Author: Norman Smuck

These 10 Reasons may convince you to try affiliate marketing.

1. Increase Your Income 

Affiliate marketing can increase your income without having to get a second job. It can also increase your income without having to quit the job you have. 

You can even add to your retirement income with affiliate marketing. It is very convenient because you can work from your home.

If you are struggling to keep up with your bills affiliate marketing could be your answer.

Some affiliate marketers make thousands a month like Pat Flynn of smartpassiveincome.com.

2. Low cost entry

Many entrepreneurs have had their dreams cut short by not being able to raise many thousands of dollars of venture capital.  But affilaiate marketing only cost a few hundred dollars to start.  You do not need to borrow any money either.

You can simply sign up for the affiliate program of your choice. You then put your affiliate link in your blog or website.

If you don’t have one go to my good reviews page on Wealthy Affiliate.-Retire With Extra Affiliate income here.  When you join they can help you build a website or blog in minutes.

3. You are the boss

If you have been thinking of retiring from the daily grind in your 9 to 5 job, you can leave it behind and be your own boss.

Or if you have always wanted your own business and want to build the life you love affiliate marketing can make that possible. 

You need the right affiliate program, an internet connection, good marketing skills and you are on your way. You can earn enough to live on with affiliate marketing.

4.You have freedom

You have freedom to work when you want to work.You don’t have to work long hours or worry about traffic while getting to work. Some people now have to drive  one or two hours to get to work and tthen another hour or two to get home.. You could eliminate the long commute forever.

You can work as little or as much as you want. There is nothing better than being able to work when you want.  You can take a vacation whenever you desire. Imagine that!

You may now have a bossy boss. You may have all kinds of restrictions becuse of your job. All this could be eliminated. You could be free at last.

5. You Can Live Anywhere

If you had a physical store you have all kinds of restrictions on where you can live. You must have a location that can give you the traffic flow that you need. You cannot just live anywhere. But with affiliate marketing you can live whereever you want.

If you are an affiliate marketer you can work from home, or an office.  You can go into business any where you have an internet connection. You can take charge of your time and your life. There is nothing better than being  excited about your own business. 

6. No Customer Service issues

You do NOT have to worry about customer service when you are an affiliate marketer. With conventional product sales you have to deal with customer of all kinds. 

As an affiliaiate marketer you have to worry about running your affiliate link and driving traffic to your site to increase sales. You don’t have to worry about the thousands of possible customer complaints on a product or service. Just concern yourself with driving traffic to your site and you will be O.K.

The merchant you are selling for has a customer service department to handle complaints. They can take care of all that for you.

7.No Special Skill Needed

You do not need any special skills when you join an affiliate program. You do need basic knowledge of the porduct or service so you can write a good review. Many business opportunities require special knowledge or skill. You only need basic knowledge of the product based on your use of the product.

You can conduct research on the product if you need to, but still you do not need to be an expert in its use. So you do not need special skill or knowledge.  You do need basic knowledge based on your use of the product. That is all.

8. Free to join

You can join for free. Choose the best affiliate program you can find. Go to the merchants website and sign up without paying anything. Check out the Wealthy Affiliate program review now. This is my favorite affiliate program. You can test it out for free. It is free to join.

9.Risk is Low

There is very little risk  Unlike running a physical store where you could have theft. You could have a fire. You could have other imaginable troubles. With affiliate marketing the risk is very low. This is one of the best reasons to consider affiliate marketing for yourself. What could be better than that?!

10. No stressful stock control issues

If you had a physical store you would have to do stock control, invoices, process customer orders and process when payments are due etc.  These stock taking activities can be stressful. They also take time. With affiliate marketing you do not have to worry about any of that. What a relief, right.

I recommend you read this article again. I aso recommend you join the Wealthy Affiliate program. It will help you trmendously in building a website and building a money-making business.

Hello again. Here are some law of attraction how tos. I will show how to get an extra 

$500 in the next 21 Days

More about that in a minute.

