If I had a Million Dollars….

Sure everyone dreams of owning a million dollars, of course John Mccain would still consider you middle class but for most of us a Million Dollars is the chance at having the American Dream.

Why a Million Dollars? Because it’s a huge number for most people, more than many could ever dream of.

I’ve always been a fan of David Bach’s Automatic Millionaire, and here are some tips I’ve learned from him that may help you along your journey towards becoming a Millionaire.

1. Pay yourself first. This is the biggest and most important step you can take to becoming a millionaire. Before you pay any bills or buy groceries, pay yourself. Put it in an ira or mutual fund and watch your money grow. It is recommended that if you want to become rich to save 10%, if you want to become rich faster save 15%, if you want to become rich super fast save 20-25%.With some mutual funds your money can double every 6-10 years which can mean a lot after compounding interest, no you won’t get rich today, or tomorrow but in 20 years you’ll be looking a lot better off.
2. With the current economic front it is now more important than ever to get your house in order, get out of debt, and you absolutely have to have an emergency fund. Before you invest 20% into your mutual funds its advised to have a savings fund that could pay all the major bills for at least 6-12 months. This isn’t an easy thing to do of course but when you get laid off from your job of 20 years, you will wish you’d had the foresight to build an emergency fund.
3. Find the little things that you buy that you could cut out. For instance many of us living in a fast paced life, eat a lot of fastfood and other junk food. Some people smoke, and could save a bunch if they quit, others drive a lot and could save by carpooling. The simple fact is the more you save, the more you can invest in yourself.
4. Become a homeowner. Right now is a wonderful time to buy, owning a home is a great way to build wealth and equity. My tip is to buy a house that you can fix up and resell for more than you paid for it. Buy one that you can pay off in 5-10 years easily. You don’t need a grand house from the get go that’s going to cost an arm and a leg and take 30+ years to pay it off. Once you own your home you can then sell it and upgrade, and keep doing that till you own the house you’ve always dreamed of.
5. Pay your tithes. If you’re religious of course, which I am - I always pay my tithes and I always seem to have more than enough to meet my bills, and if I don’t my church will pay them for me… If you’re not religious then it’s advised that you give 10% of your income to worthy causes trust me karma is a true principle and everything you give will come back to you more times over.
6. Learn to cook. Eating out is extremely expensive, and the alternative can save you thousands per year.
7. Ride a bike or take public transit. Not only will you be helping the environment, but you’ll be saving on gas, especially now that it’s around $4/gallon. You might also look into jobs that only require a 4 day work week, as that is becoming the norm, or even better would be to telecommute and work from home, if possible - I believe telecommuting will become the standard of the future, as energy prices soar and companies experience troubles recruiting.
8. Don’t worry about brands, brands don’t mean crap. Buy the non-name brand items and you’ll save a bundle over time. Everything adds up.
9. If you have the means invest in solar panels for your home. It is costly at first but over a 20 year period you will save a ton more than you paid for them, and may even be able to make money back off any unused energy.
10. Teach your children the value of saving money. Today’s generation is all about borrowing, and if something doesn’t change our children’s future will be even more bleaker than ours. The way to stop this is to start from an early age and teach them how to manage money and finances.
11. Freelance. It seems now a days everyone is moonlighting and freelancing is one of the top ways to do this. If you can pick up some extra money on the side why not do it? My suggestion is to immediately put all your freelance earnings into your mutual funds and investments to speed up the time it will take you to become rich.
12. Lastly but not least - study the best resources on making and saving money. There’s the Automatic Millionaire, and many more great books, audio and video on this subject, just do a search.

I hope perhaps this little info might help you as it has helped me.

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So here I was… reading article after article after article on how to apply this new found knowledge from ‘the secret’ into my own life, and then I found some articles on the opposing view, which there’s opposition in everything, and I got to thinking how a little skepticism can be healthy - again only a little, a lot would be overdosing on that as well. There’s a saying in my church - Moderation in All Things.

Now I don’t discount the power of ‘the secret’ or the ‘law of attraction’, but I started thinking maybe I was being a little foolish going full headed into this, when I don’t really know what it all entails. So I took some time to meditate and ponder over ‘The Secret’ and the ‘Law of Attraction’ after some thought I believe it can be altered a little better to fit into my own belief pattern.

