story here: don’t be shy about negotiating lower fees, it’s what the wealthiest people in our society do. (Keep reading for the link to an audio class I just posted to Maui MastermindTM Online on exactly how to ask most effectively for a discount.)

Finding Two: The average person negotiated their fees DOWN by 10-30 percent! That’s a huge savings just for asking.

In addition, over the past ten years or so, the size of the discount that the average affluent investor has been able to get has grown by 50-100 percent. That means that in 1995 they got a 10 percent discount on their fees, then now they are getting a 20 percent discount. The trend is for you to save more and more money on your fees.

Finding Three: Between 90 and 100 percent of all those surveyed reported little or no difficulty in obtaining a fee reduction! That means just for asking you have a 90+ percent chance in getting your fees reduced.

What does all this mean for you?

The next time you work with your financial planner, or your stock broker, or your investment advisor, or your attorney, or your… fill in the blank… ask for a discount off the fees.

For those of you who are members of Maui MastermindTM Online, I just posted an audio workshop going through exactly how to ask for a discount the best way possible. The class is called, The Five Essentials to Negotiating Discounted Fees from Your Advisors. Members can listen to this class by clicking here.

Not a member yet? No problem, click here for a free 30-day trial membership. After that your membership is just $9.97 per month auto-billed to your credit card. Each week we add cutting edge updates to the site just for members. You can cancel at any time (but why would you want to?)

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Deadline to Get the Preemptive Tax Strategies Workshop for Free Expires at Midnight July, 31st!

You have less than 24 hours if you still wanted to take advantage of the special offer I made you at the end of last week. The offer was that when you register for the Wealth Vehicles Workshop by July 31st, 2007 for just $3,997, you will also get to attend the $6,000 Preemptive Tax Strategies Workshop for FREE! Click Here for Full Details and to Register Now! (This offer cannot be extended for any reason.)

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I’ll talk with you all later in the week with another wealth update.

My best to you,

David

P.S. For those of you who wanted to take me up on that special offer and attend the Preemptive Tax Strategies Workshop AND the Wealth Vehicles Workshop for just $3,997, remember that offer expires in less than 24 hours! It expires at midnight Tuesday, July 31st, 2007. Don’t miss out. Click here for full details and to register now! Or call our office toll-free 1-888-889-0944.

Negotiation Tip: Setting an Up-Front Agreement

2007-07-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody,

I'm on my way to this summer's Maui Mastermind event but I wanted to post this blog on a key negotiating technique called an "up-front agreement". I hope you enjoy it! (Don't worry, I've made arrangements so that you'll still get your weekly doses of ideas, tips, and strategies from me.

Setting an Up Front Agreement

What is your most precious resource as an investor? Some people will say money. Others will say good credit. We say it's time. Yet I watch so many beginning investors work for FREE! By this I mean that they invest all kinds of time and energy with a seller and on a potential deal all before they have a definite commitment from the seller that they have reached an agreement.

I am not willing to work for free and don't think you should either.

Instead, you will create the context up front with the seller that you will spend the time it takes to work through their situation and all the details provided they agree up front, that when the conversation is over, both you and the seller will let each other know exactly where you stand--either you have a fit or you don't.

Period. That simple.

In it's plainest terms an up front agreement is simply a commitment you and the seller make to each other to tell each other yes or no at the end of your conversation about the property.

Here's how it sounds:

Investor: Samantha [seller], I'm willing to sit and invest the time to listen to all the details of your situation and to talk through all the possible options we can come up with. All I ask is that when we're done talking this all through that if what we talk through obviously isn't a fit for you, that you be willing to let me know that. If it obviously just isn't a fit, are you willing to tell me that?

Seller: Sure.

I: I appreciate that. I'm letting you know that you are not going to hurt my feelings. On the other hand, if what we talk through is a fit for you, are you willing to let me know that when we're done here today?

S: Yes if it is a fit I can tell you that.

I: Now I'll be doing the same thing in reverse. If I can't see a way where I can meet your needs and make a profit for myself, then I'm not going to want to buy your house. Are you OK if I have to tell you no I don't want to buy it? I mean, it wouldn't be anything personal about you, it would just be me saying it's not a fit.

S: I understand this has to work for both of us.

I: Exactly, and if I feel it's a fit then I'll let you know that too. I'll say, 'Samantha, this is a fit for me too.' So what we're agreeing to do up front is to let each other know when we're done exactly where we stand. Either, no it's not a fit. Or yes it is a fit. Is that what we just agreed to do? [This is called "reinforcing" the up front agreement.]

S: Yes it is. [and on to the next phase of the negotiation]

Do you see how powerful that language and strategy is? It's your way of telling the seller that you'll put your time in to see if it's a fit, if and only if they will promise to give you a decision right at the end.

(If you are really interested in negotiating strategies and techniques, check out the negotiating course I recorded last year called: Influence: How to Handle Every Business Negotiation You'll Ever Face. It's one of my best courses ever, but heck, I'm biased!)

That's it for this email. I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

My best to you,

David

P.S. Reminder that that special offer for you to get TWO workshops for the price of one is about to expire this coming Tuesday, July 31st at midnight! So if you wanted to be able to attend BOTH the August Preemptive Tax Strategies Workshop AND the October Wealth Vehicles Workshop for just $3,997 I urge you to register now. For more information or to register click here.

The Use of Intelligent Leverage In Your Investing

2007-07-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

It's another hot day here in Charlottesville as I am typing this. I'm actually on the campus of the University of Virginia on the second floor of a private library. It's one of those "hidden" nooks that I've found over the past few years that I escape to in order to write.

I hope you enjoyed the special report I sent to you earlier in the week called, The Nine Steps to Investing In Commercial Real Estate. If you missed out on that email I have two tips for you.

1. Add the following two domains to your "acceptable" list in your email program. Many times email filters can accidentally sort email that you want, like this bi-weekly E-Letter, in with email you don't. The two domains to add are: mauimillionaires.com and investorfattrack.com.

2. Check the www.mauimillionaires.com website under the "Wealth Updates" tab. I do my best to post all the content from the E-Letter, plus other articles as I write them, up there.

Sometimes I get a bit behind in this so checking your email is still the most reliable and fastest way, but at least it gives you a second chance.

This E-Letter I want to talk with you about the use of Intelligent LeverageTM.

Just what is leverage? Leverage is when you are able to take one unit of input, and direct it in such a way to produce a magnified return. In this article the leverage I am talking about is financial leverage--also known as loans.

I want to make one more key distinction, that of "Intelligent Leverage". Intelligent Leverage is a concept I created to define way I've observed the world's wealthiest individuals actually use debt to grow their wealth.

I define Intelligent Leverage as investment debt that is used that meets the following two criteria:

First, it's leverage that pays for itself. In other words, it must be used to acquire an income stream that is more than enough to pay for the financing costs including loan payments, interest, and other fees associated with it. For example, you borrow $100,000 to finance the purchase of a new piece of equipment for your business, where the purchase allows you to increase your business and easily pay for the cost of the financing.

Second, at its best, Intelligent Leverage is debt that is "non-recourse". This is a fancy, legal way of saying that it is debt that you do not personally guarantee. There is a principal of wealth building that says pay all your debts, but make sure that if worst comes to worse, you haven't given personal guarantees. You probably will never need that last layer of protection, but then again, you never know.

Let's look for a moment at how different levels of wealth builders use debt.

Level One people use debt to finance a lifestyle that they really can't afford. The most common form of debt they use consumer debt, namely credit cards. They mortgage their future to fund their lifestyle today. It's no wonder that they end up in such tough financial positions. But it isn't like they are doing this to themselves and by themselves. A BILLION dollar industry is out there pushing them into taking on more and more consumer debt.

I recently read an interesting book called, The Dual Income Trap, in which the authors meticulously lay out all the ways the consumer credit industry works hard to push more and more credit (and hence more and more unsupportable debt) at Level One consumers.

Which is no surprise that when you look at Level Two wealth builders, so many of them are characterized by an irrational fear of debt. Looking at how hard they had to scramble to climb out of the pit of their staggering consumer debt, it doesn't surprise me that they are so fearful of it now.

But relating to debt out of fear is very disempowering. Leverage is neutral. It can be good or bad depending on the USE to which it is put. In just a moment I'll share what I see as the best uses of leverage for each level of wealth builder, but first I want to cover how Level Three people use leverage.

Level Three people intelligently use leverage to magnify their financial returns and lower their financial risks. Imagine that, you can actually use debt to lower your financial risks! Don't believe me? It's absolutely true.

You can use Intelligent Leverage to encumber your assets as a form of asset protection. You can use it to reduce your cash outlay in a deal, and hence your lower your risk. You can... you get the idea I hope.

So let's look now at how I suggest you intelligently use debt at each level of your wealth building.

At Level One: I suggest you use debt to finance your financial education. At Level One YOU are your greatest asset--your earning capacity, your skills, your ambitions, your network.

Just make sure you choose smart places to learn. I highly encourage you to read at least 2 financial books each month and attend at least 2 quality financial workshops each year.

I follow my own advice. I read at least double that many financial books each month and attend (in person or via recorded workshops) at least that many workshops each year. Why? It's made me a multi-millionaire before I turned 34, why would I stop now?

Side Note: If you haven't yet taken our foundational financial fluency courses I urge you to enroll now for the upcoming September events: The Mini-Maui Wealth Workshop plus the 2-day Financial Fluency Workshop. These two events, held back-to-back in Atlanta, are the best primer on succeeding financially available. I should know, I personally designed and created every minute of them to be exactly the wealth workshop I wished I would have had access to when I first got started building my wealth. And if you register now, the cost is less than $800 for BOTH!

Now for those of you at Level Two my advice is different. I still think you'll want to invest in yourself, but you should shift the bulk of your focus on investing on "forced appreciation" investment opportunities. These are deals that you can acquire an asset and "force" that asset to be more valuable. This could be growing a business, or improving a property, or buying a below value stock, or... You get the idea.

At Level Two you should use Intelligent Leverage to magnify your best financial investment moves for a greater return. I need to caution you here that this is NOT a license to speculate. Speculation is when you buy an asset at or close to market value in the HOPE that it will go up in value. That is not investing and I think you should be very cautious of any type of speculation.

Instead, I recommend that you develop your skills and advantages so that when you buy an asset, you know you are covered. For example, when I buy a 300-unit apartment complex for 70-cents on the dollar, I'm confident that I am making a smart investment move. Hence I'm very willing to boldly borrow (nonrecourse of course) to make that investment happen.

At Level Three I often use leverage to gain from forced appreciation deals, but I now also focus on using debt to magnify my passive, residual cash flow.

I can do this by using better debt to lower my debt service. Or I can use the debt to acquire cash flowing assets where the cash flow pays a healthy premium above my borrowing costs.
This is the ultimate use to put your Intelligent Leverage to work at--to help you increase your net worth and transition that net worth into passive, residual income.

Now before I end this E-Letter I just want to remind those of you who are serious about succeeding investing in commercial real estate that the special offer I made you in my last email is about to expire!

In case you need a quick reminder that special offer is:
Buy the course, called "How to Invest in Commercial Real Estate", by midnight Sunday, July 22nd, and you'll get the complete recordings from the negotiating 3-day workshop I taught earlier last year for FREE! That course would normally cost you $997 but when you take advantage of the special offer I am making you, using this unlisted link, you'll get the negotiating course free.

Order now! At midnight on Sunday that chance will be gone forever. Remember, your purchase is unconditionally guaranteed for a full year.

That's it my friend. I hope you have a great weekend.

My best to you,

David Finkel

P.S. Remember, the special offer to get two of my most popular home study courses on investing in commercial real estate and negotiating for the price of one expires at midnight on Sunday! Order now!

P.P.S. I posted a new online workshop for Maui MastermindTM Online members on the different kinds of wealth vehicles. It's approximately 28 min. long and in it I walk you through the pro's and con's of each vehicle, plus share with you some key distinctions between how Level
Two and Level Three people approach their investing. Members click here.

Not a member yet? No problem, click here to sign up for a free 30-Day Trial Membership and get instant access.

Selling Your Property in a Down Real Estate Market

2007-07-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I hope you had a great 4th! Heather and I saw fireworks in a park here in Charlottesville, VA with two friends of ours. It was the first time in several years I’ve seen a show like that. Is it my imagination or have they gotten better with them?

In today’s E-Letter I wanted to talk about a specific strategy to sell your property faster and for a higher price in a down market. I also have some brand new announcements for you that you will want to make sure to see.

******************

Selling Your Property in a Down Real Estate Market

I understand what it’s like to be an investor with a few houses on the market that just won’t seem to sell. You look at the mortgage payment you are stuck making each month and the added expenses for keeping the property maintained. Yuck!

And it only gets worse if you have MULTIPLE properties up for sale at the same time.

I wanted to share a strategy with you about how to sell your property faster and for a premium, even in a down market. Sound too good to be true? Well keep reading.

The key is to separate your property from the masses of homes glutting the market. The best way to do that is to offer TERMS. Most of you have read my books on selling properties on a “Rent to Own” basis. (If you haven’t, I suggest Buying Real Estate Without Cash or Credit as the best “introduction” I’ve written on the subject.)

Today I want to talk about another technique. A strategy designed to get you CASH for you property much faster. The strategy is to sell your property with owner carry financing.

By offering your property with you carrying back a healthy second mortgage you are able to make your property stand out from the pack.

Let’s take the example of a $500,000 house you’ve been trying to sell for 6 months. (I know some of you live in areas lots more expensive, and others live in areas lots cheaper, but hey, I’ve got to start somewhere.)

You can offer to carry back a $50,000 second mortgage to help your buyer out. Now before you say you want your cash, hold on for a moment. I’ll help you get your cash, in fact more cash, if you give me a second.

But first, if you sold the house in a down market, how much would you have to discount the price to finally get it to sell? Maybe $20,000 or more? Let’s assume you have plan A which is to sell conventionally with NO owner second. In that case you sell it for $480,000 (after you buyer negotiates you down from your 500k asking price.) Of course you’ll probably have commission to an agent(s) and closing costs, but the house would be sold.

Plan B is to sell it with owner financing. Now out of a 100 houses for sale how many offer owner financing? Less than 5 percent! So now you already are radically reducing your competition from 100 other home to 5 other homes! In other words you’ve reduced the supply for this type of deal for buyers by 20-fold!

Plus, by offering to carry back a $50,000 second you have made it much easier for someone to get the loan to buy the property (after all, now they need to borrow $50,000 less from the bank!) This means you’ve increased the pool of potential buyers who can afford your property.

In other words you’ve increased the demand!

Now you already know enough about economics that when you reduce the supply and increase the demand the price must go up. In my experience selling LOTS of houses with owner financing I think you’ll get at least a 5-10 percent premium on your purchase price. In our example you’ll be able to sell the property for at least $520,000.

So far your “$50,000” second got you $40,000 more on the price! Now you have two choices. Choice one is to either take payments on the second mortgage at 10-12 percent interest (or higher) with a balloon note due for the balance in 3,4,5 years. Or you can SELL that note at a discount and get $25,000-40,000 cash right away. Both options get you MORE money selling this way, plus you’ll have the sale happen much faster.

Now I’ve had to cover that pretty quick. For those of you who are Maui Mastermind Online members, I did a 20 minute class on this technique that should be up as of Friday, July 6th.
If you are not a member yet, click here for a free 30-day trial membership if you want access to the class (and dozens of other classes on investing, financial fluency, tax strategy, and building businesses).

*************

New Special Report Up On Maui Mastermind Online!
How to Cash In On Your Real Estate ContactsMany investors make the costly mistake of considering real estate agents as competitors. This mistaken belief costs not only time, but potentially thousands of dollars from lost deals. Learn how to build a powerful and profitable relationship with a real estate agent. INSTANT ACCESS!

Strategic Asset Allocation: How Much Money Should You Put In Any One Investment?

2007-07-02T13:10:00.000-07:00

Like I told you in the last eLetter, I was stepping up my commitment to get you more and more useful wealth tools.

This week I wanted to talk about your investing. It will apply to anyone who has ever asked themselves how much money should they invest in any one investment.

I hope you enjoy it!

Strategic Asset Allocation: How Much Money Should You Put In Any One Investment?

One question I get over and over again is how much money should a person put in any one investment. To really answer that question one of the key factors is something called "Strategic Asset Allocation", which is a discipline of investing your entire net worth strategically versus investment by investment.

Strategic Asset Allocation is something that says you need to look at your entire net worth, and intelligently plan out exactly what percentage you want of your net worth in what risk categories.

Most people when presented with an opportunity to invest in two investments compare the returns of those two investments. But this can be misleading. It's impossible to accurately compare returns across risk categories because you are not comparing apples to apples.
A much smarter way to sort through investment opportunities is to first strategically decide how you want to apportion your entire net worth across your Risk SpectrumTM.

Here's an interesting thing--everyone has their own Risk Spectrum. That's because what is risky for one person my not be as risky for another. There are many factors that influence risk from experience level with that particular wealth vehicle to specialized knowledge to financial situation.

My current strategic asset allocation plan is to hold 25 percent of my wealth in low risk investments, 50 percent in stable cash flow producing investments, and 25 percent in medium risk forced appreciation/upside investments.

What do you want your asset allocation to look like? You must factor in your current wealth stage and level, your age, your financial goals, and your current asset base.

The next time you are presented with several investment opportunities the first question you should ask is how do they fit into your personal strategic asset allocation plans? Then and only then should you evaluate the deals that fit your investment needs to assess the risks and potential rewards of these deals.

That's the first part, to strategically plan out what percentage of your net worth you want to invest over what risk categories.

The second part is to decide what limits you'll place on investing on any one investment. This is where a very important concept called "Compression of Capital" comes into play.

Compression of Capital says that every investment has a certain fixed cost of time, focus, effort, and money that is there regardless of how much or how little you invest. There is a cost to analyze the opportunity, to do your due diligence, to set up the funding arrangements, to oversee your investment interest over time, and eventually a cost to sell your investment.
Most wealth builders never think about these costs so they over-diversify. They feel that to keep safe they should spread their investment capital across a broad cross section of deals. But this increases these fixed costs (financial and otherwise) to a point that they don't make sense.
Instead, wealthy people have learned that they need their financial moves to be big enough that they have the power for the returns to more than outweigh the costs. So rather than investing your $100,000 that you've allocated for medium risk forced appreciation deals in 25 different investments, you might instead invest in that money across 3 or 4 choices.

While it's important to make sure not to spread yourself too thin (so that you lose the power of your investment focus and have too much of your resources eaten up by the extra costs associated -- financial and non-financial -- of too broad an investment front) it is also important not to concentrate too narrowly. What's the right blend? I wish there was a one size fits all formula. There isn't. Here is the criteria that I personally use:

If I am a passive investor in a deal then the MAXIMUM of my net worth that I will put into the deal is 5 percent of my net worth.

If I am a passive investor in a deal but I have some meaningful participation with the decision makers (a seat on the board, etc) then I'll put in up to 10 percent of my net worth (MAXIMUM).

If it is my own deal, I'll put in up to 25 percent of my net worth in any one deal.
Now the above is my criteria. Yours might be different, in fact, it almost certainly will.

Notice though the key distinctions I've made between the various degrees of control of an investment. The lower my personal control, the less of my money I am willing to risk. The only exception to these are conservative investment options that have virtually no risk to my capital (government bonds, money market accounts, etc.)

(There is a lot more about this topic that I will put into an online workshop for the Maui Mastermind Online membership site. I'll have it up by the middle of next week.)

That's it for this email. Have a great weekend!

My best to you,

David

P.S. For those of you who signed up for your free trial membership to Maui MastermindTM Online last time, thank you. What are the rest of you waiting for! Go ahead and take me up on this free 30-day trial offer. If you don't like it you can cancel and you'll never pay a dime. Plus you'll get to keep the $495 downloadable wealth course that new members like you get as a free gift just for trying it out! Start your free 30-day trial membership right now!

What’s most important to you?

2007-06-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

Subject: What’s most important to you?

Hi everyone,
I know it has been close to three weeks since my last email, and I wanted to write to you to explain, and to share some important information.My grandfather, Morey, at age 94 passed away a few weeks ago and the last few weeks I’ve spent with family. I know you’ve all had experiences of loss in your life—we all have. And yet there is something remarkable that happens when you and your family gather together to celebrate the life of and heal from the passing of someone you love. It’s as if the space and distance and past differences that separated you from each other disappear.

