Financial Advice From Millionaires?

I just finished reading this article where Paul Sullivan, a columnist for the NY Times, meets with an investment group of self-made millionaires called Tiger 21 and they go through all of his finances and then proceed to challenge, or grill, him on what he is doing and why.  There is some sound advice in the article, and I would recommend reading it.  I've linked the article here.

While the advice is good, I have to say I found myself wanting more.  In the article, at the very end, Mr. Sullivan states that the group mostly made their money from having high paying jobs and investing well, or from starting businesses and building them up.  While in the meeting, he makes no mention of whether or not Mr. Sullivan's portfolio is in line with his retirement goals or if he is taking advantage of the investment opportunities that come his way.  In this article, I kept reading about how they were in good financial shape because they save money, but nowhere in the article does it talk about investing wisely and making your money work well for you.  I suppose you can only ask for so much free advise from a group of millionaires.  If you want to join their ranks, you're going to have to learn to think like them and play by their rules.

Good Luck and God Bless!

Getting Paid More From Your Job - Good Luck

So I just read this article on yahoo! finance about how to approach your boss and ask for a raise.  They advise assessing what you are worth inside and outside of the company, using websites that list average salary information for your position, and formulating your request by possibly asking for other non-monetary perks, such as extra vacation time or having them pay for conferences, etc.  It seems that the days of being a top performer and being able to walk into your boss's office and ask for a raise and have an open conversation about it are long over.  I've gone through professional negotiation training in the past, so I'm pretty comfortable negotiating in just about any situation, but when it comes to your salary, as an employee, your power is pretty limited, especially here in Texas.  The only leverage you have is you can leave at anytime (for most employees, the at-will law in Texas holds legal precedence over anything).  However, your employer can also terminate you at any time with or without cause.  You have no additional leverage in your job (short of threatening to leave) unless your employer is nice and feels like you deserve more money.  Here is the link to the article.

Rather than having to go to a boss and asking for a raise, wouldn't it be much more empowering to first strengthen your financial education and then build your own passive cash flow outside of your employment?  That way, if you want a raise, you can find an opportunity out there and build it yourself.  There are many ways that people can strengthen their financial education.  If you would like some guidance on first or next steps, please feel free to send me an email and I will be happy to help.

Good Luck!
Jacob

Finding A Job Versus Finding Cashflow Opportunities

So I have been looking for a new job for almost 3 months now.  In that time, I have viewed hundreds of job postings, submitted a few hundred applications, received a few dozen responses, and had over a dozen interviews.  This has taken hundreds of hours of work to complete.  Once I have a job and know that my family and I can be taken care of for a while, I feel if I take this same hunger and approach and apply it to finding opportunities to increase my passive cashflow, then that will take me even closer to retiring quicker.  Something that has stuck out to me is how methodical finding a job really is.  Even when you utilize your network and reach out to them, it still takes time and effort.  If I am willing to put this much time and effort into finding a job that I do not plan on doing all my life, then how much time and effort should I be putting into finding good strong cashflow opportunities that could potentially set my entire family up for generations of wealth and success?