Home Based Business Ideas UK: Leverage your time and learn how to start a profit...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Leverage your time and learn how to start a profit...: Welcome to Money Tips Daily this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help you save and make more money! Yesterday, we looked at ...

Leverage your time and learn how to start a profitable online business on a shoestring budget without a website

Welcome to Money Tips Daily this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help you save and make more money!

Yesterday, we looked at time management and how wealthy people leverage their time. Rich Dad Poor Dad author, Robert Kiyosaki said “the poor work hard for their money, the rich make their money work hard for them”.

I would add, that the rich also make their time work for them too. They leverage their time and multiply their personal time and effort. 

Most people exchange their time (and life) for money, and because there are only so many hours in the day it’s very hard to build wealth or retire. For instance, my lawyer is still working 10-12 hours a day and is well into his 70’s. I know, because he used to rent an office from me and I'd see his light on late at night and weekends!

I used work for others, exchanging my life for a salary I could barely live on. After 40 years, if you’re lucky enough to work for the government or a generous employer with a final salary pension scheme, you can retire on a pension equivalent to half your salary. 

Most workers don’t even have the luxury of a decent pension scheme at all and won’t be able to afford to retire or clear their mortgage if it runs beyond 65.

I also ran businesses with staff and headaches, which almost led me to a nervous breakdown! I was overweight, unfit, tired and very stressed – I spent most of my 13 hour days shouting at people! Ok, I was making a lot of money and had a nice BMW, but never had time to enjoy either. During a 15 year period, I went through relationship problems and a divorce!

When the business started declining, due to changes outside of our control, and we had to sell the company much less then it was once worth, it was a blessing in disguise. I felt like a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

Now I work for myself from my home and enjoy life. I go to the gym and eat healthier, drink far less alcohol and I’ve lost 5 kilos. I feel fitter then I did 10 years ago. I don’t have staff, payroll, offices, giant photocopiers on rip-off lease contracts or invoices to pay and chase. I can travel when I like and work when it suits me.

Right now I'm writing this in the middle of the night, which I find is when I'm more creative. Fortunately, I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn and commute to work in the morning.

The economy is changing forever and it's changing fast. Earlier today, two more major high street names, Toy R Us and Maplins, went into liquidation illustrating the problems ‘bricks and mortar’ businesses are experiencing competing with online retailers like Amazon. 

Twenty years ago Toys R Us were the predators, wiping out thousands of smaller high street toy shops. Today they are the prey, unable to adapt and survive in the internet ‘dog eat dog’ business jungle.

But what has all this got to do with me you may ask? You might even be worried about your job?

Well, these changes in the economy is good news and offers huge opportunities for small and budding entrepreneurs who want to quit the 9-to-5 life. 

The internet has given you the means and tools to do things today that only big companies could do a few short years ago.

It’s not just large companies who are benefiting from the online business revolution. Millions of small traders and one-man-bands are getting in on the act and running online businesses from home using the platforms and fulfilment services provided by internet giants like Amazon and Shopify.

You don’t even need your own products or website. Like some traditional high street businesses, old style websites are becoming a thing of the past. 

When I started a business years ago, everybody said you needed to have a website, but nobody knew what to do with it or how to drive traffic to it. We spent tens of thousands of pounds and waited months to get a ‘designer’ to build a website which wasn’t even that great and never produced much business for us. 

When someone did stumble on our site, they’d have a quick look around and leave. It was a bit like somebody aimlessly walking into a shop, having a quick look around and walking out before anyone has a chance to talk to them.

I also paid a ton of money for IT and SEO consultants (don't even ask what they did), courses and bought expensive online “solutions” to make my website attract more customers, most of which brought me nothing but frustration and an empty feeling - in my wallet!

Then a new kid on the block came along 3 years ago and turned everything we thought we knew about websites on its head. He developed a simple sales funnel drag and drop ‘kit’ you can put together yourself in minutes without hiring expensive or incompetent website designers. 

What’s more, the funnel site has been tried and tested to get the results you want, rather than being a flat one dimensional brochure site or a site with a dozen different buttons and options.

If you haven’t heard the name yet, you will soon hear about a genius Russell Brunson, the founder of a ‘Clickfunnels’. Their strap line is “abandon your old website”! 

Clickfunnels is basically a series of pre-designed template pages forming a funnel, or sales process, designed to take a visitor through from landing on your page to buying, joining, subscribing or whatever you are aiming to achieve.

Like most brilliant ideas, it's simple and user friendly. Even I could use it and I grew up in an era where I only saw computers on Star Trek season 1 with Captain Kirk!

After trying Clickfunnels on a 14 day free trial I was so blown away that I am booked on Russell’s bootcamp event in Orlando this month to learn more about online marketing and meet some of the people earning millions with Clickfunnels.

This might sound complicated, but if you want to get into ANY online business, or sell physical products online, or just earn some extra cash in your spare time, I would highly recommend reading Russell’s new book,  Expert Secrets. The easy-to-read book is packed full of cutting edge guidance and information written in a simple, engaging way with real life examples and stories of how to build a following and earn money online.

Best of all, he actually gives away the book for FREE if you pay the shipping costs.

Russell has revolutionised online selling and eCommerce while helping thousands of people become financially free and quit the rat race. 

What I like about Russell is he practical and honest in the book, and explains that internet marketing is not a get rich quick scheme and not everyone makes a fortune online.

You can find out more and get a free copy of Russell’s book Expert Secrets by clicking here or cut and paste this link into your browser - http://bit.ly/2EOzK8f. 

See also:

New HMO Letting Rules Could Drive Landlords Out Of The Buy-To-Let Property Market

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Time Management is Life Management, You Cannot Con...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Time Management is Life Management, You Cannot Con...:       Welcome to Money Tips Daily this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help you save and make more money! Time Managem...

Time Management is Life Management, You Cannot Control Time!

      Welcome to Money Tips Daily this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help you save and make more money!

