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How to Weather Financial Climate Change

Written on October 7, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Money

weather_a_storm Bigg success is life on your own terms. There are five elements of bigg success – money, time, growth, work and play. Today we’ll focus on money.

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We hear a lot about climate change and its implications. It occurred to us that financial markets change much like the weather.

So here are 4 tips for weathering financial climate change:

Asset prices heat up and cool down

Stock prices skyrocket. Then they fall.

Real estate prices rise. Then the bubble bursts.

Nothing goes up linearly. Yet most of our projections do. Plan for all weather – diversify.

You won’t create much wealth without taking some risk. But you can manage that risk by investing across asset classes (e.g. stocks, bonds) and within asset classes (large cap, mid-cap and small cap stocks).

Price movements can be extreme

Experts are predicting more volatility in the years ahead. We don’t mind it when prices are rising quickly. But we have to be prepared for the other side as well.

Very, very few people successfully time the market period after period. So it’s important to move your money to less risky assets as you near the date when you’ll need it. If you’ll need it in less than ten years, you may want to look at shifting money to something less risky.

As we always say, talk with your financial planner about your specific situation to determine your best move.

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Watch your emissions

By emissions, we mean money out the door. In our businesses and in our personal lives, it’s much easier to spend less than to make more.

When you’re getting ready to spend it, think about how many hours you have to work to earn the money in the first place. If you really want an accurate picture, do this on an after-tax basis.

Make the green house effect work for you

When you’re buying a house, ask some important questions. Do you really need that extra room? How often will you use it?

You may decide to buy a smaller house and invest the “green” to further diversify your portfolio and increase your returns.

Also, invest your “green” in energy efficiency. Improving the efficiency of your home pays you back month after month by lowering your utility bills. You can’t say that about most outlays.

Take these four tips and go green to build a sustainable future for yourself. That’s bigg success!

How are you weathering financial climate change?
Share that with us by leaving a comment, e-mailing us at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com or leaving a voice mail at 888.455.BIGG (2444).

Thank you much for visiting us today. Next time, we’ll discuss a positively fantastic way to improve your bottom line. Please join us. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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(Image in today's post from tome123)

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A Technique to Cut Costs

Written on September 30, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Money

spending Here’s a concept that business owners often struggle to really understand: Every penny you spend is an investment.

We’re used to seeing investments show up on our Balance Sheet. We buy a new computer and we see it added there.

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Hear George & Mary-Lynn share a cost cutting technique on The Bigg Success Show! Click the player to listen: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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When we spend money on advertising or office supplies, it shows up on our Income Statement rather than our Balance Sheet.

But we’re still spending money. It’s an investment for the purpose of increasing our sales.

The financial statement on which it shows up on is based on accounting rules. We have to understand that we are spending the money with the purpose of increasing sales.

Interdependence of business and personal finances

While we say business owners, this concept applies to our personal finances as well.

As a business owner, particularly a business owner who owns 100% of your firm, your business finances and personal finances are completely linked.

Not in a legal sense – you’ll want to talk with your attorney to select the right entity for your company – but in a philosophical sense.

Your business has to do well or it will affect your personal finances. We all get that.

What a lot of people forget is that their standard of living may affect their business. If you spend too much personally, you put more of a burden on your business to produce more income for you to take out of the business. It can really add to the pressure, particularly for a start-up business.

In our personal lives, every penny we spend should add to our happiness. If it doesn’t, it’s not a worthwhile expenditure.

Start from scratch

There’s a technique that helps you decide if the returns you’re getting are sufficient. It’s called zero-based budgeting.

For every line item on your Income Statement, you assume you don’t need to spend any money. Then you add to it for the outlays you determine will give you the return you desire.

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george I do this in my businesses every three years. Costs can creep in. You commit to this service or that program. It all adds up. Instead of doing it all every three years, you may pick a few line items every year for review. Just make sure you cycle through all of them every few years or so.

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marylynn Let’s take an example that applies to our businesses and our personal lives – our cell phone. I might ask myself: Do I need the package I currently have or could I cut back? Do I need unlimited texting?

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You’ll also consider alternatives. If you weren’t spending this amount of money on your cell phone, what might you spend it on? You might find you could increase sales faster or be a lot happier if you spent this money on another thing.

You might decide to increase your long-term happiness and invest this newfound money. That may make you happier now and then.

By justifying the expense all over again, away from the emotional point of purchase, you’ll spend your money on what you really want. You’ll get the returns you seek. That’s bigg success.

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