I’m an avid believer in my church, I’m LDS/ aka Mormon - and I know I might be considered odd by many, but some of the teachings of the Law of Attraction seem to contradict my religious heart, and seem odd to me.

As I said earlier my church has a popular saying ‘Moderation in all things’. I think it’s very well possible to over-do things a bit with living the law of attraction, but I’m saying this is only my idea of the way I personally need to live it.

I’m a very liberal person, I have never supported the Iraq war, and I have never supported our False President, however as a Mormon I can be quite conservative on some issues for instance Abortion. I’ve read a number of books on becoming a millionaire, one of my favorites is the Automatic Millionaire by David Bach. I’ve also read article after article on wealth creation. Then of course there’s this old adage by Benjamin Franklin that says “a penny saved is a penny earned”. Now I say this after I wasted money, that could be applied to my future, at Mc Donald’s, but I’ll admit I’m a work in progress.

The Meat of this post: A Somewhat Conservative Liberal Mormon’s viewpoint slash version of the Law of Attraction.

First off I want to say go and read about the law of attraction, watch ‘The Secret’ then come back and re-read what I have to say.

Now having been a dreamer and believer most my life and tried just about everything a man can try - From MLM Riches to HYIP Dreams to Autosurfs Folly, you name it I’ve been there, and on some I made some money for a little while but then lost everything.

I still hold dear to my heart the fact that I believe I can be everything I’ve dreamed about, I also believe altering my attitude and emotions can help me get there, and believing that I deserve the desires of my heart and that they are a worthy goal and desire.

I believe God gives us what we think we deserve rather than what we really deserve, and being an omniscient God he knows all of our deepest thoughts and knows our feelings of Guilt and Doubt. Do not doubt that you deserve something, or if you do doubt then work on overcoming that guilt and doubt, there is a way, wherever there is a will.
Patrick’s Personalized Law of Attraction:

1. Ask God for those things that you desire, ask with a sincere heart and be comforted knowing he will give you everything your heart desires, that he intends for you to have, if you have the faith, and if you don’t have the faith he may test your faith or wait till you do gain the faith required, the faith to move your mountains.
2. Pay Tithe’s to God, or if you don’t share the same beliefs as me it can be any charity, give 10% of what you earn back into society.
3. To gain time(aka freedom) and money you must give time and money, spend time each week giving of your time to others, by helping others you will not only giving of your time, but you will be showing God or the Universe(Whichever you believe) that you are worthy of your desires.
4. Pay yourself first, According to David Bach this is the single biggest way to gain wealth and retire early. To be above or at the rest of society he suggests saving 10%. To be greatly above the rest of society and acquire wealth faster he says you need to be saving 20-25% and this should be going into safe but profitable mutual funds and other long term investments.
5. Pay another 5% monthly into an emergency fund. You should have at least 1 year’s worth of funds in a savings account, before you increase the amount you pay yourself, a good rule of thumb is to pay 5% to yourself and 10% to your savings until you have your savings at one year, then you can increase your payments to yourself, you never know when a Hurricane Katrina might show up at your door, so it is essential to have this safety net.
6. Do whatever it takes to become a home owner. It’s a fact owning a home is a big step in becoming an Automatic Millionaire, your first home doesn’t need to be fancy, it doesn’t need to be huge, it could be an ex-chicken coup(trust me I’ve lived in one - remodeled of course) - just get ownership of a home, work as hard as you can to pay it off early then when you sell it you’ll have a huge down payment on a bigger home, then work hard to pay that off and you’ll have a nice down payment on another big home, or perhaps a nice size home and some investment properties, see where this going?
7. This is another of my own personal steps - it involves two different thoughts, first better yourself where possible so that you can get a better career, go back to school if needed, start a business if you can, etc. Secondly if possible do something on the side that will help you make more money, an extra $200-300 per month can relieve a lot of burdens, and lower your stress levels, I mean would you turn down an extra $3,600, a year? Someways to do this is yardsales, ebay, adsense, blogging if you can get a following, or do like my wife and sell baby bedding sets that cost her $15 to make for $70-$100 on local classified sites.
8. Fake it till you make it, believe in yourself and your dreams. Here’s where you’ll live the law of attraction - don’t doubt that you’ll receive what you want, keep at it until you do succeed, and most importantly never give up.