Be Wealthy & Smart

I went to San Diego a couple of days early and stayed in an Air Bnb for the first time. Moved to a suite at the Westin on Broadway for the mastermind meeting. What is Masterminding? Is it another form of brainstorming? Yes, it's similar. It comes from a term used in the book, Think and Grow Rich. It's when everyone brainstorms and focuses on ideas for one business at a time. It's incredibly powerful and kind of like a mini-focus group research project. The "mastermind" is the group and the activity of spending an hour talking about plans for new services, products and implementation is extremely valuable. For video of Angela Ahrendts, former CEO of Burberry, go to my fan page to watch. www.facebook.com/lindapjonesfanpage My friend buys companies. The big issue is mindset. Afraid to fail. Sarah Blakely, billionaire & CEO of Spanx read Wayne Dyer's book - How to Be a No Limit Person. Her father taught her to embrace failure. How did you fail today? Are you afraid of failure? Is it keeping you from even trying? Are you afraid to not be perfect?

Learn how much money the average worker has saved in retirement, 3 steps to take if you're behind on saving enough, and why you need to prepare for early retirement even if you don't think you need to. 77% of workers have less than $250,000 saved for retirement. The next largest group has less than $1,000 saved! If you save 1% more of a $50,000 income, then: 4% for 30 years @7% grows to $217,370 5% for 30 years @7% grows to $271,000, a 25% increase! 3 things you can do: Boost savings. Delay retirement. Cut spending. Use catch up provisions to save more. Traditional and Roth* IRA's allow for an extra $1,000 catch up or $6,500 contribution instead of $5,500 when you're over age 50. Pay attention to modified AGI limit: Single $117,000 - $132,000 Married $ 184,000 - $194,000 Roth contributions are phased out at these levels. SEP IRA $53,000 maximum on $265,000 considered compensation (25% of compensation) 401(k) and Solo (k) Standard contribution is $18,0000, catch up is $24,000 (over age 50) Simple IRA Employers match up to 3% Standard contribution is $12,500, catch up is $15,500 (over age 50). Boost Social Security 8% annually for each year you put it off. Only take 4% out of your retirement plan and you likely won't outlive your income. Retirement income + Pension + Social Security + Side Hustle = Retirement Income Can you downsize your home and use equity for retirement? Save more on the front end and save more for retirement as soon as possible. Start saving in your 20's if possible. The sooner the better!

Explore why many Americans retire earlier than planned, with 60% citing hardship as a key reason. Discover the surprising statistic that 45% retire when expected, while the same percentage retire sooner. Motivations vary: from financial readiness to pursuing new passions or coping with workplace changes. Key challenges also emerge, revealing the financial confidence gap and the impacts of unexpected life events on retirement readiness.

Learn about buying your first home, what to look at, and things to avoid so you have a smooth transaction. It starts with having a financial/economic plan for buying a home and do lots of due diligence before buying a home. Get a thorough inspection. Jules also covers documents, title insurance, closing costs, etc. Jules can be reached at his website (along with more information about real estate transactions at www.JulesHaasAttorney.com. His phone number is 212-355-2575 and email is Jules.Haas@verizon.net.

Listener question Friday - Linda, I used to have a self-directed IRA but closed it. Now I'm planning on opening one up again to invest in things, including precious metals. It's saying XX Bullion prefers XX Depository, but will ship your metals to any depository you choose. If it has to go into a depository, what depository would you recommend?

Learn all about our trip to Naxos, Greece aboard a 110 ft. yacht which was televised this week and last on the Bravo TV show, Below Deck Mediterranean. Note: This podcast has NO financial information in it and is just about our trip! We appeared in "Episode 9: Fever pitch" on June 28th. Hear me discuss the crew, eating Ben's cooking, wave runners, the tender to the beach, how Bobby carries us, Ben cooks s'mores. How were the s'mores with strawberry peeps? Ben couldn't source the ingredients in Greece. We appeared on "Episode 10: Charter from heaven, charter from hell?" on July 5th. Next day breakfast, wave runners, jeweler, excursion on tender with Bryan and Tiffany, change for dinner, violinist, dinner (and unfortunate combination of motion sickness med and alcohol). Could use some love on my FB fan page (www.Facebook.com/LindaPJonesFanPage) or Instagram page, @lindapjones. Breakfast, give largest tip of the season and said good bye. Hannah says we are her favorites and she loves us! She misses us already when men acting like "frat boys" come on the yacht. More photos and stories on my blog. www.lindapjones.com/blog

Learn from reinvention expert Pamela Mitchell about how to find your passion, become an entrepreneur and find success. Pamela was called "The Queen of Reinvention" by Fortune magazine. She's a former entertainment exec-turned-coach. Pamela Mitchell is founder and CEO of The Reinvention Institute and host of The LiftOff Project podcast. As the nation's premier expert in reinvention, Pamela has appeared on CBS, CNN, NPR, MSNBC and the Today Show, and has been profiled and quoted in top publications including The New York Times, Businessweek, TIME, Men's Health, and Real Simple. She is the author of The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy, a Harvard Business Review Top Shelf Recommended Pick. Links to the mini-course and Pamela's book can be found at www.lindapjones.com/careerreinvention.