Time Management is Life Management, You Cannot Control Time!

Time management is a misunderstood phrase, as we cannot control or manage time, we can only manage ourselves.

Time is money, as the old saying goes. But Jim Rohn said, “Time is more precious than money, as you can always earn more money, but can never get back lost time”. Time can’t be saved or banked, it must be used or it’s gone forever. 

Time is ticking away relentlessly and seems to speed up as we grow older. There is a biological reason for the way we perceive time as we age, but a more obvious answer could be that a year to a five year old is equivalent to 20% of their life, to a 20 year old it is just 5% and so on.

Regardless of our perception, we all have the same amount of time each day, 24 hours or 1440 minutes a day, 365 days a year, but not everyone produces or gets the same amount done in a day or a year.

Do you get as much done as billionaire Mark Zuckerberg or Richard Branson in a day or a year? I doubt many of us do! How does Branson do it, apparently relaxing and having fun on his island and running an international multi-billion dollar empire of several different business employing thousands of people?

There are a number of time management tools you can use, such as planers and lists, but much of your success comes down to prioritising and doing the right tasks at the right time. Pareto’s 80/20 law states that we achieve 80 percent of our results from 20 percent of our effort. In other words, concentrate on the tasks that get results and cut back on those that don’t. 

For business owners, this may mean finding out who are your top twenty percent of clients are or where the largest proportion of the profits come from and spending more time on that than the less profitable areas.

You might be working extremely hard and putting in long hours and feel that you cannot possibly do anymore, and you may be right, especially if you are doing it all by yourself. So if we are already working flat out and doing as much as we can in a day, how can we get more done in the same amount of time or less? The answer is the same as it was thousands of years ago when men wanted to lift a huge rock or build Pyramids: they used leverage, tools, teams, delegation and outsourcing. 

Nowadays, we don’t need to be a Pharaoh or a billionaire to ‘leverage’ our time to increase our productivity. We have more tools at our disposal than ever before and if you’re not using them, your competitor (who could be in the same building or in Asia) probably is. 

You can now outsource thousands of tasks - admin, creative or technical - easily and cheaply by using sites like Upwork.com and Fiverr.com, which are especially useful for small or solo business owners.

Most people have or could access a smart phone these days, which has multiple management tools at your fingertips from electronic diaries, database and thousands of inexpensive apps. You can literally run a business from your phone. However, if you still want to stick to your old Nokia 6310 or whatever phone you refuse to change, then you’re effectively driving a Model T Ford when you could be at the wheel of a Tesla. 

Maybe you still use that set of encyclopaedias and look up numbers in the Yellow Pages! Seriously, we must embrace change or we will be left behind like those once mighty businesses – Tower Records, Blockbuster - which have disappeared from our streets. 

Nokia used to dominate the mobile phone market until Steve Jobs turned the phone on its head. Newspapers and TV stations are struggling to compete with advertising rivals like Google and Facebook, old style taxis are fighting against the tide of Uber and hotels do their best to stop the spread of AIRBNB. 

Innovators and disrupters like Apple’s Steve Jobs and Tesla’s Elon Musk use massive time and life leverage to change the world. You can do the same for your world.

I will taking more about how you can leverage your time to earn more money and create more wealth in the next episode, so keep reading this blog and tuning in to my Money Tips Daily podcast. 

Check out my episode "Time Management is Life Management " on Anchor! https://anchor.fm/charles-kelly/episodes/Time-Management-is-Life-Management-e147t2

See also: 

Financial Education is Your Key to Wealth and Success

NEVER Borrow Money on Expensive Credit Cards to Buy Depreciating Consumer Goods

How to Make Money Online Without a Website or Inventing Your Own Product

2 Tips to Save and Make You Money

Model the Rich and Successful

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily - Financial Education is Key to Y...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily - Financial Education is Key to Y...: Welcome to Money Tips Daily this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help you save and make more money! Financial education is o...

Money Tips Daily - Financial Education is Your Key Wealth and Success in Life

Welcome to Money Tips Daily this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help you save and make more money!

Financial education is one of the main keys to managing and building your wealth. Financial ignorance will be extremely costly throughout your life, especially when you put everything into the hands of advisers and accountants.

In my forthcoming book, Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness, I include section on the “Stars Who Lost It All”. One of the main reasons most of these celebrities went from extreme wealth to bankruptcy in a few years is a lack of financial education. They thought everything was being “handled” and didn’t have the common sense or knowledge to check what their advisers were doing with their money.

Unfortunately, they don’t teach you this stuff in school, right?

One way of gaining the knowledge that most advisers have and keep to themselves is to take a financial adviser course.

Take a basic course in becoming a financial adviser, which can be done as a home study course and are widely available in countries where there are financial regulators or just Google it. The CII (Chartered Insurance Institute) have been training financial advisers for decades. They offer courses in financial planning from Award and Certificate level right up to Advance Diplomas.

Early in my career, I spent many years as a financial adviser in the bank and running my own business. The knowledge I gained from the courses which I took, and exams I passed, to become a financial advisor had been invaluable to me throughout my life, long after I left the industry.

The courses taught me about taxation, pensions, trusts and wills, mortgages, insurance, saving and investing. More importantly it taught me about borrowing money and using the infinite benefits of leveraging 'other people's money'.  

In short, the knowledge gained through financial services courses have literally been worth many millions to me over the years. It helped me in my business and I would never have got into property investing without my financial adviser training.

I'm not saying you should become a financial advisor, just take the courses so you can educate yourself towards their level. As Tony Robbins says in his book, Money, if you lack financial education how can you know what questions to ask your adviser?

How can you know what type of adviser you are dealing with and whether or not they are right for you?

One of the biggest financial decisions you’ll make in your life is buying a house or obtaining a mortgage. In my experience, the vast majority of home buyers have little or no knowledge about the mortgage product they are taking on, a loan which will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds over the term! Listen to my earlier podcast on mortgages and finding a better deal.

