94: Progress, billionaires, the market, and alimony
3:55 - Progress happens on purpose
15:10 - The Forbes Billionaires List
22:24 - Issues with the Market
33:05 - Alimony Laws are Changing
Progress Happens on Purpose
The opposite of progress happens without purpose. When you don’t have a purpose you’re not only going to stay still, you’re actually going to go backward. Just like in a pinball machine, that ball just falls wherever it may and bounces off of whatever comes along.
You have to ask yourself, do you want to progress in life? Are there specific areas in your life where you want to make some progress? Maybe with your family, your marriage, or with your kids.
It’s important for you to know there’s a definite purpose in your life, something that’s bigger than you. When you grab hold of that, you’ll find you will begin to make progress towards that purpose.
There are two ways to do nothing.
Action: Write down just 1 or 2 things you want to improve in your life right now. Don’t overload the list with everything you want to accomplish in your life, just the one thing you can focus on right now.
Be specific about the actions you can take to make progress in those areas. That way you can measure your progress.
Place of Home - https://www.placeofhope.com/
If you’re looking to make a difference in the lives of those who can’t fight for themselves, please consider supporting Place of Hope who is rescuing abused and neglected children.
The Forbes List of Billionaires
There are now 2,200 billionaires in the world now and 67% of the billionaires on the list are self-made. These are people who did not inherit their wealth. These are people who have created something of value on their own. That’s a very encouraging thing for all of us.
Those of us who approach life from an entrepreneurial mindset will be the next ones who are going to show up on this list of billionaires.
Challenge: What entrepreneurial idea do you have that you can go after? Go for it! 67% of the billionaires on this list did exactly that.
Market Update
The big question is whether we’re going to see the markets continue to go up in spite of the recent trend downward.
We’ve been in a sustained Bull-run for about 9 years. We know this isn’t going to continue forever.
One of the challenges the market has today is the political risk it faces 24 hours per day. The news is non-stop and never been more overwhelming in our lives. Because of this, we’re in a place where we’re going to most likely see the markets start to turn.
Remember, in 2009, we started to see something called “Quantitative Easing” which basically was the Federal Reserve printing money to buy Treasury Bonds from the government, which put money into our financial structure. That’s what boosted the markets until late 2014.
So what should you do with your investments? It’s important to now talk with your advisor about specific changes you can make to your portfolio in light of this speculation on the market shifting. It’s critical you look at the amount of risk you have in your investments right now because this downturn could be bigger than what we saw in 2008.
Now is the time to lock in your gains while the market is high.
Alimony Laws Will Be Changing
Starting on January 1st 2019, alimony payments will no longer be tax deductible. It’s going to cost a lot more to get divorced starting in January.
My suggestion is that couples who are facing marital challenges should look at the financial cost a divorce is going to have and invest that money into quality marital counseling.
Challenge: Keep that money that would go to taxes and spend it on counseling.
Resource: The Intentional Family on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheIntentionalFamily.net/
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