Is there a trick to dealing with financial stress? I don’t think so. While the answer to this question can be tricky for some, for those, who are Liberated Investors, it’s not. They know how and what their investments are doing.
Still, I realize in today’s environment, financial stress can hit at any level. You watch the nightly news or read about the rise or the drop in the market and you panic.
Stress Free Living
Honestly, you don’t have to be a struggling new investor to feel the pinch of uncertainty. You may have plenty in your portfolio, but you look at the landscape of world around you and sense an uneasy feeling rising.
You ask questions that others ask: “What happens if my economy suddenly changes? Will my investments stay strong? Do I have enough set aside for my kid’s college, the vacation home that I long to purchase, or retirement? What will the world look like in five, 10, 20 years? Am I being wise now, so I can live well later?”
I hear these questions every week; and while the market and interest rates are holding, there’s still an undeniable atmosphere of uncertainty filtering through. So, when it comes to today’s financial environment, I like to say, “Emotions are out, and well-planned decisions are in!”
You can reduce the amount of financial stress you feel and here’s how—
• Get a budget in place and stick to it. Write it down. Track your spending and savings. Live within your means. This means no matter how much you have in the bank: don’t spend more than you have. Establish a budget that is realistic and stick to it. Make sure that you include all your serious matters and then make sure you add a column for time off or vacation time.
• Set up an emergency fund and don’t touch it. Many advisors will tell you to have three months set aside for emergencies—loss of job, serious sickness, or some other unexpected event. I tell my clients to have five months set aside. This means you have money to pay bills and to live on should life suddenly shift and take a negative turn.
• Engage an advisor you trust to work with your portfolio. This really should be listed in the number one slot, but we live in a time when people try to keep up with their own investments. You can keep up with your budget but unless you have a lot of time, and knowledge, keeping up with the market probably will prove to be more stressful than fun.
• Ask yourself: “What I can change?” Your attitude toward finances, the way to save, or the way you spend money. If you fail to track your spending habits, your financial stress will increase. It always does when you don’t have plan in place. Let’s put one together that works for you.
Stress reduction begins with making right decisions. Wrong decisions happen when you have a lack of understanding, allow fear to captivate your heart and mind, or when you develop a careless attitude toward money.
But the Alphavest Liberated Investor solution is set up to capitalize on today’s market. It’s a responsible investment management approach that minimizes losses while providing an upside opportunity to —
• Lower your fees —Large Wall Street firms pack in hidden fees, and you need to know how to spot these and what to do next to eliminate them.
• Invest in a simple, easy to understand investment portfolio, backed by the highest of fiduciary standards with a winning track record in good and bad markets — all with the institutional support of over $900 billion in assets.
Investors can be paralyzed by the over-promised and under-delivered nature of two prevalent models—Buy & Hold and Market Timing.
These models dominate Wall Street. In the Liberated Investor, I take a close look at both. Then I map out the difference between the two and why the Alphavest, Liberated Investor model works by increasing your investment confidence and saving you money.
The final step is very important: hire an advisor you can trust—one that takes time to understand your lifestyle along with your goals and dreams for the future. They also need to know the “ins and outs” of market growth along with the trends that drive the market and its futures.
Liberated Investors understand that having a trusted advisor is the most powerful and important thing you can do. Hiring the wrong advisor or worse, no advisor, proves very costly. But having the right team in place reduces stress.
What can you do today? Download my latest edition of the Liberated Investor and then schedule a free 15-minute consultation with me. I bet I have some answers you need to hear.