Building and Assessing Your Financial Team

Coming up to the end of the trade deadline in the NBA the past two weeks there were some major trades that changed the landscape of many teams in the West and one team in the East, in particular. Each of these trades were made in order to make each team better now in the case of the Suns, Lakers, Cavs, Spurs and Mavericks. While the Grizzlies, Heat, Nets, Sonics and Bulls made moves in order to prepare for a successful future.

Even if you know nothing about the NBA or do not like basketball a point can be drawn from the activity over the past two weeks.

Each team's general manager assessed his team and made a move either to go for the "gosto" now or position the team for future success, two to three years down the road.

How is your team looking today? Your financial team ........ when was the last time you sat down with your financial planner and gone over your plans again? When was the last time you sat down with your accountant and developed a plan for your taxes as well? As a business owner, no matter how big or small your business is NOW, you must create a deadline for yourself and assess your financial team and situation.

If you are in a position where you've been in business for three years or more it might be wise to assess your team right now, see if you need to add a person or two to your team. It will cost some money, but so what, you are going to spend that money on something else less beneficial to you and your business anyway.

If you have been in business less than three years then you need to assess your financial team and your situation. Maybe you are two to three years away from winning it all, position yourself now.

What constitutes a good financial team? I am glad you asked .... you should have a financial planner on your team, someone who is sincerley out for your best interest and will work with you. You also need an accountant who can keep watch over your financial records and guide your through the mindfield of taxation and tax law. You will also need a marketing consultant to assist you in developing a plan to expose your business to the masses. You might need a business consultant who will assist in suggesting upgrades to areas where the business maybe lacking, possibly customer service. And of course you will need an attorney to ensure that you are protected legally. Yes an attorney, he or she is part of your financial team as well. Another team member, especially for those sole business owners that wear more than one hat, you will need a mentor or coach. This person is vital because they are usually successful people who do not mind encouraging you to push ahead at all costs and succeed.

Wisdom Can Lead to Wealth

There is a level of wisdom that each of us has to offer. Maybe you have been working in a particular industry for quite some time and you can do certain things "in your sleep". That area could be parenting or some other vocation. Why not utilize that knowledge to benefit others and benefit yourself at the same time? As an expert in a particular area many can benefit from your knowledge.

This could be the start of a stream of income for you to make you debt free, buy a new home, put your child through school or anything else you might think of. The wisest man ever to live, Solomon recieved annual income because people from other regions wanted to sit at his feet in order to hear his wisdom. If you have the expertise, security and the patience to share your knowledge with the masses then why not and unleash this stream of revenue that has been cut off to you until now.

You can share with the masses through ebooks, blogs or face to face consulting. Of course you want to consult with an expert before putting yourself out there! Just a little wisdom for you, I hope that you can EARN from it!

Discipline

Discipline has six meanings according to the Merriam Webster’s Dictionary. I would like to focus on three of them:

(1) training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character
(2) control gained by enforcing obedience or order; orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior
(3) a rule or system of rules governing conduct or activity

Ok what does discipline have to do with money? It has everything to do with making and saving money as it takes discipline to do both.

It takes discipline to stop impulse spending – spending money on an item(s) you see often, think you need or would like the item and discover after purchasing the item that it lacks in several areas particularly in the area of need and desire.

It takes discipline to make serious money because there has to be a level of persistence in whatever business activity you are engaged with in order to experience any level of sustained success.

How disciplined are you with regard to making and saving money? If you answer is that you are not very disciplined when it comes to these two areas you are not alone. I have found that most Americans are not disciplined in these areas either. But the great thing is that these disciplines can be learned.

We learn how to be disciplined when it comes to making and spending money by education and association. The right education (read books referred to in my other blogs) and associations (those who are already disciplined in these areas) will assist us in training our minds about these matters thus allowing us to control our spending behavior and establishing a standard to govern our financial picture by.

If you are not disciplined when it comes to making and spending money your financial picture will always look ugly with moments of beauty. Get disciplined now!

How Good of Financial Weather Person Are You?

If most of us really admit we only know it's raining when we look outside and we see drops of water falling from the heavens. We really never knew the rain was coming. Why is that? Most of us have not been trained in the methods needed to analysis weather patterns nor have we been trained to utilize the equipment needed to do this either. The price for not listening to the weather man or not being able to predict the waether yourself will only cost you wet clothing or hair. But if you are not able to predict the "financial weather" it can cost you everything.

How do you become a good financial weather person? I am glad you asked, here are some easy steps on becoming more financially savvy:

(1) Begin to listen to financial news channels like Bloomberg TV, CFNN, etc. All of their talk might sound like another language and make your head hurt but it will begin to make sense as you follow the other steps below.

(2) Begin to read books and magazines about wealth building and finances. This will build your financial IQ quickly and greatly decrease your learning curve. Good books for you here are Mad Money, anything by Mr. Warren Buffet or Rich Dad Poor Dad.

(3) Review key figures in the US like the unemployment rate, be abreast of the DOW Jones Index daily, Fed interest rates, etc. The US economy hinges on the attitude of the stock market, interest rates and unemployment. These numbers tell a story.

(4) Form a team for yourself which should consist of a financial planner and an accountant. If you find the right combination they will assist you in forecasting the financial weather as well. Make sure that your financial planner and accountant know each other and are on the same page though.

It is important that we all understand the financial weather that we face. In seasons where the money is flowing well we should be able to pay down debt and save bountifully. In seasons where the money is not flowing as well we can fall back on some of the savings we built up in order to survive until there is a point where the money is flowing good again.

Bottomline, we must determine whether we are in our:

Financial summer (everything is just marvelous, some rain and wind at times but nothing to worry about)

Financial winter (we need to be as frugal as possible because it is very cold and bare outside)

Financial fall / spring (transition times where we see both summer and winter conditions)