Pensions is another area where there is much confusion, which is why so few people save into pension schemes to fund their retirement. Millions of people are facing a bleak retirement or being unable to stop working.

Taking a financial adviser or financial planning course could literally save and make a fortune.

Check out my podcast episode "Financial Education is the Key to Wealth" on Anchor! https://anchor.fm/charles-kelly/episodes/Financial-Education-is-the-Key-to-Wealth-e1417l

Check out my podcast episode "Money Tip Review you Mortgage" on Anchor! https://anchor.fm/charles-kelly/episodes/Money-Tip-Review-you-Mortgage-e12g2i

See also: 

NEVER Borrow Money on Expensive Credit Cards to Buy Depreciating Consumer Goods

How to Make Money Online Without a Website or Inventing Your Own Product

2 Tips to Save and Make You Money

Model the Rich and Successful

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily - Live Long and Prosper to Enjoy ...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily - Live Long and Prosper to Enjoy ...: Welcome to Money Tips Daily this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help you save and make more money! Live Long and Prosper. A...

Money Tips Daily - Live Long and Prosper to Enjoy the Fruits of Your Labour and Investments

Welcome to Money Tips Daily this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help you save and make more money!

Live Long and Prosper. A long and healthy life means more time to earn and enjoy the fruits of your labour or investments. 

One way of getting your money’s worth from your lifelong private and state pensions is to outlive the actuary’s forecasts on your normal life expectancy! If you keep drawing that pension into your nineties or beyond, you’ve won!

There are many theories on how to live a long and healthy life from eating the right foods to living in Okinawa, which seems to where the average person lives to a ripe old age eating oily fish and seaweed. The problem is, most of us don’t live on an island in Japan or in mountainous regions where the air is clean and mineral rich water irrigates freshly grown vegetables!

What we can do is follow some of their habits like good diet, exercise and working beyond ‘normal’ retirement age.

The Guinness Book of Records recently awarded the title of the oldest living siblings to the Donnelly family from Armagh, Northern Ireland. The world’s oldest living sibling Family, who have a combined age of 1064, were featured in a 2017 BBC documentary, which I recommend you watch if you wanted to know the secret to living long and prospering.

The family of 12 Brothers and Sisters are all healthy and still work their fruit growing farm in Northern Ireland. One of the family, Seamus, who looks like he’s in his 60’s rather than nearing 90, believes that their secret of longevity lies in a combination of keeping active with physical work each day, not retiring and good fresh food from the local soil.

The whole family are fit and active, cheerful and have a positive outlook on life. One said they “let problems go over their shoulders” and pass away, indicating that they are not worriers or people who hold grudges or anger.

Another said, “None of the family are drinkers” and added, “I’ve watched people who retire and put their feet up fade away and die”, adding that he liked to do some physical and mental work each day to keep him sharp and give him a good appetite.

All of the boys family of originally 16 children took part in sporting activity when they were young playing Gaelic Football.

I have uncles and cousins who are also farmers from the North West of Ireland and they too have lived a long, but quite hard, life out in the open. Like the Donnelly’s, they have no notion of retiring and seem to have an inner peace, which perhaps comes from their faith.

Enjoying a Road Trip on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Coastal Trail

As a child when I visited Ireland, everyone grew their own food (before the word “organic” became fashionable) and kept cows, hens and pigs. Unfortunately, this tradition seems to be going by the wayside as the convenience of the car and supermarkets takes over. The lifestyle in Ireland is definitely led at a slower pace than in big cities, and people take time to talk to each other, but they also work very hard and endure cold wet winters.

Your health is your wealth. Health and nutrition are obviously vital to your energy levels, longevity and success. We will cover this in more detail in a future episode.

Finally, legendary British game show host and actor, Nicholas Parsons CBE, has been presenting the BBC Radio show, Just A Minute for 50 years, and is still as sharp as ever. The show holds the world record, as confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records, for the longest running show with the same presenter. 

In a recent interview celebrating the show, the remarkable Mr Parsons was asked what was his secret to how he has kept going for so long and how he remains at the top of his game hosting a demanding panel show at 94. He replied that he believes that keeping his mind sharp and learning new things every day has kept him healthy. 

Mr Parsons appears to have no intention of retiring from show business or the charity work he carries out with the Lord Taveners. He clearly loves what he’s doing.

In summary, look after your heath, don’t retire, never stop learning and keep doing something that gets you out of bed in the morning!

See also: 

How to Make Money Online Without a Website or Inventing Your Own Product

2 Tips to Save and Make You Money

Model the Rich and Successful

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily - Make Sure You Get Enough Sleep

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily - Make Sure You Get Enough Sleep: Welcome to Money Tips Daily this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help you save and make more money! I trust your weekend is ...

Money Tips Daily - Make Sure You Get Enough Sleep

Welcome to Money Tips Daily this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help you save and make more money!

I trust your weekend is going well? You might be staying up late and enjoying a lie-in after a tiring week, which brings me on to today’s tip, which is about energy management and sleep.

Make Sure You Get Enough Sleep.

Did you know that sleep deprivation could kill you faster than food starvation? People have survived without food for more than 30 days, but the longest known case of going without sleep is just 11 days. Going without sleep for 24 hours leave your mind and decision making capabilities similar to someone who is intoxicated and a day longer and you will experience an altered state of mind. 

Depriving people of sleep is a known torture and interrogation technique and there are documented cases of people have signed confessions to crimes they didn’t commit, some of whom would face the death penalty, just to get some sleep!

These are extreme examples, but we all know that when we do not get a good night’s sleep, we not only lack energy and drive, but also make poor decisions. You cannot put energy into your work or business if you are fatigued and those who try eventually burn out. 

Lack of sleep has also been linked to poor physical and mental health and weight problems.   

Most people need 7-8 hours of sleep to function normally and productively – how can you be productive and on top of your game if you’re tired? The old adage of one hour before midnight is worth two after may have some truth in it. Have you ever gone to bed late and slept in until mid-morning on weekends, yet still felt tired or experience headaches?

