What's the best way to earn money from writing?

Quickly.

Many people want to make a lot of money writing books. But they take a long time to write, and even if you write it quickly it can still be a few months, or even years before you see a significant return on your investment.

If you want to earn money from your writing faster than that, then you need to write shorter pieces.

One of the quickest ways is to write for other people.

To do this you need to join one (or several) of the freelance sites and fill out your profile and bid on writing jobs.

This can bring in income in just a few days depending on what jobs you are given to do. For instance, if you're asked to write 10 short blog posts, you can do it a lot faster than if you're asked to write 10 feature articles.

It also depends on how fast you can research and write and how much time you have.

Another way is to do quick cash writing assignments for magazines.

This involves researching different publications and finding writing opportunities in them.

Some magazines are looking for short items like jokes, tips and readers' letters.

Others are looking for fiction stories or longer articles.

But once you start looking it's surprising how many magazines and opportunities there are.

Another way is to surf the internet looking for writing websites that list writing markets. These lists usually include online and off-line writing opportunities.

Some of the online jobs can be for regular, on-going writing assignments like blogging or daily / weekly articles, plus other one-off writing gigs.

So if you want to earn some fast money from your writing, start looking around at freelance sites and writing websites that list regular writing jobs and browse some magazines.

Once you start looking you'll be amazed at how many opportunities there are.

And another way to make money from writing quickly is to have your own blog or have your own website that you write articles for.

You don't need to have your own products to sell, you simply write informative and entertaining articles or blog posts, and put in a link to an affiliate product you want to sell.

Naturally, your content must relate to the product. But don't let it be a straight sales pitch. Make it so interesting and compelling that your readers want to click on the link at the end and make a purchase.

It's easy to find products to sell by doing a Google search for things like "affiliate program" or "affiliate network." Networks are easier because they have lots of companies looking for affiliates all through the one website so that you don't have to open multiple accounts for multiple products. You can affiliate to them all through just one network.

Likewise, you can make money from your online writing by placing PPC (Pay Per Click) advertisements on every page. These are as they sound. You can earn money simply by someone clicking on one of the ads. What ads are displayed depends on the content of your web page. So if you're talking about shoes, ads for shoes will show up.

Working this way by using PPC advertising or selling affiliate products (or both), means you can earn money by writing for yourself, instead of writing for clients.

But whichever way you choose (and you can choose all of them for maximum writing income) once you start looking, you'll find plenty of writing opportunities.

Surveys are accurate and promise quick returns. They are relevant and the content in them addresses the issues at hand rather than beating around the bush for some vague reason. Through reports, companies are able to analyze their performances better. They get to know where they stand and the market share they command. They come to know of the demands in the market and what they need to offer to address them. Making money online is just a click away! All you need to do is find a legitimate site to employ you. You can opt to answer online surveys for money. It will be a great deal to use your free time and get paid at the same time. Take advantage of hundreds of legitimate sites on the web. Taking some time to search for the right site can prove to be very beneficial in the end for you and your finances. These people can go for online surveys for money, as they assist you to earn little extras to fulfill up some simple loved ones bills, funds or to surprise your children with exotic birthday gifts.

All these may appear small skeptical, but in reality, it is happening for many from the people, who regularly take part in the online surveys for money. The advertising companies do not ask you for anything except your honest thoughts concerning the items. You just need to register using the companies and deliver your profiles, so that they would send you the online surveys for money that fit with your qualification. You can earn about 10 to 40 dollars, just inside half an hour of the time, whilst lounging in comfy clothes, listening to some music or watching TV. Online surveys for money are the right method to earn some additional bucks in a relaxed mode. Some of the businesses may promise to offer you a laptop computer, but when you complete the survey, these companies may ask you to purchase some items from their online store, to present the laptop computer.