That is how it has been for my family. I spent a week out in California with my grandma and it meant the world to me. I’ve reconnected with my sisters, which has also meant the world to me.

And I find myself thinking about what am I most passionate about doing with my life. I don’t “have to” work, but I still find I have much to say and a real passion for sharing on the subject of building wealth. Being a small part of empowering you to succeed in your financial life (and beyond) gives me great satisfaction.

So this week, in my letter to you, I wanted to talk about this notion of “passion” as it relates to how you go about building wealth.

But first, I want invite you to give me your direct input on the areas YOU are most passionate about learning about. I’ve set up a short survey (only 3 questions) for you to answer and give me the areas you are most interested in learning about in the field of wealth creation. Then over the months to come, I’ll do my best to write about the areas that are most important to YOU. But you’ve got to let me know exactly what those are! Here is that link to the survey again. SURVEY.

Bringing Passion to Your Wealth Building
When you are building wealth, it’s got to be about more than just the money. I know some of you might say, “Yeah, just give me the money and I’ll manage the other part on my own.” That is a trap. I’ve worked with over 200,000 clients over the past decade in the areas of investing in real estate (residential and commercial), building thriving businesses, and financial fluency/personal finance, and one thing I have learned from my years of study and work in this field is that money without meaning leads to failure.

If you were to create a multi-million dollar fortune, but to do it in a way that was stripped of meaning, the money would be empty. Worse, it would lead to pain and isolation.
But the money WITH meaning will help you live the life of your dreams—to build a true Maui Millionaire™ lifestyle.

So how do you inject meaning into the money? Simple, by getting very clear on 3 things.

First: The money is only a means to an end. What is the end towards which you are working so hard? Is it to care for your family? Is it to have the freedom to travel? Is it to live in a beautiful and uplifting neighborhood? Is it to have the money to share with causes that matter to you?
For me, the money is the means by which I am able to enjoy real choice in my life. This freedom to work because I want to, not because I “have to”, and the freedom to design my life the way Heather and I want, not constrained by financial necessity, is my “why” behind the money.
What is your “why” behind the money?

Second: How will your money bless the lives of other people? It’s been my experience that most people will work far harder and derive far more “juice” and satisfaction out of helping other people than they will just working for their own selves. It’s important as you build wealth that you get very clear on how your creating wealth will positively impact the lives of other people.

For me this has meant that I’m able to raise millions of dollars for charitable causes (and I have some very ambitious goals to raise millions more for positive purposes.) It’s also meant the freedom to spend time with people I love, and spend a good part of my working life “donating” my time to causes that will touch people’s lives. And finally, I’ve chosen a life’s work (helping generations of wealth builders to grow, sustain, enjoy, and share great wealth) that directly impacts the lives of tens of thousands of people, and indirectly touches the lives of millions. How could I not feel powerfully called into action with a meaning for the money like this?
How will your money, and the way you go about building your wealth, touch the lives of other people?

Third: How does your pursuit of wealth in some meaningful way connect to something you are passionate about? For example, if you are passionate about art, how have you tapped into your artistic passions in some way with your building wealth? If you love houses and real estate, how have you brought that passion in in some way to your wealth building? If you love animals, how have you brought that passion into your business or wealth activities?
My passions have always included writing. As a little kid I used to bang out a “newspaper” and “books” (gibberish at the time) on my mom’s old manual typewriter as I pretended to be a writer. I think you can see how I’ve incorporated that passion into my business life.
How will you incorporate one or more of your passions in some way in your business life or wealth creating ventures?

There you have it. The three keys to adding meaning to the money.

In the months ahead I look forward to writing to you about more ideas and strategies on the areas of building wealth that matter most to you. Please make sure you take two minutes and go to the SHORT SURVEY I’ve set up for you to share exactly what you are most interested in.

I know you are busy, but by taking a moment to share your opinion and desires with me you will be rewarded a hundred times over as I write articles and eletters to you on exactly those subjects. Going on past experience, only one out of 10 of you will step up to the challenge of doing this. That means that for those of you who do, your answer will count as TEN TIMES larger!

In closing I wanted to thank you all. The past ten years of working with you (I know that some of you have just joined to this and the Maui community much more recently than this) has meant the world to me. And as I look back on my life I see what a tremendous blessing you all have been to me.

Thank you and I cherish our connection.

I wish you a great week ahead, and a lifetime of money PLUS the meaning.

David

P.S. Don’t forget to take a quick moment and fill out that three question survey! Just Click Here!

P.P.S. Check out the new Maui Millionaires website which is up at www.MauiMillionaires.com. While the official launch is still 2 weeks away (we have a few more bugs to work out), I think you’ll love some of the free articles and ebooks available on the site. Enjoy!

Five Lessons from Maui

2007-05-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I can't wait to see so many of you in about 2 weeks at the "How to Build a Level Three Business" workshop in Phoenix. I've been wanting to teach this workshop for over a year now and can't wait - especially the part on how to take an expertise or professional skill and residualize it.

When I do these seminars, there is bound to be one question that I get asked again and again from people I talk to at seminars or during interviews is "What is this Maui thing anyway?" If you're new to my emails you might be wondering the same thing.

Let me tell you quickly what Maui Mastermind is. It all started from a mastermind group that I attended with my future business partner Diane Kennedy. We hadn't yet gone into business together but soon found that we had many of the same philosophies about business. That first mastermind that turned into the Maui Mastermind event started in 2003. We wanted to create something where we could invite special select clients and customers to spend 5 ½ days with us in a beautiful tropical location.

Everyone in the room had to qualify to be there. They had to be people that we liked, or we knew we would like once we got to know them, and they had to be people we want to have our families around. The attendees needed to all be people that have already proven they are "do-ers." These were the type of people that were willing to take action when they know a deal is right and were willing to work to make it work. Then, we completely opened up our rolodexes and shared contacts, just like everyone else in the room did. Attendees left with at least three mastermind groups with a single purpose - to each make a separate one of their dreams come true in the next year!

We also give money to charity. A lot of money. In the first year, $100,000 went to charities around the world. That represented 20% of the total receipts from the event (before expenses).

One of our mottos in Maui was to always supersize a deal. So in 2004, we took the charity amount of $100,000 in 2003 as a challenge and created $479,000 in donations by learning how to generate time, talent and money for causes nearest to our heart. Every year the bar was set higher until we hit where we are right now. In 2007, we're on track to raise over $4,000,000. It still amazes me when I think about the huge impact that amount of money can have in the world, especially when it's coupled with the heart and passion of people who really care.

The real difference happens for the people who attend. Here's what just a few attendees had to say:

"I hope I don't sound too much like a late night infomercial! It's hard not to since Maui and all the changes that have taken place for us.

More than anything else, Maui made me realize that anything – financial or personal can be accomplished if you believe in it and work hard at it. We are in the process of 1031 Exchanging three properties in CA with a total of $1200 a month cash flow to investments that cash flow $14,000 a month with NO money out of pocket.

Our net worth has almost doubled since that first Maui.

For others who are considering Maui I would recommend going when you are ready to change YOUR reality and look outside YOUR box. Also be ready to stretch your mind in 5 days like you never have before. It's an amazing 5 days that cannot be completely described but has to be experienced."

Dean and Kara B, San Diego

How much would you invest to receive $14,000 per month in passive income? Could you quit your job? Travel more? Live a dream you've always wanted? That's just one of the stories we've heard from Maui.

Maui Transforms Your Reality

We have a saying that nothing is impossible in Maui. Imagine spending a week with people who encourage you to dream bigger, to have more, to actually be more and to live out a life that is full of purpose. It's truly wealth in the biggest, juiciest sense.

Now imagine having those people as friends, holding you accountable, for the rest of your life. For some people that's the biggest reason that they are willing to do anything to be part of this elite group. They understand what it truly means to invest in themselves and get tremendous results.

Over the past few years, I've sent out other emails that talk about the lessons and secrets of Maui that contribute to the huge success that people like Dean and Kara have experienced. If you've received those, you probably remember that we talk about how this event isn't for everyone. In fact, the huge context shift can cause some problems for someone who likes things to stay the same. If you go to Maui, you will never be able to live the same life again.

The Maui Quitters Club

The Maui Quitters Club is one club you may want to join, and soon. It's made up of all of the people who quit their job after attending Maui Mastermind. In fact, more than 80% of the attendees who work for someone else (and want to quit) do so within 6 months of attending Maui Mastermind. Every year, we're adding more members to the Maui Quitters Club. They might not have known they wanted to quit or even understood that working for someone else often gets in the way of making money, but after that first Maui experience - they get it. And that's why so many people join the Maui Quitters every year.

Sometimes the success you get from surrounding yourself with a new network that knows how to take time out of your busy life to focus on taking your business or investments up five levels comes even faster than you expect. That's especially true when you put yourself on a collision course of wealth with a group of people who care about each other and have the courage to hold each other accountable. In the case of Chris and Cindy, they both identified their ideal life and made it come true in less than two years.

From an email check-in from Chris and Cindy:

"Huge changes are being made! Chris and I will be moving to Costa Rica right about the time of the Mastermind this year. We didn't think we would be going so soon but circumstances have changed and we have some opportunities available to us, so it's time to go!"

What happens when you find a once in a lifetime opportunity?

I have a very rare opportunity to tell you about. First though, let me tell you that Maui Mastermind always sells out months (even as much as a year) in advance. We only hold one event per year. And we already have a half dozen people on the wait list for the 2008 December Maui event.

Now here is the opportunity. We are adding a SECOND Maui Mastermind this year. Diane and I made the promise to the Maui group a long time ago that we're not going to increase the size of the Maui Mastermind to handle the demand.

But, we had a problem. When over 80% of our attendees end up coming back year after year, that means there are very few seats available for new people to join. That's when we made the decision to add another Maui Mastermind 2007. The only difference is that we're doing it in Kona! There is something about Kona that just feels different from Maui. You're closer to nature - it's where land is being created practically every day from an active volcano. Of course, we're staying at a luxury hotel, just like before, but there is a certain more "rawness" to the surroundings. It's for the adventuresome, who appreciate being around nature where sea turtles come out at night.

And maybe the best thing of all, this is a new event, so the seats aren't all taken! It'll be more intimate with more time for us to all get to know each other. We'll have some of our Emeritus Maui people, new Maui Stars and a beautiful setting to build a bigger, better life in the fullest sense of the word.

In a few minutes, I'll tell you what you need to do be considered for this opportunity. Before I tell you that, I want to say that I totally understand that this event is not for everybody. It's very scary to look at making a leap like this. Still there are things we can learn from Maui. I want to share five more lessons from Maui.

Lesson #1: Lack of Opportunities is Not the Problem

You might have heard Diane tell the story of her son David that they adopted a little over 2 years ago. If you have a teenager (or remember being a teenager), I'm sure you can relate to this statement: Being around a teenager means you never quite look at anything the same again.

One of the things I've learned from little David (he’s not really that little, but it keeps us separate!) is what it means to fit into a society where you know longer have to be in constant survival mode like he was in most of the Mexican orphanages he'd been in before. One of the key factors is how important the reticular activated system (RAS) is making changes.

It was interesting for me because I'd heard about RAS before. For a child (or adult for that matter) who has existed in a survival state for too long, they've disconnected from logic and RAS. There are a whole series of exercises that tune the RAS back in because it provides the focus necessary to turn an idea into an action. But, interestingly enough, I'd also heard about RAS earlier in another way.

RAS provides that funny little phenomenon that occurs when you suddenly become aware of something. For example, I bought a new car (or rather, my company leased one - that provided the best tax advantages). Suddenly, there was that same kind of car everywhere I looked. My RAS had been activated to show me that type of car.

Once your RAS for deals and opportunities is turned on, you simply can't turn it off. There are deals everywhere! If you've ever lamented that you can't find a real estate deal to cash flow or can't take your business to the next level or can't invest without having money - then your RAS isn't tuned into working for you.

After Maui, your RAS will be set to look for deals. Your new concern will be that you might just choke on opportunities. Let me say that one more time:

After Maui, your biggest problem will be taking advantage of too many of the opportunities you'll hear about.

Once your RAS is set up to find opportunities, you'll be flooded with new possibilities. That's one reason why Maui attendees come to Maui again and again – the deal flow that occurs between mastermind partners. Don't worry if you don't have a deal– someone else is sure to have more than they can handle!

Stephen and Susan, from Colorado Springs, will also be attending and teaching at the new Kona "Maui" Mastermind. Here are some of things that happened for them after the first 18 months of attending the first Maui:

1. Bought office space and outgrew it within 6 months.
2. Hired 6 new people.
3. Became a national speaker
4. Have added 80 new leases to our passive income business
5. Bought 10 foreclosures
6. Bought a personal vacation home just 200 yards from the beach
7. In 18 months, have netted $1.2 million
8. Increased cash flow to $9,500 net per month.

And, my favorite:

"We have the passion to help others achieve this too. We want to take at least 5 people to this same level of success."

Stephen and Susan, Colorado Springs

Stephen and Susan now do huge real estate projects, partner with real movers and shakers in the real estate world and Stephen is requested to speak at events all over the world - fulfilling a long held dream for him.

Wow! How would you like to hang out with people like Stephen and Susan for a week in beautiful Kona? And, then leave, knowing that you've made lifelong friends with people who truly do what they say they will do and who want to be part of your own personal mastermind.

By the way, Stephen had his own personal challenge for the Maui Mastermind group

"The big question still lingers: who will be the first billionaire to come out of Maui?"

In a bit, I'll explain what it will take to qualify for our new Kona program. If it's not right for you right now, that's perfectly okay. In fact, with the standard that Stephen and Susan and the rest of the Maui alumni have set, Maui isn't a good fit for most people. Maui Mastermind is for proven "do-ers" who are ready to face the next step to take their business and investments up not just one level, but five levels. And, yes, it might be necessary to take that leap with a queasy feeling in your stomach. That's what it means to move outside your box.

Lesson #2: Maybe Your Dream Isn't Big Enough

Many come to Maui looking to make their dreams come true. After all, isn't that what we say Maui is about - making people's dreams come true? Picture that dream you have for yourself and your family.

Now, here's the rub: what happens when you reach it?

Sometimes you find that your dream isn't big enough. You need a new dream. For some people the dream right now might be to create a passive income stream of $10,000, $20,000, $50,000 or more per month. What happens when in the year after Maui that you've created that? What do you do with the rest of your life?

There can be a sense of loss, because you've spent your life wishing you had that and then when you have it, you don't have a new goal.

One of the lessons that I've seen played out, again and again, is the need to make sure your dream is big enough. And, it's often a good idea to have more than one dream.

Our attendees have seen how the impossible can become possible when you put fully intentioned people on purpose with finely tuned skills and group accountability. That's why Maui works.

The second secret of Maui is learning how to supersize your dreams, as well as your deals, so that you fully live life. And, of course, always have a back-up dream.

Lesson #3: How You Live in Your New World

Let's fast forward 14 months. You attended the Kona Maui Mastermind event and in 6 months have completely changed your life. You now have less than 6 months to go for the next 2008 Kona event. Of course, part of the Mastermind experience is all the Maui Mastermind alumni events. You've gone on a fun vacation with your Mastermind friends and you've attended roll-up-your-sleeve deal flow weekends. There are plenty of opportunities in your new world. The secret is wisely choosing how to spend the 10 hours or so per month you work.

In fact, if you're like most Maui participants, you simply don't have time for your old job or business, at least not run like you did them before.

You might actually experience some cross over from your old life and new life. Some people are able to jump feet first into their new affluent lifestyle and for others, it's more difficult. How can you make the dreams of your friends and family come true, too?

This is a critical juncture in determining the rest of your life. Some people get stuck and live less than they can, simply to avoid making other people uncomfortable. Maybe they hide their wealth and don't talk about their activities and deals.

Still others find ways to help the people they care about make positive changes in their own lives,

That's the case of Tom and Christine, coming back for the fifth year in Maui. They don't want to leave their friends and family; they want to bring them along for the ride!

They explain how Maui Mastermind helped them reach their financial and family goals:

"We are teaching financial literacy to our grandson, 13, and our married son and daughter-in-law. We've made more like-minded friends. Some have even moved to Tucson to work together. Plus, we have a brand new partnership - something I would have not have predicted before Maui.

Oh, and our net worth increased over $3 million in that first 18 months after Maui."

Christine and Tom, Tucson, AZ

If you are the lucky person to get one of those final ticket for the Kona Maui Mastermind, you'll find that you start to judge everything as "before" Maui and "after" Maui. In fact, my partner David and I stop making any long-range decisions in the few months before a Maui event. We know that our context will be changed and whatever idea we might have for our business or investments will be "super sized" by the Maui experience.

Whatever you choose to do with the tremendous knowledge, context change, friendships and mentors you receive in Maui, one thing is certain. Your life will never be the same.

That's the third lesson from Maui. How will you live with the change? Are you ready to fully embrace a more meaningful, purpose-drive life, creating your dream and the dreams of others around you? If so, you might just be ready for Maui.

Lesson #4: Too Much Time

Have you ever exclaimed, "If I only had more time!" Well, then you are probably looking forward to creating truly passive income. That's the income that comes in whether you are working or not, all for an investment of less than 10 hours per month.

Since success at Maui is defined as having total wealth, you'll learn how to create passive income streams and do it with less time. What will you do with all the time you'll create?

I've seen people who reached their success and could easily walk away from their work. But if they haven't solved the problem of what to do with their free time, they're going to have a major problem soon. I've also seen how people purposely self-destruct their business with bad investing decisions or bad hiring decisions just so they have a reason to get involved.

Imagine if you had a bigger purpose for your business and investments that allowed it to grow in a way that kept you interested and involved, but didn't consume your time. And, with all that free time you can now explore the things you've always wanted to do with your life. Plus, the things you've never even thought possible can now be real for you.

Even with that rosy future, it still might be hard to give up what you've always known - hard work - and exchange it for a life filled with possibilities and fun. Are you ready for that challenge?

In a second, I'll talk about Lesson #5 from Maui: the problem of too much money. As promised, though, I first want to explain what it would take for you to qualify for the last spot in Maui.

There are two steps to the interview process. The first step is for you to call Monica at 1-800-592-4769 and ask to be put on the interview list. Part of that step means that you're ready to immediately commit to the $30,000 ticket price with a credit card payment or by writing a check. To be honest, that step can be the one that makes you gulp. Without a doubt, $30,000 is a lot of money. We set the bar so high because we want only people who are fully committed to this event, to each other, and most importantly, committed to their own personal financial success. You'll then have an interview with David or with me. Just imagine if you're selected! You'll get to spend a week with people who have gone through the same interview process.

Lesson #5: Too Much Money

Who would think that "too much money" would be a problem? Yet for some people it is the biggest problem of all. Some people have been raised with the idea that money is evil and the more you have of it, the worse it is. They feel guilty for having more than others and so purposely hide their own wealth creating ability.

That's why the concept of Maui Mastermind is so intriguing to many of our attendees. We focus on what you can do with the money - the tremendous good you can create. And, by making that your focus suddenly it's okay to create the most wealth possible in your life.

Like one of our Maui super stars, Beverly Sallee (an international business women with companies in over 40 countries) says, "Make a ton of money and give it all away!"

One of the benefits of the Kona Maui Mastermind is that you get to meet with like-minded people who have accomplished success in their businesses and investments. And, what's more, they're looking for ways to make it even bigger.

Here's one little secret of a way to make it all make more sense. Consider the money you spend as "investments" not expenses. If every dollar you spend for yourself, your education, your family and your community now becomes money invested, you'll see that the value of the dollar increases. It might even change how you view the money you spend, and some of the choices you make. If you can invest money to provide a return in money, time, or peace of mind, then you've accomplished a lot - and so has your money.

This next section comes from the heart of Diane, my business partner.

You Hold the Answer to Someone Else's Prayers

This is something Diane shared with me in an email:

"I never realized exactly what that meant before Maui Mastermind. I'd like to share a deeply personal story with you. Some of you have heard it before, or maybe heard some of it. I hope you don't mind if I tell you again because the lesson for me was so huge.

"The end result of an intensive mastermind that I had with my mastermind partners was the creation of Maui Mastermind. But it had an even bigger, more personal impact for me.