Attract what you want

It is really important to think about what you want and not about what you don’t want. There is power in positive thinking. Negative thinking just causes trouble. We tend to attract exactly what we think about. Watch your own thinking and try to remain postive.

when it comes to retirement planning think about a specfic number of dollars that you can live on. The average at age 65 is about $45,000. If that is your number keep that number in mind and it will help you figure out ways to make that number a reality.

You attract what you think about

Yes it is true Thoughts become things.  There is a science to this called quantum physics. I won’t go into that here. But for now you just need to know that matter (things) are potential, they are fNOT fixed. One set of electrons and protons can be one thing now and the same ones can be part of something completely different later.

That is enough science for this blog.

To get more think more

I did one experiment that suggested that the same thoughts repeated over and over are more powerful than thinking a thought only one or two times. Make that two different experiments. I will go into those in more detail later in this post.

Experiments and exercises

I tried another experiment. I learned from a millionare that he used the phrase “everything is coming to me easily and effortlessly”

  One day I decided to say “money is coming to me easily and effortlessly” I said it over and over about 50 times in one day. Ater several hours of saying that phrase I found a lot of change in one small area. It was about $1.75. There were nickles, dimes, quarters and a lot of pennies. 

That was amazing to me. I had never “found” that much change in one place before in my life. It had to be the powerful attracting phrase repeated many times that did the trick.

Another interesting experiment

First, I walked around in a store for 20 minutes and I counted 4 people wearing red. Next I used a similar buit different phrase. I said to myself “red clothing is coming to me easily and effortlessly”. I repeated that for 20 minutes in a busy department store. I kept track of how many I saw wearing red. The total was 6. That was 50% more than the first time. So thought changed my environment as far as red clothing. 

I attempted to repeat the experiment again and I got the same results. There were 50% more “reds” spotted than there were the first time without repeating the phrase. That “magic” phrase really made a difference. 

Admittedly, this is not a strictly “controlled” scientific experiment but I am confident if I repeat it a 100 times I would get similar results every time.

Law of Attraction and Money

The law of attraction works for many things, but it works really well for attracting money. I have described two different “money” experiments that worked well.  This reminds me of another little experiment I did. I repeated a thoughjt about attracting dimes easily. That day I found 5 dimes in one place. 

Amazing! I have never before found 5 dimes in place before. Have you? …No? That’s what I thought.

Thoughts change your results no matter what you are thinking about.

Does the law of attraction really work?

These experiments mentioned before show that the law of attraction really works. Here is a summary of what we learned from these experiments.

1.Thoughts become things

2. More thoughjts become more things

3. Money comes easily with the right thoughts

4.Positive thoughts bring more than neutral or negative thoughts

5.Affirmations have power to change your life

The power of words to get what you want

Words have power so be careful what you say.  Saying things like “I never have enough money” will actually chase mooney away from you. On the other hand positive thoughts will bring what you want.

$500 in 21 Days Story

I wrote a small booklet about how to to be $500 richer in 21 days or less. Here is how that happened.

I met a man in Walmart. I had never talked to him before. This time we talked. He told me about his money problems. He had a one million dollar farm. He was offered that much for it. but he did not want to sell because the farm had been in his family for well over a hundred years.

Unfortunately he was living on Social Security alone. He had no other source of income at all. The problem was even worse because he spent half of his Social Security check on medicine. He had high blood pressure. He was definitely between a rock and a hard place. He had no room financially.

I thought about this man’s pproblem for several weeks. I could not stop thinking about it. Finally, I went online and discovered a website that promised $500 in 21 Days if I did a little experiment. I tried the experiment and I received $503 in 17 days.

How to get your $500

You can get $500 in 21 days just by asking for it.  If you believe in God ask Him for $500.  If you do not then ask the Universe for $500. Think postively about receiving the $500. Give thanks in advance. This shows faith. Then look for the money. It may or may not come all at once.

It may seem strange or even silly to do this. But go ahead and do it anyway. It will be worth it. I challenge you to test this for yourself.