I know some of us, like me, are night Owls and some of us are Larks who effortlessly wake up fresh at dawn, but if you are employed and your day starts at 8.30am, you’d better get yourself into a productive routine, or change careers.

Waking up late, or pressing the snooze button for 30 minutes may make you skip breakfast or even a shower and toilet routine. 

Don’t be like the person rushing in late to work or a meeting looking dishevelled, disorganised and holding a half eaten energy bar!

You know that when you get up late, because you stayed up late and failed to prepare for the next day, you are probably going to have “one of those days”. The car won’t start or is low on fuel, traffic problems, no parking spaces, late train or forgetting that file you needed for the meeting.

Get up early enough to meditate and look forward to the day ahead, exercise or stretch, hydrate your body and eat a healthy breakfast, shower and dress for success.

There are numerous techniques and websites offering tips and advice on getting a good night’s sleep. Here’s a summary of the best tips.

Try setting a regular bedtime.

Have a wind-down time and routine where you avoid eating, drinking alcohol, watching television, news, social media or reading all the bad news in the newspaper for at least a good two to three hours before turning in.

Stick to the bedtime routine and stop watching late night movies or sport on TV. Record programmes you feel you can’t miss or watch on catch-up TV.

Enjoy some quiet time relaxing or meditating on the things you are thankful for that day, for instance. “I am grateful that my day went well and in particular I......”.

Your day begins the night before.

You could also offload things which are running around in your head about the day ahead by making a quick list or plan for the following day, and organising your things in advance.

Your bedroom should be a peaceful, clean, clutter free haven, which is ventilated and not too warm or cold. Keep the room dark and protected from light which can disturb your sleep.

Keep smart phones, laptops and TV’s switched off and away from your pillow – I know how hard it is to say goodnight to my iphone! Some experts recommend switching off the power on phones (and any electrical appliances) and using an old fashioned alarm clock to wake you up.

Try these tips for 30 days and make a note of how you feel. 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and sleep well! 

See also: 

How to Make Money Online Without a Website or Inventing Your Own Product

2 Tips to Save and Make You Money

Model the Rich and Successful

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Never borrow on loans or expensive credit cards fo...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Never borrow on loans or expensive credit cards fo...: Welcome to Money Tips Daily this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help you save and make more money! As the weekend kicks in,...

Never borrow on loans or expensive credit cards for consumer goods or things that decrease in value

Welcome to Money Tips Daily this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help you save and make more money!

As the weekend kicks in, you may be planning to go shopping for an expensive item or something for the house. The Money Tips Daily tip for today is:

Never borrow on loans or expensive credit cards for consumer goods or things that decrease in value.

I’m  not saying don’t use a credit card, which gives you additional consumer protection in the event of a problem or the company going out of business before you receive ordered goods. Consumers who ordered beds on their credit cards from Warren Evans, which went bust in the last week, should receive a refund from the card company, whilst those who paid with a debit card or in cash have little chance of seeing their money again.  

Using a credit card is fine provided you pay off the balance before interest is charged. If not, the effects of high interest rates on credit cards and personal loans will hold you back financially for years and even the rest of your life as long as you keep practising this form borrowing.

Paying the minimum amount back each month will also take years to pay off the balance in full, so make higher payments via you bank or pay off lump sums to clear the debt. 

Consumer goods borrowing is not the same as borrowing to buy assets, such as a rental or buy-to-let property, which can produce cash flow to pay the mortgage interest and gives you an ongoing residual income, as well as a potential increase in value over time. You may be able refinance and pull out all of your money and enjoy perpetual unlimited returns on your investment for years to come!

I would recommend having a plan to clear off the balance on your cards. However, if you cannot pay off your balance immediately and need more time, you could consider an interest free balance transfer, although keep an eye on the upfront fees, which can be as high as 3%. 

If you do need to borrow, look for cheaper options such as credit unions.

That’s all for now, have a great weekend and happy shopping! Watch those signs saying “Fast Credit”, which should say: “Fast DEBT”!

Check out my episode "Money Tip Review you Mortgage" on Anchor! https://anchor.fm/charles-kelly/episodes/Money-Tip-Review-you-Mortgage-e12g2i

See also: 

How to Make Money Online Without a Website or Inventing Your Own Product

2 Tips to Save and Make You Money

Model the Rich and Successful

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily If You Want To Be Wealthy Model W...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily If You Want To Be Wealthy Model W...: Welcome to Money Tips Daily. This is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help save and make you more money! The late Jim Rohn used ...

Money Tips Daily If You Want To Be Wealthy Model Wealthy People

Welcome to Money Tips Daily. This is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help save and make you more money!

The late Jim Rohn used to say that your income will be around the average of your close friends and where you will be in five years, will be determined by the books you read and the people you hang out with.

Brian Tracy expressed the same point more directly when he said “you can’t fly with Eagles when you’re scratching around with Turkeys”!

In other words, whether you like it or not, the people you spend the most time with have a profound effect on your behaviour, attitude and future success. Sooner or later, you will take on the characteristics of those around you. If you’re going to absorb the character and habits of anyone, you might as well make it someone successful.

Model Wealthy People

If you want to be wealthy, model wealthy people. If you want to be successful, model successful people and if you want to be a failure...fill in the blank.

How do you model the behaviour and habits of the rich and successful?

In my forthcoming book, Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness, I talk about the “Millionaire Next Door” and the research carried out on the average wealthy people of America. In the groundbreaking book, The Millionaire Next Door: The surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy, authors William D. Darko and Thomas J. Stanley, carried out extensive research to discover the real habits and traits of the typical American millionaire.

The results might surprise you. The average millionaire is not a sports star, celebrity or movie star.

A typical millionaire has worked hard to build up a business or career, is married to their childhood sweetheart, drives a modest car, is frugal with money, has saved between 10-20% of their income over a 20-30 year period and amassed a fortune in excess of $1 million.

