Archive for the ‘Financial Freedom and Prosperity’ Category

View from my hot tub

I’ve made it a custom over the years to spend a week in Costa Rica every winter.  I was just reminded of this tonight as I snuck outside in the dark to take a late night dip in our hot tub.  It was 8 degrees and the steam was rising into the night sky and crystalizing under the full moon and Orion was fully present.  I love the constellation of Orion and only see it in the dead of winter.  During the summer it’s not visible.

When I am in Costa Rica, although we are just 600 miles from the equator, the night sky is not that different. I love lying out at the pool on the top of the mountain at Rancho Armadillo around 10 pm and looking at the night sky.  I am a real Astrology buff even though I only took one class in college. Our host at Rancho Armadillo, Rick, graciously brings out his telescope and give us all a tour of the night sky which is so clear high on the mountain, that you can actually see a star nebula in Orion’s belt with just binoculars!

I am sharing these thoughts with you because it’s so important to slow down and take the time to look at nature, take a vacation to a place where you can really slow down and recharge.  This is one reason my husband and I purchased a house on the lake.  We feel like we are on vacation year around…even in the winter, we are out on the lake every morning and every evening in our hot tub. 

Creating your millionaire lifestyle is all about planning, getting real clear about what it is that brings you true pleasure and true joy and then taking the steps necessary to make it happen.  In the next few weeks, I will be sharing the steps that I took to create my perfect life with tips and resources that you can implement yourself. 

It really just takes small changes to make huge differences in your life.  Creating your vision is number one.  I just created a new vision board this week with a picture of the healing retreat my daughter and I will be opening up in the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica on or before December 2015.  It’s our joint goal.  I have placed it where I can see it every day and keep my energy focused on this dream.  I know the perfect opportunities will just fall into place to make this dream a reality.  I will keep you updated as the miracles begin to happen!

What is your dream?  What are you doing to make it happen?  What is the one thing that scares you to death — yet would bring you the most joy?  How can I support you?

About the author:  Katana Abbott, is a Certified Financial Planner and The Midlife Millionaire Coach and teaches women ages 43-60 how to have financial freedom while following and fulfilling their life purpose.  Email her at katana@midlifemillionaire.com to learn about her next women’s retreat to Costa Rica this spring (limited to just 12 women).

As 2009 comes to end, I find myself letting the year go with a sigh of relief.  Almost everyone I talk to has said this has been one of the most difficult years not just financially, but also emotionally.  What about you?

Let’s take a moment right now before we get swept into the flurry of parties, events, shoppping and festivities to make sure we start out 2010 on the right track.  Here are my top 5 financial planning tips.  I suggest that you get out your planner and schedule time for yourself to implement these…and here they are:

1)  Meet with your financial planner and or CPA to review your investments for any year tax planning opportunities.    If you own stocks or mutual funds, you and your advisor can determine if it’s appropriate to generate tax losses by selling specific securities to offset year end capital gains.  Even if you would like to continue to own a security long term, your advisor may recommend selling the security to offset taxible gains and then purchase that same security back after 30 days.

2)  Reveiw your asset allocation percentages for the appropriate mix of stocks, bonds, cash, commodities and real estate.   We all are aware of the importance of proper “asset allocation” to reduce risk in your portfolio.  Well now is is also the perfect time to also ask your financial advisor to run an asset allocation analysis to review the performance of your portfolio, (the risk you are taking vs. the return you have received) and to see if your portfolio is in line with your future goals and values. 

When I was with Ameriprise Financial, my partner and I would run an analysis using Morningstar software which gave us and our clients very objective information so we could manage both risk and reward during our client meetings.

3)  Begin gathering and preparing all your importnat tax and financial documents that you will need for filing your taxes in 2010.   Create a file that you can begin to place copies of all your year end donations as well as all the year end financial and tax statement that will begin arriving in the mail very soon.  This way you won’t lose any deductions or need to spend time later looking for important tax information.

4)  Consider maximizing any contributions to your IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs and other employer deferred savings plans before year end.  You want to do this for two reasons:  first, contributions will be deducted from your taxable income for 2009, plus you’ll want to save as much as possible towards your retirement goals. 

5)  Lastly, ask your financial or tax advisor if it would make sense for you to roll your traditional IRA into a Roth IRA.  Roby Sawyers, CPA, Ph.D., an accounting professor at North Carolina State University suggests, ”Put your retirement money in Roth IRAs and Roth 401(k) plans.  With the huge deficits facing the country, it is hard to see how tax rates are going to do anything but increase in the future.”  Contributions to Roth IRAs are not deductible and grow tax free.

There is a second reason to take another look at the Roth IRA.  In the past, many individuals were unable to roll their IRAs to a Roth IRA because of income restrictions (they earn too much income), but in 2010, that all changing.   Be sure to sign up for my updates as I continue to share smart financial, business and life planning tips with you every few days.

Although this is a challenging economy, with the right plan you can make it work for you! 

Ask your questions right here, and I will be sure to answer them for you!  Remember, I am Certified Financial Planner with over 20 years experience helping people live with Purpose, Passion and Proserity!

My husband, Mark and me at our home in Panama

What are you doing to create your millionaire lifestyle? Well, if your goal is not a millionaire lifestyle, what about a million dollar investment portfolio?

Do you know that having $1 million in the bank at age 65 will only generate about $770 per week? That’s right, because that’s all you’ll be able to pull out if you want to ensure that your nest egg lasts for at least 30 years. This doesn’t sound much like a millionaire lifestyle does it?

If you are 50 years old and want to save have $1 million saved by the time you are 65, you would need to save about $35,000 per year and earn 10% a year too! The story’s not that bad if your 40…about $10,000 a year at 10%. Even if you can save the money, who is earning 10% consistently anymore?