How to get your FREE copy of $500 in 21 days

I wrote a little booklet giving more detail on how to ask for and receive $500  in 21 Days. It is short, only about 10 pages. But it is powerful. You will receive least $500 if you follow the siomple instructions Write to:

                                                $500 in 21 Days

                                                N J S

                                                P. O. Box 89

                                                Paoli, IN 47454

Please use the social media buttons if you like this article and challenge. Thanks 

Survey: What do you want? This or That?

I have several ideas for new posts or pages, but I want to know what you want to read. Please read all of the suggestions and comment below. List your top three favorites by number.

1. Affiliate Marketing For Beginners.

2. Make Money Writing At Home On Your Computer

3.Make Money Sending Emails

4. Paid Surveys

5. Prayer and Finances

6. The Law of Attraction- You Get What You Think About

7. $500 in 21 Days: Ask and Receive

8. FREE Internet Marketing Info by Ken McCarthy

9. Self- Help Books on Retirement Like “Retire Inspired” by Chris Hogan

10. Information on Selling Books by Mail

11. Ken Roberts–What I learned From Him About Investing

12. John C. Bogle: Common Sense Investing

13. Public Domain Books : How to Cash In

14. The Ultimate Sales Letter

15. World’s Most Valuable Website

Please list the numbers of your three top favorites that you want to know more about. Please comment below and I will write on the most popular choices first. Thank you. 

P. S. Please use social media to spread the word about your choices and this website.

Make Money Online Fast–Insider Secrets to Making Money With Classifieds

One way to make money online fast is to use the small but powerful clasified ad.  Online classifieds are fast. You do not have to wait for weeks to get your ad out there as you do in print. 

There are many little things to consider when you are using online classified ads.  We will talk about them here.

We talk about benefits first

The most important thing is to put benefits first.  What is a benefit? A benefit is what the product or service will do for you.  A feature on the other hand is a description of the product. So a BENEFIT tells what it does for the user. A FEATURE tells how many pages are in a book for example. It is really important to know the difference.

Benfits help you sell. Features only describe the product or service.

Make a BIG Promise

So when you are starting out your ad you want to tell the BIGGEST BENEFIT FIRST.  Make a BIG PROMISE.  That will get attention.  Small promises can easily be skimmed over.  But a BIG promise will stop the reader in their tracks. This is exactly what you want.

Be very Specific

It is important to make the promise very specific. Tell the reader exactly what they will get from your product or service. For example,

Lose Wieght Fast. Lose 10 pounds in 7 days. That is a BIG promise.

Lose weight gradually. This headline would not attract much attention.

Start on a shoestring

Another reason classifieds are good to start with is they are free or low cost.  It does not take thousands of dollars for a small classied ad.  You can start for $5 or $10.  Many are free. We will talk more about that later.

Offer FREE Information First

If you are offering a product or service in print it is almost always best to offer free information.  This is called a two step ad.  It would cost a lot to give all the details in the ad. You would send literature with the full details in a follow up mailing.

In an online classified you could refer someone to a website to get the full details.  Again this is faster than waiting for your literature to come. You are still offering free information on a website intstead of a mailing.  Offering FREE INFORMATION is an important part of the success formula. 

Use the AIDA Formula

This is a formula that has proven to work over and over.  It is a formula that sells.

The first “A” stands for attention.  You must get the readers attention or nothing else matters.  You will failotherwise.. To get attention you need to make a big promise as already mentioned above.

The “I” stands for “Interest”.  You can say something that gains the readers interest like “secrets revealed”.

The “D” stands for desire.  You can build desire by telling how you will fill the big promise.  The final “A” stands for action.  At this point you need to tell the reader how to act. What do you want the reader to do. Do you want them to write, call, or  go to a website.

This simple formula will help you to get the results you want. You will get inquiries, calls, orders or visits to your website.

Tell how the reader will get the benefit

Now we need to tell exactly what will bring the big benefit to the reader. For example, 

Lose Weght fast. 10 pounds in 7 days with Weight-Loss Magic Pills. 

Now your reader has an idea of what can bring the benefit you have talked about in your ad.