You’ll need to set aside a dedicated and special email account, alone for those studies, since the invitations hits upon your mails. Frequently these companies require the legitimate opinions from the loyal and normal punters like you and me, so as to figure out if a substance is worth the cash and time. In fact, these companies have realized that marketing ends up with zero returns, if they’re against the wish of the consumers. Therefore they are ready to pay the clients, who are ready to total online surveys for money. These individuals can go for online surveys for money, as they help you to earn small extras to fulfill up some simple family bills, funds or to surprise your children with exotic birthday gifts.

The advertising companies do not ask you for anything except your honest thoughts concerning the products. You just have to register using the businesses and deliver your profiles, to ensure that they would deliver you the online surveys for money that fit together with your qualification. Online market research firms help them understand how strong their products are, and what features they need to add to them or upgrade them to make them more saleable. The online survey company, courtesy its extensive surveying, is able to help companies analyze the risk factor in the larger scheme of things. Be sure to make a separate email account before accepting surveys online. You should be aware of the fact that survey websites promote your personal information. Read carefully the privacy policy on the site you wish to work for. Having a separate email account for this job can help you get away from combining your personal mails from work related ones.If you’ve little time to spare for some income generating work, yet not as tiresome as the regular kinds, online surveys for money are for you. The businesses that would like to estimate the mindset from the buyers or regular clients or the potential clients, so as to create some updates in their product or to begin a brand new item or to begin a new branch office, provide these surveys.

To begin with, you need to total the screener studies, after obtaining registered using the websites. The businesses that would like to estimate the mindset from the buyers or regular customers or the possible customers, so as to make some updates in their product or to start a brand new item or to begin a new branch office, offer these studies. To start with, you need to total the screener surveys, after getting registered using the sites. If you sign up with much more online surveys for money companies, your mail will be flooded with several surveys. But there’s no restriction or obligation to complete particular quantity of online surveys for money.

Most of the online surveys for money companies pay through cash, whilst a few of them provide gifts, items, coupons, checks etc. Online market research firms have caught a lot of attention because of this. They study markets comprehensively. More importantly, clients get the data they seek. Precise facts, accurate statistics, a transparent analysis of the road ahead, the proper approach that to some extent would ascertain success etc. are factors defined very clearly through the service rendered. Making money online is just a click away! All you need to do is find a legitimate site to employ you. You can opt to answer online surveys for money. It will be a great deal to use your free time and get paid at the same time. Take advantage of hundreds of legitimate sites on the web. Taking some time to search for the right site can prove to be very beneficial in the end for you and your finances.

One of the more common forms of spell work using the spirits tends to resolve around angels.

As the most popular form of spirit in the world they are often used to shift life and change around really negative situations to be a lot better – and it should not be a surprise that we are going to be using one in particular to guide our money lives into a better direction.

These aren’t always huge shifts that we need in order to get where we want to go, but several smaller changes to our lives over time can mean a huge difference.

Ask anyone who has gone through intense life changes how much different everything is after just a handful of small but drastic changes – we all know this is accurate because we have likely gone through the same ourselves at once point.

The worst that can happen is that your life gets a lot better.

The best is that you suddenly have stronger finances – and that can be a life changing thing when you consider how stressful money issues can be.

We shouldn’t delude ourselves into thinking that the spirits – namely angels, cannot help us – and one curious angel can guide your money situation into a far more ideal place…

Mahasiah – Develops your sense of money wisdom and intelligence so that you make far fewer money mistakes in general; guides you to create a far stronger and more stable financial life in general so that everything is made better long term.

There really isn’t any question that the angels can guide us into better life – and here we are simply making the process far easier.

Though angels are the most common spirit, it is surprising that so few people seek out their help to enhances their situations and lives in general.

It isn’t really known how the spirits work on our lives to change things around, but the bottom line here is that we need to expand our vision and allow them to help us out in the ways that can create significant change for us.

We are not trying to shift and push reality in directions and ways that are discomforting or inconvenient to us – but it is crucial that we seek our their guidance and aid so that our lives are made that much better, and our money worlds will be much stronger because of it.

Freelancing becoming more popular everyday.

The young generating is getting seriously into freelancing, making it their first priority. Everybody wants to become their own boss, to really enjoy the life and live without stress. Thanks to technology and specifically the Internet, freelancing has become way much simpler compared to 10 years ago. It’s actually becoming a huge business, where people use their skills to help others at a lower rate.