"The charity piece was an important part that was built into the event from Day 1. We wanted to use the event as a vehicle to raise money for worthy causes. That first Maui 2003 raised $100,000 and we let the people who attended pick the charities. We do the same thing now. One of the Maui Masterminders at that first event suggested an orphanage in Juarez, Mexico. The checks were written and mailed and we kind of forgot about what we'd done. That's when Amy DeMeritt from our staff called up the recipients to inquire about the impact that had been made by the gifts of Maui. When Amy spoke with the director of the orphanage, Sergio, Amy was blown away.

"There was a property dispute and they were going to get evicted from their current building. Sergio didn't want to ruin the kids' Christmas and so he let them celebrate the holiday without telling them. His plan was to tell them at the end of December that the orphanage was shutting down. Chances were that most of the kids would then be living on the streets, separated and abandoned again.

"The check for $10,000 from that very first Maui Mastermind arrived on December 26th. It was enough for them to get the building started. No one lost their home that year and in the years since, the property has grown with volunteer work and more donations.

"That amount that meant so much to those kids in Juarez was really not that much - $10,000. But, for me it was even bigger than that. When we went down to visit the orphanage, my husband Richard and I met the boy who would become our new son, David.

"At that visit Sergio told me that we were the answer to their prayers. And, for me, I got the answer to my prayer in the wonderful son we have now.

"You never know what can happen in your life when you expand it in ways that improve your life and the lives of others. That's what we do at Maui Mastermind, together with a network for friends that create lifelong ties."

Earlier, I've explained what it takes to qualify for those final seats at the Kona Maui Mastermind. If you're ready to take the personal challenge to move your business and investments to a higher level and reach your dreams, then don't hesitate. Call Amy today at 1-888-889-0944 to learn more about the July Kona Maui Mastermind.

Best regards,
David Finkel

P.S. Want to know more about Maui Mastermind? Listen in on the interviews from WS Radio about Maui Masterminders and their business successes, life lessons and charitable projects. If you're like me, you'll laugh, cry and be inspired by the deeply personal stories. Please listen in at Maui on WS Radio.

P.P.S. If you haven't been to our brand new website, www.MauiMillionaires.com, take some time to look around. There are even more stories about Maui Masterminders and what they're up to these days.

P.P.S. I know it's short notice, but if you've ever wanted to be part of a once-in-lifetime event like that very first Maui Mastermind in 2003, if you see the value of surrounding yourself with proven "do-ers" and successful people who know how important it is to live every day doing something that brings out the best in you - then please don't wait. You know if Kona Mastermind is right for you.

Creating Cash Flow

2007-05-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

Hi:

Heather and I are in Africa for a few more weeks still. In Rwanda, we saw solar-powered building projects, orphanages and a lot of hope in a country that was nearly wiped out 13 years ago when 1 million people were massacred in 3 months. We traveled here with a group of Maui Masterminders, dedicated to tackling the challenges in this growing nation. I'll have more stories when I'm back from the US.

Meanwhile, I asked my partner Diane Kennedy to write this week's wealth-building tips. We should have our new website up any day now. For now, when you click through on the links below you'll be taken to Diane's Tax Loopholes.com site. If you've never registered before, you'll be asked for your email address to view the articles. There is no charge for this. Although Diane's site does offer a $9.97/month membership for more detailed content (including access to the TaxLoopholes archives), a large portion of the current content is always available for free, by signing up as "Loopholes Lounge" member. If you have any problems reading the files or getting registered, please drop us a note to amy@mauimillionaires.com, and Amy will be glad to help you.

From Diane:

David and I spent a day in San Diego at the Creating Cash Flow going through over 50 strategies to create cash flow. These strategies fell into two different categories:

• Offense
• Defense

The Cash Flow Offense means strategies that get you more cash each month. If you have a business, this could be using a new strategy to collect on your accounts receivable (amounts customers owe you), changing your billing so you get paid upfront for services, or provide more value to receive more income. If you have real estate, this could mean strategies to fill up a vacancy, convert a rental to a rent to own to get better cash flow or improve the value of your property to raise rents. No matter what you're doing right now for income, there is one skill that will ALWAYS get you more cash - good negotiating techniques.

That's one of the subjects that we're covering in this week's wealth tips: strategies that will make you a better negotiator!

The other two strategies are Cash Flow Defensive moves. Face it, the single biggest expense most Americans face today is the amount of tax they pay. I'll admit that I'm biased here, but I think this is the single most impactful change you can make. If you can pay less tax, the difference goes directly in your pocket. You don't need to worry about paying taxes on it.

In this week's wealth tips, we'll talk about a strategy for business owners and real estate investors, using increased depreciation. Depreciation is the phantom expense that the IRS allows you take. When it comes to real estate, this is especially powerful because you might have a property that goes up in value (appreciation) but then the IRS comes along and says that they think it will actually go down in value (depreciation) and lets you take a deduction for it. Now is when it gets fun. The loophole strategies allow you to time when and how much you take in depreciation to get the most bang for your buck.

Depreciation is the second item we discuss in greater detail when you click through on the links below.

The third strategy this week has to do with the other big expense for Americans. In some cases, it might even be bigger than taxes. That's the amount of interest we pay. But, we're not talking about interest that makes you money. For example, if you buy a property that gives you a return of 10% and it costs you 8% in financing costs, then you have arbitrage. You make money off of the money you've borrowed. This is good debt.

There is another type of interest. That's the type of debt and interest that we're talking about reducing, and eventually eliminating, Compound Debt™. This is the debt that keeps growing and growing and is most often found with credit cards. The single biggest problem that gets people into the bad debt cycle is not understanding the Language of Money™, one of the five key languages to Financial Fluency™.

When you click on the links below, you'll be taken to the Tax Loopholes website. For each of these items, you'll find some valuable strategies and tips that you can use to increase you cash flow either on the offense or the defense. You'll also see a special offer that I want to take a second to explain. Each of these topics have a full special report on the subject. These are part of the Maui Mastermind Online/First Class Lounge. Along with 2-3 Special Reports each month, you'll also receive online workshops every few days (in audio or video format) on a range of wealth-building, tax-reducing topics. Maui Mastermind Online/First Class Lounge is a membership based site that is available for less than $10/month.

And, even better, your first 30 day trial membership is always FREE! When you sign up for Maui Mastermind Online/First Class Lounge today, you'll be able to read the complete Special Reports on these three topics. And, you can always cancel anytime, with no further obligation. But I hope you take some time to check out all of the other online workshops and material that are available as part of your full membership. Take your 30 days to discover the information we have.

For more information on strategies to improve your cash flow, click through on these topics:

• Depreciation for Smart Real Estate Investors
• Advanced Negotiating Secrets with David Finkel
• Breaking Out of the Level One Financial Trap

Something to Think About …

I have a 16 year old son, David. One time, for fun, my husband Richard and I did a calculation on how much he would be worth if we started buying a regular single family home each year and putting it in a trust for him. We'd use the least amount of down possible, use our best negotiation skills to get the best deal possible, and then rent it out for enough to cover the expenses. Other than that, we'd leave it alone. Based on the 20 year average for appreciation in our area, David will be worth $1 million by the time he's 21. And, we just started doing this when he was 14 years old. Of course, the key right now is to make sure it's locked up really tightly because I'm not sure a 16 year old will make the best financial decisions. But the other thing I learned from that is it doesn't take a big change to make a big change. Creating more cash flow, consistently over time, even if it's just a little bit at a time, can make a huge difference in time.

Thanks for reading everyone. We hope the ideas this week can help you get on the path to financial freedom and personal fulfillment.

Best regards,

David Finkel and Diane Kennedy

P.S. Each month we feature new Special Reports as part of the Maui Mastermind Online/First Class Lounge. If you're already a member, make sure you stop by to get your reports. They're jam-packed with strategies that can put more money in your pocket!

Free Ebooks for You!

2007-02-26T11:39:00.000-08:00

Wealth and Real Estate Tips #30

Hi Everyone,

I hope the last week and a half since my last email have gone smooth for you. Heather and I have really been enjoying our time at home without travel.

I'm excited because in about 4 weeks (give or take a week or two) I get to share with you the new website Diane and I have been working on for the past half a year. It will be a definite bookmark for your old web browser!

This week I have a real treat for you—SEVEN FREE eBooks!

That's right, count them, seven.

Four are from me, and three are direct from Diane (make sure you thank her the next time you see her.)

The eBooks are:

eBook One: 21 Advanced Deal Structuring Strategies

eBook Two: 14 Advanced Negotiating Strategies

eBook Three: The Ten Deadly Deal Analysis Mistakes

eBook Four: How to Mastermind Your Way to Millions

eBook Five: 25 Tax Mistakes That Could Cost You An IRS Audit – and How to Avoid Them

eBook Six: Seven (or Fewer) Steps to Less Tax with a Real Estate IRA

eBook Seven: The TaxLoopholes Top 10: Ten Home Loopholes to Get More out of Your House

TO DOWNLOAD GO TO: www.taxloopholes.com/freeebooks

I hope you enjoy them.

Next week I'll share some key insights I've had from the purchase of four office buildings I closed on last month. Now I have some key announcements to share with you all.

The Maui Millionaire Book

For those of you who really want to understand what all the buzz about Maui is about, I strongly recommend you get a copy of, The Maui Millionaires. You can get it at your local bookstore or online at Amazon.

Remember, there is a special bonus for all book owners—The Maui Millionaires Wealth Mentorship Program™. A 90-Day online program that includes over 15 hours of workshops, interviews, and specific how-to help to apply the lessons and strategies of the book. Just use the special registration code inside the book on page 251 and go to www.mauimillionairesbook.com.

The Advanced Mini-Maui 202 —– Wealth Building Is a Team Sport

Take the next step in your wealth building by joining Diane and I for this advanced two day wealth workshop. Offered just once each year, each Advanced Mini-Maui will focus on a different theme and have brand new content. Each course will only be offered ONE TIME.

This year's theme will be, “Wealth Building Is a Team Sport”. We'll focus on ways you can gather around you the experts, mastermind partners, and team members you need to radically increase your wealth in safe, smart, and intelligent ways.

As with all the charity Mini-Maui events all the proceeds—gross not net—will go to charity.

This year you'll learn:

5 Ways to leverage your relationships to earn more money

The 6 experts you MUST have on your team (and exactly how to find them)

How to double your R-Score™ in 12 months or less by leveraging your efforts through effective partnering

How to avoid the 7 most costly mistakes the average entrepreneur or investor makes when partnering

How to leverage your business cash flow by tapping into the hidden opportunities in your rolodex

The 3 mastermind “power questions” to create breakthrough ideas

And much, much more!
We'll also do a special “hot seat” session where Diane and I will pull participants from audience up on stage to mastermind on their most pressing business or investing opportunity or challenge.

Plus, you'll have the chance to ask your toughest financial questions directly to Diane and I and our panel of experts during an open forum Q and A session.

To register just go to www.taxloopholes.com

I hope you enjoyed this week's letter and especially the seven free eBooks.

My very best to you,

David

P.S. Make sure you get your copy of, The Maui Millionaires, if you haven't already. Every reader gets a FREE $2,495 bonus pack with the book that they'll learn about on pages 251-254! Order your copy from Amazon today!

P.P.S. The link for the seven eBooks you can get the PDF's is http://www.taxloopholes.com/FreeEbooks.asp

Wealth Tip: Five Quick Ways to Boost Cash Flow with Better Billing Systems

2007-02-12T12:14:00.000-08:00

Too many businesses struggle with cash flow problems because they have bills to pay but delay collections from clients for 60-90 days. Here are five quick ideas to improve your cash flow by upgrading your collection system.

1) Collect Up Front: Why wait to collect your money? How can you change your business process to get clients and customers to pay before your fulfill your product or service?

2) Collect Immediately Upon Fulfillment: Train your staff to immediately ask for and collect fees upon fulfillment. What systems would you need to implement this? Would you need to retrain your clients so that the expectation is for them to cut you a check or give you a credit card right away? Or better yet, to have a credit card or checking account on file for you to autobill upon fulfillment.

3) Send Out Your Invoice Immediately: If you need to invoice for later payment, don’t wait. Create the billing system so that your front line team invoice DAILY. The longer you wait the harder it is for you to collect.

4) Front Load You’re Accounts Receivables Collection Efforts: Most businesses wait until the A/R are 60-90 days late before stepping up the heat on the collections. This is not smart. Instead, front load the effort. Have a staff person call 3-5 days after sending out the invoice to “follow up” with the client. This is a great time to use a system (read script) to have this person ask for referrals, or upsell/crosssell to more business. This system(s) should make you a lot of money if you do it strategically.

5) Incentivize PRE-Payment: Can you get them to buy a month or quarter or year at a time? What bonus could you give them? What special offer could you make them? Ideally you will find a way to get a percentage of your clients to buy ahead of time in a way that benefits both of you.

**********************************************

I hope you enjoyed this week’s tips. Again thank you to all of you who joined me in Vegas for the two workshops. It was such a great experience.

My very best to you,

David

P.S. Make sure you get your copy of, The Maui Millionaires, if you haven’t already. Every reader gets a FREE $2,495 bonus pack with the book that they’ll learn about on pages 251-254! Order your copy from Amazon today!

Wealth Tip: The Only “Client Satisfaction” Survey Question You’ll Ever Need to Ask

2007-02-06T08:09:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

I got home last Thursday from the two workshops in Las Vegas. They went incredibly well. The first of the two events – The Mini-Maui Wealth Weekend— was a success on several levels.

First, close to 350 people came together as a group to learn about the five core Maui Wealth Leverage Strategies (familiar to those of you who’ve read, The Maui Millionaires.) And if that wasn’t enough, including the tickets sold at the July Mini-Maui event for last week’s event, together we raised over $350,000 for 20 charities!

But for me the best part was that over 150 people who attended came because a Maui Mastermind™ or Mini-Maui graduate personally invited them. That felt so affirming to have that kind of trust. (Thank you everyone who invited guests to attend. It was the greatest compliment you could ever give to Diane and I.)

This week’s wealth tips are focused on business, whether your business be a real estate investing company, a retail store, a consulting firm, or any other business. Let’s dive right in…

The Only “Client Satisfaction” Survey Question You’ll Ever Need to Ask

I remember an article I read in Harvard Business Review that talked about measuring “client satisfaction.” The article discussed how many companies design elaborate scaling systems to keep an eye on this. But when you boil it down to its essence, the real test of a thrilled client is would they recommend a friend or family to your product or service if they were in the market for that product or service.

This question cuts through all the extras and goes straight to the core. If they believe you are the best value and serve them with the right level of integrity then they will answer that question yes.

If they answer that question no, you need to take a good hard look at how that interaction with that client went and see what you can do—systemically—to upgrade that experience for your clients.

Now maybe you don’t ask that question directly (although I think it’s appropriate to ask directly, and I have for several of my companies over the years.) You can watch your clients BEHAVIOR and find the same answer.

For example, when I see how many Maui graduates, whether they be of the Maui Mastermind event or of the Mini-Maui events, bringing friends and family with them to the event. Or when I see people buy a case of books to give out to friends, family, and work associates, that is feedback that Diane and I are doing something special.

I’ve had other businesses where our referral rates were dismal, and this forced me to take a good hard look at the way I structured the service I provided and make some deep changes.What about your business? How can you ask the key “rating” question?

That question again is, “If you had a friend or family member who was looking to buy _____insert your product or service___, would you recommend them to buy from us?”

Then just be open to learn from the honest feedback from your clients.

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Special Report on Tax Strategy

I’ve talked with Diane and she’s emailed me the ebook for you. I’ll get it up on the web so that by the next “Wealth Tips” I send you the link will be ready for you to enjoy the free gift.

Make sure to look for your next week’s “Wealth Tips” email.

The Maui Millionaire Book

For those of you who really want to understand what all the buzz about Maui is about, I strongly recommend you get a copy of, The Maui Millionaires. You can get it at your local bookstore or online at Amazon.

Remember, there is a special bonus for all book owners—The Maui Millionaires Wealth Mentorship Program™. A 90-Day online program that includes over 15 hours of workshops, interviews, and specific how-to help to apply the lessons and strategies of the book. Just use the special registration code inside the book on page 251 and go to www.mauimillionairesbook.com.

My very best to you,

David Finkel

Wealth Tip: Are You Rich Yet? (cont'd)

2007-01-28T03:43:00.000-08:00

Everyday I meet people who make a good living and yet secretly fear that they can never quit their job. They don't know how to make money or how to make their money work effectively and safely for them. They never learned how to move to Level III investing – how to create passive streams of income while working 10 hours or less per month.

Or, maybe you're like hundreds of thousands of Americans who have a lump of cash somewhere – pension plan, home equity, or maybe an inheritance – and don't know how to convert that cash into steady, secure cash flow that shows up each and every month without you having to work more than 10 hours per month. Remember the secret isn't just getting rich – it's having the money and income streams and the time, health, relationships and just general love of life to enjoy it all.

Let me give you one more "what if" and then I'll tell you about a special offer that might be just perfect for you. The only downside is that you’ll have to act fast if the offer is appropriate for you because the event happens this coming weekend in Las Vegas!

Okay, here's the final "what if." What if you've got some money now, maybe even a lot of money, or a high income job or profession and the thing that's keeping you up at night is worrying how much longer you can keep up at this pace? If you lost everything, how long would it take for you to be right back where you are? If the answer is "never" or "a really long time", then there is one big hurdle you have to keeping the money you have. That hurdle is something we call your Wealth Operating System™ (W.O.S. for short.)

Your W.O.S. is the sum total of your emotional associations and beliefs about wealth, money, rich people, and financial success. You can spot a person who has a low W.O.S. when they get rich. That's the guy who hits the lottery and is bankrupt in 18 months or the lady who owns a piece of real estate that goes up in value, sells it and loses everything in bad investments. Make sure your W.O.S. allows you to be wealthy. Otherwise, you'll lose it all when you get it.

There is one more secret to feeling that you're rich in your life. Give some of it away. It's only when we feel wealthy that we can give from our abundance. Giving money or your time is the surest way to prove that you have enough. That's why being a Maui Millionaire also includes giving through time, talent and money to causes that you are deeply passionate about.

I hope you have a great week ahead of you and look for another free ebook (in case you missed last week’s FOUR free ebooks) in the next two weeks.

My best to you,

David

Wealth Tip: Are You Rich Yet?

2007-01-25T07:21:00.000-08:00

Hi Friend,

About two months ago my friend and business partner Diane Kennedy shared with me that line from a Forbes magazine she had read last year. The story dealt with people who had hit it rich with real estate investing or small businesses and how so many others were looking on, wondering what just happened. There was this idea that everybody should be rich and if you weren't, hey, something must be wrong.

Of course, the way you define rich might be the true indicator on whether we're there or not. In my new book with Diane, The Maui Millionaires, we talk about the difference between being a Maui Millionaire™ and a "regular" millionaire.

A Maui Millionaire has the money, plus the time to enjoy it.

A Maui Millionaire has the money, plus the relationships to enhance it.

A Maui Millionaire has the money, plus the deep-seated conviction that what she's doing in the world truly matter.

Unfortunately, a lot of people think that they have to destroy their health, spend all their time and let go of meaningful relationships in order to get rich. The problem is that they're often told there is a lot they have to do in order to become a millionaire. There isn't any time, they're told, for anything else.

What if you could learn how easy it really was to make money? How it can become automatic and easy, showing up? In fact, at the Mini Maui Wealth Weekend in Las Vegas (Jan. 20-23), we were able to show how it might only take adding up your current assets and masterminding with the right people to suddenly change your life. Let me give you an example.

Have you ever considered that it might be possible to be a millionaire after just two years, even if you're starting right now in debt? That's what happened for Kelly and Rob – they went from over $70,000 in credit card bills to a million dollars in real, solid net worth (not counting their principal residence) in just a little over two years after attending the premiere event Maui Mastermind.

Tune in soon for more discussion on this topic.

My best to you,

David

Wealth Tip: Three Keys to Financial Fluency - the Final Key

2007-01-18T04:34:00.000-08:00

Key Three: Learn the Distinctions Between Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 People When It Comes to Money, Wealth, and Personal Finances

When Diane and I were formatting how we wanted to teach the Financial Fluency workshop we knew we wanted to really emphasize the differences between the way Level 1, 2, and 3 wealth builders approached money and personal finances.

Here are a few of the key distinctions that Diane and I have been developing over the past year to teach this January:

Level One people’s retirement plan has as it’s goal survival. They depend on Social Security, a company pension (if it still exists), family, and, saddest of all, a part or full time job.