Put your name in the ad

Before you put your name in you need to tell the reader exactly what to do.  You want them to go to your website. Or write if you are using postal mail.

Next you can put your name in the ad.  It could just be your own name or your company name. Using your own name is more personal. So that could be your first choice.  People like to do business with a person.  They don’t want to do business with a corporation. So you could use your own name like John Smith.

You could combine the two so that you use your name in the company name. Use something like Jones Publishing. 

Put the address in your ad

Next it is time to put your address in the ad.If you are advertising online you put your URL.  For example, https://www.youraddress.com.   If you are using mail you would use your postal address. Make it complete without using abreviations except for the standard state abreviations.

Where do I  place ads

First you want to place ads where there are other similar ads.  If the ads are for real estate you don’t want to try to sell a book there.  Look for a business opportunity section if that is what you are selling.

Are there free ads?

Yes there are many sites that have free classified ads. I found online a list of 31 of the top free classified ad sites.They include some well known ones along with others you never heard of before. You can just google free classified ads or something similar.

Free Classifieds online-Top 31

Here I found a list of the top 31 free classified ad sites. They include Ebay and Craiglist and many others. Adpost and Ablewise have business opportunity sections. These could be very important to you if you adverise in that area.

There are low cost ads

There are low cost classified ads that are worth considering. They may be more effective than free ads.  You will just have to test to find out. If free ads work for you that is the way to go.  If not then try low cost classifieds.

Be sure there are similar ads to yours

I already mentioned this but be SURE to advertise where there are ads similar to yours.  If there are not then go somewhere else.  You will be wasting your time.

Cut the number of words if necessry

You may have cut the number of words in your classifieds If there is a word limit.  Or if you are paying by the word. In that case be sure to make ewvery word count.  Cut out any uneccessary words. Keep only the essential words.  Words like and or the can be cut out.  Use a comma in place of and.

You can offer two benefits in one ad

You can strenghthen the impact of your ad by putting two powerful benefits into one ad. You could offer fast weight loss and increased energy.

Test Test Test: Testing is one key to success

It is important to test your ads. Try different ways of offering the benefits. be sure to test  different sites against each other to see which one works the best.  In time you will have a list of the best for your offer.  When you have a winner you can repeat the same ad over and over maybe even for years.

Testing will help you get the most from your little ads.

Online, Offline or Both

If you have an online business then of course you need to advertise online. But you might enhance the performance of your ads by using online and offline ads.  This is something I am considering and you should too. My advice is to test this as well as other options.

Types of benefits that work

Here is a short list of the types of benefits that work in advertising.  This is not a complete list.

Making money, saving money, lose weight, look better, better relationships etc. 

Some low cost classified ads online

Here are some classified ad sites that have business opportunity ads.  They are:

Entrpreneur.com

Homebusinessmag.com

Classifiedadboard.com

There is also one for print advertising in newspapers. It is American Classified Services.

Putting It All Together is Powerful

When you finally put everything together that is in this blog you will have something that can bring in income for many years to come.  After you get established you can coast a little and spend more tome filling your bank account.

Remember classified adveritising is the simplest form there is.  But there is one more piece to the puzzle and that is how to write a sizzling sales letter to respond to the people curious about your offer. I will have another blog post on letters in the near future. Again the same principals apply to online or offline classified ads and to sales letters. So enjoy the journey and have fun making money. Good luck.

For more information on this topic click here

            “Making Money With Classified Ads” Benefits

1. $1,080 a month by a 16 year old

A 16 year old boy with no marketing experience soon made over $1,000 a month selling books by classified ads. He placed ads in Popular Science magazine.  That was before the digital age. Now you can do the same thing in a little bit different way.  You can use online classied ads.  They are cheap but powerful.

The boy saw an ad in Popular Science for a book on chess. He sent for information. He bought the book.He made a list of books he wanted to sell. He wrote to the publishers and made a deal with each one to sell their books by mail for 50% off the retail price.  It wasn’t long before he was making $1,000 a month selling the books. This he did this with no marketing experience.  You can do what he did with a digital twist. More about that in a minute.