Short tasks or micro tasks.

Several college students, for example, are working from home. Same for homemakers and stay home mothers. All this is thanks to online platforms that allow anyone to join an accept online jobs from companies. Housewives, for instance, perform micro jobs in their spare time. The good thing is that these jobs require maximum one hour per day to complete. In case you have kids at home, you know how hard it’s to get things done, but that doesn’t mean you can’t work from home. Short tasks or micro tasks are perfect for busy moms. They can earn some good money this way and take care of their kids at the same time. Here is a good list of the tasks you can perform if you’re in that group of people:

Take surveys: you can easily make up to $100 per month just by taking online surveys. All you need to do is perform a Google search for “paid survey sites”. Join several of these sites to increase the income. When you register, use your main email address to receive regular invitations to make new surveys.

• Most of these surveys pay up to $3 and take up to 45 minutes to complete.
• You get paid in cash, gift cards, free products, or free entries to sweepstakes.
• You don’t need to pay to participate in surveys, so if anyone asks you for money to join a survey site, don’t pay them.
• Check the privacy policy of the website to verify they won’t sell your personal information.

Test websites: participate in something called “remote usability testing”, this means getting paid to navigate a website and provide feedback. Most of these tests take 15 minutes to do, and you get paid up tp $10 per test. One of these tests is about performing a scenario in the client’s website and while recording yourself. An example: go through the process of buying a product on a retailer’s website. You’ll need: a computer, a microphone, fast internet connection.

Tutor students: you can certainly help students by being what is known as online tutors. Nowadays several families really like this option to teach their kids. You can help a kid with his homework or help a college student studying for an exam. It depends on the level of education you have. All you need is your own computer and fast internet. Online companies assign students to you depending on your profile. You get paid from $9 to $30 per hour, it depends on your educational background and the subject you’ll teach.

In this age of technology with millions of online ads, gimmicks, and schemes to make money at home, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of getting rich quick. The truth is, there is no way to get rich quick, but you can make real money selling hair online.

If you know anything about the world of beauty and fashion, you are aware of this billion dollar industry and weaving hair is used by all nationalities, men and women, even children. Yes men — stylists have made it possible for men with fading or complete hair loss to gain hair and beards with special applications and techniques.

HOW MUCH CAN BE MADE:

The big question is how much money can be made? Well this is a question that is asked by anyone starting a business, right! The answer is you can make as little or as much as you can promote? What does that mean? Well, do you have a large social media following? Are you a stylist a large clientele? Do you have a website or a blog that sells products? Are you just a smalltime, work at home girl doing hair on the side? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, it is possible for you to make real money selling hair without even leaving your home. You promote your website, have your clients order their hair and you reap the benefits.

HOW DOES IT WORK:

With so many different types of hair, it can be overwhelming for individuals to choose. Budget can be another factor in choosing hair. But let’s take a look…

When you walk into your local hair store, you see the cheapest hair upfront or in clearance boxes on the floor, right! But have you noticed how the best hair is either behind the counter or enclosed in locked cabinets. That’s right, people do steal hair! The quality is everything. You will be selling the type of hair that is locked up or kept behind the glass enclosure.

Now that hair kept under lock and key is there for a reason – it’s expensive. While that $9.99 per bundle pack looks appealing, and is always first choose for individuals on a budget, it is your job to convince them that the better quality hair will last longer and can be used multiple times. So how can this be done?

Well there are a number of ways. The best way, once you convince them your product is the best, offer a three payment plan. They can make three payments and when the third installment is paid you can order the hair and perhaps offer a discount on the install.

Another way is to explain how long the hair will last. Spending $75.00 on hair every 3-4 weeks is far more expensive than spending $145-160 and having it last a month or two.

Lastly, your clientele may be those that know about quality and require no convincing. You just direct them to your site, have them place the order and they can bring the hair when they come for their appointment.

