HOW TO BECOME A WEALTHY MIDDLE AGED MAN

✨ HOW TO BECOME A WEALTHY MIDDLE AGED MAN✨

PT.2: Overview to understanding different saving/retirement methods, investments, and forms of income

Pt. 2.2 Overview of Investments

Welcome lovelies to (what I hope will be) a helpful series on gaining wealth and becoming financially literate and independent!

Disclaimer: Check other posts. It’s too long to keep typing out.

Now comes (what I believe) is the fun part of money. Making it grow.

Investments are defined as “an asset or item acquired with the goal of generating income or appreciation.” Essentially, anything you purchase with the belief that in time it will be worth more. This includes the entire stock market, cryptocurrencies, art, real estate, jewelry, vintage coins, designer bags, etc. Of course, some of these take more time and each comes with some amount of risk. These variables change according to your strategy as an investor.

✨THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND✨

Begin as a Beginner

Do not overwhelm yourself during your financial literacy journey by trying to learn everything, all at once, while also trying it all out. The thing that creates the most confusion when learning is believing the lie that you can multitask well. Yes, start with a brief overview of the systems and institutions (what we are currently doing in the series) but literally all you need to start is definitions and a gist so that you can comprehend how they connect later on. Learning an entire world that has never been taught to you is going to take time, and I’m talking years. And then, when you think you have something down your going to mess up or read an article about how the stock you saw yesterday for $6 is now $1000 and you’re going to be frustrated (this happens a lot). But, If you want to learn about the stock market, focus on the stock market. Retirement still scares you, focus on that until you master it and have a plan. And for Christ’s (or whatever deity/person/universe you believe in) if you do not have a steady stream of income do not put your last pennies trying to get into crypto (or any investing truly). This is something to start after you have income, a savings, a retirement, and have paid off at least most debts.

Recommended sources to learn more:

Netflix has a great series called “Explained” where (you guessed it) they explain things. While I recommend every episode because you can never learn too much, there are ones specifically dedicated to the stock market, cryptocurrencies, and billionaires each that helps to uncomplicate the history and purpose of each of these things.

✨Let’s get started✨

The Stock Market

“Stock markets are real and electronic exchanges that enable the buying and selling of securities. The most popular include the NYSE, Nasdaq MarketSite, and Tokyo Stock Exchange.” Let me, let you, in on a little secret-the stock market is essentially fantasy football (sorry, my American is showing) but with companies. When you buy a security, you are betting that (in the long run or short run, depending on your strategy) that a certain company will perform well and gain profits, which in turn will gain you money on what you bet. There are two categories of players in the market which include the assets (the football players) and the investors (the betting public). Of the assets you can categorize further by what position they play on the field…

Stocks

Most well-known, but the riskiest. The “star” player that everyone hypes up and takes all the credit. Stocks are fractional pieces of publicly traded companies, and by buying a stock you own a relative size of that company. They are either “paying you” through growth (when their stock price rises) or through dividends (when they send you a piece of their profits directly).

Mutual Funds

Less known but a safer bet than single stocks. Popular among those in middle age. “Mutual funds are baskets of stocks or bonds. They come in all different shapes and sizes, from covering broad stock market indexes to focusing on specific sectors.” When you buy a mutual fund, you are saying that you believe on average that pile of stocks/bonds are going to do well, instead of betting on a single player. Usually they are actively managed by people who are trying to “beat” the market for you. Statistically good for the short term, long term are less effective than ETFs.

Index Funds: a subset of mutual funds that are passively managed and track indexes like an ETF but trade like a mutual fund (once at the end of the day and without reliance of supply and demand)

ETFs

Exchange traded funds. The up-and-coming underdog that’s gaining popularity. These are passively managed baskets of stocks and bonds that track over a specific index like the S&P 500. They work like stocks, being traded throughout the day, relying on supply and demand, while giving a lot of the advantages that mutual funds do. They also come with their own set of disadvantages but are still a great way to diversify a portfolio inexpensively.

Bonds

The reliable bench players you know you can put in to save a game. Great safe bets that can generate a steady income. Bonds work like a loan for a regular person, except for a company. You can loan your money to a company which will pay you a principal plus a fixed interest back every specified period. There are different types which come with different advantages and strategies, so make sure to read the fine print.

Commodities

Tangible goods that go into manufacturing-Gold, oil, metals, corn, soybeans, etc. A good defensive team to have in the game for a hedge against inflation or economic troubles. They trade in a commodity exchange. You can still access them through most brokers.