They do not lead rock star lifestyles spending hundreds of dollars on fine wines and exclusive brands to impress their friends, or splash out on fancy new foreign cars every year and eat out in expensive restaurants every night.

They do, however, take the time to manage their money and investments, work hard on their business, spend time with their family and friends, go to church, synagogue or temple, and enjoy simple pleasures such as walking. Some would describe themselves as a “cheap date”!

An extreme example of this is seen in the lifestyle of the billionaire Warren Buffett who drives a simple American car, lives in the same house in his home town of Omaha he bought 40 years ago and eats in modest restaurants or grabs a Big Mac on the way to work. Unlike, most of his fellow billionaires he does not lead the flamboyant lifestyle enjoyed by the super rich and keeps his feet firmly on the ground.  

Contrary to popular belief, the average millionaire and multi-millionaire leads a fairly ordinary lifestyle. You probably wouldn’t even guess they were wealthy.

You can start modelling the habits of the ‘millionaire next door’ right now by following the 7 S Steps to Success:

1.      Stop spending indiscriminately and stick to a budget buying the things you need and can afford without going into debt.

2.      Spend wisely on quality, not luxury, things that last.

3.      Save 10-20% of your income or start on a smaller percentage.

4.      Save and Invest wisely and spend time looking after your investments.

5.      Start investing in yourself through education and development in your career or in your own business.

6.      Start leading a simple and stable home life 

7.      Spend time with the people that matter to you.

Action.  Follow this powerful technique used by successful people and athletes.

Look at where you are today and think about your habits and your actions that got you there. Now close your eyes and go forward in time. Visualise where you want to be in 1, 2 or 5 years time. What is your life like? Where do you live and who are you with? What are you doing in your life? Now look back from that point. What habits and actions got you to your ideal lifestyle? Follow this path and write down your goals and plans. Use a vision board and repeat the process every day.

Listen to this blog on my podcast:

https://anchor.fm/charles-kelly/episodes/18118c4?at=2721345

See also: 

How to Make Money Online Without a Website or Inventing Your Own Product

2 Tips to Save and Make You Money

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily - How to SLASH Your Tax Bill Lega...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily - How to SLASH Your Tax Bill Lega...: Hello and welcome to Money Tips Daily, this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help save and make you more money! Mitigate Your...

Money Tips Daily - How to SLASH Your Tax Bill Legally

Hello and welcome to Money Tips Daily, this is Money Kelly bringing you money tips to help save and make you more money!

Mitigate Your Tax Liability, Legally!

If you are listening to this in real time, today is the 21st of February and for many of us in the UK the end of the tax or fiscal year on 5 April is fast approaching. Other countries may vary but the principle is the same, use every available legal tax saving method to reduce and mitigate the amount of tax you pay.

Here in the UK, the next few weeks will present your last opportunity to use up your tax free allowances in savings schemes like ISA and Pensions.

There are different types of ISA’s and pensions, and the right choice for you will depend on your own particular financial circumstances. You should seek financial advice from an independent financial advisor, as there are other tax saving investment schemes which require specialist advice.

The amount you can put into these schemes varies from year to year and what the Chancellor decides in the budget. In general, the maximum thresholds usually increase because the government wants to encourage us to save.

For the 2017/18 tax year, you can invest up to £20,000 into a Cash ISA or a Stocks and Shares ISA.

The cash ISA is similar to a bank account which pays interest, but unlike a normal account, there is no tax deduction as long as your money stays within the tax-free ISA “wrapper”. Many savers do not realise that the interest in their savings is taxed.

When I worked in the bank many years ago, some customers would have hundreds of thousands of pounds tied up in accounts which not only paid a low interest rates, but were also taxed.

By simply moving their money into ISA’s they could avoid taxes forever on their savings and earn more money on their savings, as interest rates were higher in the ISA accounts. Remember that banks have a habit of churning accounts and reducing the interest rate on those accounts making them effectively obsolete.

Unfortunately, many of them would say “no, I’m happy where it is” and refuse to move their money!

If you had invested the maximum allowable amount each year into ISA’s or similar accounts since they were introduced you would now have over £1,000,000 in a tax free wrapper.

The Stocks and Shares ISA allows you to invest in shares or funds which invest in the stock market on your behalf. These funds can go up or down and obviously carry more risk than a cash ISA. If you already own shares, it makes sense to shelter them in an ISA wrapper to avoid tax on dividends and CGT or capital gains tax.

Companies like Hargreaves Lansdown offer this ISA service and has a good online platform.

You can invest in an ISA by making regular monthly contributions or a single lump sum each year.

Check out the best deals online (e.g. at moneysavingexperts.co.uk or similar comparison sites) and now is the time to start shopping around rather than leaving it until the last minute and risk losing out.

In addition to the ISA allowance, all UK basic rate tax payers can now earn up to £1000 a year in interest without paying tax on it. With base lending rates standing at .5% as I write, you’d need quite a lot of money on deposit to earn £1000 of interest on your savings. Assuming a savings rate of .25%, you would have to have £400,000 on deposit in order to earn £1000 in interest.

Pensions are more complex and the right plan for you will depend on your circumstances, for instance, your tax status, age and whether you are employed, self employed or a company director.

Bonus tip. Get into the habit of saving a percentage of your income no matter how small to start with. The sooner you start saving the better, as compound interest (interest on interest) will work in your favour. Albert Einstein described compound interest as one of the greatest forces on Earth.

Acton. See an independent financial adviser and do your own research online. If you are self employed, talk to your accountant before the end of the tax year not after when it might be too late to claim allowances against your profits.

See also: 

How to Make Money Online Without a Website or Inventing Your Own Product

2 Tips to Save and Make You Money

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily - 2 Tips to Save Money and Make M...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily - 2 Tips to Save Money and Make M...:        Welcome to Money Tips Daily. Today I want to give you two tips or two for the price of one! One will save you money and the...