Regardless of how the order is placed, one of the great perks that is always offered is a 15% discount when you order three or more bundles. This is a great incentive for your customers and should be marketed as such.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS:

So now let’s move on to the good stuff, the benefits and perks of signing up with such a great company. Keep in mind this is not your ordinary wholesaler where you order hair in bulk and have to store it yourself in order to get a discount. It is also not a drop shipper where you have a pay a 2-3% fee each time you want to place an order.

The truth is, it costs you absolutely nothing to get started and at no time do you have to touch the hair, handle shipping or returns, store hair or worry about customer inquiries. This is all done by the company.

Take a look at some of the benefits for yourself:

1. To sign up, you will only need to provide your name and telephone number – a representative will contact you.
2. Once accepted, you will create a name for your website and one will be created specifically for you. The website is totally free, no hosting fees, no technical knowledge needed.
3. You’ll receive 30% off your first order with a promo code that will be sent to you after you register as a stylist
4. You are paid 15% commission from every sale and get paid every Wednesday. You can be paid via direct deposit through PayPal, Venmo or paper check.
5. For every $600.00 worth of sales, or if you refer a stylist who makes at least $100.00 in sales, you will receive $100.00 in hair credit. This can be used to buy bundles for yourself or offer extra incentives for clients such as an additional $10, 15, 20 off of their next purchase.
6. Offer your customers one of the best guarantees ever — The 30 Day guarantee offer means you can wear it, dye it, flat iron, etc. and if you do not love your hair, it can be exchanged within 30 days of purchase. Yes, it’s true! If you simply do not like the hair, which I doubt, you can return any unopened packages for a full refund. Hair must be in the original packaging and condition. How many companies can offer that type of guarantee?

There are multiple options for your clients including 100% virgin Brazilian and Peruvian: Straight, Yaki, Kinky, Wavy, Water Wave, Deep Wave, or Curly. There are also 360 Frontals, Closures, Dyed Hair, Closures, Clip-Ins, Tape-Ins, and the new addition of wigs for those clients who do not want sew-ins.

With some many selling options, you are not limited to just weaving hair. Promote wigs, go hard with a 360 frontal, and even the dyed hair. The more you promote the better your sales will be.

So are you ready to make real money selling hair online? All you have to do is visit the site, submit your name and number and a representative will contact you. From there, if you are accepted (you must be a stylist with a clientele and have experience with hair. This could be at home, in a salon, or even a traveling stylist), you will provide your website name and your website will be setup.

Once up and running, you can use the marketing materials, order samples to show customers or even take advantage of the super discount and use yourself as a model for the great hair you will be offering. In addition, you can bring others on and earn additional income.

This business model is a win/win for the customer and client. Stop letting your clients give their money to someone else and get it all by sending them to your website today.

If you need to update your current garden furniture or are planning to buy some for next year, here are some great ways you can save some cash while also adding furniture to your porch or patio this summer.

Purchase Garden Fundamentals Out Of Season

Garden furniture is a seasonal business and so buying out of season will usually see lower costs. Buy garden furniture, BBQ's and grills toward the end of the summer months to save a lot of money. Most retailers offer end of season rebates, so by holding off on those enormous buys, you could grab yourself a fantastic deal.

Separate Your Perennials

Dig out your wide-covering and expansive perennials and separate them from the roots using a spade or fork – doing this will give you a few small plants which you would then be able to give to friends or move to another piece of the garden. Reusing and altering the plants you already have, instead of buying new things will save you a lot of money in the long run.

Put Your Money Into Best Buy Items

The consumer website 'Which?' Tests a scope of garden items for you, to ensure that you can spend your money on the right things. However, you don't need to just listen to internet reviews and you don't just need to spend loads of money to get decent items. Lawnmowers can range wildly in price: on Amazon, for example, you can find one for £ 50 or one for £ 900, but the £ 50 still has over 4.5 stars out of 5 from over 400 reviews. A small amount of research on your part will yield the best results.