Level Two people’s retirement plan is a 401k and pension plan they actively invest in, in addition to Social Security. Their focus is in building a “nest egg” and they doing their best to die before they run out of money. (Not my idea of a “secure” retirement.)

Level Three people’s retirement plan is a secure portfolio of passive, residual investments that include real estate, business interests, income producing intellectual property, and other equities. They don’t worry about dying before they run out of money. Rather their focus is on how to live fully and leave a meaningful legacy behind them that touches the lives of latter generations. Money is abundant for them and rather than focus on how to get enough, they know that they have MORE than enough, and their focus is how to use this money to touch people’s lives.

Here’s another example of the differences between these three levels.

Level One people learn about wealth and finances through the mass media. They passively consume a warped input on wealth and money, and don’t see that their version of wealth is a caricature, and not accurate.

Level Two people learn from actively consuming the mass media and financial press. But what they don’t realize is that most of what they are learning has been filtered for them by two big influences to teach them how to live the Level Two wealth plan (get a good education, find a good job, work hard, save, invest, 40 years later retire on 75% or less of your earlier income, and do your best to stretch your money so it lasts your entire retirement.) The first influence is the financial services industry which is inheritely rewarded when you follow the “traditional” plan. The second influence is the media itself—filled with level two journalists who are still w-2 employees teaching you to be wealthy.

Level Three people learn by actively seeking out high quality books, workshops, and mentors to help them. They look to the mass media and financial press not to learn what to do, but rather, to learn what the MASSES will do, so that they can use this insight to find overlooked opportunities and ways to lower their risk.

I’m sorry if I’m a bit of a soapbox on this one, it’s just a subject that I am very passionate about. While I’m out of time to teach more about financial fluency in this week’s eletter, I’ll keep coming back to it over time, mixed in with tips on investing in real estate, to growing your business, to protecting your wealth, and how to save on your taxes (actually I’ll let Diane write on this one, but I’ll just send you what she says since she’s the best tax strategist/CPA I’ve ever worked with.

My very best to you,

David

P.S. I’m working to arrange another gift for you next week—a special ebook surprise from my partner and tax strategist Diane Kennedy. It may take me a few weeks to get it done, but I’ll keep you up to date on my progress!

P.P.S. Just a quick reminder that on January 20-21-22-23rd Diane and I are holding two back to back 2 day wealth workshops. The first is the
"Mini-Maui" wealth weekend, and the second is the “Financial Fluency” workshop. For complete details just click here!

Wealth Tip: Three Keys to Financial Fluency (cont'd)

2007-01-15T13:00:00.000-08:00

Key One: Learn to speak the language of money

Yes my friends money has a language all its own. And this arcane language is essential to all who desire to master money.

The language of money is accounting—dollars and cents, credits and debits, assets and liabilities.

Now you don’t have to run out and become a CPA (the world is filled with ordinary CPA’s who never become wealthy), but you do need to be able to READ and MOVE in the language of financial statements. It’s no accident that “accounting” and “accountability” have the same root word!

My very close friend Diane Kennedy (who happens to be one of the rare finds in the world—a CPA who is wealthy and can make the language of money so intuitive and easy to understand)—once told me that the wealthy almost always have good book keeping and regularly review their personal and business financial statements.

Is this an area of strength for you? If so, build on it. If not, do whatever it takes to learn this essential skill. You can join Diane and I in Las Vegas later in January for the Financial Fluency workshop, or buy and read some books on accounting. Either way if you want to wealthy it is essential that you speak the language of money.

Key Two: Learn to Speak the Language of Business

If the language of money is debit and credits, liabilities and assets, then the language of business is contracts and agreements.

Again it isn’t essential that you become an attorney, but it IS essential that you learn how to use attorneys. It is essential that you understand the major elements of a business agreement, and how to document your business relationships so that you’ve put it all down on paper.

I’ve watched far too many investors and entrepreneurs get into BIG trouble because they felt intimidated by contracts and abdicated responsibility to other people—their attorney, or worse yet, to the other side’s attorney!

Level three wealth builders have developed a fluency for understanding agreements and intelligently using attorneys and the legal system for growing their wealth.

For me this was one of the most fun areas to get ready to teach at the Financial Fluency workshop because I’m one of those weird individuals that actually enjoys a good contract. I’m the guy who reads the rental car “boilerplate” at the rental counter and then marks changes to it before I sign. (It’s almost embarrassing to admit that but I’m hoping you will still love me.)

And this brings us to the final key to financial fluency…which I will share with you later in the week.

Until then, my best to you,

David

Wealth Tip: The Three Keys to Financial Fluency

2007-01-11T05:48:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

The New Year has begun and it’s time to focus in this week on the one of the biggest keys to wealth—financial fluency.

This is a big topic on my mind because Diane and I are hard at work finishing up a book that has two major sections devoted to it, plus we are also teaching a workshop later in January on this topic. (“Financially Free: How to Become Financially Fluent and Build Level Three Wealth”)

I also have a special treat for you all. I'm giving you FOUR EBOOKS for you for free. See the link at the end of this email to download the pdf’s of these four free ebooks.

Now, let's get into this week’s wealth and investor tips…

The Three Keys to Financial Fluency

First of all, what is financial fluency? Well over the last several years you’ve been listening to me talk about the three levels of wealth building.

Level One wealth builders are just getting started. They are focused on getting enough of a financial education so that they can get started, and also on making the leap of faith to be wealthy.

Level Two wealth builders are focused on actively building their asset base. These are the investors who are buying houses to reap the long term (and often short term) profit. These are the entrepreneurs who are building their business in the growth phase. And these are the people who are investing in growth investments to get compounded growth on their side building their net worth.

And then there are Level Three wealth builders. These are the people who have moved from active investing to PASSIVE RESIDUAL INCOME. These investors have shifted a significant portion of their focus from investing for capital gains to investing for cash flow.

Level One investors tend to be financially naïve.

Level Two investors are financially literate. But literacy isn’t enough in today’s world. To become financially free and enjoy Level Three wealth (passive residual income streams) you need to go past where most ordinary people stop.

Level Three investors are financially fluent. They move in the world of money, investments, and business with grace and ease. They have the confidence that comes from KNOWING the fundamentals of money.

And there are three keys to being financially fluent. I will share those three keys with you on my next blog post.

In the meantime enjoy my New Year’s gift to you.

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FOUR FREE EBOOKS!
Like I promised, just click here to download your four free ebooks. They include:

eBook One: 21 Advanced Deal Structuring Strategies
eBook Two: 14 Advanced Negotiating Strategies
eBook Three: The Ten Deadly Deal Analysis Mistakes
eBook Four: How to Mastermind Your Way to Millions

Mini-Maui Workshop and Financially Free Workshop
If you want to learn more about wealth and money, join us for the Mini-Maui workshop and Financially Free workshop. These workshops are back-to-back on January 20-21-22-23rd in Las Vegas.

The Mini-Maui workshop (with ALL proceeds going to charity) will help you master the five core wealth strategies of Maui Millionaires™. The Financially Free workshop will teach you the essential skills to become financially fluent.

To find out how you can save $1,000 by registering for both, just click here!

I hope to see you there!

My very best to you,

David

P.S. I’m working to arrange another gift for you next week—a special ebook surprise from my partner and tax strategist Diane Kennedy. It may take me a few weeks to get it done, but I’ll keep you up to date on my progress!

P.P.S. Just a quick reminder that on January 20-21-22-23rd Diane and I are holding two back to back 2 day wealth workshops. The first is the “Mini-Maui” wealth weekend, and the second is the “Financial Fluency” workshop. For complete details just click here!

Wealth Tip: The Two Keys to Investing Intelligently in the Current Real Estate Market

2007-01-01T14:18:00.000-08:00

Key One: Remember Fundamentals

Now that in most areas of the country the market has shifted, fundamentals matter more than ever.

If you are buying for the short term (i.e. to immediately resell either by flipping the deal to another investor wholesale or selling it to a retail buyer) then you need to be buying cheaply enough so that when you factor in holding costs, closing costs, repairs, etc. that you will still conservatively make a profit.

If you are buying for the long term make sure the property can afford to pay for itself. CASH FLOW is king! I’ve watched to many would be investors forget this and take marginal deals with little equity and even less cash flow just because a motivated seller was willing to deed it to them. In a tightening real estate market sellers will be willing to walk from the house, but this doesn’t mean that you should take it. If you plan to keep the property then it must cash flow with a cushion (or at the very least have some other plus in the deal to make it worthwhile to do, like very low price you’re buying at.)

I was talking with my friend Stephen, he was actually featured in Diane and my newest book, The Maui Millionaires. He has three real estate businesses: a development company, a rental property business, and an “Ugly Houses” franchise. He shared with me that in his local market he has to be very picky about which deals he’s even going to take. If he’s buying for cash he wants to make sure he really is buying cheap enough (he goes for 50-60 cents on the dollar, but the max you should ever pay is 70% of the as is value.) If he’s buying on terms (like a subject to deal or a lease option deal) he needs to have the property cash flow well or he’s not interested. He’s a smart investor and I think you would do well to heed his advice.

Two: Use Debt Wisely

There are so many loan programs available for investors now—conventional fixed rate, interest only, negative amortization, ARM’s, option ARM’s, etc. The key is to use any financing intelligently.

This means making sure you choose financing that truly fits your long terms goals.

For example, if you are buying a house to fix and flip, then a short term hard money loan might very well be appropriate. But I recently saw an investor who intended to turn her property fast but got stuck with the home for over six months on the resale market. The high interest rate “short term” loan she got from a local hard money lender at 12% (plus 5 points up front) turned out to be a very expensive loan to use to hold the property that she wasn’t having much luck selling. In this case the bottom line was that she paid too much for the property considering all the repairs she needed to do, and got into trouble on the back end.

Another example is an investor who refinanced out a lot of his equity with an option ARM (a loan where you as the borrower can choose three different payment options—1. To make the full PITI payment. 2. To make an interest only payment. 3. To make a negative amortizing “minimum payment” where you loan balance grows.)

After several years of great cashflow he enjoyed from making the minimum payment the lender ended up recasting the loan because according to the terms of the loan, if the total loan balance grows by a certain amount the lender can redo the whole loan and the borrower MUST pay the full PITI payment. As you can imagine the borrower in this situation went from a positive cashflow to a big negative cashflow. And with the dip in the real estate market refinancing his way out wasn’t so easy.

The bottom line is for you to make sure your financing is appropriate to your intended plans, plus that you have a built in margin of safety in your deals.

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I hope you enjoyed the wealth and investor tips this week.

Here's wishing you a great 2007!

My very best to you,

David

P.S. Just a quick reminder that on January 20-21-22-23rd Diane and I are holding two back to back 2 day wealth workshops. The first is the “Mini-Maui” wealth weekend, and the second is the “Financial Fluency” workshop. For complete details just click here!

Wealth Tip: Three Reasons Why Foreclosure Rates Keep Climbing

2006-12-14T13:04:00.000-08:00

REASON ONE: Changing mortgage underwriting guidelines.

There was a time four decades ago that in order to get a loan to buy a home the borrower needed a 20 percent down payment, strong credit, and stable income that was at least three times as high as the mortgage payments. But the world has changed, and so has the lending market.

Today home buyers can get zero down loans with adjustable rate mortgages that cause their loan balance to actually increase every month (called “negative amortizing loans”). In fact, lenders today have loosened up their requirements on credit standards (witness the explosion of “sub prime” loans) and income levels (with many lenders requiring only twice the income of the total home monthly payment).

As you can imagine, this loosening of the financial requirements means more borrowers will default on their loans. They have less equity. They have a smaller cushion to make the monthly payments. And in many instances they have lower credit scores.

Just to be clear on this, I personally think many of the mortgage industry changes are good ones. I love the idea that more people than ever are able to get access to financing to purchase their home. To me this gives ordinary people the chance to build wealth and enjoy the freedom of owning their own home.

But there is a downside to this too, when you add in the societal push to buy the “most expensive home you can qualify for a loan for”. This influence I think causes many homeowners to get in way over their heads. Hence the need for investors like you and I to be there to bail out many of them for a fair profit.

In many cases the lenders themselves make this profit possible by accepting less than what’s owed (aka: “short sale”). Now don’t go feeling to bad for the lenders since most loans are bundled up and sold on the secondary market (i.e. wall street) in such a way that the risks are spread and investors make a high enough rate of return to cover the cost of the defaulting loans. In fact, this financial flexibility and growth of the mortgage industry to source off the loans in collective bundles is what has allowed the lending world to offer so many more potential loans for would be borrowers. Again, in and of itself I think this is a very good thing—for borrowers, for lenders, for investors, and for the country as a whole. It’s just when you add in the other element I just talked about along with poor financial fluency that so many borrowers get into trouble.

REASON TWO: Toxic Mortgages

A recent Business Week cover asked, “How Toxic Is Your Mortgage?” (September 6, 2006). In the 14-page feature article the Business Week reported on the alarming rise in “option ARM loans”. These are adjustable rate mortgages that offer several payment options to the borrow, including one option, called the “minimum payment” that is less than the cost of the interest so that the loan grows bigger every month. According to the article, up to 80 percent of all option ARM borrowers make only the minimum payment!

In 2005, Countrywide Home Mortgage (the nation’s number one mortgage lender) had a 500 percent increase in “option ARM” loans! According to the article more than 20 percent of all option ARM loans in 2004 and 2005 were worth less than the outstanding loan balance! And if the real estate market fell by just 10 percent that number would double to 40 percent!

Are you getting a sense of why in earlier wealth tips I suggested that prudent real estate investors would be ready to buy with cash? There will be a lot of properties that are in need of saving. Shortsales, as a technique to buy properties in foreclosure where the lender accepts less than what is owed just to get the defaulting loan off its books and make the best of a negative situation, will be one of the most important buying strategies for investors to master.

And if that wasn’t enough, in 2005 lenders gave 43 percent of first time buyers loans for 100 percent of the purchase price (National Association of Realtors) leaving these homeowners vulnerable to the slightest economic quiver.

REASON THREE: A Shift in the Real Estate Market

The headlines are everywhere. The cover of The Economist read, “Has America’s Housing Bubble Burst?” (August 26, 2006). USA Today reports about the declining real estate market. What’s happening?

The answer is that another market cycle is playing out in the real estate market. The huge growth of real estate (from 2000-2005 the total value of American homes skyrocketed from $9 trillion to $22 trillion) was drastically slowed and in many parts of the country, especially the Midwest, is declining in value.

When you add this decline in the real estate market to the loose lending trends of the past decade what you get is a recipe for a massive increase in opportunities for foreclosure investors.
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I hope you enjoyed this week’s tips. Please take us up on the opportunity to join us in January!

My best to you all,
David

P.S. Remember to mark your calendar for January 20-21st, 2007 for the Maui Millionaire Wealth Weekend. This powerful, life-changing workshop is being held in Las Vegas and ALL proceeds—gross not net—go to charity! My suggestion? Come to both this and the “Financially Free” workshop (the events are back to back.)

P.P.S. Don’t miss out on the Financially Free: How to Become Financially Fluent and Build Level Three Wealth Workshop January 22-23, 2007 Las Vegas. For full details and to register, just follow the above link!

Wealth Tip: Get ready to buy for cash!

2006-12-11T05:36:00.000-08:00

I want to talk to those of you who are real estate investors out there (or those of you who want to be investors.) With the shifts in the real estate market in many areas of the country I have a word of advice for you—get ready to buy for cash!

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, 4.41 percent of all residential housing was in various stages of pre-foreclosure or foreclosure by the end of August 2006. This number has doubled over the past several years. That rate is even higher when you look at sub-prime and FHA loans which both had delinquency rates of roughly 12 percent as of the first quarter of 2006! Twelve percent! And these rates are climbing.

The next time you drive to your local supermarket to shop, you’ll probably pass 1,000 homes. Of these, statistically speaking, 44 are in pre-foreclosure or foreclosure. That means in your neighborhood within a few minutes’ walk, four to five of your neighbors are delinquent on their loans and in danger of losing their home to foreclosure. These people need your help. As you help them, you’ll earn a healthy profit.

Wealth Tip: You’ve got to be smart enough to look behind the easy answers the wealth industry hands you

2006-12-06T06:25:00.000-08:00

The wealth industry has grown rich by providing ever expanding financial services for its clients. While many of these services can be useful, unless you as a wealth consumer actively and intelligently take control of your own wealth building, you are virtually guaranteed to get sub-par results.

Take the example of how the wealth industry lays out your financial information on performance. Since the most common investment via the wealth industry is publicly traded securities let’s start there. My friend showed me his Merrill Lynch monthly statement which had column after column of “results” for his portfolio. But all of it was laid out in such a way to impress, especially to impress upon my friend how much he needed them to keep track of all this complicated information.

The truth is that they report actually hid or ignored the two most important markers to measure the performance of his portfolio: the real rate of return and each investments performance against an appropriate benchmark for that risk category of investment.

Let’s look at each of these in turn. First there are the returns that his statement showed. The return did not share the AFTER TAX, AFTER FEES rate of return on the investment, but rather the pre-tax, pre-fees rate of return. Empowered wealth builders know that they need to look at the real rate of return on their investments which means the after tax, after fees view of how well their investments performed.

Second, his statement never compared his returns to a suitable benchmark that was appropriate to the risk category of the investment. He had no way to know how well he was doing in an objective way, instead, all he saw was his isolated performance with no way to see how well the market as a whole was doing.

Without this information it is impossible to know how much his results were augmented by the financial services he was paying for, and how much was just passively driven by the marketplace.

And if this wasn’t enough, there was the area of “asset allocation” which on his Merrill Lynch account was neatly represented on a pie chart in three distinct sections: Equities, Dividends, and Other Assets. He was given a wealth plan which said he should use these three categories to determine the ideal composition of his portfolio. This is woefully inadequate and in fact is very misleading.

First, the above divisions treat all stocks as if they were the same risk category, and treats all “dividend” investments as if they too were of the same risk category. This is fatal to your wealth building. A stock like Coca Cola is much less risk than some specialty stock in a focused niche about which you have no real expertise or advantage, even though both are equities. A short-term AAA rated bond cannot be compared to a junk bond, even though both generate dividends.

When you lay out your asset allocation you need to consider which risk classes you want what percentage of your net worth first. Then it is your job as a savvy investor to find the highest return possible per each of those risk categories.

(For the moment I will just let go of my personal bias to any wealth plan that doesn’t take into account real estate or businesses except those you invest in via publicly traded securities, but I think you all know where I stand on that issue. I won’t even mention that it is a bit strange that my friend’s wealth plan that he paid a lot of money for via the financial services industry never seriously looked at anything other than securities it could broker the purchase, management, and sale for him. Aren’t I on my best behavior here?)

Second, his portfolio was being run for him in a way that over time put him at great risk. What do I mean by this? He had professional management that he was paying for coming, going, and on every layer in between. He had his “wealth advisor” being paid to manage his choice of investments, including many government securities that needed no real active management, and his mutual funds that he was already paying the for his fractional proportion of management costs.

As Warren Buffet shared in a recent letter to the stockholders of Berkshire Hathaway, the FRICTIONAL COSTS of all this management eats away at the real returns most investors get (these frictional costs also include the turnover costs of actively trading securities in your portfolio.) As Buffet suggests, and I agree with, for those investors who want to invest in securities but don’t want to invest the energy to become skilled themselves, and would rather pursue a passive strategy of investing and holding, they would do much better to invest in the market via index funds that have so much less expense associated with them.
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I hope you enjoyed this week’s tips. I’ll do my best to write to you from Maui as the Maui Mastermind event is going on.

My best to you all,
David

P.S. Remember to mark your calendar for January 20-21st, 2007, for the Maui Millionaire Wealth Weekend. This powerful, life-changing workshop is being held in Las Vegas and ALL proceeds—gross not net—go to charity! My suggestion? Come to both this and the “Financially Free” workshop (the events are back to back.)

P.P.S. Don’t miss out on the Financially Free: How to Become Financially Fluent and Build Level Three Wealth Workshop, January 22-23, 2007 Las Vegas. For full details and to register, just follow the above link!

Wealth Tip: Annually fine-tune your Wealth Map™.