What’s the solution? I believe creating livetime passive business income doing what you love. It can be something that you start now and develop over the next 10 years, or it could be something that you jump into right away full time. I was working as a financial planner back in 2003 when I came up with my perfect passive income model. My dream was to create a community and program where I could help women learn how to create smart life and financial choices with an army of smart women.

It’s funny how things evolve when you have a goal and a dream and you keep focusing on it. What happened next for me was that I began to sponsor events through my new company, Smart Women’s Coaching. Even though I still ran my financial planning practice full time, I began to focus energy and time on this new venture. I saw that there was a need for it and I began to create a community of support and advisors.

By 2007, I decided to retire and focus 100% of my time on Smart Women’s Coaching and two years later, today…we are launching a new online community called the Smart Women’s Cafe. It’s a membership site where women can learn, grow and connect and features live coaching, teleseminars, an online library, and an amazing team of Contributing Experts who co promote and create joint ventures.

It’s been a lot of work and I have learned so much. I had no idea how different creating a “start up” business would be versus my financial planning “franchise” with Ameriprise Financial. When I started with Ameriprise Financial (formerly American Express Financial Services, formerly IDS) over 20 years ago, I paid a fee and purchased a franchise. This meant everything I needed to run and market my business had been thought out, systematized and branded. All I needed was an office and a computer.

If you are thinking about starting a business — and many women are — then be sure to do your homework. There are several things you will want to do if you are starting from scratch. Watch for my future posts, as I share with you my Secrets for Creating Lifetime Passive Income while Following Your Passion.

If your are serious and would like to get started right away identifying your Perfect Business Model and Strategy, then visit the Smart Women’s Cafe and pick up The Way to Wealth, by Brian Tracy ($100 value) and your free video training on Twitter by Lou Bortone…then take a free 30 day test drive and get started right away!

Also, for free live teleclasses this week on creating a Millionaire Lifestyle, visit our Calendar of Events!

Read more here:
Create Your Millionaire Lifestyle

We recently asked you, “What’s the single biggest Challenge holding you back from living Your Perfect Life?” and this is what over 200 of you have told us:

• 32% Financial
• 22% Don’t Know Where to Start
• 12% Confidence
• 10% Time
• 7% Relationships
• 3% Health
• 14% Other

There were quite a few comments (one out of four of you wanted to tell your story) and here are a few of them:

• I am searching for a new career and desperately want to make that change now that I am unemployed and available to make that change.
• I need to make enough money through my business to negate my husband’s dream for me to go back to work!
• Up until I lost my job in 2007 I considered myself a “smart woman”, although finances are considerably low, my biggest challenge is how to tap into a realm of creativity. It seems I have lost my passion and/or motivation to get going again.
• After 23 years of raising my sons, getting my masters, and working 19 years with autistic children, I am ready to make my own dreams and business happen. I read your steps to success and go strong, but then burn myself out with energy and money by second guessing everything I do. If I had a mentor to help with decisions, ideas, marketing, and business, it would make my finances, time, and confidence become assets to my dreams and realities.
• My biggest challenge is self-sabotage and pragmatism. I focus more on perfection rather than “just doing it.”
• I have an amazing business that I can’t focus on doing because I work a 9-5 during the day!
• Not enough time in the day to act on all my ideas… even the prioritized ones.
• I often don’t feel I can do it. My perfect life involves starting a jewelry business and then moving to NM to live on a ranch.
• Life transitions in 2004 left me at ground zero with no savings, property, pension, home or other resources. I know where I want to be and what my goals are but need support, help and resources to get there because I cannot do it alone.
• Difficulties with family relationships and life transitions – Lack of Clarity, support and finances hold me back. I have been trying for a year, but nothing seems to be shifting. I do not do well without human live support i.e. online courses/business building or network marketing.
• I know that my life does not have to be as hectic as it is. I am looking to learn to let go, and focus on what is most important!

What I am hearing from you is that finances or money and then knowing where to start are your number one priorities. I read the “other” comments, and they were primarily financial and knowing where to start as well. So, what do you do about this? This is exactly why I created the Smart Women’s Café.

When I was a financial planner, I worked with hundreds of wealthy individuals. I had no time left to help those who needed help getting started and creating financial security.Today, I am honored to have attracted some of the most amazing financial, business, career, and lifestyle experts in the word to join me in this mission of helping women create their perfect life with purpose, passion and prosperity.

The Smart Women’s Café is the perfect place to do this because it is a supportive and interactive community where women can learn, grow and connect by accessing resources at their own leisure in the member library. Plus, we offer three hours of live coaching and training every month.

These statistics were not that surprising to see. Right now, the need for financial planning assistance, whether it be in the small-business environment, schooling or household maintenance has sky-rocketed as a direct result of our economy. You are not alone. 33% of American’s carry debt balances up to $10,000 (median balance: $2,254). 64% of the people polled who carry debt admitted that debt is a cause of worry and stress for them. 93% percent of retirees carry debt into old age.

Finance troubles affects your path to the Perfect Life everyday. These worries can cause a ripple effect on everything else, which may have caused 22% percent of people surveyed to respond with, “not knowing where to start.”

Vist the Smart Women’s Cafe now to receive your Free Gifts: Video Training on how to maximize Twitter and Brian Tracy’s Report, The Way to Wealth ($100 value). You can also take a 30 day free test drive of our community of smart women and access free, live coaching, resources and support towards living with Purpose, Passion and Prosperity.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our poll! Sharing your thoughts with us was great appreciated. A national press release will be released this week, documenting your concerns.