2. You can do this

Classifieds are shorter and simpler than full page ads.  Anyone can learn how to write classfieds that will work. A typical classified ad is 20 to 40 words. There is a simple formula for writing these short ads.  We are talking about online or offline ads.  They both use the same simple formula.

3. Melvin Powers SHOWS YOU exactly what to do

Mevin Powers shows you exactly what to do.  He has done this many times over a period of 40 years. He has shown others how do it. These are people just like you.

He takes you step-by-step through the process of creating winning ads.  He even shows examples of what did not work and expains why it did not work.  You get to see the inner workings of a millionaire’s mind.  To do this in person would cost $5,000 or more. You get the same benefits for a tiny fraction of the cost of a personal consultation. This is a REAL BARGAIN.

4. Believe in yourself and you will succeed

Melvin Powers talks about the differences between those who succeed and those who don’t.  One key is to believe in yourself.  There is nothing more important than that.  There  is nothing simpler than that. If you give yourself the right mindset. 

Just say to yourself “I can do this. Others have done it. I can too.” Repeat these statements over and over to yourself if you must until you really believe it. This is the power of suggestion at work.  People who study the subconscious mind say that your subconsciuos mind will believe  whatever you say. If you make positive statements, it will beleve those and begin acting on them right away.

5. Follow the steps recommended by the author teacher

So follow the simple steps laid out by the author and you will be on the road to success. It is as easy as 1,2,3. Remember Melvin Powers has done this a thousand times over many years.  He can lead you to where you want to go. 

There is no easier way to make money than following these simple steps.  

6. Be persistent– never give up

Stay with it no matter what. You are following proven steps to building a business.  Too many people give up just when they are about to be successful.  Don’t let that be you. Persistence pays.  

Sometimes a small ad will just not work.  That is ok. Then you can just move on. Move on to  a different  small ad.  Stay with the program even if you fail a few times.  That is normal.

Tony Robbins has said that those who succeed the most are those have FAILED THE MOST.  They have tried a lot of things. They have taken action. In the process they have succeeded many times also. So don’t be afraid to fail. Please don’t give up.

7. Learn a simple formula–follow examples of success

There is a simple formula for success with classified ads and small display ads. Melvin will show you exactly what the formula is. The formula is so simple a 12 year old could do it.  You do not have to be a genius marketer. You do not need any previous marketing experience at all. It really is simple.

This book is for beginners or experienced marketers.  The beginner will learn the simple formula.  At the same time more experienced marketers can learn something too.  This is some really powerful information.  It could even make you rich. This is not hype. It is the truth. After all Melvin Powers became a millionaire using the same techniques you will be using.

8. Write down your goals and read them every day

Goals are extremely important to your success.  So you will want to come up with clear, specific goals. Then write them down. For example,

“I am making $1,500 a month selling information by using classifieds and other small ads.” Set your goal. Write it down. Put it where you can see it every day.

9. Take action immediately

As soon as you set your goal take steps to make it come true.  In this case you can decide to own this book and begin your education in making money with classified ads.. Start TODAY. 

10. Do not try to reinvent the wheel–learn from success

Follow proven formulas for making money.  There are many schemes and scams for making money but this is a PROVEN SYSTEM for making money. If you do the same things a successful person does you will get the same or similar results.

People just like you have been very successful with Melvin’s methods.

11. Start on a shoestring

Part of the beauty of using classifieds ads or small display ads is that you can START ON A SHOESTRING. It does not take a lot of money to get started.  You can start with a $100 or less.  All you need is a very small test to see if your ad works.  From there you can multiply your ads and keep growing..  

12. Learn from a millionaire

With this information packed volume you can learn from a millionaire.  You can learn from a real money-making expert.  There is no better way to discover the secrets to making BIG MONEY.  You could be making thousands a month within a year.  When you learn from someone who has done what you want to do you have an opportunity to make real money faster than you thought possible.