2006-12-01T07:24:00.000-08:00

Each of us, whether we realize it or not, has a Wealth Map™ -- our individualized action plan to create wealth. For most people this plan is simply the default plan that is given to them by our society.

For the poor this default plan is to be dependent, upon the government, or active income from a job, or relying on family or other people to cover their basic needs.

For the middle income, this default plan is to work, earn, save, and invest via “retirement accounts” and pension plans so that when they retire, this “nest egg”, combined with their Social Security income will be enough to take care of their living expenses.

And for the wealthy, this default plan is to buy and build assets that generate passive, residual income so that they are financially free as soon as possible.

I think each of us at a minimum needs to sit down and assess our own Wealth Map™ at least annually (personally I do this quarterly and have found this to be a powerful catalyst to building wealth.)

The reason this is so present on my mind is that two days ago I sat down with a very close friend and doing him a favor—looked over his personal financial situation and Wealth Map™ and gave him my perspective and feedback.

He shared with me the “individual” wealth plan that his “wealth manager” had created for him and the latest statement from his Merrill Lynch portfolio.

We went through and created a quick list of his balance sheet (everything he owns less everything he owes), his “S-Factor™” (his annual cost of living), and finally his passive and passive, residual income sources.

After going through all of these with him I gave him five suggestions for him to fine tune his wealth building portfolio. Now while these suggestions are specific to him and his personal situation, there are several suggestions that I will share with you in next week's Wealth Tip.

Wealth Tip: Understand that as risk in investments increase the less control you have.

2006-11-29T04:50:00.000-08:00

I was talking with an investor friend of mine a few days ago and we got on the subject of private placement memorandums (PPM’s), which are often used to raise money for real estate deals. In essence, a PPM is a formal way a group of investors can find passive money partners for a real estate deal (or other type of investment opportunity.)

We spent a good half hour talking about our experiences working to get our net worth actively earning higher rates of return for us and I’d like to summarize several of our key insights in the hope they you can leverage your returns safer using our insights.

First, you must always compare investments within the SAME risk category. No good comparing the return of a CD (say 5%) with the return from a PPM (projected to be 15-20%) because the CD is virtually no risk (although you lose liquidity potentially) and the PPM may have high or medium risk (or less) depending on the investment itself.

Yet we both have seen too many investors make this apples to oranges comparison to their detriment. I’ll have more on this in the months ahead, just keep reading future week’s Wealth Tips eLetters.

Next, cash flow deals where money is regularly being paid out tend to be much safer than capital gains deals. For example, an apartment complex where you are regularly paid a 8-10% return (with an equity stake for down the road) is usually much safer than an apartment deal where you are buying an empty property at a low price with the intention to fix up, fill up, then resell. Now both are potentially good investments, but they really can’t be compared to each other because their risk characteristics vary too much.

When money is being paid out monthly or quarterly not only are you immediately recouping some of your investment, but much more importantly there is a lot less that tends to go wrong with those type of deals (provided you have done your due diligence on the leadership team and deal itself). And if a problem does arise, you’ll find out about it so much sooner than in a cap gain deal where the general partner or “founder” who is managing the deal could hide the problems for months or even a year or longer.

While no one wants to hear bad news, it is always better to hear that bad news sooner.

This same concept applies to real estate notes that you may invest in. For example I have several first and second mortgages that I own where I’ve lent money to investors to buy real estate. Some are interest accruing, others are interest paid monthly. The interest paid monthly is LOWER risk to me than the interest accruing, all other things being equal.

For me, I get 10-12% interest on the monthly medium term loans and get 15% accruing on the medium term loans that my interest keeps adding up. Which is better? It depends on what you want, just invest with your eyes wide open. (Side note: if the loans were for short term (less than 12 months) I would require a higher return for both types of loans, the key is that I get a premium of 3-5% on the loan for the extra risk of letting the interest accrue.)

Wealth Tip: The Single Word that Guarantees Your Wealth

2006-11-27T13:25:00.000-08:00

What if there was a single word that if you listened to its whisper could make certain your wealth. Would you listen closely?

Well here is that single, powerful word—Gratitude.

What things in your life are you grateful for?

Who are the people in your life that have touched and cared for you? Who make your heart sing?

Have you told them how you feel? Don’t wait another moment, share your feelings today.

How does this relate to wealth? Just try it and see how wealthy you FEEL.

Wealth isn’t about money in the bank, it’s a feeling. A feeling of abundance and gratitude. The real power of gratitude is how it makes our wealth visible. It takes what we pass over and calls our conscious attention to it so that we can FEEL its wonder.

Wealth Tip 30: Know that it is Doable for You to become Financially Free

2006-11-03T08:39:00.000-08:00

I hope that this 30-Day Maui Millionaire™ countdown has inspired you with how real the possibility of financial freedom is for you. The first step is the decision to become financially free. Then the next step is taking tangible action.

If you are at the front end of your wealth building the first action step will be to get busy reading and learning about wealth and the financial skills you’ll need to create it, especially books and courses that help you take a close look at your Wealth Operating System™.

I hope you’ve found these daily reminders of key wealth concepts useful and helpful. If you haven’t already gotten your copy of, The Maui Millionaires, I urge you to do so. Not only will you get great ideas, inspiration, and concrete tools in the book, but you’ll also get a free $2,495 gift with your book.

You heard me right. Diane and I really wanted to make the book impact lives and we know that sometimes it takes more than just a book to do that. So we created the Maui Millionaire Wealth Mentorship Program™ as an extra bonus and gift for EVERY reader. You’ll get 10 hours of online training, special e-books, and a whole lot more proprietary wealth building tools—FREE!

Thank you for sharing this exciting time of the 30-Day Maui Millionaire™ Countdown and both Diane and I wish you joy and adventure on your journey to become a Maui Millionaire™.

Wealth Tip 29: Maui Millionaires™ use Leverage to help them Earn More while still Enjoying the Maui Lifestyle

2006-11-02T13:08:00.000-08:00

Leverage is when a small amount of effort produces a magnified result. Maui Millionaires™ use leverage in three powerful ways to accelerate their wealth building.

First they use financial leverage. For example, when I started my first successful business I used $6,500 on my credit card to fund my advertising budget for the month. This small start grew into a business with over $7 million per year in sales with a very high profit margin. I leveraged that initial $6,500 in millions of dollars of profits over a ten year period.

Second, they use networking leverage. One of the biggest benefits from having a mastermind team is the way they can connect you to people they know who will open up business and investing doors for you with ease. For example, one of my mastermind partners referred me to a real estate deal on a large commercial property. He made finding that investment opportunity easy and effortless. That’s an example of leveraging your contacts and network to build your net worth.

Third, Maui Millionaires™ leverage other people’s experiences and expertise. You don’t have to know it all. You just have to know the right people who can help you leverage their talents and experiences. One Maui Millionaire™ I know recently shared with me how he found an incredible business attorney who has helped him raise a million for a development project he was working on.

The bottom line is that Maui Millionaires™ all use leverage to make building wealth easy and fun.

For more on using leverage to build your wealth see, The Maui Millionaires, pp. 205-207.

Wealth Tip 28: Maui Millionaires™ - Savor the Journey as well as the Accomplishment.

2006-11-01T15:21:00.000-08:00

I lived ten years of my life with the single minded focus of playing in the Olympics. It was the dream and goal that defined that era of my life. And I failed.

Oh I’m not talking about the fact that I got injured and wasn’t able to compete in the Olympics, that wasn’t my real failure. The real “failure” was how for the last six years of my dream I kept pushing back the day I would celebrate and enjoy my journey to the precise moment I attained it. I even asked my dad to not come watch me compete until he could see me in the Olympics so that he would see me at my pinnacle moment.

I smile as I share this because I recognize and am so grateful for the lessons this experience taught me. In fact, I wouldn’t trade the lessons and experience back in to get “success” in this dream. What I really learned was that it is a costly mistake to live your life focused on the day your dream comes true. The real juice and joy in life comes when you are actively engaged in your life, dreaming big and playing full out, and enjoying every step along the way. Why only enjoy and celebrate at the top for one transitory moment? Instead savor the journey and drink deeply from the experiences along the way.

I look back and what do I miss most about my hockey days? Two things. I miss playing hockey every day—the training sessions. And I miss how good it felt to be in that kind of elite level physical condition. Funny how these were two of the things I most took for granted and even ignored while I was experiencing them. After all, I had a dream to pursue and no time to waste on the joy of the journey. Sometimes life’s best lessons come wrapped in irony. God’s got to be smiling.

I share this story with you because I want you to remember that as you dream big dreams and go after them with all you’ve got savor the journey. In the end it guarantees you’ll be successful no matter what the outcome.

Wealth Tip 27: Build Maui Giving into Your Business and Investing from the Very Start

2006-10-31T05:30:00.000-08:00

When you add in the component of giving, suddenly doors open that normally wouldn’t be open. Remember when we talked about the synergy of dreams that occurs when you combine your dreams with someone else’s? The same thing happens when you combine giving in with your business plans.

The way you get your dreams, or your deal, is that you are now helping someone else get their dreams. It’s a way to overcome barriers. The differences in status simply go away.

Now suddenly, whether homeless or a king, a person who makes wise business decisions or poor life choices, all will benefit when a business combines the efficiencies of a successful business with heart.

Maui Giving might just be the critical edge that can take your business to the next level. Take the example of Maui Millionaire™ Morgan Smith, founder of Morgan Financial, Inc., a nationwide mortgage brokerage company. When Morgan first came as a star to Maui he had a successful business originating over $500 million of loans each year. But Maui inspired him to make giving a big part of his company, and he involved his staff into it. It’s become a powerful differentiator that ties employees to be committed to his company. The results? They raised tens of thousands of dollars for worthy causes, involved his team in meaningful ways and his company’s net worth has tripled in the last three years. This year his company is on track to originate approximately $2 billion in loans!

For more on how to tap into Maui Giving to help the world, see, The Maui Millionaires, pp. 211-233.

Wealth Tip 26: Use Maui Giving to Affirm Your Abundance Thinking

2006-10-30T11:30:00.000-08:00

It’s one thing to drop a dollar or two in the collection plate at church every Sunday. It’s a completely different thing to set a goal of paying for all school fees for every orphan at the 227 orphanages in Juarez, Mexico (they are currently helping over 80 orphans now) or to reduce the rate of recidivism for prisoners by teaching them powerful life-coping skills. Those are the type of projects that make you gasp just a little bit. And, when you do that, you expand what you know you can do. Those are both projects taken on by Maui Masterminders as part of the Maui Mastermind™ event.

Beverly Sallee, one of the Maui Mastermind™ Stars, tells the story that changed her view of giving. It happened at her church one Sunday. The pastor brought a cute little boy up front with him. He showed the boy two cookies and then proceeded to eat one. He raved about how good the cookie tasted and how it just melted in his mouth. The poor boy could hardly contain himself waiting for the pastor to hand him his own cookie. Imagine how he felt when the pastor instead said, “You know, I might need this one later. I think I should just keep it.”

That’s the same thing that we do when we hang on to something (just in case),
when others need the same resource. We might withhold money from needy causes or time from our family – hoarding it “in case” we need it later.

Remember, Maui Giving is the greatest affirmation of your abundance and prosperity that you can make. It’s you making a powerful declaration that you have more than enough—more than enough time, more than enough talent, and more than enough money.

For more on how to tap into Maui Giving to help the world, see, The Maui Millionaires, pp. 211-233.

Wealth Tip 25: Remember that in a Very Real Way, Real Wealth is what You Give

2006-10-29T12:20:00.000-08:00

There will come a day in all of our lives, sooner than we think, when we will transition out of this world. No matter what your beliefs are about what happens next, one thing it’s important to think about is what the legacy you are leaving behind is.

Whose lives will you have touched? What causes did you passionately fight for? What fires of goodness did you light and tender through the dark hours?

Maui Millionaires™ have all made the deep commitment to leave the world a better place for them having lived. Join us in this commitment because when it all comes down to the end, real wealth isn’t the dollars in your bank account, it’s what you’ve given to the world.

For more on how to tap into Maui Giving to help the world, see, The Maui Millionaires, pp. 211-233.

Wealth Tip 24: Re-evaluate the Meanings you gave to the Pivotal Money Experiences of Your Childhood

2006-10-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

I’ve already talked about your Wealth Operating System™ in earlier Wealth Tips. I’d like to share a highly personal story of how I’ve come to re-evaluate one of my early money moments.

For me one of the most painful memories of money that I had was of a time when I was a pre-teen. My parents were just in the starting phase of a painful divorce that was quite messy and emotionally painful. I was sitting in the kitchen when my mom came up to me and asked me if I knew whether or not my dad had sent the alimony and child support check yet that month because it was late. She was clearly very distraught and I remember how so uncomfortable I felt at that moment, like I wanted to disappear. The “lesson” I learned was that money was something you shouldn’t talk about. It wasn’t a safe topic. It was dangerous.

As you can imagine, this lesson influenced my life in many ways. I avoided the topic of money wherever I could, and pushed away from money. To me it was bad and dangerous. I know too many people this might seem crazy to make one experience mean this much, but remember, I was a twelve year old kid who didn’t have the capacity at that moment to see that my mom was really in pain and needing to garner me as an emotional ally. I am not making any judgment over that moment, only that as a young kid I made it mean something that had long term impact on my life.

It took some real soul searching to realize that I made that moment mean something that disempowered me. In truth, I brought the limiting meaning to the experience by the story I made up about the experience. We’ve all done the same thing in this and other areas of our lives.

Maui Millionaires™ consciously craft the meanings and stories of their lives to empower themselves. You have that same opportunity in your own life.

For more on your Wealth Operating System™ including a 5 step system for upgrading it see, The Maui Millionaires pp. 19-78.

Wealth Tip 23: Meet weekly or bi-weekly with Your Mastermind Team and Work Together to help each of You Become more Successful

2006-10-27T11:11:00.000-07:00

A Simple Format to Run Your Mastermind Meetings

Here is the simplest format that you can use to run your mastermind meetings. First, I recommend that you meet regularly, at least once a month. You can meet in person or over the phone.

Next, divide up the time you have into equal parts so that each member gets a fair share of the time devoted to helping them accomplish their goals. For example, if you have a total of four mastermind members and you are meeting for one hour each week, give each person 15 minutes.

What to Do With the Time

1. Give a 2-3 minute recap of the activities and results for the week. This should be in bullet points that were put down in writing BEFORE the meeting.

2. Share the three things that went best about the week.

3. Share one specific thing that you will do different next week that will have the greatest positive impact on your investing.

4. For the final 5-10 minutes, get feedback from the group. This feedback can be in the form of questions or direct input.

One Final Way to Use the Time

Use your mastermind group as a source of accountability for your actions. Have each member make concrete commitments for action steps they will take. Check in first thing the following week to see if they were done. I urge you to consider removing any mastermind member who consistently fails to meet their commitments. You cannot afford the luxury of catching their character.

I hope that all of this has given you some tangible ideas to use to try out creating a mastermind group of your own.

It’s made such a huge impact in my life. Early on the biggest benefit I got from my mastermind group was the faith to go after my dreams in business. Later my mastermind group helped give me the candid feedback I needed to fine-tune my action plans.

For more strategies and techniques to get the most out of your mastermind team, including a powerful technique to use your mastermind team to generate breakthrough wealth ideas see, The Maui Millionaires, pp.125-164.

Wealth Tip 22: Follow the Five Laws for Forming your Mastermind Group

2006-10-26T08:21:00.000-07:00

The Five Laws for Forming Your Mastermind

1. BE SELECTIVE -- Character is contagious. Be careful whose character you catch!

2. EACH MEMBER BENEFITS -- No one will give their full-hearted cooperation over time without getting some tangible benefit in return. Make sure you work to benefit each member of your mastermind group on a consistent basis.

3. MAINTAIN HARMONY -- This is a tall order. A mastermind group with tension or conflict is degraded to a simple committee. The single most important rule to maintaining harmony in the group is that while you can question ideas and input, never question INTENT. If you do, you will destroy the relationship.

4. COMPELLING AND DEFINITE CHIEF AIM -- Collectively create a compelling outcome for the group towards which all of you are fully in agreement on. This direction will focus your collective power and allow you to harness it to awesome effect.

5. MAINTAIN CONFIDENTIALITY -- People will be much more open and cooperative if they feel they can let their guard down and authentically and safely share.

Tomorrow I’ll share with you a simple format to actually run your mastermind meetings.

For more strategies and techniques to get the most out of your mastermind team, including a powerful technique to use your mastermind team to generate breakthrough wealth ideas see, The Maui Millionaires, pp.125-164.

Wealth Tip 21: Form a Mastermind Group and tap into the 10 Biggest Benefits that Successful Masterminding can Bring You

2006-10-25T16:15:00.000-07:00

A mastermind group is a group of two or more people who come together to work towards the achievement of a definite chief aim, in the spirit of harmony, with the commitment that every member derives a tangible benefit from the group.

It’s a concept first shared by Napoleon Hill in his classic self-help book, Think and Grow Rich.

Maui Millionaires™ have learned how to tap into the power of their mastermind groups to get the following ten benefits:
1. Accountability
2. Contacts
3. Expertise
4. Fresh perspective
5. Support and encouragement
6. New ideas
7. Expanded resources
8. Place to share your successes
9. A community of success-minded peers
10. Fun and camaraderie

In tomorrow’s Wealth Tip I’ll share with you the five laws for forming your own mastermind group to help you build your wealth faster and easier.

For more strategies and techniques to get the most out of your mastermind team, including a powerful technique to use your mastermind team to generate breakthrough wealth ideas see, The Maui Millionaires, pp.125-164.

Wealth Tip 20: The Fastest Path to Creating Wealth is by doing what you Love—tap into Your Passions to Create Your Wealth

2006-10-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

So much has been written about finding a “good paying job.” Well we think this is lousy financial advice. As you have already learned in earlier wealth Tips, earned income is one of the worst predictors of financial success. But more than that, to truly excel financially it pays to do something that you love and are passionate about.

Think of it this way: if you are driving a car on a two lane highway and you are looking to get off at the next exit, what lane will you be driving in? The right hand lane, also known as the “slow lane”. Well, when you don’t love what you are doing for a living there is always a part of you that is looking for the exit. Which means you are in the slow lane? By doing what you love you immediately move yourself over to the left hand lane and push down on the accelerator.

I’ve interviewed a lot of Maui Millionaires™ and one thing that almost all of them have in common is that they love what they do. Granted, many of them started off in careers that they hated, but for all of them, when they let go of what they didn’t love to create the time to focus their energy on what they did love, their wealth building took a huge step forward.

Wealth Tip 19: You are Already Incredibly Wealthy

2006-10-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

With all this talk about money and wealth it’s important that you don’t lose sight of one unquestionable fact: you are already amazingly wealthy.

Look at all the blessings you have in your life. You have your family and friends; you have your health (even if it isn’t perfect); you have freedom; you have the native intelligence and attributes you were born with and have cultivated over your life time. And you have so much more.

It’s our belief that one of the most powerful ways to remind yourself about how wealthy you are is contained in one word: gratitude.

What are you grateful for in your life? Or what could you be grateful for in your life if you allowed yourself? Who are the people you love? Who has made a difference in your life? What experiences will you treasure forever?

Don’t let Madison Avenue convince you to wait to feel wealthy only after you’ve bought the fanciest car or biggest house. Begin today to cultivate the attitude of gratitude in your daily life.

For more on tapping into the power of gratitude and recognizing how wealthy you already are see, The Maui Millionaires pp. 3-4, pp.237-241.

Wealth Tip 18: Negotiation is a Skill that must be Practiced to be Mastered

2006-10-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

While you can learn a tremendous amount about negotiation through reading and listening, ultimately to put this knowledge into action in the real world will require regular practice. Here are three places for you to practice your developing negotiation skills with little risk.

1. At local garage sales or flea markets – both as a buyer and as a seller
2. At your local shopping mall (negotiate a discount or other extras the next time you buy clothing, jewelry, or luggage)
3. When you travel (negotiate for a free upgrade at the hotel or rental car lot, or perhaps for a lower price on a city tour, or other perk)

Over time you will find that you start to incorporate your new skills when you are at work, with your family, and in your local community. In the long run this will make your wealth building faster, easier, and more enjoyable.