Money Tips Daily - 2 Tips to Save Money and Make Money

       Welcome to Money Tips Daily.

Today I want to give you two tips or two for the price of one!

One will save you money and the other will make you money.

The first tip is to cut down on Pay-Per-View, subscription, cable or satellite TV. A Sky TV package can cost over £80 per month or almost £1000 per year. In ten years time, your will have spent £10,000 and probably be 10 pounds heavier too!

The second tip is to stop wasting so much time in front of the TV altogether.

The average American spends 4 hours and 40 minutes slouched in front of the box every day (almost a full working week). Americans are the highest TV viewers in the world closely followed by Australians. British viewers watch TV for 24 hours a week, the equivalent of three working days! 

People are now binge watching boxed set shows and can spend a whole weekend watching a series. 

Some British workers have even admitted to calling in sick because they’ve been up all night watching a series on Netflix!

Watching television can become an addiction, just like social media, alcohol or drugs. The need for that dopamine rush is very similar.

Cutting down on the time you waste watching TV will give you so much more time to spend with family and friends, read and study, earn money online, exercise or finish that book you have been contemplating for years.

You could easily complete a university degree, or become a leading expert in your field, in the time the average person spends watching rubbish on TV.

I guarantee that this action alone will pay huge dividends in a very short space of time, but if you cancel some of those subscriptions (after all, who has time to watch hundreds of channels?) it will immediately put money back into your pocket.

Bonus Tip...Many of your favourite shows could be available free on the internet. 

Action...Review your subscriptions today and get back control of your free time.

See also: 

How to Make Money Online Without a Website or Inventing Your Own Product

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily - 3 Steps to Build Up Your Credit...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily - 3 Steps to Build Up Your Credit...: Welcome to Money Tips Daily. 3 Steps to Build Up Your Credit Rating. Yesterday, we talked about protecting your credit rating, but...

3 Simple Steps To Improve Your Credit Rating

Welcome to Money Tips Daily.

3 Simple Steps to Build Up and Improve Your Credit Rating.

We've looked at how to check your credit rating, but what to you do if you want to improve or build up your rating or if you have discovered that you have adverse credit registered against you?

There are different strategies for people who have a bad credit history, for instance if you have a County Court Judgment (CCJ) of a Default registered against you, and those who have virtually no credit rating at all.

For those of you who want to build or rebuild your rating, here are three simple steps:

1.      Get a credit card if you can or apply for ‘rebuild your credit’ credit card if you already have a poor credit history. Search for card providers which offer credit to people with an adverse credit history. The interest rate could be as high as 40% so make sure you pay them off quickly.

2.      Pay off your card balance in full each month. This shows a record of handling your finances and you will usually find that card companies will offer to increase your limit. Also, drawing cash on your card is not only expensive, but also demonstrates poor money management skills.

3.      Register yourself on the voters list, assuming you are eligible to vote, or write to the credit referencing agencies with proof of address so they can note your residence. This will show lenders that you are registered at a UK address. Lenders also like to see stability, so the more addresses you’ve had in a short period of time, the stable you are going to look to lenders. This can also apply to how long you have held your current account with your bank, so don’t go switching your account every six months just to get a free offer!

If you have a CCJ or a Default you should take steps to mitigate the pain. For instance, you can apply to have CCJ’s ‘set aside’ if it was registered in your absence or at a previous address. 

You can also ask credit referencing agencies to add a note to your file where there are mitigating circumstances, e.g. “the goods we ordered never arrived so we refused to pay to £50 bill”. With hindsight, it would have been better to pay the bill and dispute it after to avoid wrecking your credit history for six years.

The golden rule is never ignore a court or bailiff letter, debt recovery notice, default or pre-action notice or any letters relating to debts, no matter how painful they are to read. Sitting there looking at a pile of unopened red letters is only going to make matters worse.

As mentioned yesterday, avoid being late with payments and use direct debits to pay bills and card payments.

See also: 

How To Check Your Credit Rating

How to Make Money Online Without a Website or Inventing Your Own Product

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily – Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily – Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate...: Welcome to Money Tips Daily We’ve talked about saving money, generating more money, but how would you like to know how to save hundred...

Money Tips Daily - How to Check Your Credit Rating and Avoid County Court Judgements (CCJ's) and Defaults

Welcome to Money Tips Daily. Today I want to talk about something that can have a huge impact on your life, your credit rating.

Check your credit rating regularly and protect it by never allowing your rating to be compromised by not paying a bill or defaulting on a credit card, which can stay on your record for up to six years.

Protect your credit rating with your life!

To check your credit file and obtain a credit rating you can apply to one of the main credit reference agencies in your country. In the UK the big three are www.Experian.co.uk, www.Equifax.co.uk and www.CallCredit.co.uk, which can supply a free report or charge a small fee.

You can pay a monthly subscription for ongoing reports, but I would go for the basic report to start with.

You can also obtain a combined report covering all three credit agencies, which will often hold different information on you depending on which company reports activity.

You should check your credit file at least once a year, as errors will affect your ability to obtain credit, take out a mortgage or mobile phone contract or open a bank account.

If you discover something on your file which should not be there, like a County Court Judgement (CCJ) or a Default on a credit agreement or utility bill you can dispute it with the company or go to the Financial Ombudsman or Citizens Advice. 

Companies also report late payments to the credit agencies, which means you could be refused a mortgage even though you have never defaulted on a bill or been taken to court. 

For instance, if your credit card bill is due on 20^th of each month and you manually pay it over the counter at your bank each month on 19^th, you are technically late, as it takes several days for your payment to reach the card company.

You will also be reported for paying utility bills late and for credit searches when you apply for credit even if you do not proceed with the transaction. Some mortgage lenders have been known to decline a mortgage application just because the person had a late payment in the last 3 years!

If you are involved in a legal dispute in the County Court and lose you have less than a month in which to settle the debt awarded to the other side by the judge, otherwise the debt will appear on your credit file as a CCJ for six years even if you pay by instalments or later clear the amount outstanding.