Source to look into for deeper understanding and questions: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/investment.asp

Easy way to get started quickly:

1. Create a brokerage account: There are lots of accounts to choose from, but I would go for accounts that have zero fees and no minimum, this is starting to become the norm but once upon a time you had to give a minimum investment of $5000 to get started. I personally use Charles Schwab and Robinhood. I love all of the tools and accounts Schwab has and Robinhood is just easy to use.

2. Sign up: this may take a day or two to finalize, especially with banks but it shouldn’t be a big deal

3. Connect a card or account to transfer funds

4. Buy your first security: I would start off with simply looking up beginner investments on google. I recommend either an ETF, index fund, or choose a company that you have an interest in because you will be more likely to keep up on their news

5. Tip: think long term as a beginner. Sure, once you start learning and understanding you can change your strategy to gain more in a shorter time, but this comes with much more risk. Do not be an idiot and sell all of your stock when you see your investment plummet nor sell as soon as you see it go up a little. The best advice for a beginner: Buy a stock and leave it alone (for YEARS)

Property/Real Estate

There are many ways to invest in real estate-you can buy a property, you can invest in a property fund, you can become a landlord,or you can flip a property. Again, depending on the strategy, will change the risk and reward you have taken on. All of these options are usually on the more cash heavy side but can reap a lot of rewards if done right.

Source to look into:

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/5-ways-to-invest-in-real-estate

Easy way to get started quickly:

1. Buy a real estate ETF or fund, you can just look this up on google or through your brokerage

2. OR you could look into buying a property near you and renting it out if you have that much cash (Make sure to do your research, this can get pretty complicated)

Art

Also considered property but until recently it was incredibly hard to invest in art without significant cash and contacts available. Now, there are platforms like Masterworks where you can buy a fraction of a piece like a stock of Monet and you get the rise in appreciation. However, it still is for those with money already available, I believe you have to invest a minimum of $2500 to get started on MW.

Sources to look into: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/08/fine-art.asp

Crypto

Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that are not backed by real or tangible assets or goods, but on the trust and value of the people that use them, and supply and demand. They can be traded like stocks on an exchange and are tracked with a digital ledger on the blockchain. The first cryptocurrency was Bitcoin and the rest that have followed are categorized as altcoins (alternative coins).

The stage of cryptocurrencies we are in is likened to the early 90s with the internet. Not a lot people truly understand the blockchain (the vast ledger space which contains every transaction made securely in encrypted “blocks” that are then “chained” together so that if one block is compromised the whole chain shuts it down.) It is decentralized and written simultaneously on thousands of super computers. The beauty of it is that if one ledger on one computer is somehow hacked or wrong the rest of the computers storing the ledger interrupt and either fix it or shut it down. A way to understand it is blockchain is to the internet as bitcoin is to a website, but the internet runs off people trusting the system, blockchain runs off trusting no one.

The currencies that run on blockchain can have a multitude of purposes, but bitcoin was really just the starting solution to fix the problem of trust on the internet. People wanted a secure, anonymous, untraceable way to spend money online, like cash is in the real world. And while for the most part it is just that, it isn’t completely anonymous. Like in the real world if you buy something from Mcd*nalds with cash that transaction is still recorded in their system and through a receipt. Your crypto transactions are recorded in the blockchain, but most people don’t even know how to access the ledger so for now any ill*cit purchases you make are pretty safe.

I HIGHLY recommend looking into a cryptocurrency course or training just because there is so much that goes into it and lots of details that can help you. This investment is incredibly risky and volatile! I only would suggest investing an amount you are completely comfortable to lose ALL of.

Sources to learn more:

https://www.investopedia.com/cryptocurrency-4427699

Easy to get started quickly (Please dear lord do your research first):

1. Sign up on a crypto exchange like Coinbase or Binance, some brokers (like Robinhood) also allow you to trade crypto but it’s a very limited selection

2. Do lots of research!! (I’m going to say it until you get it, and I don’t think you get it yet)

3. Think of it like stocks, if you read up on the coin and its purpose, and think that it’s going to be useful soon or in the future, then invest

4. Tip: the crypto market moves MUCH faster than the stock market and is much more sensitive. In just these last few days (literally hours) bitcoin was trading at $40,000+, the following day, for whatever reason (people got scared, people wanted to sell to get profits, etc.) it will barely hold $33,000. So, invest wisely!

