Tuesday, February 7, 2012

How to Brainstorm Ways to Make Residual Income

 


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J. Paul Getty said to become rich you need to make money in your sleep.


Easy for him to say, he had oil gushing out of wells 24-7.


Unless you have an oil derrick in your backyard, a solid modern, non-gusher alternative is to earn residual income from any number of business opportunities–from blogging to real estate. Residual income is a set-it and pretty much forget-it system to earn money on a regular basis, whether that’s daily, weekly, monthly, etc.


(Note: I said, “pretty much.”)


The thing is, there are a lot of ways to attain residual income strands, but not all of the methods appeal to all people. In the next few steps, you’ll learn how to brainstorm ways to make residual income.


Your first step is to ask yourself some questions:


How Much?


One of the first questions you should ask is how much do you expect from your streams of residual income. Do you want to make a little side money? Are you expecting to quit your job? Are you going for billionaire status? All are possible, but the probability changes based on what models you expect to use and what services and products you expect to offer.


What Interests You?


This may sound silly, but trust me this is a biggie. Many people believe that as long as they are making money, they could care a less what they’re actually doing to earn cash. That’s a mistake. Let’s say you start blogging as a source of your revenue streams, but you hate to write. Chances are that you’ll never establish the content necessary to run a profitable blog. Even if you do start earning money, you might not be able to sustain your blog.


Understand the types of residual income


If you know what you like and have set some type of income goal, you can look for residual income methods to fit the criteria. This is a partial list, but here are a few of the most popular and easiest and cheapest to start.

Affiliate marketingNiche sitesSelling your own productsSearch engine marketingDividend investingeBook authorSelling appsReal estate

*Notice I didn’t mention multi-level marketing (MLM). Just to be real here: I have never found one that either worked, or one that I could recommend in good conscience. Most of the ones that do work take too much of your soul to be worthwhile. Having said that, it is an example of a residual income-generating business.


What time do you want to spend setting these up?


Residual income makers are often billed as a hands-off approach to making money. That’s not exactly true. You will spend time and effort setting these systems up, but, hopefully, over time you’ll need less and less time maintaining them. Some businesses require less time than others. If you’re a developer or a writer, creating apps or eBooks might be fairly easy. Finding and acquiring real estate, on the other hand, will take considerable research and financial homework. The secret is: if you like the business, you probably won’t mind the leg work.


What types of risk will you be willing to take?


Not all residual income systems require an investment. Some cost, literally, pennies a day–an internet connection is all you need. Buying a condo complex to generate income… well, there’s some risk involved. Be sure you understand the risks and have the means to absorb any type of blow should the investment go horribly wrong.


Resources


Here are a few sources from around the web that I found that I hope are helpful. This hasn’t be easy, most residual income information that I found through search engines are nothing more than advertisements for, probably, people trying to sell stuff to create residual income streams. If you have favorites, please share in the comments below.


Residual Income Startup Guide from Residual Income Journey Blog


How to Create a Seven-Figure Residual Income — Hunter Nuttall


How to Make Residual Income Online — eHow


Related posts: Owning Rental Units For Residual Income8 Residual Income Advice Sites to Help Make Mondays Stink LessUsing Stock Dividends To Create Residual Income StreamsFive Ways To Create Wealth With Passive IncomeThe 15 Best Resources On Creating Passive Income

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Monday, February 6, 2012

Weekend Wisdom: Facebook IPO… Like? Or Not?

 


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A few major financial bits of news hit this week.


Ben Bernanke announced the possibility of more quantitative easing, or as I like to refer to it, The Fed’s Multi-Billion Dollar Obama Reelection Campaign Fund.


That wasn’t exactly unpredictable.


The other bombshell — for me, at least — was the announcement about a Facebook initial public offering, or IPO. I knew it was in the works, but thought it was still being debated by the social network’s executives.


IPOs can be more than just a way to value a company, or to turn virtual billionaires into real billionaires. They can signal increased health in the market and even indicate a new investment climate. Is this the start of another Tech Boom driven by maturing Web 2.0 companies? Hard to say. But my eyes will be on this offering for clues.


Here are some of the other articles and posts I’ve been reading this week…


Budgets Are Sexy — Does America Hate Money?


Forbes — Is Warren Buffett’s Secretary a 1 Percenter?


CashMoneyLife — When Will I Get My Tax Refund


The Finance Buff — How to Buy I Bonds on a Future Date From Treasury Direct


Financial Samurai — What Income Level is Rich?


Arbor Investment Planner Blog — Six Top Global Investment Trends for Your Portfolio in 2012


The College Investor — Your College Major Doesn’t Matter… Unless…


Wealth Informatics — Stay at Home, or Go to Work. What is the Financial and Professional Price?


Dumb Little Man — 7 Habits of Highly Excellent People


The Psy-Fi Blog — The Wisdom of Internet Crowds


Econometrics Beat (Dave Giles) — Hot Topics in Econometrics


Related posts: Weekend Wisdom: 100 Percent Chance of WisdomWeekend Wisdom–The Revolution Will Be WikiedWeekend Wisdom–Make Your Own Good LuckWeekend Wisdom: The Rogue Blogger EditionWeekend Wisdom: May You Live in Interesting Times

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6 Reasons to be Wildly Optimistic About the Future


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It’s always hipper to be a pessimist. As a pessimist, your ability to make jokes is much easier, too. You can be snarky.