Bonus Tip 1. Pay bills by direct debit to avoid missing a payment, which will appear on your credit file.

Bonus Tip 2. If you are in dispute over a small utility bill always pay it and argue about it afterwards. If you refuse to pay, the company may issue a Default against you, which they can do without going to court. The Default could stay on your record even if you are later proved to be in the right. 

In my days working in banks and financial services I have met countless people who allowed their credit rating to be messed up over a £50 water bill. The water companies were particularly aggressive in going after debtors.

Tomorrow, I’ll give you some tips on how to build up your credit rating.

Listen to this episode on Anchor: Money Tip Check Credit Rating.

Money Tips Daily – Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate!

Welcome to Money Tips Daily

We’ve talked about saving money, generating more money, but how would you like to know how to save hundreds or even thousands of pounds or dollars just by saying a few words?

Negotiate! That’s right, use negotiation in your everyday dealings.

The old saying that “everything is negotiable” may not always work down at your local supermarket (but it can believe me), but the principle is timeless. People have been negotiating since the beginning of time and it’s in our DNA to get a better deal, right? 

This is not about haggling, banging your fist on the table or becoming a union leader grinding out pay deals, which they do very well! This is about asking for a better deal, price or an upgrade.

I get better deals and upgrades all the time, usually just by asking. On a recent holiday in the Philippines, I asked for an upgrade to a better room, and got it, along with use of the club lounge (free drinks and food) on the top floor with fabulous views of the Manila skyline. I got a further £100 off the final bill when I discovered and filmed a rat in the rooftop garden!

Now, you may think I was a real pain in the ass, but actually I was very friendly with the staff and manager and not at all demanding like some western tourists can be in Asia. I praised them for their good service, which was true, had fun and used a bit of humour. I’d have a laugh with the staff after it had been dealt with by asking “where’s the rat today?”.  

  

You may be shy to negotiate at first, after all, it’s not very British to ask for a discount, but try some of these useful phrases, combined with a friendly smile, whenever someone gives you a price for a service:

“How much!!!???”,

“Is that your best price/offer/...”,

“That seems a little high...can you offer any discount?”,

“I love this hotel/airline...Do you have any upgrades available?”

Then wait for them to answer. In most cases, you will get 10% or 20% off the price on the spot or an upgrade or some sort of free bonus offer.

Just last month I had to change the battery on my car at a local garage, part of one of the biggest national chains in the country. I use them for tyres, so I’m a regular customer.

The manager quoted me £140 for the battery, “fitted with a 3 year warranty”. I replied with a smile, “thanks, can you offer me any discount?”. His exact words were, “Of course” and he then knocked £40 off the price on the spot – I was expecting 10% and would have taken it as the battery was already competitively priced. I drove out of there ten minutes later smiling after paying £100, that’s a discount of almost 30% for using a 7 word phrase, or almost £6 a word!

I don’t go around haggling over the price of a cup of coffee at my local Starbucks, but even they have special offers and deals if you ask.

I could give you hundreds of examples of how I obtained many thousands of pounds in discounts from small items to large property deals. I even managed to obtain a 10% discount, by using the same phrase, from my book editor (Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness will be published soon) who is probably reading this now! Learn from it!

Bonus Tips...Keep it friendly, build rapport and never be a jerk.

The best negotiators are charming and almost irresistible. One of the greatest negotiators I’ve ever seen in action, my friend John, almost did it for fun. Both parties enjoyed the process as he’d say things like “come on Len, you know you can do better than that!”. Len, our furniture supplier would sigh and say, “Ok John, I’ll do it for x”.

There are also hundreds of good books on advanced negotiation techniques. Read one.

You can also negotiate online or via email or SMS. 

That’s all for now, more Money Tips tomorrow.

How to Sell Unwanted Goods and Build a Profitable Online Business Without a Website

Hello and welcome to Money Tips Daily.

You can also listen to this article on my podcast on Anchor FM.

Yesterday we talked about the sharing economy and turning your spare room into cash.

If you’re not in a position to take in a guest, another way of generating some extra cash is to sell unwanted goods online. There are numerous websites like Amazon, Gumtree and Ebay which can help you turn old stuff into cash and it could turn into to an online business. You also get to clear space in your home!

We all have those unused exercise bikes and guitars taking up space which could be turned into cash. There are also unopened presents, books and CDs which can be sold online. With Amazon you can even scan the barcode to generate an image on your seller site.

You don’t only have to sell your own stuff online. Millions of people have built a business selling online through platforms such as EBay and AmazonSeller. You no longer have to rent a shop in the High Street to have a storefront. An online business can be set up for a very small amount of money with none of the risks associated with signing a lease, paying upfront rent and employing staff.

You don’t even need to have your own product or a traditional website to start your business. You can become an affiliate marketer and sell other peoples products for a commission. There are sites like Clickbank which offer thousands of products for affiliates to promote.

Like some traditional high street ‘bricks and mortar’ businesses, old style websites are becoming a thing of the past.

When I started my business years ago, everybody said you needed to have a fancy website. We spent a small fortune setting up a website and then waited for people to visit it. When someone did visit, they’d have a quick look around and leave (we only found that out much later by setting up analytics tools). It was a bit like somebody walking into a shop, having a quick look around and walking out before anyone has a chance to talk to them.

There are of course a number of ways of catching people’s attention and capturing their name and email address, but this requires IT skills and expertise. I hired IT consultants, went on courses and bought expensive online “solutions” most of which were pretty useless. I had almost given up which I stumbled across a book by a guy called Russell Brunson, the founder of a company called ‘Clickfunnels’. The book is called Expert Secrets and it is packed full of great information but written in a simple, engaging way with lots of stories and examples of how to build a following and make money online. Best of all, he actually gives away the book for FREE if you pay the shipping costs.

Russell has revolutionised online selling through Clickfunnels, which makes the flat brochure-type website all but redundant.