13. FREE BONUS Report for fast action

For those you act quickly I have a special bonus you have never seen before.  I call it the“$166,403 cash bonanza report”. This is based on my own experience.  It is one of the most exciting things in my life. 

But you must act soon. Order within by September 30 to get your very own FREE COPY of this exciting bonus.  I guarantee you can benefit from this too. It is easy. It is fast. Anyone can benefit from this amazing report.

14. Order your own copy now

There is a 100% MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE if your are not satisfied. I don’t believe that will be the case. You will love it.

Send a piece of paper with your name, street address,city, state and zip code on it.  Enclose cash, check or money order for $30. This includes postage and handling. Write the words “MAKING MONEY WITH CLASSIFIED ADS” on the piece of paper.  Send it to:

NJS, P. O. Box 89, Paoli, IN 47454

You will be glad you did. Good luck. I will give you free consultation by mail if you need it.

                                  Best Retirement Calculators

There are many retirement calculators out there. This artitcle is just going to give you a few.  I will tell you what I like and don’t like about each one. 

                                      Chris Hogan Calculator

The Chris Hogan calculator will show  that you need more money than other calculators do. The reason is simple.  They do not include Social Security at all.  This is a very conservative approach that makes sense.See www.chrishogan360.com

                                           AARP Calculator

The AARP calculator for retirement does depend on Social Security in its calculations.  If Social Security is reduced you may have less money than you thought.  Keep this in mind when you use this calculator. This is a good calculator for most people.

                                  New Retirement Calculator

This calculator is the American Association of Individual Investors Editors Choice.  This is very good.  In fact there are three calculators.  There is a simple calculator, a Social Security calculator, and the super all in one calculator.

I was using the simple calculator and it was changing grahics after each change I made in checking different scenarios.

 The changes were quick and accurate. It used graphics to show when your money would be expected to run.out. It took into account my age and my wifes age.  She is five years younger and expected to live as long or longer than I am.

New retirement has more than just calculators it can help you plan for your retirement. They even give advice and options on how to improve your plan

            

                            

                                       My Favorites

My favorite calculator over all is the New Retirement clculator.  It gives you the most options. It is quick and accurate.

It has good graphics showing where you stand with different scenarios.

                             What to Do If You Are Short

1. Delay Retirement  

Delaying retirement is a good option for many people.  If your health is good this could be one of the best options for you.

If you delay for three years for example that could cut your retirement needs.  At the same time it gives you the opportunity to save a lot more.  This is a double benefit.  Delaying three years will reduce your needs by say 15%.  At the same time you could have time to save 10% more.  Or even more than that. The combination of the two makes a REAL difference. 

2. Delay Getting Social Security

If you delay getting Social Security you will receive more per month. You will receive about 68% of your full benefits at age 62. You receive 100%  if you wait until full reirement age of 66.  If you wait until age 70 you will get about 132% 

.Your checks will be larger each month if you delay. But the total amount of benefits you receive will depend on your life expectancy. That you cannot know exactly.  However there are calculators that help you determine that you have a 75% of living to age 90 for example. Companies that sell annuities can help you estimate how long you may live.You just have to answer a few questions about your health and related items. I believe the new retirement site has a calculator for estimating your life expectancy.

I just checked a calculator for abaris-how long will I live? Or just google “life expectancy calculator.”

3.Save More

Even if you don’t delay retirement you can try to save more.  Use the calculators to get an idea of how much more you need to save.  Try to save 15% of your income  AT LEAST.  You will be surprised at how much you can save when you really focus on that.  We tend to attract what we think about.  So think about saving more.

4. Spend Less

Spending less will help you to reach your goals sooner.  If you save more you will mostly be forced to spend less.  The two go togeter like peanut butter and jelly.

5.Add additional side incomes

Adding side incomes can really help a lot.  If you only make $1,000 a month but do it for 20 years that’s a little less in percentage terms than A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS– $240,000 to be exact. 