Wealth Tip 17: Negotiation is a Skill that can be Learned from Reading and Listening

2006-10-21T02:28:00.000-07:00

Like any skill, negotiation can be learned—by anyone. Here are several great resources that helped me in the beginning stages learn to master the skill of negotiation. One important note here: negotiation is a language. And like any language it is essential that you don’t just read about it, but that you listen and speak it. That is why two of the recommendations I make below are for the audio version. (I’ll go more into my suggestions for practicing your negotiating skills in the real world in the next wealth tip.)

Negotiate This, Herb Cohen (Audio)
How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie (Book)
The Secrets of Power Negotiation, Roger Dawson (Audio)
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini (Book)
The Psychology of Persuasion, Hogan (Book)

(Side Note: If you are interested in a more comprehensive home-study system to learn this crucial skill, make sure you go to www.MauiMillionaires.com and see the comprehensive negotiating course available in our online catalog. In my admittedly biased opinion it is the best course available. It will be available November 30th, 2006.)

Wealth Tip 16: Master the Skill of Negotiation—it is one of the Most Important Wealth Skills you can Cultivate

2006-10-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

Whether it be on the job as you are negotiating a contract with a vendor, or working through the specific pricing on a consulting contract you are offering to your number one client. Or even with a contractor who is giving you a bid to repair your house. The skill of negotiation is one of the highest paid skills around, and you will be paid handsomely for learning it well.

For example, my wife and I recently built a second home for ourselves. During the course of the construction our general contractor bought over $40,000 of building materials from a local vendor. I spent about 30 minutes total negotiating with that vendor over a month to give us a 5% rebate on all our purchases in his store in exchange for us giving him such a volume of business. This time saved us $2,000. Or take the case of a business deal I negotiated whereby a seller of a business I wanted to purchase sold me his interest in this multi-million dollar business for less than $100,000.

The skill of negotiation is what helps you buy a $500,000 house for $420,000. Or save $10,000 on the wedding you are throwing for your daughter.

In the business world the skill of negotiation has made me millions of dollars, and it can do the same for you. Imagine you are selling a business that you have built and are down to the final negotiations on price or terms. Or that you are hiring a new employee and are negotiating the compensation package. Or perhaps you are considering funding part of a real estate deal in exchange for a significant equity stake. In business and investing you negotiate at hundreds of times each year, with any one of those negotiations meaning a great deal of money, security, and freedom for yourself. This is why this skill is so critical for Maui Millionaires™.

So how do you learn this critical skill? That is the subject of our next two wealth tips…

Wealth Tip 15: To Become Financially Free you need Passive, Residual Income. Active Business Cash Flow or Passive Income is NOT Enough

2006-10-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

I became a millionaire at age 32, but I wasn’t financially free until a few years later. It’s not enough to make a million dollars or more per year of income. You are not financially free until you have the passive, residual cash flow and net worth to support your lifestyle for the rest of your life.

Looking back, one of the biggest financial mistakes I made was thinking that the seven figure business income I had created would last forever. Because when I sold my business, while I did get a nice fat wire transfer, but the cash flow from the business went to the new owner. It was at that point I realized that I needed residual income streams that were independent of my having to work to truly be financially free. That changed my investing focus (which up until that point hadn’t been on investing for cash flow but rather on investing for maximum equity growth).

I want you to learn from my mistake. When you begin to accumulate a significant net worth as a Level Two wealth builder, make sure you shift a real portion of your financial energy to generate passive, residual income as a Level Three wealth builder.

For more on the three types of cash flow and creating passive income see, The Maui Millionaires pp. 167-190.

Wealth Tip 14: Take the Frugalatarian™ Route

2006-10-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

There is one more track to become financially free; we call it the Frugalatarian™ route to financial freedom. Basically this is the path taken by people who save and conservatively invest 20-30% (or more) of their income over their 20-40 year working career, while at the same time minimize there living expenses to be very low.

While this isn’t the path that Diane and I have chosen to become financially free (neither of us wanted to wait 20+ years to become financially free, nor do we like living so frugally), it is a viable path to become financially independent.

If you don’t like the idea of building a business, and if becoming an investing expert who can tap into forced appreciation deals isn’t for you, then this third pathway may just be the right one for you. By the way, this path is the one that is most accepted in our culture. Haven’t you heard the saying, “work really hard, live on less than you earn, invest the difference in smart investments, and you’ll be able to retire financially independent and secure”?

Because both Diane and I have used and believe in the other two financial tracks, building businesses and investing, we won’t have too much to say about the Frugalatarian™ track, although a careful reader will be able to apply a number of the Wealth Tips to this financial plan.

Wealth Tip 13: Becoming an Investor

2006-10-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

An investor is someone who finds assets that they can buy or control with the anticipation that those assets will either increase in value or generate a passive cash flow, or ideally BOTH! For me I started off building a business and as an investor at the same time. My focus as an investor started off buying single family homes and condos. After several years and hundreds of properties I made the move to larger commercial real estate deals (apartment complexes, shopping centers, office complexes, and industrial buildings.)

The key for an investor is to become an expert in a niche, and then focus on investing in that niche where you have cultivated an advantage. As a Level Two wealth builder you are investing for “Forced Appreciation” rather than passive cash flow. Forced appreciation comes when you buy an asset and through one means or another you “force” that asset to become more valuable. For example, you buy a 12-unit apartment building that is not well managed. You work to clean it up, rent it out, and increase the rents while lowering the expenses. By doing this you have tapped into forced appreciation to make the building worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars more.

I once bought a 322-unit apartment complex for about $7.5 million. The building had a 45% vacancy factor! We fixed it up, filled it to 80% full, and then sold that building for about $2 million more than we had bought it 18 months before. That $2 million increase in value over 18 months is another example of forced appreciation. It didn’t happen because the whole real estate market moved up; it happened because we created value in the deal to make that forced appreciation happen.

Wealth Tip 12: Build a Business

2006-10-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

The fastest way to build your net worth is to start and build a successful business. This is the path that I first took myself. I started with less than $6,500 and an idea and with a partner built a multi-million dollar business in about 5 years. Three years after that I sold my half of the business and had my first “retirement” at age 36 (I got bored and four months later came out of retirement to build several more multimillion dollar businesses, although this time making sure to build them the right way, as Level Three businesses, which will be the subject of a later Wealth Tip!)

The best thing about businesses is that they can be started from scratch, with very little capital, and be expanded fast to generate a TON of cash flow. And any business that generates a lot of net profit also has a market value based on that cash flow. Thus not only are you building a lot of active cash flow that you can spin off into other investments (see below), but you’ve also built an asset itself (the business) that has a great deal of value in the market.

Wealth Tip 11: Real Wealth isn’t Money in Your Bank Account but rather the Intangibles you Enjoy in Your Life.

2006-10-15T06:09:00.000-07:00

So many people who struggle financially (and far too many people who are financially affluent) mistakenly see money as an end of itself. It isn’t. In reality money is simply a sufficiency need that once satisfied ceases being important. As you work to build your wealth never loose sight that your real wealth is in the quality relationships you build, in the health you are blessed to enjoy, the deeper meaning you are able to tap into, and the legacy of sharing and giving you are able to leave behind.

Money matters, but only to a point. It is a form of energy that opens doors and gives you options, but by itself it cannot create meaning nor can it guarantee wealth. So focus some of your energy on building financial freedom, but never lose site of its place in the bigger picture of your wealth building.

Wealth Tip 10: Focus a Portion of Your Wealth Building Efforts on Creating Passive, RESIDUAL Income.

2006-10-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

Residual cash flow is money that flows to you again and again. This could be the monthly cash flow you enjoy from a commercial building you own that is managed by a professional management company. This could be quarterly distributions you earn from a passive interest you own in a business partnership. This could be dividends you enjoy from publicly traded securities. The key distinction is that residual cash flow is an income stream that flows to you over and over again.

In my personal wealth building this has meant monthly cash flow from commercial real estate, interest payments I receive from first and second mortgages I own, and the cash flow I enjoy from Level Three businesses I own which require less than 10 hours per month of my personal time to run.

Where are you putting a portion of your wealth building energy into in order to create passive, residual income? The answers you come up with will ultimately have a larger impact on your becoming financially free than any amount of active “earned income” you’ll likely to generate.

For more on the three types of cash flow and creating passive income see, The Maui Millionaires pp. 167-190.

Wealth Tip 9: Create Passive Cash Flow—Money that Flows to You without You Having to Work for It

2006-10-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

Passive cash flow is money that comes to you without you having to actively work to generate it. In fact, I’ll put a more rigorous definition to this—passive cash flow is money you earn while working less than 10 hours per MONTH to create it.

Examples of passive cash flow are the money you earn from a CD or money market account. Or the lump sum payday you earn when you sell a property you have owned for a number of years that was being managed by an outside property management company. Or the money you earn when you sell an asset that you have owned that took minimal oversite from you personally to manage.

Still, by itself, passive cash flow isn’t enough because it often isn’t ongoing. For example, over the past ten years I’ve owned interests in well over a hundred houses. These properties were totally managed by outside joint venture partners who did the almost all of the work. Over time I sold off my interest in this portfolio of houses for a lot of money. This income was passive because it required so little of my time to create it. However, once sold, I now no longer generate any more income from those houses. I made a lot of money, but lump sums of money are not enough for financial freedom. Instead you need to invest a portion of your wealth for residual cash flow. This is the subject of the next wealth tip.

For more on the three types of cash flow and creating passive income see, The Maui Millionaires pp. 167-190.

Wealth Tip 8: Earned Income is Sugar

2006-10-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

There are three types of cash flow: active cash flow (aka: “earned income”), passive cash flow, and residual cash flow. Most people in our culture focus on increasing their active cash flow, either by finding the highest paying job they can, or by actively working to grow their business. While the goal of increasing your active income is laudable, rarely will it by itself lead to financial freedom. In fact, earned income is one of the worst predictors of financial freedom.

Why is that? Because with additional earnings most people in our culture step up to a more expensive lifestyle. In fact, they don’t just spend the additional active cash flow on one time purchases, but rather they often buy things that bring with them a much higher fixed cost of living. This includes things like a more expensive home or a fancier car, both of which bring with them many years of higher monthly payments.

Earned income is sugar. It is empty calories that may sustain you for a moment, but soon burns through. What is the way out of this trap? To focus on creating on the other two forms of cash flow—passive cash flow and residual cash flow.

For more on the three types of cash flow and creating passive income see, The Maui Millionaires, pp. 167-190.

Wealth Tip 7: Level Three Wealth Building – Converting Net Worth Into Passive, Residual Cash Flow

2006-10-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

As you build your net worth there will reach a point in time when you need to transition a healthy portion of your focus away from investing or business building for massive equity growth to instead creating passive, residual cash flow. Rarely will you find a business or investment vehicle that gives you forced appreciation, great cash flow, and takes very little of your time. Usually as a Level Two wealth builder you focus on investments and businesses that give you the first two—forced appreciation and cash flow—but take time and effort on your part.

But once you have the financial strength that a large net worth gives you, it’s time to focus some or all (depending on your real goals) to convert that net worth into passive residual cash flow. This could be done by turning an active business into a true Level Three business. A Level Three business is one which has the team, systems, and outsourced solutions that are capable of having that business thrive without you the owner actively participating in that business.

Or your could make the shift to creating passive, residual income by changing your investment focus to capitalize on the many great cash flow creating investment choices. For me I’ve made this shift in my own personal wealth building by passively investing in commercial real estate. I also am building my two current businesses so that over the next 36 months I can turn them into a true Level Three business. What will I do then? Probably take a few months off and build another business. I can’t help it, I love building businesses that make a positive difference in the world and I don’t think I’d like to “retire” in the traditional sense.

The key to your later stage wealth building is to make this transition and not to rely on the cash flow from active businesses as the source of your financial freedom. This is the topic of the next Wealth Tip.

For more on Level Three wealth building see, The Maui Millionaires pp.186-189.

Wealth Tip 6: Level Two Wealth Building—Aggressively Growing Your Net Worth

2006-10-06T13:33:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,

Since I'll be tied up over the weekend I decided to go ahead and put up the wealth tips through next Monday.

Remember, the book comes out on Nov 4th (possibly earlier.)

Enjoy the tips.

David

Wealth Tip 6: Level Two Wealth Building—Aggressively Growing Your Net Worth

Now that you have a foundation of financial skills and knowledge under your belt, it’s time to begin building your wealth in earnest. In a moment I’ll share with you the three main wealth building tracks, but first I want to be very clear on one thing—you will NEVER feel totally ready to step from Level One to Level Two. There will always be a good deal of fear as you make this jump. Do it anyway. I believe that one of the single greatest skills that wealthy people have developed is the ability to act in the presence of there fears. Notice that I called this a skill, which means you can learn it.

While different people have different tolerances for risk and fear, all of us can expand our comfort zone through the conscious cultivation of courage—the quality that keeps us moving in the presence of our fear. Every experience you have in any area where you feel fear and still find a way to take intelligent action in the presence of your fear grows your courage muscle.

There are the three main wealth building tracks that lead to financial freedom, each of which is the subject of three future Wealth Tips. In tomorrow’s Wealth Tip I’ll share with you important information about Level Three wealth building.

For more on Level Two wealth building see, The Maui Millionaires pp.186-189.

Wealth Tip 5: Level One Wealth Building—Your Time to Build Your Financial Foundation

2006-10-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

If Level One is all about getting started, then the first step of a Level One wealth builder is to make the definite commitment that he or she will become financially free. The single most common reason that people fail financially is not poor judgment or lack of opportunity, rather it is the failure to make the decision to be financially free.

I am not talking about the wish or the desire to become financially free. I am speaking of the congruent commitment that you will become financially free, no matter what. This means that you both believe it is possible for you to be financially free and that it is a definite goal of yours.

From this point of decision, Level One is about building the rudimentary foundation of financial skills and knowledge so that you can move to Level Two and work to aggressively grow your net worth--intelligently and skillfully.

As a Level One wealth builder there are five specific action steps for you to take:

1. Determine how much money it would really cost you each year for you to become financially free. (See Wealth Tip 15 for more guidance on exactly how to do this.) This becomes your first financial freedom target—to generate the passive, residual income you need to meet this cost of living.

2. Begin today to invest a definite percentage of your income, no matter how small this initial percentage, for your future financial freedom. The key as a Level One wealth builder is not to become wealthy in one bold move, but rather to congruently make the shift to have a portion of your time, talent, and money invested for your future. There is a saying that where your attention flows, your energy goes, and your result shows. Well, taking a definite percentage of your income off the top to automatically invest for your future is a tangible way to get your attention off of debt and financial struggle, and instead focus on wealth creation.

3. Read or listen to financial books and courses for at least 60 minutes three times per week. There are only two ways to learn—by your painful trial and error or by the experiences of other people. Reading and listening to the right financial books and courses lets you benefit from the digested and organized experience of some of the smartest people on the planet in the area of finance and wealth building. Over the past decade I’ve consistently read or listened to over 100 books and courses each year. I credit this self-education as one of the most significant contributors to my financial success. It will do the same for you if you step up and get busy studying. The best investment you can make as a Level One wealth builder is in your own financial education.

4. Find a partner or group to mastermind with as you begin your journey. You have a long road ahead of your to build your wealth. There will be challenges, set backs, and successes along the way. The key is for you to have a team to turn to so that you will stay the course. Wealth building is a team sport and is much easier to do with the cooperation and active support of a community of other wealth builders. (This is one reason why Diane and I started Maui Mastermind™ Online to create the world’s premier online wealth building community.)

5. Don’t make any MAJOR financial commitments until you have both the financial understanding and financial team that can help you intelligently evaluate and execute that investment or business. In other words, as a Level One wealth builder you don’t yet have the financial sophistication to make major financial moves. Instead, delay these until you have progressed to Level Two.

So how long will it take you to progress from Level One to Level Two in your wealth building? For most people it will take 6-12 months, however if you really apply yourself you can make it in as little as 60-90 days, although this is pushing it.

For more on Level One wealth building see, The Maui Millionaires pp.186-189.

Wealth Tip 4: Determine which level of wealth builder you are

2006-10-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

There is no one wealth strategy that fits all people. In fact, depending on the current status of your financial wealth building you will need to tailor your financial efforts in totally different ways.

There are essentially three levels of wealth building—Level One, Level Two, and Level Three.

Level One is about getting starting, and it is the subject of Wealth Tip 5 for most Maui Millionaires™ it takes 6-12 months to progress through this level.

Level Two is about aggressively growing your net worth, and it is the subject of Wealth Tip 6. For most Maui Millionaires™ it takes 3-10 years to progress through this level. This might seem like a long time, but compare that to the default plan in our society in which the average person works 40-45 years, then retires financially dependent on the government or family (if they are even able to stop working in the first place!)

Level Three is about converting your net worth into passive, residual cash flow. It is the subject of Wealth Tip 7. This usually takes most Maui Millionaires™ about 24-36 months to intelligently make this transition.

What happens next? For many Maui Millionaires™ once they have become financially free with plenty of passive, residual income and healthy net worth, they take a short break, and find the next challenge for them to become passionate about.

For me, after I “retired” at age 36 having sold one of my companies, I took four months off and got very bored. At that point I started up two multi-million dollar companies in areas that I felt very passionate about. Also, I made sure that I structured the businesses so that they supported my very flexible and free lifestyle (E.g. working no more than 30 hours per week, work from anywhere I want, etc.). Finally, I made sure that I built in a very large giving component into the DNA of the companies from the start.

The results? Well one of the results was Maui Millionaires, LLC. Not only does that company teach hundreds of thousands of people each year about financial mastery, wealth, and how they can become a Maui Millionaire™, but it also raises over a million dollars a year for charity. Level Three wealth builders isn’t the end, rather it’s the launching pad for Maui Millionaires™ to build an enduring legacy that will live on beyond their lives.

For more on Level One, Two, Three wealth building see, The Maui Millionaires pp.186-189.

Wealth Tip 3: Learn to Dream Big Again

2006-10-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

All of us started out as children who loved to dream. As children our dreams were wild, crazy, bold, and visionary. But then life taught us to dampen our dreams and our expectations.

Well if you want to be a Maui Millionaire™ then it’s essential that you learn to dream again—the vivid, bold, ambitious dreams of youth.

What would you do if you were not afraid? What one dream would you dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?

Maui Millionaires™ have the courage to dream big, and the faith to step up and work to make these dreams come true.

For more on dreaming big and playing the Maui Millionaire Big Dream Game™, including how to download your free copy see, The Maui Millionaires pp. 81-122.

Wealth Tip 2: Fastest Way to Upgrade Your Wealth Operating System(TM) Automatically

2006-10-03T06:18:00.000-07:00

Human beings are social beings. Over time we are strongly influenced by the belief systems and attitudes of those people we spend the most time with. This is a powerful fact if you use it and consciously choose to spend time with people who are a positive influence on you.

One of the reasons we are giving every reader of, The Maui Millionaires, a free copy of the Maui Millionaire Big Dream Game™ is so that you can play it with your mastermind team. Simply playing the game with positive people who are committed to living a truly wealthy life will automatically upgrade your W.O.S. each time you play.

Sometimes in life you can get more by relaxing, having fun, and working less. Playing the Maui Millionaire Big Dream Game™ is one of those times. We hope you enjoy it!

For more on playing the Maui Millionaire Big Dream Game™, including how to download your free copy see, The Maui Millionaires, pp. 119-122.

Wealth Tip 1: The Single Greatest Leverage Point to Your Wealth Operating System(TM)

2006-10-03T06:16:00.000-07:00

Each of us has an internal program we run about money, wealth, and our ability to earn and enjoy it. We call this your Wealth Operating System™ or W.O.S. for short.

Your W.O.S. is the sum total of your emotional associations to and beliefs about money, wealth, rich people, and your ability to be one of them. Each of us was programmed in with a default setting for our W.O.S. through childhood influences like our parents, our extended family and friends, our teachers, the media, and our culture as a whole.

In order for you to step up to all the wealth that is waiting for you one of the most important steps you must take, if not the most important step, is to work to upgrade your W.O.S.

How will this impact you? Well take the example of John, a two time participant at Maui Mastermind™, an ultra-exclusive, five day wealth retreat we hold for a small handful of our elite clients. When John first came to Maui he had been investing in single family homes in San Diego for about 5 years. Over that time he had made hundreds of thousands of dollars buying homes, renting homes, and reselling homes. But he had dreamed of stepping up to investing in commercial real estate like apartment buildings for over 3 years but just hadn’t been able to make that jump. Within 3 months of going home from Maui John had closed on two apartment buildings! What was different? Didn’t deals like that exist before John went to Maui? Of course they did, but the difference was that after Maui John was finally able to see the deals that he had previously walked right past.

