It’s All About Goals. Don’t plan to fail by failing to plan.

Most people don’t have goals. They have dreams instead. Some 97% of people don’t take the first step, writing down goals. They just keep dreaming. Millionaires, on average, read their written goals daily. This cements them (the goals) into their minds. Billionaires use “the power of three.” Billionaires read their written goals an average of three times daily, three times more often than mere millionaires.

Here’s how millionaires differ from middle class people, according to author Keith Cameron Smith, in his book “Top 10 Distinctions Between Millionaires And The Middle Class:”

1. Millionaires think long term, middle class people think short term.

2. Millionaires talk about ideas, middle class people talk about things and people.

3. Millionaires embrace change, middle class people are threatened by change.

4. Millionaires take calculated risks, middle class people are afraid of risks.

5. Millionaires continue to learn and grow, middle class people stop learning after they’re finished with school.

6. Millionaires work for profit, middle class people work for wages.

7. Millionaires believe in being generous, middle class people believe they’re unable to be generous.

8. Millionaires have multiple sources of income, middle class people have one or two income sources.

9. Millionaires focus on increasing net worth, middle class people focus on increasing their paychecks.

10. Millionaires ask questions that empower, middle class people ask questions that disempower.

By all means, even if you’re broke, the first thing to do is to get rid of your middle class mindset, which confines you to a life term in your own mental prison of self-limiting beliefs and the low expectations paupers accept passively. Whether you succeed or not, whether you are financially blessed or dirt poor, it’s up to you (not an employer and certainly not the government) to make yourself financially successful. If you’re poor, don’t blame God. Look in the mirror instead. Then get to work.

Good Looking = More Money? That’s Right. This is the real world. Most people are prejudice.  

Being overweight or sloppily dressed is worse for your career than being a poor performer. So manage your weight, and manage the image you project at work, and you’ll do wonders for your career. According to a 2005 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, good-looking people make more money than average-looking people for doing exactly the same work. 

Consider that there may be some rationale behind it. If you’re overweight, you’re probably not exercising every day. But regular exercise increases peoples’ ability to cope with difficult situations in the workplace and might even make people smarter. And the same self-discipline we use to make ourselves exercise regularly and eat in moderation carries over into other aspects of our lives. People who exercise regularly were found to be better at time-management and more productive than those who don’t. It’s sort of like people who have messy desks: The perception is that they’re low-performers, poor time-managers, and not clear thinkers. This might not be true at all, but the only thing they can do to overcome the perceptions of their coworkers is clean their desks. Here’s something else: Dress like you care. Building a strong brand for yourself is the only way to create a stable career in today’s workplace.

Lessons On How To Keep Your Children Wealthy

Some teens with ultrawealthy parents have been known to go prom-dress shopping in Paris, drive an $80,000, fully loaded Range Rover to college and leave their laundry for the servants to wash. It sounds great, but it also has its perils:  What if these children lose their potential to ennui or bad choices and end up squandering the huge sums of money their parents give them?

With $41 trillion in private wealth set to be transferred in the United States in the first half of this century, both old- and new-money families are wondering how to prepare their children for the riches coming their way. The important question is, ‘How do you build confidence and competence in the next generation so they can handle whatever inheritance you leave them?’ Parents may want children to show that they can live on a budget, manage a portfolio, start a career or have a variety of life skills before receiving great sums of money.

Financial readiness comes from parents who act as role models when it comes to their family values, enforce limits and consequences and find ways to offer practical and continuing financial training. In a survey of affluent families, only 27% of parents said they had shared or discussed the family budget with their teenage children. While some families play down their wealth and its history, others incorporate their legacy as an important aspect of child-rearing. Most wealthy parents aspire to raise their children with middle-class values but with an upper-class balance sheet, says Kristi Kuechler, director of the Institute for Private Investors. The challenge, she says, is how to convey the importance of those traditional values of hard work, accomplishment and self-reliance to young people whose wealth could permit them to pursue none of those things.

A family’s charitable foundation or business can be a bridge between generations — and a way to share both family values and financial acumen. Some wealth managers advise bringing in the next generation, starting in the teenage years, to work alongside the older generation. Ms. Kuechler also advises parents to make sure that their heirs receive formal investor education so that they can interact confidently with their financial advisers and ask the right questions. Many wealth management firms do provide educational opportunities for their high-net-worth clients. Some firms may consult with family members one on one. Some parents take financial education into their own hands. Wealthy parents often wonder about when to tell their children about the family’s money — or that they will inherit a great deal of it. Telling them too early may disable a budding career, but telling them too late may squander the time needed to teach them how to manage it.

While independence in children is highly prized, its recommended to promote interdependence in children, too. To avoid siblings fighting over the family fortune when their parents are gone, he recommends that they work together as they are growing up on less confrontational subjects like philanthropy or planning the family vacation.

“I love new clothes. However, I like getting rid of the clothes just as quickly to go buy new ones.”

This lady who appeared on Oprah lives the life of a big house in the burbs, new cars, six beautiful kids, and spending way beyond her husband’s $5,000/month salary. Felice drops $400 a month on Starbucks, $240 on tans and manicures, and her children have no health insurance. “I have six kids and I sell their toys sometimes just because I don’t like them.”

When money runs dry, as it often does, she takes out cash advances. She handles the family finances and hides receipts from her husband underneath a baby blanket in a drawer. When I do shop, I do kind of get a rush. It makes me feel good… but afterwards, though, I get depressed. I’ll buy something even if I really don’t like it because I have to come out with something. How much trouble are they in? $135,000 in credit card debt, $1,700 a month for three cars, two mortgages at $685,000, and are two weeks behind on their mortgage payment. Yikes! Here’s what Suze Orman had to say.

It’s difficult to imagine a trader taking advantage if he or she did not truly experience themselves as worthy and efficacious.

A fascinating study tracked 7000 young people over a 25 year period to examine their success during the middle of their careers. The researchers found that young people who exhibited positive core self-evaluations earned significantly more than their lower self esteem counterparts. Family socioeconomic status and academic achievement were also positively correlated with career success decades later.

Perhaps the most striking finding was that self-evaluations facilitated success by enabling young people to take advantage of their socioeconomic and educational advantages. In this study, self-esteem was one element of core self-evaluations. Also included were self-efficacy (belief that one can achieve one’s goals); emotional stability; and locus of control (the degree to which one perceives an ability to control life outcomes).

The authors stress that we need certain advantages to achieve success (socioeconomic advantages, educational attainment), but that we also need to view ourselves in ways that enable us to make use of these advantages. Those with low core self-evaluations may avoid opportunities, simply because these could be threatening to their self-views. Perhaps this is why research finds that the four dimensions of core self-evaluations are highly correlated with job satisfaction and job performance. When we think we can make a difference, we are most likely to pour ourselves into our work and find it fulfilling.