See the artitcle on affiliate marketing for one way to make side income. See the Wealthy Affiliate review for a specific opportunity to make money. It is my #1 recomendation.  See it now

See the Making Money With Classifieds Ads Review for my #2 recommendation. See this now

6. Work More Hours

If you are working only part-time perhaps you could work more hours.  This would allow you to save more.  Be sure to keep spending as low or lower than it was before.  I would be careful about working too many hours.  Working overtime may not be right for you.  It depends on your health and other factors.  Allow time to do the things you enjoy.

7. Budget Better

A budget is simply a spending plan.  It allows you to have enough for all the neccessary items like food, gasline, insurance etc.  Be sure to allow some fun expenditures.  Vacations are important in retirement for happiness so don’t be afraid to spend a little there.

If you have not had a budget before you can keep track of all your expenses for 30 days at least.  This will show you what you spend now. It will also show you where you spend.  Make a list of all the important items and allow for some fun money too.  

                The Importance of 2 or 3 Sources of Income

Having at least 2 or 3 sources of income is very important these days.  Jobs can be lost.  Social Security is under attack by some politicians. The numbers of those who have pensions is declining.  We are left to help ourselves more and more. Because of these trends many  more people are starting their own businesses.

According to National Institute on Retirement Security a “new analysis indicates that Americans in nearly every state will fall far short in meeting their economic needs in retirement.”  California, Florida and South Carolina are among the LEAST PREPARED and Wyoming, Minnesota, Alaska and North Dakota are MOST PREPARED.

Pensions are Declining 

Statistics show that the numbers who have pensions is declining. In 2006 almost half of households had access to pension income. I believe the numbers are decling now but I don’t have specific figures.

Social Security is Not 100% Secure

There has been a lot in the news about Social Security not being all that secure.  “Social Security trust fund projected to tap out in 2034” was the headline I recently saw on line.

Social Security Was Never Intended To Be A Total Retirement Plan

Social Security only covers about 39% of retirement expenses for most people.  Right now 37% of future retirees are almost totally dependent on Social Security.  This group has $50,000 or less in savings.

Richer Americans Have Multiple Sources of Income

The rich are good examples for the rest of us when comes to money.  They have at least 2 or 3 sources of income.

Some have many more than that. So lets follow their lead and have several incomes coming in. There is security in multiple incomes.

More Sources Equals More Security

I will say it again. There is security in several sources of income. If one fails the others can take up the slack.

There is no better feeling than knowing you are going to be ok no matter what happens. If you are like me financial security is very important.  I estimate that only 25% or less have a really strong need for financial security. That may explain why so many are not prepared for retirement.

Add Sources of Income

So we need to add sources of income.  Pensions, investments, real estate, side businesses are some of the potential sources.  Every one’s  circumstances are different.  If you don’t have a pension then you need the other incomes even more.

Investments are One Source

Only a relatively small precentage (14%?) have $100,000 in a 401k.  For those folks who have less  I recommend putting in the maximum.  Aim for 15% or more of your income.  

One young man at the time I recommeded putting 10% into his 401k., Aim to make 10% on his money. Continue to contribute 10% for forty years and he would be a millionaire. He now has a lot more than $100,000. I urged him to more into his account in the early eighties I believe.  He showed me his check stub to prove that he was really putting in 10% of his income.  

Now I estimate he has accumulated  close to $500,000 or more. That puts him in the top 15% or better. He is on his way to having one of the keys to a happy retirement.

Side Businesses are Another Source

Side businesses are another source.  If you have never had a side business, now is a good  time to start.

You need the money. It gives you a purpose to your retirement. It gives you a core pursuit.  It can be FUN!  And it is never too late to start a business.  Fifty one percent of businesses are started by those over 50. and up to 80..

Turn a Hobby into a Business

If you wonder what to do in your side business, you can turn a hobby into a business.  For example I had a blog as a hobby for the last two years . I did not make any money.  Then I decided to start another one with the purpose to add income.

See my article on affiliate marketing. Then take a look at my Review of Wealthy Affiliate. This will show you exactly what I am doing now.  I am learning a lot. It is fun, too.

Then I recommend you take a look at the Wealthy Affiliate website and sign up for free for 7 days. You have nothing to lose.