This is very brief list of the main investments. There is still a lot of depth each of these goes into and especially with things like crypto, information changes 24/7. I hope you have learned by now that you should be continually learning as well. Instead of spending your morning looking at your Instagram feed of bum friends, dusty men, and “models” spend it reading the paper and catching up on the market. Follow investors and billionaires like you follow celebrities and see how much smarter you become. At the end of the day winners focus on winning, losers focus on winners.

With love,

O

4 Ways to make your money work for you

The path to true wealth isn’t some magical secret or something unobtainable. It’s really simple actually:

Make money, invest that money to make more, and make sure your expenses don’t exceed your income. What does this mean? It means the way to wealth isn’t by how hard you work but how many streams of income you have.

You’re probably thinking “well that’s much easier said than done”. Girl, trust me I know! But I’m going to give you a few ways you can start the process. These strategies work even if you’re starting with $100 or $1,000. Keep in mind, all of these take work to get started. If you’re not ready to put the work in then this post isn’t for you.

Interest Income - the concept is simple, loan your money to someone else and charge interest for it. No, I don’t mean loan it to your broke cousin who never pays back lol. There’s websites that offer “Peer to Peer Lending.” Peer Lending is when you loan money to a business, another person or even a charity. You’re basically a bank. You can pick the qualifications of the person that receives your money. For instance, you can chose to only loan to those with a good credit history and a $50k+/yr income. It’s completely up to you. But in return for loaning them the money, you can charge a interest rate and start earning money. Yes, there are risks involved which is why you want to qualify the person that receives the money so that you’re minimizing the risk. Want to know why banks are so rich? No, it’s not because your Uncle Joe leaves his retirement fund in there year after year. Most people think banks are in game of HOLDING money, but they’re actually in the game of LENDING money and earning interest. Here’s what I mean, 65% of Americans own their home. The avg home is $200-500k (depending on your state of course). The avg American doesn’t have that much money so how are they affording these homes? The bank gives them the money and in return the homeowner agrees to pay the bank interest plus principal for the next 30 yrs. The current interest rate is 3%. You may be thinking, well 3% for 30 years isn’t so bad when you consider how much money they’re giving you. But baby, do the math! After the 30 years are over you’ll be paying double for the home if not more. Listen, I’m not mad at the banks. I’ve learned to beat them at their own game (we will talk about this anothe post) but if you can’t beat them, join em! Do what they do! The best part of all? You can start with as little as $500 and there’s no work involved after you’ve given the money! You just set up payment dates and start earning interest. So, regardless of if you’re on vacation, sick or creating another stream of income you’re collecting your coins!

Rental Income - this one may sound familiar. Its when you earn money from a property or item that you rent out. If you have a small budget but want to get into real estate rentals, you can start by renting a room in your home. There’s even websites that allow you to rent your car. For example, you can buy a used car for $7k and rent it out for $90/day. You’d be making $32/year without doing much leg work. My husband rents out jet skis (it’s always warm where we live) and makes his other source of income that way. We bought the jet ski for about $8k and rent it out for $500-1k/day. The jet skis mostly gets booked on Thursday-Sundays but it’s still income we earn without doing much. There’s plenty of ways to get started in rental income, just get creative. Ask yourself what is it that people in your area NEED but aren’t willing to purchase themselves? If you want to jump into real estate, be prepared to invest a lot of money. I know a lot of YouTube “gurus” say you can get started with no money down🙄 but I’m going to be honest with you, it takes money to make money. I bought my first property last year when interest rates were at its lowest and it’s already gone up $75k in value! So yes you may have to invest a lot of money up front, but you’ll make it all back! Do your research, save money, be patient and invest when the time is right for YOU!

Stocks, bonds or ETFs - this a good way to start making money work for you if you don’t have much capital. Stock prices range can from $1.00/share to $1,500/share so you’re able to invest with little to a lot of money. Bonds and ETFs are a really good way to increase your money without a lot of risk. But keep in mind that the more risk involved, the more the reward. So yes, stocks may be riskier than bonds or ETFs but there’s a reason for that. I know you’ve heard that stocks are risky, you can lose money, and Wall Street is full of crooked white men. All that is true but so the fuck what! Corporate America is risky! They can fire you at any time, but society still tells us to get these jobs. You can lose money by investing your pay check into a 401k, but society still tells us that’s the right thing to do. Our country is ran by crooked white men so that’s nothing new. The best way to succeed in stocks is simply by doing research and being patient! If you read my previous post about how I saved $24k last year, most of it was because of investments I made. I made some risky choices, lost money and gained even more. But let me tell you, nothing will ever feel better than waking up and realizing I made money in my sleep.