You can find out more and get a free copy of Russell’s book Expert Secrets by clicking here or cut and paste this link into your browser - http://bit.ly/2EOzK8f. 

Money Tips Daily - Earn Extra Tax Free Cash With Rent a Room Scheme

Welcome to Money Tips Daily.

We have looked at various ways of saving money, so today I want to give you a few tips on how to earn some extra cash!

There are hundreds of ways of generating additional income in your spare time from starting a small business from home, digital marketing and sales or MLM. I actually run a Facebook page called home based business ideas.

If you’re not inclined to start a business just yet and are struggling to make ends meet, you might want to consider these simple money making tips:

Rent a Room Scheme

The UK government allows you to earn up to £7500 tax free per year from renting out accommodation in your home.

The Rent a Room Scheme lets you earn up to a threshold of £7,500 per year tax-free from letting out furnished accommodation in your home. You don't have to stop at £7500 by the way, you just have to pay a little extra tax. Always consult your legal and tax advisers. 

How do you find tenants?

Tenants are easy to find in most areas (for instance, where there is employment or transport links) using websites like Airbnb and spareroom.co.uk.

Airbnb clients tend to be looking for short-term accommodation, although in my experience they can turn into long-term guests. The good thing about Airbnb is that they take care of collecting payments and has insurance in case things go wrong. You will generally be expected to provide bedding and towels like a guest house, but the higher rent should compensate you for this. The disadvantage is that guests will come and go which means more work.

Other sites like spare room and Monday to Friday provide you with a platform to advertise your room. Once the potential tenant makes contact you will have to deal with references and tenancy agreements. Advantages that you should be able to find a longer time tenant and will not have to provide additional services like bedding and cleaning. These sites generally charge you a flat fee to advertise your room and all the rent is yours, but there is no guarantee you’ll find a tenant. Airbnb makes no charge to list your room on their site, which has millions of visitors, but will take a percentage from the rent.  

You can of course use traditional methods like putting a card in the shop window, but this carries more risk and I've found you get better quality tenants through online advertising.

Whichever method you use to find lodgers there are plenty of people out there looking for a room, because renting an apartment is outside of their budget or they just need something temporary.

A few words of caution. Always take up references and use a legal assured shorthold tenancy agreement (AST) unless you’re taking Airbnb guests. If in doubt, consult your lawyer and take legal advice. 

You can find out more from organisations such as the National Landlords Association or on consumer website such as citizens advice. 

The 'gut' feeling most landlords ignore

I would also follow your own instincts and gut feeling about a person before letting them take up residence in your home. If there’s something you don’t feel is quite right about a potential lodger, go with your gut feeling or check them out further. For me, this is more important than references, but don't go completely freehand gung ho and skip the referencing process.

There are dozens of ideas around the ‘sharing’ economy including: car sharing on your journey to work and renting out your driveway for parking while you’re out at work.

Tomorrow, I’ll give you another cash generating tip which could turn into a profitable online business allowing you to work from home and quit the rat race. 

Previous:

The Reason Why Property Is The Best Investment

Does It Matter If Property Prices Fall? Find Out Why You Should Care

UK House Prices Fall Leaving First-Time Buyers And Buy-to-Let Investors Wondering Where The Market Is Heading

New HMO Letting Rules Could Drive Landlords Out Of The Buy-To-Let Property Market

Money Tips Daily - How to SLASH Your Tax Bill Legally

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily - Review Your Mortgage and Deal B...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: Money Tips Daily - Review Your Mortgage and Deal B...: Last week, the Governor of the Bank of England George Carney warned that interest rises would be coming in the near future. Now is the tim...

Money Tips Daily - Review Your Mortgage and Deal Before Interest Rates Rise

Last week, the Governor of the Bank of England George Carney warned that interest rises would be coming in the near future. Now is the time to review your mortgage deal.

Review your mortgage deal and diarise key dates, such as the end of the fixed rate or discount deal. Lenders will often tie you into a period when offering a fixed or discounted rate. At the end of the period, you will be reverted back to the normal variable rate, which will inevitably be higher. You need to be aware of these dates and start looking for new deals when they come up. 

I will give you an example. I bought a buy to let property 4 years ago with an interest only mortgage costing £1050 per month.  

I was tied into the initial deal for two years and there were heavy exit penalties if I switched, paid it off or remortgaged. At the end of two years I asked my broker (who had not informed me that the deal had ended and I could save money) to find a better deal. After searching the market, I decided to stay with the same lender and switch to one of their new rates. 

How much did I save? 

The new pay rate was almost half the old rate at just £540, a saving of £510 per month! That's £6,120 per year or £12,240 over the 2 year deal period (for the sake of the example I'm ignoring the lender fee that was added to the loan adding around £5 per month to my repayments).  This comes straight off the bottom line and I would've had to earn £18,000 in rent before tax to make the same amount of money. Not a bad result for making a phone call! 

Bonus Tip...you don't necessarily have to switch lenders to save money. You can stay with the same lender and switch to a new deal without remortgaging or refinancing. Remortgaging may not be convenient for you, as it involves new credit searches, references and valuation. In some cases you may not qualify for a new mortgage, due to age or income, but will be able to switch deals with your existing lender.

Some mortgage brokers recommend remortgaging to a new lender because this pays them more commission. Yes, your lender pays your broker an introduction fee which is declared on your offer. Action...Check your mortgage offer and papers today or call your lender or broker.

Tomorrow, I'll have another money tip which can save you hundreds of pounds on your household bills.

Listen to this episode, from Money Kelly on Anchor: Money Tip Review you Mortgage

Home Based Business Ideas UK: CASESTUDY: Weird Niche Funnel Making $17,947 per d...

Home Based Business Ideas UK: CASESTUDY: Weird Niche Funnel Making $17,947 per d...: It's been a while, but I'm back after spending almost a year searching for solutions to help me grow my business. I have spent t...