Your W.O.S. literally determines the opportunities and options that you have to create wealth. By upgrading your W.O.S. you are able to make creating wealth easy and automatic. I know this sounds like a big statement, but in my experience creating wealth and teaching hundreds of other people how to create wealth it is absolutely and irrefutably true.

For more on your Wealth Operating System™ including a 5 step system for upgrading it see,The Maui Millionaires pp. 19-78.

30 Day Maui Millionaire Countdown Explanation

2006-10-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I'm back! After a full summer off from posting and emailing (thanks it was a fun break... Heather and I travelled and I read and wrote a ton!) I am back on it!

As many of you already know, my new book, The Maui Millionaires, comes out on November 3rd.

As a special part of spreading the word, Diane Kennedy (my co-author) and I are hosting a 30 Day Maui Millionaire(TM) Countdown. Each day for hte next 30 days I'll have a new wealth tip for you! (I may do two days at once over the weekend :).

I hope you enjoy it.

Also I'll be sending out emails with Wealth Tips each week from now on. If you haven't registered at one of my sites, then just send an email to Judy@getrichgetreal.com and ask her to send the emails to you.

Have a great day and let the wealth tips begin!

David

Making the Transition from Part Time Investor to Full Time (Dealing with Practicalities Part Two)

2006-08-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

Making the Transition from Part Time Investor to Full Time (Dealing with Practicalities Part One)

2006-08-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

Making the Transition from Part Time Investor to Full Time (Dealing with Fear Part Two)

2006-08-14T09:44:00.000-07:00

Making the Transition from Part Time Investor to Full Time (Dealing with Fear Part One)

2006-08-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

Favorite Wealth Reading List

2006-08-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Here is my suggested reading list as requested.

I need to add a few more books to it:

General Wealth-- coming out in early November 2006 is the book Diane and I just finished writing called, THe Maui Millionaires. It's the best general wealth book I've done.

REal Estate:
For those of you who want to build a real estate investing business as oppossed to just occassionally investing in a property here or there, then I strongly recommend , The Real Estate Fasttrack. I wrote this one about a year ago.

HEre's the rest of the list: (I included audio, video too)

David’s Suggested Wealth Reading – Listening – Viewing List

Inspirational

The Alchemist (Coehlo)
Joseph
Biographies and autobiographies I’ve enjoyed:

Gandhi (His autobiography is great)
Benjamin Franklin (both his autobiography and a bio)
George Washington (The Indispensable Man)
Founding Brothers
Harry Truman (Truman)
Mohamed Ali
Abraham Lincoln (With Malice Towards None)
Corrie Ten Blume
George Marshall
Bill Gates
Martin Luther King Jr.
Armand Hammer
Oeshiba (founder of Aikido)

Tuesdays with Morrie
Goodbye Mr. Chips
Any Chicken Soup for the Soul book
Any Og Mandino book
The Present (Spencer)
Any Robert Fulgham
The Velveteen Rabbit

Movies:

Hook
Any Given Sunday
Empire Strikes back
Dead Poets Society
Field of Dreams
Pay it Forward
Dave
Rocky (I,II, III)
Chariots of Fire
Legend of Bagger Vance
Forest Gump
Braveheart
Life Is Beautiful
Patch Adams
Breakfast Club
Dances with Wolves
Lilies of the Field
It’s a Wonderful Life
Scrooged
Ground Hog Day
Mr Smith Goes to Washington
Karate Kid

Self Mastery:

Think and Grow Rich (Hill)
How to Win Friends and Influence People (Carnegie)
Awaken the Giant Within (Robbins)
Lessons in Mastery (Robbins) -- audio
Living Health (Robbins) -- audio
Unlimited Power (Robbins) – audio version best
Accelerated Learning (Tracy and Rose) – audio
Any book on learning from Tony Buzon (e.g. Use Both Sides of Your Brain)
Lead the Field – audio
People Making (Satir)
Aladdin Factor (Canfield and Hanson)
The Success Principles (Canfield)
7 Habits of Highly Effective People (audio great version) – Covey
First Things First (Covey)
The 8^th Habit (Covey)
Emotional Intelligence
The Psychology of Achievement (audio program by Tracy, book version is called “Maximum Achievement”)
Pure Genius (Sullivan) – audio program
The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey
Personal Power II (Robbins) – Audio (better than “Get the Edge”)
Anything by Jim Rohn (his audio is best)
Wayne Dyer (I like all his audio programs, “No Limit Person” a good one to start with)
Zig Ziglar (all his audio programs are great, my favorite is “View from the Top”)
The Power of Myth – Interview from PBS Special with Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers (I liked videos best, book next best)
Prosperity Consciousness (Lehrman) -- audio
Full Engagement

Business and Wealth:

Rich Dad, Poor Dad (series)
Your Secret Wealth (Abraham) -- audio
The E-myth (Gerber)
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Cialdini)
The Psychology of Persuasion (Hogan)
The Secrets to High Ticket Selling (Slater)
The Game of Work
What Every Business Person Should Know about the Law (audio)
Business Contracts for Dummies
Your Money or Your Life (Domingez)
Re-Imagine (Peters)
Swim with the Sharks (MacKay)
Any Peter Drucker
Good to Great (Collins)
The Value Creator (Sullivan) -- audio

Big Post Coming Monday

2006-08-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

Last chance to ask for what you want me to touch on this week in the blog.

So far the list includes:

How to know whent hte time is right to go full time with your investing
How to effectively and intelligently make that transition
Fear with your investing
Reading list suggestions

Heather leaves on Saturday afternoon so on Monday I'll be putting a big chunk of posts, some audio posts and some typed out.

If you have any burning questions this is your chance.

Hope oyur weekend is great!

What Would You Like Me to Blog About?

2006-08-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

What would you most like me to talk about in the next few posts on this blog?

Do you have burning questions on wealth building? Or real estate? Or structuring your life to get so much more accomplished in less time?

Just post your response to this post and later this week I'll come back and fire away with the best answers I've got.

Have a great week.
David

Wealth Tips Eletter July 31, 2006

2006-08-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

The Maui Millionaire Wealth Weekend in Phoenix on July 22 and 23 was incredible. Not only did I get the chance to meet with several hundred of you, but together we raised $300,000 for charity from the event. Thank you all for your support of these great causes.

This week’s wealth tips are on real estate investing. I decided to write one more on the types of real estate markets and strategies for each (geared to single family home investors) because so many of you invest in real estate and the markets you are in may be in the process of shifting up or down.

Enjoy!

*********** Wealth Tips ******************

The Three Markets You’ll Be Investing In Over the Years: Hot, Medium, Mild

There are three main real estate markets and you need to know how to be able to make money investing at each of them. Hot markets… medium markets (aka: slow and steady markets)… mild markets (aka: buyers or flat markets.)

Let’s get one thing straight, you can make money in any type of market. Many other investors have before you. The key is to know what type of market you are investing in and adjust your buying and selling strategies accordingly.

In a hot market you are going to have fewer deals for you to buy, however, with the strong appreciation and high demand for property the property you already own and the new property you are acquiring will make you a lot more per deal.

In a hot market you typically are buying for time. This means any way you can acquire a property at or below value in a hot market that requires very little of your own money and in which the payments are low enough that you can make it cash flow while you hold onto it for a few years you are going to come out of it way ahead.

The key thing in a hot market is to realize that this is the riskiest market of all to buy for cash or with a bank loan that you are personally guaranteeing.

The reason that this is so is because you never can tell how long a hot market will stay hot. The market could be tipped by rising interest rates, by a major employer in the area going bust, or any one of a number of factors. And if you are buying for cash or with a loan in your name that you personally guaranteed you might not be able to wait any downturn in the market out. Especially if you caught the speculation bug and bought for cash (and remember that buying with a loan that you personally guaranteed is the equivalent of buying for cash) where you didn’t get a cash price, you are vulnerable to forces outside of your control.

I want all of you to learn to do your investing the right way, with sound fundamentals. If you do it the way I have been teaching you over the years, you will rarely get caught in spot you can’t step back from. I’ve personally bought a lot of houses from investors who got caught up in the excitement of a market and didn’t remember that you make your profit in a deal not when you sell…but when you are buying.

So the bottom line for a hot market is that if you are buying for all cash to the seller then you need a fair cash price—at least 20-25% under the current market value. If you are buying on terms, then don’t worry so much about price. Instead go after a monthly payment that will give you a cushion of cash flow, and go after a long term that you can hold the property with little of your cash into the deal. (This means lease options, owner carries, subject to deals, etc.)

My favorite two buying strategies in a hot market is to buy either subject to the seller’s existing loan or to buy on a long term lease option. Both of these strategies can be utilized in a hot market to reap huge profits with very little cash or risk.

Now if you are investing in a medium market then you have a stable, steady growth to rely on. But if you are buying on terms and the property is only appreciating at 3 to 5% per year you are going to need to find one more strong sweetener to make the deal a keeper. This could be negotiating 12 to 20% of the purchase price you are paying so you build some equity in from day one. This could be negotiating a lower monthly payment to the seller so that the property cash flows well over the years. The key is to find a way to build a more substantial profit cushion in the deal to be safe. The biggest mistake I watch investor make in a medium market is give to much to the seller when negotiating and not have it be a win-win.

As for a slow market, the key here is to remember to pick and choose carefully because you’ll have a ton of sellers willing to practically give you their houses when you use the strategies and techniques we’re teaching you. The biggest mistake I watch investor make in a cold market is to get excited by all the sellers who are willing to do a deal and take too many deals all at once where some aren’t really smart deals.

Remember that in a cold market you don’t just need a motivated seller who is desperate to sell, you need a seller with a situation that will also allow you to make a conservative profit on the deal you are structuring. Usually this means one of two things, either the seller has some equity in the property and you can negotiate a winning price, or the seller’s financing is attractive so taking over the property will still allow you to make a healthy cash flow.

Again I want to make sure that you understand that investors make a lot of money in all three of these markets. For example, a friend of mine was investing in a hot market in California. During one six month period when other people kept telling him that the market was “too hot”, he’s purchased 3 apartment buildings and 5 houses using exactly these ideas.

Of course, in that same cities there were many other investors crying about how the market was too hot to find any good deals. As you can imagine, they were right. The market, when combined with their limiting beliefs about the market, was too tough for them to remain true to their dreams and they quit. Remember, right now in your home town, some other investor is making a lot of money investing, why not you?

Which Is the Best Market for You to Invest In?

So which market is the best one to invest in?

The answer is ALL of them.

Personally I prefer investing right before a market takes off into a hot phase, but there is really no reliable way to accurately predict this. Also, it’s not something you control. I don’t want you to look at real estate as a function of being in the right market at the right time. While this can mean extra profits from sky-rocketing appreciation, does this mean you have to go to different areas of the country to do your investing? I don’t think you need to do this.

Instead, over the years I have worked hard to share with you the skills and knowledge base to capitalize on the advantages of any market while mitigating the risks in those types of markets. The key is to understand that you can make a consistent profit in any market because you are intelligently INVESTING not indiscriminately speculating.

So just what is the difference between investing and speculating? Well speculating means buying a property with no profit margin built in from day one, and hoping that the property goes up in value so that you can sell it for a profit down the road. Most speculators end up losing. Their like the gambler who walks into Vegas and lays down a big bet on Red Seven. Now they may come out a big winner, but someone is paying for all those fancy lights on the Vegas strip!

Instead I want you to be like the casinos in the sense that no matter what time of year they are making money. When you learn the basics of investing you can make them work in any market. Obviously this will take some effort on your part to master the fundamentals, but the reward is a lifetime of profit from your investing. Profits you earn in any market, in any area of the country.

When you are an investor you build a profit into the deal from the day you put it under contract. I don’t want you guessing or wondering if you’ll make a profit. I want you to KNOW you will. For example, in a medium market you may pick up a property with $35,000 of equity the day you buy it, and with a tenant already lined up for the property who will be paying you $275 more per month than the monthly payments.

Or in a hot market you could be buying for full price, but doing it with very little money down and the owner financing the purchase for 5 years with payments that cash flow.

Or in a cold market you may find a seller who just wants you to stop the foreclosure he is struggling with so that he can walk away from the property with his credit intack. And in exchange for you making up $6,000 of back payments the seller deeds you the home and you now have a solid investment property with 20% equity and a great loan already in place.

The common thread for all investors is that they understand that they make their profit when they buy; they harvest their equity when they sell; they grow their net worth when they reinvest in more real estate and in themselves.

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Wealth Blog Update:

I posted three updates to my wealth blog earlier last week. Two are audio posts on why earned income is one of the worst predictors of financial success, and what one ratio is the most important predictor of financial freedom. I will be posting a few more times this week and each week. It’s located at www.GetRichGetReal.com

Safe Senders List

Just to make sure you never miss out on this eLetter. I plan on sending it bi-weekly for now and may move this to weekly later this fall. Make sure you add my email address to your email program’s “safe sender’s list” so it is never blocked.

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That’s it for this letter. Make sure to keep checking weekly on my wealth blog (www.GetRichGetReal.com) for more updates and ideas on creating wealth.

I hope your week is a GREAT one!

David Finkel

What SHOULDN'T You Be Doing In Your Business?

2006-07-31T17:46:00.000-07:00

The Earned Income Trap(TM) -- Part Two

2006-07-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

The Earned Income Trap(TM) -- Part one

2006-07-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Women for Wealth Tele-Class

2006-07-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

The weekend in Phoenix was amazing. I'll do a separate post for that in just a moment.

I just found out from my friend Liz Uible that several of the graduates from Maui teamed up for a charity project that will also give you a chance to fine tune your wealth and investing skills.

I'm pasting the details of howyou can participate in this cause AND learn some key wealth and investing strategies below. Enjoy!

David

Women for Wealth Series™

Empowering Women Financially to Impact the World Globally™

The Women for Wealth Series is proud to announce an evening with Kelly Fabros, ex-LAPD officer turned Real Estate Mogul! Join international bestselling author, speaker and businesswoman, Christine Harvey, as she goes one-on-one with Kelly for an evening of education, inspiration and empowerment.

Learn how Kelly went from investing in single family houses to purchasing 2 large apartment buildings (316 units and 156 units) in less than 2 years.

Now you'll learn the exact techniques for wealth building to make it work for you.

7:00 PM Pacific Time Thursday, July 27th. Can't make it? Don't worry – on this first call of the series everyone gets a free MP3 download of the call! This $59.00 value is yours free. This means you can refer back to her words of wisdom over and over again – even go back months and years from now as you face new opportunities and challenges – it will all be at your finger tips forever.

You will learn:
· How to bring in exceptional cash flow and rarely set foot on your properties . . . Kelly lives in LA, her buildings are in the Midwest.
· How she made the leap into huge deals . . . and how you can too!
· How to network your way to the best deals . . . and get your offers accepted!
· How to find the money . . . Kelly has successfully raised huge sums of money!
· How to make sure your deal is a really good one . . . take the mystery out of the due diligence process!
· How to deal with the emotional roller coaster ride . . . it happens, learn what to do!
· How to navigate the world of commercial financing . . . what to look for and who to call!
· How to be prepared at closing . . . learn the surprises that can come up and how to avoid them!
· How to manage your properties from wherever you are in the world . . . choosing a property management company with confidence!
· How to learn from others' experience . . . Kelly will share her "24 Greatest Lessons along the Way" (One for every hour of the day!)
All of this and much, much more!

Plus, 100% of your donation will go towards 'Micro Lending for the Women of Bali.' This is your chance to help people who had little to start with and now find themselves with absolutely nothing, since the Tsunami struck! A few precious dollars help women build businesses to support their families, educate their children and end the cycle of poverty. And the best part is that the loan is paid back and re-circulates! Why not join us for this first in a series - learn, grow, build your wealth, and help others at the same time.

Be sure to forward this to your email list so others you know can benefit from Kelly's experience and knowledge!
To register for the live call and have access to your free MP3 download after the call visit:
http://www.womenforwealth.com

We'll talk to you Thursday night!

Women for Wealth Series^TM

P.S. YOUR FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD: You're going to be amazed at how easy some of this is! Click below to sign up now including access to your free MP3 download!
(Remember, you can go back to this recording months and years from now as you face new opportunities and challenges – it will all be at your finger tips forever!)
CLICK HERE... TO REGISTER and receive your FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD http://www.womenforwealth.com

P.P.S. 'ASK MASTERMINDERS' ... WANT TO ASK YOUR QUESTION? Here's your chance to participate in advance. Pose your question to our expert and we'll do our best to have it covered in the interview. Click here to enter your question: AskMasterminders@gmail.com

What is the Women for Wealth series?
Started by three Maui Mastermind participants, Christine Harvey, Juli Butler and Liz Uible, this organization is Empowering Women Financially to Impact the World Globally™ through education and inspiration.

Ten Deadly Deal Analysis Mistakes

2006-07-19T20:24:00.000-07:00

Hope you all enjoy this one. I'm off tomorrow for Phoenix for our first ever, Maui Millioniare(TM) Wealth Weekends. We have about 230 people coming for this wealth workshop with 100% of the proceeds--gross, not net-- going to charity. I'll let you know how it goes.

See you next week!

The Ten Deadly Deal Analysis Disasters

Mistake 1. Taking TOO Long: Good deals don’t wait around for indecisive people. Many people “think a deal to death.” The best way I know to lower your anxiety level with a deal is to move forward provisionally (i.e. with a subject to clause or liquidated damages clause of some sort. You’ll learn more about this in the next chapter.)

Mistake 2. Trusting Seller’s Numbers: Even if the have only good intentions, most sellers just aren’t knowledgeable and all of them are inherently biased at least a bit. The most common problems with a seller’s numbers are pretty obvious—they think the value is too high (often times confusing “listing prices” of local homes with actual “selling prices”), and they think the cost to fix it up is too low.

Mistake 3. Trusting “appraisals”: An appraisal really isn’t meaningful, unless YOU hired the appraiser, and YOU gave them the instructions, and YOU are handing the appraiser the check. I can influence an appraiser to appraise a “$100,000” house for as little as $80,000 and as high as $120,000 (or more). That’s close to a 40% varience on the two appraisals of the same property! So take any “appraisal” the seller hands you in the spirit that it was intended, as a MARKETING piece! The best appraisals are ones that you hire the appraiser and give them their instructions. If I really want an appraisal to be accurate then I choose a reliable appraiser I’ve used before and ask her, “What would this house need to be priced at to sell in 90 days or less?” This should give you a conservative estimation of value.

Mistake 4. Doing your math in pencil: The next time you catch yourself thinking it’s okay to “fudge” your numbers a little to make the deal cash flow or the rehab payoff on paper, BEWARE! Some investors have a tendency to “play” with the number a little to make them show a marginal deal is better than it really is. Remember, just because the deal makes a profit on paper doesn’t mean you’ll make money in the real world.

Mistake 5. Overestimating the market rents: This one happens all the time. The way you know what a house will rent for is to do a market rent survey. The rents listed in the paper or that a real estate agent told you may or may not be accurate.

Mistake 6. Overestimating the “as is” value: So many investors forget that to turn a house in 90 days or less requires the price to be REAL, not pie in the sky. What would it really take to get the house into top showing condition? Be careful to be conservative in your estimate of value going into the deal. The worst case then is that you make MORE money!

Mistake 7. Getting bogged down in process… Use the 3-step process you just learned about so that you incrementally invest more time in the deal only as it proves it is warranted. Learn to trust your due diligence and evaluation process and make sure it is checklist driven. This is your best insurance that you’ll do it the right way every time.

Mistake 8. Worrying about the house on the Quick View step: On your first pass, you are only concerned about three things: 1. What is the real market value of the house? 2. Is your price right? 3. If you are planning on holding onto the property long term, will it cash flow?

Mistake 9. Underestimating the time it will take to Flip / Fix / Fill / Sell: I’ve bought a lot of houses from investors who got stuck with holding costs being too much for them to handle. Be careful here. If your exit strategy is to sell the house to a retail cash buyer it will need to be in showing condition or you’ll struggle to find a quality retail cash buyer. Always be conservative with how long it will take you to execute your exit strategy and if possible, build in a healthy cushion of extra time.