Develop From Seed

Planting seeds as opposed to purchasing more develop plants will spare up loads of money. Often times, a bag of seeds will contain more than if needed, so why not share them, with a friend or loved one who also enjoys horticulture? A bag of 10,000 Poppy Seeds, for example could cost you less than £ 2.00, whereas a set of three fully-grown Poppy plants can be as much as £ 20. You don't need to be a math whizz to see the benefits.

Reuse Your Left Over Fertilizer

Reusing last year will not be a terrible plan, but it certainly won't be the 100% most effective way of helping your plants. So, do you throw it out? Certainly not! Just cut it with a newer bag and use that to get great results without wasting last year fertilizer. That is, of course, unless it's a wet fertiliser or has been exposed to the wet. In which case it will have negative impacts and you should just throw it on your compost pile instead.

Update Your Furniture

To switch up your garden decor, you don't need to buy a totally new garden furniture set. Instead, check whether you can work with what you have and maybe update it. If your garden set is made out of metal, you can buy shower paint, mainly intended for outdoor furniture, to revitalize the look. If you have porch furniture that is made out of wood, you can recolor it an alternate shading to give it a different look.

Another excellent method to give your garden furniture a second life is by buying new cushions and pads for your porch furniture. It is a great deal less expensive to update just your porch cushions and pillows than it is to get an altogether new set.

Shop At The End Of Summer

Finally, and admittedly similar to buying out of season, be sure to shop just at the close of summer, when shops know the garden furniture will have a sharp decline in purchases. The prices will drop too, as the shops try to get rid of their excess stock and make way for the winter collection., Allowing you to swoop in a grab some great deals.

Did you know that 1 out of 10 traders loses money in the financial markets when trading?

Despite the damning statistics and the inherent uncertainty in the outcomes of trading, traders continue to take the risk and invest their money with the hopes of getting a return.

Experienced traders and stakeholders have highlighted several ways in which traders lose money. From this information, we have selected top ways traders fail that can assist you to avoid making the same mistakes.

Trading to learn

Most traders who have sustained losses from their trading experience acknowledge that they started trading without receiving any formal training from a professional. Armed with only the basic information about markets, some people invest and start trading hoping, ignorantly, that luck will be on their side. Instead of learning how to trade, these investors begin trading to learn how the markets work. This reversed prioritization of events leads to insurmountable losses, making it harder for the trader to ever recoup the lost money.

Risk management

Understanding the risk level of a trade and the risk category that investments are placed is the first step to avoiding losing money when trading. Conducting a risk assessment of the investment opportunities in the market enables a trader to determine the leverage that they hold against the investment and whether it is worth placing a wager using the leverage. Without a risk assessment, a trader may place a wager on a portfolio that has a high-risk premium and ends up losing the leverage among other losses.

Money management

Lack of money management skills, traders hold on their stakes for either too long or release them too fast. Therefore, despite making a profit from a transaction, the trader ends up losing money.

Transaction costs

Like any other investment, trading has its operational costs that have to be factored when generating a profit and loss statement. A trader may lose money despite having a positive return in a trading period based on the costs incurred over the period. The adjusted transaction costs deducted include taxes, commissions, and utility bills, among other resources including time spent trading and conducting other activities related to the trade.

Tools of the trade

Markets are time sensitive and data-intensive platforms. Traders who have appropriate data at the right time are more likely to win than the others in the same market. Lack of tools for efficient data analysis and communication causes some traders to make trade decisions ex-post. For example, having a slow internet may hamper the trader's efficiency and hence a trader will make decisions using delayed data feed.

Discipline

Lastly, traders lose money because they lack a trading strategy or if they have one, they deviate from the plan. For example, a trader without a diversified portfolio is likely to lose money because of lack of risk spreading. Consequently, trading without a limit order or a take-profit order exposes the trader's positions to further risk of losing money with the hopes of a 'miracle' at any time.

So how do I avoid losing money?

With the basic information on how traders lose money, it is paramount that you understand the best way to avoid these predicaments by learning how to become a successful investor.

