10 Aug 5 Tips to Build Wealth and Take Complete Control of Your Investments

Lifebook Member, best selling author and internationally renowned financial leader, Garrett Gunderson, shares 5 counter-intuitive ways to build wealth and take control of your investments, even in a down economy!

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM HAS IT BACKWARDS: RISK IS IN THE INVESTOR, NOT THE INVESTMENT

How can you avoid jumping on the wrong bandwagon when it comes to investing?
You need to realize that what works for your neighbor most of the time will not work for you. Why? Because risk is in the investor, not the investment. What your neighbor excels at may be the opposite of what you will do well with. Too often people will jump on an investment opportunity because they’ve seen a cousin, neighbor or coworker make some money. Sure, sometimes people get lucky, but to truly invest you need to know what you are doing. There are people that can make money in real estate in any market, and a lot of others who can’t in ANY market – because they don’t have the passion for it and they don’t have the specialized knowledge. Invest only in things you actually understand and have a passion for.

IT’S NOT ABOUT PRODUCT, IT’S ABOUT PEOPLE

What’s the best investment in today’s economy?
Surprisingly, the answer to this one is going to be the same in ANY economy – up or down. YOU are your greatest investment, always! Focus on your own talents, aptitudes, and skills and don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. For example, if you are a business owner, you and your team are what will make you money – not the product. With the right team, you can always come up with new or better products and services and make more money by adding more value. But without the right team, you can have the most amazing product on Earth and it won’t go anywhere. Focus on the value of people, not products.

STOP DEFERRING YOUR LIFE INTO THE FUTURE

What are you sacrificing for? Do you even know?
Your economics and peace of mind must be in harmony – and often times, they are not. People will too often sacrifice their current happiness and peace of mind by taking stressful investment risk in the name of the long haul. But if you’re investing in things you consider risky, things that keep you up at night worrying, it will drain your energy and actually make you a lot less productive. It’s a myth that high risk = high return, especially when it robs you of your present wellbeing.

MOST AMERICANS WHO THINK THEY ARE INVESTING ARE ACTUALLY GAMBLING.

How do you know if you are putting your money at risk?
A lot of people I meet have 401(k)s and IRA accounts and they think that they are being responsible saving for the future, when they may as well be in Vegas at the roulette table. When it comes right down to it, they don’t know what stocks their money is going into. They don’t know who the fund manager is. They are just blindly handing over their money and hoping for the best. That is called gambling. You should only invest with a purpose in things you believe in. You might care about the environment and not even know that you have stocks in the world’s biggest polluter. At least if you’re investing in things you believe in, then if you do start to lose money, at the very least, you knew that you were supporting something you believe in.

ONLY INVEST WHERE THERE IS A TRIPLE WIN

What’s the best way to spot a winning investment?
A good investment should always create a triple win, meaning that you as the investor wins, the person you are investing in wins, AND the marketplace wins. If everyone wins you’re going to make a lot more money a lot faster. Period. If you can clearly see the triple win value proposition then you know it’s golden. The old school thinking was that there has to be a winner and a loser, but the new rules to get rich expose that as a false premise. The purpose of investing should ALWAYS be to create real value for everyone involved, now and in the future.