When have you ever heard a comedian tell an optimistic joke?


Plus, let’s face it, the material’s there. The past decade was the decade of the pessimist.


Wars. Recessions. Depressions. Incessant and continual political in-fighting. Environmental problems. The Kardashians.


Could things get bleaker?


Actually, besides the Kardashian thing, there are signs that life is getting better and will get exponentially better. In fact, many of the problems — like violence and war — are statistically not getting worse. The global economy pretty much doubled in this last horrible decade. And technology is pointing toward an amazing future.


Here are six reasons you should be optimistic about the future.


Moore’s Law Continues


About every year and a half, engineers figure out how to double the power of computer chips. The upshot is, you get a mini computer that fits in your pocket that has more power than NASA did back in the 1960s. Moore’s Law using just silicon chips will continue for the next several years, at least, and new technologies, like optical computing, 3-D computing and quantum computing, are on the horizon to take us into a future where the exponential nature of Moore’s Law may turn exponential-exponential.


Researchers Have Continued Amazing Discoveries


If you follow new technologies, the list of breakthroughs and discoveries is nothing less than astounding. In the past decade, researchers have made steps in nanotechnology, energy, quantum computing, brain science, health, medicine, stem cell therapy, and on and on.


More importantly, we’re only seeing published research. What they’re doing in the lab right now or dreaming of theoretically, we can only imagine.


You May be Buying at a Bottom


From a purely financial outlook, if you continue to bargain hunt in the stock market or real estate market, you may be buying at a bottom or near bottom. When the economy turns around, you will ride the investments up. Buy low. Sell high. That’s how your supposed to do it.


Big IPOs


Whether you like Facebook or not, the initial public offering points to an improving economic condition. Bankers look for good economies when they schedule IPOs. There’s another silver lining in this cloud… Big IPOs, if successful, can lead to more IPOs. Which leads me to the next reason to be optimistic…


New Waves of Technology


Ever hear of Big Data? Or 3-D printing? Then read this article in the Wall Street Journal. These new technologies could indicate an approaching wave of prosperity.


Government Hasn’t Totally Screwed Things Up


One refreshing thing is we have witnessed government at it’s most incompetent. And, guess what? We’re still here. There’s no need to hit the bomb shelters just yet.


Just a disclaimer… So, you’re thinking… This idiot thinks it’s going to be wine, roses, and huge blocks of Bre cheese from here on out. Nope. Not saying that. I think we’re in for some swings, but one of those swings is going to catapult us out of this funk.


Oh, crap. Forgot the most important reason to be optimistic. The Kardashians are Getting Older. They can’t stay popular forever… right?


Right?


Related posts: Advanced Technology That Will Propel Your Financial FutureFuture Currencies And The Future Of Trading2010 Forecast: Clouds And A 100 Percent Chance Of AlgorithmsHow Will Quantum Computing Affect Finance?Why We Should Be Rationally Optimistic

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Sunday, February 5, 2012

Black Swans, New Normals and Why History Matters to the Investor

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You hear these statements a lot from investors:


“I’m going to be ready for the next black swan.”


Or…


“Past performance is not indicative of future results.


I’ve even said them myself.


But, as cool as it sounds and as much as the media wants to taut these as official catchphrases for investors, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, according to Ken Fisher. In fact, Fisher teaches quite the opposite in his book ' target="_blank">Markets Never Forget. But People Do.


We’ll start with the slam on past performance one first.


Most people think that past performance means the future price movement is absolutely unpredictable. But that’s not absolutely true and it leads to rash investment decisions, according to Fisher.


Fisher quotes investor John Templeton’s warning against the belief that “This time, it’s different.” The media expresses this as “the new normal.” Fisher uses reams of statistical evidence to prove that there is no such thing as a new normal–investment and economic patterns are pretty consistent throughout the past few hundred years.


The market remembers. People forget. And the pattern continues.


When the media shucks this line on the new normal, they’re telling the investor, throw out the rule book, this situation is totally different. The investor can not use probability to guide him or her through these new, treacherous shoals.


Indeed, you can’t use past performance to precisely predict the future, but you can use history, as Fisher says, as a range of possible outcomes. This narrows down probabilities–and that’s all the wise investor needs to make money.


Black Swans


Black Swans — unexpected economic events — are not wildly unpredictable events as you might think. Take the real estate meltdown. Is it so hard to believe that when real estate prices swing wildly up, that they might one day swing wildly down?


The key phrase is “one day.” The event itself wasn’t terribly unpredictable, but the timing of the sudden downswing is harder to predict.


But, you don’t need to find a Black Swan, or figure out exactly when the Black Swan will arrive, if you pay attention to history.


You don’t need to sell at the exact top to preserve money.


You don’t need to buy at the exact bottom to make money.


Near top and near bottom are fine for the astute investor.


Understanding the probability of future events and preparing yourself for that likelihood will improve your chances of buying low and selling high, or selling short and buying low.


If anyone else has read “Markets Never Forget. But People Do,” I’d like to hear your opinion.


Related posts: Black Swans, Complexity, And Government InterventionWhen You See The Black Swan, Ride ItWas Yesterday a Black Swan Event?Finding Black Friday DealsAwesome Investment Book: The Dhandho Investor

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