Prescription drugs sometimes cost a fortune. Most hospitals and doctors prefer prescribing branded drugs, which for many patients becomes a difficult to cope with situation. However, there are ways you can save money on prescription drugs such as:

#1. Find an Online Pharmacy

Using such an online portal, which is usually run by a licensed pharmacy, you can get your requirements at marginally attractive rates. You also have options to buy from a mobile app. When you install and sign up on an app, they might offer you discounts or credits, which you can use for your purchase.

#2. Go for Deals

There are many online places where you can find attractive deals to lower the cost of your purchase. Some deal portals give you gift coupons that can be used for shopping, dining or entertainment.

#3. Buy in Bulk

Some medical conditions require long-term medication. If you have to buy prescription drugs for a month or longer, you should buy them in bulk. This way, the retailer can offer you discount on your prescription medicine.

#4. Find and Buy from a Distributor:

Distributors source their supply directly from the pharmaceutical manufacturer. Therefore, they may have attractive low price offers for you. You can locate a nearby distributor on brand website.

#5. Buy from the Brand Store:

Finding a distributor could be a confusing task. However, locating a brand store is certainly not. You can get massive discount on prescription drug from a brand store.

#6. Look for a Government-Owned or -Aided Pharmacy:

The government makes many efforts in the interest of its citizens. They have opened drugs stores across the country to sell prescription drugs at affordable rates. You can purchase your prescription medicines from one such store.

#7. Generic Drugs:

Generic drugs are copies of branded drugs and are allowed for sales in the country. They cost lower than the branded formula. When visiting a pharmacy, ask for generic drugs to save money. There are less chances that you will find these drugs at a brand store.

#8. Ask the Doctor for Options:

Doing so will help you compare the prices of prescription medicines of different brands and make a smart buying decision. You will also learn which brands or medicines work best for you.

#9. Don’t Fall Ill:

This is the best way to save money on your annual prescription drug expenditure. Lead a healthy, mindful and disciplined lifestyle that blocks the chances of diseases and disarrays. And then, you will not have to spend a single penny on any kind of medicines.:)

Have you ever imagined a situation in which to make extra money, you do not need to wake up, start thinking of how to get to work each day? Rather than working when you need to work, you only work when you want to. Through the internet, you can make a lot of money and live the kind of life you always dreams of. In this article, we will be discussing some of the ways you can make money online.

Here are 5 tips which I would like to share and help you to explore making money online. Go through each tip and choose the best one which will work for you. I believe with your perseverance, results will show gradually and turn into a long term passive income source for you.

CB Passive Income

The idea of CB Passive Income is teaching individual various methods of generating quick traffic which is then sent to a squeeze page. With this, you can build a money-making email list. After then, various Click Bank products are then sent to every email on the list. Once a sale is made through a link, a certain commission will be received by the owner of the list.

Freelancing

Freelancing is another simple approach in which you can make money on the internet. As a freelancer, you work online by offering little services. You can offer totally anything varying from writing, playing tricks, interpreting, making music, short video clips, voice overs, and lots more. Freelancing gives you the opportunity to make money online while doing what you love most.

Email Marketing

Email marketing stands at the heart of each effective activity on the internet. If you are really serious about making money on the internet, email marketing is unquestionably a great avenue in doing this. If those email subscribers are effectively and acutely inspired by what you need to say, and they joined directly through your web page or blog, your rate of success will be much higher.

Websites that pay

Another way to make extra money while you work from home is by performing various tasks on some website. The task may range from shopping to taking surveys to testing products. Some of the websites include Swagbucks, InboxDollars, Project Payday, User testing, and so forth. However, do not dream of earning millions. Just an opportunity to save extra money.

Work-at-Home Companies

Furthermore, certain companies are ready to hire your expertise, even if it requires that you work from home. You will be assigned specific tasks to handle. Once you complete the task, you will be get paid. Some of these work-at-home companies include CrowdSource, Liveops, Leap Force, and Demand Studios.

The last week of stock market drops has taken the S&P 500 into correction territory for the first time in two years. While still in an upward, bullish trend, the S&P 500 fell officially into correction territory on Thursday, down more than 10 percent from its record reached in January.