Mistake 10. (The Biggest Deadly Deal Disaster of All) Hiding behind analysis because you are afraid to pull the trigger on the deal! At a certain point as an investor you will need to step forward in the deal and commit.

Wealth Tips Eletter July 10, 2006

2006-07-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

This eletter was sent out earlier today. If you want to subscribe to this eletter, just email your contact info to my assistant judy@getrichgetreal.com.

THanks, David

Subject: Wealth Tips and Announcements

Hi Everyone,

I know it’s been over two months since my last posts to the wealth blog and my last eletter on wealth. Please forgive the lag. As most of you know, now that I’ve sold my half of MFG I’ve been semi-retired for the last 6 months and I’ve been loving the extra freedom.

It’s been an incredible experience getting the chance to start fresh and focus my business life about what I’m most passionate about.

I hope you enjoy the wealth tips, some on real estate investing and some on wealth in general.

Also you’ll notice some important announcements and links in this eletter too.

Enjoy!

*********** Wealth Tips 1 of 2 ******************

Changing Your Buying Strategies as the Market Changes

Many of you live in areas of the country where the real estate markets have slowed down quite a bit. This will have a big impact on you as an investor and it’s critical that you adjust your buying strategies accordingly.

If your market has slowed then the biggest shift is for you to tighten up on your deal criteria. What used to be a hugely profitable deal two years ago may be only a marginal deal in today’s market conditions. Make sure you build your profit in right from the very start.

For those of you who buy for cash (your money, your bank’s money, or outside hard money lender’s money): make sure you get a much lower price than you might have settled for several years ago. You can’t be buying for 70-75% or higher of the as is value in a flat or declining market and be confident that you’ll make enough money to make the deal worth your while.

I suggest you tighten up your minimum margin to at MOST 65% of the as is value, and ideally lower than that.

For those of you who are buying on terms (lease options, subject to the existing financing, owner carry deals): make sure the property will cash flow with a cushion if you have some longer vacancies or a small decline in market rents of 5-10%. In a really soft rental market I want my MINIMUM cashflow cushion to be a spread of at least 10%, ideally 15% or more, between my total payment and the market rent. A down market is a GREAT time to pick up bargains that you can hold for 2-5 years until the market turns, then you get to ride up the appreciation curve on the other side.

The smaller the cashflow cushion you have, the more equity you need in the deal to build in security for yourself so that if worst comes to worse you can sell the property and exit from it fast.

I hope these reminders help spark you to take a fresh look at the deals you are willing to take in a buyer’s market.

Below I will be sharing the Five Core Financial Wealth Skills.

*************************************

Wealth Blog Update:

I will be posting WEEKLY updates to my wealth blog from here on out so make sure you go check it out. I’ll share strategies on wealth, investing tips and techniques, and other wealth insights. It’s located at www.GetRichGetReal.com

I’ll be sending out this eletter once or twice a month so make sure you add this address to your “safe senders” list or you might miss out on these important ideas.

Wealth Workshop for Charity!

On July 22-23^rd, 2006, Diane and I will be personally leading a 2 day wealth workshop to raise money for charity. Diane and I will be paying for all of the costs for the event so that 100% of your $500 ticket price goes straight to charity (The Justa Center, a homeless shelter that works with families to get them off the streets and back on their feet).

Below is a quick description. To register go to http://www.taxloopholes.com/index.php?s=stldetail&id=52

The workshop is laid out in six parts:

Part One: Upgrading Your Wealth Operating System™! Learn a powerful five-step process to literally reprogram your belief system about wealth, money, and financial abundance so that making money is easy and automatic. Never again will you unwittingly engage is self sabotaging wealth destroying behaviors because in this section of the workshop you’ll learn the key distinctions that will put you in charge of your own wealth program.

Part Two: Dreaming Big! In this section of the workshop we’ll guide you to be bold and create those big dreams in the seven important areas of your life to serve as the guiding star for all that you accomplish. Plus, you’ll learn how to tap into other people’s dreams to build a lasting joint venture to accomplish even more.

Part Three: Masterminding Your Way to Millions! You don’t need to do it all alone. You’ll discover how to create a highly functional mastermind group that will push you to even greater accomplishments. You’ll learn the five critical elements of a powerful mastermind to keep it operating at the highest possible level for breakthrough results.

Part Four: Building Level Three Wealth and Enjoy a Maui Lifestyle! It’s not enough to just make a lot of money. You need to build your wealth in such a way that it truly creates secure and thriving financial freedom. In this section you’ll learn the secret Maui Financial Freedom Formula™ and a breakthrough new system for measuring your real financial progress. You’ll learn why “income” is the worst predictor of financial success and how to powerfully build with the five pillars of wealth to create enduring financial freedom.

Part Five: Tapping Into Maui Giving to Create a Legacy that Lives On Beyond You! One of the hallmarks of a Maui Millionaire is the sustained giving that he creates throughout his lifetime.

Once you’ve learned these essential strategies and technologies to leverage from where you are to where you want to be, we have one more important area to focus on before you go home...

Part Six: Your Personal Financial Freedom Plan. Before you leave on Sunday night you’ll take with you a highly detailed, personally created, action plan to take you to financial freedom. This way when you get home you’ll hit the ground on Monday morning with a clearly laid out plan of exactly what you’ll need to do to turn the ideas from the workshop into dollars in your bank account.

************ Wealth Tip 2 of 2 *****************

The Five Core Financial Wealth Skills

One of the biggest roadblocks I see for wealth builders is not knowing where to start. Below is a list of the five most important financial skills you will need to cultivate to become wealthy.

Go down through this list and pick out on area you see that you need to develop and buy a book on this subject and begin reading it in the next 14 days. Don’t delay. Your financial freedom depends on you taking action!

Skill One: Learning how to invest for forced appreciation. Forced appreciation is when you buy an asset and increase it’s value by changing it or leveraging it in some way. For example, you can buy a foreclosure house at 50 cents on the dollar and massively increase it’s value by both fixing it up and also changing the circumstances of the owner. Or you can buy an apartment building that is in a prime location and convert it to condos. This change to a higher economic value is another example of forced appreciation.

Skill Two: Once you’ve accumulated a solid asset base, learning to invest for passive, residual cash flow. This was a hard lesson for me to learn. There is a big difference between investing for capital gains and investing for residual cash flow. To be financially free you need to create streams of income, not a nest egg. Your nest egg is only a resource from which to create income.

Skill Three: Fluency with the language of business—Balance sheets, Cash flow statements, and Profit and Loss Reports. I don’t love math myself, but for me to build and grow my wealth it was critical for me to learn a basic level of fluency in financial statements.

Skill Four: Fluency with the language of contracts. Every deal you ever do will be expressed in the legal language of a contract, so you better take the time to learn how to understand that language.

Skill Five: Upgrading your Wealth Operating System™. This is the sum total of your emotional associations and beliefs about money, wealth, and your ability to earn and enjoy it. This is such a key part of wealth that I just finished co-writing a book on this topic with Diane Kennedy called, The Maui Millionaires™. The book will be released in late October or early November of this year.

Okay, so there you have the skills laid out. I’ll make sure to post some more detailed ideas on how to best master them on my wealth blog and in future Wealth Tips eletters. The key for now is to highlight what they are for you.

*******************************

That’s it for this letter. Make sure to keep checking weekly on my wealth blog (www.GetRichGetReal.com) for more updates and ideas on creating wealth.

I hope your week is a GREAT one!

David Finkel

P.S. If you want to find out more about that two day wealth workshop where ALL the ticket price will go to charity just go to http://www.taxloopholes.com/index.php?s=stldetail&id=52 to register!

P.P.S. It’s nice to be back in the game since my extended vacation!

Maui Wealth Weekend!

2006-05-31T11:29:00.000-07:00

This Letter Is for Anyone Who Always

Wanted to Join Us In Maui

But Couldn’t Afford the

$30,000 Price Tag…

Dear Friend,

Imagine you received a letter inviting you to apply for one of a handful of seats at the world’s most exclusive wealth retreat. The qualification process included two interviews, the final selection interview was with one of the event’s founders who would either accept or deny your application right there on the spot.

And to even qualify to get an interview slot you had to show that you had the financial resources to pay for the $30,000 price tag.

Would you ever dare to apply? Would you be skeptical that any wealth event could really be worth that kind of money? Would you be scared that if they did accept you that you would be out of your depth?

Well this is exactly the situation that 36 wealth builders faced for that first years Maui Mastermind™ event. Over the years they and other new Maui participants have come back to Maui again and again to spend five and a half concentrated days focused on building wealth, networking with other like minded individuals, and creating ways to give back to people and charities around the world.

Since each year over 75% of the participants sign up on the spot to come back the next year, the Maui Mastermind events are usually sold out a year in advance.

Now for the first time ever we are going to pull back the curtains around this amazing experience and share the most powerful strategies and breakthroughs from Maui at a special charity event that Diane and I are hosting in Phoenix this July.

In fact, if you’re one of the lucky few people to get a seat at this special event not only will 100% of your tuition go directly to help charity, but you’ll learn about all five of the core Maui Wealth Leverage Strategies™.

For most people, this weekend workshop is the closest they’ll ever come to the Maui wealth experience. Considering most people simply can’t afford the $30,000 price tag of the real Maui Mastermind™ event, we’ve designed this new workshop, called the Maui Wealth Weekend™, to be the closest we could come to recreating the Maui magic at a fraction of the price other people pay for Maui.

And for just $500, yes you heard me right--$500, you’ll get to benefit from all the “how to” wealth building expertise that Diane and I have spent a lifetime perfecting.

In fact, we’ve done our best to pour all the wealth building magic and expertise we have into this exclusive two day wealth workshop so that you can use it as a launching pad to take your wealth building to the next level.

And best of all, 100% of your tuition for this powerful wealth workshop goes straight to one of several 501c(3) registered charities! (Diane and I are paying for all the costs for the workshop so that no expenses will be deducted and all of your tuition will go straight to charity.)

To claim one of the limited spots at this life-changing event just follow the link at the end of this letter to register on our secure website.

Or you can call the toll-free number I’ve listed at the end and talk with Amy and register by phone.

Why We Decided to Host This Special Event and Give All the Proceeds to Charity

About two months ago I got an email from Diane asking for me to help her brainstorm ways to raise $120,000 to fund a resource center for homeless families. You see, Diane was sitting in church on a Sunday when her pastor described how there were over 3,000 homeless children in Phoenix who with their families had nowhere to go.

He had been praying for help to get the resources to care for these people. Diane felt compelled to do something to help.

Within 8 days she and Scott Mertens (who runs Tax Loopholes and Maui Mastermind) had committed to raise the money needed to fund the center for five years.

That’s when I got the email from Diane asking me to help her brainstorm ideas to raise the money. I flew out to Phoenix with my wife Heather and toured the facilities. Then a day later Diane, Scott and I brainstormed how to actually raise the money.

It was out of that mastermind session that Diane and I decided to do the Maui Wealth Weekend as a way to raise enough money to fund the center for the first year.

In fact, we leveraged the event so that our Maui graduates are using the event to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars more for other charities like funding four orphanages in Mexico, and helping women in third world countries start micro businesses so they can break the cycle of poverty and provide for their families.

And now, out of our desire to help these incredibly worthy causes, you have the unprecedented chance to tap into the proprietary ideas and strategies from Maui to become financially free.

For the past decade Diane and I have been working to help ordinary people become wealthy, and to help wealthy people become SUPER wealthy.

During that time we’ve helped tens of thousands of people live richer, fuller, wealthier lives. In fact, our clients have gone on to earn millions and millions of dollars building businesses and investing.

Now, for the first time ever, Diane and I are letting a handful of people come to a special weekend wealth workshop we are hosting this July 22^nd and 23^rd. In fact, the only reason we are even willing to do the event is because we want to raise $250,000 to fund a resource center for homeless families in Phoenix.

In this letter not only will I lay out exactly what you’ll learn at this private wealth workshop, but I’ll also share with you how you can be one of a handful of people reading this letter who will get to attend.

How Common Money Mistakes Keep You Trapped in the Rate Race

If you’re working harder and harder just to keep even financially then it very well could mean that you’re making one or more of the common wealth mistakes—mistakes that may be causing you to work harder, feel more stress, struggle just to stay even, and worst of all, mistakes that cause you to give up on your dreams.

Could be. Because the one trait that the world’s wealthiest individuals all have in common is how easy it was for them to succeed financially when they finally understood how money really works.

The problem is that this is an education that you weren’t taught in school. This is a training that you never got on the job. In fact, until now there has only been two ways that a lucky few ever received this kind of wealth training. Either they had a wealthy family member or friend share with them the inside secrets to money and wealth, or they stumbled on these powerful secrets themselves through trial and error.

But before I give you all the nitty-gritty details on this amazing event, I want to ask you an important question first…

Do you believe that wealthy people really think differently from the poor and middle class?

The most amazing thing about money and wealth is how easy it is when you’ve made several key mental shifts.

Why is someone like Morgan, one of the Maui stars, able to grow his business by over 100% per year and five fold it’s value in less than three years…?

Why are people like Stephanie and Jack, who will be coming back to Maui for the third time, able to increase their net worth by several million dollars each year…?

Why is someone like Steve able to go from being a retired Intel employee to owning hundreds of rental units pumping out thousands of dollars of passive income year after year…?

Because they have learned how to master the hidden game of money. And it’s exactly these wealth secrets that have made them financially free.

Diane and I are going to share these same secrets this July in Phoenix so that money and wealth become demystified, simple, and easy for you. You’ll be shocked when you learn the key shifts that wealthy people use to make building wealth fun and easy.

Can you imagine the peace of mind you’ll enjoy knowing that you got money handled forever!

I know that this is an awful lot to promise, so how can I be so confident?

Well, after spending the last decade working with over 100,000 people teaching them the secrets and strategies of building wealth, I am certain that anybody, and I do mean anybody, with the right training, support, coaching, and commitment, can succeed financially.

Take Kelly, a police officer who came to Maui three years ago. When Kelly first came to Maui she and her husband were over $75,000 in credit card debt.

Within 3 years they had purchased millions of dollars of real estate, Kelly quit her jobs on the Los Angeles police department, and become Maui Millionaires™.

Or take Rob. When I first met Rob he was a health care consultant who was traveling over three weeks every month. As you can imagine all that time away from home was ripping his family apart.

The very first year I began working with Rob he was able to quit his consulting job and become a full time real estate investor.

Fast forward to today. Rob is a successful entrepreneur who owns a variety of real estate from single family homes to shopping centers to office buildings. He did all of this starting from scratch following the same advice and input that you’ll learn at the Maui Wealth Weekend.

I don’t want to sugar coat any of this. While it is totally possible for you to do this it will take dedication and effort on your part. For example, on day one of the workshop I’m going to help you confront the real reason why 95% of Americans fail financially and why the other 5% make it look so effortless and easy.

Alright, it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty details of how the Maui Wealth Weekend is designed so you learn what to expect when you register today to join us.

The workshop is laid out in six parts:

Part Two: Dreaming Big! We’re told to dream no small dreams because there is no power in them. But many of us are so busy with the day to day busy-ness of living, that we’ve forgotten our dreams. In this section of the workshop we’ll guide you to be bold and create those big dreams in the seven important areas of your life to serve as the guiding star for all that you accomplish. Plus, you’ll learn how to tap into other people’s dreams to build a lasting joint venture to accomplish even more.

Part Three: Masterminding Your Way to Millions!

You don’t need to do it all alone. You’ll discover how to create a highly functional mastermind group that will push you to even greater accomplishments. You’ll learn the five critical elements of a powerful mastermind to keep it operating at the highest possible level for breakthrough results.

Part Five: Tapping Into Maui Giving to Create a Legacy that Lives On Beyond You! One of the hallmarks of a Maui Millionaire is the sustained giving that he creates throughout his lifetime.

Once you’ve learned these essential strategies and technologies to leverage from where you are to where you want to be, we have one more important area to focus on before you go home...

Part Six: Your Personal Financial Freedom Plan.

Before you leave on Sunday night you’ll take with you a highly detailed, personally created, action plan to take you to financial freedom. This way when you get home you’ll hit the ground on Monday morning with a clearly laid out plan of exactly what you’ll need to do to turn the ideas from the workshop into dollars in your bank account.

Who This Event Is Right For

This event is right for the following three groups of people

Those people who have always dreamed of financial success but never thought it was possible for them before. You’ll have a major wealth breakthrough and learn exactly why it doable for you and the specific action steps you’ll need to take to make it happen.
Those people who are already working towards financial freedom but who want to accelerate the process so that they make it in less time. You’ll learn simple strategies to double or triple your effective net worth in 12 months or less!
Anyone else who is intensely interested in creating financial freedom and abundance for themselves and their family. You’ll learn exactly how to do it in a clear, accessible way.

Do You Qualify to Attend this Special Wealth Workshop?

Because the seating at this one-of-a-kind wealth workshop is strictly limited, I really only suggest you enroll if you can honestly answer yes to each of the following three questions:

Are you open to learn about wealth and financial freedom? If you’re not willing to hear what Diane and I have to teach, especially since it flies in the face of “conventional” wisdom, which by the way leads over 95% of Americans to financial failure, then this event isn’t for you. You’ll only find the direct, blunt, action oriented, wealth advice extremely frustrating. We’re not going to hold any punches and plan to tell you exactly what we’ve learned works, and more importantly, what doesn’t.
Can you feel good that your tuition goes 100% to charity? One of the major themes of the event is that real wealth is what you give. If it makes you uncomfortable that Diane and I are donating all the proceeds from the event to charity, or that we think that the only way to become truly wealthy is to learn to share your wealth as you build it, then this event isn’t for you.
Is your desire to succeed financially strong enough to get you to take action now? If you’re not willing to act on the lessons, strategies, and techniques that Diane and I will be sharing with you at the information rich workshop, why bother attending? If hanging around with wealthy individuals has taught me anything it’s taught me this: after they have gotten all the facts, every, and I do mean every, wealthy person I’ve had the privilege of studying and spending time with was very quick to make a decision. It’s this willingness to act on your decisions that separates the financial also-rans from the truly wealthy.

Letting Go of Your Excuses

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths and creativity that I observe people go to in order to create and maintain their excuses, I mean “reasons”, why they can’t do what they say is most important to them.

If these people would put the same energy, determination, and imagination into doing or changing the thing they are making excuses about most times they would easily accomplish the very thing they say they wish they could do.

If you’re still reading this letter then I know you are different. You’re one of those special individuals who takes responsibility for your own life and for your results.

Wherever you are starting from we can help you build from there. You were born for more… More wealth… More freedom… More security…

This is our chance to work directly with you in a powerful, life-changing weekend workshop. It may be the only chance you’ll ever get to spend an entire weekend with Diane and me focused exclusively on building your personal fortune.

You see, I believe that everyone is born to be a Maui Millionaire, it just takes a few key shifts to set yourself on that path. In fact, I believe that you have everything you need to become a Maui Millionaire. All that’s needed for you to tap into your real wealth making potential is some simple instruction and mentoring—all of which you’ll get at the Maui Wealth Weekend.

With all the fanfare and buzz about Maui, many of you wonder why the participants would willingly pay $30,000 to attend the Maui Mastermind wealth retreat. With such a high percentage coming back again… and again… and again…

Because of one thing and one thing only—it works!

The people and processes we use in Maui work to totally transform people’s financial lives.

Now for the first time ever outside of Maui, Diane and I are going to share the wealth technologies from Maui with a bigger audience. And best of all, if you’re one of the people to respond first to this letter you’ll be able to attend for just $500!

And that money will go 100% to charity! That’s right, every single dime!

Seating is extremely limited so register now. Just click on the “register now” link to go to our secure server to register now before this event sells out. (the web URL is www.taxloopholes.com/index.php?s=stldetail&id=52 )

Or you can call Amy at toll-free 1-866-829-2368 to register.

Congratulations on having made such an important decision to invest in your financial success. Diane and I look forward to seeing you in July at the workshop.

Sincerely,

David Finkel

P.S. This event will sell out fast! Considering our $30,000 Maui Mastermind™ events sell out up to a year in advance this $500 Maui Wealth Weekend™ is guaranteed to sell out even faster! GO TO www.taxloopholes.com/index.php?s=stldetail&id=52

TO REGISTER NOW!

P.P.S. Remember, 100% of your tuition goes to fund the resource center for homeless families in Phoenix and other worthy charities!