Business Income - making money in a business is one that’s most common. The concept is simple - solve a problem and get people smarter than you to run the operations. The common mistake I see with entrepreneurs is that they become a slave to their business. What’s the point of having a business if you’re just going to work FOR it? If you’re doing everything in your business that’s a hustle, not a business. Now before you get mad at me, just listen. I understand that it takes time to transition from a one person show to a team but I just want to say that so you remember, in order to run a business that’s successful, generates a REAL profit, and has your money working for you, you need employees. For those that are new here, I run a virtual bookkeeping and accounting firm that helps women organize, save and grow their money. I’ve seen the backend of over 100 businesses ranging from $5k/year to $1.7m/year in revenue and what I’ve noticed is that the most profitable companies have a team running the business, while the CEO runs the team. The best part about making money with a business is that the income potential is limitless.

These are just 4 ways to start putting your money to work. Let me know if you want more or if you have any questions 🦋

Self Dating Series: 30 Self-Honeymoon Date Ideas

Have you ever found yourself spending hours planning your next date? Or, spending hours preparing for a date? When is the last time that you dedicated that much time and energy getting excited about spending time with yourself? It is too often that we give so much of our energy to other people, expecting them to make us happy. If you’re like most women, you’ve likely spent a pretty decent amount of time getting to know everything about your ex, or your best friend or perhaps even a co-worker. Now, when they are no longer a factor, how much do you remember about yourself ? Are you as acutely aware of what your short and long-term goals are? Of what makes you happiest when you’re down? Of what your short-comings are? We all know that leveling up is not about finding a better man. It’s about being a better you. Start by looking inward, and loving yourself first. Here are some of my favorite ways that you can spend time with yourself:

❤️️watch your favorite TV series or movie + dedicate an entire day to it

❤️️spend an afternoon in the park with yourself (I love people watching)

❤️️take yourself to your favorite restaurant + order whatever you want—it helps if you get to know the owner ;)

❤️️go to the mall, visit your favorite stores + shop (or just try on clothes)

❤️️download a meditation app + practice with guided insight meditation

❤️️go to your favorite spa + spend several hours relaxing—it helps if you can encourage someone else to pay ;)

❤️️dedicate a whole day to taking amazing photos of yourself

❤️️redecorate your living space

❤️️cook yourself a really nice meal + have fun doing it

❤️️take a dance class

❤️️head to the museum

❤️️take a cooking class

❤️️take a relaxing self-love bath with candles, bath salts + honor your body

❤️️watch an inspirational documentary + converse with yourself about your thoughts

❤️️take photos of nature + don’t be afraid to get close to the insects

❤️️visit the grocery store + go down every aisle looking for ingredients to put something nice together

❤️️create a playlist of your favorite songs + play it on repeat all day

❤️️go to the gym + set a simple goal for yourself

❤️️write yourself a love letter

❤️️sit on the shore of the ocean, river, or lake—listen + let your mind be free

❤️️spend quality time with your pet

❤️️attend a gala or charity event

❤️️go to an open mic, comedy show, improv event, etc.

❤️️create a list of movies that you have been wanting to watch + books that you’ve wanted to read

❤️️take your camera or phone and go on a photo adventure

❤️️go through your camera roll + organize your memories

❤️️teach yourself something new (a recipe, a language, a skill, etc.)

❤️️go to the movies

❤️️have a DIY spa day

❤️️go out and ride your bike

I could go on and on, as these are just some of the things that I love. I guarantee you will find something that will bring you joy. Whether you’re interested in just spending more time with yourself, your date was canceled, or you’re jus bored, try one of these activities.

How to have a strong sense of self?

A sense of self always starts with the question, “Who Am I?”

Not just your name, job title and family relations, but all of the internal things that make you who you are. Your beliefs, your morals, your values, your opinions, your religious and spiritual beliefs or lack thereof, your goals, your aspirations, your abilities, your personality traits. Getting to know yourself, essentially. Finding out all of the things that make you uniquely you. 

If someone asks a question about yourself that goes deeper than, “whats your favorite color?” and you have to give a long “ummmmm” and struggle to produce an answer, you may need to start getting to know yourself more. You may be able to answer eventually, but it’s the ease and speed of producing said answer that would point to a strong sense of self.

Here is a list of 371 “get to know me” questions. Some people lack a sense of self bc you have never had enough people around you that cared enough to ask you questions about yourself. Some of you were asked ‘get to know me’ questions, but you were too closed off to answer. After so many years of having walls around you, you never actually let them down long enough for even yourself to gain access to you. Some of you may not have a strong sense of self bc you feel disconnected from your family, your cultural background or society around you and you ended up with black sheep syndrome. No matter what the reason is, this is a fun way to start getting to know yourself and being comfortable and confident with the answers.