One theory about why the market may be correcting now is because of a fear that the economy is too strong and complacent. The fear is that this can lead to inflation, which may cause the fed to raise interest rates too high too quickly and cool down growth.

Another concern is that the yield chase over the last 8-years and the low interest rate environment have created an extremely risky situation for retirement income planning. The threat of higher interest rates creates uncertainty in the stock market as it can potentially make stock dividends less attractive. Remember, uncertainty causes volatility which can lead to sudden corrections in the markets.

An obvious lesson for investors during this bout of volatility is that periods of uninterrupted returns don’t last. A correction is a normal part of investing. When markets correct, you can’t control their length or severity, but you CAN control how you respond.

The recent dramatic pullback in stocks has created a buying opportunity if you follow the stock-buying theory of “buy-low, sell-high”. I have no idea where the market goes next. It may continue into a longer-term correction or it might go back to its January highs. One thing is for sure, you had to put some money to work if you were smart enough to take some profits off the table at the end of 2017.

This brings me to an important point of enlightenment: if your Financial Advisor didn’t put at least some money to work in this correction – you need to FIRE HIM!

The job of a good “Financial Advisor”, no matter what they call themselves: CFP, CHFC, etc., is to make sure that you are allocated properly and have money available to buy stocks when they go on sale. You are paying him to keep you calm and help prevent you from panicking and selling your investments at the wrong time. Furthermore, your advisor should have made sure you didn’t get greedy in this bull market and took steps to help you take some profits so that you had money to deploy when stocks got cheaper.

Understand that I do not endorse “market timing” which is specifically being “all in” or “all out” of the market at any given time. However, it is extremely important to have a methodology for buying and selling investments.

Also, if you are getting close to retirement or already in retirement, it is critically important to understand that avoiding major drawdowns in the market is the key to long-term investment success. The long-term results of avoiding periods of severe capital loss will outweigh missed short-term gains. Small adjustments can have a significant impact over the long run. The best money managers I know have always been adept at working around their positions by using a set of rules to help keep emotions out of the trading arena.

By the way, remember that risk questionnaire your advisor made you fill-out when you opened an account? How do you feel about that right now? How are you going to feel if we are in a declining market for several months?

Risk questionnaires are never going to give you the right answers you need to succeed in the financial markets. Your portfolio should always be constructed (and monitored closely) to deliver a rate of return sufficient to meet your long-term goals with as little risk as possible. Your appetite for risk will constantly change so you need to construct a set of rules to follow in any market environment to help you with that objective.

Unfortunately, most “Financial Advisors” only real job is gather assets to earn a residual fee. You would think that his services include “buying on the dips” but it doesn’t unless you are one of his top clients. You see, he doesn’t have time to gather assets and watch your account. There isn’t enough time in the day (or he might be on one of his sales award trips he earned from capturing more of your money). The Financial Advisor’s mantra is “buy and hold”. This way, he can continue to make money from your account whether it is up or down.

If you are fortunate enough to get invited to investment house functions like dinners, golf outings and other events but you weren’t important enough to put money to work during a fire-sale in the markets, then you are being cheated. You are the one paying for those lush dinners with the management fees you pay. However, you are paying for incompetence. You’re paying for lackluster interest in your valuable assets.

Not only are you not getting attention to your WHOLE financial situation, you’re not even getting the courtesy of going the extra mile with your portfolio that they manage. The very least you should expect is some attention to your account and some action to put money to work at opportune times. That is what you are paying them for, right? You can pay for plenty of your own dinners if your advisor is buying money on sale for you!

This week was a true test to determine the real value of your Financial Advisor. He should have prepared you to have money available to buy on the dips. He should have put some money to work during this correction. He should also make sure you keep some powder dry in case the market continues to drop.

The dips came, and you had the opportunity to buy stocks on sale. Did your financial advisor do that for you?

If he did, then make sure you hang on to that advisor! If not, there are only two words that make any sense at this point:

YOU’RE FIRED!