149: Crazy Surprise! Learn what's going on as I pull the curtain back and let you in on what's happening in my personal life. If you've been listening to me for a while, you know I stick to business and get to the point pretty fast. I want you to get value from my podcasts. Today is a little different because I am letting you in on what's happening behind the scenes in my life. The exciting news is on June 28th and July 5th, I'm going to be on a new reality TV show called Below Deck Mediterranean. It's a new show, the first season of a spinoff. I've been a fan of the original show, Below Deck Caribbean, for years. Below Deck Med is about the crew of a yacht in Greece called the Ionian Princess. They take on new charter guests and the show follows how the charter goes, the relationships the crew has and the drama that ensues. This Tuesday I'll be on the show as a charter guest. I'm with 5 entrepreneur friends/clients and we had an amazing time. I can't give details of what we did because I agreed to keep that confidential until after the shows air, but I can tell you I had an amazing time cruising in Greece! You can see some initial photos of our trip to Greece on my Instagram before we got on the yacht. My Instagram is @LindaPJones and there's also a @BeWealthy&Smart Instagram - check it out while you're there. It's an entirely new crew on the show except for Chef Ben Robinson who is also on Below Deck Caribbean. Things are definitely crazy and racy as the crew of 12 thirty-somethings have their share of drama and hookups! If you want to know more, you'll just have to watch on Tuesday, June 28th and July 5th on Bravo TV at 9pm ET/PT, 8 CT. Boy have I been shocked watching the show and seeing what happens with the crew below deck! I have to warn you, I didn't expect to see what's been going on at all! All was calm above deck! Watch it and let me know what you think! I'll be back with some more bonus episodes this week. Hint hint.

Learn why the Brexit leave vote won, what it means for Europe and the US and the impact it will have on investments going forward. Brexit is the term for the British exit from the European Union or EU. It voted 52 to 48 to leave. This impacts things like trade tariffs, migration, auto and car regulations. The politicians engaged world leaders, celebrities, and everyone they could to vote to remain. Really about 3 things: 1. Unelected government in Brussels having too much control. Non-elected leaders in power. 2. Immigrants a problem - more than 1 million immigrants have poured into Europe. 3. People never voted for, and do not want political union and the interference the European Union. Do you get that? These leaders in power were NOT elected by the people. They took power and control without elections and in many cases without disclosing who is really in control behind the scenes in Brussels. May cause problems for other European countries. Scotland may want to leave UK. Spain may take control of Gibraltar. Catalonia may leave. We don't know if the EU will survive. Even the Pope is saying European countries need to figure out how to work together. PM David Cameron resigned effective in October because he campaigned for Britain to stay and since he lost the vote, he felt he should leave. Boris Johnson, a member of Cameron's Conservative Party and former Mayor of London voted for independence and some people speculate he may be the next PM. In general, it is believed young people voted to stay and the older people voted to leave. Interest rates low and headed lower. Currencies may be headed lower and companies who trade may have to sign new agreements. This will be negotiated for 2 years between independent Britain and the rest of Europe. It will likely get worse before it gets better. Unsure what the banks will do and if it will negatively impact trading partners. According to Vox News: "If you are Nissan or some other car producer with major production in the UK, today, the same safety standards and environmental standards allow you to sell everywhere in the European market," Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. But if the UK leaves the EU, "you would no longer be able to sell into other European markets, not because you face a small tariff but because you'd have to go through another set of safety certifications. This kind of thing would be repeated in every industry you can think of." Financial companies are already talking about moving headquarters from London to Germany or France. In 1958 EU was 6 countries, 28 today. EU loses the 2nd largest economy. Pound was down 8% today to a 30 year low. Will be good for trade because English goods will be more affordable. European financials (banks) are down 5 - 16% which is worrisome. Deutsche Bank is one to watch due to the derivatives it holds. Some people speculate a downgrade of it's credit could cause another Lehman moment. According to Martin Armstrong, the real problem with the Euro is when they created the Euro, they did not consolidate countries' debt. Individual countries having economic problems and high levels of debt causes problems for everyone because they don't want to be responsible to bail out other countries, such as Greece. They also have a one interest rate policy for the EU, which means the ECB (like our FED) can't provide stimulus to just one country without doing it for all 18 euro countries. Such confusion, oh my! The EU agreement allows for 2 years to negotiate an exit, so expect it to be a long road ahead. In the end, this was a vote for democracy, for the people, for freedom and independence from politicians who took power without being voted in. The EU was a governing body who took control, for example with immigration and having to take Middle Eastern refugees. The terror attacks in Paris and Brussels are said to have been a deciding factor for the exit. How does this impact your investments? Today the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.39%, the S &P was down 3.58% and the Nasdaq down 4.12%. -Expect multinationals who trade a lot with England and Europe to be down until they have more clarity. Boeing was down 5.26% today, Starbucks down 2.58% and Apple was down 2.81%. -Expect a continued flight to safety. -Expect money to flow into the dollar and make it stronger which could contribute to a recession here (listen to my podcast #144 about "7 Signs Why a Recession May Be Looming". -Expect money to flow into US markets for safety and stability. -Expect precious metals to move higher as an alternate safe haven - gold was up 4.91% and silver was up 2.43%. Mining stocks' ETF (GDX) jumped 5.92% today. -Inverse ETF SDS (double short S & P) was up 7% today. -Expect increased volatility in stock markets. The VIX (VXX) was up 24.32% today alone! This could spill into our markets and cause a drop…if it does, it's a buying opportunity because it will be short lived. Longer term I see a drop here and then more money coming from overseas that will eventually cause a big increase in classic stocks like those in the Dow. Keep some cash available and watch out for the rise in volatility. Keep a cool head because there's likely to be panic around you.

Learn how to analyze stock performance by checking the 1, 5, and 10 year performance numbers. Research is from FORTUNE magazine, June 15, 2016. Too often investors pick a stock that has only done well for one year. Look at the longer-term, especially 3 and 5 year numbers or 5 and 10 year numbers. I'm sharing numbers from 2015, but my point is to get you to think differently. What companies have done well for one year? 5 years? 10 years? What stocks have had excellent performance for 10 years? Do other research, but these companies should be looked at and considered if you're investing in individual stocks. The performance is all double digit. I will share the chart on my website show notes for podcast #147 so I can upload a photo of the chart.