Millionaire in You Ten Things You Need to Do Now to Have Money and the Time to Enjoy It

LeBoeuf's Law-The Best-Kept Investment Secret in the World We need education in the obvious more than investigation of the obscure. Oliver Wendell Holmes If you have ever been in any leadership position, ever worked as a manager, military officer, teacher or coach, you know how important strategy is to achieve your goals. I believe it was Napoleon who said that most battles are won or lost long before the first shot is fired. It's the game plan, more than anything else, that dictates outcomes. With an effective strategy, you can be successful even in the face of tactical mistakes. But if your strategy is poor, all the great tactics in the world won't save you. A poor game plan almost always guarantees failure. It's true in war, sports, business and life. Your journey to the winner's circle begins when you realize that the key to financial freedom is about something far more important and precious than money. Wealth begins when you realize the value of your time and learn how to invest it effectively. Unlike money, time is irreplaceable. You can't make it or save it. But like money, time can be measured, invested and enjoyed. Let's face it: If you don't enjoy your time, life will seem like forever. If you have ever been stuck in a bad relationship or a job you hate, or suffered through a lengthy illness, you know what I mean. The Grand Strategy Believe it or not, I've discovered a single simple principle that will enable you to get a terrific return on your investment of time and money. Like Albert Einstein's formula of E=MC2, it's simple but incredibly powerful. Here it is. Etch it in your brain: LeBoeuf's Law: Invest your time actively and your money passively. Actively investing your time means deciding how your time will be spent rather than spending it according to current circumstances or the dictates of others. Begin by taking a look at your life, your dreams, what's most important to you and what you want. Then resolve to spend your time doing what will get you from where you are to where you want to be in a way that's most satisfying to you. Just as a financial portfolio allocates dollars among various types of investments such as stocks, bonds and cash, you have to decide how to allocate your portfolio of time. A good time portfolio invests waking hours in four basic activities: *Learning *Earning *Living *Giving How much time we allocate to each area depends on where we are in life. For example, our early years are primarily devoted to learning, our young-adult and middle years to earning and our later years to living and giving. Obviously we want to be engaged in all four activities throughout our lives, but the allocation will depend on where we are and what we want. Actively investing time means deciding what you want, making conscious choices to live that life and spending your time accordingly. Money, on the other hand, should be invested passively. Passive investing means buying and holding no-load, low-cost index mutual funds with performances reflecting that of entire markets. Here's the plan in a nutshell: 1. Choose how you want to allocate your investment money among stocks, bonds and cash. You might allocate your investments this way: *50% domestic stocks *20% international stocks *20% bonds *10% cash This decision is called "asset allocation," and it will have the greatest impact on your future returns. 2. Buy no-load, low-cost index funds according to that allocation. Put 50% in a total U.S. stock-market index fund, 20% in a total international-stock index fund, 20% in a total bond-market index fund and 10% in a money-market fund. 3. Contribute at least 10% of every dollar you earn to the portfolio. The more you contribute, the sooner you reach financial freedom. 4. Check the portfolio once a year. If youLeBoeuf, Michael is the author of 'Millionaire in You Ten Things You Need to Do Now to Have Money and the Time to Enjoy It', published 2002 under ISBN 9780609610060 and ISBN 0609610066.