Having a strong sense of self is very important when it comes to making decisions in life. Whether it’s big or small, being able to confidently make choices that are stemmed from our genuine wants, opinions and values as opposed to choices that are being dictated by what others deem as good or bad makes a big difference. One allows us to live authentically, the other is living in the passenger seat. Some of this includes dressing how you like vs following trends to gain the approval of others. Dating people who actually make you happy vs dumping them bc others don’t think they are attractive or cool enough. Having political and religious beliefs that you genuinely agree with vs parroting only the popular opinion that is easiest to go along with. 

When you have a strong sense of self, you can accept your choices and decisions with ease bc you know that you made them with your truest feelings and can take complete accountability and responsibility for the outcome. It also makes it easier to change things you no longer like bc you can clearly understand what you are no longer satisfied with, why you are no longer satisfied with it and be confident in your abilities and limitations to make those changes. And that makes all the difference. 

On the other hand, having a weak or no sense of self will make navigating life’s choices extremely difficult and you may struggle to make choices at all. You may end up drifting through life, going along with what others do, only doing what others tell you, never feeling confident or secure with your decisions, always questioning if things are right for you, flip flopping your opinions, feeling discontent but not being able to pinpoint exactly what is wrong, and feeling a lack of passion or real ambition with anything you do. *these examples are not related to depression or other mood/mental disorders, I’m only speaking from the perspective of not knowing yourself enough on a fundamental level*

Could you please give a list of the harshest things that you think we (general population of women trying to improve on themselves) need to hear

This post is part of my Tough Love Tuesdays series where followers send me their problems and receive a stern kick in the butt. They specifically asked for extremely harsh answers, so if you take offence to this or it makes you feel sensitive, then you need to keep scrolling because it is not directed at you, nor are you the target audience. They don’t want to be coddled, they don’t want sugar coating, they don’t want beating around the bush. They want painfully tough love.

The absolute overwhelming majority of men prefer women who are at a healthy weight.

Hypersexuality does not solve your problems, it's actually probably causing many of them.

A lot of you got useless degrees (from a financial standpoint) that put you several thousands of dollars into debt and got you a job that hardly lets you live a comfortable middle class life. Is that really something to flex?

A lot of you are extremely insecure and need constant validation, but you hide behind a facade of “I’m a bad bitch” as a protective mask.

If you want marriage and children, then spending years and years and years of your fertility window and most desired ages of attractiveness (in the eyes of men) not prioritizing marriage and children is an odd choice, wouldn’t you say?

Adding on to that, if you want marriage and children, there’s no need to pretend that you would be 100% perfectly fine and happy if it doesn’t happen for you. It’s okay to admit that you want it.

Your inability to take accountability for your bad choices in life is leading you down a path of destruction.

Far too many of you have placed yourself in an echo chamber that only promotes the idea that because you are a woman, you are 100% perfect exactly the way you are and you never need to change or grow or improve or better yourself in any way. They are lying to you <3

Not everyone suits the insta baddie look and there are other ways to level up physically besides going for that look.

A lot of the “men ain’t shit” crowd are women who ain’t shit and allow their terrible personalities and behavior to attract men who are mirrors of them.

Your mother caused you a lot of mental health problems. I can see that you are gearing up to keep that cycle going with your own daughters. Stop it. Get some help.

Your son is not your husband. Your daughter is not the second mom of the house.

Being a young single mother/baby mama actually is a big deal and you can’t be upset that it impacts you on the dating market.

Many people nowadays will not be financially secure enough to retire when the time comes. You NEED to start putting your money to the side now, before it’s too late.

Some of you need to finally admit that your weight is where it’s at solely because of you and your diet.

You claim that you don’t have time to do helpful self-improvement things for your life, but if I were to monitor you for a week, it’d be obvious that it’s a lie. You just don’t want to make the time for it.

At some point, you’re gonna have to ditch the vices you use to cope and finally start the healing process.

Many of the things on your list of requirements for what you want from a man point to the sum of a man who doesn’t exist. Your desires are fictitious.

Yes, your looks matter. A lot. Always have, always will.

Your inability to practice long term self-discipline is why your life is the way it is.

Stuff Nobody Tells you About Getting An Apartment.

This’ll cover the basics, such as financial expectation, rental history, what to bring for the application process, etc.

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